The single biggest factor in the success of the Green Bay Packers in Thursday’s league opener against the Seattle Seahawks, and for the rest of the 2014 season, is how much the defense has improved from last season.
An offseason’s worth of changes, to both personnel and philosophy, make an argument that the defense that takes the field at CenturyLink Field will show marked improvement over the unit that finished last year ranked 25th in the league.
“We feel like we’re physical, fast, aggressive, ready to make a statement and kind of get back to that defense we were accustomed to in 2009, 2010, early in my career,” Packers outside linebacker Clay Matthews said.
On the personnel side, the Packers retooled the safety position, converting Micah Hyde and drafting Ha Ha Clinton-Dix in the first round of the NFL Draft. General Manager Ted Thompson made a rare splash in free agency, signing Julius Peppers to bookend the outside linebacker position with Clay Matthews. On the defensive line, the team got active, saying goodbye to big men Ryan Pickett and Johnny Jolly in favor fit, active guys such as Mike Daniels and Datone Jones.
The new philosophy for the defense won’t be clear until Thursday, when the Packers spring it on the Seahawks. Players and coaches have hinted that it will be more aggressive and a bit simpler, to allow a lot of substitutions to keep guys fresh.
“We’re a better pass rush team today than we’ve been in a long time,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said this week.
While the Packers have exuded confidence in the pass defense all training camp, the run defense remains a question mark, especially with run-stuffer B.J. Raji out for the year with a torn bicep.
The run defense will be tested early and often by Seattle and bruising running back Marshawn Lynch.
“Marshawn’s a very good one, stick your foot down, one-plant type of guy and get up field north and south,” Matthews said. “We have to do a good job with that, shutting down the edge and forcing Russell (Wilson) to beat us with his arm.”
“They’re going to give the ball to Marshawn Lynch,” McCarthy said. “They’re going to run the football, their style, schematically how they run it. That’s a starting point, and I would think Percy Harvin is going to get his touches, too.”
Earlier this year McCarthy guaranteed that the Packers’ defense would be better this season.
That wasn’t the first time McCarthy has made a bold declaration. Last summer he declared the Packers would run the ball better. Eddie Lacy, and his rookie of the year award, proved McCarthy knew what he was talking about.
On Thursday, we’ll get the first evidence whether McCarthy is right about his defense.
On Monday, Peppers, a 13-year veteran, came up with a pretty good way of measuring the new defense’s success when asked how he’d judge if he had a successful performance.
“A win,” he said. “That’s it.”
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