More On The Packers Defensive Line

by Brandon on Jan 25, 2012 4:37 PM CST in Green Bay Packers Analysis

The Green Bay Packers bring a lot of different looks on defense to make their pass rush unpredictable, but they didn't often rush more than five guys last season. They aren't as dependent on the defensive line to create a pass rush as some teams, but when at least two defensive lineman are rushing on every passing down, they do have to provide something of an inside push.

Bob McGinn reported that the defensive line only had 37 (17 games) pressures (total of sacks, knockdowns, and hurries) last season compared to 101.5 (20 games) in 2010. On a per game basis, that's a 250% drop.

Most of that can be accounted for by the departure of Cullen Jenkins, but not the entire difference. At best, Jenkins could have made up for half of it.

B.J. Raji led the D-line with 19.5, followed by Jarius Wynn with 10. Five other lineman accounted for 7.5 in total. And most of the pressure that came from Raji and Wynn happened early in the season (zero sacks for Wynn after September). So the team that we saw down the stretch was even worse than these poor stats indicate.

Sure the defensive lineman would have been helped if the coverage had been a bit tighter, but the secondary also gave up a lot of yards last season on slow developing crossing routes that were given time due to the lack of a rush. That argument works both ways, and doesn't absolve any player from blame.

As I wrote about earlier, this is something they have to address in the draft.

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The draft is set up very well for the Packers on the defensive line front.

There is an absolute abundance of DE/DT projected at the end of the first round in Whitney Marcus, Andre Branch, Jerel Worthy, Fletcher Cox, and Dontari Poe. Conceivably, Ted could go DLine with the first two picks, especially if Jared Crick falls to the end of the second.

"We’re gonna gather our nuts, and find out what the squirrels… we’ll be right back." - Brian Anderson

by Rendezvous on Jan 25, 2012 4:57 PM CST reply actions

This would be awesome

And wouldn’t even fall away from the BPA philosophy. Be careful, you’ll get me all excited for no reason, then I’ll get all riled up when we don’t do this, even of I’m wrong (which I’ve obviously been plenty of times before)

"IF CARDS CAN SIGN SUPPAN THEY CAN GIVE ME A HOME"

by Buddhasillegitimatechild38 on Jan 25, 2012 5:18 PM CST via mobile up reply actions

"Be careful, you’ll get me all excited for no reason, then I’ll get all riled up when we don’t do this"

Sounds like my love life…

Shit happens when you win championships

by Andrew Clark on Jan 25, 2012 7:13 PM CST up reply actions

That was weird.

*Whitney Mercilus

"We’re gonna gather our nuts, and find out what the squirrels… we’ll be right back." - Brian Anderson

by Rendezvous on Jan 25, 2012 5:21 PM CST up reply actions

We can only hope.

We all know we need at least two in this spot. It would seem we have pedestrian players at those spots right now, we need a strong push like a few years ago.

by I bleed green more on Jan 27, 2012 12:47 PM CST up reply actions

hope we can get

A couple of RANDY WHITE types—VERY STRONG and HEALTHY!!

by zappop777 on Feb 6, 2012 8:10 PM CST up reply actions

Are folks assuming that Ted will continue to adhere to his "No Free Agency" approach?

Meaning he will pick up guys cheap but not anyone where a real price will be involved.

Is that just understood?

by Big10freak on Jan 25, 2012 6:00 PM CST reply actions

That’d be my guess. He hasn’t really made any big moves since 2006 with Woodson and Pickett and that was when we were still rebuilding. I find it hard to imagine he’ll make a big splash this season after he didn’t in 2009 when our defense was probably even worse.

Fire Slocum

by packallday555 on Jan 25, 2012 6:34 PM CST up reply actions

I think the Woodson move was more a "this is too good to pass up"

When a deal is there Thompson will go after it…

Shit happens when you win championships

by Andrew Clark on Jan 25, 2012 7:14 PM CST up reply actions

I don't think he needs to

we need to upgrade the pass rush on the right side, that’s not enough of a need to overpay a FA. We can likely find a DE and/or ROLB in the first few rounds of the draft that should provide some help in that regard

by rip_city_swagger on Jan 25, 2012 6:44 PM CST up reply actions

As I posted elsewhere..

Rob Domovsky of the GBPG said he had a gut feel thet Thompson might be a little more active in free agency. He admitted nothing concrete to base that on..for what thats worth..

