The stars upfront for the Green Bay defense asked Mike Pettine to tweak the scheme, to simplify things and just let them play. It paid off in a dominating performance against the Eagles on Sunday.
Za’Darius Smith — he’s just like you. After the Green Bay Packers put together a successful, albeit unsexy, game plan to hold down the Chicago Bears’ offense with Mitch Trubisky and furthered a troubling proclivity to give up late-game points, the leaders of this defense, including the Smith Brothers, went to defensive coordinator Mike Pettine asking for a change. Whatever was said in the offices at 1265 Lombardi last week worked, with the Packers’ pass rush putting together 28 pressures in 41 dropbacks against the Philadelphia Eagles, getting Carson Wentz benched, and ultimately supplying the knockout punch in a 30-16 win.