Brian Flores Will Attack the Packers From the Inside Out

The interior of the Green Bay Packers' offensive line is the weak link of this offense, and I'm sure Brian Flores will spend plenty of time game-planning to attack that group. That could be a major issue for Green Bay in the showdown against the Minnesota Vikings. They could hardly have drawn a tougher matchup up front, especially if Flores can consistently create pressure through the interior. Let's look at the personnel and schematic reasons this is such a bad matchup for the Packers. On Green Bay's side, they still haven't named a starting right guard with less than a week until the game. At left guard, they have Aaron Banks, who missed a large portion of training camp with an injury and allowed the fifth-highest pressure rate among starting left guards last year. Meanwhile, Sean Rhyan spent the offseason transitioning to center, and I believe he can eventually become reliable. Still, Green Bay's interior will open the season with a new starting center, a shaky left guard, and no clear answer at right guard. That doesn't exactly sound promising, right? Brian Flores is too good a defensive mind not to attack Green Bay's interior. Creating pressure has been a major part of his defensive philosophy, and the Packers have a clear weakness for him to exploit. The Vikings led the NFL in blitz rate last season, sending at least five rushers on over 50% of their defensive snaps. No other team blitzed at 40%. Brian Flores is a maniac in all the best ways From the Stats & Scheme newsletter pic.twitter.com/PkkgZMUIiB — Tej Seth (@tejfbanalytics) September 4, 2026 The interesting part is how Flores creates that pressure. Minnesota has blitzed more than any other team over the past three seasons, yet the Vikings also play a ton of zone coverage. They also use mugged fronts more than anyone in the NFL. In other words, that means putting multiple defenders close to the line of scrimmage, often crowding the gaps around the center before the snap. Brian Flores lives in a paradox: A 50%+ Blitz Rate paired with zone coverage on over 80% of his play calls. "All-Up" presentations are a critical part of Minnesota's scheme and create empty protection, freeing edge rushers while the secondary plays "anchored" vision coverage… pic.twitter.com/Ouol89ktVZ — Cody Alexander (@The_Coach_A) September 3, 2026 On Wednesday, Matt LaFleur discussed the challenge of going up against Flores' defense. You try to get as much information as possible. You watch some of the preseason stuff. I know they're not showing everything, obviously. We've gone against each other quite a lot of times now, and I would tell you this: I think Flores does as good as anybody at creating problems for offenses. LaFleur also noted that the Packers are expecting plenty of pressure from Flores and Minnesota's defense. 'It's a highly aggressive defense, and you kind of, especially Week 1, you're not really quite sure what's going to happen,' he said, 'but I'm pretty sure I can bank on it that they're going to bring a lot of pressure.' So, the guys on the interior will need to be at their best by Sunday. We should also see a lot of Chris Brooks in this game. The running backs will have an important role against Flores because Love will need to make frequent protection checks and adjustments to account for extra rushers. Brooks is the best option to handle those responsibilities and could be especially valuable on obvious passing downs. Chris Brooks is going to be one of the most important players on the field for the Packers next Sunday. https://t.co/G2YWTGkS9I — Felipe Reis Aceti (@Aceti_Felipe) September 6, 2026 Green Bay's interior offensive line will face one of its toughest tests of the season, and it's only Week 1. That group doesn't inspire much confidence right now, especially against a defense that will test its communication. Matt LaFleur will need to put together a play-calling masterclass and find ways to keep Love out of harm's way.