LaFleur Bets on Barry Despite Late-Season Asterisks

[Mark87]

In Week 12 of last season, the Green Bay Packers were trounced at the Philadelphia Eagles. The final score was 40-33, but the game never really seemed that close because defensive coordinator Joe Barry’s unit was so awful.

Run defense? The Packers allowed 363 rushing yards, third-most in franchise history. Jalen Hurts and Miles Sanders combined for 300. Tackling? The Packers missed 16. Adjustments? The Eagles’ four second-half drives went 11 plays for a touchdown, 14 plays for a field goal, 10 plays for a field goal and four plays to run out the clock. Heart? As much as Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz.

It was an embarrassing performance – on national television, no less. Barry survived that game and the rest of the season. And, with a strong finishing stretch, he survived for a third season.

“Although it wasn’t always pretty, I did think we started to improve as the year went on, and I thought we saw more of an identity,” coach Matt LaFleur said a day after the season-ending home loss to the Lions.

Following the debacle against the Eagles, the Packers won four consecutive games to claw back into the playoff hunt, only to lose the win-and-in finale against Detroit. Barry’s defense led the way, allowing 20 points or fewer in all five games – the team’s longest streak since 2019. During the winning streak, the Packers forced 12 turnovers – their most over a four-game stretch since 2016.

However, it all comes with an asterisk. Here’s a look at the final five games.

Game 13 – Packers 28, Bears 19. With the worst receiving corps in the NFL, Chicago finished 23rd in scoring, 28th in total offense and 30th in goal-to-go situations. The Bears didn’t just finish last in passing; their 130.5 passing yards per game were the fewest since the 2009 Browns.

Game 14 – Packers 24, Rams 12. With championship quarterback Matthew Stafford and star receiver Cooper Kupp among those out with injuries, the Rams finished 27th in scoring, 32nd in total defense and 29th in yards per passing play. They were last in scoring on the road.

Game 15 – Packers 26, Dolphins 20. Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating and was on his way to dismantling the Packers with 229 passing yards in the first half alone. He suffered a concussion during the second quarter but played the rest of the game. In the second half, he was 7-of-13 for 81 yards and three interceptions.

Game 16 – Packers 41, Vikings 17. This was Green Bay’s signature performance. Kirk Cousins was 18-of-31 passing for 205 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions, good for a 49.2 passer rating. A big key was the decision to put Jaire Alexander on Justin Jefferson, who was held to a career-low one catch . The Vikings are a different team home vs. road, as evidenced by the 15.5-point difference in Cousins’ passer rating, and they did nothing to get Jefferson away from Alexander.

Game 17 – Lions 20, Packers 16. Detroit ranked No. 1 in the NFL with 33.1 points per game at home but 19th with 19.4 points per game on the road. With 23 touchdowns vs. three interceptions at home vs. six touchdowns vs. four interceptions on the road, Jared Goff’s passer rating was 21.9 points worse on the road.

So, did Barry find some answers – even with Rashan Gary out of the lineup with a torn ACL? Or did his group beat up on bad offenses?

It is that question, as much as the performance of new starting quarterback Jordan Love, that will define the success or failure of the 2023 Packers.

“I’m not a big rear-view-mirror guy,” Barry said at the start of OTAs. “I want to look forward. I want to look through the windshield at what’s ahead. But I think if you do go back and really critique last year, the inconsistencies were the things that really got us. We played well at times. We didn’t play well at times. And that’s what you can’t do in this league.

“We’ve got to find that consistency and show up every single week. The last five or six weeks of the season, we found that. We don’t have time to waste 10 weeks.”

Handed a strong roster – one infinitely stronger than his units that performed so poorly in Detroit and Washington – Green Bay under Barry ranks 13th in points allowed, 30th in yards allowed per carry and 21st in touchdown passes allowed.

“We put a lot of investment into that group and there are high expectations there,” general manager Brian Gutekunst said after making outside linebacker Lukas Van Ness the eighth first-round pick on the defensive side of the ball.

Clearly, LaFleur is betting on Barry and his ability to bring the best out of a defense with a lot of high-profile talent on the depth chart. If LaFleur is wrong, it will call into question his ability to assemble a winning coaching staff.

