This year the Packer defensive line fight the Cowboys big line and won more than they lost. When the Packers were on defense, I tried to watch the first 2 seconds of the play and draw a composite line of where Packers defenders and Cowboys offensive linemen were in relation to the line of scrimmage. More often than not the Packers were pushing the pocket in, not getting locked up and engulfed.
The cast wasn't much different except for the addition of BJ Raji and having the ball 8+ minutes longer than they did last year (36-28). They can thank Charles Woodson for that. Raji also seemed to help. "Their defense brought it to us today, pure and simple," receiver Patrick Crayton said in Monday's Dallas Morning News.
You had to enjoyed watching the Hawk / Barnett twists run at full speed. The blitz on the Woodson sack - "unreviewable play" was something to behold. It was as the refs added style points by awarding the Packers the ball at the 3 yard line.
The Cowboys were getting their bells rung, and were not prepared for a "playoff intensity" game. Romo and his OL looked cornered in the late third quarter. They kept trying for that BIG play that would get them off the field.
The fans in the media who were ready to run this gang out of town if they "laid another egg" with half-hearted play were given voice by fan favorite, Donald Driver. This was a good time & place for fans to draw the line in the sand.
In 2008 they were soft, giving up 218 yards on 34 carries to Barber / Jones. Yesterday it's 32 yards on just 8 carries. Talk about abandoning the run!
This is still a team that lost decisively twice to the division leading Vikings. All the Packers have to do to nullify this victory is lose one of the next two games. The Packers were as good against Dallas as they were bad against Tampa. Wild card chase team seems like an authentic identity for the 2009 Packers. Let's see if they can settle on that and enjoy the turn of fortune against the Cowboys for now.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Woodson Beats Cowboys!
I've actually never seen a CB play that kind of game. Charles Woodson was unstoppable today. Johnny Jolly got out of the dog house with two tipped passes. Clay Matthews, Nick Barnett, and AJ Hawk provided some real heat. This year we saw Cowboys limping off the field instead of Packers.
The offense recognized the opportunity and came alive in the second half and provided the biggest upset of the year calming the Lambeau faithful. What surprised me most was how McCarthy, Philbin, and Rodgers actually played a game within the west coast philosophy. Ryan Grant found some cutback lanes and really got things rolling in the second half. The game plan took account for the capabilities of the Packer offensive line and surprise... victory!
I'm happy to take one of those eggs out of the carton and slap in on my forehead for a victory over the Cowboys at Lambeau. Who wants to talk about firing people in week nine? Now how about giving the maintenance guy his job back?
The offense recognized the opportunity and came alive in the second half and provided the biggest upset of the year calming the Lambeau faithful. What surprised me most was how McCarthy, Philbin, and Rodgers actually played a game within the west coast philosophy. Ryan Grant found some cutback lanes and really got things rolling in the second half. The game plan took account for the capabilities of the Packer offensive line and surprise... victory!
I'm happy to take one of those eggs out of the carton and slap in on my forehead for a victory over the Cowboys at Lambeau. Who wants to talk about firing people in week nine? Now how about giving the maintenance guy his job back?
Final Thoughts Before The Pummeling By Dallas
Every game and every season is it's own. But thinking back to 2007 when Favre was knocked out under heavy pressure and Rodgers lead a minor comeback, it's hard to see where this game shouldn't be worse. The offensive line is now much worse. So are the special teams units.
Neither the great Favre nor the good Aaron Rodgers can do anything about that. I doubt the greatest scrambling QBs of all time like Roger Staubach or Fran Tarkington could survive this line either.
How about a surprise?
Neither the great Favre nor the good Aaron Rodgers can do anything about that. I doubt the greatest scrambling QBs of all time like Roger Staubach or Fran Tarkington could survive this line either.
How about a surprise?
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Defensive Line: The Game Within The Dallas Game
This season the story has been the offensive, offensive line for the Green Bay Packers. The defensive line has been more difficult to assess. First, they have failed to generate pressure on opposing QBs on a regular basis, but that's not their job in the 3-4 defense.
Let's take them one by one:
Ryan Pickett: B+ probably not pro bowl material but his reviews are positive
Cullen Jenkins: B- he has probably played too many snaps & leads team with just 3.5 sacks
Johnny Jolly: D remember when he use to tip balls at the line and occasion beat guys?
BJ Raji: Incomplete / D - if he can stay healthy he'll take snaps away from Jolly
Let's not get into the inconsistent LBs now, but let's watch the line of scrimmage and see which way it moves when the Cowboys have the ball. The Cowboys OL is as good as litmus test as the DLs will have in dealing with bulk. Then we can file that information away for the post-Thomspon era. Will the Packers be "soft" like last year? None of the aforementioned four guys is on the injury report, so it's showtime for them. It's "get home or go home" time.
