National Football League

Packers have hands full with well-rounded Patriots offense

Published Nov. 28, 2014 6:40 p.m. ET

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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- There are three areas the Green Bay Packers defense has struggled with this season: stopping the run, facing a great quarterback and containing pass-catching tight ends. Well, Sunday's matchup with the New England Patriots will feature each of those challenges.

As Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers prepares for this possible Super Bowl preview, he's watching a New England offense that has been successful recently no matter what it tries. In Week 11 at Indianapolis, the Patriots rushed the ball 44 times and threw just 30 passes. Then, with the Detroit Lions likely preparing for the running style of Jonas Gray that accounted for 201 yards a week earlier, New England had Tom Brady throw it 53 times while Gray didn't play at all and power running back LeGarrette Blount had 12 carries. Both resulted in 22-plus-point Patriots victories.

"That's part of their strategy," Capers said. "It's not like you just zero in and, 'This is what we've got to prepare for this week.' You get a wider menu of things that you have to prepare for."

Packers defensive players will step on to Lambeau Field unsure of what Bill Belichick and New England's offense has in store.

"This is a well-balanced football team, and they pretty much do whatever they want to when they want to do it," veteran linebacker Julius Peppers said. "So whether they want to run the ball or whether they want to pass it, it's up to them. We just have to be prepared to get ready to stop which part of their offense they want to feature."

For the season, the Patriots have passed 57.6 percent of the time. That's why the Colts figured they could prepare accordingly only to end up seeing a drastically different approach.

It's no secret what Brady can do. Even at age 37, he has been so good yet again that he currently has the third-best odds of being the NFL's Most Valuable Player (which would be the third time in his career he's won the award).

There is one way to slow Brady, though. According to data from ProFootballFocus, if he's pressured by basic four-man pass rushes, his passer rating falls significantly, all the way down to 58.3. That's also when Brady has thrown four of his six interceptions.

But don't expect Capers to blitz Brady much. When Brady has been blitzed this season, he's just as good (98.9 passer rating) as when he's not blitzed (101.5 rating). Because of that, few defenses actually send blitzes at him. Brady has faced blitzes on just 21 percent of his dropbacks, less than Aaron Rodgers (25 percent), Andrew Luck (28 percent), Tony Romo (30 percent) and many other notable starting quarterbacks.

"His percentages are very high against the blitz," Capers said. "He's got good pocket instincts of sliding, stepping up and delivering the ball. He gets the ball out of his hands quickly. You look at him, there's not a lot of sacks."

Brady just been sacked 14 times. The only quarterback with as many -- or more -- passing attempts and fewer sacks is Peyton Manning.

But even if it doesn't result in sacks, Capers will have to rely on players like Mike Daniels, Letroy Guion, Peppers, Mike Neal and Clay Matthews to get pressure on Brady by just winning their one-on-one matchups.

"We just have to do our job up front," Daniels said. "I think that'll help out a lot. That'll solve a lot of problems."

Daniels believes all the time spent staring across at Rodgers will have the Packers defense ready for Brady.

"We practice against the greatest every day," Daniels said. "It's awesome we get to practice against a guy like Aaron. Then when you get to play another awesome quarterback like Brady, it's almost like you're prepared because you're used to playing against guys of that caliber."

As if that's not enough for Green Bay to worry about, there's Rob Gronkowski to deal with. The Packers have had their share of difficult matchups with tight ends this season, and it's not been pretty at times. Chicago's Martellus Bennett had nine catches for 134 yards against Green Bay, Carolina's Greg Olsen had eight receptions for 105 yards, and a banged-up Jimmy Graham had five catches for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Gronkowski's past four games have shown just how dangerous he is, racking up 403 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

"That dude looks like The Terminator, man," Daniels said. "You've got Megatron (Calvin Johnson); this is The Terminator. It's like as if (J.J.) Watt played tight end. We just need to make sure we do what we have to do up front to disrupt the quarterback and try to make it easier for our guys in the back end."

The Packers have options in defending Gronkowski. But none are great ones, not against a player with Gronkowski's skill set, and it's not like anyone is stepping up to volunteer for the job.

"I didn't go to the coach and say 'I want him,'" safety/nickel back Micah Hyde said. "But at the same time, I think it would be fun."

Peppers added: "If that comes up, then it does. If it doesn't, we're just going to play football."

Matthews has the best combination of size and athleticism to match up with Gronkowski. Perhaps after switching primarily to inside linebacker this could be an assignment fit for Matthews. The problem, though, is that would take away Matthews from pass rushing, and all it takes is a glance at Brady's pressure/not pressured statistics to see that it's not an easy decision to go that route.

"Clay's been doing everything for us here lately -- covering, rushing," Capers said. "We like what he's been able to give us. We've always liked him and all the stuff that he had the ability (to do). If you want to rush him, put him outside. If you want to drop him into coverage, then he's always been very good at dropping into coverage."

Whether it's Matthews, Hyde, Peppers or any other player, Capers knows he'll have to keep switching around the looks that he sends at Gronkowski.

"I think that the biggest thing is being able to change things to where they just don't get in a groove in terms of if a guy's playing (Gronkowski) man the whole day," Capers said. "That's tough. You have to change up on the guy."

With the challenges presented in this game, the Packers will either show that they've improved greatly since earlier parts of the season or they'll once again fall victim to an elite quarterback, a great tight end and a good running attack.

"This is definitely going to be a clash, and I'm looking forward to it," Daniels said.

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