“Being at the Green Bay Packers, expectations are high all the time, no matter what,” Barry said. “I’m very aware of our roster. I’m very aware of the draft status of all of our players.

“But expectations are and should be high all the time, and this year will be no different. There’ s absolutely no doubt about that. The expectation thing, that’s the great thing about having this word (Packers) on our chest is that we’re Green Bay Packers and the expectations at this place are high all the time and that’s great. I love it.”

 

[rpiotr01]

Some players are just backups, and so are some coaches. Barry is a decent LBs coach, he’s not a DC. He will be Bob Sanders over again. Best case scenario is that Love plays well and next offseason the good DC candidates will look at the opening and say “Good young QB and offense, I can get that D playing up to par”. I have no hope for a defensive turnaround in 2023. Nothing said by any of those coaches leads me to believe that they’re serious about the run D and some of those other issues. “Just play better!” seems to be their plan.

 

[GBP4EVER]

I still wonder if GB reached out to Leonhard after he was fired and told them he wants to take a year off and to call him next year if they still are going to look for a DC so they figured instead of firing Barry keep him another year and if he still stinks can him and give Leonard a call to see if he wants back into coaching.

 

[Keg Man]

I don't think Leonhard wants to ciach prima donna pros.

He's going to find another college atmosphere to coach in

 

[Nerd]

Some players are just backups, and so are some coaches. Barry is a decent LBs coach, he’s not a DC. He will be Bob Sanders over again. Best case scenario is that Love plays well and next offseason the good DC candidates will look at the opening and say “Good young QB and offense, I can get that D playing up to par”. I have no hope for a defensive turnaround in 2023. Nothing said by any of those coaches leads me to believe that they’re serious about the run D and some of those other issues. “Just play better!” seems to be their plan.

This defense was clutch Barry's first year. Remember that game against the Cardinals? Rasul flat out stole that game in the final seconds. This D was the only sound unit in the playoffs that year. They got stops when it mattered all season.

To me, the magic ingredient was Matt telling Joe what to do. Not (necessarily) that Joe is so dumb that he can't figure it out, but that (for whatever reason) Joe is approachable. Open to suggestion. Matt can step to him in a way that he wouldn't be able to with most DCs.

 

[rpiotr01]

This defense was clutch Barry's first year. Remember that game against the Cardinals? Rasul flat out stole that game in the final seconds. This D was the only sound unit in the playoffs that year. They got stops when it mattered all season.

To me, the magic ingredient was Matt telling Joe what to do. Not (necessarily) that Joe is so dumb that he can't figure it out, but that (for whatever reason) Joe is approachable. Open to suggestion. Matt can step to him in a way that he wouldn't be able to with most DCs.

Counterpoint is that ML has enough on his plate this year and doesn’t need to be coaching the DC, to me that’s a step on the checklist of a HC heading out the door. He made a bad hire in Barry and now, rather than own it and rectify it, he’s trying to force it to work. Not gonna work.

Even that Cardinals game you cited, yes they played well most of the game, but they were in full blown collapse mode when Murray made a terrible decision and terrible throw that AJ Green wasn’t expecting.

 

[Keg Man]

Opportunistic is not good. Our defense has shown great at times capitalizing on our opponents mistakes. But, it has rarely forced our opponents in to mistakes or shut them down. Because I can't do anything else, I'm hoping it changes this year.

 

[Cheesedog]

Opportunistic is not good. Our defense has shown great at times capitalizing on our opponents mistakes. But, it has rarely forced our opponents in to mistakes or shut them down. Because I can't do anything else, I'm hoping it changes this year.

 

[realitybytes]

Counterpoint is that ML has enough on his plate this year and doesn’t need to be coaching the DC, to me that’s a step on the checklist of a HC heading out the door. He made a bad hire in Barry and now, rather than own it and rectify it, he’s trying to force it to work. Not gonna work.

i can't help but think that part of the reason mlf kept barry around was he might need a diversionary firing after this season if love has a rough start.

 

[rpiotr01]

i can't help but think that part of the reason mlf kept barry around was he might need a diversionary firing after this season if love has a rough start.

Not sure if ML is that calculating but if Love is playing OK but the D is blowing leads or failing to hold leads I think you're right, he'll have Barry on a short leash ready to cut loose.