Packers' Rediscovered Pass Defense Key to Victory over Ryan Tannehill, Dolphins

The Green Bay Packers' rediscovered ability to make life difficult on quarterbacks could end up being the winning difference when the club travels to Miami to take on Ryan Tannehill and the Dolphins in Week 6. 

Annually a top team in opposing passer rating under defensive coordinator Dom Capers, the Packers plummeted to 26th in the NFL last season. A once turnover-happy defense allowed 30 touchdown passes and intercepted just 11, giving Green Bay a rare and ugly opposing passer rating of 94.7—the highest since Capers took over the Packers defense in 2009. 

The recovery is in full swing in 2014. 

Through five games, which include tilts against Russell Wilson, Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler, the Packers rank second in the NFL in the all-important defensive statistic. Opposing quarterbacks have just a 70.5 passer rating against Green Bay, which trails only the Cincinnati Bengals (67.6) for first overall. 

	Opp. Passer Rating	NFL Rank
2009	74.9	6th
2010*	67.3	1st
2011	82.2	11th
2012	76.4	4th
2013	94.8	26th
2014	70.5	2nd

The Packers have gotten back to limiting passing scores and turning over quarterbacks. Capers' defense has allowed just five touchdown passes this season—which ranks tied for third in the league—while also intercepting seven passes, the third-most. The defense is on pace to give up just 16 touchdown passes and intercept almost 23. 

While limiting opposing passer rating is important in every single game on the schedule, history suggests it's especially important Sunday in Miami. 

Tannehill, a first-round pick of the Dolphins in 2012, has started 36 career games. Miami is 17-19 overall in those 36 starts, but the 17 wins and 19 losses can be almost perfectly split down the dividing line of passer rating. 

The Dolphins are a perfect 13-0 when Tannehill has a passer rating of 91.0 or above and just 4-19 when he doesn't.

Of course, no game has been or will be ultimately decided by such an arbitrary number. However, 91.0 is roughly 12 points above Tannehill's career passer rating of 79.4, so it's not unfair to consider this dividing point as one that accurately defines a good start from the Dolphins' starting quarterback. 

Bottom line: When Tannehill plays well, Miami has been a very difficult team to beat. When he doesn't, almost the exact opposite is true. 

	Cmp. %	Yards/Att	TD/INT	Passer Rating
Wins (17)	65.6	7.4	25/8	97.5
Losses (19)	55.0	6.0	17/25	66.3
TOTAL	59.5	6.7	42/33	79.4

Note that when Tannehill has a passer rating of under his career average of 79.4, the Dolphins are a staggering 1-15 overall. The lone win came back in October 2012, when Tannehill was knocked out of the game after just five pass attempts. The Matt Moore-led Dolphins went on to win, 30-9, over the New York Jets. 

One more telling trend: The Dolphins have averaged just 12.4 points per game when Tannehill's passer rating has been below Green Bay's current season average of 70.5. 

While dozens of factors go into the winning equation of every game, the Packers can travel to South Beach this weekend knowing a performance against Tannehill consistent with the defense's effort this season will result in an almost certain win. 

What has triggered Green Bay's reversal of fortunes against quarterbacks in 2014, and what will be needed to continue the charge against Tannehill?

Two points can answer both questions.

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First, the Packers are considerably better at consistently pressuring the quarterback this season. And second, the secondary behind the pressure packages is both healthy and improved from a talent standpoint.

The Green Bay defense is on pace for just a tick over 38 sacks this season—or six less than 2013. However, teams have thrown against the Packers only 152 times, which ranks as the fifth-least in the NFL. Opposing quarterbacks are on pace to throw just 486 times. Last season, Green Bay's 44 sacks came off 539 attempts. The total sack percentages for both years are nearly identical. 

The more obvious difference is the number of total quarterback disruptions (sacks, hits, hurries and batted passes) from the Packers defense.

According to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Green Bay finished last season with 259 disruptions: 44 sacks, 32 quarterback hits, 177 hurries and six batted passes. 

Through five games in 2014, the Packers are on pace for 326. The difference equates to about four more pressures per contest. The defense already has 23 quarterback hits (on pace for almost 64) and five batted passes, and it is also averaging over one more hurry per game. 

Any defense becoming more consistent in pressuring the quarterback will be better at the back end as well, and that's been true for the Packers. 

	Yards	Yrd/Att	Cmp.%	TD	Sacks
Packers	208.8	6.4	59.0	5	12
NFL Rank	7th	5th	5th	3rd	6th

Opposing quarterbacks are completing just 59.0 percent of their passes and averaging 6.4 yards per attempt against Green Bay. Both figures rank fifth in the NFL. 

The Packers have arguably the league's most effective quartet of cornerbacks through the first five weeks. In 2014, Sam Shields, Tramon Williams, Davon House and Casey Hayward have allowed a combined completion percentage of just 54.2 and a total passer rating of only 75.0.

At safety, the emergence of first-round pick Ha Ha Clinton-Dix has allowed Morgan Burnett to play to his strengths—near the line of scrimmage. The entire group—including converted cornerback Micah Hyde—is light-years better than last year's crew, which included castoffs M.D. Jennings and Jerron McMillian.

The final result has been a defense that more closely resembles those in past years under Capers, excluding 2013. The Packers are still giving up yards—in fact, only seven teams have allowed more this season—but the defense still finds itself ranked 10th in points, in large part because of its disruptive nature against quarterbacks. 

Continuing the defense's disruptive trends will be vitally important Sunday, when the Packers take on a team that has proved incapable of winning when its quarterback doesn't play well. 

Disrupt Tannehill, beat the Dolphins. It sounds overly simplistic, but it's the Packers' easiest path to victory in Miami in Week 6. 

Zach Kruse covers the NFC North for Bleacher Report. 

Follow @zachkruse2