Green Bay Packers Created A Lot of Pressure with Minimal Blitzing

In 2018, the Green Bay Packers had to rely heavily on blitzing to pressure the quarterback. However, in 2019, they were one of the best teams at creating pressure while being one of the fewest teams to blitz.

If we look at the Green Bay Packers’ sack total from 2018, the 44 that they posted was actually pretty good. In fact, that was tied for the eighth-highest total in the NFL that season.

However, that figure doesn’t exactly pass the eye test.

When thinking back to that 2018 season, I can’t imagine that there is anyone reminiscing about how well the Packers defensive front was able to get after the quarterback. And that’s because they didn’t.

Green Bay’s edge-rushing duo of Clay Matthews and Nick Perry would combine for only 43 pressures and just five sacks according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required). While as a team, the Packers 273 total pressures would rank 19th in the league.

So the Green Bay Packers were able to get home to the quarterback, but not with any sort of consistency or a dominant pass-rusher. But how?

Well, you can thank Mike Pettine and his blitz schemes.

According to Pro Football Reference, the Green Bay Packers blitzed on 29.3 percent of their defensive plays. This ranked 23rd that season, or depending on how you look at it; it was the 10th highest blitz rate.

Pettine blitzed this often out of necessity because his defensive front just wasn’t getting to the quarterback on a regular basis. While effective at times, as you’d expect, the drawback to blitzing is that it can leave the secondary exposed with fewer players available for coverage.

Now, I’m certainly not saying that since Green Bay was one of the highest blitzing teams in the NFL that that’s the reason why their pass defense ranked 28th by DVOA. But I know that it didn’t help things either.

Fortunately, this past year was different. Much different. The defense as a whole significantly improved, and Green Bay was one of the best teams in the league at putting pressure on quarterbacks while also being one of the fewest blitzing teams in the NFL as well.

Although their 41 sacks were a step back from their 2018 total, the Green Bay Packers were able to get after the quarterback much more consistently. While sacks are great, disrupting the play via pressuring the quarterback is just as important. And Green Bay was excellent at that in 2019.

The Green Bay Packers’ pressure rate of 38.6 percent was the fourth-best in football, and their 338 total pressures were 65 more than the previous year and ranked as the seventh-most.

The only thing better than seeing your team’s total pressures jump is seeing your team’s total pressures jump while blitzing a lot less. Green Bay’s blitz rate went from 29.3 percent to 22.7 percent, good for the fifth-lowest rate in the NFL this past year.

Clearly, the additions of Za’Darius Smith and Preston Smith were huge factors in this rapid turnaround. The dynamic duo would total 167 pressures on their own, along with 25.5 sacks. A monstrous upgrade in production compared to Matthews’ and Perry’s 2018 performances.

As I said previously, how often a team blitzes isn’t going to be the determining factor in how the secondary performs, but there is a trickle-down effect. And while the Green Bay Packers’ secondary is loaded with talent – Adrian Amos, Darnell Savage, Kevin King, and Jaire Alexander – it’s not a coincidence that we saw this unit improve considerably last season while the defensive front efficiently pressured the quarterback.

Overall, Green Bay’s pass defense by DVOA would go from being ranked 28th in 2018 all the way down to 10th, and they forced nine more turnovers this past season, including ten additional interceptions.

If we truly simplify it, we are all well aware that creating pressure without having to blitz is a good thing. But the Packers had a massive transformation in 2019 that made them one of the league’s best in total pressures while also being one of the fewest blitzing teams as well. And this certainly played a role in the defense’s success last year.

Now, let’s see if they can do it again in 2020.