Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
GAME ANALYSIS Youth movement helps give defense a boost
The Green Bay Packers’ three freeagent signings on defense have played a huge role in the team’s 2-0 start.
But it’s not just Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Adrian Amos who have turned the Packers’ defense into the team’s spine early this season. Young players improving from within have played a role, too.
In particular, we’re talking about Kenny Clark, Dean Lowry, Jaire Alexander and Kevin King.
In back-to-back games now, the Packers have kept their opponent well below the average points (23.3) NFL teams scored last season. In their opener the Packers held the Chicago Bears to three points, and Sunday against Minnesota they held the Vikings to 16 points, a little more than a touchdown under the average.
Clark, who is likely to sign a contract extension this season, is only increasing his price tag with his play.
He was already a very good player last season but has upped his pass rush another notch. Last season he put up six sacks, which is a decent number for an inside rusher. In two games this year he already has 11⁄2, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him put up at least eight by season’s end.
Against the Vikings he had two key rushes that helped win the game: One was a strip sack that set up a Packers touchdown, and the other was a thirddown pressure that helped keep points off the board.
The strip sack came late in the first quarter with the Packers leading 14-0. On a first down, Clark bull rushed rookie center Garrett Bradbury back several yards and slipped around when Bradbury collided with a teammate. Clark then slapped the ball from Kirk Cousins as the quarterback tried to step up in the pocket, and Lowry recovered, setting up the Packers in Minnesota territory for their third touchdown.
Later, Clark helped keep the Vikings out of the end zone with a pressure and hit on Cousins on a third-and-goal from the Packers’ 13 late in the second quarter. On that play he shed Bradbury as part of a three-man rush, and his pressure right up the middle forced Cousins to get the ball out of his hands. Cousins sailed the pass over the head of tight end Kyle Rudolph, who had three zone defenders around him.
That helped save the Packers four big points, because Minnesota kicked the field goal on fourth down to cut the Packers’ lead to 21-10.
Lowry doesn’t make anything like Clark’s impact, but he keeps getting better and so far has been a very good support player in replacing Mike Daniels as the Packers’ No. 2 defensive lineman. Lowry’s not just occupying blockers and protecting the linebackers, he’s also making some plays.
The one that jumped out Sunday was on a first down early in the second quarter that helped blow up a pass. Lowry beat right guard Josh Kline right off the snap and then ran over running back Dalvin Cook when Cook tried to pick him up. That cut off any escape lane for Cousins with Preston Smith coming at him from his right. So Cousins just conceded the down by throwing the ball into the ground near his check-down receiver, fullback C.J. Ham.
Lowry also put the Vikings in a hole on the first play of the third quarter when he shed Kline on an outside zone run and dumped Cook for a two-yard loss. That led to a quick three-and-out.
Alexander and King, in the meantime, have been critical defensive players early because of their coverage on the outside. Alexander is improved from his promising rookie season and could be on his way to becoming a top cornerback. With King, more than anything it’s just a matter of staying on the field.
Alexander missed the play on the ball on Stefon Diggs’ 46-yard touchdown, but that hardly means he had a bad day. If you’re looking for the kind of subtler plays that help win games, he had several.
Included was one early in the second quarter, when he basically covered two guys at once. He was all over Adam Thielen in zone coverage on a slant. But when Cousins tried to throw just underneath him to Ham on a short wheel route, Alexander exploded and knocked the ball from Ham’s hands on the catch.
Later, on the Packers’ big red-zone stop late in the second quarter, Alexander picked up Diggs on a quick seam route and knocked down a potential touchdown pass.
King, of course had the game-sealing interception in the end zone in the fourth quarter. His and Alexander’s consistently good coverage were huge in helping hold Thielen and Diggs to six catches for 124 yards. Both those receivers topped the 100-catch mark last season.
Blocked shot
Coach Matt LaFleur has a scheme problem because Jimmy Graham is miscast as an in-line tight end. He doesn’t block well enough.
Graham occasionally will make an adequate block. On the game’s second play, he took out Vikings Pro Bowl safety Harrison Smith on a one-man screen pass to Aaron Jones that picked up six yards.
But there are too many snaps where he just doesn’t get after it as a blocker. On back-to-back snaps late in the first quarter, he fanned on a block on linebacker Eric Kendricks, who dropped Jones for no gain, then as a lead blocker for Jones on a jet sweep Graham pitterpattered with 215-pound safety Jayron Kearse rather than clearing a lane, which kept Jones from picking up several more yards.
The NFL is full of tight ends who are good receivers and subpar blockers, so some of the responsibility falls on LaFleur. He has to know by now that he can’t regularly use Graham as an in-line blocker.