Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley came from the Pete Carroll-based single-high family before taking the Boston College head job from 2020 to 2023. His philosophy has evolved, but he still adheres to some of those Seattle Seahawks principles. The Packers are eighth in the league in rate of zone coverage and rely on their four-man rush to get to the quarterback (29th in blitz rate).
Where he differs is his use of Cover 2. The Packers rank third in Cover 2 usage (20.2 percent), but when they played the Eagles in Week 1, they had their lowest rate of Cover 2 all season (17.6 percent), which makes sense because you have to get that extra defender in the box against the Eagles’ run game. The Packers’ safeties would rotate down from an initial two-high look and play soft zone coverage to limit explosive pass plays and force quarterback Jalen Hurts to beat them underneath.
To Hurts’ credit, he stayed patient and distributed the ball underneath. Smith was his favorite target. In Week 1, Smith had eight targets for seven catches and 84 yards. The Packers had cornerback Jaire Alexander covering receiver A.J. Brown. Alexander won’t play in the wild-card round, so they’ll have to rotate coverage toward Brown more, which means Smith will have more space to work against the Packers’ zone coverage. On the season, 599 of Smith’s 833 receiving yards were against zone. He should be able to create space against the Packers’ underneath defenders and space hunt. It’ll be up to Hurts to see what Smith is seeing and throw him the ball with anticipation and accuracy.