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How does a Green Bay Packers defense with eight first-round picks on it improve in 2023? If you ask Kenny Clark, it starts with better tackling and holding up against the run.
When it was all said and done, the Packers’ defense in 2022 allowed 5.0 yards per rush, which ranked 28th in the NFL, and by Football Outsiders’ all-encompassing DVOA metric, Green Bay ranked 31st in run defense.
When an offense is able to find success running the ball on early downs, it keeps them ahead of the sticks, which then opens up the playbook, and for defenses, it becomes much more difficult to diagnose what’s coming next. Then, in an effort to slow the run game, defenses may put more defenders near the line of scrimmage, thus making them more susceptible to the passing game. These are just a few of the negative trickle-down effects that happen to a defense.
On the flip side, when Green Bay was able to contain an opponent’s rushing attack, it put the offense in predictable third-and-long situations. This allowed the pass rush to pin its ears back and for the secondary to play more aggressively. It’s not a coincidence that when the Packers’ defense was playing its best football at the end of the season, they were also doing a much better job of slowing the run.
In spurts here and there, the Packers’ defense has shown that they can slow the run, but what they are lacking is consistency. When run game coordinator Jerry Montgomery was asked on Wednesday what makes a good run defender, he said it all comes down to a player’s mindset.
“It’s a mindset,” said Montgomery. “At the end of the day, it’s a mindset. We had a great conversation in our room a couple of weeks ago. We are watching Kenny do it, and then we are watching other guys try to do it, and they’re being taught the same thing, but it’s in the mindset in which you do it. Kenny is trying to knock your head off across from you every single time while these other guys are just trying to the technique.”
“When it clicks for them,” added Montgomery, “you go back and watch TJ Slaton against the Minnesota Vikings here, and him pick up a 300-pound center and put him five yards back down there on the goal line and then grab the running back by the back of the neck and yank him down. That’s a mindset, he can do that every single time, but he has to make that decision. My job is to hold them accountable every single day, make sure they’re working and playing to that ability, but when they get into the game, I can’t hold their hand.”
The Packers have no shortage of pass rush options on the roster along the interior defensive line, but how they will balance that playing time with the need for early down run stoppers remains to be seen.
I went into greater detail on this topic here, but in short, Green Bay has Slaton as their run-stuffer, along with Clark, who can make an impact, but it’s not as if Clark can play every defensive snap either. If he’s out there on rushing downs, at some point, he will be off the field on passing downs.
Given the makeup of the current interior defensive line room, Devonte Wyatt, who still has to develop his run defense technique, according to Clark, is going to have to step up on those early downs. Rookies Colby Wooden and Karl Brooks are likely to primarily be pass rush options early on, although perhaps with their versatility, the Packers line them up at defensive end on first and second downs to help set the edge.
Although the defensive front is the first line of defense, stopping the run takes a collective effort from all 11 defenders. Edge rushers need to contain the ball carriers, not letting them bounce outside, while linebackers and safeties need to shed blocks and fill run gaps, along with sound tackling being a must from everybody. For the Green Bay defense, all the above are areas where they will have to be better in 2023.
“Consistently across the board, the front seven has to be better,” said Montgomery. “From the front to the backers and even the third-level guys that eventually have to fit and come help us, we have to all be on the same page. When we are fitting a run, we have to know who we are looking at, and even if we are playing certain personnels against personnel we might not necessarily always line up against, we have to do a great job of knowing what our job is, what our key is, how we see it, and how we trigger it, so we all fit on the same page.
“We got to be better, across the board, point blank. I’ve got to be better and get my guys to play to that standard, but it takes 11. We got to be physical at the point of attack, build a wall, stay square, but we do, second level and third level have to do the same. So we have to put it all together, and we plan on doing that.”
When the defense is able to contain the run, of course, every player on that side of the ball benefits, but oftentimes so will the Green Bay offense. A bottled-up run game leads to third and longs and puts the ball back in the Packers’ hands, either via a punt or perhaps a turnover in a predictable passing situation. In the red zone, it could mean holding the opponent to a field goal rather than giving up a touchdown.
On Tuesday, defensive coordinator Joe Barry discussed the importance of the defense being better situationally. For a Packers team that most likely has a small margin for error in 2023, those handful of plays throughout a game that provide the offense with an extra possession or two from a defensive stop or hold an opponent to three points instead of seven could be the difference between a win and a loss when you don’t have a four-time MVP at quarterback able to erase those mistakes. And as Clark said, all of that begins with being a better tackling and run defense unit.