GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott is the last person the Green Bay Packers want to see right now.
Not after they let Dalvin Cook break off a 75-yard touchdown run in Week 2 against the Minnesota Vikings and the Denver Broncos' Phillip Lindsay score twice on the ground in Week 3 and the Philadelphia Eagles pile up more yards on the ground (176) than they gained through the air (air) on Thursday.
For three weeks running, teams have shredded the Packers’ defense on foot.
“We’ve got to fix that,” Packers defensive line coach Jerry Montgomery said. “And we’ve got to fix it quick before we head to Dallas.”
That’s where Elliott and the Cowboys' offensive line full of maulers -- though they could be without Pro Bowl left tackle Tyron Smith, who suffered a high ankle sprain in Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Saints -- could bury the Packers.
Or, if the Packers’ follow through on Monday’s decree, it’s where the Packers’ run defense could show that the past three weeks are as bad as it's going to get.
“I know we better fix it. Otherwise teams are going to -- that’s going to be their blueprint to beating us. They’re going to try to run the football and grind it out,” Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. “We’ve got to do a much better job to stuff the run on those early downs to get them in those longer yardage situations.”
This didn’t look like a problem after the opener, when the Packers held the Bears to 46 rushing yards. It went off the rails a week later.
While the Packers’ pass rush looks much improved -- even though that, too, disappeared in Thursday’s loss to the Eagles -- the inability to control the line of the scrimmage in the game has been a three-week problem that has dropped the Packers to the bottom of the NFL in the run defense stats.
They have allowed 5.04 yards per run -- worse than all but three teams through Sunday’s games -- and no team in the league has given up as many yards on the ground (529) as the Packers have the past three weeks.
After taking the weekend to determine what happened to the run defense in Thursday’s loss, LaFleur offered this: “Well, we saw some guys getting out of their gaps, and that is the first thing that’ll get you beat in terms of trying to stop the run. If you’re not playing your gap or the right assignment, then it’s a lot easier on the offense.”
As basic as it sounds, it’s one of the loser’s laments in the NFL.
“You just look at the film, yeah, like, ‘How did this happen?’” Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark said. “You just see everything that goes into it. I mean, a lot of it is stuff we can fix. That’s the frustrating part about it. It’s not like we’re getting knocked out. They’re being more physical. It’s nothing like that. It’s little stuff that we can fix if we play to our rules, know what we’re doing and play fast. Then it’ll be fixed 100 percent.”
Elliott ranked seventh in the NFL in rushing yards (324) through Sunday, but throw out the opener (he reported just days earlier following his contract holdout), and he’s fifth over the past few weeks with 271 yards and a pair of 100-yard rushing games. But he didn't get much done in Sunday's loss to the Saints: 18 carries for 35 yards with the game's only touchdown.
In three games against the Packers, including playoffs, he eclipsed the 100-yard mark each time. He has 79 carries for 398 yards in those three games combined. That’s an average of 5.04 yards per carry -- or exactly what the Packers' defense has allowed to date in 2019.
An infusion of personnel could help the Packers heading into this matchup of 3-1 teams.
Third-year former third-round pick Montravius Adams was one reason the Packers cut run-stopper Mike Daniels on the eve of training camp this summer, though Montgomery said Adams’ performance in Week 2 “wasn’t his best.” Adams hasn’t played since then because of a right shoulder injury suffered on Cook’s touchdown run. He finished that game but missed the next two. Adams said this week is his target to return.
“I feel like I can help in that aspect and in other aspects, but at the end of the day, I believe in the guys just like the coaches do,” Adams said Monday. “There’s a reason everyone’s here. I’m out right now, but I believe our guys can do it.”
Then there’s inside linebacker Oren Burks, who hasn’t played since he tore his pectoral muscle in the preseason opener on Aug. 8. The 2018 third-round pick practiced Monday with a harness over his chest and shoulder and believes he’s on the verge of a full-time return. In Burks’ absence, the Packers have alternated using a safety (Raven Greene or Adrian Amos) at inside linebacker and filling in with linebacker B.J. Goodson, who was acquired in a Sept. 3 trade with the Giants.
“Just having another 'backer that understands run fits a little bit better, because that’s the world we live in,” Burks said. “So I feel like in terms of that, that will help us out a lot. These guys have been playing their butts off the last couple of weeks, so we’ve just got to keep it going."