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.
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