A career day from Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield was not enough for Packers head coach Matt LaFleur to commit to giving up on Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry yet.
In what started out as an underperforming season for the Packers’ defensive, given the expectations coming into the year, has quickly turned tumultuous for Barry, as over the previous two losses for Green Bay, the Packers have given up 539 passing yards and five passing touchdowns to Mayfield and Giants quarterback Tommy DeVito. In total, Green Bay has given up 819 total yards in the last two games. That equates to 17% of the total amount of yards Green Bay has given up all season.
“Now is not the time for that to be honest with you,” said LaFleur, when asked if he would consider a change at defensive coordinator. “Now is not the time. I am trying to find solutions.”
LaFleur’s comments seem to indicate that Barry will remain the defensive coordinator through the end of the season, but what does that cost? Green Bay now sits in a must-win situation for what feels like each of its last three games and an obvious deficiency has been the play of the defensive unit, especially on third downs. Just last week against Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers converted seven of 11 times when it was faced with a third down.
The inability to get off of the field on third down is not the only issue though, as the run defense has been less than impressive over the past two weeks as well. The Buccaneers and the Giants combined for 308 rushing yards, which brings Green Bay’s total rushing yards given up to 1,943. That ranks 30th in the NFL. Given those alarming stats, it begs a fair question, why is Barry still employed by the Green Bay Packers?
Making a coaching change at any level and at any point in the season is a major event for a football team. That becomes exemplified when a team is as young as Green Bay is and is in a spot where it needs to win to keep its season alive. Making a coaching change, especially one as important as the leader of the defensive unit, more often than not takes time to prove to be successful and time is something that is not really on the Packers’ side right now.
Possibly to the dismay of Packers fans, it appears that Barry is going to remain the signal caller for the Packers for at least the next three games.
That stems from there not really being a plan for life beyond Barry yet. If Barry were to get fired, names like Jerry Montgomery (defensive line coach/run game coordinator) or Greg Williams (passing game coordinator) would probably be at the front to succeed him. If that were to happen, it would be hard to imagine that there would be any kind of overhaul on the scheme that Green Bay would run for the remainder of the season.
As much as Packers fans want to put all of the blame on Barry, he has had to manage injuries all season long. Jaire Alexander, De’Vondre Campbell, Eric Stokes, Quay Walker, Rashan Gary, Devonte Wyatt and Keisean Nixon are all starters on this defense who have missed time due to injuries. As anyone who has ever played football will tell you, it is really hard to play, let alone win when you don’t have your best players on the field.
With that being said, there have been numerous times this season where the opposing team was faced with a third-and-short, and Green Bay’s corners have lined up 10 yards or more off of the receiver. There have also been times where inside linebackers were forced to cover slot receivers and times where linebackers and safeties were in no-man’s-land in zone coverage.
It is obvious that something needs to change on the defensive side of the ball, but that may not come until the offseason. If Green Bay does in fact decide to fire Barry, some names that could be brought in for an interview might include Jacksonville Jaguars passing game coordinator Deshea Townsend, San Francisco 49ers linebackers coach Johnny Hollard or Dallas Cowboys defensive backs coach and former Green Bay Packers great Al Harris.
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