Cory's Corner: The Takeaways Will Come
The Packers only have two turnovers this season. Safety Xavier McKinney had four interceptions through four games last year.
The Packers defense had the ball a lot last year.
That unit racked up 31 takeaways — which was the most for the Packers since 2011. That included 17 interceptions — eight by Xavier McKinney, who was a first team All-Pro last year.
Fast forward to this season and the Packers defense, which was supposed to have gotten better with the addition of Micah Parsons, only has two takeaways.
Parsons is doing his job by getting 25 pressures on 118 pass-rush snaps by going through double teams, triple teams and chips regularly. According to TruMedia, the Packers are ranked No. 5 in the NFL with a team pressure rate of 43 percent.
All of those things are feathers in the cap for the defense, so what is missing? Keisean Nixon is ranked 14th among all corners in terms of coverage according to Pro Football Focus and Carrington Valentine is ranked 19th. Nixon has really impressed me as he is tied for the league lead with five pass breakups.
“The urgency of which we played with, I feel like it’s the best I’ve seen from our group since I’ve been here,” said Packers second-year defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley.
That tells me that turnovers are sure to come back like the swallows at Mission San Juan Capistrano. The Packers defense is turning up the pressure, it’s playing good coverage defense, yet the ball is still not ending up in their hands.
But it has been frustrating. The Packers want to give the ball back to their offense, so they can let one of five guys do something potentially magical with it.
The best way to change the turnover luck is to get off to an early lead. The Packers maintained a 17-3 halftime lead over the Lions and Jared Goff was forced to make risky passes that he probably wouldn’t usually make. They have to keep putting the opposition in third-and-long situations by not allowing much running yardage on early downs.
Packers coach Matt LaFleur has described the defense as “relentless” after beating the Commanders in Green Bay earlier this season. That fire ant attitude is what will eventually reap turnover rewards as long as everyone is doing their job.
It doesn’t do much good if Parsons continues to breathe down the opposing quarterback’s neck if he’s able to continually find his tight end wide open over the middle.
Remember, Parsons didn’t get a chance to have training camp with his Packers teammates. So I think a lot of them are still figuring him out, just as much as he’s trying to understand them.
But it is a little disconcerting when the 0-5 Jets have fewer takeaways than the Packers.
The Jets have zero turnovers, so I think it’s fair to say that the Packers have a lot of ground to make up.
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Cory Jennerjohn is a graduate from UW-Oshkosh and has been in sports media for over 15 years. He was a co-host on "Clubhouse Live" and has also done various radio and TV work as well. He has written for newspapers, magazines and websites. He currently is a columnist for CHTV and also does various podcasts. He recently earned his Masters degree from the University of Iowa. He can be found on Twitter: @Coryjennerjohn
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Comments (13)
Savage57
October 11, 2025 at 07:16 am
How the Jets having fewer takeaways relates to the Packers is beyond my reasoning ability.
NickPerry
October 11, 2025 at 07:43 am
Maybe he's an undercover Jets fan...J-E-T-S JETS JETS JETS
Cory, are you?
LambeauPlain
October 11, 2025 at 08:11 am
I had to read it 3 times...it still did not make sense. Pruuf reeding is difakult.
dobber
October 11, 2025 at 08:29 am
...so many disjointed metaphors.
What does "ten minutes to deadline" look like?
Since'61
October 11, 2025 at 09:43 am
Cookie! Thanks, Since '61
dblbogey
October 11, 2025 at 11:53 am
It's just Cory logic.
stockholder
October 11, 2025 at 08:08 am
There is No doubt; a win percentage increases
significantly with turn-overs.
80 % of NFL games come down 1 score.
But the packers loss of confidence,
is causing players to play tentatively.
The psychological effect is obvious.
It's easy to make the X prediction.
But the problem still lies in the Trench.
Win the trench. You'll Win the game.
Had the packers blocked better.
We wouldn't be talking about turn-overs.
jannesbjornson
October 11, 2025 at 10:14 am
Yes, but the CBs are not 1:1 cover guys who can get to the ball. They have to funnel routes to the middle and let McKinney roam. Maybe Flacco goes Daryle Lamonica and just lets it rip hoping for a PI, or clear sailing to the long ball. Cornerback was needed with a high pick. Hobbs?? Savion Williams may not make it through the year in the Demo Derby crash car offense. See if the hockey player can make the plug inside as a situational DT. His issue is bend. He can't get low enough to lockup pads with leverage. Wyatt makes the difference.
Coldworld
October 11, 2025 at 08:13 am
Until Dallas we’ve seen a lot of fast short passes. As we know, in that game the corners were too far off for a takeaway opportunity on far too many plays. The quick release tactic has to reduce the opportunities for take aways in the passing game, certainly for McKinney in particular. It also reduces the chances to get the ball out by a hit during the throw. Post possession, ball-in-hand turnovers tend to come unpredictably. I do see the Packers consistently trying to knock balls out.
LambeauPlain
October 11, 2025 at 08:37 am
Turnovers will come. The lack of them so far is not the reason for 2-1-1...sloppy, poorly prepared STs are.
And a more dangerous threat to the season has again been seeping into the Packers .... the injury contagion.
They got WORSE on the injury front incurring more injuries during the bye week! I've never seen anything like it. Tom's oblique injury is still healing so of course he also now injured his back on Friday...doing what?
Walker has a quad injury that seems worse than first reported. So far, the richly paid Banks has been a complete injury bust...back, ankle, groin, and now the back again. Jenkins has been dealing with a back injury of his own and playing some of the worst football of his career...and is probably strapping on the amour and trying to play through it, as he usually does. Rhyan is healthy and playing poorly.
Quality depth is another worry...even Butkus complained about the lack of it.
The OL has a lot of questions swirling around it and it is the worst problem facing the Packers by far...4 games in.
Starrbrite
October 11, 2025 at 10:36 pm
Yes—how many times have we seen this. A bye to heal and we return with more injuries—WTH?
dobber
October 11, 2025 at 11:46 am
Turnovers are fickle and hard to rely on. That said, I think the Packers force a couple TOs this week. Need to protect Love and keep Hendrickson out of his face when he drops back...maybe with some called rollouts away from him. Morgan likely gets his chance to start at LT. They should get the rest of the OL back and a chance to eat at home against a team that can't stop anyone, but if Flacco keeps throwing short and dumping the ball off, they'll struggle to get to him. Cinci is desperate. I'm saying 28-17 Packers. Win and build.
Since'75
October 12, 2025 at 03:23 pm
Before the Cowboy game, when the Packers had one of the top defenses in the NFL, with a scoring defense of only 16.7 ppg, no one cared about turnovers.
If we'd have won the Cowboy game, we probably wouldn't even be discussing turnovers.