Zero2Cool
2 years ago

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GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry brought something back from London that didn’t require a trip through Customs.

A change in defensive tactics.

Barry’s talented defense had been exposed as a passive, underperforming unit during a 27-22 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday. The Giants scored three touchdowns and two field goals over a span of five series to rally from a 17-3 deficit.

“We had 8 hours to think about it on that plane coming home from London,” Barry said after practice on Thursday.

Through five games, the Packers rank 11th with 19.2 points allowed per game and fifth in total defense with 303.4 yards allowed per game. From that perspective, Barry’s unit has been good.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind it’s a special group and it’s an elite group,” Barry said.

But there was nothing special or elite about the defense’s play. The Packers hadn’t beaten even a decent offense. In Week 3 at Tampa Bay, the Packers escaped with a victory against a team that was missing its left tackle and three marquee receivers. In Week 4 against New England, the Packers needed overtime to beat a rookie third-string quarterback. In Week 5, they couldn’t stop the Giants’ injury-plagued offense.

Moreover, they’re bad against the run (22nd in yards per carry), bad in the secondary (32nd in passes defensed), bad at creating takeaways (26th), bad on crossing routes (32nd) and bad in the red zone (21st).

There was an enormous disconnect between talent and performance. Barry’s bend-but-don’t-break approach was broken. A day after the London debacle and having to quickly turn the page to Sunday’s game against a Jets team that had just scored 40 vs. Miami, coach Matt LaFleur said he wanted the team’s talented cornerbacks – 2020 All-Pro Jaire Alexander, 2021 Pro Bowl alternate Rasul Douglas and 2021 first-round pick Eric Stokes – to play more aggressively. Belatedly, perhaps, Barry agreed.

“Absolutely, and I think we have the guys who can do it,” he said. “I think every situation’s different. We’re not just going to go play bump-and-run, press-man coverage every snap. That’s not the system that we run. But we do have to pick our spots and we do have to be much more aggressive at times when we can be. I think we have an elite, special group that can go get after people and go challenge people and get in their face and be aggressive. And we need to do that.”

The need is obvious, because on no planet should a secondary this talented be performing this poorly. Through five games, the Packers have allowed a league-worst 72.9 percent completion rate with one interception and seven passes defensed. Through the first five games of last season, the Packers allowed a 62.9 percent completion rate with six interceptions and 20 passes defensed.

Alexander is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Why is he playing 10 yards off a practice-squad receiver, as was the case on a second-and-19 vs. the Giants? Stokes is one of the fastest players in the NFL? Why is he playing so far off his man?

“We’ve looked long and hard at that this week that being able to allow our guys to be aggressive and go get in people’s face,” Barry said. “I think we have the guys to be able to do that and we can do that and we will do that moving forward.”

Aggressiveness might not be the only change. To get Alexander, Stokes and Douglas on the field, Barry moved Douglas into the slot. Is that the right place for him after he had five interceptions in 12 games last season? If not, should Alexander move into the slot? Or even safety Darnell Savage? Should that role be based on matchups rather than being set in stone, as it has been?

“Nickels or safeties, they’ve got to be a little bit more physical. They’ve got to tackle. Jaire can do it all,” Barry said. “He … not only can cover, he can run, he can hit, he can tackle. He can be a phenomenal nickel corner if we choose to put him in there. There’s not many places in the secondary that Ja could not play.”

While the defense might have spun its collective wheels to start the season, at least there’s time to adapt. The Packers are 3-2 and a game behind Minnesota for first place in the NFC North. There are 12 games left, starting Sunday against the Jets.

“We’ve got a ton of football left to play,” Barry said. “We’ve got a great group of guys. We learn from every single experience that we go through, and we learned a lot. We had 8 hours to think about it on that plane coming home from London. The guys bounced back. We had a phenomenal day yesterday and a phenomenal day today. I’ve told you guys this before, it’s a great group to work with because they’re resilient as hell and they come back to work every single day excited, wanting to get coached. That’s where we’re at right now. Can’t wait for Friday.”

And if Barry’s words are gospel, his players probably can’t wait for Sunday.

Continue Reading @ Sports Illustrated 

Sports Illustrated wrote:



Main take aways from that press conference.

[list]
  • Asked if it's a good use of Jaire Alexander to have him play off coverage 50 times in a game, #Packers DC said no, even though he calls the coverages. He said it will change. Alexander and other corners will be allowed to play more aggressively. "We will do that moving forward."
  • Rasul back to outside, maybe Jaire in the slot
  • More Press Coverage
  • More aggressive mentality[/list]

  • I know there will be some bumps. I do think this will be better moving forward. Let's see it Sunday.
    UserPostedImage
    yooperfan
    2 years ago
    Sorry gang but I ain't buying into any of Barry's spiel.
    I've heard enough "coach speak" over the years and not seen much of it come to fruition.
    We will more than likely see much of the same old shit.
    Barry has to go!
    Pronto!!
    Zero2Cool
    2 years ago

    Sorry gang but I ain't buying into any of Barry's spiel.
    I've heard enough "coach speak" over the years and not seen much of it come to fruition.
    We will more than likely see much of the same old shit.
    Barry has to go!
    Pronto!!

    Originally Posted by: yooperfan 



    You didn't even read it. You didn't even hear his conference. It was not coach speak. Could he have walked out of there saying 'these fooks don't know crap', sure. It sure as heck wasn't coach speak.

