GREEN BAY, Wis. — How will the Packers’ pass rush handle Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts and his mobility? Will they take a similar approach to what they did in Week 1, or choose to be more aggressive?
Rewinding back to the Packers’ season opener in Brazil against Philadelphia, Jeff Hafley wanted his pass rush to take a more controlled approach, where the emphasis was on keeping Hurts in the pocket.
In that regard, it worked. While Hurts would finish the 2024 regular season leading all quarterbacks in rush attempts, along with totaling 630 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, in that Week 1 matchup with Green Bay, the Packers held him to only 33 yards on the ground on 13 attempts.
“I thought Week 1 our D line did a really good job of keeping him in the pocket,” said Jeff Hafley. “He didn’t rush from many yards. He didn’t escape.”
But for every pro, there is a con. Although the Packers were able to keep Hurts in the pocket, their pass rush was unable to generate steady pressure with a more conservative–for lack of a better term–approach. As a unit, the Eagles offensive line was credited with surrendering only nine pressures the entire game, per PFF. That’s a pressure rate on Hurts of just over 23 percent–which for an offensive line, anything under 30 percent is a good day.
Even when the Packers sent some blitzes in that first matchup, which they did from both the linebacker and nickel positions, those pressures didn’t get home quick enough, and as Matt LaFleur mentioned after the game, coverages were blown on the back end in several of those instances.
The Packers wanted to make Hurts stay in the pocket and if he was going to beat them, do so with his arm–which is often what happened. Hurts was 20-of-34 passing in that game for 278 at an efficient 8.2 yards per attempt with two touchdowns to two interceptions.
So will Hafley flip the script in this rematch and try to pressure Hurts early on?
“Well, it depends how they’re going to try to attack us,” said Hafley. “Are they going to run it more, or are they going to let him start to throw it early in the game? We’ve gotta do some things differently. I think each week we’ve tried to throw some different stuff at people, and I think we need to do some of that early in the game, make him see a couple different things and throw him off a little bit.”
Not only against the Eagles in Week 1, but all season, the Packers’ pass rush has been inconsistent. By ESPN’s pass-rush win rate metric, the Packers will finish the regular season ranked 26th. In terms of pure pressure rate, they rank 16th, which in part, is a product of the manufactured pressures that Hafley has created through blitzes or simulated pressures.
Not to discount the schemed-up component behind those pressures, but that’s almost certainly going to have to be a part of the equation this week, to some degree, given the Packers’ struggles to get home with only four. And when those blitzes are dialed up, the defense is then down a defender in coverage.
Adding to the difficulty of this matchup is that awaiting the Packers’ defensive front is one of the best offensive lines in football, with the Eagles entering the postseason ranked sixth in pass-block win rate.Green Bay Packers
