‘I Wish I Knew’ a Damning Indictment of Barry
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry has managed to turn chicken, complete with The Colonel’s legendary blend of herbs and spices, into chicken feathers.
“We’ve got two really good edge rushers. We’ve got four really good inside players. We’ve got three really good corners. We’ve got two really good safeties. We’ve got two really good inside ‘backers,” Barry said during training camp.
That’s a lot of really good players on a really bad defense.
On paper, the Packers entered the season with one of the best defenses in the NFL. On the grass, they’ve had one of the worst. Green Bay enters Sunday’s game at the Chicago Bears ranked 23rd in points allowed per game. It is this unit, not the retooled offense, that is the biggest reason why a perennial powerhouse has plunged to 4-8.
What’s gone wrong?
Barry had no explanation.
“I wish I knew,” Barry said on Thursday afternoon. “I’ve stayed up many nights thinking about that and I wish it was one specific thing that I could put my finger on. I think for periods, definitely periods during games, we’ve played dominant.”
It’s hurt to lose outside linebacker Rashan Gary, a Pro Bowl-caliber player, and inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell, an All-Pro last year, to injuries. But, as Barry said, “everyone has to deal with injuries.”
The starting point to the defensive disaster would be the run defense, which was supposed to be greatly improved but is allowing 4.97 yards per carry. That’s not only 29th in the NFL this season but second-worst in franchise history.
In theory, first-round pick Quay Walker should have paired with Campbell to change the face of the defense. With a pair of rangy, three-down players, Barry could play more traditional defenses rather than relying on undersized dime packages that are susceptible to being overpowered on the ground. That hasn’t been the case at all, though, a point amplified when the Eagles ran for an appalling 363 yards on Sunday night. The Packers have allowed 150-plus rushing yards a league-high seven times.
Starting immediately after the game and continuing through Thursday, the talking point was bad tackling. By the coaches’ count, the Packers missed 22 tackles against Philadelphia. Quarterback Jalen Hurts forced three on a third-and-10 scramble on the opening touchdown drive and running back Miles Sanders forced two on his touchdown run that made it 13-0.
Barry had no explanation.
“You don’t tackle live at any point during the year other than the games that you play, so we try to create those scenarios as best we can, try to create drills that are as realistic [as possible], but you can’t create anything realistic to tackling Jalen Hurts until you’ve got to go tackle him,” Barry said.
“So, yeah, it was a bad deal, but we went right back to work this week working on the details, working on keeping leverage to the ball. We talk about ‘population to the ball,’ getting as many hats to the ball when you’re dealing with a great player. If you do miss a tackle, you’ve got that second, third, fourth, fifth guy there. Just relentless effort to the ball. But, yeah, it was a bad display of tackling, no doubt about it.”
Bad tackling wasn’t the only problem. During training camp and the start of the season, Barry called his defensive line “special.” That word would imply a unit that’s not going to get pushed around. But that group was pushed around. By our count, the Packers allowed 154 rushing yards before contact. So, the Packers could have had the greatest tackling game in the history of mankind and still gotten destroyed on the ground.
Barry had no explanation.
“I think Philadelphia has a really good offensive line and they did a great job, they really did, as far as getting hats on a hat and not allowing total free hitters in the run game,” Barry said. “I tip my hat to Philadelphia. But I still believe in the guys that we have, especially up front. I believe in Kenny Clark, I believe in Dean Lowry, Jarran Reed, that whole group. I’m excited to see them play on Sunday.”
To be sure, it hasn’t helped that literally every player in the starting lineup has underperformed. Clark, the Pro Bowl defensive tackle, has disappeared for a couple months. Campbell got off to a slow start before missing the last four games with a knee injury. Jaire Alexander has been good but not great. Rasul Douglas regressed closer to his historical standard. Eric Stokes regressed before going on injured reserve. Darnell Savage regressed his way out of the starting lineup and even out of top backup position.
The defense was supposed to be the unit to carry the load until a remodeled offense rounded into form. Instead, in a must-win game at home against Tennessee, Ryan Tannehill completed 22-of-27 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns. In a do-or-die game against Philadelphia, the Packers had a breakout offensive performance with 33 points but the defense gave up 40.
Behind the closed doors of the meetings rooms, Barry probably does have explanations for all that’s gone wrong. What he hasn’t found are solutions.
Barry said he wasn’t “second-guessing” his process or defensive beliefs. By now, coach Matt LaFleur must be second-guessing his choice for defensive coordinator.
LaFleur made clear this week that he wasn’t changing coordinators. Fine, there’s a month to go in the season, and it’s not as if all the breakdowns in the secondary have made Jerry Gray the obvious and worthy replacement.
But for this year to be nothing more than a blip on the radar, there is no reason move forward with the coordinator who has no explanations, no solutions and no track record for championship-level success.
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