Through eight games, Jonathan Gannon has done an amazing job of silencing the doubters. He's done better than his predecessor, Jeff Hafley, the team's best defensive coordinator in the Matt LaFleur era.
The Packers rank 11th in points allowed per game (20.5), but they're giving up the seventh-fewest passing yards (204.0) and the 12th-fewest total yards per game (331.8). They also lead the league with 22.0 sacks.
That's why one might think that this defense can't get any better, but that's never the case. With star OLB Micah Parsons targeting Week 12 to make his season debut, the pass rush is about to go absolutely nuclear.
Advanced stats reveal an uncomfortable truth about the Packers' pass rush
Oddly enough, advanced stats don't always match the raw data. According to ESPN, the Packers' 45 percent pass-rush win rate actually ranks 26th in the league. That's why getting one of the prime headhunters in the game will only open things up for everyone else.
The Packers rank 11th in sack rate (7.19 percent), which is actually up from last season with a healthy Parsons and Hafley still in town (5.39 percent). They also have 11 players with at least 1.0 sack, and four with at least two.
This means that the Packers' pass rush is being extremely opportunistic and finishing plays at an elite rate, but they aren’t consistently beating blocks quickly or cleanly. So, the sky is the limit for this unit once Parsons is back in the fold.
Of course, this team will continue to err on the side of caution with their superstar pass rusher. He's made it loud and clear that he won't play unless he feels 100 percent back, and if he's already waited this long, he can always wait a while longer. They need him in January.
Lukas Van Ness has had an up-and-down season, but he's been better at finishing plays than ever before. Also, rookie Dani Dennis-Sutton looks like a huge draft steal, and Parsons will round up this three-headed monster in no time.
The Packers overcame a slow start to the season, and while they're still a work in progress, adding one of the best pass rushers in football to this impressive defense might be just what they need to elevate them from pretenders to contenders, especially if they also figure out how to fix their ailing running game for a change.
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