LaFleur Bets on Barry Despite Late-Season Asterisks

After being embarrassed on national television by the Eagles, Joe Barry’s defense helped the Packers get back into the playoff race. Was that a sign of things to come?

Author:
Bill Huber
Updated:
Jun 23, 2023 8:51 AM EDT
Original:
Jun 23, 2023

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In Week 12 of last season, the Green Bay Packers were trounced at the Philadelphia Eagles. The final score was 40-33, but the game never really seemed that close because defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s unit was so awful.

Run defense? The Packers allowed 363 rushing yards, third-most in franchise history. Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders combined for 300. Tackling? The Packers missed 16. Adjustments? The Eagles’ four second-half drives went 11 plays for a touchdown, 14 plays for a field goal, 10 plays for a field goal and four plays to run out the clock. Heart? As much as Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.

It was an embarrassing performance – on national television, no less. Barry survived that game and the rest of the season. And, with a strong finishing stretch, he survived for a third season.

“Although it wasn’t always pretty, I did think we started to improve as the year went on, and I thought we saw more of an identity,” coach Matt LaFleur said a day after the season-ending home loss to the Lions.

Following the debacle against the Eagles, the Packers won four consecutive games to claw back into the playoff hunt, only to lose the win-and-in finale against Detroit. Barry’s defense led the way, allowing 20 points or fewer in all five games – the team’s longest streak since 2019. During the winning streak, the Packers forced 12 turnovers – their most over a four-game stretch since 2016.

However, it all comes with an asterisk. Here’s a look at the final five games.

Game 13 – Packers 28, Bears 19. With the worst receiving corps in the NFL, Chicago finished 23rd in scoring, 28th in total offense and 30th in goal-to-go situations. The Bears didn’t just finish last in passing; their 130.5 passing yards per game were the fewest since the 2009 Browns.

Game 14 – Packers 24, Rams 12. With championship quarterback Matthew Stafford and star receiver Cooper Kupp among those out with injuries, the Rams finished 27th in scoring, 32nd in total defense and 29th in yards per passing play. They were last in scoring on the road.

Game 15 – Packers 26, Dolphins 20. Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating and was on his way to dismantling the Packers with 229 passing yards in the first half alone. He suffered a concussion during the second quarter but played the rest of the game. In the second half, he was 7-of-13 for 81 yards and three interceptions.

Game 16 – Packers 41, Vikings 17. This was Green Bay’s signature performance. Kirk Cousins was 18-of-31 passing for 205 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions, good for a 49.2 passer rating. A big key was the decision to put Jaire Alexander on Justin Jefferson, who was held to a career-low one catch . The Vikings are a different team home vs. road, as evidenced by the 15.5-point difference in Cousins’ passer rating, and they did nothing to get Jefferson away from Alexander.

Game 17 – Lions 20, Packers 16. Detroit ranked No. 1 in the NFL with 33.1 points per game at home but 19th with 19.4 points per game on the road. With 23 touchdowns vs. three interceptions at home vs. six touchdowns vs. four interceptions on the road, Jared Goff’s passer rating was 21.9 points worse on the road.

Joe Barry (Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports Images)

So, did Barry find some answers – even with Rashan Gary out of the lineup with a torn ACL? Or did his group beat up on bad offenses?

It is that question, as much as the performance of new starting quarterback Jordan Love, that will define the success or failure of the 2023 Packers.

“I’m not a big rear-view-mirror guy,” Barry said at the start of OTAs. “I want to look forward. I want to look through the windshield at what’s ahead. But I think if you do go back and really critique last year, the inconsistencies were the things that really got us. We played well at times. We didn’t play well at times. And that’s what you can’t do in this league.

“We’ve got to find that consistency and show up every single week. The last five or six weeks of the season, we found that. We don’t have time to waste 10 weeks.”

Handed a strong roster – one infinitely stronger than his units that performed so poorly in Detroit and Washington – Green Bay under Barry ranks 13th in points allowed, 30th in yards allowed per carry and 21st in touchdown passes allowed.

“We put a lot of investment into that group and there are high expectations there,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said after making outside linebacker Lukas Van Ness the eighth first-round pick on the defensive side of the ball.

Clearly, LaFleur is betting on Barry and his ability to bring the best out of a defense with a lot of high-profile talent on the depth chart. If LaFleur is wrong, it will call into question his ability to assemble a winning coaching staff.

“Being at the Green Bay Packers, expectations are high all the time, no matter what,” Barry said. “I’m very aware of our roster. I’m very aware of the draft status of all of our players.

“But expectations are and should be high all the time, and this year will be no different. There’ s absolutely no doubt about that. The expectation thing, that’s the great thing about having this word (Packers) on our chest is that we’re Green Bay Packers and the expectations at this place are high all the time and that’s great. I love it.”