Packers defense seeks answer for elite tight ends

The Green Bay Packers’ loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 4 exposed a few areas of concern on an otherwise impressive defense. The most obvious was the run defense. A related issue is similarly troubling: how can this team defend elite tight ends?

Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert combined for nine receptions, 81 yards, and seven first downs on 11 targets in that game. Just as importantly, their superlative blocking helped spring Miles Sanders and Jordan Howard for 159 yards rushing at over six yards per carry.

The best tight ends in the NFL force defenses into can’t-win decisions. They’re such effective blockers that bringing in a corner to cover them leaves your run defense vulnerable. And they’re such explosive receivers that playing your base defense risks your linebackers and safeties being burned in one-on-one coverage.

Unfortunately for the Packers, Philadelphia is far from the last team on the schedule with a dangerous, well-rounded tight end. First up is T.J. Hockenson of the Detroit Lions, should he be cleared to play following a Week 4 concussion. And they’ll face Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs and George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers later this year.

So how do the Packers respond?

The good news is that besides the Eagles, there may not be another team in the NFL with two tight ends who are excellent both blocking and receiving. And Za’Darius Smith, Preston Smith, and Rashan Gary are all big, powerful players who won’t be easily blocked by most tight ends.

These facts should help the Packers avoid being repeatedly victimized in the run game by the two-tight end sets that the Eagles repeatedly ran. Although the Packers’ reluctance to take a defensive back off the field and play base personnel could still be problematic in certain scenarios.

Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine has an interesting question on his hands in pass defense. Against the Eagles, the tight ends’ catches came with the following players in coverage: Adrian Amos (three times), Will Redmond (twice), Darnell Savage (once), and Preston Smith (once). Two completions were screens.

The defense does have options for covering these tight ends man-to-man moving forward, but none are ideal. At safety, Savage is undersized and currently unavailable, man-to-man coverage isn’t Amos’ forte, and Redmond is overmatched.

Two second-year pros make for intriguing options. Oren Burks is still slowly reacclimatizing to the defense after returning from his shoulder injury. His size and speed make it easy to picture him as the rare player who can blanket tight ends in the passing game while giving up no ground in the running game. He’s not that player yet, but the potential certainly exists. The Packers need to hope that he does not simply become a bigger version of Josh Jones.

The other player to keep an eye on is Josh Jackson, who got into the action last week covering Jason Witten. Jackson is certainly no great asset in run defense, but tight ends may be his ticket onto the field in coverage. He’s seemed to have stiff hips and be a bit slow to react in man coverage against receivers. But against bigger tight ends, those weaknesses could be masked, enabling his size and ball skills to shine.

Of course, the task is much more complicated than simply selecting a defender to match up man-to-man with the tight end in question. Pettine is likely to use a combination of these defenders in a wide variety of man and zone coverages.

Hockenson (if he plays) this week is particularly dangerous, given that Burks played just 11 snaps in his first game last week and Savage is out. Whatever Pettine decides, the tight end matchups for the rest of the season will be both fascinating and consequential.