Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
OFF-SEASON NEEDS
Secondary is a primary concern
Green Bay — From the first time they lined up for a third down against Tom Brady in the NFC championship game, the Green Bay Packers were in trouble.
Before the snap, cornerback Chandon Sullivan trotted over to Tampa Bay Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans in the right slot. Sullivan tried to jam the superstar. Evans shrugged him off, the way a big brother might toss his little brother onto the sofa.
Brady’s pass looped perfectly over Sullivan, into Evans’ arms. The Bucs needed four yards for a first down. They got 27.
Three plays later, this time third-and-9. Sullivan lined up against Chris Godwin in the left slot. Fourteen-yard completion on an out route. Three plays later, thirdand-7. Evans and Godwin stacked on the left side. Cornerback Kevin King took Evans on a deep corner to the end zone. Fifteen yards. Touchdown.
The Packers played catch-up the rest of the way.
That Brady picked on King, and especially Sullivan, throughout their NFC championship game loss was no surprise. Quarterbacks avoided second-team All-Pro cornerback Jaire Alexander like the plague all season. It took a quarterback as relentlessly persistent as Brady to expose what might be the Packers’ biggest flaw, a stunning lack of depth in their pass coverage.
“We always talk about winning the presnap,” departed defensive coordinator Mike Pettine said before the game, “and equating it to a poker game. You don’t obviously want to be the sucker at the table. So if you find yourself early in the game, and he’s looking at you every play, then you’re probably holding your cards the wrong way.”
The Packers had too many defensive backs holding their cards the wrong way against Brady, and the GOAT took full advantage. True, Brady tossed three interceptions in the second half, cracking the door for a potential comeback. But Brady also exposed the Packers’ biggest off-season need in building the Bucs’ insurmountable 28-10 lead in the early third quarter, and it’s a familiar one.
Once again, the Packers enter an off-season needing reliable cornerbacks.
Perhaps that shouldn’t be a surprise. Even as the defense began to ascend in the season’s second half, coach Matt LaFleur continually harped on two areas of improvement. The first was a mentality, the need to swarm a ball carrier with multiple defenders, everyone joining the action. LaFleur also openly questioned the Packers’ coverage decisions, specifically too often lining up off receivers instead of pressing the line of scrimmage.
He referenced it again this week in his season-ending Zoom call.
“I do think,” LaFleur said, “that there’s some areas where we can continue to educate our players and be great in those situations so that if it’s a third down and short, that you’re not playing way off. You don’t want to give up any freebies. You want to make people earn every inch out there on the grass.”
It’s easy to envision Brady being stuck in LaFleur’s mind when the coach spoke of his defensive backs needing to be more situationally aware.
Brady picked apart the Packers’ secondary. He dropped back to pass on third or fourth down 14 times, including a Kenny Clark sack on third-and-10 in the first half. Of his 12 passes, eight were completed for 163 yards and a touchdown. Another pass, the final time Brady threw on third down, was defensive interference on King.
The Packers would be playing in this week’s Super Bowl if not for their thirddown coverage. It was shocking how poorly they covered when presented a chance to get off the field. There was the 14-yard screen to Godwin on third-and-13. A 52yard bomb to Godwin deep down the middle of the field on third-and-9, when safety Darnell Savage was in position to make a play but didn’t. A busted coverage when nobody covered Godwin out of the backfield, resulting in 19 yards on third-and-2.
It must be disheartening for a Packers team that has spent much of the past decade trying to build its secondary to a championship level. Since 2014, the Packers have used either a first-round pick or their first pick on a defensive back five times. The only years they didn’t pick a defensive back at the top of the draft were 2016 and 2020.
In the past seven years, the Packers drafted eight defensive backs with either a first- or second-round pick. Alexander is the only star among the group, though Savage showed promise late in his second season, the misplay of Brady’s bomb notwithstanding.
Brady targeted Alexander only once on third down in the NFC championship game, a jump ball to Evans down the right sideline with Savage rushing on a blitz. Alexander intercepted it.
Against Sullivan, Brady was 3-for-3 for 57 yards on third down. He was successful on both third-down pass attempts against King, the 15-yard touchdown and defensive pass interference.
So the Packers find themselves in a familiar position. The crucible of an NFC championship game loss has a way of refining where a team must go in its future.
In 2014, the Packers recognized their special teams was a disaster, and coach Mike McCarthy changed coordinators. In 2016, the Atlanta Falcons revealed the Packers’ defense to be in shambles, and Dom Capers was gone a year later. A year ago, the Packers’ defense allowed 285 rushing yards in San Francisco, and general manager Brian Gutekunst added to the front in free agency, the draft and even late-season acquisitions.
There is no mistaking the lesson from this NFC championship game loss. Even with the exhaustive effort to build up the secondary, the Packers still have much work to do with their coverage this spring.