The Green Bay Packers gained a dominating 23-6 win over the Minnesota Vikings to close Week 12, and the headline was the Packers' defense. Micah Parsons and Co. flustered J.J. McCarthy all afternoon, and after going into halftime with a 10-6 lead, the Packers put on the clamps, holding Minnesota to just four yards in the second half.
While the overall team performance was something that can get Packers fans excited down the stretch, so was the individual performance of Devontae Wyatt. After initially struggling after his return from a knee injury, Wyatt popped back onto the radar with a pair of sacks in the victory.
But although Packers fans could point to Wyatt’s performance and declare their defensive tackle is “back,” his game came with plenty of smoke and mirrors that could be an illusion for Green Bay’s defense moving forward.
Packers Can’t Be Fooled By Devonte Wyatt’s Two Sacks vs. Vikings
It was good to see Wyatt get back on the board as his two sacks were his first since logging a sack in back-to-back games to open the season. But while those plays incited big reactions from the crowd at Lambeau Field, some metrics suggest his teammates were doing all the work.
According to Pro Football Focus, Wyatt’s two sacks were his only quarterback pressures in Sunday’s game. A counterargument could be “Who cares?” because Wyatt was able to finish the play. But, notably, coaches would rather have constant pressure because sacks are a top-percentile outcome. By getting constant pressure, it could force the quarterback to make mistakes, which helps the rest of the defense.
This played out one year ago with Green Bay’s defense. While the Packers were eighth as a team in sacks (45), they also ranked 16th in pressure rate (22.1%), which is a key reason they decided to trade for Parsons and give him a massive contract. With Parsons in the fold, the Packers rank 10th in sacks (29), but they jumped to 10th in pressure rate (22.3%).
Anyone watching the Packers this season has noticed a difference in the Packers’ pass rush, and it’s made Green Bay the NFL’s No. 5 scoring defense at 18.4 points per game.
The argument of pressure against sacks could also be seen in Sunday’s game. McCarthy was pressured on 12-of-25 dropbacks (48%), but it’s damning when you consider that Wyatt only made up for two of those pressures on 34 snaps. A more impactful performance came from rookie Warren Brinson, who generated five pressures on 21 snaps, and Parsons, who had four pressures to go with his two sacks.
With Wyatt also posting the lowest run defense grade on the team (37.9) on Sunday afternoon, it can be argued that his two sacks were the only net positive he made for the Packers. For a player who has a fifth-year option year remaining on his contract and is already 27 years old, that’s a big problem in the middle of the defensive line, and it could have the Packers debating some changes even if Wyatt made a pair of big plays against the Vikings.