GREEN BAY – Other than the addition of Micah Parsons, the biggest difference in the Packers’ defenses of the last two years came down to takeaways.
In 2024, Green Bay had the fourth-highest total in the league with 31. Last season, the Packers dropped to tied for fourth lowest with just 14, the lowest single-season total in franchise history.
Whether they can climb out of the hole and get back to where they were in that category will go a long way toward defining new defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon’s first season in Green Bay.
And while takeaways are a collective effort amongst all players and coaches, a lot will fall on the secondary to get its hands on the ball most often as pass defenders, and as extra tacklers coming into the scrum with a targeted mode of attack.
“You’ve gotta be opportunistic,” new defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach Bobby Babich said.
“One of the things I tell the guys all the time is, we don’t need to chase plays, we need to put ourselves in position to make plays. And when that ball shows up you just better make sure that you’ve repetitioned that so much, … you visualized, you’ve trained it, you’ve done all of that.”
Capitalizing on the plays to be made was missing last year, because there was no lack of opportunities or attention to such a crucial aspect of the game. The Packers ran all sorts of drills in practice and had film sessions devoted to takeaways, but the results didn’t follow.
Green Bay’s number of “dropped” interceptions varied based on grading and subjectivity, but practically every defender in the back seven had chances that got away.
New cornerbacks coach Daniel Bullocks admitted “the hardest thing to do as a defensive back is finishing at the catch point,” so it must be trained as much as the anticipation and reactions that got the players in position in the first place.
Putting all those pieces together is the task facing Green Bay’s new DB coaches.