More Empty Promises From Packers Regarding Run Defense?
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Maybe it’s the water. Or the cheese curds. Or those darned Milwaukee season-ticket holders.
It might not have as much to do with the defensive coordinator as you think.
With just one game left on the Week 4 docket, the Green Bay Packers under Joe Barry rank 25th in yards allowed per rushing attempt. That’s on the heels of finishing 28th in 2022 and 30th in 2021.
That’s improvement, I suppose.
The Packers’ terrible run defense isn’t all Barry’s fault, believe it or not. Under Mike Pettine, Green Bay ranked 21st in 2020 and 24th in 2019 but a respectable 13th in 2018.
You have to go back in 2017, the final year under venerable Dom Capers, to find a season in which the Packers finished in the top 10 in yards allowed per carry. They finished eighth that year with 3.86 yards allowed per carry.
If there’s one common tie in Green Bay’s horrendous run defense, it’s the head coach and general manager.
During coach Matt LaFleur’s four-plus seasons on the job, the Packers are 31st in the NFL with 4.71 yards allowed per carry. The only team worse is Houston, which also has the third-fewest wins over that span.
To be sure, playing excellent run defense guarantees nothing. The New York Jets, who have won an NFL-low 21 games since the start of the 2019 season, are fifth in yards allowed per carry during the LaFleur era. Meanwhile, the Kansas City Chiefs, who are the most dominant team in the league with Super Bowls wins in 2019 and 2022 and a Super Bowl appearance in 2020, have the fifth-worst per-carry average.
LaFleur’s at his wit’s end. He pointed the spotlight squarely at Barry after the defense gave up 211 rushing yards against the Lions on Thursday night. He called it “inexcusable” that the defense neither took away the run nor the pass in a big division showdown.
“It’s insane to do the same things over and over again and expect a different result,” LaFleur said.
Building a championship roster is about drafting and developing. Maybe the front office, even with eight first-round picks filling the defensive depth charts, has failed to land the right players. Maybe the coaching staff has failed to develop those players. Maybe Barry has failed to properly deploy those players.
Whatever the reason or reasons, Green Bay’s run defense is bad. Again. As always.
Photo by USA Today Sports Images
“That’s something I’ve definitely have gone back the last 72 hours and looked at,” Barry said on Monday. “I went back and looked at all four games and it’s not one thing that you can pinpoint. I just went back again this morning and watched all 42 runs from Thursday night and it’s not one thing. It’s one thing on this play, it’s another thing on this play. You have 30 runs that you play really well.
“It’s a number of things but we’ve got to correct it, we will correct it. We’re exploring everything right now. When we’re in one of those games, we have to put our foot down and stop it.”
When the Packers put their foot down against the Lions, coach Dan Campbell, a mean offensive line and running back David Montgomery took turns stomping on it.
Green Bay has allowed more than 210 rushing yards two of the last three games. Since the start of last season, the Packers have allowed at least 150 rushing yards in 10 games. Only the Texans (11) have more.
This offseason, the Packers allowed Jarran Reed and Dean Lowry to leave in free agency. They replaced them in the lineup with two talented young players, Devonte Wyatt and TJ Slaton. They added Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks in the draft.
New faces. Same results.
Beyond personnel, there were promises of a new mindset and an attacking approach.
Through four games, it’s been nothing but the usual empty words.
“Oh, yeah. Absolutely,” Barry said when asked if he has the personnel to stop the run. “But I think when you’re in the type of game like [against Detroit], you do have to be able to do something structurally just from a system standpoint. And we can and we will.
“When we’re in those situations, we have to do it. Those are all things we’re working through right now because every game’s different. You’re not going to defend 40 runs in every game but when you’re in a game like that, you’ve got to be able to have an answer. It’s my job to give our players an answer, and we will moving forward.”
The Packers haven’t had an answer against the run in years. Will they moving forward? Believing they will seems like the definition of insanity.
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