Green Bay Packers defensive tackle Mike Daniels is tiring of hearing about it.
Fair or not, when the Packers’ offense is led by Aaron Rodgers and proves to be highly productive on a yearly basis, it’s the defense that has bore the brunt of criticism for the team’s inability to get back to the Super Bowl.
It’s something Daniels is tired of hearing about.
“We have to take it personal,” Daniels said, via Rob Demovsky of ESPN.com. “You have to get pissed off that people are saying, ‘You guys suck on defense’ every year. ‘Oh, it’s the defense’s fault. Oh, the defense is terrible. Oh man, we need to get Aaron [Rodgers] a defense.’ That’s got to make you angry to the point where you’re like, ‘I’m going to shut these people up.’”
It doesn’t help that the last time the Packers played a game, the Atlanta Falcons gained 493 yards on offense, scored 44 points scored on seven of nine possessions and ended Green Bay’s season.
Daniels said he wanted the Packers defense to adopt the same mentality he sees in the Seattle Seahawks’ defense. He cited Richard Sherman’s verbal taunting of Russell Wilson in practice three years ago as a sign of a defense that won’t accept mediocrity.
“Sherman had gotten some heat for bringing the attitude to practice,” Daniels said. “But there is no NFC [championship or] Super Bowl-winning team that had a, how do you say, a pacifist-type defense. It’s just impossible. You’ll never see it. You’ve got to have some guys with a renegade mentality who’ll go out there and they’re not afraid to teeter that line -- not cross it, but teeter it -- and put the offense on their heels. And that’s exactly what Seattle does. You see it year-in and year-out.”
While the Packers’ defense may take too much blame at times, they haven’t posted a top ten unit in yards or points allowed in the last five seasons. Their best statistical effort was in 2012 when they ranked 11th in both categories. Nevertheless, they’ve twice come within a game of making the Super Bowl over that span. It may not take much more to get over the hump and back to the Super Bowl.