Starting With Aaron Donald, Packers Set to Face Gauntlet of Pass Rushers
It's almost that time of year in Wisconsin.
The stands at Lambeau Field will be covered in the usual green and gold with a distinct shade of orange.
November will open hunting season for Wisconsinites. It also will be open season for pass rushers hunting for sacks and taking aim on Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love.
The Packers' pass protection early in the season ranked toward the top of the NFL.
With David Bakhtairi in the lineup for the opener, the Packers allowed one sack against Chicago. Even without Bakhtiari, the Packers surrendered one sack apiece to Atlanta and New Orleans the following two weeks.
The Bears and Falcons rank in the bottom third of the league in sack percentage. For a team in transition with a new starting quarterback, that was a gift from the schedule-makers.
Since that time, the Packers have struggled to protect Love. Their issues truly began in Week 4 against Detroit, when Aidan Hutchinson and a ferocious Lions front came to town. Love was under duress all night and sacked five times.
That was the first sign of a crack in the armor of Green Bay's pass protection.
Ten days later, Raiders star Maxx Crosby was dominant against the Packers. On Sunday, NFL sacks leader Danielle Hunter had one of Minnesota’s four sacks as the Vikings held a struggling Packers offense to a season-low 10 points.
"That was tough to watch," coach Matt LaFleur said. "Way too many mistakes, penalties, drops, and not being able to convert on third downs."
For the offense to have any chance to get going, LaFleur said, “We’ve got to block better.”
Maybe he had the upcoming schedule on his mind.
Sunday's game marked the first in a series of battles against a gauntlet of elite pass rushes.
Here's a look at some of the pass rushers they'll face in the coming weeks.
Week 9: Aaron Donald
For my money, there are three people who can stake a claim to the greatest defensive player to ever play football.
Reggie White, Lawrence Taylor and Aaron Donald.
Donald has been dominant since entering the league in 2014 and has continued his game-wrecking ways even in the late stages of his career.
Asked in 2021 about Donald's comments that the Rams were extra-motivated because the Packers beat them in the 2020 playoffs, LaFleur responded in jest, “I want to cry.”
He may have been joking, but there have been few players that have wrecked opposing offenses quite like Donald.
Along with 4.5 sacks, Pro Football Focus has credited Donald with 38 pressures. That’s second-most among interior rushers.
As a defensive tackle, Donald plays a position at which the Packers have struggled to block opposing pass rushers.
The Packers' preferred starters on the interior of their offensive line, guards Elgton Jenkins and Jon Runyan and center Josh Myers, have allowed 22 pressures. They have yet to face anyone like the three-time Defensive Player of the Year.
Keeping Donald contained is far and away Green Bay's biggest challenge to get their offense back on track this week.
Week 10: T.J. Watt/Alex Highsmith
Perhaps it's been discussed before that the Packers drafted Kevin King instead of former Wisconsin Badgers star T.J. Watt.
Unfortunately for the Packers, they did not draft Watt, who has become one of the best defensive players in the NFL.
In his seventh NFL season, Watt has 86 sacks. He was the 2021 NFL Defensive Player of the Year and is a three-time first-team All-Pro. Meanwhile, King struggled with injuries and ineffectiveness and is no longer in the NFL.
Watt is having an excellent season in 2023. He seems to make at least one big play per week.
Watt has 32 pressures, per PFF, and 8.5 sacks. He led the NFL with 15 sacks in 2020 and 22.5 sacks in 2021. He is a certified game-wrecker.
Yosh Njiman might get another chance to face T.J. Watt
Yosh Nijman (Photo by Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports Images)
The man across from him is no slouch, either.
A third-round pick in 2020, Alex Highsmith has grown into one of the NFL's top rushers, as well.
With 14.5 sacks last season, the Steelers rewarded him with a five-year contract extension worth $70 million. Highsmith has rewarded the Steelers by keeping pace with Watt on pressuring the quarterback. While he has only 2.5 sacks, he’s piled up 28 pressures. Typically, sacks come in bunches if a player is around the quarterback enough.
Highsmith has been. That makes for a tall task for the Packers' tackle tandem.
Week 11: Joey Bosa/Khalil Mack
Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack power a Chargers pass rush that gives opposing offensive lines fits.
The Packers are familiar with Mack. He spent four seasons in Chicago. His introduction to the Packers-Bears rivalry was a big one. In 2018, Mack almost single-handedly won the Bears the game in the first half.
Mack forced a fumble by backup quarterback DeShone Kizer, who was playing in relief of an injured Aaron Rodgers. He finished off the first half with a pick-six that gave the Bears what felt like an insurmountable lead.
Of course, that turned into one of the greatest moments of Rodgers' storied career.
Mack was traded to the Chargers in 2022 and had eight sacks in his debut season. He is still able to wreck a game and proved so against the Las Vegas Raiders when he sacked rookie Aidan O’Connell six times.
Mack has seven sacks and 30 pressures.
It helps to have another premier pass rusher across from you. Joey Bosa, while not as prolific as his younger brother in San Francisco, is very good in his own right.
He has 17 pressures and four sacks on the year. That is not where he expected to be when he teamed up with Mack, but Bosa has four seasons of more than 10 sacks on his resume.
With the way the Packers struggled against opposing pass rushers, Bosa could have this game circled as a get-right game.
Week 12: Aidan Hutchinson
Disney once referred to 1937's Snow White as the one that started it all.
That could apply to Aidan Hutchinson in a few ways. Hutchinson is part of the culture change that is taking place in Detroit. He's their best defensive player and a leader in the locker room.
When the Packers hosted the Lions in Week 4, Hutchinson had a season-high eight pressures. While he has "only" 4.5 sacks, he is second in the NFL with 46 pressures, according to PFF.
Jordan Love is sacked by Vikings defensive end DJ Wonnum.
Photo by USA Today Sports Images
“It’s not where you want to be, especially when you’re playing the Lions, and they have a really good pass-rush front,” Runyan said after the Lions' 34-20 win at Lambeau Field.
“I think their defensive line is definitely the strength of their team. Defensive and offensive line. When they’re able to know what the situation is and know they’re going to have to get after the quarterback."
In total, just between the players listed in this story, the Packers will face a total of 191 pressures and 31 sacks.
Conversely, the Packers have allowed 66 pressures and 19 sacks, according to PFF.
Starting with Donald this week, they better heed LaFleur's advice of blocking better, or Love could be in a lot of pain before December starts.
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