A diamond is found in the rough
Undrafted LB Barnes becomes a key cog
GREEN BAY - Who would have guessed in August that an undrafted rookie would be one of the defensive players the Green Bay Packers had to have on the field in the home stretch of the 2020 season?
Last Saturday night, Krys Barnes' performance, along with what happened when he was out of the game, showed why this undrafted inside linebacker from UCLA has moved ahead of Christian Kirksey on the Packers' depth chart and is now their starting inside linebacker and wearer of the green dot signaling him as the defense's play caller.
In fact, at this point in the season, Barnes and fifth-round pick Kamal
Martin are the Packers' two best inside linebackers and should be getting the huge majority of playing time at the two inside positions. The Packers are not a particularly physical, hard-hitting defense, and among other things those two bring more of that element to coordinator Mike Pettine's group than veteran Christian Kirksey.
What stood out about Barnes in the Packers' 24-16 win over Carolina on Saturday night, at least before he left the game in the third quarter because of an eye injury, is that he's a smart and aware player with pretty good quickness for his position. His fellow rookie Martin is the more explosive and talented of the two and has more upside, but Martin missed half of training camp (11⁄2 of the three weeks) plus six weeks in the regular season (five because of a knee injury, one on the COVID-19 list), so he's not as assignment-sure as Barnes.
It starts with the plays Barnes makes, and while many are not spectacular they become more noticeable when compared with plays that aren't made when he's not on the field.
Of course, there was the game-turning fumble he forced when he punched the ball out of Teddy Bridgewater's hands as the quarterback was trying to dive over the top at the goal line in the second quarter. That 14-point swing – seven points Carolina didn't get, plus Kevin King's return that set up a short field for a Packers touchdown – was the difference in the game.
But Barnes also made his share of sound plays that were less obvious.
For instance, there was an early firstquarter end around to Robby Anderson where Barnes stayed home on the right side of the defense, then pursued laterally while avoiding a block. He forced Anderson to keep running wide rather than cutting upfield, and though safety Darnell Savage got credit for the tackle when he pushed the receiver out of bounds for a one-yard loss, Barnes made the play.
Early in the third quarter there was a four-play stretch in which Barnes made two seemingly mundane but solid plays, plus a really good one that helped end the possession.
On one, he stayed square to the quarterback while dropping in zone coverage, and when Curtis Samuel caught a pass in front of him Barnes closed immediately and made the tackle. The next play he beat tight end Chris Manhertz's block and stopped running back Mike Davis for a three-yard gain. Neither was a great play, but they're the kind of plays that occasionally have ruptured into more against the Packers this season.
Then two snaps later he quickly read a screen pass, blew past center Matt Paradis' block and dropped Davis for a six-yard loss that put Carolina in a thirdand-16. That effectively ended the drive.
Contrast that with two big plays Carolina made on Kirksey after Barnes had left the game.
The first was Bridgewater's 13-yard touchdown scramble up the middle of the field late in the third quarter on a second-and-7. On that play, 210-pound running back Rodney Smith had run a short route over the middle as a checkdown option. When he saw Bridgewater run he turned at about the 7 and pushed Kirksey back a good yard, which gave Bridgewater a lane to the end zone. That's a play where the bigger linebacker – Kirksey is 235 pounds – has to see the scramble, immediately smear a blocker 20 pounds lighter and make the tackle.
Then late in the fourth quarter, with the Packers protecting an 11-point lead, Carolina threw a short slant to DJ Moore that should have been a relatively harmless gain. Instead, Kirksey just threw his shoulder into the receiver rather than making a sound, physical tackle, and cornerback Chandon Sullivan for some reason tried to rip the ball out of Moore's arms even though no one had control of Moore. Suddenly, what should have been a 7-yard play ruptured into 40 and kept Carolina in the game.
Nobody's saying teams won't ever make big plays when Barnes is on the field.
But what's clear is he's a more dynamic player than Kirksey and despite being an undrafted rookie has smarts and awareness to go with it. Pettine had recently moved him ahead of Kirksey as the Packers' every-down linebacker for good reason. Based on what coach Matt LaFleur said Sunday, Barnes' eye injury isn't serious, and he should be able to play this week against Tennessee.
That's good news for the Packers, who are looking for smaller upgrades like this to give their defense a boost for the stretch run and playoffs.
Rundown
LaFleur's comments a day after the game were telling as to why the Packers got away from the successful run game that had helped them to a 21-3 lead.
The Packers' offensive line owned the line of scrimmage for the most part in the first two quarters, and at halftime Aaron Jones had 114 yards rushing on only 12 carries. Carolina was mostly sitting back in two-deep coverage rather than bringing up a safety to defend the run.
But it appears Aaron Rodgers grew impatient about getting the ball to Davante Adams and changed several runs into passes when he probably shouldn't have. Many of the Packers' play calls give him the option to choose a predetermined run or pass at the line of scrimmage, what the Packers call “can” plays.
One of Rodgers' great strengths is reading defenses and getting the Packers in the right play. After several games this season LaFleur has been gushing in his praise of Rodgers in this area. But Rodgers might have been too bent on getting the ball to Adams in the second half.
LaFleur said that of the Packers offense's 22 plays in the second half (not counting kneel downs at the end) there were 12 runs called and 10 passes. The Packers ended up running the ball on only eight of those 12 run calls.
“Some of those we were necessarily, we have to throw those, those run alerts,” LaFleur said. “But you know, if I'm looking at it critically, there's so many more opportunities to continue to run the football. And we've just got to be disciplined and be patient and take what the defense was giving us, our ground game was very, very, very effective.”
Extra points
* Adrian Amos is flourishing in his new role as a linebacker/slot in one of the Packers' dime packages. In the last two games Pettine has been using two different dime packages to replace injured Raven Greene (shoulder). Both include the same players in the back seven but in different positions. When it's not a clear-cut passing down Amos moves from safety to linebacker/slot, and Will Redmond replaces him at safety. On more obvious passing downs, Amos stays at safety and Redmond plays linebacker/slot. Playing the linebacker/slot position gets Amos closer to the line of scrimmage and middle of the action. He had three pass breakups and a sack, and he was second on the team in tackles (seven).
* Guard Lucas Patrick had a really rough game against Carolina's talented rookie defensive tackle Derrick Brown. Brown is a big (6-5, 320), powerful young player, and his selection as the No. 7 pick taken overall in this year's draft speaks to his talent. Patrick's game is based on quickness, not strength, and Brown was too much for him on more than a few plays. Brown finished with two sacks and two tackles for a loss, and was the most disruptive defensive player on the field.