The moment when the football world realized the Packers need to make a change at defensive coordinator came right before halftime of the NFC Championship game. The Buccaneers had no timeouts, were out of field goal range, and needed to heave the ball to the endzone to make use of the final play of the half.
All the Packers needed to do was line up with safeties near the goal line, drop back into some deep zones, and knock the ball down. Packers defensive coordinator Mike Pettine seemed to lose track of the situation and called something that was just inexplicable.
Pettine called a single high coverage with another player squatting in the middle of the field as a robber. The middle of the field was safe, but there’s no reason for the Buccaneers to throw to the middle of the field here because the half would be over. That meant the corners were going to be stuck in man coverage and the safety would be responsible for the entirety of the backend on a guaranteed deep pass.
Wow.
Scotty Miller's max speed on this play: 20.64 MPH.
Kevin King's max speed: 19.19 MPH.
Via @NextGenStats pic.twitter.com/uGWBTyyPyE
— Seth Walder (@SethWalder) January 24, 2021
That’s a lot of ground to cover and the defense Pettine called made it even harder. Kevin King, who struggled against the Buccaneers, got roasted by wide receiver Scotty Miller and the safety just couldn’t cover enough ground to deflect the touchdown pass.
TOM BRADY WANTS IT ALL.#NFLPlayoffs #GoBucs
📺: #TBvsGB on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/cHuzDq5flQ pic.twitter.com/GhZ10T7wHc— NFL (@NFL) January 24, 2021
It’s one thing for former Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams to call an overly aggressive coverage in a meaningless regular season game, it’s another for Pettine to call this with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Pettine’s defense isn’t the only reason why the Packers’ Super Bowl hopes were dashed, but it’s one of the biggest reasons.
Pettine’s style of bend-don’t-break defense with light fronts has it’s place in the NFL, but it’s time for the Packers to move in a new direction. This is two straight NFC Championship games where Pettine’s defense has been totally outclassed due to his play calling.
The cupboard isn’t completely bare on defense in terms of personnel. Jaire Alexander is one of the elite cornerbacks in the NFL, Kenny Clark is a stud interior defensive lineman, and they have a solid safety tandem in Darnell Savage and Adrian Amos.
Those guys need to be put into better positions to succeed. It’s time for someone else to call defensive plays in Green Bay.
