Jonathan Gannon has found new gear with Packers defense, and it’s perfectly built to beat Jared Goff’s Lions appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Over the first three weeks of the 2026 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers looked like a lost cause. After blowing a Week 1 game against the Minnesota Vikings and barely escaping the New York Jets in Week 2, the Packers were flat out embarrassed by the Atlanta Falcons in prime time in Week 3.
But since falling to 1-2 heading into their mini-bye, the Packers have looked like a completely different team. Green Bay is playing at a very high level on both sides of the ball and has now won three games in a row to get to 4-2. The offensive line has started to play better despite its injuries, and Green Bay is getting Josh Jacobs back in Week 7.
The passing game has blossomed as a result. Jordan Love is on a heater and is playing some of the best ball in the NFL, and Christian Watson and Matthew Golden have become one of the best young pass-catcher duos in the league.
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But the story of this turnaround for the Packers is the defense. Jonathan Gannon is in his first year as the new defensive coordinator in Green Bay, and he is starting to turn this into a very intriguing unit even while Micah Parsons continues to work his way back from a torn ACL.
In Week 7, the Packers have one of their toughest tests yet against a Detroit Lions offense that is extremely explosive and has weapons all over the field. But even against the best offenses, Gannon has shown that he has some buttons to press that can fluster even the best units in the NFL.
Here’s how the Packers can attack this Lions offense and where Detroit can find some success of its own.
Jonathan Gannon will continue to bring the heat
The Packers are a bit undermanned at a few spots on defense. Their four-man pass rush, at least while Parsons is out, just isn’t going to get the job done even as Lukas Van Ness has a breakout season. Cornerback is also a work in progress, with Keisean Nixon on one side and rookie Brandon Cisse on the other.
Green Bay has leaned into the zero blitz during the last three weeks under Gannon, and it has rattled the quarterbacks it has faced. Sure, the first two signal-callers during that winning streak were Jalon Daniels and Tyson Bagent, but Dak Prescott is among the best of the best, and even he was flummoxed by the Green Bay attack throughout their Week 6 tilt.
The Packers blitzed Daniels 15 times in Week 4. He finished 7-of-12 with 53 yards and an interception with three sacks. The Packers allowed -0.69 EPA per play on those snaps. In Week 5, Gannon was only forced into blitzing the Bears’ backup quarterbacks six times and allowed a -0.89 EPA per play.
In Week 6, Green Bay blitzed Prescott an astonishing 20 times. The Cowboys star was not sacked on any of those dropbacks, but he was pressured on nine of them and finished 12-of-20 with 79 yards. Green Bay was able to get free runners on multiple key third and fourth downs to get the ball back to their offense.
Jared Goff has been very good against the blitz in recent years. He has ranked in the top 10 in EPA per dropback against the blitz in each of the last four seasons, and he is on pace to make it a fifth this year. But when the blitz actually gets home and puts Goff under pressure? He hasn’t had the same success. He has finished well outside the top 10 in EPA per play when under pressure in three of the last four seasons.
Expect Gannon to bring the heat early and often against a Lions offensive line that is in a transition phase in an attempt to get to Goff.
Look for plenty of Jahmyr Gibbs targets on Sunday
The Packers have been rock-solid against the pass over the last three weeks, but they played three teams that don’t necessarily feature their running backs in the passing game.
But when teams have targeted players out of the backfield so far this season, they have had a lot of success against the Packers. Opposing offenses are racking up +0.24 EPA per dropback on backfield targets this season against the Packers, the fifth-highest mark in the NFL.
The Lions, of course, have one of the best pass-catching backs in the league in Jahmyr Gibbs. Gibbs is essentially an extra wide receiver in the backfield, and Detroit features him in the passing game week after week. The former first-round pick leads the league by a wide margin in receiving yards per game among running backs this season, and he has the fifth-highest target rate at the position in the NFL, according to Next Gen Stats.
Goff’s numbers when targeting players out of the backfield show just how dangerous the Lions are when doing this. He is 25-of-30 on backfield targets this season with 258 yards and two touchdowns, and his +0.60 EPA per dropback on those plays is tied for the best in the NFL with Lamar Jackson.
Gibbs is an improved pass protector, and that will undoubtedly be tested on Sunday against a Packers defense that will send pressure especially on obvious passing downs. But leaking him out, and using him in the screen game where he can get the ball in space, can be an effective counter to a Green Bay defense that has been extremely aggressive during its winning streak. Look for lots of Gibbs in the passing game for Dan Campbell and company on Sunday.
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