If the Green Bay Packers defense can’t slow the Las Vegas Raiders run game in Week 5, then there might be little hope that this unit turns things around this season.
The Raiders are struggling mightily to run the ball this season despite having Josh Jacobs, who is averaging only 2.7 yards per rush on 62 attempts. As a team, Las Vegas is averaging only 3.0 yards per carry this season, tied for the lowest average in football with Tampa Bay. The offensive line unit ranks 23rd in ESPN’s run-block win rate metric. Overall, the Raiders rank 32nd in run offense DVOA.
Green Bay, however, has allowed 200-plus rushing yards in two of their last three games. In those games, Atlanta and Detroit bullied the Packers on the ground and ultimately controlled the game, dominating the number of plays ran and the time of possession in both instances. As a defense, Green Bay is allowing 4.5 yards per rush, which ranks 23rd, and they rank 29th in run-stop rate.
“That’s something I’ve definitely have gone back the last 72 hours and looked at,” said Joe Barry on Monday. “We had some time. I went back and looked at all four games and it’s not one thing that you can pinpoint. I just went back again this morning and watched all 42 runs from Thursday night and it’s not one thing. It’s one thing on this play, it’s another thing on this play. You have 30 runs that you play really well. It’s a number of things but we’ve got to correct it, we will correct it.
“We’re exploring everything right now. When we’re in one of those games, we have to put our foot down and stop it. It wasn’t obviously good enough Thursday night.”
Following the Packers’ performance against Detroit, Matt LaFleur said that they would look at everything when it comes to their struggling run defense. More specifically, LaFleur was referring to the team’s defensive philosophy and breaking away from the defensive shell they play with over the top to limit the explosive passing play.
At the end of the day, Joe Barry is responsible for the performance of his unit. In LaFleur’s words, the defense has to be less “rigid.” The fact that the same issues are still persisting with many of the same root causes after all this time is worrisome, to say the least. But with that said, the players have to perform better as well. There have been missed tackles, an inability to get off blocks, and running lanes not being filled.
“When you’re in the type of game like that, you do have to be able to do something structurally just from a system standpoint,” said Barry. “And we can and we will. When we’re in those situations, we have to do it. Those are all things we’re working through right now because every game’s different. You’re not going to defend 40 runs in every game, but when you’re in a game like that, you’ve got to be able to have an answer. It’s my job to give our players an answer, and we will moving forward.”
The added challenge that the Raiders can present the Packers is that Jacobs is not the only star player the defense has to worry about. Of course, old friend Davante Adams will be lining up at receiver. As a defense, you can’t take away both the pass and the run on the same play. You have to pick and choose.
For Barry, based on what we’ve seen during his tenure, his natural instinct as a playcaller may be to play with that cover-2 shell to try to limit Adams beating his defense downfield. However, that specific coverage is susceptible to the run. So does Barry try to limit Adams’ impact – a difficult task as it is – and trust his run defense against a poor rushing offense? Or does he make sure to take away Jacobs and live with what Adams might do in the passing game? This is the game of cat and mouse that offensive and defensive coordinators compete in each week.
“With Jacobs their back,” added Barry, “that’s what every offense is searching for. Someone that gives you an issue in the passing game, and then they can counterbalance with someone handing the ball off to. But that’s week-in and week-out life in the NFL. It’ll be a great challenge this week with two really good players.”
It’s really now or never for the Green Bay run defense. Coming off a Thursday night game, they’ve had extra time to diagnose their issues and prepare for this matchup that also happens to be against one of the least efficient rushing offenses in football. If they can’t slow the Raiders run game, then there’s likely little hope that they figure it out at any point this season.