wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member Topic Starter
2 years ago

Safety Darnell Savage has reemerged in a new role under defensive coordinator Joe Barry.

Two months ago, Green Bay Packers  defensive coordinator Joe Barry stated that safety Darnell Savage would be an “unbelievable”  nickelback. With 2022 in the rearview and redemption on the horizon, Barry and Savage had a successful start to 2023 when the former first-round pick was plugged into the slot position, full-time, for the first time in two seasons.


Prior to last Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings , the Packers’ primary nickel was either Rasul Douglas — who is now starting at outside cornerback in place of the injured Eric Stokes — or Keisean Nixon — who was limited to just three special teams snaps vs Minnesota as the potential All-Pro returner was still battling through a groin injury. Enter Savage.


Savage has gone through a rollercoaster of a season. Struggling as a tackler, he was benched in Week 12 against the Philadelphia Eagles  after starting 57 of 57 available games in his Packers career as a safety. He then eventually replaced his own replacement, Rudy Ford, mid-game against the Miami Dolphins  in Week 16. This Vikings game was set to be the first start for the former first-round pick, whose fifth-year option for 2023 was already picked up by Green Bay , since he was handed back the reigns.






The Packers’ nickel defense vs Minnesota.




Based on Acme Packing Company’s charting of the game, Savage played 35 of 41 slot snaps available before the Packers pulled their starters. The reason that both Savage (45) and Ford (50) got so many defensive snaps last week , their first time over a significant period of play, was that Ford came off the bench in these nickel sets to play high safety for the displaced Savage.






#Vikings  RT Brian O'Neill's injury occured on the Darnell Savage pick six. Hustling like crazy to try and get the tackle and he pulls up. pic.twitter.com/KDn2PuRJ9g 
— Luke Braun (@LukeBraunNFL) January 2, 2023 








The slot alignment is where Savage made his pick-six against the Vikings. Lined up in coverage against receiver Adam Thielen, Savage was able to react to a broken-up pass and put six points on the board.








The other six slot snaps in the game went to fellow safety Innis Gaines, who played the slot when starting safety Adrian Amos was asked to play an inside linebacker role in the Packers’ nickel set out of dime (six defensive back) personnel. With Amos at linebacker and Gaines in the slot, Ford and Savage played the high safety positions together.


The deployment of those four safeties allowed Green Bay to play receiver Justin Jefferson, who had nine receptions for 184 yards and two touchdowns against the Packers in Week 1, with specific guidelines on crucial downs. If Jefferson was an outside receiver, Green Bay would typically play “cloud coverage” toward him — meaning that a cornerback would play a shallow zone to him with a safety playing a deeper zone over the top of him. If Jefferson lined up in the slot, the Packers often ran a bracket coverage, exhausting two players to double-cover him in man-to-man.


The result? Green Bay was up 41-3 before they swapped in their second-team defense against the Vikings midway through the fourth quarter on Sunday. Minnesota quarterback Kirk Cousins completed just 16 of 29 (55 percent) passes against the starting defense for 149 yards (5.1 yards per pass), three interceptions and two sacks.


The question now is if this was a game-planned solution for Jefferson or if the Packers will continue this strategy versus the Detroit Lions  in Week 18 and potentially the postseason. Again, Nixon was the team’s starting slot until he was injured, so it’s uncertain if his return to the defensive side of the ball would push Savage back to full-time safety and Ford to the bench.


Either way, Green Bay’s pecking order in the secondary is otherwise clear. Outside of possibly Nixon, the Packers seem more confident in Savage in the slot right now than anyone else on the roster. Gaines currently fits in as the third slot on the depth chart behind Savage and Nixon. At safety, the next man up is Ford, but they’ll play Savage over him as long as Savage isn’t lining up in the slot.




Continue Reading @ justis.mosqueda 

justis.mosqueda wrote:



