The Packers may have escaped one lineup problem in Week 6, but the next one could be bigger.
Green Bay’s defense has mostly answered 11-personnel offenses the way the rest of the league does: with nickel, or even dime. That’s been the norm all season, and the numbers are clear. Against 11 personnel, the Packers have lined up in nickel or dime on 291 of 292 snaps in 2026, a 99.7 percent rate.
But when offenses get bigger, Green Bay gets bigger too. Against heavier personnel packages - 12, 13, 21 and 22 - the Packers have stayed in a base 3-4 on 75.9 percent of their snaps. In other words, the slot defender comes off the field, an extra body gets into the box, and the defense adjusts to the offense’s shape.
That’s why last week’s game against Dallas mattered. The Cowboys spend 73 percent of their snaps in 11 personnel this season, the third-highest rate in the NFL, and they leaned even harder into it against Green Bay. For that matchup, they averaged 1.0 running backs per play and 1.1 tight ends per play, which basically meant they lived in 11 personnel.
Even with that setup, the Packers were short on interior defensive line help. Javon Hargrave and Jonathan Ford are both on injured reserve, so Green Bay could only carry four big bodies on game day instead of its usual five.
Rookie Chris McClellan was thrust into the starting 3-4 nose tackle role in base looks, replacing Ford, and Anthony Campbell was the only defensive lineman on the sideline when the starters were on the field for limited base snaps. Campbell had entered the game with just nine career NFL snaps.
At linebacker, the Will spot is currently a rotation between Isaiah McDuffie and Ty’Ron Hopper because starter Edgerrin Cooper is on injured reserve.
And still, Campbell played 32 defensive snaps against Dallas. That happened while the Cowboys stuck mostly to 11 personnel, which kept Green Bay in two-defensive-tackle looks for most of the game.
Even so, Dallas didn’t really attack the Packers’ lack of depth the way it could have. The source of the problem was there: multiple-tight-end looks could have forced Green Bay to keep extra defensive bodies on the field and try to survive late with an exhausted front.
Instead, Javon Bullard played six of every seven snaps against the Cowboys.
Now the Packers face a different test entirely.
Detroit doesn’t live in 11 personnel the way Dallas does. The Lions use it on only 58 percent of their snaps, which is below the league average. They prefer heavier offensive structures, leaning on multiple tight ends or even extra offensive or defensive linemen instead of a third receiver.
They do not use multiple backs much, averaging 1.0 backs per play, but they feature a second tight end or extra lineman about every other play, with 1.5 tight ends per play.
That creates the question for Green Bay this week: do they add interior help from the practice squad, where David Blay Jr. and Mazi Smith are available, or do they again try to get through with just four defensive linemen? Against Detroit, that decision may matter even more, because this is not an offense built to sit in one receiver-heavy look and let the Packers stay light. The Lions want heavy formations, and those are the same kinds of sets that have already pushed Green Bay into base defense for more than three-quarters of its snaps in those situations this season.
In Other News...
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Packers Must Deal With Detroit's Most Dangerous Weapon Sunday
Ahead of Sundays Week 7 matchup, Matt LaFleur had plenty of praise for one of Detroits biggest problems for opposing defenses: Jahmyr Gibbs. The Packers coach pointed to Gibbs change of direction and all-around versatility, a nod to the kind of stress he can put on a defense whether the Lions use him as a runner or as a receiver out of the backfield.
That versatility is exactly why Green Bay has spent the week thinking about how to slow him down while also getting its own ground game on track. Gibbs has already emerged as a central piece of Detroits offense, and if the Packers are going to control the matchup, theyll need a cleaner plan against a weapon who can affect the game in more than one way. [Read more 🡒]