Can you imagine the Green Bay Packers with a top 10 defense? Don’t look now, because it’s early in the season and they’ve faced two struggling offenses overall against the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans. But through three weeks, that’s exactly where Jeff Hafley’s unit is.

Over the first three games of the season, and before the two Monday night games, the Packers are ninth in the NFL in EPA/play. The most impressive part of this is the overall consistency: 11th against the pass, 5th against the run. Believe it or not, Green Bay has been the fifth best team in defensive efficiency stopping the run.

It’s the real anti-Joe Barry, as talked about when Green Bay hired Hafley early in the offseason.

You get what you emphasize

It was impossible to know exactly what Hafley’s defense would be. After all, he had spent five seasons in college football after a stint as the defensive backs coach for the San Francisco 49ers. How would he adapt his scheme to the NFL? How would he look to maximize the Packers’ defensive roster?

But one specific topic was clear from the get go: Hafley wanted to generate turnovers.

"You prioritize it. And it's not just talk, it's every day in meetings, showing them how we're going to do it and teaching how we're going to do it, and then it has to show up in practice," Hafley said back in April. "And then it needs to show up in the games. That is priority number one, we have to take the ball away."

Interceptions and fumbles are not a sustainable way to have a strong defense, because of the natural volatility of it. But so far, the results have been impressive.

Last season, the Packers had seven interceptions in 17 games. Now, they have already tied that number. Three games in. Yes, there is a positive regression factor there, but there is also an impact by the aggressive style in the secondary.

The quarterbacks with the most turnovers so far this season are Will Levis, Anthony Richardson, and Jalen Hurts. Coincidence or not, all of them faced the Packers.

Big weapon

If turnovers are the emphasis, no player has embodied that premise better than free agent addition Xavier McKinney. The safety has proven he is worth every penny of the four-year, $67 million deal he signed in March.

The former New York Giant became the first player since 2012 (and the first in Packers franchise history) to have an interception in each of his first three games with a team. The last one was Cortland Finnegan, for the St. Louis Rams.

"I'm ecstatic. This is a great team, great organization,” McKinney said on Sunday. “We got a great coaching staff, just great all around. Being in the building has been great. The fans are amazing and then we got a whole bunch of guys that are just hungry."

Xavier McKinney established a goal that tells you everything you need to know about how underwhelming the unit was in 2023. He wants seven interceptions in the season. That’s it, seven just for him, individually. Last year, the Packers had seven as a team.

“We're gonna keep that goal the same right now,” McKinney said after recording his third one in three games. “But I’m trying to get as many as possible.”

What can still get better

The Packers will have more challenging opponents over the next few weeks and months, including a well-designed and coached offense for the Minnesota Vikings next week. And to keep being efficient, a defense must be able to stop the opposition even when the turnovers don’t happen.

While Green Bay is ninth in defensive EPA/play, they are only 20th in success rate. That combination shows the team is creating explosive plays, but the down-to-down consistency is still not there.

A performance with eight sacks on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans is a promising sign for the pass rush, and Hafley’s philosophy to disrupt offenses starts there.

"We're gonna attack. I told the players, I want to lead the NFL in effort and I want to lead the NFL in how hard we play, and I want to lead the NFL in taking the ball away," Hafley mentioned during the offseason. "I want people to see the confidence that our players are playing with in themselves and with their teammates, and showing them how much they care about each other in this team by how hard they play and how hard they run to the ball and the effort that they give."

It was certainly easier to do that against a struggling pass protection from the Titans. If they can do something similar to that versus the Vikings, the ingredients for a powerful defense will be there, just like Jeff Hafley planned.

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