Major turnaround for Packers defense in 2nd meeting with Vikings

When the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings met back in Week 1, it was an embarrassing performance by the defense, to put it simply. There were miscommunications that led to big plays, a poorly designed game plan that lacked adjustments, and overall bad play.

Kirk Cousins would end up completing 23 of 32 passes that week for 277 yards, while Justin Jefferson had nine of those receptions, 184 receiving yards, and both touchdown passes.

This time around was much different, however. In fact, it was the Packers’ defense that dominated.

Cousins averaged 5.7 yards per pass attempt, although that figure is a little inflated by a deep touchdown pass once Green Bay’s backups were in, and his longest pass before that play was 16 yards. Jefferson was held to just one reception for 15 yards, and Minnesota was outscored 41 to 3 before the Packers pulled their defensive starters.

So what changed for the Packers? Well, just about everything.

For starters, Joe Barry’s game plan was quite a bit different. We saw Jaire Alexander lined up across from Jefferson more often than not, with Alexander playing extremely physical and frequently jamming Jefferson at the line of scrimmage, along with safety help rotating over the top. We also saw a more aggressive Packers defense, in general, who deviated at times from their standard cover-2 look in favor of man and playing press coverage.

"“I would say so,” said Matt LaFleur after the game when asked if putting Alexander on Jefferson was an easy adjustment to make. “I thought Ja challenged him; there were a couple of times where he implemented some quick jams, where he was very physical at the line of scrimmage. Anytime DBs do that, you’re not always expecting it, especially if you haven’t seen it a ton on tape. I don’t care who you are as a wide receiver; that’s always a challenge. I thought that was a great job by our staff, a great job by Ja, and really all other 10 guys on the field to be able to do their job off of whatever call was being made.”"

While the game plan was greatly improved, so was the play on the field. It was a fundamentally sound performance by Green Bay that didn’t include any coverage breakdowns that led to big plays, which was prevalent in Week 1. The Packers were also very good at tackling and swarming the ball carrier. It wasn’t very often that a Vikings’ pass-catcher didn’t have multiple defenders around him, and this helped create two interceptions, with Adrian Amos catching a tipped pass at the line of scrimmage by TJ Slaton, along with Darnell Savage running an interception back for a touchdown off a deflected ball by Rasul Douglas.

With the Vikings dealing with a banged-up interior offensive line, the Packers were able to control the line of scrimmage for much of the game as well. Cousins was sacked twice, with one sack leading to a forced fumble and recovery by Kenny Clark, and hit eight times. Green Bay also held Dalvin Cook and Alexander Mattison to just 3.8 yards per carry.

"“That was a physical game,” said LaFleur. “I thought we won the battle up front, which we knew was going to be one of the keys to winning the game.”"

The Packers clearly made changes this time around, along with playing better, but one noticeable difference for the Vikings was that Jefferson was sent in motion a lot less often than in Week 1. This allowed for Alexander to match up with him more often because on the few instances when Jefferson was sent in motion; it was not like Alexander followed him. Perhaps if Minnesota had been more willing to move Jefferson around pre-snap, they could have found some more favorable matchups.

Since the second half of the Miami game, the defense has been playing some downright dominant football. As Andy Herman of Packer Report would point out, prior to the backups coming in the game against Minnesota, the defense had held its opponents to three points in their previous 12 drives, which included six interceptions, a fumble recovery, and a goal-line stand. Even the three points given up wasn’t really their fault.

From the first snap of the game, there was a different energy with this Green Bay Packers defense, and behind an improved game plan from Barry, sound fundamentals, and pressure up front, it led to a dominant performance against an offense that has been able to put up points.