Green Bay Packers: The Big Play Continues to be an Issue

The big play continues to be a persistent issue for the Green Bay Packers and at this point it just may be a part of their identity this season.

Whether it is good or bad, we are 13 weeks into the NFL season and at this point, the Green Bay Packers are who they are. And giving up big plays on defense has been a part of their identity all season long.

Bend but don’t break has been the mantra of this 2019 Packers’ defense and to their credit they’ve been very good at keeping their opponents out of the end zone once they are inside the 20 yard line. In fact, this defense gives up a red zone touchdown just 47.5 percent of the time, which ranks as the sixth fewest in all of football.

However, before opposing offenses get to that point, the Packer defense is giving up a large number of explosive plays and a lot of yards. And while the Green Bay run defense catches a lot of flack – and at times deservedly so – they actually rank in the top half of the NFL when it comes to fewest explosive runs ( runs of 20 yards or more) given up. But the passing game on the other hand, has been a different story.

This season the Green Bay Packers’ secondary has given up the seventh most plays of 20 yards or more with 46 and they are also tied with the New York Giants for the most plays of 40 or more yards allowed with 14. Not to mention that their explosive pass rate of 11 percent ranks as the fifth highest through 13 weeks.

Now the Packers have faced a number of good teams this year and giving up huge plays to Stefon Diggs or George Kittle, as they have done, is going to happen. But what is concerning is that it is happening more frequently later in the season than it did early on and of all teams, the New York Giants were able to take advantage of this flaw on Sunday.

Against a rookie quarterback in Daniel Jones, a Giants’ passing game that ranks in the bottom third of the league in average passing yards per game, while they were also missing Golden Tate and Evan Engram, New York was able to connect on plays of 43, 32, and 27 yards.

These big plays and miscommunications have contributed to a Packers’ defense that gives up nearly 377 yards per game, the fifth most in football, and 6.1 yards per play, which ranks as the fourth most. Fortunately for this defense they’ve been very opportunistic when it comes to forcing turnovers as well as coming away with key sacks which has allowed them to come up with the big stops more times than not.

A few days ago when defensive coordinator Mike Pettine was asked about these issues, his response could best be summed up in two words: consistency and communication.

"“It’s been frustrating,” Pettine said in his press conference. “Every game we play well for stretches and we can be dominant for stretches. You look at the first 20 plays against San Francisco. I think a lot of it is a consistency thing. It’s something we’ve battled in the room. We have to be able to focus on our jobs.”"

Pettine would later add:

"“Unfortunately for us, we’ve had too many (self-inflicted mistakes) and we’ve had them at some inopportune times. It’s a thing we talk about each week. Our guys know, for us to get where we want to go, we’ve got to become way more consistent”"

But despite this persistent issue, the Green Bay Packers are still 9-3 overall and alone at the top of the NFC North. However, assuming that the playoffs are in their future, the good quarterbacks and teams are really going to take advantage of what appears to be an incurable flaw for this Packers team. And the result could be an early exit come January.