Packers Defense
Total Yards : 9th
Rushing Yards : 13th
Passing Yards : 7th
Points Against: 13th
Opponent Team Passer Rating : 12th
3rd Down PCT : 10th
Red Zone : 8th
Sacks/Pass Attempt : 8th
Goal To Go : 4th

The defense actually ranks pretty damn well. That coverage call or execution or whatever it was with :01 left in the half vs Buccaneers was atrocious. Does that one failure negate the season of success?

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There were also free plays for 12 men on the field.

I'd be ok if he was replaced, but that's up to Matt. This defense does get stops when we need them, pretty often. Get some DTs. CBs who can hang onto INTs.

Would we want a young up and coming guy or an old hand who has experience? Pettine is experienced, seen it all.

I think Pettine has proven he's at least adequate against the run.

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There were also free plays for 12 men on the field.

I'd be ok if he was replaced, but that's up to Matt. This defense does get stops when we need them, pretty often. Get some DTs. CBs who can hang onto INTs.

Would we want a young up and coming guy or an old hand who has experience? Pettine is experienced, seen it all.

I think Pettine has proven he's at least adequate against the run.

Who is at fault for 12 men on the field? Is that the position coaches? Is that communication failure due to injuries? I don't know who that falls on and sure it's easy to just fault the coordinator. I'm more interested in how it can be corrected than firing a guy because the team had 12 men on the field a few times throughout the season. Should the Packers cut Mason Crosby because he missed a handful of extra points?

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Were Kevin Kings screw ups because of where the coach told him to be? Or was that all on King? That’s a question I’d like to see the answer to. That would help me in deciding who to hold accountable.
The yanking of the Jersey, for all to see, that’s 100% on King. A high schooler knows not to do that.
You take a guy like Alexander, who shines on the field, and on the other side you have a guy like King that constantly misses making plays.
You need to cut King and get someone that has more talent to take his place. He’s too consistent in his screwing up.
Any QB that has half a brain will pick on him, as the obvious weak link. Which Brady did.

So....who gets held accountable? Was it “just” a lack of talent, or also coaching? I don’t think any of us know enough facts to decide.

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Personally, I like Pettine and the memories of all the years of defensive crapiness we had before he became our DC (going back to before Capers). I'm hoping Pettine comes back again and we're not having to start over from scratch on D.

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This team is often one of the worst when it comes to paying the Defensive side of the ball. I think 2020 was the first time they were in the top 10 in a long time. It is hard to have a great D when all the salary cap is spent on O. Especially when you miss as often as we have on top Defensive draft picks.

Defense spending by cap
Year Rank #players Cap $ Average Cap %
2020 7 24 $78,183,236 $3,257,635 38.34%
2019 22 22 $53,619,373 $2,437,244 27.21%
2018 32 21 $26,876,613 $1,279,839 14.84%

Without knowing more of their teaching and what the players were before and after and if he's able to command the players, it's impossible to tell.

Personally I enjoy what Pettie does up front with the twist and using the talent he got... but this year showed the Packers are really lacking at DT when Clark isn't playing at his elite level for whatever reason.

Though, I really dislike with how conservative he is on the back end, and I have wondered why...

• Is it because he's content to play it safe? His history would say no... but who someone is in the past and who they are now, aren't always the same.
  
• Is it because he doesn't trust his DBs? Which I can understand, as I don't trust the CBs outside of Alexander and really wanted them to draft a CB high in last year draft.
  
• Is it because for some reason, he thinks that's best with the current offensive schemes?
  
• Is it because sometimes he might make bad play calls?

That question needs to be answered... as well,.to know if he should be fired. I've been under the assumption he's using the Safeties to cover up for the CBs potential mistakes, especially when you can fairly easily get a mix match with King if you have the guys with the right skill sets (I thought King might be following the large WR around and let Alexander handle the others) but that assumption, is just that, that an assumption.


I think whomever is the DC, you want better CB talent that were had.

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This team is often one of the worst when it comes to paying the Defensive side of the ball. I think 2020 was the first time they were in the top 10 in a long time. It is hard to have a great D when all the salary cap is spent on O. Especially when you miss as often as we have on top Defensive draft picks.

Defense spending by cap
Year Rank #players Cap $ Average Cap %
2020 7 24 $78,183,236 $3,257,635 38.34%
2019 22 22 $53,619,373 $2,437,244 27.21%
2018 32 21 $26,876,613 $1,279,839 14.84%

Sounds like aaron wants to give back some money. Perhaps Aaron Jones will get some.

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Without knowing more of their teaching and what the players were before and after and if he's able to command the players, it's impossible to tell.

Personally I enjoy what Pettie does up front with the twist and using the talent he got... but this year showed the Packers are really lacking at DT when Clark isn't playing at his elite level for whatever reason.

