This strikes me as super important. The Packers have been an awful tackling team for as long as I can remember. The TC practices I have attended, where defensive players tackle a rolling ball with a super predictable rolling pattern... maybe that was not the best drill. Maybe the Packers have the players to be good tacklers, they just haven't been taught how.
Holy $%@# &%$@! If he preaches rallying to the ball I'm in. The biggest complaint I've had is how pussy our defenders are when getting in on tackles. Theyre a bunch of ball watchers and that starts with the DBs. I dont give a damn if you are smaller. Get in there and support your team mates tackle.
@TomSilverstein
FWIW, LaFleur and Hafley aren’t close friends as some have reported. He knows Hafley through his brother, Robert Saleh and Kyle Shanahan, all of whom worked with Hafley. They knew each other but weren’t ever on the same staff or guys who spoke often.
Hafley's Co-DC at Ohio State was Greg Mattison. Greg Mattison spent 2018 with Michigan coaching DL... specifically Rashan Gary.
Interesting. A Wisconsin guy. Was the Co-DC again in 2020 and the defense "tanked." Never coached again after that.
I was going to ask because I hadn't seen it yet, what happened to OSU's defense after Hafley left. Lots of people reporting on the big improvement in yards per play from the year before Hafley to the year he was there, but very little on what happened when he left. If it fell off and his co-DC fell out of coaching, that's a good sign that what he was doing at OSU was a big contributor to their improvement.
I am interested to see what sort of staff we end up with and what their backgrounds are
Re: Jeff Hafley Packers new DC
Posted: 01 Feb 2024 09:27
by go pak go
I always enjoy when we get to see extreme mood swings from lupe on hires or selections he wasn't expecting.
Always starts out as "he's crap and a pussy" and then occassionally see the transition to "I will take a bullet for the man"
The biggest complaint I've had is how pussy our defenders are when getting in on tackles. Theyre a bunch of ball watchers and that starts with the DBs. I dont give a damn if you are smaller. Get in there and support your team mates tackle.
There was a thing that I saw a LOT--especially from Nixon and occasionally even from Campbell, where they just sort of pin the ball carrier to the sideline by standing in the cutback lane and facing diagonally toward the sideline and letting the ball carrier get, like, 3-8 more yards down the sideline before going out of bounds and it is the absolute weirdest thing I've ever seen on a football field, just a defender standing, watching the offensive player run, simply making sure he doesn't cut back and make a bigger play. But it happened enough that it was clearly taught on our team. Really really weak stuff
I always enjoy when we get to see extreme mood swings from lupe on hires or selections he wasn't expecting.
Always starts out as "he's crap and a pussy" and then occassionally see the transition to "I will take a bullet for the man"
I'm still not a fan of the hire but if he preaches rallying to the ball and the players take to it I'll support him. We have really bad tacklers as things are right now. Like terible tacklers. The safeties are ungodly bad at tackling. The ILBs are pretty bad as well. Wyatt is one of the worst tackling IDL Ive seen in a long time. Maybe ever. The CBs dont tackle well either.
If he turns that around I'm all in. I will say Im not a fan of man coverage or single high. I used to love man but I think NFL offenses and QBs have just gotten too good.
Re: Jeff Hafley Packers new DC
Posted: 01 Feb 2024 09:55
by Pckfn23
Hafley is not going to turn the defense into a mostly man coverage scheme. It's not the way of the NFL any longer. It looks like he will put emphasis on playing more man than we have in the past AND emphasize press coverage with making plays on the football.
Packers bottom 3rd in PDs the last 2 years.
Re: Jeff Hafley Packers new DC
Posted: 01 Feb 2024 10:01
by Trudge
I think the people who marked as 'Who?' are going to be surprised.
Re: Jeff Hafley Packers new DC
Posted: 01 Feb 2024 10:06
by lupedafiasco
We always have a DC with the same syllables making it very easy to say fire them.
Fire Bob Sanders.
Fire Dom Capers.
Fire Mike Pettine.
Fire Joe Barry.
Fire Jeff Hafley.
Hafley's Co-DC at Ohio State was Greg Mattison. Greg Mattison spent 2018 with Michigan coaching DL... specifically Rashan Gary.
Interesting. A Wisconsin guy. Was the Co-DC again in 2020 and the defense "tanked." Never coached again after that.
I was going to ask because I hadn't seen it yet, what happened to OSU's defense after Hafley left. Lots of people reporting on the big improvement in yards per play from the year before Hafley to the year he was there, but very little on what happened when he left. If it fell off and his co-DC fell out of coaching, that's a good sign that what he was doing at OSU was a big contributor to their improvement.
I am interested to see what sort of staff we end up with and what their backgrounds are
Yes, it's all true, but Mattison is also 74 years old and started coaching in 1971. So falling out of coaching was probably in the cards any time, regardless. I was also surprised to see Mattison was Rex Ryan's replacement as DC with the Ravens in 2009, which means Hafley also crossed paths with Pettine in Baltimore in addition to Cleveland. I don't think anything in Mattison's background reflects on Hafley directly, but still interesting to see all the connections.
If he turns that around I'm all in. I will say Im not a fan of man coverage or single high. I used to love man but I think NFL offenses and QBs have just gotten too good.
Yes, on the tackling. God God, get that better, please. On man and single high, I agree, but I also disagree with never using it. Have to mix it in. Have to use it situationally. Have to use it if the strengths of your team dictate it or if the weaknesses of the other team dictate it. Just be adaptable.
We always have a DC with the same syllables making it very easy to say fire them.
Fire Bob Sanders.
Fire Dom Capers.
Fire Mike Pettine.
Fire Joe Barry.
Fire Jeff Hafley.
It just rolls right off the tongue.
wow talk about not even giving the guy a chance, your ready to fire him already, how could you possibly know this guy wont succeed, every coach needs players, and we have openings at key position that need to be found, I already think this guy is better then Barry.
ya only get to hire coaches that want to be here, who knows if Wilson or some of the others wanted to coach here, just because they do interviews doesn't mean it's the only place they would consider, sounds to me like he and others had strong interest elsewhere
Me, I love single high Boundary man, press or off, jmo, but todays offenses are about getting the ball out fast, so off coverage zone will just allow dink and dunk, single high allows another player in the box, forcing the QB to hold onto the ball longer, which hopefully amounts to more sacks, forcing more off target throws, we just need a better safety, maybe a CB or two or a Lber.
I used to love man but I think NFL offenses and QBs have just gotten too good.
I mean we are maybe talking about moving from 25% to 35% man coverage or something like that. Too lazy to find it, but I think low 40's was the highest man rate from any team this year and I think like 20-22 maybe was the low?
Hafley also crossed paths with Pettine in Baltimore in addition to Cleveland. I don't think anything in Mattison's background reflects on Hafley directly, but still interesting to see all the connections.
And Buffalo..
Listen at about 27:00 in.
Re: Jeff Hafley Packers new DC
Posted: 01 Feb 2024 11:15
by packman114
To me the best thing about this guy is what Richard Sherman said about him. He is all about preparation. Watches a ton of film and the defense knows exactly what to expect BEFORE the game. Never were surprised during a game. Seems like he applied that to tackling as well where he teaches the why along with the how to so that it is second nature for the players in a game.
Anyone know if he called the defensive plays at BC? The main unknown for him is how better he is at calling defenses in a pro game than Barry was. Not a high bar IMHO.
