Alexander a Man on a Shutout Mission After Week 1
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jaire Alexander has two wishes. The Green Bay Packers’ star cornerback would like to play more man coverage. The other?
“I want a shutout,” he said on Friday, two days before the Sunday Night Football showdown against the Chicago Bears. “I would be excited with a shutout. I’d be super-happy because there’s been a lot of talk about the defense. I just want us to be on top.”
The defense, which was supposed to be the driving force behind the Packers being on top most weeks, was a reason why the team got crushed 23-7 last week at the Vikings. Their star receiver, Justin Jefferson, caught nine passes for 184 yards and two touchdowns as he ran free through Green Bay’s zones.
On Thursday, defensive coordinator Joe Barry said he didn’t consider scrapping that game plan and going to a man-centric scheme in which one of the best cornerbacks in football got to go up against one of the best receivers in football.
The air has been cleared.
“I told everybody how I felt,” Alexander said. “The uncomfortable conversations are needed. But we’re all on the same page now.”
Player-coach disagreements aren’t exactly rare. Any coach’s decision is sure to make one player happy at the expense of another player. Lumping Barry in with Green Bay’s three cornerbacks would result in a 2-2 vote in man vs. zone.
“Myself, I like to play man. I like to play man a bunch,” Alexander said. “I think Sul [Rasul Douglas] likes to play zone a lot, (Eric) Stokes likes to play man. You get a good combination of both when it’s necessary. I’m OK with either/or.”
Playing zone coverage comes with some obvious benefits. With eyes focused on what’s in front of you, it provides the vision to create interceptions – Douglas was a huge beneficiary last season – and play better run defense. Pick plays are less likely to work, too.
Playing man, however, eliminates some of the communication errors that plagued the secondary last week.
“I know that I have this guy. I know for a fact that I have this receiver, Alexander said. “It’s much simpler because you know that’s your man. Can’t go nowhere without you.”
With Barry being a purveyor of the Vic Fangio-style defenses, he is a believer in playing zone defenses with a sprinkling in of man. So, Green Bay’s not going to change its defensive ways just because of what happened on Sunday. The players simply need to play better, and that starts with facing Bears receiver Darnell Mooney on Sunday night. He’s not Justin Jefferson 2.0 but he’s a talented player who is moved all over the formation.
“We’ve just got to communicate better in zone coverage,” Alexander said. “Because that was the biggest breakdown. We just have to communicate better.”
There’s been a lot of communication this week as the Packers try to fix all that went wrong against the Vikings. Presumably, they’ll be better prepared to face the Bears. Assuredly, they’ll be fired up after a long, long week.
“The coaches were like on us all week, honestly. That’s not really a good feeling,” Alexander said. “You’re like, ‘Leave me alone.’ But I understand it. …
“I think for our defense, we should kind of have that mindset, like, just to quiet everybody down. Got a little target on our back to step it up this week.”
