Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator to miss Thursday's game vs Cardinals

The Green Bay Packers defense has had to overcome injuries all season long. Unfortunately, they were thrown another curveball as the prepare for their toughest test yet — the Arizona Cardinals.

Today, it was reported that Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry would miss the game.

“Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry has tested positive for COVID-19, sources tell me and Ian Rapoport,” tweeted NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo. “He will surely miss Thursday’s game against the Arizona Cardinals, though he will be part of the planning virtually.”

Barry is in his first season as Packers defensive coordinator, and he’s been doing a tremendous job. Even with a litany of injuries to some of their best players, Green Bay hasn’t let it slow them down.

In recent weeks, the Packers have stifled the Washington Football Team and Chicago Bears. Before that, they held the Cincinnati Bengals and Pittsburgh Steelers in check. The Cardinals are a different animal, and they need all hands on deck to stop them.

Unfortunately, Barry’s absence may be bigger than any one player’s injuries. Still, the Green Bay Packers have made it their prerogative to overcome adversity — this will be nothing new to them.

Green Bay Packers defensive mindset: ‘Nobodies going to give us any excuses.’

After yesterday’s victory, Packers safety Adrian Amos recognized the Green Bay Packers have been snakebitten by injuries on the defensive side of the football. Still, the unit hasn’t been deterred — playing well in a victory over the Washington Football Team yesterday.

After the game, Amos revealed the mindset the Packers have playing without multiple stars on defense. It’s even more on the nose after the news of regarding their defensive coordinator dropped.

“You can’t sulk in it,” Amos stated. “It’s something where we’re playing the game regardless. You saw last year when teams had a whole bunch of players out, we played anyways. We know we’re going to have to come out and show up — nobodies going to give us any excuses.”

Continuing, Amos was asked what the identity is of their defense. While he could’ve gone with something along the lines of resiliency, Amos revealed he believes the Packers are still building it.

“We still building that .. we still building that each and every week,” said Amos. “We wanna be physical, we wanna take the ball away, and we wanna win those key situations. That’s building .. that’s building and we’re going to see.”

Amos believes the Packers are still building their identity — how they play without their defensive coordinator will reveal a lot about Green Bay.