Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers passing attack is picking up steam, but it may have to be their short-handed run game that may have to shoulder the burden against Kansas City.
In terms of points allowed, the Kansas City defense has been on of the best in football surrendering just 16.5 points per game this season, the third-fewest in the NFL. Despite opponents trying to pass the ball nearly 32 times per game against the Chiefs – the fifth most in football – they have allowed the third-fewest passing yards. Kansas City has three very aggressive and ball-centric cornerbacks in L’Jarius Sneed, Trent McDuffie, and Joshua Williams.
“We got one of the best defenses coming in here on Sunday Night Football,” said Matt LaFleur. “It’s going to be a great challenge for our guys. They do a really good job applying a lot of pressure. They’re a very physical unit and just very aggressive.”
However, where this unit has been susceptible is against the run—especially as of late. Over the course of the season, Kansas City is allowing 4.6 yards per rush, which ranks 28th. In their last three games, Las Vegas running back Josh Jacob’s has averaged 5.5 yards per carry, Philadelphia’s D’Andre Swift 6.3, and Miami’s Raheem Mostert 7.1.
In the Chiefs’ 24-9 loss to Denver, the Broncos run game wasn’t overly effective, averaging just 3.8 yards per carry as a team, but they knew that element was going to have to be a key component in their path to victory. Denver would run the ball 40 times in that game.
The run game has not only been an area of opportunity for Kansas City’s opponents, but doing so consistently – and hopefully somewhat effectively – can open up opportunities in the passing game, specifically off play-action, and take away some of the bite from an aggressive defense that loves to blitz from any part of the field and does a great job of disguising where those blitzes are coming from.
The Chiefs enter Week 13 ranked sixth in blitz rate, second in pressure rate, and have generated the fourth-most sacks. Becoming one-dimensional and pass-heavy against a unit that has been so effective at getting after the quarterback could be disastrous for really any offense, but especially a young one. Pre-snap communication along the offensive line, protection adjustments by Love, and Love knowing where his check down options are, all will be crucial elements to handling the Kansas City pressure packages.
“If you watch them, they are a blitzing defense,” said quarterbacks coach Tom Clements. “They’ll show you things coming from one side and bring it from another side. They’ll blitz all out and not have a safety in the middle of the field and they’ll do it at any time. So the important thing is you have to know what the concept is. As I said, know where your check down is because if they are able to get out, if they don’t have a protection responsibility, or throw it away if you need to.
”So you have to be aware of that at all times,” Clements added. “Obviously, it’s the protection unit, the up front people, and the back are going to have to be in tune. Everyone is going to have to be on the same page because they do give you a lot of looks and we are going to have to handle them.”
Now, it’s easy to say that the Packers should try to lean on the run game, but it’s another thing to do it effectively. For much of the season, the Packers have struggled with that second part. Green Bay’s 4.1 yards per rush in 2023 ranks 20th at the moment.
More so now than in the first half of the season, the Packers have found some success on the ground over the last month, allowing LaFleur to lean on that element a bit more, along with taking some of the burden off the passing game. The Packers’ running backs averaged 4.7 yards per rush against Los Angeles and Pittsburgh, but barely eclipsed the 3.0 yard mark in their last two games.
With an already below-average run game, the Packers also find themselves short-handed at the position as well. Aaron Jones’ status for Sunday is still very much up in the air and he is yet to return to practice. This would then leave Green Bay once again with AJ Dillon – who is also on the injury report – Patrick Taylor, and either James Robinson or Ellis Merriweather.
Between the Thanksgiving matchup with Detroit and the upcoming one with Kansas City, the Packers’ offense is having to deal with two teams who are both very good at getting after the quarterback. Green Bay handled the Lions’ pass rush well last week, but the big difference between these two opponents is that the best way to attack Detroit has been through the air, while for Kansas City, it’s been on the ground.
