In the Green Bay Packers’ 27-18 win over the Washington Commanders, the defense made it a very uncomfortable night for Jayden Daniels and the Commanders’ offense. They held the Commanders to just 5-of-16 on third down conversions (31.3%), 51 yards rushing, and had Daniels under pressure on 25 of his 52 dropbacks (48.7%).
Parsons, by himself, recorded eight total pressures (1 sack, 2 hits, 5 hurries) and had a pass rush win rate of 23.7% per Pro Football Focus. The sacks themselves by the defense overall
were a good mix of pure pass rush wins and coverage sacks, showing a defense that is gelling in year two under Jeff Hafley.
First sack, 1st quarter, 9:48 remaining
The first sack came on a 2nd down in the first quarter. Devonte Wyatt chased down Daniels in the backfield after eventual pressure flushed him from the pocket because there was nowhere to go with the ball.
The offense is trying to hit a play action pass and is only running a 2-man route concept from shotgun with a corner route and a deep curl route on opposite sides.
The defense is playing a cover-3 fire zone with a 5-man pressure up front. The 5th rusher is safety Evan Williams off the left edge of the defense.
With the pass concept being only two routes and a checkdown, Daniels can’t find anyone to throw to by the time the receivers are ready. He might have a chance on the deep curl route because none of the underneath zone defenders gained adequate depth. But it doesn’t matter because Daniels is running for his life back and forth until Wyatt takes him down for a loss.
Second sack, 3rd quarter, 12:14 remaining
Parsons is starting to make his presence felt more and more, and it was most evident early in the second quarter on this sack he split with Edgerrin Cooper.
The offense is running two in-breaking routes from the left and two vertical routes on the right.
The defense is sending a 5-man pressure and playing cover-1 behind it.
But the star of this play is Parsons. Parsons won on this rep in less than 2.5 seconds to the inside of Josh Conerly. He sets up Conerly with an outside power step move, getting Conerly to commit and open to his right while attacking off balance. Parsons uses both his hands to swipe away the contact to the inside and barrels into the backfield.
At the same time, Cooper loops around the defensive tackle slants and gets a free run at Daniels. Parsons and Daniels meet at the quarterback and take him down.
Third sack, 3rd quarter, 1:53 remaining
The third sack of the game is more about great downfield coverage than anything else. The pass protection up front was sound, but the coverage forced Daniels to hold onto the ball too long.
The pass concept is a double post with a deep cross underneath.
The defense is playing cover-6: quarters to the trips and cover-2 to the weakside single receiver.
As the routes develop, the seam defenders gain so much depth into the throwing windows of the inside post and deep crossing route that Daniels doesn’t pull the trigger. Any pass downfield there would have to be lofted over the defenders 25 yards downfield isn’t an easy task to complete.
Fourth sack, 4th quarter, 3:43 remaining
This sack is a combination of the coverage and pass rush win from the defensive end spot. Rookie Barryn Sorrell recorded his first NFL sack here in the low red zone late in the game.
The Commanders are trying to flood the zone to the right and isolate the backside linebacker by running a high-low concept out of a 4×1 formation.
The defense is in red zone quarters with box coverage to the offense’s right to play the 4-strong concept.
The Packers coverage does a nice job of taking away the shallow route concepts as Daniels looks for Zach Ertz. By isolating the backside quarter flat defender, they’re hoping to get him to drop underneath the short post route but he’s already cheated over to the middle formation and sits on the “over-the-ball” route by Ertz, taking away Daniels’s throwing window.
Sorrell beats the right tackle around the edge with a rip move, but gets hooked as he wins on the rep to the outside. Unfortunately, there’s no flag for holding because the offensive line is considered exempt from a hold on a rip move, where they would naturally end up hooking the defender. Sorrell’s rush still flushes Daniels up, but Sorrell is able to escape and chase him down.
Final thoughts
This defense is among the best in the NFL right now, and they’re only making things more chaotic week to week. That doesn’t bode well for the Browns this weekend. With Parsons making his presence felt little by little, there’s really no limit to what Hafley will eventually be able to throw at their upcoming opponents.
