Before this gets merged with the defensive thread. A couple of things about the Packers defense. First. They get more interceptions than any other team. Second. Only 4 teams gave up more passing TD's than the Packers, the Vikings, Raiders, Bills and Bucs. The Packers are 19th in rushing TDs giving up and 19th in total points given up. They give up 6.3 yards per play on defense. Tied for worst in the league. The best thing about the Packers D is that they have come up with some well timed turnovers to help win games. But ask yourself this. Do you really want to count on them getting a turnover to win the game?
The Defense.... a wall ...but not an impervious one. Pickett and Raji are line pluggers but don't really get a big rush on the QB. The Packers have not had a dominating middle linebacker in years. Barnett was, and is small and slow for his size. Hawk is undersized and not particularly strong. Add a
DOMINANT player in the middle (and I'm not saying they grow on trees...) ...and the Packers are all together different. Part of the reason that the Green Bay Secondary is much maligned is that offenses seem to get all day to protect the passer and pick out receivers when they ultimately
DO get open. Other offenses have figured out that Clay Matthews is the only good rusher we have. Block him...and the QB gets loads of time to pick apart the Secondary.
Our only loss was a TEAM loss, but the Defense probably had the
WORSE day. KC, for November and December had point totals of 3, 10, 3, 9, 10, 10, 19 (G.B.), 13, and 7. For the last 2 months of the season KC averaged 8.125 points (not including the GB game. Aaron had an OFF day but GB still scored 13 points. That should be enough most times against a team as weak as KC. But I din't think the game was that close. KC seemed to be able to move the ball whenever they needed to.
And that's a shame.
Only one team comes out of the playoffs unbeaten.......and I really
DO hope it's GB.
If it isn't ...... I wouldn't be surprised if we don't do a whole lot of talking about the Defense over the Winter.