Packers film room: What went wrong in stopping the Browns’ rushing attack?

The Green Bay Packers could have a real problem on their hands with the playoffs set to begin in just a few weeks. Over the last five games, the defense has been trending in the wrong direction after a promising start to the 2021 season. Every week, it felt like the defense was improving under first-year defensive coordinator Joe Barry. However, over the last month or so, it’s been just the opposite.

Admittingly, the offense took its foot off the gas during the final quarter of their 24-22 win over the Cleveland Browns in Week 16, but the real cause for concern is how poor the run defense performed. The Browns set a new season-high for rush yards against this Packers defense with 219. Star running back Nick Chubb accounted for 126 and became the first 100-yard rusher this defense has given way to all year.

The run defense hasn’t been a huge problem this season, but surprisingly Green Bay’s run defense was actually better in 2020 under Mike Pettine. In 2020 the Packers finished 13th in total run defense. This year, they are currently sitting at 18th.

This is cause for concern, especially for a team with Super Bowl aspirations. Saturday’s track meet was somewhat reminiscent of the 2019 NFC Championship, which saw the San Francisco 49ers total 285 yards on the ground alone. That run defense was ranked 23rd.

This run defense isn’t as bad as it was two years ago, but after reviewing the film from the Browns game, it opened my eyes to some issues that can hopefully get cleaned up before the playoffs. Let’s take a look.

Setting the Edge

This is an area Green Bay must improve in. Here we see Rashan Gary lined up as the 9-technique. It allows Gary to take a straighter line to the quarterback, but because he gives up his outside leverage, it creates a soft edge for the running back to attack. By the looks of it, this is a pretty reckless approach by Gary, which should have been corrected when he saw two offensive linemen pulling to his side.

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Basically, the same thing here from Jonathan Garvin. I find it hard to believe this technique is taught to the edge. Your play recognition should tell you this is a run call; therefore, you should be setting a better edge to funnel everything to the middle where your help is.

Wide receiver Anthony Schwartz had two carries resulting in 24 yards. They both came on reverses, and the only reason they were successful is because the Packers were doing such a poor job setting the edge. Gary does a much better job on this play, but you can’t say the same for Preston Smith. I’ll cut Smith some slack because it appears he might be playing the cutback, but since he takes such a flat angle, it leaves the backside of the field wide open.

In a previous video, I referred to Clark as superman when he chased Chubb 8 yards down the field for the tackle. According to Pro Football Focus, Clark received the highest run grade of any Green Bay defender against Cleveland and has basically been a solo act on the defensive line all season. Green Bay selected TJ Slaton during the fifth round of this year’s draft, but his technique still needs work so he can stay on the field. Meanwhile, both Tyler Lancaster and Dean Lowry have the worst run grades of their career in 2021. This means when Clark is facing double teams – or worst, when he’s not on the field- the run defense suffers big time.

This is what it looks like when Clark is on the field and completely wrecking the run call.

Notice how on these plays, Clark is not taking on double teams. When Clark is one on one with a blocker, more times than not, he is going to win the battle. Luckily, if he can’t make the play himself, it usually frees up the linebacker.

But of course, there is an opposite end to the spectrum.

This was a really nice play call to keep the defense guessing. The Browns run the ball away from the strong side of the formation right to the combo block against Clark.

Clark isn’t able to play every snap, which means when he is off the field, the defensive line has to be strong at the point of attack. Unfortunately, that was not the case against Cleveland. Lancaster tries desperately to cross the face of the tackle but fails. Meanwhile, De’Vondre Campbell, who has been one of the best run-stopping linebackers in the NFL this year, takes a super aggressive angle that ends up taking him out of the play completely.

Here is another big run with Clark not on the field. Chubb can basically choose any hole he wants because the guys up front do such a poor job of controlling the line of scrimmage.

Tackling

After the game, Matt LaFleur said it was their worst job of tackling all season. Honestly, it is hard to disagree.

Tackling hasn’t been much of a problem in 2021, but for whatever reason, it was a big problem against the Browns. Guys weren’t getting themselves into good position, which led to a lot of flailing and arm tackles. Against a back like Chubb, that simply won’t cut it.

The Packers’ best chance to correct this is to get more hats on the ball. Earlier in the year, this defense swarmed to the ball, but lately, that hasn’t been the case. It is time to get back to doing what made them successful.

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