GREEN BAY, Wis. — Packers Training Camp continues with Family Night set for this Saturday night.
New defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley was the head coach at Boston College. He’s helping the Packers transition to a 4-3 defensive scheme. Hafley loves what he’s seeing from the Packers defense.
“These guys are practicing hard," said Hafley. "They're flying around. They're competitive. It's just to me the attitude, the effort, the commitment to each other, the buy-in. That, to me, in the first week was the most important thing, because then I think the confidence will build. They know what they're doing in the scheme because we're still pretty new within the scheme. The more they know what to do, the faster we're going to play, the more aggressive we're going to get. That's what we're probably the most proud about right now as a coaching staff. We appreciate the buy-in. These guys are doing everything we're asking them to do. They're really going hard, which is really cool to see.”
If there's one area Hafley is stressing, it's being more aggressive on defense to force more turnovers.
“I show turnovers to start every single meeting," said Hafley. "It is the most important thing, and I show it in front of the whole defense. It's not just rewarding the guy who intercepted the ball, it's why was the ball intercepted. You turn on the tight copy, and it's because the three technique got push and he got his hand up and the quarterback had to change his arm angle. Or the quarterback had to step up in the pocket and throw off balance. Those are the things that tie in and I think everybody needs to understand that.”
Hafley has NFL coaching experience with the 49ers, among other teams. He then was an assistant at Ohio State, before taking over at Boston College. So, he’s been around. Still, he’s never seen anything like Packers fans.
“I open the door and I just saw those people,” said Hafley. “I felt like it was game day. I had no idea what was going on. All the kids with the bikes. I think that's so cool. It feels like game day. Then you walk in to a sold-out practice and there's people in the stands. There were people tailgating in our parking lot at 9:00 at night on a Sunday. Practice had been over for six hours. The players love it. I think about all the energy it brings. I mean, it is a great place.”
If the Packers defense shows improvement this season, much of the credit will go to Jeff Hafley.