Green Bay Packers: Defense on the Rise

What once was a suspect unit is on its way to becoming a strength of the team. I’m talking about the defense of the Green Bay Packers. The patience of the team’s management is paying off after focusing heavily on defensive players in recent drafts. Dating back to 2012, the Packers have spent the past four first-round picks on defensive players, all who have been and are expected to continue contributing for the team.

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Why all the fuss now? The reason it’s worth talking about is because coach McCarthy believes his roster appears to be one of the best the team has assembled, at least as far as the defense goes. They certainly pass the eye test. Players like Nick Perry, Casey Hayward, and Mike Daniels are all in their contract years and are playing the best football of their young careers. Datone Jones, Micah Hyde, and Nate Palmer were drafted together a year later and are contributing in big ways as well. And then we have a stud safety in Ha Ha Clinton-Dix drafted last season who seemingly finds himself around the ball constantly.

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The team’s strength this year appears to be its pass rush. For the year, the Packers have amassed 17 sacks, good for second in the league. The amazing thing is that it’s not just one or two contributors but the entire front seven is getting in on the action. Last week, the Packers sacked quarterback Colin Kaepernick six times, a great example of the team effort on display. Earning those six sacks were five different players. The week prior, Green Bay brought down the quarterback seven times, with six different defenders getting a sack.

This week on The Mike McCarthy Show (accessible via www.packers.com), coach McCarthy spent quite a bit of time discussing his defense’s effort against the San Francisco 49ers and how impressed he was with their performance.

Praising the defense, McCarthy stated it was “clearly our best defensive unit performance”. He often referred to the defense playing to its strengths after working to take away the run. What he means by this is that first and foremost, the team must contain the run game; easier said than done. If the Packers stop the run game, however, and start forcing long third downs, it creates obvious pass situations.

This is when the defense can cut it loose and get after the passer, every linebacker’s dream. McCarthy also discussed how he let his cornerbacks play one-on-one almost all game long. Kaepernick tested them early but as the game progressed, the pass rush became too much to handle. The secondary came up huge that game, limiting Kaepernick to just 160 yards on 25 attempts. McCarthy awarded game balls to Sam Shields and Clinton-Dix as a result.

October 4, 2015; Santa Clara, CA, USA; Green Bay Packers outside linebacker Mike Neal (96) celebrates after sacking San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick (7) during the fourth quarter at Levi

The Packers were able to smother the 49ers offense all game long and no stretch of game time was more exemplary of this than the fourth quarter. After all, this is crunch time. The 49ers had the ball heading into the fourth quarter, facing a deficit of 17-3. Let’s examine the four different drives of the 49er offense and how they fared.

Drive No. 1, start of the fourth quarter: The 49ers were backed up near their own 20-yard line and the Packers start the quarter by forcing Kaepernick to hold on to the ball all three downs. On first down, we saw the read option lose a yard followed by a sack on second down for another loss of two. Facing third and long, Kaepernick settled for a minimal gain on a scramble out of bounds, bringing up a punt on fourth down.

Drive No. 2, 9:24 left SF ball on own 33: Again, a dominant effort by Green Bay on the defensive front. The defense forced an incompletion on first down, a big sack for a loss of six on second down, and a timely interception by Sam Shields on third down. Kaepernick heaved the ball down the field in the area of his receiver but Shields flashed his incredible catchup speed, timed the ball perfectly in the air, and came down with the pick.

Drive No. 3, 5:58 left SF ball on own 33: San Francisco takes over with the ball but throws two straight incompletions bringing up a quick third and long. The Packers remain aggressive and leave the defensive backs alone with their receivers and pay the price this time. Kaepernick completes his longest pass of the day, a third down bomb good for 47 yards. The Niners now have the ball deep in Green Bay territory. On first down, we see Kaepernick scramble for a gain of five yards following by two straight incompletions. On fourth down, Mike Neal is able to sack the quarterback in a hurry creating a turnover on downs. This is Green Bay’s sixth sack of the game.

Drive No. 4, 0:13 left SF ball: With virtually no time left, Kaepernick throws an incompletion on first down and a short gain on second down, draining the remainder of the clock. Game over.

The Packers defense suffocated the dynamic Colin Kaepernick in the fourth quarter, keeping the team out of the end zone the entire game. The 49ers offense was held to 50 yards total for the entire quarter and Green Bay forced an interception and three sacks. Coaches could not ask for more out of the defense.

Green Bay’s defense has been steadily improving with each passing week and one can only assume they will get better by season’s end. If they continue to build off their success, McCarthy will surely have more words of praise for the defense.

Next: Green Bay Packers: Under the Scope (Week 4)

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