The performance wasn’t perfect by any means – and it rarely is – but the Green Bay Packers defense came up big against the Los Angeles Chargers when it mattered most—in the red zone.
“Our red-zone defense was really good today,” said Matt LaFleur post-game, “and was one of the keys in the fourth quarter when they took the lead.”
The Chargers made four trips to the red zone in Sunday’s game, compared to just two attempts for the Green Bay offense. That in itself could have been a key deciding factor in this game had it not been for the play of the Packers’ defense inside their own 20-yard line.
On those four trips that Los Angeles made to the red zone, they left with only one touchdown, and on a crucial late possession, Kenny Clark forced a fumble inside the five-yard line that Green Bay was then able to recover.
“Kenny Clark is one of our leaders,” said LaFleur. “No question about it. Another guy that continues to battle and he certainly leads that defensive line room and he’s a big leader, not only on the defense, but for this football team. He’s not always the most outspoken but certainly he does that with his play and his actions and how he prepares on a weekly basis. We’re fortunate to have a guy like that in our locker room.”
Not only was that turnover forced by Clark massive because of where it occurred on the field, but truthfully, it was also somewhat unlikely as well. The Chargers entered the game as the least turnover-prone team in the NFL on offense, while the Packers’ defense has been one of the worst at generating takeaways this season.
That fumble forced by Clark was the only turnover of the game for either team—allowing the Packers to win the elusive turnover battle for only the third time in 10 games this season. They are now 2-1 in such games.
Green Bay’s success in the red zone began with the defense’s ability to limit the Chargers’ running game. Minus Austin Ekeler’s 37-yard run in the first half, he and Joshua Kelley combined for 15 carries and only 40 yards. When LaFleur was speaking about the Packers’ own red zone woes on offense this past week, he mentioned that finding success inside the 20 for an offense begins with a strong run game.
Given that this is a confined part of the field, it is already inherently more difficult to move the ball through the air with less space to operate in. Green Bay’s cornerbacks also did a good job of challenging the Chargers receivers and, from an alignment standpoint, were not always so willing to give up the easy completions.
“I thought our guys challenged them,” said LaFleur of the defense. “I’ve got to give (Joe Barry) a ton of credit. He was playing some single safety there, which I don’t think a lot of people would, but that’s the style of quarterback you’re going against.
“You’re going against a guy that if you have a lot of softness in your coverage, he’s going to make you pay. He (Justin Herbert) had his fair share of plays today. He is a remarkable player and I think we all saw that and witnessed that.”
The Packers’ red zone success on defense against the Chargers isn’t anything too new for them this season. They entered Week 11 ranked 10th in red zone defense, allowing a touchdown on 48 percent of their opponent’s trips. Last week, Pittsburgh was two-for-three against the Packers in the red zone, and that proved to be the difference in the game, with the Green Bay offense going just 1-for-5.
While the Packers’ defense deserves credit for the end results, the Chargers offered them some help along the way. In a game for Los Angeles that could be defined by the passes they didn’t catch rather than the ones they did, there were two drops either at or near the goal line by their pass-catchers, one that would have gone for a touchdown and another that had the opportunity to. On both drives, the Chargers settled for field goals instead of touchdowns.
Too often this season, the defense has failed to come up with a late-game stop when needed. The Packers entered Sunday’s game having surrendered four fourth-quarter leads, and the Chargers became the fifth team.
However, unlike previous games, the Green Bay offense retook the lead, and the defense came up with two stops in the final five minutes to secure the win. If it wasn’t for the stops that the Packers were able to force throughout the game inside the red zone, the offense likely never would have even had the opportunity to retake the lead, with the game probably out of reach.
“We know what type of player Kenny (Clark) is,” said Love, “and I think that just him finishing off the game with that batted pass was awesome. You need your best players to step up, and that’s exactly what they did. The defense balled out today, got a couple sacks, so credit to the D-line right there.”
