The Green Bay Packers decided to change. But this time around, it's a real, significant change on the defensive side of the ball. It doesn't mean the defense will be good, because that's an answer we will only have in five, six months. But it will play a different brand of football than it had under Joe Barry.
"That group is humming," new defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said about the defensive line. "They're getting off the ball fast and being aggressive. That group can't be passive. That group has to attack. That's not gonna be passive read-and-react."
That's not gonna be passive. After three years playing exclusively trying (and failing) to stop big plays, the priority now is to make every yard difficult for the opposition. Eventually, it might bite them. But the unit will show a different vibe — and that's why I called Hafley "the anti-Barry" as soon as the Packers hired him.
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"Our philosophy is get really good at what we do and do it over and over again so we're playing 100 mph," Hafley mentioned when talking about off-ball linebackers. "If you try to do too much, you slow them down. That's definitely not what we want to do, but they are versatile. We can put them in different areas and kind of plug-and-play within the scheme."
To be fair, it can't be much worse. Last year, the Packers finished the season as the 27th unit in the league by DVOA. According to Hafley, it's not a lack of effort.
"The whole defense, the three things we ask — the attitude, the effort and the commitment, and that's what they can control, and they've done a really good job there. The effort's been outstanding on the field, the commitment to the team and to each other, I mean, there's a ton of energy out there," Hafley said. "There's a really good vibe right now, and I think that's a great starting point. We're just installing our defense, and we have a long way to go, but you can't ask for anything else, the way these guys have attacked it and how hard they've worked."
Alignment
When the Los Angeles Rams fired Wade Phillips, general manager Les Snead told Sean McVay: go find your Sean McVay. They hired Brandon Staley, and the team had the best defense in the league in 2020.
Now, it's impossible not to see how Jeff Hafley aligns well with the style Matt LaFleur wants to establish. How they develop their players, how they build a scheme to take advantage of what the players do best.
"Give Coach LaFleur and these guys credit," Hafley added. "This team is driven right now. That's not saying we're gonna do this or we're gonna do that down the road, but you got a chance. You come in and you're doing what these players are doing every day, you got a chance. I'm fired up about that."
Related: The anti-Joe Barry: what Jeff Hafley's defense will look like with the Packers
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