Packers coach may have accidentally given Raiders the game plan to win

Justin Churchill — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

Oct 3, 2023 1:44 PM EDT

Featured Image Via Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

One of the Green Bay Packers' coaches, defensive coordinator Joe Barry, may have just given away the recipe to beat them when talking about their last game against the Detroit Lions. The Las Vegas Raiders need to exploit it.

This season has started similarly to last season's first four games for the Raiders. In both seasons, they started 1-3. Last year, they lost three straight, then beat the Denver Broncos. This year, they beat the Denver Broncos to start the season, then lost three straight. They lost to the Los Angeles Chargers in the first four weeks in both seasons.

Now they have to prepare for the Green Bay Packers, who are doing much better than the Raiders at this point but still aren't where they want to be. The Packers, who are sitting at 2-2, are a very beatable team, even for the Raiders.

Here is how they can beat them, based on what Joe Barry said they struggled with against the Lions:

"That's the disadvantage that we have defensively. You know, because when they don't sub, it makes it hard for us to sub, obviously. It's hard to substitute anyway, from a defensive perspective. But they did a really good job of that; they were in 11 personnel, we were in nickel. And they stayed in 11; they didn't sub," Barry said on Monday.

"They kept the same 11 people on the field, which forced us not to be able to get into a bigger grouping that you would like [to have] the closer you are to the goal line. But the bottom line, you still have to defend it, and we could have defended it better. We misfit an inside zone that they ran. But that's part of the cat-and-mouse that you play when an offense goes tempo and doesn't allow you to sub – you have to play with the 11 you have on the grass."

They cannot keep up when teams keep the same guys on the field playing tempo football. It often gasses the defense, which happened on Thursday Night Football when the Lions slaughtered the Packers.

The Raiders can stay in 11 personnel when you have one tight end and one running back in the game because they have the right guys for it. They have Michael Mayer and Austin Hooper, who are rarely in the game simultaneously. They have Josh Jacobs, who was last year's league leader in rushing, and they have the best wide receiver in the league in Davante Adams, who Barry thinks is an all-time WR.

They can pull off going up-tempo, too, as Aidan O'Connell, the rookie quarterback, actually played better in the fourth quarter. If he plays again, which there is a possibility he does, it would benefit him too.

Barry gave the recipe to beat them; now Josh McDaniels just has to follow it.