GREEN BAY, Wis. – There’s an elephant in a room filled with bulldogs.
With standout Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt sustaining a season-ending ankle injury, it will be up to Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse, two rookies from the University of Georgia, to replace Wyatt, who also played at Georgia.
“There’s an elephant in the room, yes,” Stackhouse told Packers On SI on Monday. “Can we sustain ourselves on the field with one of our best DTs getting out? Yes, we can, and we’re going to be able to prove that these last four or five games of the season.”
“I just can’t wait for the opportunity because we’ve been doing nothing but busting our asses at practice, during camp. Every day, it’s an opportunity to go out there and prove ourselves. With K.B. (defensive tackle Karl Brooks) slowly coming back, B.C. (defensive end Brenton Cox) slowly coming back, we’re slowly building our defense back up to what it was at the beginning of the season. But it’s just a great opportunity.”
Without Wyatt, it will be up to one of the most unheralded defensive tackle groups in the NFL to be big enough, strong enough and tough enough to help the Packers get to the playoffs. The last men standing are Colby Wooden, Brooks, Brinson and Stackhouse.
“I think it just falls on everybody else raising the level of their game,” coach Matt LaFleur said, seemingly downplaying the possibility the Packers will look for some veteran help.
Wooden and Brooks are the veterans who will have to lead the way. Wooden, a fourth-round pick in 2023, has been the fulcrum of Green Bay’s sturdy run defense all season. Brooks, a sixth-round pick in 2023, has three career starts (all this season). He’s missed most of the last three games due to an ankle injury and has zero tackles for losses.
Brinson and Stackhouse are the rookies who must rise to the occasion. Brinson, a sixth-round pick, has been a healthy scratch in six of 12 games. He’s played 122 snaps including 53 the last two games. Stackhouse, an undrafted free agent, has played 114 snaps in 12 games but logged more than five snaps just once in the last four.
Stackhouse feels for Wyatt, who he played with at Georgia in 2020 and 2021, but is eager to show what he can do.
“I’m really excited,” Stackhouse said. “I feel like these past few weeks, I wasn’t really playing too much. A, I’m always appreciative of any opportunity that I get but I’ve just been feeling for some more time on the field, especially during the close games, of course. We hate to see stuff like that, especially to one of our best players on defense.
“Really just playing at Georgia, I learned about next-man-up mentality. Regardless of what the situation is, just got to be ready, always got to have your head on straight, so be level-headed. At the same time, don’t let it become pressure. It’s not pressure at all. If anything, it’s just an open opportunity. Me and Warren, we’ll be playing more and there’s nothing more that has to be said about that.”
Brinson agreed that there’s no pressure – even though it would seem quite a burden has been dumped on their wide shoulders.
“We just got to do our job,” he said. “It’s time to be next man up and it’s time to grow. We’re not rookies no more.”
Green Bay Packers’ Isaiah McDuffie (58) and Warren Brinson (91) sack Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy. | Dan Powers/USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
But they are rookies. Sunday’s opponent, the Chicago Bears, has a superb and experienced interior offensive line. The Bears this offseason traded for left guard Joe Thuney, who was a first-team All-Pro the last two seasons with the Chiefs, and right guard Jonah Jackson, and signed the best center in free agency, Drew Dalman.
Combined, they’ve started more games in their careers than Stackhouse and Brinson have played snaps.
“Everybody tests the rookies,” Brinson said. “All the weeks leading up to this that we played, people knew that we were rookies and they were getting knocked back. They’ve got to keep coming at me like I’m going to come at them. Who’s going to want to do it for four quarters? Are you going to be physical for four quarters? I know I’m going to be physical for four quarters. I know I’m going to come off the ball every play like it’s my last play.”
The Bears ran for 281 yards against the powerful Eagles on Friday. It figures to be a similar run-first game plan on Sunday.
“They’re definitely going to test us, but all the teams have,” Stackhouse said. “There’s no hiding from that at all. Really, as a defensive front, we’re up for the challenge every week. Shoot, them games where teams was running and had 100-plus yards on that, we ended up prevailing and winning the game.
“You can only run the ball so much. We’re going to do enough on defense so our offense can go out there and score. If you want to run the ball the whole game, run the ball the whole game. Eventually, we’re going to stop it. I believe in all my guys up front. When we’re all locked in and connected as a unit, we’re unstoppable.”
The Bears were unstoppable on Friday. Their third game of 220-plus rushing yards this season came against an Eagles defense featuring the touted duo of Jordan Davis and Jalen Carter on the defensive line.
The Packers don’t have anyone like Davis or Carter, especially without Wyatt, who was injured when Brinson fell on his leg. If Green Bay is going to win on Sunday, if it’s going to win the division, if it’s going to win in the playoffs, Stackhouse and Brinson are going to have to be strong, smart and fundamentally sound.
“We’re up for the challenge,” Stackhouse said. “To play against the Bears in Lambeau for the first game – I know we play them twice – you couldn’t be more excited. It’s going to be cold, too; hopefully it snows – I like the snow. We’re down for the challenge. This week, we’re going to double down on what we need to work on individually so we can be victorious on Sunday.”
Stackhouse drew a parallel to his Georgia career, when he was part of the “cleanup crew” for two seasons before starting 42 games during his final three years.
“It’s just restarting my first two years at Georgia – watching the guys go out there and play while still getting playing time. That’s when I earned my position my third year. I earned that right to play on the field, earned that right to have the trust of my coaches. My D-line coach, my defensive coordinator, my head coach, I earned their trust to go out the field and hold it down. There’s nothing different in this situation at all.
“It’s just very unfortunate that a guy that I actually watched when I was still at Georgia play at a high level and still playing with him now, and he goes down, we don’t like to see that. So, the only thing I can do is focus on making him proud throughout the rest of this season because that’s what I know he wants to see.”
SIGN UP FOR OUR FREE DAILY PACKERS NEWSLETTER
More Green Bay Packers News