Official Fire Jeff Hafley Thread

[Fritz]

Wishing Joe Barely back is like wishing for your hemmhoroid to return.

[run pMc]

Packers 2023 defense was in the top half by DVOA, almost top ten at #11.

huh, I see this:

The Green Bay Packers finished the 2023 season ranked 10th in points allowed but also 27th in defense DVOA and 21st in PFF defense grade — highlighting the frustrating inconsistencies that eventually led to the dismissal of defensive coordinator Joe Barry.

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/lists/packers-8-best-players-on-defense-from-2023-season/

Digging around, it looks like Barry's D went 22nd in 2021, and 20th in 2022 in DVOA... so 2022 was his best year in DVOA. They also ranked below average in EPA/play.
The defense was helped by the offense playing at a very slow rate - Rodgers liked to milk the clock down to 0 and MLF doesn't operate a lot of no-huddle.

I'd also like to remind you of these 2023 gems:

Getting absolutely run over by ATL in Game 2
The Baker Mayfield perfect game at Lambeau
Tommy Cutlets
A terrible Panthers team scoring 30 points and almost beating GB

[sharpe1027]

Mad, the voice of restraint.

Will wonders never cease!

I agree that the energy level is better - guys seem to be flying around now. But they've got to fly into the guy with the ball, not past them.

Jacobs forced six missed tackles just himself. I'm not sure we're as bad it may seem as a fan.

[Fritz]

The D was active and flying around both games. Seeing an energy level that wasn’t there before. We should at least wait half a season to fire Hafley if the Packers aren’t the #1 defense by then.

Mad, the voice of restraint.

Will wonders never cease!

I agree that the energy level is better - guys seem to be flying around now. But they've got to fly into the guy with the ball, not past them.

[sharpe1027]

Packers 2023 defense was in the top half by DVOA, almost top ten at #11.

[MadtownPacker]

The D was active and flying around both games. Seeing an energy level that wasn’t there before. We should at least wait half a season to fire Hafley if the Packers aren’t the #1 defense by then.

[run pMc]

No, Barry was statistically bad also. In all of his seasons as a DC, he's never had a defense rank in the top half. Most DCs with several seasons will luck into one.
His 3rd down defense was very good last year, problem was they let people convert easily on 2nd (or 4th) down. The run defense was bad.

There are statistics that show it's unlikely offenses can convert multiple consecutive 3rd downs -- I presume this is the reason behind bend-don't-break defenses.
That leaves a lot of room for interpretation, and when you look at Barry's D it's like he went for the simplest conclusion - to play a soft, prevent big-play but give up everything else style. I think that partly misses the point. You still have to force the offense to earn things, Barry surrendered them too passively.

I think the deck is stacked against defenses in general because of rule changes, variances in schedule, etc. Until they play their division foes a few times, I don't know if we can make an apples-to-apples comparison of defensive performance.

[sharpe1027]

So you're telling me that if you close your eyes and trust a stat junkie who anal izes things Barry is ok.

YES! FiRe hAFlEy!!

[bobblehead]

When teams have shit offenses, they try to do what we just did, shorten the game. If you're successful with that strategy, it can artificially inflated defense stats like yardage that don't take pace of the game into consideration. Additionally, teams that score more force the other team to be more aggressive leading to more total yards, but hopefully also more turnovers.

Looking at dvoa as the metric, our defense last year wasn't rated as bad as I thought from just watching the games.

Bring back Barry!

So you're telling me that if you close your eyes and trust a stat junkie who anal izes things Barry is ok.

[sharpe1027]

When teams have shit offenses, they try to do what we just did, shorten the game. If you're successful with that strategy, it can artificially inflated defense stats like yardage that don't take pace of the game into consideration. Additionally, teams that score more force the other team to be more aggressive leading to more total yards, but hopefully also more turnovers.

Looking at dvoa as the metric, our defense last year wasn't rated as bad as I thought from just watching the games.

Bring back Barry!

[Fritz]

I only saw highlights, but what I did see was not great. Taylor gashed them, and thank god Richardson’s not that good and the receivers dropped a few.

[texaspackerbacker]

I wasn't as negative about Hafley's D in the Eagles game - for most of the game, they shut down Hurts' running, etc. and I'm not as positive as some maybe are today. There seemed to be a lot of openings on runs and open receivers that a better opposing QB might have taken advantage of.

In general, I like the 4-3 better and I tend to like Hafley's way of using it better than what Packer D Coordinators have done for a long time.

[MadtownPacker]

Joe Barry would have had a shutout.

Third time I read this shit and I still chuckled.

[red]

Still, the defense played better. That's something.

this is the first time in as long as i can remember where a scrambling QB didn't rip us a new one

[Joemailman]

Joe Barry would have had a shutout.