Do the Packers Have a New Attitude?
The Green Bay Packers have long had an ugly four-letter word that starts with an "s" used to describe their team.
No, not that one. The other one.
Soft.
When they got to the playoffs, that characteristic would rear its ugly head time and time again.
Teams led by Aaron Rodgers were often prolific. The Packers won a bunch of games with him under center.
If there has been one criticism of teams led by Rodgers, Mike McCarthy and Matt LaFleur, they've often shied away from games that required a certain level of physicality.
In fact, Rodgers' current coach, Robert Saleh pointed that out last year after they beat the Packers 27-10 at Lambeau Field.
“Just keep giving them [the Packers] body blow after body blow and keep hitting them in the mouth. We felt like if we can just keep taking them down to deeper water they’ll find out they can’t swim. It was just a mindset."
There is no more demoralizing feeling as a football player than being physically dominated.
That's why it was almost shocking to see Elgton Jenkins get into two fights during the joint practice at Cincinnati last week.
The mindset and play style in Green Bay simply hasn't been that aggressive in recent memory.
It's only preseason, but LaFleur noticed a difference in the team's 36-19 win over the Bengals on Friday night.
The key phrase from LaFleur's message? “Attacking it the right way really in every phase.”
The Packers haven't done that in the past. They've been brought to deeper waters and, more often than not, found out they couldn't swim.
The tone has been set to be different this year.
That begins with a mindset of physicality. A feeling like you're not going to be bullied. Jenkins caused a stir at practice with crushing blocks against Germaine Pratt and DJ Reader.
That caused two confrontations, the second of which had Jenkins removed from practice.
You’re like, ‘Oh, why is this guy walking toward me?’” Jenkins said. “The last guy swung on me, so I’m like, ‘Hold on, this guy is walking toward me, too? What’s going on?"
While Jenkins was pulled from practice, you can bet his teammates loved the exchange. Afterward, left tackle David Bakhtiari was all smiles while discussing it with reporters.
It's a perfect metaphor for the type of mindset the Packers are looking for coming into the year. They will bring the physicality instead of having it brought to them.
Elgton Jenkins (Photo by Tork Mason/USA Today Sports Images)
"I didn’t know we were playing flag football, I thought we were playing real football,” Jenkins said via The Journal Sentinel's Tom Silverstein. “I guess I was being a little too physical for their guys. I guess – or I know now – you’ve got to hold back a little bit.
Nobody on the team will want Jenkins getting into fights during games, but the willingness to stand up to a bully is something the Packers haven't done often enough in recent years.
"Elgton totally was in the right the first time,” Bakhtiari said after Wednesday's practice.
“I’m not going to say otherwise. You’ve got to protect yourself. Emotions get high. I know he’ll never do it in the game. He’s never done that in the game, so at practice, I mean, it’s a little bit different. You know you shouldn’t, but you also know there’s no consequences … I think he gave (Pratt) the wrong pie recipe or something like that and he was pissed off."
The offense has not typically been the problem in Green Bay over the years. The blame for their playoff shortcomings has usually fallen on the shoulders of the defense.
Think of some of the teams that have given the Packers fits since they won the Super Bowl in 2011.
Jim Harbaugh's San Francisco 49ers. Kyle Shanahan's San Francisco 49ers.
Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks. Todd Bowles' Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
All of those teams had a physical reputation. When it came time to punch back, the Packers wilted more often than not.
Perhaps most famously came against Shanahn's 49ers in the 2019 NFC Championship Game. The 49ers won 37-20 while only dropping back to pass nine times. That's unheard of in the modern NFL ,where it's easier to throw the ball than ever.
The Packers have done little in the way of personnel to change their play style. Devonte Wyatt is the only defensive lineman Brian Gutekunst has drafted in the top 100 since taking over as general manager.
He has never given a multiyear free-agent contract to a defensive lineman. The results have shown. They rank 32nd in Football Outsiders' Run Defense DVOA since Gutekunst took over as general manager.
The trend continued this offseason. Jarran Reed and Dean Lowry are gone. The Packers didn't use a top-100 draft choice or significant free-agent capital to replace them.
It'll be up to Kenny Clark and the young guys to make a difference.
The last time Gutekunst went this route was after the aforementioned NFC title game against the 49ers. The results were similar. Green Bay's run defense wasn't much better, and it wilted against the more physical Buccaneers in the 2020 NFC title game.
The Packers finished 28th and 31st in rush DVOA each of the next two years, respectively.
What's different this time?
"We’re going to try to play more physical up front and be more physical and make sure that we get off blocks on the D-line and on the back end we’re just going to fly around." said Packers' defensive lineman T.J. Slaton.
Talking about playing more physical and getting off blocks is a good start.
Talk, however, is cheap. None of the quotes about play style will matter if the Chicago Bears run for more than 200 yards against them at Soldier Field next month.
“It’s a mindset,” defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said in May before OTAs began.
“At the end of the day, it’s a mindset. We had a great conversation in our room a couple of weeks ago. We are watching Kenny do it, and then we are watching other guys try to do it, and they’re being taught the same thing, but it’s in the mindset in which you do it."
Maybe the mindset in the past was to let the offense carry the day since they had an MVP quarterback under center. That safety blanket is gone now.
The Packers will need to play complementary football better than when Rodgers was around.
Maybe that starts with a new mindset. Maybe that starts with a new play style.
In a year where everything else is new, maybe the Packers will finally find they can swim in deep waters.
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