    I'm not saying we're going to see a completely different defense vs Jets. I'm saying he's acknowledging what most of us are seeing. That takes humility. It'll be interesting to see what differences are made over the next few games.

    Edit, I want to make it clear, I'm not defending Joe Barry's tenure with the Packers here. Listening to him talk it is very hard to feel motivated to run through a wall for the guy. He also speaks somewhat condescending.
    UserPostedImage
    beast
    2 years ago
    I haven't read this article, but I did see his speech, as I stated in shout. After watching it, I had a lot more faith in him as a coach, but less faith in him as an in-game play call adjuster.

    He reminded me of me (and in the context of needing quick decisions, that's not a good thing)... he seems like what he can sit back and think about something, he's great at strategy, but when you need quick/instant changes and calls on a moment notice, he's going to play it safe with only very small adjustments.

    And small adjustments in general is smart... EXCEPT when the other teams knows you'll only do this, they can and will exploit this... because if we've picked up on this, you can be sure a lot of NFL coaches studying the Packers have too...


    So the offense can make a huge adjustment, and the defensive coordinator won't make a huge adjustment... that's a huge time period for you to do some damage.


    UserPostedImage
    yooperfan
    2 years ago

    You didn't even read it. You didn't even hear his conference. It was not coach speak. Could he have walked out of there saying 'these fooks don't know crap', sure. It sure as heck wasn't coach speak.

    I'm not saying we're going to see a completely different defense vs Jets. I'm saying he's acknowledging what most of us are seeing. That takes humility. It'll be interesting to see what differences are made over the next few games.

    Edit, I want to make it clear, I'm not defending Joe Barry's tenure with the Packers here. Listening to him talk it is very hard to feel motivated to run through a wall for the guy. He also speaks somewhat condescending.

    Originally Posted by: Zero2Cool 


    Sorry pal but I did read it.
    I did NOT hear his conference.
    I stand by my "coach speak" observation.
    I don't buy it!

    Zero2Cool
    2 years ago

    Sorry pal but I did read it.
    I did NOT hear his conference.
    I stand by my "coach speak" observation.
    I don't buy it!

    Originally Posted by: yooperfan 



    I guess I am not sure what you mean by coach speak then. 🤷‍♂️

    They were talking on radio shows yesterday an today how they are convinced Joe Barry was called into the "principals office" and that's why the transparent and refreshing answers during his press conference. Some were saying it's crazy they are excited over a Thursday conference.

    It's a stark change from what he's said up to this point. Again, as I said, we'll see how things go the next few games. I mean, they were aggressive for Buccaneers and had great success. Then next game vs Giants they went back to being passive.


    UserPostedImage
    Cheesey
    2 years ago
    Why Barry needed MLF to wake him up, is beyond me.

    It seems to me that he doesn't play to win, he plays not to lose.
    Which is a recipe to lose. Like we did in London.
    Of course only time will tell whether or not what Barry said was in fact "coach speak" meaning he's saying what he thinks the media wants to hear, or if he's really going to change and give the defense a real chance to win some games .

    I think that's what Yooperfan was saying.
    How many times have we heard coaches say "We will get it fixed", only to see nothing get fixed.
    UserPostedImage
    Zero2Cool
    2 years ago

    Why Barry needed MLF to wake him up, is beyond me.

    It seems to me that he doesn't play to win, he plays not to lose.
    Which is a recipe to lose. Like we did in London.
    Of course only time will tell whether or not what Barry said was in fact "coach speak" meaning he's saying what he thinks the media wants to hear, or if he's really going to change and give the defense a real chance to win some games .

    I think that's what Yooperfan was saying.
    How many times have we heard coaches say "We will get it fixed", only to see nothing get fixed.

    Originally Posted by: Cheesey 



    From listening to conference, sure as heck didn't seem like he was trying to appease the media at all.

    I thought the same thing about why does the DC need the HC to tell him to be aggressive? I mean, LaFleur said he was going to hire someone who was going to get the defense to rally to the ball, be aggressive, attack! Why hire Joe Barry if YOU have to tell him how to run the defense? Why not hire someone who has that nature already?

    We'll see how the next few games go. I'm not expecting wholesale changes or different results. I do expect that when you see something failing over and over and over again, you freaking try something different.
    UserPostedImage
    Cheesey
    2 years ago
    What I don't understand is why it took 5 games for Barry to get to the realization that "Duh, may be we shud tri sumthin diff-a-rent!"
    I think most of the fans on this site had come to that realization weeks ago.
    UserPostedImage
    dhazer
    2 years ago
    This team is a debacle right now you have a defensive coordinator that can't make adjustments, you have a head coach that is afraid to yell at his QB because he won't run the ball, as Rodgers has stated they need to air it out more. Until Matt gets control of this team it will not go well. Simple fix on defense you have 3 studs at CB put Alexander in the slot and let Douglas and Stokes man the outside, which they did a great job at last year. More tight coverage and blitz the crap out of the offense. The linebackers are fast enough to cover the running backs, why sit back in a damn zone where we have proven over and over again that these guys can't get the concept of handing players off thru the zone. And on offense, you tell Rodgers to run the offense right or you bench his ass and put in someone that will. Rodgers is not the Packers, even though he thinks it is. Simple fix and with that, we might split the next 6 games.

    We will still get toasted by the stampede in Buffalo.
    Just Imagine this for the next 6-9 years. What a ride it will be 🙂 (PS, Zero should charge for this)
    UserPostedImage
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