Acme Packing Company
Over the last two games, the Green Bay Packers have allowed just 16 total points in the first halves of games, including a touchdown on a play where the Dallas Cowboys started with the ball on the 15-yard line after a Jordan Love sack-fumble. Meanwhile, their defense has surrendered 52 points, more than three times as many points, in the second halves of those games.
Obviously, Packers head coach Matt LaFleur was asked about the Jekyll and Hyde of Green Bay’s defense, one that starts off strong with three-and-outs but by the end of games looks like butter to the opposing offenses’ hot knife.
Below is how LaFleur answered questions about the consistency of his defensive unit in his press conference on Monday:
That’s something that [defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley] and I were kind of like nitpicking. Why is it happening? Because if you look at the scoring differential, I just looked at it, we were up in the first quarter throughout the course of the season, we’ve scored 24 points, and the opposition scored 0. There’s a big discrepancy in the second quarter as well, but the second half, I think we’re -6 on the season.
…
We’re just like why is that happening? Are we running out of gas? Obviously, they got the ball to start the second half. They go on an 18-play drive or whatever it was. I mean, ate up damn near 10 minutes off the clock or whatever it was. Does that gas you out? Does that make you more tired? Do we need to roll more guys in the first half? The hard part is the first half was a bunch of three-and-outs, so guys feel fresh and you put them in there.
There’s things we talk about in regards to are we well-conditioned enough from practice? Did our guys do enough on the bye week? All that stuff has kind of been floated around, trying to figure out as to why this is happening, ‘cause certainly we’re trying to find solutions.
The defensive line, in particular, has looked gassed in the second halves of the last two weeks. Notably, defensive tackle Devonte Wyatt dropped out with a knee injury early in the Cowboys game, which forced two rookie defensive tackles, Nazir Stackhouse and Warren Brinson, into the lineup more. Beyond that, though, Karl Brooks, who wasn’t a Week 1 starter with the team, had to play 51 snaps against the Bengals. When you combine his special teams snaps, he was on the field more than Micah Parsons last week.
Meanwhile, defensive end Rashan Gary only played 39 snaps on Sunday. Over the last two years, he’s only been on the field for 53 percent (2023) and 59 percent (2024) of defensive plays for the Packers. For perspective, Las Vegas’ Maxx Crosby, who plays the same position as Gary, has never played less than 95 percent of the Raiders’ snaps in the last four seasons.
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