Mug Fronts: Looking at How Joe Barry Could Use the Packers' Inside Linebackers

 

    For the most part, the Green Bay Packers’ defensive performance against the Houston Texans in the preseason game last Saturday was lackluster. Besides a few standouts like Oren Burks and Kabion Ento, there was not a lot for Packers fans to get excited about – understandable, considering most defensive starters didn’t even suit up. However, one play did stand out to me.

    Facing a 2^nd and 10 early in the 2^nd quarter, the Packers defense lined up with Ty Summers "mugging" the line directly over the Texans’ center. This play may seem routine, but I think that it gives us an interesting look at how Joe Barry might use his linebackers to dictate the offensive action.

    Earlier this month, Maggie Loney wrote a great article for Cheesehead TV that broke down how the Tite Front - a specific defensive look that the Rams used to great effect in 2020, and that the Packers are likely to adopt - can help defend against the run. A few days ago, Dusty Evely put out another outstanding article on the same site that referenced how the Tite Front can help in passing situations (I would highly recommend reading both of these articles). Most of the time, the Tite Front would have a nose tackle lined up directly over the center, two more defensive linemen on the inside shoulders of the right and left tackles, and two outside linebackers aligned in what is called the “Wide-9” technique, where they position themselves on the outside shoulder of the TE. Dusty describes the effect this can have on pass protection, explaining that “against a 5 man protection scheme, you've got one-on-ones for your entire defensive line.”

 

    Alignments like the one Summers was in can have a similar effect on the offense. Whenever a defender is lined up in a blitzing position, the offensive line has to account for them. Against a five-man look, often the offense will go into a “man” protection scheme, where each offensive lineman is assigned a specific player to block. The Tite Front uses three defensive lineman and two edge rushers to create this five-man look. However, this may not be ideal if the DC wants to get more speed and coverage ability on the field by subbing out one of the defensive lineman for a safety or cornerback in obvious passing situations.

 

    This is where having one of the inside linebackers mug the line can come in handy. It still allows the defense to create a 5-man front and manipulate the protection, without having to bring on an extra defensive lineman. It also creates greater uncertainty. The OL and quarterback can’t be sure whether the ILB will be blitzing or dropping into coverage.

 

    The Rams, Barry’s former employers, used this strategy often last year. They aligned their linebackers in different mug looks that helped them gain one-on-ones for Aaron Donald and some of their other pass-rushers. Considering that we’ve already seen one of these looks from the Packers in preseason, where many of the play calls are fairly vanilla, I would expect Barry to continue experimenting with these fronts as the season continues.

    Below, I'll take a look at some of the different mug fronts that the Rams used last year, and explain how they could help the Packers position some of their elite pass-rushers for success.

    First, I'll show a couple plays from the Rams' Week 5 game against the Washington Football Team. These are notable since they use a similar presentation to the mug front the Packers used last week: an inside linebacker aligned over the center with a defensive lineman and an edge rusher lined up on either side of him. In this first clip, the inside backer fakes a blitz then backs off as a QB spy. The right side of the WFT offensive line does a good job picking up a T-E stunt, but with the center occupied by the threat of the ILB, Aaron Donald is left one-on-one with the LG. Sack.

    In the fourth quarter, the Rams again went back to this defensive look, but this time the ILB was blitzing. The rushers to his left slant inside, and the linebacker loops around outside for a sack. This is another advantage of forcing man protection from the offensive line: they are left more vulnerable to twists and stunts. The right tackle has his eyes on the OLB that he's supposed to block, and recognizes the linebacker stunt too late to prevent the sack.

    Next, we'll take a look at the Rams' Week 11 victory against the Buccaneers. For the first play I'm going to show, LA introduces an interesting variation on the ILB mug front. Instead of lining up over the center, the blitzing inside linebacker aligns over the RG. Again, this ends up creating a five-man front and forcing man protection, although the Bucs do keep the RB in to help chip Donald. The Rams are using a tilted front, meaning that three pass-rushers overload one side of the offensive line (in this case the offense's left), while isolating one rusher to the other side. This was another technique that the Rams used to get favorable matchups; hopefully we see Green Bay do the same this year. Although Gronkowski does an excellent job chipping the isolated rusher on the right of the offense, the combined effects of the tilted front and ILB mug cause issues for the left side of the line. Even with help from the running back, the LG can't hold off Donald's rush for long. Left one-on-one with the LT in man protection, the OLB is able to get around the edge to pressure Brady, who can't step up into the oncoming Donald and the collapsing pocket.

