Latest news with #fumbles
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Packers DC Jeff Hafley explains emphasis on forcing fumbles in 2025
Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley has made forcing fumbles one of his top priorities during the 2025 season, and he's getting buy-in from players early on in training camp. Last season, the Packers forced 16 fumbles, or about the league average. Hafley's defense ranked in the top five for total takeaways in 2024, but he wants a lot more in 2025 -- and creating fumbles are the emphasis. "We took the ball away last year. We didn't force enough fumbles. That's not good enough," Hafley said Wednesday. "The emphasis coming in is, one, our play style, how hard we're going to play, how physical we're going to play, how we run to the ball. That's non-negotiable. The other is we're going to attack the football. We need to emphasize it more. We need to coach it better. We need to put it out there on tape. That's been the No. 1 emphasis this training camp is one, play style, two, we need to force more fumbles. That's charted, that's talked about, and you can see the buy-in from the players." The Packers defense has forced a fumble during a team period at nearly every training camp practice through the first week. Defenders are attacking the football, just like Hafley wants. "You're seeing some haymakers being thrown at the ball right now," Hafley said. "And it can't be from just one guy. It has to be from everybody. I appreciate the buy in of the players, but if we want to lead the league in forced fumbles, we are going to have to work at it. And that's very important to us." Hafley said he's turned defensive quality control coach Wendel Davis into the "Ball King," who is in charge of charting how the players are attacking the football on every play. The Packers even have a siren in the meeting room that "blares" every time the defense gets a takeaway on film. "We want to sound the siren as much as we can," Hafley said. Hear more from Hafley below: This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers DC Jeff Hafley explains emphasis on forcing fumbles in 2025
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Packers defense has a new fumble-forcing emphasis for 2025 season
The Green Bay Packers defense has a new emphasis entering the 2025 season, and early returns at training camp are good. According to Wes Hodkiewicz of Jeff Hafley's Packers defense wants to force more fumbles this season, and the group is motivated by the current NFL record for forced fumbles in a season. Through four days of training camp practices, the Packers have punched a few footballs out of the hands of ball-carriers, suggesting the emphasis is translating to the field. Last season, the Packers forced 16 fumbles. The NFL record is 34, set by the New York Giants in 2010. To reach the goal would require Hafley's defense to more than double last season's output, but as the old saying goes, you get what you emphasize at the professional level of football. The Packers were plenty good forcing fumbles last season. Twelve different players forced a fumble for the Packers in 2024, including Keisean Nixon (3), Carrington Valentine (2) and Kingsley Enagbare (2). The 14 turnovers caused off forced fumbles ranked the Packers third in the NFL. But Hafley wants more. Part of forcing fumbles is arriving violently and intentionally at a ball-carrier, using a punch technique to pry the ball loose or having multiple players rally to the ball-carrier to provide an opportunity to strip it away. But a bigger part of the forced fumble equation is the strip sack, which the 2010 Giants all but mastered. That season, Osi Umenyiora forced an NFL-best 10 fumbles, and Umenyiora and Justin Tuck combined for an incredible 15 forced fumbles on their own. The Packers will need edge rushers such as Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness to actively hunt the ball when pressuring the quarterback, and pass-rushers in general must do a better job targeting the ball when closing in on the quarterback in 2025. Training camp is providing the testing ground. "You see guys come out in practice, anytime they're close to the ball, anytime anyone's close to the ball, punching at it violently," second-year safety Evan Williams told Hodkiewicz. "We're talking about angry, violent intentions. The picks are great, obviously, but I feel like it's another thing to go get a forced fumble because no ball carrier is going to give you the ball." The Packers ranked in the top five for takeaways in Hafley's first season as defensive coordinator, thanks to a strong mix of interceptions (17) and recovered fumbles (14). Interceptions are game-changing plays, but forcing a fumble often requires a more intentional act from the defense. Can the Packers punch out more footballs, create more strip-sacks and generate even more takeaways in 2025? This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Packers defense has a new fumble-forcing emphasis for 2025 season
Fox News
08-06-2025
- Sport
- Fox News
The Quiz #430 - What Time Is It? Game Time!
How well do you know your free throws from fumbles? Take The Quiz: Sports Edition. Play. Share. Listen with FOX News' Host of The Will Cain Show, Will Cain.
