Packers defense pitches first shutout of the NFL season in statement performance

Sure, it's only a banged up New Orleans Saints team, but a 34-0 win embodies the growth of this Packers defense from early in the season.

It was supposed to be simpler than this. Just line up and do literally anything other than what Joe Barry wanted the Green Bay Packers defense to do last season. That’s enough, right? Jeff Hafley’s 16 weeks as defensive coordinator showed he was the right man to replace Barry, but there’s been a steeper learning curve, particularly for the front seven, than many expected. On Monday night, they pitched the first shutout of the 2024 season, not for the Packers, in the entire NFL. They played better than they needed to, better than they had any right to with at least four regular starters out. But this is the version of the Green Bay defense Matt LaFleur must have envisioned when he hired Hafley, and it’s the version that can catapult them through a championship run.

Against a hapless New Orleans Saints offensive line and a backup quarterback, the Packers defense did what it was supposed to do: dominate. But how many times over the last decade or more can Cheeseheads remember a supposedly soft opponent carving up what turned out to be an even softer defense?

Spencer Rattler and the Saints offense had no answers for the front as the Packers generated a 52.6% pressure rate, a high on the season, a week after likewise dominating a disappointing Seattle Seahawks offensive line.

But “disappointing,” could have been the word to describe this Green Bay pass rush for the first half of the season.

It can’t be said anymore. For all the talk about Toyotathon, the defense has had December to Remember of its own. Coming into Monday night, the Packers were second only to the Eagles in defensive DVOA since Week 11. They’re sixth overall in defensive DVOA and fourth in weighted DVOA, which accounts for how they’ve been playing lately.