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Over a two week span Bryan Bulaga Jersey , Acme Packing Company takes a look at each position group on the Green Bay Packers and provides grades and insight on how they performed in the 2018 season. Today, we examine the defensive line.The expectation heading in to the season for the Green Bay Packers’ defense was that a strong defensive line would help mask the shortcomings of an inexperienced secondary. Meanwhile, young linemen like Kenny Clark and Dean Lowry would continue to improve and the addition of Muhammad Wilkerson would add an instant starter with high potential.That vision seemed to be coming true early in the season when everyone was healthy; unfortunately, just like most recent seasons, health became a problem and derailed the ascending trajectory of the unit.StartersMike Daniels2018 stats: 18 total tackles; 2 sacks; 1 TFL; 5 QB HitsDaniels began the season strong against Chicago, with three tackles and a sack while only playing 47% of the defensive snaps.In terms of statistics, that was the peak of Daniels’ season as the numbers stayed pretty low throughout the season.Unfortunately the season only lasted 10 games for Daniels; Diesel sustained a knee injury in week 11 against the Seattle Seahawks.Mike McCarthy, infamous for his vague injury timelines, initially said he would be “out a couple of weeks”.Any Packer fan familiar with McCarthy’s usual injury updates knew that the head coach meant the injury was serious, and Daniels was put on IR on December 1st.While some of the blame for Daniels’ low numbers can be placed on scheme as Pettine asked Daniels to take on more double teams, his production didn’t live up to his usual standards.Kenny Clark2018 stats: 55 total tackles; 6 sacks; 8 TFL; 9 QB HitsKenny’s ascension is here. Finishing the 2018 season with a 90.5 PFF grade, the UCLA product has become the premiere pass-rushing nose tackle in the league.After showing flashes of pass rushing ability in 2017, Clark put his growth on display this year with 1.5 more sacks in two fewer games than the year prior.As a consistent disruptor, Clark played over 90% of the defensive snaps in a game five times this season.Again, however, the injury bug bit the defensive front and Clark was placed on IR on December 26th with an elbow and tricep injury.With the playoffs out of the equation late in the season and Clark having played in such a high number of snaps during the season, an act of preservation is the right move for the defense’s premiere young - still just 23 years old - talent.Expect Clark to be a household name next season.Muhammad Wilkerson2018 stats: 5 total tacklesPoor Wilkerson.After coming to Green Bay on a one year ‘prove-it’ deal, Wilkerson badly broke his ankle in week 3 against Washington and had to be carted off the field in an air cast.The injury required immediate surgery and an overnight stay in a hospital.A second surgery was required but by all accounts appeared to be successful and Wilkerson should be making a full recovery.In the games he was active, it was clear Wilkerson wasn’t quite the force he was early in his career as he was occasionally pushed around in the run game and didn’t generate much pressure against the pass.BackupsDean Lowry2018 stats: 44 total tackles; 3 sacks; 5 TFL; 5 QB HitsBackup is a loose term for Lowry.Dean ended up starting 8 games this season, and his jack-of-all-trades positional flexibility proved to be invaluable for a defensive line that was plagued by injuries to its starters.He, similar to Clark, ended up playing in over 85% of the defensive snaps in a game five times over the course of the season, but unlike Clark, Lowry doesn’t stand out on any given play as much.He’s solid in both rushing the passer and defending the run, and the former fourth round pick even earned some APC writers’ 2018 unsung hero nominations.Tyler Lancaster2018 stats: 26 total tackles; 1 TFL; 1 QB HitTed Thompson isn’t the only GM to find talent in the UDFA pool; Lancaster, another Northwestern defensive linemen for the Packers (see Lowry, Dean), burst onto the scene in 2018 after being promoted from the practice squad in early October.Initially a depth promotion after Wilkerson went down, Lancaster started seeing the field with significant snaps after Mike Daniels was injured.Lancaster seized the opportunity with both hands and impressed both fellow linemen and coach Pettine himself, especially after racking up 6 tackles against Chicago.Lancaster plays with better hands than expected, and a spot for him on next year’s roster looked more and more promising with each game he had.Montravius Adams2018 stats: 21 total tackles; 1.5 sacks; 1 FF; 1 TFL; 2 QB HitsAdams, the former third round pick, saw himself surpassed on the depth chart by a UDFA in Tyler Lancaster.He had an opportunity to take over once Mike Daniels went down but failed to do so.Adams’ career has been a strange one so far; playing only 66 snaps his rookie year after suffering a stress fracture in camp and this year and really only seeing significant action in the final two games of the season, Adams doesn’t have a lot of tape to evaluate.At 23 years old Adams still has an opportunity to improve, but the early returns from the Auburn product haven’t been great.James LooneyLooney, a rookie seventh-round draft pick, was active for the final three games of the season, playing just 19 snaps on defense with no stats.Overall Grade: BThe defense as a unit began to crumble as the season wore on J'Mon Moore Color Rush Jersey , but all three of the years’ starters were on IR by week 16.For a defense predicated on having the linemen occupy blockers to free up linebackers, having quality linemen is imperative, and the depth of Green Bay’s defensive line was tested.When healthy, the starting unit was good.Wilkerson didn’t a chance to develop into the home run signing many thought he would be, but Kenny Clark’s progression into the top nose tackle in football makes up for a lot.Daniels had a bit of a down year and is now 30 years old, but I would never bet against Diesel coming back with a better year.The backups managed to pass their test, if only by playing better than expected.Finding a player in Lancaster was a pleasant surprise not many saw coming, and Lowry cemented his position as a sturdy, do-it-all backup who could develop into a starter if he works on his pass rushing ability.Heading into 2019, Green Bay should feel confident about the performance of their defensive line. After looking at the Green Bay Packers’ offensive statistics in 2018, it’s time to take a look at their numbers on defense — which were pretty offensive in their own