From top to bottom, the Green Bay Packers’ edge rusher room put together two impressive days of practices against the New England Patriots.
This position group, along with the interior defensive line, was absolutely dominant on Wednesday. There were very few snaps where Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe weren’t dealing with either a collapsing pocket or pressure right in their faces. Andrew Callahan, who covers the Patriots for the Boston Globe, charted 13 “sacks” during Wednesday’s practice alone.
The Packers edge rushers and interior defensive line weren’t as stout on Thursday, but the unit was still able to generate pressure, including at least three more sacks, although Jones, in particular handled it well. On the stat sheet, there were a few plays that ended up as completions by Jones or Zappe that in a real game very well could have been sacks.
“The room has grown,” said Justin Hollins after practice about the edge rusher room. “I feel like we are on the right track right now. Guys are making plays. We are playing with that mentality that you love to see. That dog mentality. And I feel like it’s transferring over pretty well right now. We are just continuously getting better each day as a room.”
JJ Enagbare put together two of his better practices this entire summer over the last two days. Hollins, Preston Smith, and Lukas Van Ness were all able to make their ways into the backfield, as did players on the back end of the roster, including Brenton Cox, Keshawn Banks, and Arron Mosby. Throughout the room, there was a mixture of power and speed being utilized.
From the top of the depth chart to the bottom, everyone got in on the playmaking, and the edge rusher unit also was able to hold up against the run more often than not, not allowing the New England ball carriers turn up field.
“We were causing havoc,” said Hollins. “We were causing havoc in the backfield. It looked like on film, every other play (and) across the whole front it was a sack, whether it was the D-tackle, end, outside linebacker. We were there almost every other player.”
One of the concerns around this Packers team last summer was with the depth of the edge rusher position—or lack thereof. We, unfortunately, ended up seeing why once Rashan Gary went down with a season-ending injury in Week 9. From that point on, this unit struggled to generate regular pressure and did not hold up well against the run. Overall, the Packers defense ranked 22nd in total pressures last season.
This training camp, however, with Hollins in his first full offseason in the Joe Barry scheme, Enagbare in Year 2, along with the additions of Van Ness, Cox, and others, the depth of this unit, whether we are talking about the playing time rotation or at the end of the roster, has greatly improved. Not to mention that Gary is also off the PUP list and working his way back to participating in team drills.
If the Green Bay defense as a whole is going to improve this season, it all starts in the trenches. The entire defensive front, including the edge rushers, have to be better against the run in order to put the offense in more predictable passing situations. And when given the opportunity to get after the quarterback, they have to be more consistent in getting home.
“Our defense did an outstanding job of winning their one-on-ones when they got them,” said LaFleur on Thursday. “Sometimes guys were splitting double teams. I thought the pressure on the quarterback was pretty consistent. So I was pleased with that.”
