Football Outsiders on the Packers Defense

 - One stat I'd like to see a lot more of is the hurry. The Green Bay Packers keep track of pressure/hurries during each season but they rarely share that information. The sack is a useful stat but knowing whether the QB was forced to hurry his throw can be valuable too. According to Football Outsiders the average pass play does much better when the QB is not hurried (though QB Aaron Rodgers is one of the few QBs who does well despite pressure). They listed LB Clay Matthews (21 hurries in 2009) as one of the no-help all-stars because he had 17% of the teams total hurries. But as a team the Packers had 122 hurries which is better than all the other no-help teams listed except the 49ers who had 128. There is still room for improvement but the pass rush wasn't terrible either. I'm still concerned that they won't pressure the QB next season but this does show that the returning personnel may be able to get the job done.

- Football Outsiders also discussed their inability to improve at cornerback in the draft. They specifically mentioned the decline of CB Al Harris even before his ACL tear and the mediocre performance of CB Tramon Williams. I'm always quick to mention the return of 3rd year player CB Pat Lee as one addition. Also they drafted S Morgan Burnett who has shown ball skills and playmaking ability. If they can find one other young player, maybe CB Brandon Underwood, willing to step forward next season then I expect the depth will be fine. 

These are both potential problem areas in 2010, but at this point at least they've have drafted one player (DE Mike Neal, 2nd round) to help improve the interior pass rush and another player (Burnett, 3rd round) to help in pass coverage. Neither area has been ignored and we'll just have to wait-and-see how the defense comes together next season.