As training camp comes to a close, the Green Bay Packers begin the preseason on Saturday with a game against the Cleveland Browns. With a young team, new free agent signs, and a new coach, the Green Bay Packers defense will be the most important aspect of the game.
Jordan Love and Green Bay’s best offensive weapons won’t play much, putting the focus on defense. Love was knocked to the ground near the end of Thursday’s practice despite wearing a red jersey that didn’t allow physical contact. He seemed OK, but the Packers will have to protect him heavily until the regular season begins on Sept. 6, so he and Josh Jacobs will play limited roles in Saturday’s game.
Christian Watson also avoided a knee injury during Thursday’s practice, but he and all of the team’s other receivers are healthy. The players lower in the rankings will get the most playing time as Sean Clifford throws the ball to them.
Therefore, the defense will show us much more than the offense as the game progresses.
The second reason the defense is the most important unit to watch is because of the new young members we get to see play. Edgerrin Cooper, Ty’Ron Hopper, Javon Bullard, and Xavier McKinney are all new faces on this defense who will get a lot of playing time this season. We’ve all heard great things about them in practice, but now we get to see how they fit together as a unit during a game.
Cooper, Hopper and Bullard are all rookies, so the coaching staff will want to get them as many playing times as possible before the regular season begins.
Pay attention to the speed during the game.
Speed is the most important factor in a defense. With a fast pass rush, the quarterback has no time to wait in the pocket for a play to develop. A skilled linebacker unit will stop running plays faster and closer to the line of scrimmage. It also allows the linebackers to stay with the tight ends longer when they drop into coverage. A secondary with speed allows for tighter, closer coverage. It will also make quicker plays on the ball, leading to turnovers.
The average time it took quarterbacks to throw the ball after the snap was about 2.5 seconds in 2023. Any time the Packers force a Browns quarterback out of the pocket or pressure or sack him, you should count how long that takes. If he throws the ball in less than 2 or 2.5 seconds after the snap or has to move in that amount of time, that’s a sign the pass rush is ready for the season. Speed should be a major factor in this defense, as many of Green Bay’s defensive players are young players in their first years and many of them come from SEC schools where that’s a top priority.
New defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is the third and final reason to pay attention to the defense on Saturday.
Over the last 15 years, the Packers’ defense has not been particularly good; Hafley is their fourth coordinator in the last eight years. Any change at that position affects how the entire defense functions. It will be interesting to see how Hafley’s defense will differ from Joe Barry’s.
We all know that Hafley will primarily use a 4-2-5 defense. This allows him to have six players – four linemen and two linebackers – in the box to play the pass rush and stop the run while maintaining a nickel secondary of five defensive backs playing the pass. With a 4-2-5 formation, half the defense can play running plays while the other half can play passing plays.
Ultimately, the fundamentals will determine the success of Green Bay’s defense. Will the defenders commit stupid penalties or will they break their blocks in time and make a good tackle?
Poor fundamentals have cost the Packers defense a lot in the past, and if they can land clean shots, play the ball at the highest level and stay disciplined, that will bode well for the future.
