Even with Green Bay Packers star edge rusher Rashan Gary on a snap count during the team’s Week 1 matchup with the Chicago Bears, Gary was still able to dominate and leave his mark on the game.
Gary was on the field during only obvious passing situations, specifically third-and-longs where he could simply go and get after Justin Fields—which is exactly what he did. According to PFF, Gary played only 12 total snaps, 10 of which came on pass rush downs, but yet he was able to generate a whopping five pressures, the second-highest total on the team behind only Devonte Wyatt.
Obviously, this is a very small sample size and isn’t sustainable, but for some perspective, Gary’s win rate as a pass rusher of 44.4 percent was the best among edge rushers in Week 1. Also, despite playing only 12 total snaps, his five pressures were the fourth-highest total by any edge defender.
Gary hit Fields in the arm and forced an incompletion on one pass-rush. He also had a negated sack after the Packers were penalized for too many men on the field.
It wasn’t only Gary who was able to get after the quarterback, but basically the entire Packers’ defensive front did as well. PFF credited the Packers with 36 pressures against the Bears—a massive amount. Fields was under pressure on over 50 percent of his total dropbacks. As already mentioned, Wyatt led the team in pressures with six, while Lukas Van Ness also had five, along with Colby Wooden and Kenny Clark each having four.
Overall, the depth of the defensive front, both at edge rusher and along the interior, is much deeper than it was last season, not to mention that this group is playing a lot faster as well and using more post-snap movement, specifically stunts, to help drum up some pressure.
Without Gary for the second half of last season, as was evident, his presence was sorely missed. The Packers struggled to generate steady pressure on the quarterback during the second-half of the year, ranking 22nd in total pressures created in 2022. They also continued to struggle against the run – an area where Gary was quite stout – ranking as one of the worst in both yards per carry allowed and DVOA.
“When we lost him last year, we didn’t just lose the dominant, game-changing player – we lost his work ethic,” said defensive coordinator Joe Barry last week. “We lost just his mindset that he brings every single day.
“When you miss that, when you lose that, you not only lose the player, but you lose the leader. You lose that emotional leader, that grit leader that he brings to us every single day.”
Along with constantly getting after Fields on Sunday, the Packers ate their vegetables, so to speak, on early downs by holding up very well against the run, limiting the Chicago running backs to only 3.3 yards per carry. This then put the Bears offense in passing situations, allowing Gary and the rest of the defensive front to pin their ears back.
Gary was activated off the PUP list a few weeks ago and has been back at practice in a limited capacity since then. It is unknown at this time how long he will be on a pitch count, but as the Packers frequently do with injuries, my guess is that they will take it day-to-day and go from there.