Though, I really dislike with how conservative he is on the back end, and I have wondered why...

• Is it because he's content to play it safe? His history would say no... but who someone is in the past and who they are now, aren't always the same.
  
• Is it because he doesn't trust his DBs? Which I can understand, as I don't trust the CBs outside of Alexander and really wanted them to draft a CB high in last year draft.
  
• Is it because for some reason, he thinks that's best with the current offensive schemes?
  
• Is it because sometimes he might make bad play calls?

That question needs to be answered... as well,.to know if he should be fired. I've been under the assumption he's using the Safeties to cover up for the CBs potential mistakes, especially when you can fairly easily get a mix match with King if you have the guys with the right skill sets (I thought King might be following the large WR around and let Alexander handle the others) but that assumption, is just that, that an assumption.


I think whomever is the DC, you want better CB talent that were had.

To me, Pettine is a solid DC, above average. But he's not one of these "Norman Einstein" guess who can take shitty players and win with just scheme. (Although he did very well with Nick Perry and post-juice Clay Matthews.)

He's always gonna be solid, but not often spectacular. Then again, what King did this weekend was not solid, and 12-men penalties, also not solid. I hypothesize this thing with King was some kind of gambling debt or something. It was very suspect. So let's give Pettine a pass on that for now.

Is that what you want, a guy who's solid? More steak than sizzle? Then lean toward keeping him. But get him another DT and maybe a CB who can play. Our future at ILB looks pretty good, imo. (Not to jinx.)

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Sounds like aaron wants to give back some money. Perhaps Aaron Jones will get some.

I don't believe it... player don't give back money... cap space, maybe, but that's only because they're locking the money up in their bank account and letting the team account for it later (it's a win/win now, but the future has less cap space)

To me, Pettine is a solid DC, above average. But he's not one of these "Norman Einstein" guess who can take shitty players and win with just scheme. (Although he did very well with Nick Perry and post-juice Clay Matthews.)

He's always gonna be solid, but not often spectacular. Then again, what King did this weekend was not solid, and 12-men penalties, also not solid. I hypothesize this thing with King was some kind of gambling debt or something. It was very suspect. So let's give Pettine a pass on that for now.

Is that what you want, a guy who's solid? More steak than sizzle? Then lean toward keeping him. But get him another DT and maybe a CB who can play. Our future at ILB looks pretty good, imo. (Not to jinx.)

Rules are so favored to the offense and so much offensive talent and people have made great points with the spread offenses in college less players are being forced to go play DB in college...

So more than ever before offense has great amazing athletes and defense has less so, plus the spread offense is mentally easy for defenders which means they're less mentally ready when they have to go against more pro-styles.


But basically everything is going against defensive coaches right now, so maybe with the exception of Bill Belichick, I don't think their is an "'Norman Einstein' guess who can take shitty players and win with just scheme." out there...

But Iowa State has done some interesting things with their 3-3-5 which is where I think football might be going and Rodgers said the Panthers and their recently college coaches ran it and it confused him at times.


Looking around and seeing that defensive coaches were hired to be head coaches and lots of new DC filled, and not many great choices left...

I'm not sure there is a clear good DC choice from the NFL left... you're taking a gamble... if you know someone, then maybe. Right now, Joe Whitt Jr., and I'm not sure he's better than Pettine.

So then looking at college coaches, Georgia head coach is former Bama DC and he's had some good defenses, Ohio State is always well coaches especially their CBs but I think they just switched DC. Then there is Iowa State DC, who has gotten got with the 3-3-5... which the Packers will certainly need another stud DL to run it...


I think the smart choice is to stick with Pettine at least another season... if Broncos or Titans fire their head coaches then maybe talk to see if they're interested in the job.

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Based on giving up the touchdown before halftime he should be. It's a failing of understanding the game situation and what needs to be accomplished. When GB turned the ball over near midfield and Tampa still had their timeouts, it's almost a given they'll get a FG. Giving up a TD in anyway is a disaster. Throw in other stuff like having trouble getting substitutions and MLF calling a timeout vs Jacksonville to change it from a 3 man rush to a 4 man rush, they probably need to move on. I don't think he's a bad DC but he's probably not going to help get them over the hump.

But Iowa State has done some interesting things with their 3-3-5 which is where I think football might be going and Rodgers said the Panthers and their recently college coaches ran it and it confused him at times.

I was kinda hoping they'd try some 3-3-5 stuff this year in pass situations. Preston-Z-Gary-Keke-Clark had some good pass rush juice to it.

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I was kinda hoping they'd try some 3-3-5 stuff this year in pass situations. Preston-Z-Gary-Keke-Clark had some good pass rush juice to it.

3-3-5 is fairly new and I'm sure not an expert on it, but I don't think we have the personnel for it...

