The Green Bay Packers had an emphatic 23–6 win over the Minnesota Vikings to end Week 12, and the headline was the Packers’ defense. Micah Parsons and company harassed JJ McCarthy all afternoon, and after going into halftime with a 10-6 lead, the Packers clamped down on Minnesota in the second half, holding them to just four yards.
While the overall team performance was something that Packers fans can get excited about, Devonte Wyatt’s individual performance was so too. After initially struggling following his return from a knee injury, Wyatt got back on the radar with a pair of sacks in the win.
But although Packers fans may point to Wyatt’s performance and declare that their defensive tackle is “back,” his play came with a lot of smoke and mirrors that may be an illusion for Green Bay’s defense moving forward.
Packers can’t be fooled by Devonte Wyatt’s two sacks vs. Vikings
It was good to see Wyatt back on the board as his two sacks were his first since recording a sack in back-to-back games to start the season. But while those plays generated big reactions from the crowd at Lambeau Field, some metrics show his teammates were doing all the work.
According to Pro Football Focus, Wyatt’s two sacks were his only quarterback pressures in Sunday’s game. A counterargument might be “Who cares?” Because Wyatt was able to finish the play. But, in particular, there will be continued pressure on coaches because sacks are a top-percentage outcome. By receiving consistent pressure, it can force the quarterback to make mistakes, which helps the rest of the defense.
This was played with Green Bay’s defense the year before. While the Packers ranked eighth as a team in sacks (45), they also ranked 16th in pressure rate (22.1%), which is a major reason why they decided to trade for Parsons and give him a big contract. With Parsons, the Packers rank 10th in sacks (29), but they moved up to 10th in pressure rate (22.3%).
Anyone who has watched the Packers this season has noticed the difference in the Packers’ pass rush, and it has made Green Bay the NFL’s No. 5 scoring defense at 18.4 points per game.
The logic of pressure against sacks was also seen in Sunday’s game. McCarthy was pressured for 12 of 25 dropbacks (48%), but that looks much worse when you consider Wyatt was only pressured for two of 34 snaps. More impressive performances came from rookie Warren Brinson, who had five pressures on 21 snaps, and Parsons, who had four pressures to go along with two sacks.
Wyatt also posted the lowest run defense grade (37.9) on the team on Sunday afternoon, it could be argued that his two sacks were the only net positives he scored for the Packers. For a player who has a fifth-year option year remaining on his contract and is already 27 years old, this is a big problem in the middle of the defensive line, and one that may have the Packers debating some changes, even if Wyatt had some big games against the Vikings.
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