Paul Bretl | 9/22/2024
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Based on reports, Malik Willis will get the start against Tennessee at quarterback for the Packers. This puts an added emphasis on the need for a strong run game that the offense can lean on, however, accomplishing that this week will prove to be a bigger challenge–literally.
Through two games, the Titans’ defense is surrendering just 4.0 yards per rush, which is the 10th-lowest rate in football at this point. The 92.5 rushing yards per game Tennessee is giving up also ranks 10th.
In the middle of what has shown to be a salty, as Matt LaFleur put it, defensive front are Jeffery Simmons, rookie T’Vondre Sweat, who measures in at 6-4 – 362 pounds, and Sebastian Joseph-Day.
“Well they’re giants,” said LaFleur about the Titans defensive front. “And they do a good job. They’re both athletic, but I think it’s just the totality of the defense. I think you look across-the-board the majority of their players are veteran players that have played a lot of ball and they have a good scheme. So it’s going to be a great challenge for us.”
Individually, Joseph-Day ranks sixth and Simmons 15th in PFF’s run-stop rate metric out of 118 eligible defensive tackles. With Sweat, his impact isn’t always going to be felt on the stat sheet, but his ability to take on double-teams and eat up space frees up other defenders to make plays.
“They’re big inside,” said offensive line coach Luke Butkus. “They’re strong, they’re physical. We’ve got to match that physicality, and we’ve got to win up front. We’ve got to own the line of scrimmage in the run game and protect our quarterback. That’s football.”
Along with the Titans being a much more stout opponent this week against the run, the big question for the Packers is can they replicate last week’s success with Willis at quarterback, and how do they go about doing so?
The element of unpredictability that the Packers had a week ago is decreased this week with the Titans having at least a week’s worth of game tape to study. There also isn’t another team out there that knows what Willis can and can’t do more than Tennessee.
In addition to that, even with a game under his belt, Willis is still quite inexperienced when it comes to operating this offense–it’s only been just over three weeks, after all–and because of that, there’s only so many options LaFleur and Co. have when it comes to play designs.
With that said, there will certainly be elements from last week’s game-plan that can be useful this week as well, specifically getting the receivers involved in the run game. This will give Green Bay rushing opportunities on the perimeter and away from the interior defensive line, not to mention the pre-snap eye-candy will help get the defense flowing one direction before actually running the ball the other.
This could be a game where we see a real concerted effort by the Packers to get out-wide in the run game in an effort to avoid Simmons, Sweat, and Joseph-Day. Even with the overall success that Titans defense has had, they’ve surrendered explosive runs to D’Andre Swift and Breece Hall out by the offensive tackles.
“Simmons is really good,” said offensive coordinator Adam Stenavich. “I think it’s harder in the pass game to double. When you have a guy like Simmons or Aaron Donald, when they play an interior position, a three-technique, you can slide at him but there’s certain instances where they give you five across, they force you to go one-on-one pass protection, stuff like that, and that’s where those elite players, they make their money.
“He is definitely an elite player. He plays with a great motor. He’s got excellent talent, all the physical tools. Yeah, he’s going to be a problem that we have to understand where he’s at.”
Success on the ground will be a must for the Packers. That will allow the Packers to control the game flow, and set up short down-and-distance situations where the playbook opens for LaFleur and passing opportunities for the offense.
On the flip side, struggles in the run game will put Willis and the offense in predictable passing situations against a physical secondary and a defensive coordinator in Dennard Wilson, who is very willing to blitz.
“I think they got a lot of veteran players and they’re a well-built defense,” said LaFleur. “I think schematically it’s a challenge. Dennard Wilson coming from Baltimore and just he’s an experienced guy in this league. And then when you couple that with really good players, you have a chance to be a really good defense. And they do all the little things the right way, in terms of the effort and physicality that they play with. So we’ve got our work cut out for us this week.”