It can be run on easily, unless you have really good DL, and Packers need more of that to start with without using the 3-3-5....

And what positions is Z. Smith and Gary in a 3-3-5? Are they small DL or heavy LB? I don't think you're about to drop them into coverage... so the offense knows they're coming.

But yeah, getting Gary and the Smiths in the field at the same time would be nice for pass rush situations. And Keke still has a ton to improve, but he's very athletic, and when the OL makes a mistake, he can capitalize on it.

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RobDemovsky said that #Packers DC Mike Pettine’s contract is set to expire. Not sure if it was his choice but most coaches agree to rollovers each year so they’re always in 2-year deals. No word on his status. His exit interview was today.

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RobDemovsky said that #Packers DC Mike Pettine’s contract is set to expire. Not sure if it was his choice but most coaches agree to rollovers each year so they’re always in 2-year deals. No word on his status. His exit interview was today.

If you ask me, the “rollover” was last Sunday in the NFC title game.
Hopefully they changed the locks after his “exit interview”. 🤪😂😂

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3-3-5 is fairly new and I'm sure not an expert on it, but I don't think we have the personnel for it...

It can be run on easily, unless you have really good DL, and Packers need more of that to start with without using the 3-3-5....

And what positions is Z. Smith and Gary in a 3-3-5? Are they small DL or heavy LB? I don't think you're about to drop them into coverage... so the offense knows they're coming.

But yeah, getting Gary and the Smiths in the field at the same time would be nice for pass rush situations. And Keke still has a ton to improve, but he's very athletic, and when the OL makes a mistake, he can capitalize on it.

Yeah that's why I said I just liked the idea of using it in pass situations. Seems like you'd need a stud ILB with some serious covers skills to run it full time.

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Packers Defense
Total Yards : 9th
Rushing Yards : 13th
Passing Yards : 7th
Points Against: 13th
Opponent Team Passer Rating : 12th
3rd Down PCT : 10th
Red Zone : 8th
Sacks/Pass Attempt : 8th
Goal To Go : 4th

The numbers are adequate but alone don't mean much. If the Reggie defense put up stats like this we would be freaking out. If the pitiful Jags team of this past season had them we would say the HC and DC are geniuses. 
All in all they did a decent job and were peaking at the end of the year. The run defense wasn't a sieve like last year although there were times when they lost the battle. I don't mind not bringing Pettine back if the front office feels they can improve. Just like they do with any players on the team.

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There were also free plays for 12 men on the field.

I'd be ok if he was replaced, but that's up to Matt. This defense does get stops when we need them, pretty often. Get some DTs. CBs who can hang onto INTs.

Would we want a young up and coming guy or an old hand who has experience? Pettine is experienced, seen it all.

I think Pettine has proven he's at least adequate against the run.

If they could hang on to the ball they would be WRs. 🤣

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Were Kevin Kings screw ups because of where the coach told him to be? Or was that all on King? That’s a question I’d like to see the answer to. That would help me in deciding who to hold accountable.
The yanking of the Jersey, for all to see, that’s 100% on King. A high schooler knows not to do that.
You take a guy like Alexander, who shines on the field, and on the other side you have a guy like King that constantly misses making plays.
You need to cut King and get someone that has more talent to take his place. He’s too consistent in his screwing up.
Any QB that has half a brain will pick on him, as the obvious weak link. Which Brady did.

So....who gets held accountable? Was it “just” a lack of talent, or also coaching? I don’t think any of us know enough facts to decide.

No need to cut him. His contract is over. The question becomes do they re-sign him. (Probably not.) If not who do they replace him with? A high priced free agent is not in the budget. A lower priced FA is no better than he is and doesn't know the scheme so it will take time. A draft pick will take even more time to get to the place where he is better than King was this year. All options have drawbacks. There are only 3-4 CBs like Alexander in the league. Most are closer to King in ability. Some of his pluses are size and speed. That doesn't come around all the time.

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Personally, I like Pettine and the memories of all the years of defensive crapiness we had before he became our DC (going back to before Capers). I'm hoping Pettine comes back again and we're not having to start over from scratch on D.

They could do worse. Much worse.

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This team is often one of the worst when it comes to paying the Defensive side of the ball. I think 2020 was the first time they were in the top 10 in a long time. It is hard to have a great D when all the salary cap is spent on O. Especially when you miss as often as we have on top Defensive draft picks.

Defense spending by cap
Year Rank #players Cap $ Average Cap %
2020 7 24 $78,183,236 $3,257,635 38.34%
2019 22 22 $53,619,373 $2,437,244 27.21%
2018 32 21 $26,876,613 $1,279,839 14.84%

GB has not invested much in terms of cap dollars on the defense but they have invested more in terms of draft capital in the 1st round Clark, Gary, Alexander and Savage. Offense only 2 (Rodgers and Love.)

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