September 25, vs New England Patriots, 27-24 OT Win. After two years of controversy surrounding Aaron Rodgers' return to Green Bay & whether he would get traded (the cap hit would've been absurd if the Packers decided to keep him with his existing contract), both sides finally got an agreement & confirmation that the Front Office intended to keep him as the QB for the time being, signing a monster extension that would make it very hard to move on from him. No one is more supportive of their players than Smith, who like Gray brings credibility from his playing career. Punter JK Scott has been a solid addition but inconsistent. They are reportedly favored to land one of the top free-agent safeties in the NFL.if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'wisportsheroics_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_3',130,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-wisportsheroics_com-medrectangle-3-0'); if(typeof ez_ad_units!='undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'wisportsheroics_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_2',152,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-wisportsheroics_com-medrectangle-4-0'); Bell has logged more than 1,000 snaps in each of the past three seasons while earning run-defense and coverage grades above 60.0 in each. Can Giants find a No. Green Bay also . All the defensive assistants, except for line coach Jerry Montgomery, had come to Green Bay to work under Pettine. That leaves Green Bay 28th in completion percentage and 26th in opponent passer rating. Although, New England would be wise to improve at outside corner. Stenavich was also the run game coordinator in 2021, and the step down from 2020 was very significant. TreDavious White will also be at 100% with a full offseason and Kaiir Elam should elevate his game in his second year. Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Once No. Pro Bowl defensive tackle Kenny Clark said its the same way in the meeting room. After shining inside the 20-yard line last year, its been a different story in 2020. I think its really meshed really well, but I think it has everything to do with the type of people they are, first and foremost.. DeMeco Ryans coming in is the first small step toward fixing the Houston Texans defense. Even with their best cornerback, Jaire Alexander, on injured reserve (shoulder), the Packers have 11 interceptions this season, which ranks tied for fifth in the NFL and matches their total from all of last season, and they rank third in the NFL in passing yards allowed. Green Bay finished third in the league in turnover differential last season at +12 after taking the ball away 25 total times. 2 cornerback Marcus Peters and its top two edge rushers to free agency. Thats when you get into trouble.. Past Draft Results; 2023 Combine Invitees; Draft Prospects; Draft Pick Signings; College . Aaron himself is also to blame, as he threw 3 Red Zone picks in what was a 6 point loss (including a severely underthrown pass to a wide open Bakhtiari). This game was the third straight week where the team allowed 27 points to very questionable offenses (Patriots with 3rd string QB, Giants with Practice Squad guys at receiver, Jets with Zach Wilson as QB). Why play in the NFL, when you can make money selling Pokemon cards. Now being 3-3, Green Bay was desperate to get some positive momentum going, and the 2-4 Commies (previously 7-10) looked like yet another opportunity for that, but we've been there before and know better than to be optimistic. Since they failed to bring back Adams as their main receiver & MVS as their deep threat, the Packers brought back RFA Allen Lazard & signed notoriously injury-prone Sammy Watkins, in hopes that he could be healthy enough to still remain a significant contributor. From 2016-2019 Bell was a member of the New Orleans Saints, but has been a member of the Cincinnati Bengals since 2020. Its been frustrating for sure, but we also dont want to get to the point where we let that affect us, where we start looking for it and we start chasing it. By signing up, you agree to the our terms and our Privacy Policy agreement. The need in Green Bay is significant. 