I love wins. Wins are good for the soul.- Barry Alvarez Sep 25, 2005

We expect to win.- Ted Thompson July 28, 2011

by White92 on Jan 26, 2012 7:23 AM CST up reply actions

When you least expect it........

you wonder if TT ever gets tired of hearing that he never does anything in free agency. I would think that he might want to tap into the FA market, say once every 5 or 6 years……just to not be so damn predictable. I also have a gut feeling that he may sign an impact player in free agency this year, though I have no reasonable factual data to back it up. Wishful thinking I guess.

by Icebowler on Jan 26, 2012 11:33 AM CST up reply actions

I think the "TT doesn't do FA" meme has run its course

He does sign FAs when the value is there. Just because other teams foolishly squander money on FAs on a regular basis…

13.

"Skip, once again, stop it; Be an analyst; don't be a douchebag."

by Wiedmann on Jan 26, 2012 12:23 PM CST up reply actions

Yes

and we all know there’s no easier way to squander $$ now that they have capped rookie salaries. Just ask Dan Snyder.

by Icebowler on Jan 26, 2012 1:39 PM CST up reply actions

the pass rush is clearly the problem

not to make an entire argument from one game, but against the Giants they problems weren’t as much in coverage, as the receivers had for forever to get open. There was just no pass, rush, and it all starts up front. While the coverage took a hit without Nick Collins this year, they still led the league in INTs, so they have plenty of ability back there.

The problem at DE was coming – Pickett has been inconsistent, Neal hasn’t been able to stay on the field, and they knew they weren’t going to be able to keep Cullen Jenkins in FA. I think they gambled and thought they’d be able to overcome it, as they didn’t address it at all last offseason.

But it’s not an “unfixable” problem. I think we get a solid DE in the early rounds of the draft, maybe a ROLB, but the DE is the most important position – and that should help a lot.

by rip_city_swagger on Jan 25, 2012 6:50 PM CST reply actions

Your argument is not just based on one game, but many games....

Getting off the field on 3rd and long was a huge issue for this defense all year, and the D-line was obviously a huge part of that, as you said. Its a little easier to gloss over when you’re 15-1 in the regular season. Not so easy to gloss over when you’re one and done in the playoffs.

by Icebowler on Jan 26, 2012 1:50 PM CST up reply actions

yep..

very first 3rd down in the playoffs they had the Giants 3rd and 10 or 11 and the Giants converted rather easily..ugh

I love wins. Wins are good for the soul.- Barry Alvarez Sep 25, 2005

We expect to win.- Ted Thompson July 28, 2011

by White92 on Jan 26, 2012 3:22 PM CST up reply actions

That seemed to be the case for the whole first half actually.

Fire Slocum

by packallday555 on Jan 26, 2012 6:25 PM CST up reply actions

What about lawrence guy? I know he got hurt before the season, i wonder if he could help out at all next season.

When given the chance always party with Dr. Strangelove

by mischieviousbadger on Jan 25, 2012 8:34 PM CST reply actions

I think he can..

He was a pretty good interior pass rusher at ASU and he has ideal size to hold the point as a strong side DE. Give Guy a full offseason of development and he can easily help the DL. And I haven’t given up on Neal, tho I think DE is a need, I would rate OLB as a much more pressing problem to address.

Our Biggest Challenge is how we deal w/ Success!

by Strohman on Jan 25, 2012 9:11 PM CST up reply actions

Yeah, agreed

OLB is much more important than DL. The ceiling of our current DL is much higher than the ceiling of our current OLBs

13.

"Skip, once again, stop it; Be an analyst; don't be a douchebag."

by Wiedmann on Jan 25, 2012 10:12 PM CST up reply actions

Yep

I would go olb in the 1st, de in the 2nd. But we also have to factor in whether or not collins will play next year. If not, they might draft a cb early n move woodson to saftey.

by Katsuya89 on Jan 25, 2012 10:22 PM CST via Android app up reply actions

Agreed. Especially since this years draft seems to be deeper at defensive lineman than OLB.

When given the chance always party with Dr. Strangelove

by mischieviousbadger on Jan 26, 2012 1:46 PM CST up reply actions

BPA policy

I have hope for the DE prospects too, but due to TTs TE fetish, we will probably draft another 2 or 3 in rounds 2-5. Keeping 5 TEs on the roster really helped this year…we definitely didn’t need to bring in another OLB or DE prospect at all…I just hope this year was a little wake up call for TT, he does a great job, but lets be serious… FIVE TIGHT ENDS?

by burketv on Jan 26, 2012 9:26 AM CST reply actions