Dolphins defense give the Packers a chance to compete in a shoot out

Matching this Green Bay Packers defense up against a Kyle Shanahan disciple in the run game, who also happens to have two Dare Devil fast receivers on the outside, poses a matchup problem for an underachieving Joe Barry defense … to say the least. Aaron Rodgers and the Packers will have to score plenty of points if they want to spring the upset against the Miami Dolphins this Sunday. But the way the Dolphins defense prefers to play, both its philosophy and where it shows weakness, fits with the ways the Packers offense can beat opponents. They won’t have to change much of what they do to have success against Miami.

On the surface, the aggressive, blitzing style poses a problem for the Packers. Rodgers has been much worse under pressure the last few seasons than he was earlier in his career, and few teams blitz more than the Dolphins. On the other hand, so far this season, they’ve not been particularly good when they do blitz, in part because their secondary isn’t whole, with guys like Byron Jones out with injury.

Sam Hoppen @SamHoppen

On @minakimes' podcast, @acosta32_jp mentioned that the Dolphins blitz at one of the highest rates despite not being that good at it. Wonder if Josh Boyer changes his approach in the playoffs, because Mahomes, Burrow, and Lawrence have all been great against the blitz this year.

If you’re going to blitz a QB like Rodgers on a regular basis, he’s going to burn you. To wit, Rodgers absolutely torched the Rams blitz packages on Monday night, a feat with or without Aaron Donald because he still has to beat the secondary that features Jalen Ramsey.

Next Gen Stats @NextGenStats

Aaron Rodgers completed 10 of 12 passes for 93 yards against the blitz in Week 15 (+9.7% CPOE). Rodgers vs the Blitz (2022): 🔹 10.8 air yards per attempt (2nd) 🔹 +3.4% CPOE (5th) 🔹 90 NGS passing score (6th) #LARvsGB | Powered by @awscloud

And he did it mostly with quick passes and middle-of-the-field targets to guys like Randall Cobb. Against Miami, the Packers can follow that same blueprint. LaFleur and Rodgers still tried to attack down the field but mostly settled for the underneath shots. Their big plays came to Romeo Doubs and Christian Watson in the middle of the field where they can attack on in-breakers and slot seam routes.