Green Bay Packers: Joe Barry Has No Defense for His Defense in Defeat to the Buccaneers in Week 15
The Green Bay Packers fell to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 34-20 on Sunday afternoon, dropping their record to 6-8. While Jordan Love and the offense performed admirably for the majority of the game, the Packers defense once again enabled an opponent offense to post historic numbers against them. Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield became the first visiting quarterback in Lambeau Field history to have a perfect passer rating. Aaron Rodgers is the only other quarterback who has done so.
Of course, fans and the media both pointed the focus at defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who has long been despised by the fan base. Despite the defense’s inability to generate stops when it mattered the most (i.e., the NFL Playoffs), head coach Matt LaFleur has stuck by Barry.
However, after the game, LaFleur was extremely upset with his defense and appeared, for a brief moment, to be open to moving on from Barry before the season ended. Instead, he gave his standard reaction of “I have to look at the tape,” followed by “Now is not the time for that.”
The fact of the matter is that Barry and his defensive strategy may cost the Packers a playoff berth, and if LaFleur continues to be blindly loyal to him, he may lose his job.
Joe Barry, the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, has only himself to blame.
Every week, it appears that the Packers’ defense has a fresh issue. They gave up 200 yards running (for the fourth time this season) and couldn’t create any pressure on the quarterback in last week’s loss to the New York Giants. They stopped the Buccaneers to less than 100 yards rushing and had five sacks in their loss.
Unfortunately, the team’s pass defense, which many thought was its strongest suit, failed them down. De’Vondre Campbell allowed 135 passing yards himself while covering Chris Godwin for the majority of the passing plays.
The Campbell statistic begs the question, “Why was he assigned to do that in the first place?” And why didn’t Barry switch up the play class when it wasn’t working?
As LaFleur stated during his news conference, there are no good answers. There is just no excuse, and only one person is to blame: Barry.
Sure, one could argue that LaFleur is to blame for keeping Barry in the first place. But that’s beside the issue at this time. If Barry is retained after this season, LaFleur may become more responsible.
To focus on Barry, it should be remembered that in the majority of games this season, he has absolutely failed to prepare his defense. Some may blame the players, but how can so many defensive players fail to perform without it being the coach’s fault?
It’s similar to teaching. If one student out of thirty performs poorly on a test, the problem is most likely that student’s. However, if half of the class fails, it is because the teacher did not effectively teach.
This is true of the Packers’ defense. If one position group performed poorly throughout the season, it may be claimed that the players in that position are insufficient. This season, however, every position group has battled. Some have performed better than others, but no unit has performed admirably throughout the season.
That is about coaching.
Joe Barry is responsible for that.
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