right. Green Bay’s defense looks like a league-average unit on paper, but when you examine the numbers on a per-play basis, things start to break down.It was a tough first year for new defensive coordinator Mike Pettine, particularly on the personnel front. Only three players who entered training camp as starters remained on the active roster by week 17: Blake Martinez, Clay Matthews, and Tramon Williams, who had switched positions. With his unit in a constant state of flux due to injury, Pettine had to cobble together game plans with waiver acquisitions and undrafted rookies playing significant roles for weeks at a time.Pettine may or may not return for 2019, depending on the opinion of the team’s next head coach. If he does retain his job, one thing is certain — he’ll need to see the team’s numbers improve next season to remain for 2020 and beyond.Conventional StatsOverallMike Pettine’s unit finished 22nd in points allowed and 18th in total yards allowed. However, they forced just 15 total turnovers in 16 games, fourth-fewest in the NFL.On third downs, the defense actually held up fairly well. Opponents converted 37.3% of their third down opportunities, the 13th-best mark in the league. However, they also converted two-thirds of fourth-down chances. In the red zone, the Packers allowed touchdowns on just over 60% of opportunities, ranking them 20th.PassingGreen Bay’s revolving door of defensive backs managed to hold the opposition to the 12th-fewest total passing yards of any NFL team. That’s nice on its face, but that was helped out by a lower number of pass attempts, since the Packers found themselves trailing frequently. On a per-play basis, opponents’ 6.6 net yards per attempt number was a bit higher than the league average of 6.42 and ranked the team 21st in the league.While the pass rush was able to generate a large number of sacks — 44, which ranked them tied for 8th in the league — turnovers did not follow. The Packers picked off just seven passes all season, tied with two other teams for the second-fewest number in the league. Only the San Francisco 49ers had fewer interceptions, as they recorded just two.RushingGreen Bay’s run defense was hammered much of the season, as teams ran the ball against them more than 26 other NFL teams. The injuries on the defensive line probably contributed to that, as did the fact that the Packers were often behind on the scoreboard and opponents tried to shorten the games. Green Bay allowed a yards-per-carry average of 4.3, around the league average of 4.4 and ranking 13th. DVOAOverall, Green Bay’s defense dropped nine spots in DVOA from 2017’s 20th-place finish, ranking 29th in 2018. That was largely due to the team’s awful pass defense ranking https://www.thepackersfanshop.com/Nick-Perry-Jersey , which tends to be the biggest driver of overall rank; of the bottom ten overall defenses, only one — Kansas City — had a pass defense better than 20th in pass DVOA (they were 12th).However, the Packers were near the bottom of the league against both the pass and the run, leading to their overall ranking. One other note is that the Packers faced the fourth-easiest schedule in the NFL by opponents’ offensive DVOA, which helps explain why their adjusted results were worse than their raw scores. Finally, the Packers ranked second-last in variance, meaning the team’s performance changed week-to-week more than all but one other team.PassingDespite that 21st ranking in NY/A referenced above, the Packers’ pass DVOA rating was +20.1%, ranking them 28th in the league. Against wide receivers, the Packers were a bit better, ranking 22nd against #1s, 25th against #2s, and 16th against others. However, tight ends and running backs killed Green Bay’s pass defense, as they ranked 27th against the tight end position and dead last against running backs.In terms of directional numbers, the Packers were at their best when defending passes to the right side of the defense (left side of the offense). Probably not coincidentally, that was the side where Jaire Alexander tended to line up most often. On passes in that direction, they actually were above-average in DVOA at -0.2%, but they were 29th on passes to the middle (31.5%) and 30th on passes to the left (12.6%). They were also equally bad on short and deep passes, ranking 29th against both; their +76.9% rating against deep left passes was the league’s worst. RushingGreen Bay’s rushing defense was 23rd in the NFL in DVOA this season, which shows a significant difference from their yards per attempt rank of 13th. It’s a bit difficult to pin down a firm reason for this difference, particularly because the Packers ranked 10th in success rate allowed in “power” situations (defined as third or fourth downs or goal-to-go rushes with two or fewer yards to convert). Perhaps the issue lies in the fact that the Packers stuffed runs for no gain or losses at a rate well-below the league average of 19.3%. Green Bay ranked just 29th with a stuff rate of 14.6%. Furthermore, the Packers allowed big runs at a fairly low clip, ranking in the ten best teams in the league in the proportions of yards allowed on 5-plus and 10-plus-yard runs.That suggests that the Packers allowed opponents to pick up 4-5 yards consistently rather than being a boom-or-bust type of rushing defense where the offense would either be stuffed or pick up big gains. ConclusionsMuch of the struggles of the Packers’ defense can again be attributed to a lack of turnovers. Mike Pettine’s group seemed to operate much in the same way that Dom Capers’ units did in that they allowed fairly large yardage totals while failing to take the football away with regularity. For example, the Packers forced just six turnovers over the season’s final ten games. The Packers also won every game in which the defense forced more than one turnover; that happened four times, against the Bills, 49ers, Dolphins, and Falcons.Sure, a healthier secondary can probably help with that. However, despite the Packers finishing as a top-ten unit in sacks, they forced just 15 turnovers all season long. Some of that may simply be bad luck — quarterbacks able to hold on to the football when being sacked better than average, for example — but next year’s defensive coordinator must find a way to generate more takeaways for this unit to be successful.The other way to help the defense will be for the offense to be more effective, both in sustaining drives to keep the defense off the field and in scoring early and giving the team a lead. The latter would help put opposing teams in more passing situations, where a creative coordinator like Pettine can dial up blitzes and hopefully force more turnovers.