Green Bay Packers Aim To Stuff the Run and Stop Losing Fourth-Quarter Leads

(Photo by Scott Boehm/Getty Images)

If the Green Bay Packers hope to do better than last year’s disastrous 6-10 season, they have to do a better job stopping opposing running backs.

The Packers ranked very high in pass defense last year.  If you go by the passing percentage of opposing QB’s, the Packers were third toughest, allowing a 55 percent completion rate.  As strange as it may sound, the top defense in that category (Baltimore) still allowed completions more than half of the time (52 percent).  

If you judge by passing yards allowed per game, the Packers ranked 12th among the 32 teams in the NFL with a 202 yard average. Not bad.

So how did the Packers end up on the short end of the score so much?

The run defense was a big reason. Not only did Green Bay rank near the bottom in rushing yards allowed (26th). They were even worse in allowing opponents to convert fourth downs into first downs. They allowed it 74 percent of the time, third worst in the league.

That inability to stop the opponents fourth down attempts played a big role in the Packers losing a lot of leads late in the game. Green Bay lost five of their last six games last year and in the last four losses, the defense couldn’t preserve a fourth quarter lead. Green Bay ranked second worst in fourth quarter points allowed, giving up 135.

So there was no mystery what the Packers needed on draft day this past April. They needed a top defensive lineman and they may have found one. Green Bay made 6'2", 337 pound B.J. Raji from Boston College their number one pick.

Raji was a leading defensive lineman in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2008 and had a strong showing in the Senior Bowl against many of the nation’s top offensive linemen.

The Packers also drafted 275 pound defensive end Jarius Wynn from Georgia in the sixth round. 

In addition to the new talent, the Packers’ hopes to improve their run defense will depend on the how strong two returning defensive ends, Cullen Jenkins and Justin Harrell, come back from injuries.  

Jenkins started 2008 strong with several sacks but was lost for the season just four weeks in when he tore a pectoral muscle. Harrell, the team’s number one pick in the 2007 draft, has also had injury problems in his first two season. Both Jenkins and Harrell are expected to be ready for the start of training camp in July.

Also returning for Green Bay’s front line on defense will be Ryan Pickett, Johnny Jolly and Mike Montgomery. Each played well at times in 2008 but were stretched thin due to the injuries to Jenkins and Harrell. Having those two back and adding Raji to the mix should give the Green Bay defense a good chance to redeem itself in 2009.

The coordinator responsibilities for that defense belong to a new man this year.  Head Coach Mike McCarthy fired most of the defensive coaching staff shortly after last season.  In mid-January, before the Super Bowl was even held, McCarthy hired his new coordinator, Dom Capers.

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