Packers Jeff Hafley will game plan against Justin Jefferson for the first time

GREEN BAY – Jeff Hafley left to coach in the college ranks just before the Minnesota Vikings moved wide receiver Justin Jefferson to NFL defensive coordinators.

As a result, he develops a game plan for the first time to defend against the Vikings’ game destroyer.

Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur hopes Hafley fares better than former defensive coordinator Joe Barry, who got the full Jefferson treatment in his first game against the Vikings. Jefferson caught eight passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns in a 34-31 victory at U.S. Bank Stadium.

“Just turn on the tape and it doesn’t take you very long to realize how good he is,” Hafley said Thursday. “I mean, he’s big, he can catch the ball, he’s fast, he can run all the routes. He’s good when he catches the ball, catches and runs. He has incredible hands.

And, oh yeah, he got off to a pretty good start.

He had 14 catches for 273 yards (19.5 average) and three touchdowns. Against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 2, he got behind the defense and bulldozed his way to a 97-yard touchdown run.

Under Barry, the Packers tried several methods to slow him down, some more effective than others. Sometimes it came down to whether Kirk Cousins or an inadequate backup threw him the ball.

The Vikings punished Barry’s scheme in the first meeting by regularly lining up Jefferson in the backfield, making it more difficult to man coverage against him. When Barry attempted the zone in the first week of 2022, Jefferson destroyed the secondary with nine catches for 184 yards and two touchdowns at US Bank.

In Week 17 of the same season, Barry let cornerback Jaire Alexander cover Jefferson as much as possible and allowed the rest of the defense to be brutal on the Vikings receivers. Jefferson caught one pass for 15 yards, the fewest catches and second-fewest yards of his 49-game career to that point, in a 41-17 loss.

Jefferson did not play against the Packers in Week 8 last season due to a hamstring injury and in Week 17 he was not a big factor with rookie quarterback Jaren Hall who played terribly in a 33-10 loss at US Bank.

Jeff Hafley understands his defense can’t focus entirely on Justin Jefferson

Coming into this game, Jefferson is rolling even though he is still getting used to playing with quarterback Sam Darnold, who was signed during the offseason. Jefferson caught 66.7 percent of passes thrown to him, tying him with a large group of receivers at 89th, including Green Bay’s Romeo Doubs, who played two games with a backup quarterback.

Hafley said he consulted with others on his staff, such as defensive passing game coordinator Derrick Ansley and defensive backs coach Ryan Downard, as well as others around the league for ideas on how best to limit Jefferson’s impact. It’s up to him to soak it in and then come up with a game plan that works.

“You have to know where it is,” Hafley said. “You have to choose times to plan around it. You can’t plan around him the whole game. They have other very good players as well. They run the ball very well too.

“So if you’re worried about him the whole game, then you’re going to look down and they’re going to beat you in the running game. I think that’s what they’ve done such a good job of this year, both as a coach and as a player. They can do both.

Hafley showed in the first game of the season that he wasn’t afraid to take his best corner, Alexander, against the other team’s best receiver. But as this game showed – AJ Brown had five catches for 119 yards and a touchdown – it’s not always the best choice.

“It’s our job to put our best players on their best players,” Hafley said. “But we have to figure out how to make it happen.” I mean, I’m not just going to walk into a game and say the plan is just strong enough to stop this big player.

“You have to figure out how to stop their best players every week, and if that means doing something a little different, then it’s our job to do that.”

Xavier McKinney could be the X-factor for the Packers defense

A big advantage Hafley has over Barry is that safety Xavier McKinney has stabilized the secondary and given the Packers someone who can carry the middle of the field. McKinney has an interception in each of the first three games and looks like someone who can’t wait for the quarterback to test him deep down the field.

The Packers only allowed one pass of more than 30 yards (Brown’s 67-yard touchdown) and McKinney was on the other side of the field for that one. No one threw a pass over his head and all three of his interceptions were deep throws down the field.

Hafley can often place McKinney above Jefferson and see if Darnold is willing to challenge him deep.

When asked if he thought McKinney’s interceptions would deter teams from throwing deep, he said it definitely would.

“Would you think twice if he was there?” Hafley said. “I would. You put too much air on the ball or you look down on someone and they’ll get it. He almost had another one in that (Tennessee) game. He’s a dynamic player. He sees him so quickly and he reacts so quickly.

McKinney said he would like to think those games would keep teams from testing him. But it’s okay if it’s not.

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“I’m proud to be a ball hawk,” he said. “I’m glad that right now they’re not aware of it and don’t think twice about it. They should be. I’m going to keep working, I’m going to keep improving. There are things I can do better.

The challenge will be clear on Sunday. The Packers will have to do better than they were in those Jefferson-dominated games. Hafley will need a plan for this.