Green Bay Packers Run Defense Trending in Right Direction

The Green Bay Packers’ run defense is trending in the right direction at the right time with the playoffs just around the corner.

One of, if not the biggest concern that many Green Bay Packers fans had entering the season was the run defense. We all remember how the NFC Championship game ended with Jimmy Garappolo throwing the ball only eight times and the Niner running backs — particularly Raheem Mostert — running wild on this Packer defense.

While this was obviously their worst performance of the 2019 season, their play against the run was an issue for much of the year. And after an offseason where we didn’t really see any significant additions to the interior defensive line, the concern that many felt was certainly a reasonable feeling to have.

This season the Green Bay Packers’ run defense has been helped out by the offensive side of the ball. Led by Aaron Rodgers and one of the most productive offenses in the game, opponents spend most of the game playing catch up, which means they can’t stick to the run as religiously as I’m sure they want to. This is a reason why Green Bay is giving up on average only 110.1 rushing yards per game, which ranks 11th in the NFL–not too bad.

However, we’ve still seen several games this year where opposing running backs may not be racking up huge amounts of total yards, but they’re still running the ball efficiently against this defense. Through Week 14, opposing teams were averaging 4.5 yards per carry against Green Bay, which ranked 22nd in the NFL. However, that is down from their 4.9 average in 2019.

Yet even though the overall number puts the Packers in the bottom third of the NFL over the last month, this unit has been trending in the right direction, with several impressive performances.

In Indianapolis, the Colts’ running backs would average only 3.4 yards per carry. Philadelphia’s backs averaged only 3.5 yards, while Detroit averaged just 3.2. On Saturday against Carolina, Mike Davis was held to 4.2 yards per rush, which is solid, but that kind of production also isn’t going to take over a game either.

Now, there have been some not so good performances as well. David Montgomery of the Bears posted 103 rushing yards on 9.4 yards per carry–although one of those carries went for 57-yards. Jacksonville’s James Robinson averaged 4.7 yards per rush, and Dalvin Cook in Week 8 ran all over this defense.

But games like that are going to happen. This Green Bay Packers’ run defense isn’t great by any means, and with their current construction, they’re never going to be. However, with the pass-rush picking up, the secondary playing at a high-level, and one of the best offenses in the game, they don’t have to be great. If they can be average and continue to build upon these performances from the last month, they’ll be just fine.

As is always the case, there is a myriad of reasons behind Green Bay’s recent success. For starters, we’ve seen more true nickel formations from Mike Pettine, which puts two linebackers on the field, and we’ve also seen more aggressive play-calling from him as well. But the biggest contributor is simply that the players are playing better.

Kenny Clark has been very disruptive, we’ve seen Kingsley Keke, Dean Lowry, and Tyler Lancaster all kick their games up a notch, and it doesn’t hurt having Krys Barnes and Kamal Martin back on the field after each player missed some time.

This upcoming game against the Tennessee Titans will be the run defense’s biggest test of the season as the NFL’s leading rusher Derrick Henry is coming to Lambeau Field. Henry has already rushed for over 1,500 yards and is averaging 5.2 yards per carry. Odds are he is going to put up numbers, but what the Packers can’t do is let Henry take over the game.

As I’ve already mentioned, this is never going to be a dominant unit. But if they can hold opposing running backs to around four yards per carry and sometimes even less as they have been, well, then it is going to be even more difficult to beat this team come playoff time. It’s not always pretty, but they are trending in the right direction.