I can hear those keyboards clacking already, and trust me, I'm well aware that the Green Bay Packers pass rush has not lived up to expectations for 2024. There are moments when I wish I would wake up, and somehow Reggie White's career arrived 30 years later and number 92 is lining up at defensive end for today's Packers. Even his eight-sack season in 1994 would be acceptable given that the Packers' sack leader today is Rashan Gary with only 5.5. Gary is currently tied for 43rd in the league for total sacks. Which is not ideal for a player who was expected to reach career highs this season. With four games left though, Gary still has a chance to accomplish this, and the Packers could greatly benefit from him and the rest of the pass rush getting hot down the stretch. 

With four games left in the 2024 regular season, you could say we're heading into the fourth quarter of the season. The Packers are 9-4 and currently have a 97% chance of making the playoffs. Life is pretty good, right? Considering at this time last year they were 6-7 with a 47% chance of a playoff berth, and they still made it, I'd say they're in pretty good shape for 2024. But if there's one thing many would say the Packers need to improve on if they want to contend, it's the pass rush. The Packers' defense has 33 sacks total this season which is good for being tied for 13th in the league with the Cleveland Browns. Though we're in the top half, these numbers are a bit disappointing considering the talent level of the players we have trying to get to the QB and the quality of the offensive lines that have stood in their way. 

The Packers' pass rush has had its share of big sack games this year, taking down the Quarterback four or more times in three games this season, one of those games putting up eight, but after those big games, they always follow it up with only 1 or 2. So, the sack stats are inconsistent. The QB pressures however have been there as they average 8.5 per game this season, they just have not translated to sacks. Especially for Rashan Gary who accounts for 20% of the team's QB pressures total, himself. Lukas Van Ness who after the Packers traded away Preston Smith, has been expected to ramp up his play, which he has a little bit, collecting two sacks in the last three games, but it's just not been enough. It's begun to feel like the Packers can do everything but actually get to the QB, and it's been very frustrating, to say the least. 

Heading into the final stretch, though, the Packers have an opportunity to turn that luck around. 

Getting the Pass Rush Rolling

Heading into week 15, the Packers may have a pretty favorable match-up to get their pass rushers back on track. Geno Smith has been sacked 40 times this season. For some perspective, the Packers have only been sacked 16 times. So, the Seahawks' offensive line has not been very good at keeping Geno Smith upright this year as they rank 29th in OL pass-blocking efficiency.  It's worth noting that Smith was not sacked last week against Arizona, but in the previous four games, he was sacked 19 times. That's 4-5 sacks per game. For a team that's currently averaging only about 2-3 sacks per game, the Packers will be hoping to kick off this final stretch of games on a high note getting after Geno Smith. 

Over the past two weeks, the Packers have generated 35 QB pressures. That's over 30% of their season total just in the last two games. Quay Walker has gotten in on the action, and Kenny Clark who's been quiet this season on the sacks stat sheet has made some noise up the middle, which is fitting considering his career history of heating up when the temps start to drop. Hopefully, the Packers will also have Edgerrin Cooper back who's missed the last few games after he was just starting to make his presence known. With the status of the Packers' secondary up in the air for the coming weeks, a stifling pass rush would be just what the doctor ordered.

But how do we do it? It's not always going to be enough to just rely on the front four to beat their man and get to the QB. Secondary blitzes may leave receivers wide-open and considering how banged up the Packers' secondary currently is, that's not always going to work out. I think the Packers' pass rush down the stretch is going to rely heavily on the work of Quay Walker and Edgerrin Cooper.

Against the Lions, we saw the one sack of the game for the Packers come off a stunt between Quay Walker and Rashan Gary. Walker came from his middle linebacker position to the left side to draw the right guard and sort of eat up the right tackle as well while Rashan Gary stunted to the inside right around those two linemen to get the sack on Jared Goff. We've also seen a lot of stunts performed by Edgerrin Cooper when he's been on the field. A favorite of mine came against the Rams in week 5 when he lined up almost right over the center standing up, basically showing he was coming on a blitz up the middle. But that's not where he went when the ball was snapped. Instead, Kenny Clark and Lukas Van Ness kind of crashed the inside from their DT and DE positions drawing their blockers inward. Cooper then stunted around them to the left and due to the the penetration Lukas Van Ness was able to create inside, Matthew Stafford was flushed out right into the waiting arms of Edgerrin Cooper. 

If the Packers think a standard four-man rush is going to improve their sack stats, we all know they're sorely mistaken. Throwing in a few stunts and blitzes with their athletic linebackers, however, can help get them home a bit more to put the QB on his back. Hopefully, we see a lot more of that in the coming games, and the Packers head into the playoffs with their pass rush scorching.