It'll be interesting to see what they do. It'd be hilarious if our defense starts with a very similar scheme to what the league is used to from the Packers, just to throw everyone off. Then when the Eagles adjust, switch to the new approach. Let opponents try to scout THAT, lol

Joe Barry fanclub, members:1

Settling for good(and it really wasn't that good) when great is within reach is a sure way to NOT get to a SB.

Ok, you still seem to be convinced Barry’s D was adequate or better. Even if, and I firmly believe otherwise, you are correct, Barry is not here and this D is going to be significantly changed.

Hafley has made that quite clear that the approach will be significantly different as a whole and positionally over and above the base switch and accepting that base will still be secondary to nickel in snap volume.

That is going to take time to develop coordination and understanding from players who likely won’t see too many snaps as a unit in preseason games. Add in the fact that the S position is likely 2 new starters and ILBs predominantly probably.

The majority of the likely back field has not played together really. In the front 7 new players at ILB and changed roles elsewhere. That all takes time to come together optimally.

Historically, new defenses take about a third to half a season to fully gel on average. Just because you don’t like Barry being gone and regardless of whether you are right or wrong about that, has sod all to do with reasonable expectations. This will take time to play out.

That’s not at all what both LaFleur and Hafley have said. They’ve said it won’t be that different. Hafley said it in his first press conference.

One thing to keep in mind is that every single one of the top 5 defenders they drafted this year had success while blitzing and I doubt that was a coincidence. Bullard didn't have any sacks last year but had 3½ in '22 when he played mainly in the slot. Evan Williams has 4½ sacks last year and Jim Nagy said he was the best blitzer of the guys the Packers drafted. Seeing how Cooper had 8 sacks that's saying something.

Hopefully Wyatt shows more against the run this year but if he doesn't maybe they play Brooks more on early downs and leave Wyatt to play mainly as a passing down rusher. I kind of agree on Slaton but if they extend Clark he will be the main NT.

Just because Hafley did things in college doesn’t mean he will in the pros. He’s supposed to be very good at scheming for his player strengths and opponents weaknesses.

The big question is not whether this play or that play translates, but whether his defensive mind and his core philosophy do.

At this point all I can say is that it seems better suited to how I see the strengths of the majority players we had rostered last year overall and, less surprisingly, to the rookies.

Barry always had his D-linemen play a two gap, read and react style of defense. I never thought the Packers had the right D-linemen to play that kind of defense. You have to have guys that can really anchor down to be effective in a two gap style.

Hafley prefers a one gap, penetrate and disrupt style with his D-line and I think the current Packer D-linemen (except perhaps Slaton) are much better suited to this style of play. How that translates to the run defense as well as pressuring the passer remains to be seen, but I am more optimistic about the defense than I have been in years.

I do believe it will take awhile for both the D-line and the secondary to learn how to play in this new scheme. While they will line up in the same 4-2-5 look that Barry used, between a one gap, penetrate and disrupt D-line and more press man coverage in the secondary the style of play after the snap will be much different (and that will require some learning curve).

Ya you can bet they didn't toss joes book away considering they failed to draft any edge guys. this is be very similar to joes

Maybe you're thinking of when they said that nowadays most defenses are in a 4-2-5 alignment most of the time. But the style of the defense will be pretty different, with more press coverage and blitzing, among other things.

Years ago when the Packers were trash and never made the playoffs, the thing that stuck out to me was the tackling. I’d have watched every Packer game all season and “gotten used to” seeing a lot of missed and broken tackles. Watching other teams in the playoffs, I’d always say “Man, these guys don’t miss many.”
That is probably the number one thing I am expecting and hoping for next season from GB: much better tackling.

Good point vin. …and losing to Ridder and DeVito a was like being waterboarded.

This is true. Both styles can be beaten, neither can be played all the time or they will be exploited by any good team. In my opinion, Barry had the needle too far too preventative far too often himself.

Which style works best as the default? Well that depends on two things, how smart and situationally aware is the play caller? What suits the players we have such that it makes them most effective as a group?

I don’t know about Hafley. The talk about him is good for the most part and he sounds very plausible, but he hasn’t really done it in the NFL.

As to the players, in my view our front 7 and secondary are clearly better suited to a more aggressive line and press style default on paper and in the secondary, from what we’ve seen in the past.

Don’t play against your own strengths any more than one has to. That makes you worse than you should be. Hopefully, as we understand it, we should be moving in from doing just that.

As far as Hafley’s tactical and situational abilities, we probably have to wait till in season to find out if he’s the real thing or another false hope.

I'd bet the '85 Bears sent at least 5 on 95% of their snaps on defense. That was likely the most aggressive defense ever. Ryan never matched that success anywhere else because he never had that much talent again.

Improved offense immediately makes the defense better.