Following a 2020 season in which they made it all the way to the NFC Championship Game, and Aaron Rodgers was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player, the Packers decided to part ways with defensive coordinator Mike Pettine. Green Bay ranked 14th overall in Defensive DVOA, 15th against the pass, and 18th against the run. So, things weren’t bad, per se, but the organization decide that things could be better.
Through two games in the 2021 season, things are decidedly not better. The Packers currently rank 29th overall in Defensive DVOA, 26th against the run, and 25th against the pass. Joe Barry, Pettine’s replacement, has come under considerable fire, and it’s easy to understand why. When your defense allowed 23 touchdowns and had 11 interceptions through 18 games in 2020, and has already given up seven touchdowns to one interception through games against the Lions and Saints, the new guy is where you start.
This was amplified after Green Bay’s 35-17 Monday night win over Detroit, in which Jared Goff completed 26 of 36 passes for 246 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Head coach Matt LaFleur recently explained to local media that he had to take Barry aside and explain that Barry should pick a lane between pressure and coverage.
“You’ve got to give Detroit a lot of credit,” LaFleur said. “They came out ready to play, and I think we did make some necessary adjustments at halftime. One of the things that I talked to Joe about was, hey — either play coverage, or we have to pressure. Because when we were doing out four-man rushes, and playing man coverage behind it, we weren’t hitting. We weren’t getting to the quarterback. So, if you don’t get him off the spot — I’ve been around Jared, and he will be efficient. He’ll make the throws. So, we needed to affect the quarterback much more.”
LaFleur pushed back when asked if this was something the Packers would just have to live with this season.
“Well, I think we have enough guys up front. We have to take a good, hard look at what we ask those guys to do. Detroit’s got a pretty damned good offensive line, and we can’t discredit them. I watched it on tape, and against one of the premier defensive lines in the game of football with the 49ers, and I thought they did a damned good job. But there are things we can do to try and get home with a four-man rush.”
Barry, for his part, denied that the conversation happened at halftime, as was widely reported.
“Matt and I didn’t even talk at halftime,” Barry said, per Tom Silverstein and Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com. “You come in (to the locker room), guys go to the bathroom, you discuss some things as an offensive-defensive staff. You get in front of the players, you kind of hit some of the runs that were an issue. You hit some of the passes that were an issue and then bam, we’re right back out on the field.”
Barry also pointed to the fact that the Packers sat most of their top defensive players in the preseason.
“I don’t want to use that as an excuse. Because we made that decision, Matt and the staff, and I stand by that decision absolutely. But football is a full-speed game, and things happen fast. Not only do they happen fast, it happens physical. You’re getting hit. The weather, it might be hot. There’s a lot of things that go into that.
“I do think it takes potentially some time to get into play shape.”
However and whenever it happened, tt’s not a good time to be figuring this out. After the win over the Lions and a Week 1 loss to the Saints in which Jameis Winston was allowed to throw five touchdown passes, Barry has to test his playbook against Kyle Shanahan’s when the Packers take on the 49ers on Sunday night.