The Green Bay Packers have a first-year starting quarterback throwing passes to the youngest group of pass-catchers in the NFL. Those are facts.
They’re also excuses to cornerback Rasul Douglas.
“No. Because they’re not young. And if they are, they’ve got to grow up,” Douglas said bluntly on Thursday, a few days before Sunday’s game at the Denver Broncos. “It ain’t no such thing as being young. You had, what, five games? That’s enough. Add some preseason games. That’s enough.”
After the Week 5 loss to the Las Vegas, a 17-13 verdict in which Douglas played a key role in the Packers holding the Raiders to 279 yards and 5-of-13 on third down, fellow cornerback Jaire Alexander said it’s up to the defense to win games.
“I think at this point it’s pretty obvious that the defense has to not give up any touchdowns,” Alexander said. “I think that’s the part of being self-critical of our defense because the offense is pretty young and they’re still figuring out their mojo, so the defense, we’ve got to do more to score and stop them from scoring.”
While Douglas and Alexander share differing views on the state of the offense, they share a common thought on the defense. That side of the ball – the undisputed veteran side of the ball – needs to do more following the team’s 2-3 start.
“We’ve just got to do what we’re doing, our defense, and just leave the offense to them,” Douglas continued. “I really don’t care what they’re doing on offense. I don’t even get into it. Like, I critique more so what I do and how we play on defense, because I think that’s really all that matters. We’re chasing to be the best defense so, for me, I focus just on that particular part and not the offense. I know when they do their thing, we’ll be fine.”
Green Bay enters Week 7 ranked 22nd in points allowed per game. The problem has been more the run defense than the pass defense, with the Packers ranking ninth in yards per pass play, 14th in opponent passer rating and 10th in sack percentage. Critically, they are seventh on third down and fifth in goal-to-go situations.
That’s not close to being “the best” defense. How does it get to that level?
“Shutouts,” Douglas said. “Just winning on third down and getting some turnovers. Right now, I think we are probably mid-pack of 32 teams. Just from the turnover ratio, I think we’re minus-1, actually, and that’s not how you win games, so we’ve just got to get some more turnovers and try to get some touchdowns.”
The Las Vegas game was a step in the right direction. Raiders running back Josh Jacobs, who led the NFL in rushing yards last season, was held in check, and All-Pro receiver Davante Adams was limited to only four receptions.
Now, the challenge is to do it again against Russell Wilson and the Broncos this week, Kirk Cousins and the Vikings next week, Matthew Stafford and the Rams the following week and so on.
“Consistency’s a word that I use a lot. I think consistency is the truest measure of performance,” defensive coordinator Joe Barry said. “You (can’t) play solid one week, play poor the next week, play solid the following week. I think for us entirely, not only on the defense but as an entire team, I think we’re searching for consistency, just being able to stack a few really good weeks on top of one another. I know that’s our focus and that’s what we want this week.”
The focus for Douglas is simple.
Win.
With a 2-3 record, time is of the essence. That, not finger-pointing, was Douglas’ point. There’s no time for the offense to be young, no time for the defense to be inconsistent. It’s time for a talented team to play like a talented team.
“We’ve got to win,” Douglas said. As much as anybody want to say anything else about 1-0 or whatever, bruh, we’ve got to win. It’s really just that simple for us. We just have to win.”
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