Packers Defense Must Play Better for Green Bay to Catch Detroit in NFC North

On Sunday night against the New Orleans Saints, the Green Bay Packers defense didn't look like anything other than a liability for a team. Losing in a 44-23 effort, the Packers allowed New Orleans to hit its highest scoring mark on the season in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

If one saw how Vegas projected the game's result, this was to no surprise.

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Point blank: The Packers offense needs to win the shootout against the Saints. Vegas is predicting 56 points being scored in the game, according to Odds Shark, the highest over/under of the week. In fact, only two other matches are projected to even go over 50 points.

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After entering the weekend tied at the top of the NFC North with the Detroit Lions, they have fallen behind to the clear No. 2 slot in the division.

The key to winning the game defensively was to put pressure on Saints quarterback Drew Brees. Noted by Greg A. Bedard of The MMQB, Brees' offensive line hadn't assisted him much in 2014 coming into the week.

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In his six games this season, Brees has been pressured at least 25 percent of the time in five of those games. Brees got his best protection (21.1 percent pressure) in the win over the Vikings. In total, Brees has been pressured on 29.2 percent of his dropbacks.

For Brees, the final two drives against the Lions were a microcosm of the season thus far. On 11 dropbacks over the final two drives (one a run by Brees), he was pressured eight times, including the interception with 3:20 to play that allowed the Lions to take the lead. Brees has to find a way not to make that mistake, but those things happen when you’re constantly feeling the heat.

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While the Packers were able to get two sacks on the day, Brees more often than not had time to work his offense on the field. At the end of the day, he totaled 311 yards through the air for a quarterback rating mark of 138.4. Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers netted two nice plays, wrapping up the quarterback, but that's all there were: two plays.

On the ground, the Packers didn't fair much better. The Saints were able to rush for 197 yards, mostly attributed to running back Mark Ingram's 172-yard performance.

Green Bay's issues stopping the run are more than just a recent issue, though. Coming into the week, the squad averaged nearly 148 yards given up on the ground each game. The mark was second worst in the league, only behind the Cleveland Browns.

The surprising showing was regarding their pass defense, which ranked fifth best entering the matchup in yards per game. Instead of shutting down the Saints offense, Brees was able to manipulate the defense, earning the Saints their fourth-straight 400-yard game in a row.

Early in the game, the Packers identified that they weren't going to be able to slow the high-flying offense on their own turf. If Green Bay did have faith in its defense, there would have been little reason to try a first-quarter onside kick in an attempt to steal a possession.

Unable to recover the kick, the Saints started with the ball on the Green Bay 46-yard line. The drive eventually led to a red-zone stop by the Packers, but the Saints, with tremendous field position, still were able to knock in a short field goal.

From there on out, the Saints offense seemed to take no breaks. Only twice did the team not end a drive in a score. Once was due to a turnover on downs in the third quarter; the other was due to a fourth-quarter fumble, which didn't affect the outcome of the game by any means.

According to ESPN Wisconsin's Jason Wilde, this was only the third game in NFL history which didn't involve a single punt. The Packers were also involved in another such game in 2014, against the Chicago Bears. Unfortunately for the squad, they weren't about to force three turnovers and a red-zone shutdown like they did in Soldier Field.

No, the context defensively couldn't be matched between those two games by a statistic. The results of the two defenses based on footage were nearly opposite.

Notably, the performance of the starting boundary cornerbacks Tramon Williams and Davon House, who entered the base defense as a replacement for injured Sam Shields, were in question for the duration of the game. Brian Carriveau of Cheesehead TV criticized their play in his weekly "Chips Report" article.

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Tramon Williams was picked on by Drew Brees for two consecutive touchdown passes in the third quarter, the first a deep post route by Brandin Cooks, and the latter on a leaping grab to tight end Jimmy Graham in the end zone. Those two touchdowns pushed the score from 16-16 to 30-16. House, meanwhile, got lost on a 45-yard completion to Kenny Stills on the Saints' first possession of the game, which set up the game-tying touchdown. He also whiffed on a tackle on Mark Ingram's final 21-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter, one of several missed tackles by both cornerbacks throughout the evening.

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The defensive back unit wasn't the only one struggling, though. The inside linebacking corps has been in a rotation for weeks, as the coaching staff attempts to pin down two every-down players.

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Packers ILB snap count: AJ Hawk 58, Sam Barrington 45, Jamari Lattimore 24

— Nathan Jahnke (@PFF_NateJahnke) October 27, 2014"

According to Ryan Wood of the Green Bay Gazette-Press, edge-rusher Peppers didn't believe the performance was indicative of the talent the Packers had defensively, just merely a "circumstantial" game.

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Peppers called tonight's meltdown on D "circumstantial": "I don't think we took a step back as a defense. We just didn't play well tonight.

— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) October 27, 2014"

Head coach Mike McCarthy had a different set of choice words to describe the defense.

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"Not a whole lot of defense played tonight." - McCarthy on @tmj4 #Packers http://t.co/zKcqNZHgcd

— WIsportscom (@WIsportscom) October 27, 2014"

With the accumulation of injuries defensively, the Packers have hit a perfect situation for a bye week before their November return to matches. Shields, safety Morgan Burnett and defensive lineman Datone Jones are currently nursing injuries. The Packers are hoping a healthy defense can yield better results as the season moves on.

If the Packers aren't going to force punts, but allow teams to score 40-plus points and net nearly 500 yards a game, results aren't going to look good ever. If you're looking for optimism regarding the squad defensively, you're hoping its performance against the Saints was exactly what Peppers said: "Circumstantial."

In a deep NFC, the Packers cannot rely on a wild-card opening. The team has lost three straight playoff games on the road since its Super Bowl XLV run. A full game behind the Detroit Lions—who also currently hold the tiebreaker over the squad—in the NFC North, Green Bay must turn around its defensive unit to generate a shot at a playoff run.