National Football League

Packers disappointed with defense in opener

Published Aug. 15, 2010 6:27 p.m. ET

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Green Bay's defense picked up where it left off last season, and that's unacceptable to Charles Woodson.

Despite being one of the stingiest defenses in the league by the numbers last year, the unit allowed 45 points in a 51-45 loss in the postseason to Arizona after falling behind 17-0.

The same thing happened Saturday night in the exhibition opener, when Cleveland scored on its first drive and again immediately after the Packers lost a fumble to take a 14-0 lead in a game the Browns won 27-24.

Woodson says those type of slow starts and mistakes in a regular season game will cost a team already shouldering high expectations.

''We had those type of games last year, and we can't allow that to happen again this year,'' Woodson said. ''There's some things we're going to have to fix. Defensively, we're not at all happy with how we played.''

Especially against the Browns, who were starting a new quarterback in 12-year veteran Jake Delhomme, didn't get the ball to their versatile playmaker Josh Cribbs all night and ranked 29th in the NFL in offense last season.

Delhomme, who committed 21 turnovers in 11 games in Carolina last season, was 6 of 7 for 66 yards in his only drive, routinely finding his receivers on short routes underneath that gashed Green Bay's secondary, and Jerome Harrison powered in for a touchdown.

After Ryan Grant fumbled, the Packers clamped down for two plays against Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace. But Wallace was able to buy time rolling to his left on third down and found Brian Robiskie in the back of the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 less than 8 minutes in.

Linebacker A.J. Hawk cautioned it was a just a preseason game, but acknowledged there's a little concern.

''You don't want to start out a game like that,'' Hawk said. ''Scoring on the first drive, basically they just drove the ball down the field on us. It was on us to try to come back from that. We had a couple of sudden-change situations, and we eventually got it turned around a little bit.''

After a brilliant scrimmage by the defense during the Packers' annual family night the week before, this performance was lackluster. Aaron Rodgers, who wasn't concerned with the defensive performance, said he doesn't want to get in shootouts every week even though they have that capability.

''Nah, I'm not worried,'' said Rodgers, who was 12 of 13 for 159 yards and a touchdown. ''We're going to play a little different, I think, once the regular season starts, both sides.''

Green Bay has been tinkering with its defense ever since a disappointing 6-10 mark in 2009. Dom Capers switched the alignment from a 4-3 to a 3-4 when he took over as defensive coordinator last season to capitalize on the Packers' deep group of linebackers, and the freedom in the scheme last year allowed their playmakers to excel.

While the Packers didn't show much of their blitz packages and other wrinkles Saturday night, Capers said he needs to be able to rely on Green Bay's base defense before it can take bigger chances.

''Part of our plan was to let them go out there and play,'' he said. ''We didn't do near as much, but that was part of the plan. But that's no excuse. You've got to be able to execute sound, fundamental football with what you're doing. To me, that's the biggest thing. There's a lot of coaching to do off this tape.''

Hawk said there's plenty of time before the season starts to fix the problems. As for what happened in Arizona, he says that's history.

''It definitely doesn't have anything to do with how we ended last season, I don't think,'' Hawk said. ''We'll be fine. ... I don't think that we have any worries about what we can do. We just didn't do it.''

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