Why Green Bay Packers’ ‘Nitro’ should work against Seattle

When the Green Bay Packers presented their new defensive scheme for this year, Packers fans were understandably skeptical.

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers has rolled out some unconventional defenses before. The ‘Psycho’ scheme helped Green Bay to a Super Bowl championship. Other formations have not been so successful.

This year’s new look – the Nitro – features a safety playing the inside linebacker position. The idea is by having a third safety on the field, your defense becomes quicker up front to better defend today’s pass-happy offenses.

This is what Capers said about the package earlier in preseason:

"“With our safety position, we’ve got real good depth. It gives us a little more flexibility in terms of playing with three safeties … We like the flexibility it gives us, especially week-to-week with the different style of offenses. A lot of these offenses are just looking for match-ups now. So you’ve got to be able to match up the same caliber athlete.”"

Is this new scheme just a desperation move to fix Green Bay’s past coverage issues, or is it an innovative approach of recognizing the need to evolve to modern offenses?

I feel it’s the latter.

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Several teams, such as the Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams have been doing something similar. Plus, the nickel package has really become the base formation for defenses in the NFL, a sign of how NFL offenses have been trending.

The inside linebacker position isn’t dead in Green Bay, but the Packers believe their strength is in their safeties. Regardless, the Nitro fits very well for the Packers as a strategy in their opener against the Seattle Seahawks.

It will be interesting to see how the Packers play this scheme against Seattle, but we really don’t need to imagine too much.

In the 2016 game against Seattle, deploying Burnett at linebacker proved successful in Green Bay’s 38-10 victory.

One of the points of the flexible Nitro-style defense is that with the fullback position on the verge of phasing out, middle linebackers are losing their value and causing mismatches for passing offenses to exploit.

By getting smaller and quicker up front, in theory, defenses should be more equipped to cover more athletic tight ends and backs, adding passing plays over the middle.

Tight end and mismatch nightmare Jimmy Graham, who was starting to regain his previous form last year, was held to just one catch against the Packers. Burnett, who had seven tackles and intercepted a pass intended for Graham, excelled in the linebacker position in that game.

The Nitro not only gives the Packers a body up front that’s better able to cover Graham, but the added speed in the middle of the field will give the Packers the advantage in other ways.

Seattle’s offensive line has been atrocious in recent years and it doesn’t appear it will be much better.

So the Seahawks have relied on two things: the short passing-game and Russell Wilson’s legs.

With essentially an extra defensive back in the middle of the field, Wilson’s timing on the quick passing plays could be disrupted, forcing him to make errant throws to receivers on the outside and down the field – which happened in Week 14 last year when he threw five interceptions and completed only 56.4 percent of his passes.

The improved speed in the Nitro linebacker position also gives the Packers a better chance to contain Wilson from hurting them with his running ability.

The weakness of the Nitro formation is that there will be teams that can take advantage of the lack of size up front, especially in the run game.

But Seattle is not one of those teams. Their run game has struggled since Marshawn Lynch left the team, and their line hasn’t done them any favors.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not predicting a repeat of last year’s throttling.

Wilson has an excellent route runner in slot receiver Doug Baldwin.

If Wilson has his timing down, he can connect with Baldwin against Green Bay’s slot corners and move the ball. Wilson struggled with timing on quick passing plays in the past, but it’s something he worked on in camp to improve this year.

Seattle’s receivers on the outside, Paul Richardson and Tyler Lockett, are talented and possess a ton of speed.

Either one of them can be poised for a breakout season.

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And if you’re looking to attack Green Bay’s lack of size at linebacker, Eddie Lacy is the back to do it.

But while I do believe both offenses will find ways to make big plays Sunday, Seattle’s inadequate offensive line should allow the Packers’ Nitro defense to limit big plays.