334. LaFleur soothed the sting of getting passed over by adding passing game coordinator to Grays title. In fact, Green Bay now ranks No. Although he sat for a significant portion of the season, injury to rotational player Dean Lowry gave Wyatt a chance to get more snaps, and he showed promise during that time. Green Bay also kept NFL rushing leader Derrick Henry under 100 yards (98) for just the second time in eight games. The competence of a patchwork OL in 2021 granted him a promotion for 2022, but in retrospective it seems like the job was too big for him. With the Packers set to face high-powered Houston on Sunday, heres a look at the major areas where the defense is failing. That said, Kevin King has been a good player in the secondary and is still a starter to this day. Jim Schwartz has plenty to work with, but Schwartzs approach doesnt work without a strong defensive interior and improved play on the boundary. If Green Bay keeps going at this rate, it would finish with a remarkable decline of 41.7% in pressures. Now being 3-2, Green Bay had been "winning ugly", but it was looking like the errors were simply too many to consistently overcome. Jason Vrable (WR Coach, new Passing game Coordinator). He is originally from Superior, WI and is a die hard Packers, Badgers, Brewers, and Bucks fan! He didn't want to lose Gray because he knew how much his players adored him. Were growing. Safety Adrian Amos and defensive lineman Jarran Reed are among the. September 11, @ Minnesota Vikings, 7-23 Loss. In 2019, opposing quarterbacks completed just 59.7% of their throws against the Packers, which ranked third in the league. Transactions | Injuries Olivadottis group has made perhaps the biggest difference in the Packers defense. What do you think is Green Bays best draft class since 2011. Green Bay has taken a gigantic step back in 2020. Given Bobby Okereke is a free agent, it adds linebacker to the pressing list of needs this offseason. We begin, though, with the 2020 class, which cant be graded yet. The only TE currently under contract is Josiah Deguara, a FB hybrid meant to have a role similar to Kyle Juszczyk. Whats slowed Green Bay down time and time again has been a suspect defense. Jarran Reed was brought on as a relatively cheap veteran to play along Kenny Clark. After allowing opponents to average a 96.5 QB rating with 262.2 pass ypg and a 16-8 TD-INT line in the first 10 games, Detroit ceded a 59% completion rate 222.4 pass ypg and 10-4 TD-INT in its final seven contests. Green Bay is set at cornerback (Jaire Alexander, Eric Stokes) but safety is now a weakness and a healthy Rashan Gary isnt nearly enough of a pass rush. Join our linker program. Fans might not like Brandon Staley as a head coach, but he is one of the best defensive minds in the NFL. Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn is returning for the 2023 season, which might be the biggest offseason move for the Dallas Cowboys. 32 NFL players who could change teams this offseason, Kiper's updated NFL mock draft: Who's moving up for a QB? While OT Rasheed Walker barely had any snaps and DT Jonathan Ford didn't have any at all, S Tariq Carpenter found a role for himself on ST (being third in tackles with 7), and WR Samori Toure showed positives on a very limited sample size as receiver (5/10 for 82 yards and a 37-yard TD). Continue with Recommended Cookies. Preseason Odds: Super Bowl +1400; O/U: 10.5. Six years on, no players remain on the roster from this class. Offense has rarely been a problem in Green Bay. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. 1 receivers helps everyone else on this unit. JC Tretter is still one of the best centers in football with the Cleveland Browns. His numbers weren't amazing but he was solid, especially during the last stretch of the season. It wasnt a clean performance, but this is also a young defense. Could Bell and a high draft pick like Alabamas Brian Branch be the right mix for fixing the safety position in Green Bay? While he didnt live up to expectations as a first-round pick,Datone Jones provided good depth along the defensive line and played in 59 games. When the Minnesota Vikings pass rush couldnt create pressure, it was finished. After halftime, the Packers never scored again. The Pittsburgh Steelers defense ended the regular season with a dominant stretch, allowing just 151.1 pass ypg with 21 sacks and eight interceptions in the final seven contests. The looming Jalen Ramsey trade was a long time coming. Was this game a way for GB to return to form after a bad humiliation to open the season? By this point, with Watson concussed, Cobb still out & the team sitting at 3-5, most of us were getting used to the idea that this wouldn't be a good season, & it might even be the beginning of the end for the Rodgers era. And were going to continue to harp on that and just really, really proud of the way our players have responded., This is a BETA experience. Opposing quarterbacks also had a passer rating of 81.1, which was the sixth-best rate in football. In reality, both the defense and offense struggled at different times of the year, and that resulted in a mediocre record that wasn't good enough to make the playoffs. Z missed nearly the entire last