Also, who is Brad Jones and why is he starting at LOLB? He was the Packers pick in the 9th slot of the 7th round. Capers likes him. We will see.
Let's take them one by one:
Ryan Pickett: B+ probably not pro bowl material but his reviews are positive
Cullen Jenkins: B- he has probably played too many snaps & leads team with just 3.5 sacks
Johnny Jolly: D remember when he use to tip balls at the line and occasion beat guys?
BJ Raji: Incomplete / D - if he can stay healthy he'll take snaps away from Jolly
Let's not get into the inconsistent LBs now, but let's watch the line of scrimmage and see which way it moves when the Cowboys have the ball. The Cowboys OL is as good as litmus test as the DLs will have in dealing with bulk. Then we can file that information away for the post-Thomspon era. Will the Packers be "soft" like last year? None of the aforementioned four guys is on the injury report, so it's showtime for them. It's "get home or go home" time.
Also, who is Brad Jones and why is he starting at LOLB? He was the Packers pick in the 9th slot of the 7th round. Capers likes him. We will see.
Friday, November 13, 2009
McCarthy Madness!
The Journal Sentinel is reporting Mike McCarthy fired a part-time maintenance worker that had been working for the Packers for 22 years over some alleged remark. Apparently, McCarthy is so fond of his personnel getting sacked he couldn't just let the guy off with a warning. Can his press get any worse?
Speaking of firing why is Breno Giacomini still on the roster if he can't play RT better than Alan Barbre? Last week, I personally gave up on the much maligned Jared Bush. He's suppose to be an asset on special teams. He's not good enough to save us from Derrick Martin's lack of experience with the defense earlier this year at safety. Meanwhile, former Packer special teams standout Tracy White is playing for the Eagles.
The table is set for an unforgettable shellacking at the hands of the Cowboys. For some bizarre reason the Packers are only a 3 point underdog. Perhaps the odds makers are banking on the Packers playing like a wounded animal backed into a corner. But as we have seen the past two years, the Cowboys are the more physical team and football is still a contact sport. Resist the temptation to bet the house. Weird things happen in the NFL.
Donald Driver knows what time it is. He's quoted in the J/S as having said in a team meeting "If we don't win - and I mean now - they are going to fire all of our (butts) at the end of the season," Driver said. "I'm serious." Nothing written on fan blogs like this one is going to change that, although I'd except Driver and other worthy players.
One of the things about Dallas, despite their misfortune of being the Dallas Cowboys, they have mined the lower reaches of the draft and undrafted free agents to find gems like WR Miles Austin and NT Jay Ratliff. Bob McGinn notes these successes in his game preview. But Ted Thompson's low round picks have at best yielded the likes of Mike Montgomery, Johnny Jolly, and DeShawn Wynn. The Packers are as well resourced as the Cowboys with leading apparel sales and a full house every game, yet our scouting department hasn't found a hidden gem since the aforementioned Donald Driver in the Sherman era.
Hang on to your hats folks. This could be the "Ugly Bowl".
Note added on 11/19/09: Good piece by Robert Borland on the egg incident and why it matters at the National Football Post.
Speaking of firing why is Breno Giacomini still on the roster if he can't play RT better than Alan Barbre? Last week, I personally gave up on the much maligned Jared Bush. He's suppose to be an asset on special teams. He's not good enough to save us from Derrick Martin's lack of experience with the defense earlier this year at safety. Meanwhile, former Packer special teams standout Tracy White is playing for the Eagles.
The table is set for an unforgettable shellacking at the hands of the Cowboys. For some bizarre reason the Packers are only a 3 point underdog. Perhaps the odds makers are banking on the Packers playing like a wounded animal backed into a corner. But as we have seen the past two years, the Cowboys are the more physical team and football is still a contact sport. Resist the temptation to bet the house. Weird things happen in the NFL.
Donald Driver knows what time it is. He's quoted in the J/S as having said in a team meeting "If we don't win - and I mean now - they are going to fire all of our (butts) at the end of the season," Driver said. "I'm serious." Nothing written on fan blogs like this one is going to change that, although I'd except Driver and other worthy players.
One of the things about Dallas, despite their misfortune of being the Dallas Cowboys, they have mined the lower reaches of the draft and undrafted free agents to find gems like WR Miles Austin and NT Jay Ratliff. Bob McGinn notes these successes in his game preview. But Ted Thompson's low round picks have at best yielded the likes of Mike Montgomery, Johnny Jolly, and DeShawn Wynn. The Packers are as well resourced as the Cowboys with leading apparel sales and a full house every game, yet our scouting department hasn't found a hidden gem since the aforementioned Donald Driver in the Sherman era.