It seems to be working.
UserPostedImage
Zero2Cool
2 years ago
I really thought he'd shine starting in year three. I was hoping for that Nick Collins type morph. Glad to see the defense found a spot for him where he excels!
UserPostedImage
Fan Shout
beast (9h) : Yeah, and I enjoyed your comments and just attempted to add to it. Sorry if I did it incorrectly.
wpr (10h) : Beast I never said Henderson was the salt of the earth. Nor even that he was correct. Just quoting the guy.
Zero2Cool (13h) : What did you do??
Zero2Cool (13h) : Whoa
beast (13h) : OMG the website is now all white, even some white on white text
beast (14h) : Henderson, who admits to taking cocaine during the Super Bowl against the Steelers, might dislike Bradshaw as he lost two Superbowls to him
wpr (28-May) : Hollywood Henderson said Bradshaw “is so dumb, he couldn't spell 'cat' if you spotted him the C and an A.”
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : Cooper stock=BUY BUY BUY
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : Also notes he’s playing with more confidence.
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : @AndyHermanNFL MLF says there was a time last year where Cooper was at 220 pounds. Now he’s at 240 and still flying around.
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : And don't even get me started on Frank Caliendos "impersonations"
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : I got tired of them being circle jerks with them overlaughing at each others jokes.
Zero2Cool (28-May) : It used to be must watch TV for me. now it's "meh" maybe to hear injury update
Mucky Tundra (28-May) : I haven't watched the pregame shows in years and I don't feel like I've missed a thing
Zero2Cool (28-May) : Love says knee affected him all season, groin injury didn't help matters.
Zero2Cool (28-May) : I used to enjoy him on FOX Pregame. Now it's like a frat party of former Patriots.
Zero2Cool (28-May) : LaFleur on Watson: “Christian is doing outstanding. I would say he’s ahead of schedule.”
Martha Careful (28-May) : Bradshaw is a dumb ass cracker. I am so tired of his "aw shucks" diatribe. He should shrivel up and go away.
buckeyepackfan (28-May) : He wad all butt hurt because Aaron duped the media saying he was immunized.
buckeyepackfan (28-May) : Bradshaw needs to retire. He's been ripping on Rodgers ever since the covid crap. He was all hury
Zero2Cool (28-May) : Terry Bradshaw doesn't want Rodgers in Pittsburgh lol wow
Zero2Cool (27-May) : one day contract, which he also feels is pointless, but if Packers came to him, he would
packerfanoutwest (27-May) : Aaron Rodgers talks possibility of retiring with Packers, just another rumor
dfosterf (27-May) : Go watch 2001
Zero2Cool (26-May) : 1984
dfosterf (26-May) : That movie sent a chill through many. 1968.
dfosterf (26-May) : "Open the pod bay doors, HAL"
buckeyepackfan (25-May) : Haven't we all seen thus movie? It doesn't end well!! Lol
Zero2Cool (25-May) : lol Anthropic’s new AI model turns to blackmail when engineers try to take it offline
dfosterf (25-May) : Claude Opus 4
dfosterf (25-May) : AI system resorts to blackmail when its developers threaten to take it offline
beast (22-May) : Colts Owner Jim Irsay has passed away
Zero2Cool (21-May) : Well, emailing should work now. After not working for almost a year. Oops.
Zero2Cool (21-May) : Brotherly Shove did not get enough votes.
Zero2Cool (20-May) : lol our email hasn't worked in months. 7 pages of unverified users
Zero2Cool (20-May) : MySpace Screaming Lord Byron ... Brett Favre.
Zero2Cool (19-May) : Packers have signed first-round pick Matthew Golden, leaving second-round tackle Anthony Belton as their only unsigned draft pick
beast (19-May) : Supposedly he has to take his image, and name off of it... but otherwise could keep selling wine if he wanted to.
Zero2Cool (19-May) : he giving up his win business?
beast (19-May) : Speaking of Woodson, sounds like he'll be a minority owner (0.1%) of the Browns
Mucky Tundra (15-May) : Zero, regarding Woodson, that'd why I find the timing with Williams peculiar
dfosterf (15-May) : Ryan Hall y'all does a great job of tracking thesr
Zero2Cool (15-May) : Fear not!! I planned to do 33mi bike ride tomorrow morning, so ... yeah
Zero2Cool (15-May) : We got some dark clouds and nasty winds right bout now.
Zero2Cool (15-May) : Madison they had hail 4pm.
dfosterf (15-May) : Sure looks like these tornadoes are headed towards Green Bay
Zero2Cool (15-May) : Woodson of Charles fame was reluctant and then loved it. that didn't really come out until post career
Mucky Tundra (15-May) : IE "We bought into the Bears and they let us down, we have no choice to seek alternatives"
Mucky Tundra (15-May) : Or that Williams and his family are preparing an exit ramp if they don't like how things are going in a few years
Mucky Tundra (15-May) : Either Williams thought it would make him look good (reluctant but then embraces the city and franchise)
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2025 Packers Schedule
Sunday, Sep 7 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Thursday, Sep 11 @ 7:15 PM
COMMANDERS
Sunday, Sep 21 @ 12:00 PM
Browns
Sunday, Sep 28 @ 7:20 PM
Cowboys
Sunday, Oct 12 @ 3:25 PM
BENGALS
Sunday, Oct 19 @ 3:25 PM
Cardinals
Sunday, Oct 26 @ 7:20 PM
Steelers
Sunday, Nov 2 @ 12:00 PM
PANTHERS
Monday, Nov 10 @ 7:15 PM
EAGLES
Sunday, Nov 16 @ 12:00 PM
Giants
Sunday, Nov 23 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Thursday, Nov 27 @ 12:00 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 7 @ 12:00 PM
BEARS
Sunday, Dec 14 @ 3:25 PM
Broncos
Friday, Dec 19 @ 11:00 PM
Bears
Friday, Dec 26 @ 11:00 PM
RAVENS
Saturday, Jan 3 @ 11:00 PM
Vikings
Recent Topics
17h / Green Bay Packers Talk / Martha Careful

27-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

27-May / Random Babble / Martha Careful

24-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

24-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

23-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / greengold

23-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / earthquake

22-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

22-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / bboystyle

21-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / greengold

21-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / earthquake

20-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

19-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

19-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / Zero2Cool

16-May / Green Bay Packers Talk / dfosterf

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2025 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.