The Green Bay Packers defense is proving it can play the way it wants to play despite criticism

It didn’t actually matter to the Green Bay Packers if Mike Evans or Chris Godwin played on Sunday afternoon in Tampa Bay. Joe Barry’s defense wanted to play a certain kind of style, one that would be perfectly suited to handle the Bucs at full strength when executed properly. They even used a first-round pick on the kind of player who could unlock their ability to play. The final drive notwithstanding (which we’ll get to), the Packers shut down Tom Brady and Co. playing exactly the style of defense they wanted to play, and the most important boost it could provide them showed itself in the 14-12 win even with the top-flight pass catchers off it.

For all the big names on this Green Bay defense, Quay Walker may well be the most consequential. He played 85% of snaps on Sunday and although he didn’t make a million tackles or get home on his first blitzing opportunities of the season, he did help force a key fumble late in the first half and more importantly, allowed the Packers to stay in nickel almost the entire game.

The loss of Jaire Alexander in a game without the Bucs’ top pass catchers means we won’t know if this defense with its defensive backs can truly handle this passing game at its best, but that’s the point of playing nickel to begin with: to get the extra DB on the field to handle the three-receiver sets a team like Tampa can throw at a defense.

What the Pack has to be able to prove it can do from that personnel grouping is stop the run. On Sunday, Barry’s group delivered, holding Leonard Fournette to a meager 35 yards on 12 carries. The Buccaneers managed one first down rushing the ball.