Hang on to your hats folks. This could be the "Ugly Bowl".
Note added on 11/19/09: Good piece by Robert Borland on the egg incident and why it matters at the National Football Post.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Tampa 38 Packers 28
Boooo!
The ingredients for a disaster were present and acknowledged.
1. A winless team, playing at home, coming off a bye week.
2. A dispirited team coming off it's second loss to the Vikings.
3. Old beat up OTs trying to step in and shore up a bad offensive line.
When you look at those second half Packer possessions on the drive chart, you see the run game gaining some traction behind Ahman Green only to stall out. This was foreshadowed in the first half when the Packers failed to convert good field positions into points. Here's the drive chart summary for the Packers second half possessions.
#1 punt (almost safety)
#2 interception on 1st & 10
#3 punt
#4 Rodgers runs for TD
#5 punt
#6 punt
#7 interception on 4th & 12 returned for TD
The offense didn't have any 4 & outs after the first possession where they were pinned on the goal line. But 4 of the 6 sacks came in the 4th quarter. In crunch time, things got harder and you could feel the Packers "trying not to lose" and they choked.
The unreliability of the offensive line is causing this anamic feeling. It's not just the sacks, it's not being able to a set of dependable plays... screen passes, slants, U-72 type runs. The bread & butter of the Packer offense has become the "quick strike". On the one score the Packers ground out early in the fourth quarter, the effort was immediately nullified by one of the few kickoffs Mason Crosby didn't put out of the endzone.
So add kick coverage (if you haven't already) to offensive line play to areas that repeatedly lets the rest of the team down. And now even punt protection is becoming an adventure. One get's the feeling that coaches are saying the same things over and over. Guys don't come free to block punts due bad coaching. No one coaches that. Maybe a player was under coached, or maybe they made a mistake on their own. Either way, the Packers seem to be devolving into a bad team despite having players that have shown plenty of ability in the past.
One aspect that will not be discussed in the Packer media, at least directly, is how this team had so much invested in beating the Vikings that it played a dispirited game afterwards. You could almost say that the Packers have lost 3 games to the Vikings counting this one. This is another aspect of putting Brett Favre behind them.
Maybe the Packers can use Grant & Green as a one-two punch as they hinted at in the 3rd quarter and build a more physical and confident offensive line through that? It's worth a try. This team can not survive on deep strikes from Rodgers to his WRs and defensive turnovers alone.
The ingredients for a disaster were present and acknowledged.
1. A winless team, playing at home, coming off a bye week.
2. A dispirited team coming off it's second loss to the Vikings.
3. Old beat up OTs trying to step in and shore up a bad offensive line.
When you look at those second half Packer possessions on the drive chart, you see the run game gaining some traction behind Ahman Green only to stall out. This was foreshadowed in the first half when the Packers failed to convert good field positions into points. Here's the drive chart summary for the Packers second half possessions.
#1 punt (almost safety)
#2 interception on 1st & 10
#3 punt
#4 Rodgers runs for TD
#5 punt
#6 punt
#7 interception on 4th & 12 returned for TD
The offense didn't have any 4 & outs after the first possession where they were pinned on the goal line. But 4 of the 6 sacks came in the 4th quarter. In crunch time, things got harder and you could feel the Packers "trying not to lose" and they choked.
The unreliability of the offensive line is causing this anamic feeling. It's not just the sacks, it's not being able to a set of dependable plays... screen passes, slants, U-72 type runs. The bread & butter of the Packer offense has become the "quick strike". On the one score the Packers ground out early in the fourth quarter, the effort was immediately nullified by one of the few kickoffs Mason Crosby didn't put out of the endzone.
So add kick coverage (if you haven't already) to offensive line play to areas that repeatedly lets the rest of the team down. And now even punt protection is becoming an adventure. One get's the feeling that coaches are saying the same things over and over. Guys don't come free to block punts due bad coaching. No one coaches that. Maybe a player was under coached, or maybe they made a mistake on their own. Either way, the Packers seem to be devolving into a bad team despite having players that have shown plenty of ability in the past.
One aspect that will not be discussed in the Packer media, at least directly, is how this team had so much invested in beating the Vikings that it played a dispirited game afterwards. You could almost say that the Packers have lost 3 games to the Vikings counting this one. This is another aspect of putting Brett Favre behind them.
Maybe the Packers can use Grant & Green as a one-two punch as they hinted at in the 3rd quarter and build a more physical and confident offensive line through that? It's worth a try. This team can not survive on deep strikes from Rodgers to his WRs and defensive turnovers alone.
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