Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry made an audacious statement on why he doesn’t believe it’s in the team’s best interests to change things up after two consecutive losses.
Following the Packers’ 34-20 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 15, the situation for Barry and the Packers’ defense has taken a dramatic turn this week. On Monday, head coach Matt LaFleur met with defensive players to discuss a quick remedy for the last three regular-season games.
Joe Barry wants to keep the Packers defense the same
Barry said during his press conference Thursday he knows he’s on the hot seat for the rest of the season. However, according to Ryan Wood with USA Today, Barry said he didn’t want to change up the defense too much because that would be the “worst” thing the Packers could do:
“In my opinion, the worst thing to do is, ‘Oh my God, we’re going to throw everything out and go with this.’ Because there have been periods where we’ve played very well with the stuff we’re doing. Last week was a bad day.”
Barry was happy with the game plan against the Buccaneers. He defended the use of zone defense against the Buccaneers because the Packers had to cover Mike Evans. Evidently, putting a linebacker on Evans was preferable to a speedier defensive back
Barry also said he was worried about the Packers run defense, which had surrendered over 200 yards to the New York Giants six days earlier.
Again, Barry was worried about setting his defense to play the run, which is in contrast to what Matt LaFleur said Sunday afternoon he wanted Barry to do. LaFleur said he wanted Barry to guess if a play would be a run or pass.
But Barry doesn’t want to do that.
All that came from the meeting this week is that Barry is going to try to fix the communication part of the Packers’ defense. Don’t expect much to change for the rest of the season.
Fortunately, the Packers should get by Bryce Young and a terrible Carolina Panthers offense in Week 16. But that won’t fool anyone in thinking the the Packers problem is fixed, because no matter what, there will be no changes to Barry’s defense.
