The Green Bay Packers losing their defensive coordinator wasn't viewed as an incredible blow due to the fact Jonathan Gannon was brought in. The former head coach helped guide the Philadelphia Eagles to the Super Bowl in the coordinator's time with the organization. With this in mind, it was far from the expected start as the Packers collapsed defensively in Week 1 and allowed a helpless Falcons team to score 35.
Atlanta was able to do whatever they wanted with Bijan Robinson offering over 200 scrimmage yards and star receiver Drake London finishing with 194 receiving yards. No question, the offense didn't help matters but this was an incredibly ugly showing for a team expected to be not only contenders in the NFC North, but a path to a possible Super Bowl contention. Trading for Micah Parsons and paying Jordan Love was a signal that the franchise was pushing its chips to the center of the table.
No question, expectations have drastically changed and while the focus is understandably on the offensive line, Gannon deserves a lot of heat. The secondary was torn to shambles by Michael Penix Jr., who was making his first start in nearly a year and had only Drake London as a consistent weapon.
It was clear early in the game all the Packers needed to do is load the line and dare Penix to throw shading your best coverage to London and daring anyone else to beat you. This isn't how it played out with the defense completely collapsing and looking to be completely inept in nearly every phase of the game.
As much heat as LaFleur and Jordan Love deserve for the offensive struggles you cannot expect anything close to meaningful contention with how the defense is currently playing. It is many of the same pieces that current Miami head coach and former Green Bay DC Jeff Haffley had performing as one of the league's better units.
Packers Fans Give Jonathan Gannon Less Grace as Defensive Coordinator's Early Tenure Defined by Failure
Gannon's only solid performance was against the New York Jets when the conditions made it extremely challenging to move the football. The bigger sample size says that the results aren't what was expected even without Parsons in the starting lineup. It will be interesting to watch how the coordinator chooses to adjust and whether there is any clear move for Green Bay to make when it comes to adjusting a burnt secondary.
For Gannon, there is no questioning past accomplishments that earned the coach a chance at the lead role. Still, that doesn't excuse this start and should leaves fans completely frustrated and wondering whether or not the coordinator is going to last in the role.
We are very early in the season, but it is hard to argue that the Packers have shown anything to suggest they are a contender. A big piece of this is a failing defense and blame must be assigned to Gannon.
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