year & ended up as a cap casualty, and even though he still had a mostly productive season with the Vikings, I think it was the right time to move on from him, especially after all the drama he spurred due to not being selected as a team captain. Micah Hyde was a rising star in Green Bay who could play just about anywhere in the secondary, and he became a Pro Bowler and All-Pro with the Buffalo Bills. Both Rodgers and Adams had high praise for Getsy, so it's very likely that his departure had a big impact on the offense. After that, Nixon got 1,009 Kick Return yards, leading the NFL and being the only player with over 1k Return yards, he also scored a 105 yard return TD in week 16 against the Vikings. The Packers are scoring just 16 points per game thus far as reigning MVP quarterback Aaron Rodgers adapts to a receiving group missing two . Theres been a turnover here, a change of possession, a sudden change and the guys are like, Were up, lets go., Where before, you could see in the past, guys heads drop and are just like, Oh here we go again. And these guys, I cant tell you what it is, but youve got no egos, youve got guys that want to win, so whatever we need to do to do it, theyre dialed in., How the Packers' gamble on a new defensive coordinator paid off, Ex-NFLer Guion sentenced for domestic violence, Out of dark, Rodgers vows decision coming soon, Predicting the 2023 starting QB for all 32 NFL teams, from the locks to the wild cards, Why the Packers' transition to Jordan Love, whenever it happens, will require patience, Packers GM noncommittal on starting QB for '23, A new home for Michael Thomas? Going back to the WR room, the Packers were unable to find a suitable replacement for Davante Adams, especially with the WR market exploding the way it did with the huge contracts guys like Hill, Kirk, Brown and Tae himself got. They have to decide this offseason whether they want to use his 5th year option (guaranteed around $20m), if they want to trade him, or if they want him to start in 2023. More NFL coverage , Everything you need this week: However, Miamis struggled to generate turnovers (12-4 TD-INT) with Byron Jones sidelined all season and Xavien Howard regressing. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. After another turnover in a game that would've been won by a FG, Amari Rodgers was threading on very thin ice as the Packers fell down to 3-4 in what was shaping up to be a losing season, as the "easy" stretch was seemingly done. QB3 Bailey Zappe wasn't forced to throw much, but went 10/15, 99 yds, 1 TD despite being sacked 3 times. Nixon was signed as CB4 at best, with his experience as a gunner in ST being a big factor that helped him get a roster spot. Coming from the Vic Fangio coaching tree, Evero oversaw one of the best pass defenses in the NFL last season. The Patriots didn't have a bellcow RB but both Damien Harris & Rhamondre Stevenson had solid production, going for 18/86/1 TD & 14/66 respectively. He was mostly consistent, & didn't have much trouble kicking in the colder months. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers have been a staple of our NFL defense rankings for years. Even when I got here, he was like, Look man, when were on that field were practicing and were going hard, but when were in meetings you chill. And I was like, All right I feel like Im comfortable and in a good spot.. There werent many better running back pairs in the NFL over the past few years. Its all happened with the football equivalent of a blended family. It seemed like Rodgers was cooked, or at least bothered enough by his injured thumb that he couldn't play at a high level, & that the team was lacking talent so badly that without elite QB play we couldn't score more than 9 points on a terrible Detroit defense. Bell's 33 defensive stops in coverage over the past three seasons are seventh most among safeties, and his 51 . Hed become an All-Pro with the Los Angeles Chargers. 5 min read. Rashan Gary, too, impressed late last season. The Packers weren't going to bring back 30-year-old Billy Turner, but the lack of a solid guy at RT was a noticeable gap during the beginning of the season. The defense stepped up majorly this week, with multiple stops & a TD (plus another one that got called back due to a weak penalty), it's a shame that the offense couldn't capitalize on the opportunities given. Dont let one game ruin Ryans reputation, he is a phenomenal coach who proved himself as a coordinator of the best NFL defense for two years. www. I think its really translated into much more success. Back in 2010, Green Bay ranked fifth in yards allowed, and thanks in large part to its defense, went on to win Super Bowl XLV. We already know how this type of game ends for GB in 2022. While Aaron Rodgers was set as the starting QB as soon as he decided to come back, it was an interesting year for Love as a project. 