Love’s Injury Cranks Up Pressure on Hafley’s Defense

So much for letting the Jordan Love-led offense carry the load until Jeff Hafley’s defense hit its stride. Now, the Packers’ defense must rise to the occasion, starting on Sunday against the Colts.

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley / Mark Hoffman-Imagn Images

The honeymoon is over.

If there ever was one.

Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley is under the microscope.

No, it’s not because the defense played poorly in Friday’s 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Growing pains were to be expected. The defense is undergoing a significant overhaul.

There was not much carryover from Joe Barry’s system to Hafley’s. At the base level, they’ve switched from an odd front to an even front. From reading and reacting to penetrating and attacking.

Expecting them to shut down a Philadelphia Eagles offense that includes A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith, Saquon Barkley and Jalen Hurts was foolish at best.

Expecting the defense to play well immediately was a tough ask, as well. This is the National Football League, however, and the situation can change at the drop of a hat.

Or, in this case, an injury to a quarterback.

It was not all bad in Green Bay’s season-opening loss to the Eagles.

The defense did force three turnovers, including an athletic interception by the team’s big free-agent addition, safety Xavier McKinney.

They made things difficult for the Eagles at times. In fact, the Eagles only averaged 5.5 yards per play and less than 4.0 yards per rush.

If the offense could have turned any of those takeaways into touchdowns, the Packers may have run away with a decisive victory.

Instead, the offense sputtered in the red zone, and 29 points were not enough to overcome Barkley’s big debut.

The other reality is a defense that forces three turnovers should not give up 34 points. The defense cannot become overly reliant on turnovers to make stops. Good teams won’t turn the ball over in the games that matter the most.

Great teams may not turn the ball over at all.  

“It wasn’t good enough,” Hafley said in Thursday’s media availability. “It wasn’t coached well enough and it wasn’t executed enough.”

The other issue is now the obvious challenge that faces the entire team.

Jordan Love is likely not going to play this week against the Indianapolis Colts. He might not play next week against the Tennessee Titans, either.

When he’ll play again is unclear even as coach Matt LaFleur continues to try to play possum with the Colts.

The overwhelming likelihood is that Love is going to miss at least Sunday’s game. If Love were to suffer a setback and miss a month, that’s four games. The Packers cannot afford to fall even further behind the 8-ball. Their entire division won on Sunday, putting the Packers one game behind all of them.

There’s time to make those games up and head-to-head matchups await, but starting 0-2 would not put the Packers in a good spot. This is the NFL. Every game matters. Each loss that could pile up while Love recovers puts even more pressure on the rest of the team to play its best ball when Love returns.

That puts the focus on Hafley’s defense.

Malik Willis, who has been in Green Bay for less than three weeks, likely will start against the Colts. Asking him to play the role of Superman is unfair.

If the Packers are going to succeed with Willis at the helm, they’ll need to rely on two things that every football coach frequently discusses on the first day of training camp.

Yes, the run game will need to pick up where it left off in the second half of Friday’s game. A combined 130 yards on 20 carries by the running backs would be a good starting point against the Colts.

The bigger key, however, will be on the other side of the ball.

When Hafley was hired, there likely was a grace period given to figure things out while the offense carried the day.

In essence, it’s the opposite of what was expected a season ago, when the defense was supposed to lead the way as the Love-led offense found its way.

Now, the onus is on the defense to get up to speed quickly.

Perhaps playing on a better playing surface and against a less talented offense will do the trick. Or maybe the Packers will take advantage of more opportunities that Hafley insisted were there in the team’s Week 1 loss.

If there’s one thing that is certain, Hafley’s most important words came when he made a promise during his media availability.

“We’ll be better than that,” Hafley said.

Hafley better be right, or this ship that started full steam ahead toward a Super Bowl run could fizzle out faster than you could say his name. 

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You won't be surprised to learn the #Packers officially have the youngest roster in the NFL. However, the numbers here are pretty amazing.

From the NFL's annual examination of Week 1 rosters based on age, experience, height and so on: ⬇️https://t.co/MV28pjMlny

— Bill Huber (@BillHuberNFL) September 12, 2024

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