Jeff Hafley Brought Heat as Packers Silenced C.J. Stroud

First-year Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley found creative ways to create pressure and hold C.J. Stroud to arguably the worst game of his career.

Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark (97) pressures Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud. / Tork Mason/Green Bay Press-Gazette via the USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin-Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – In the opener to the 2019 season, after the Green Bay Packers beat the Chicago Bears 10-7, Aaron Rodgers proclaimed “We’ve got a defense.”

This year’s Packers have more than a defense. They’ve got a difference-making defensive coordinator.

Jeff Hafley was given a game ball following Green Bay’s 24-22 victory over the Houston Texans on Sunday. Hafley, who spent the last four years as Boston College’s head coach but had never been an NFL coordinator, called a masterful game against Houston.

“I just thought he’s done a hell of a job, I really do,” coach Matt LaFleur said on Monday. “I think it’s not just him, it’s everybody – our whole defensive staff – but, ultimately, somebody’s got to put the plan together and call it.”

C.J. Stroud, who was last year’s NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, had one of the worst games of his young career. In his 24th career start (including playoffs), Stroud threw for a career-low 86 yards. His 47.6 percent completion rate, 4.10 yards per attempt and 58.8 passer rating were the second-lowest marks of his career.

With four sacks, the Packers limited the Texans to 55 net passing yards. It was the second-best performance by any defense this season and the team’s fifth-best since 2000.

Yes, the Texans lined up without their best receiver, Nico Collins. But it was mostly domination against a high-quality quarterback and opponent.

While there were first-half struggles against running back Joe Mixon, when the Packers won first or second down, Hafley won on third down.

According to The 33rd Team, the Packers didn’t blitz on first or second down but brought at least five rushers on 41.7 percent of the third downs.

According to Pro Football Focus, Stroud was 3-of-10 passing for 14 yards when pressured. When blitzed, he was 1-of-5 for 11 yards.

The Texans scored 22 points but had only one semi-long scoring drive (55 yards after a long kickoff return). Two turnovers set up the Texans at Green Bay’s 11. With Jordan Love unable to move the offense with any consistency, the Packers wouldn’t have had a chance to kick a game-winning field goal if not for Hafley’s unit forcing four consecutive punts to start the second half.

“I thought considering all the circumstances – a really explosive offense, a lot of short fields in there – to be able to hold somebody to 22 points considering all those circumstances, I thought he was deserving of the game ball,” LaFleur said.

Green Bay’s touted pass rush had been mostly underwhelming to start the season, due in part to facing three athletic quarterbacks in the first six games.

However, Hafley created havoc against the less-mobile Stroud. Sometimes, he blitzed. Other times, he sent four rushers – just not the four traditional rushers.

“A lot of what we call replacement fire zones,” LaFleur said of those non-traditional rushes. “He did a nice job of mixing up the coverage behind those pressures and, shoot, we had multiple times we had free runners at the quarterback.”  

Everything seemed to work. Linebacker Eric Wilson had two sacks and safety Xavier McKinney had one. Rashan Gary’s second sack of the season was much like the first – a freebie in which he wasn’t touched by the right tackle – but he was a menace. After going without a pressure against the Vikings and Rams, Gary had three against the Cardinals and a season-high six against the Texans.  

Getting Gary going would be the next step for an ascending defense. According to PFF, Gary had been chipped on 21.5 percent of his rushes – third-most in the league among edge defenders. So, Hafley lined up Gary in the middle of the defense, Za’Darius Smith style, on a few occasions and let him work.

“I do think it was a creative way to get him isolated on whoever we wanted to get him isolated on,” LaFleur said.

From the perspective of an offensive game-planner and play-caller like LaFleur, what challenges does that present?

“It presents a lot of challenges in regards to just who are you going to put on him and how do you get him blocked?” LaFleur replied. “Typically, what happens when you have somebody that’s hovering around in there, there’s going to be some sort of pick game or something coming off of that. It’s not just going to be usually just a straight rush, so it just depends on what people are doing in those situations.”

Green Bay emerged from Week 7 ranked 10th in points allowed, 15th in yards allowed per game, eighth in yards allowed per play and ninth in opponent passer rating. Takeaways have been the salvation but not against the Texans. Instead, they won by playing excellent defense.

The defense seems to be getting better with every game. Just look at the last three games. The Texans, despite a 244-yard edge in field position, scored 1.6 points less than their season average, the Cardinals were held to 9.2 points less than their average and the Rams needed a late touchdown to hit their average.

“It shows that against other good teams, we’re going to come with our best ball, and I think that’s what we showed today,” McKinney said. “It’s another step forward. I try not to put any team on a pedestal because, as y’all know, anything can happen in the NFL. So, I never try to put one team on a pedestal.

“There’s a lot of good teams out there and we have a really good team, as well. We came to play today. I think that’s what that says about us as a team, that when we play another good team, just know they’re going to face a good team, as well. It’s good. It’s a stepping stone for us, but we’ve got to keep rolling.”

Don’t expect Hafley to take any victory laps. After dominating against Stroud, the next quarterbacks on the schedule are the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence, the Lions’ Jared Goff, the Bears’ Caleb Williams, the 49ers’ Brock Purdy, the Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa and Goff again.

“I don’t think we’re there yet,” Hafley said last week. “I think we’re still at the infancy stages yet of where we’re going to be as a defense.”

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