Sprint, pee, coach, then dominate

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Jeff Hafley’s Green Bay Packers defense ranks fifth in the NFL in second half scoring. During their three-game winning streak, they are tied for second in points allowed after the break. Since Week 1, only one team has given up fewer touchdowns after halftime.

These must be some incredible adjustments by Hafley.

Actually, not really.

A coach coming into the locker room and making a bunch of game-changing adjustments is more fiction than reality.

There just isn’t time, as Hafley quickly learned.

“It’s crazy,” Hafley said after Thursday’s practice. “The first preseason game, we got really detailed with the personnel, and then the coach, like, we have to go back (stairs to the coaches’ box). I haven’t even seen the players yet. It’s fast. Like, really fast.”

At college, recess lasts 20 minutes. In the NFL, it takes 13.

Not that Hafley spends 13 minutes talking to his players. During home games, he runs the defense from the seventh floor of Lambeau Field, so getting to the locker room requires an elevator and a fairly long golf cart ride.

“The golf cart drops us off at the elevator,” Hafley said. “We sprint more than I do all week, because then I have to sprint in the locker room. You might have to use the bathroom because it’s been a long half, so there’s still some time left. I hate getting that descriptive.”

Yes, before any schematic magic happens in the locker room, there’s a much needed urinal stop.

“Then,” Hafley continued. “You sit in a room and you talk to the coaches that have been on the headsets, talking about the whole game, and then I go up, draw some stuff on the board, give them a message and, bang, you” re up. It’s the fastest thing in the world.”

Hafley figures he spends a “maximum” of 2 or 3 minutes with the players at halftime.

Hafley’s defense is becoming one of the best units in the NFL. This is especially true in the second half of games.

In Week 7, the Packers are fifth with 7.0 points allowed per game during the second half. That includes a third-ranked 3.1 points allowed per game in the fourth quarter.

In Week 1, the Eagles scored 17 points in the second half – 14 in the third quarter and three in the fourth quarter.

Over the past six weeks, the Packers have allowed just three second-half touchdowns, one by Indianapolis with 1:47 to play in Week 2, one by Tennessee in the third quarter in Week 3 and one by the Rams with 3:30 to go week 5.

In the Week 4 loss to the Vikings, the Packers allowed a field goal in the second half. During their three-game winning streak, they are giving up just 4.0 points per game after halftime – six touchdowns against the Rams, one field goal against the Cardinals and one field goal against the Texans.

“They’re usually not” dramatic adjustments, safety Xavier McKinney said. “It’s usually a couple of little things and we clean it up from there and talk to each other, just making sure we’re ready to go for the second half. But there aren’t a million adjustments. There’s always a few things we didn’t do well in the first half, we correct them and then we come right back.”

Generally, the players talk while the coaches huddle at the start of the break. It’s only towards the end – after the mad dash from the coach box and a trip to the bathroom – that Hafley joins them to make a few adjustments before making the return trip upstairs to ring in the second half.

“Haf will come in there and draft whatever he needs to draft, whatever corrections he thinks we need and then he might adjust a call,” McKinney said. “We might have a call, but then he might adjust based on what the defense is doing. And then we’ll break it down and get back there.”

Defensive tackle Kenny Clark also downplayed the idea that coaches come in and make major adjustments that determine the outcome of the game.

“The coach comes and tells us what they are doing and what we have to stop. Guys lock in and motivate each other and get back on the court and do our job,” Clark said.

Major adjustments may be needed “if they kill us for something crazy (or) there are a lot of big pieces,” Clark said. Otherwise, it’s a matter of fixing a lineup or adjusting personnel.

“We’re still executing our game plan and what we’re supposed to do,” he said.

Green Bay’s strong second-half defense was needed last week against the Texans. Green Bay led 19-14 at halftime. When Houston got the ball to start the third quarter, there was a sense of urgency.

“I think the mentality was we needed to get a stop,” McKinney said. “Coming out of the break, I was down. We just knew we had to stop. Every time we’re down and we know the other team gets the ball back, we’re like, ‘Okay, this is a crucial possession.’

“Even before that, the last half (of the first half) where we’re on the field defensively and we know they’re getting the ball back after the break, it’s going to be a crucial moment. Obviously, you don’t want them to score and then get the ball back right after the half either. For us, mentality-wise, knowing we have to get stops, trying to get the ball out anyway we can, trying to get a pick, trying to make a play, make a turnover on downs and get off the field. “

The Packers got that stop last week and the offense drove down the field and scored the touchdown.

However, the pressure was not on the shoulders of the defense. The game turned into a stalemate for most of the second half, meaning the defense had no room for error. Houston’s first four possessions of the second half ended in points. Green Bay allowed a total of 35 yards.

That’s the sign of a good defense, especially against a high-quality quarterback like CJ Stroud, McKinney said.

“Anytime you have to get a stop and you can get a stop, no matter the score, you have good defense,” he said. “Whenever you definitely need a stop in any game and you can get that stop, that’s when you have a good defense.

“Especially in this league now where we know it’s damn hard to get stops and it’s damn hard to stop teams from scoring the ball. Whenever you can do that when you need it the most, you have a good defense.”

So why was Green Bay’s defense so good in the second half? Last year, for example, he allowed 11.7 points per game in the second half, eighth in the league.

Against Houston, the Packers allowed 76 yards after halftime and one late field goal.

Since their Week 1 loss to the Eagles, the Packers are first in second-half interceptions (five), first in fumbles (six) and second in sacks (14).

“We figure out how guys are attacking us and just make plays,” Clark said. “Whether it’s pressure on the quarterback with the blitzes or all the disguises and stuff, I just got into the flow.

“A lot of times, they come out on the first 15 (plays) and look uncircled and make a couple of plays on it, but once we get to the bread and butter and they stick to their scheme and we do too, we lock on it and we’re doing what we set out to do.”

While halftime adjustments are overrated, in-game adjustments are critical. On Sunday in Jacksonville, Hafley will adjust to the plays called by Jaguars offensive coordinator Press Taylor, and Taylor will adjust to the schemes designed by Hafley. It’s an ongoing tug of war for schematic supremacy.

“There is no break in the NFL,” Hafley said. “You adjust after every series and you just go and adjust and go and adjust. I think that’s one of the benefits of actually being in the booth because between each set, I’m on the iPad, taking notes.

“How can we set them up on the next third down? What do we need to do differently on first down or second down? How will they attack us? what’s going on It’s just constant communication and all of a sudden you’re up again.”

More Green Bay Packers news

D-line depth pays dividends | Rich Defense Bisaccia Matt Orzech | Thursday’s injury report | NFC North standings and previews | Packers-Jaguars Game Preview | Wednesday’s injury report | Robert Saleh joins Packers coaching staff | The Packers have the long snapper again | Packers-Jaguars means Xavier McKinney, Darnell Savage | Great chance by John FitzPatrick | What a channel for Packers-Jaguars | Packers-Jaguars matchups | On SI NFL Power Rankings | Consensus NFL Power Rankings