The Green Bay Packers intercepted Indianapolis Colts quarterback Anthony Richardson three times in a 16-10 win in Week 2 and forced another fumble they were not able to recover. The Colts added two more fumbles on aborted snaps and the damage those could have caused as potential turnovers would've been significant. While the run defense continues to struggle somewhat, the pass defense remains one of the stronger phases of the unit.
The final interception of the game was on a Hail Mary throw so there isn't really anything to break down there. The first two interceptions were a good blend of playcalling and players using their skill set and tools they've been given in this scheme to create turnovers and force the quarterback into making bad decisions.
First interception
On the first interception, the defense is in a nickel cover-1 shell with stand-up edge rushers. They're running a cross-dog blitz with six rushers and man coverage behind it with a deep middle safety.
On Jeff Hafley's green dog blitz call here, the goal is to be plus-1 in the pass rush and get a free rusher at the quarterback. The blitz is designed to keep the running back in for pass protection and prevent them from being an easy checkdown. If the running back stays in, the defender who has him in coverage will add to the blitz.
The Colts running a corner post play action shot play with a deep crosser underneath.
Quay Walker blitzes first at the snap, followed by Isaiah McDuffie into the A-gap. McDuffie blitzes when he sees Taylor stay in to block Walker. The blitz is run toward the offensive line protection slide to open up a rushing lane away from it. The Colts are sliding to the right with locked backside man-to-man blockers.
Walker gets penetration into the backfield and Devonte Wyatt beats his blocker as well. McDuffie also gets into the backfield. The combination of rushers at quarterback Anthony Richardson is enough to speed up his process. He ends up not setting his feet and rushing a throw to the deep crosser.
Xavier McKinney, parked in the middle of the field, is reading his eyes the entire time, lets the corner post route go past him, and sits on the overthrow where he intercepts it. The blitz was well-timed and well-executed to generate pressure at the right moment.
Second interception
On the second interception, the Packers are doing the complete opposite and sitting in zone quarter-quarter-half coverage while rushing four from their base 4-3 defense.
"QQH," or cover-6, is a hybrid cover-2 and cover-4 combination coverage with cover-4 to the passing strength and cover-2 to the run strength (cloud corner is the force defender versus the run).
The quarter-side corner and safety are playing quarters technique (straight zone drop back with eyes visioning the quarterback and route distribution) and splitting coverage on that side of the field while the cover-2 cloud corner is playing the flat with the safety rotating to the deep half over the top.
The Colts are running a levels concept to the right side with an inside deeper dig and shallow underneath in-breaking route. The play is a quarters coverage beater.
It's a play Richardson should have completed but linebacker Eric Wilson, the quarter-flat defender isn't influenced at all by the underneath route and is able to slow play it while sinking with the dig route. The Colts receivers don't show a lot of urgency here. The shallow dig route should pull Wilson to it, opening a window to the dig but it doesn't. Richardson threw it anyway and Wilson had perfect underneath leverage on the receiver.
Third interception
The third interception was off of a Hail Mary pass at the end of the game.
The Packers' defense might have ended the game a few minutes earlier than it did on that last Colts drive if Quay Walker could have held on to a pass thrown right at him.
The Packers are in drop-8 cover-3. The Colts are running a corner and dig concept from a trips 3x1 formation. Walker closes the passing window to the first inside dig route then flies out to the second dig window as Richardson throws. Walker stepped in front of the pass but it ricocheted up on him as he tried to catch the fastball throw from the quarterback. The Colts' receiver ended up catching it on the tip drill.
Outlook
The pass defense was solid in this game but things might look a little different if the Colts receivers hadn't dropped some key conversion passes earlier in the game. In a close game though, Jeff Hafley's layers of well-time blitz and coverage calls were a big difference for the team on defense this week. With Will Levis and the Titans next, it will be interesting to see how Hafley opens up the pressure packages on a quarterback who has happy feet and is prone to bad decisions under pressure.