The Green Bay Packers offense is coming off a sound performance against the Chicago Bears in the season opener, but this young unit is in store for a tougher challenge in Week 2.
“We are going to have a more difficult challenge in front of us,” said Matt LaFleur on Wednesday. “Just some of the things Atlanta does, they’re a very aggressive defense.”
In Week 1 against Carolina, the Falcons held the Panthers to just 10 points and 3.9 yards per play. For some context, the Houston Texans ranked worst in yards per play during the 2022 season at 4.7. Atlanta also came away with three turnovers and held Carolina to just 5-for-16 on third and fourth downs.
Although it’s worth noting that this was Bryce Young’s first career NFL start as a rookie, Sunday was a dominant performance by the Falcons’ defense. The Packers believe Atlanta can create havoc up front and in the secondary.
“I think they are very good up front and can generate a lot of pressure,” added LaFleur, “and they’re going to challenge you on the perimeter.”
The Falcons defensive front posted an impressive 28 pressures against Carolina, according to PFF, and are led by interior defender Grady Jarrett, who recorded a team-high six pressures. In the run game, the Falcons ranked 10th last week in ESPN’s run-stop win rate metric.
The secondary is led by safety Jessie Bates, who had all three takeaways this past Sunday. As ESPN’s Dan Orlovsky pointed out, as a defense, Atlanta does a very good job of using a variety of personnel and a lot of movement, which makes it hard to decipher. If we rewind back to the Packers’ joint practices against New England, the Patriots used similar tactics – along with blitzing – that made things challenging for Jordan Love and the Green Bay offense.
“Jessie is a really good safety for them,” said Love on Wednesday. “He’s a ball hawk. The numbers he had last week, the two interceptions, the forced fumble. So he’s a ball hawk. He’s a really good player. He’s a very instinctual player. He plays on the quarterback’s eyes, and that’s how he makes plays. Definitely a guy we have to be looking out for and know where he’s at at all times.”
For the Packers, as always, any potential success starts in the trenches with finding success on the ground and keeping Love clean in the pocket. While the offensive line performed well in pass protection against Chicago, they did struggle in the run game with missed blocks and lean running lanes, resulting in only 2.9 yards per carry.
Interior pressure is the quickest way to wreck any play, and the Falcons have the potential to create that with Jarrett in the middle, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Packers lean a little bit more on the quick passing game in an effort to get the ball out of Love’s hands quickly.
To combat the Falcons’ late movement and disguised coverages, the heavy utilization of motion can help combat that. In Week 1, the Packers ranked fifth in pre-snap motion rate. Green Bay’s versatility and speed on offense are also going to be key factors, helping to create mismatches and making it difficult for the Atlanta defense to decipher what’s taking place, not to mention that they put a lot on tape Week 1 from a personnel and run scheme standpoint, which means the Falcons have to game plan for a wide variety of looks and plays.
If step one is putting together a sound performance (check) then step two is building upon that so that level of play becomes the norm and not the outlier. The Falcons are going to present additional challenges for the Packers this week, but the Green Bay offense can also reciprocate and do the same for the Atlanta defense.