The NFL Should Be Terrified of Packers Pass Rush
For the last few years, Green Bay Packers’ pass rush has been a point of concern for the team in the last few years. People complained about the pass rush for years with Clay Matthews and Nick Perry plus others. They were one of the obvious scapegoats of the team in the last couple of years. Now, some of this could have been Dom Capers running a defense that was fit for the NFL in the early 2000s. Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst worked with Mike Pettine, Packers defensive coordinator, to find the right players for his pass rush, and it is paying off. Packers lead the league in pressures and pass rush according to Pro Football Focus.
#Packers defense has the #1 graded pass rush via @PFF
2019: 83.0 #1
2018: 71.8 #13
2017: 67.9 #21Pettine Effect.
Z.Smith Effect.
P.Smith Effect.
CBs that can cover Effect.— Ben Fennell (@BenFennell_NFL) September 23, 2019
Ben Fennell points out the reasons why this is happening. Smith bros are lethal off the edge. Jaire Alexander and Kevin King can carry their own. And Mike Pettine is showing his strengths in Year 2. Packers do not have a problem right now on their defense. Some might say ‘run defense’ but Pettine pointed out that if a team has a successful run game, it might lead to them doing less in the passing game. Green Bay’s pass rush is mostly from their four guys of Smith, Smith, Dean Lowry, and Kenny Clark. This makes things extremely tough on opponents because there aren’t many times where they can take advantage of the blitzing defense.
Now, the haters might say “Well, they haven’t faced a good quarterback.” Sure, that is fair. Kirk Cousins is average, Mitch Trubisky is below average and same with Joe Flacco. Carson Wentz and Dak Prescott are different types of quarterbacks in the next couple of weeks. They will provide a challenge to the Packers pass rush. But it is only going to make the team better and improve them for the rest of the season. They’re not going to see quarterbacks at the levels of Wentz and Prescott for the rest of the season.
The pass rush needs itself nickname though. Please submit names to us.
Charlie.