    Later on in the first half, the Rams again line up in a mug front with the ILB over center. There aren't any special stunts or tricks with this one; it's just a straight up 5-man pressure. However, it is another good demonstration of how this look forces one-on-one matchups. Usually getting Aaron Donald isolated against a guard is a really good idea. Although they aren't at the same level as Donald, the same holds true for Kenny Clark, the Smiths, and Rashan Gary. Get them one-on-one, and let them wreak havoc.

    Moving on, we can see the Rams again use the mug front with the linebacker over a guard in their playoff game against the Seattle Seahawks. They put the defensive line in a tilted front once more, this time overloading the right side of the offensive line. The ILB lines up against their left guard. This time, however, the ILB drops into coverage. With his eyes lingering on the dropping backer, the LG is unable to help chip anyone until he regains his bearings; Russell Wilson is left facing a 4 on 4 pass rush for a few crucial seconds. Compounding the havoc, Aaron Donald loops around into the space the LG vacated, forcing the center to try and pick him up (it's hard to tell if this is a designed stunt, or just Donald freelancing). The OLB rushing the RT wins with speed to the outside, pressuring Wilson, who barely manages to escape through the B-gap vacated by Donald. If this were almost any other quarterback, this play would probably have resulted in a sack.

    For the final Rams clip I want to show, we're going to backtrack a little bit to their Week 7 game against the Bears. I saved this clip for last because it's a little bit of an outlier. Instead of using a single inside linebacker to mug the line, the Rams line up in what some people call an "Odd Mug" front (Cody Alexander had great breakdown of this front in an article on his Substack). Like the Tite Front, this front still presents a 5-man look, but it changes how the personnel is distributed. Instead of having the DL lined up in the interior and the linebackers lined up outside the tackles, the Odd Mug front has the linebackers line up over the guards, pushing two defensive lineman to the outside while leaving one aligned directly over the center. As with all of the fronts we've gone over so far, the Odd Mug often forces man protection from the offensive line.

    In this clip from the Bears game, the Rams' pass rush lines up in the pattern described above. Interestingly, the player lined up over the LG is Leonard Floyd (no. 54), who usually plays as an edge rusher. The play starts as a four man rush, with Floyd and the nose tackle appearing to run a TORCH twist. The Rams are in man coverage, and the other LB is responsible for covering David Montgomery. When Montgomery stays in to chip Donald, the LB converts into a late blitzer. Unfortunately, the rush fails to get home on this snap, but this alignment shows another way that we could potentially see Joe Barry use his linebackers to attack offenses.

    In conclusion, there are a myriad of different ways that the Rams manipulated their fronts and alignments to dictate, at least to some degree, how the offense would act. I think that the mug front we saw from the Packers during the Texans game is a good indicator that Joe Barry is going to try to do the same. I'm looking forward to seeing how he chooses to do this. Personally, I could see De'vondre Campbell being a big part of his plans. Campbell offers a unique versatility and is athletic enough to blitz or drop into coverage. Although I like the potential of Krys Barnes, he may not be suited to the same type of usage. Whoever fills this role, I think that Barry will use his inside linebackers as tools to influence the actions of opposing offenses. Using the linebacker position as a weapon like this could even lead to a career resurgence for Oren Burks, though at this point that may be an unlikely outcome. At the very least, his performance against the Texans was a tantalizing look at what could be possible in Barry's system.

    Based on what the Rams did last year, as well as numerous comments from players like Za'darius Smith and Kenny Clark this offseason, I also think that Barry's defense will also prioritize moving defensive stars around to gain favorable matchups. You may have noticed in these videos how often Aaron Donald was shifting alignments, lining up against both guard spots and even out on the edge. I would expect to see Barry utilizing his pass-rushers similarly.

    Ultimately, we'll have to wait until the regular season to see if Barry chooses to employ any of the fronts that we've covered. I am interested to watch how he uses his linebackers in the remaining preseason games, but I doubt that he'll do anything too unusual. At the very least, I'm hopeful that Barry will be able to put the Packers' best players in a position to be effective, allowing the Green Bay defense to finally reach its full potential.