Acme Packing Company
Through eight weeks of the NFL season, it’s safe to say that the opposing offenses the Green Bay Packers have faced thus far were primarily worried about Micah Parsons’ impact on their ability to play offense. Through the first four weeks, opposing teams could game plan around Parsons’ rushing off the edge.
After the bye week, that changed, and as Jeff Hafley has evolved the defensive structure. Now, offenses must change how they game plan to limit Parsons’s impact on their offense. In Weeks 1-4, Parsons logged just four snaps in four games as an off-the-ball linebacker. In Weeks 5-8, he logged 16 snaps as an off-the-ball linebacker. If that trend continues, his share of snaps as a second-level linebacker will undoubtedly increase.
And there’s no reason it shouldn’t. Aligning him off the ball gives the Packers a ton of flexibility in how they can influence the offense setting their pass protection. The offense knows Parsons is rushing no matter what. He’s played just one coverage snap in seven games per Pro Football Focus. So he’s rushing the passer, but from where?
A strange thing happens when Parsons aligns behind the defensive line. Their eyes and pass protection slide immediately to him.
On this blitz, where the Packers registered a sack in Week 3 versus Cleveland, they initially showed man coverage with a six-man pressure look. It resembled a cover-0 blitz, though they kept a deep safety in the middle of the field while leaving the tight end uncovered.
The front showed six defenders on the line of scrimmage, with Parsons acting as the sixth rusher, aligned just behind the defensive tackle’s hip. From that spot, he could attack from multiple angles, forcing the offensive line to quickly identify and adjust to the most immediate threat.
Parsons’ positioning disrupted the blocking assignments, and the confusion led to a free rusher up the middle. Rashan Gary burst through untouched, taking advantage of a protection bust that originated with the right tackle, who should have picked up the inside threat.
Gary shot clean through the gap for the sack. Typically, teams prefer any unblocked rusher to come from the edge, not the interior, where the pressure reaches the quarterback faster.
Gary recorded another sack on a drive last week in Week 8, but from a different alignment. Forced into a clear passing situation, the Packers adjusted their front pre-snap to create confusion as Rodgers dropped back to throw. With the Steelers facing 3rd and 17, Parsons aligned here off the ball behind a 3-man defensive line front.
The defense lined up in a standard cover-2 look on 3rd and long, with the zones dropping slightly deeper than usual. With no open receivers, Rodgers tried to extend the play and stepped up in the pocket, but as he did, Rashan Gary closed in from the edge and brought him down for the sack.
The offensive line slid their protection to the right with Parsons nearly stacked over the defensive tackle aligned over the...
