Packers: Analyzing all three facets of the win vs. Vikings

The Defense

Green Bay and the Mike Pettine defense showed out once again, shutting out the Vikings in the first and fourth quarters to seal the home opener. The interior and outside pass rush was able to combine effectively for six hits on Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, including a sack by defensive tackle Kenny Clark.

While the defense was energetic and opportunistic early on, they appeared to start slipping up on coverages and assignments as the Vikings broke off big play after big play. Vikings wide receiver Stefon Diggs was limited to one catch, but it went for 49 yards and a touchdown on a slip-up in man coverage by Kevin King.

Chad Beebe only had one catch as well, but it stretched to 61 yards as the Packers defense simply couldn’t corral him. Dalvin Cook had a career day against the Packers defense on the strength of 7.7 yards per carry, aided in large part by a 75-yard sprint which featured a few missed tackles in the Green Bay secondary.

Make no mistake, the defense was the difference in the win, with Adrian Amos, Jaire Alexander, and Darnell Savage all performing quite well. The secondary stuck to their assignments for the better part of four quarters, and Kevin King’s interception late in the fourth salted it away, but the game felt much closer than the scoreboard indicated.

Raven Greene performed well throughout the game until he sustained an ankle injury in the second quarter, placing him on the bench for some time, as the Packers announced he’d be put on the injured reserve list. Greene had seven tackles so far this season, and a pass breakup last week. There is no current designation for when he will return.

In the wake of that injury, Green Bay may see more of Will Redmond fill in for Greene, who helped fill the hole in his absence by playing sparingly on defense. Another possibility is seeing more linebacker-heavy defensive sets featuring recent free agency pickup B.J. Goodson.

Both Preston Smith and Za’Darius Smith played over 80 percent of the defensive snaps, which is good considering the investment that was made in them this offseason. However, lending just a little more time to Rashan Gary and Kyler Fackrell may help keep the two pickups fresh.

While proposing that as an idea, it should be said that Fackrell and Gary should not remain on the field very long. The former had a strong year in 2018 with 10.5 sacks, and Gary has shown his freak athleticism, but both need to be used sparingly to ensure the consistency of the starters, and to throw a changeup at the opposing offenses when necessary.

This defense has felt different since the kickoff last week against the Bears, and they’ve proved so far that they are here to win games. That being said, tackling and positioning will likely be the points of emphasis in practice this week in Green Bay, to limit big plays next week while still maintaining aggressiveness on each play.

The Packers defense deserves a majority of the credit for this 2-0 start, as they’ve allowed only 19 points across the first two weeks of play, good for second-best in the entire NFL. If they can keep this effort up, and if the offense will hit its stride in the next few weeks against lower-level defenses, greater disparity on the scoreboard can be expected before hitting the Week 11 bye.