Watch: Green Bay Packers training camp Practice 15 - defense drills
By coach Matt LaFleur's count, the Green Bay Packers had missed 42 tackles in their first two preseason games.
There was no panic, though.
“We keep drilling it,” was defensive coordinator Mike Pettine’s solution. “We have to walk that fine line. Knowing a lot of the coaches around the league, most teams don’t do live work in the body of practice. That’s something you have to try to simulate the best you can. There’s no substitute for those live reps (in preseason games). A lot of our misses are with our young guys. I think some of it is just getting used to the speed of the game and some of the athletes they’re trying to tackle as opposed to what it was like for them in college. Understanding they have to take that extra step, they have to bring their feet and they have to make sure that technique part is right; that they’re wrapping with their arms. We’ve missed some where we’ve tried to hit guys and knock them to the ground and we’re just bouncing off. So, they’re figuring that out the hard way. But we’re going to continue to work it. We’re not going to panic and go to live tackling drills. We understand the issues and who the culprits are, and hopefully we’ll take a step forward this week.”
The video shows some of those drills from Sunday.