2 receivers and the Jets finishing with the second-highest run-stop win rate (33%) in the league, everything came together. There were some significant changes here, I'll try to be as concise as possible while going a bit more in depth in the more relevant positions. Bosa deal will 'break the entire bank' His re-hiring this offseason was possibly a move to lure Rodgers to come back, but it's also a positive for Jordan Love's development, as he needed to clean up his QB mechanics as well. The Packers were now 2-1, but with big question marks on both sides of the ball. On the other side of the ball, the defense didn't have an answer for Justin Jefferson, deciding to remain on a somewhat soft zone coverage & giving up a lot of space that JJetas and Kirk took advantage of (Kirk threw for 23/32, 277 yards, 2 TD, while Jefferson caught 9/11, 184 yards, 2 TD). Chicago Bears Key Free Agents: N/A The Chicago Bears had the worst defense in the NFL this season. Ultimately, the Eagles got Mahomesd in the Super Bowl and the San Francisco 49ers, along with so many other NFL teams, know what thats like. September 18, SNF vs Chicago Bears, 27-10 Win. Without Za'Darius Smith, who hasnt played since Week 1 because of a back injury, Gary and Preston Smith have managed to maintain the pass rush. However, Arden Key is a free-agent Jacksonville must keep and its evident the Jags need help at corner. Looking ahead to 2023, the combo of Christian Wilkins and Jaelan Phillips will be phenomenal. T.J. Watt, Cameron Heyward, Alex Highsmith and Minkah Fitzpatrick are the reason why Pittsburgh has one of the best NFL defenses in 2023. 12-14 Win. If the right additions are made at cornerback, this could be a top-5 unit. Green Bay was bullied all game by the Jets defense & they could never shake that off, and the only reason this wasn't a bigger blowout than it was is that Zach Wilson played terribly. Or write about sports? Special Teams, as usual, is a question mark for the team. Full schedule | Standings Green Bay Packers. While building around Justin Fields is a priority, the Bears defense will also be completely overhauled. However, New York ranked last in Football Outsiders Rush DVOA (11.6%) and its painfully thin at cornerback. The 1-6 Detroit Lions were the last chance for Green Bay to set things right, they had a historically bad defense & were a divisional rival that the Packers had dominated for the past few years, so it was either winning or going 3-6 in a very embarrassing way. Who has the best NFL defense in 2023? You can also reach out to McQuade Arnold via email at mcquadewarnold@gmail.com. What an embarassing loss. Rodgers saw significant pressure, but in the end was only sacked once. 129 163 29. The only other player on the Green Bay Packers roster who has spent time at the safety position is cornerback Rasul Douglas. Hes the only player in the NFL with 85-plus tackles, multiple interceptions (two) and multiple forced fumbles (two). The Packers have difference makers at every level of the defense. The Seattle Seahawks struck gold with rookie cornerbacks Tariq Woolen and Cody Bryant, who look like long-term starters. FIRST DOWNS 1ST DOWNS Rushing Passing By Penalty. Thats just, we have to. It is highly recommended that you use the latest versions of a supported browser in order to receive an optimal viewing experience. Chase Young will be more than a year removed from his ACL tear and that bodes well for the Washington Commanders defense. Like Ive been saying for weeks, were getting better and better each and every week, Packers safety Adrian Amos said. Even when Rodgers had time to throw, the receivers couldn't do anything against the defense, so TE Robert Tonyan was the leading receiver (10/12, 90 yds, longest 16 yds) followed by WR1 Allen Lazard (4/9, 76 yds, 1 TD), and Doubs struggled to get going yet again (he also went 4/9, but only for 21 yds). Neither Randall or Rollins completed their rookie deals with the Packers. Thats what great defenses do. Doubs was solid as a receiver and flashed that he could be a solid weapon behind Watson, although he didn't recover his form after a Week 9 injury that made him miss time. The San Francisco 49ers defense played outstanding football all year. On the other hand, AJ Dillon showed some regression from his 2021 season, as even though he ended with similar production it seemed like he couldn't use his strength to power through defenses (his Yards after contact per rush went down from 2.2 to 1.7), and 2023 will be the final year of his rookie contract.