Well the Packers are 1-2 at the start of Bears hate week. The loss against the Lions was disappointing
to say the least. So disappointing, in fact, that I had to rant last night after the game…couldn’t wait until this morning.
But the sun is shining this morning and Fall is in the air so it is time to Rave Packernation. Of course, the most important thing for Packers fans is that the team wins so I won’t be going too crazy on this one but any solid criticism includes the good with the bad, so here are three things to rave about in yesterday’s game and they ALL are on the defensive side of the ball:
Pressure
We at GPN have said that pressure is the linchpin to any defense in the NFL, no matter where it comes from. Yesterday we saw corner blitzes, crosses and stunts work to put pressure on Matt Stafford. At the same time, the tandem of Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers is becoming more and more of a force. Matthews was singled up much of the day and his bull rush was like something one would expect on the streets of Pamplona. Course, he hurt his groin so he wasn’t able to stay in the game down the stretch, but he will be back. Julius Peppers’ strip-fumble recovery was EXACTLY what we have been saying he would do all along. Julius’ length makes him so dangerous coming outside in after he has passed out of the quarterbacks peripheral. He did the same thing to Aaron Rodgers last season in the final game against the Bears. This is the kind of pressure that makes explosive offenses implode and we needed it to beat the Lions. And the fact of the matter is, we got it.
Stop the run
Two of the keys I had for this game were the pressure, check, and for the Packers to finally stop the run. Bush had 61 yards and Bell had 33 in this game and many of those yards came when the Lions were in a position to “ground and pound” and Clay Matthews was out of the game. This defense put on a show yesterday and only gave up a total of ten points. Excellent work! But they did more than that:
Turnovers
The Packers pressure caused mistakes, and the Packers defense capitalized on those mistakes taking the ball away three times, once by land and twice by air. The Packers defense handed the ball back to Aaron Rodgers three times…but they couldn’t get it done.
I have to believe that nothing can keep this Packers offense down, and with the defense coming on like they did, we could be seeing the beginning of good things for this Packers team. If they play calling stays uncreative and we keep relying on Rodgers to Nelson for our entire gameplan…it could go the other direction. Either way, the Bears game becomes critical. Stay tuned for all the news, opinions and reports in a critical week of preparation for the Packers.
GO PACK!!!
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Hi Brady,
This was a good game never the less, the outcome was not what we all wanted. The offense did not have their best game a lot has to do with the line not opening up holes for Lacy to get the run going! This is something they really need to work on. But in my opinion the reason they lost this game is all on McCarthy’s shoulders! He did not call a very good game plain and simple, Now don’t get me wrong I think Mike is a very good coach but he does not try new things like other teams! Like the jet sweep or even the reverse to mix it up and keep the defenses guessing!
I do not know what goes on in practice or what they see in some of these players that they keep playing but from what I have seen in games Boykin should be benched and let Adams take over #3 and start playing Janis as #4 to get this kid going, I think he can do better at returns than Harris also. And that is another thing how is Lacy suppose to get in a grove if they keep taking him out? I understand they want to keep him fresh but he also needs to get the rock at least 30 carry’s to get rolling, I like Harris but defenses will not respect the run with him in so why not use Stark’s when spelling Lacy?
One good thing that came out of this game they finally broke the streak for a INT by a safety, hopefully now they will flood in like a broken dam
Oh another thing these fans that are saying Olivia Munn is the reason Aaron is not playing well need to get a reality check lol. Aaron is human not superman he can have bad days also! We have been spoiled by him carrying this team for so long it has become expected.
Amen, brother Brady. I switched the game on just after Big Run Ed had fumbled. Most of the afternoon was quite frustrating but as you say, Julius showed up & madea huge difference. When Davon grabbed pick #2 from Frat Boy Stafford I said to myself, “that ball was overthrown & he would have been better off just letting it go.” It hurt to be right, but you can’t fault the guy for his effort. In regard to the Lions, I just hope that once the great Megatron realizes that Detroit will be lucky to ever win the division – the organization will be classy enough to cut him loose. They let the greatest running back of our generation wilt away. Great article!
Dink and dunk seemed to be working but we went away and kept trying to pound the ball. I thought if you can’t run, you should do the dink and dunk, it amounts to the same thing. You loosen up the coverage, and then do your inside runs and open things up down field.
One thing is certain from watching Detroit, if your front 4 can get to the QB (like the Lions did) it doesn’t matter who’s in your secondary!
To me Starks looks a lot more shiftier and faster than Lacy. As for the play calling its pretty bad when I can tell exactly what they are going to run by watching on TV. If I can tell then I know the opponents know. I am truly a huge Packer fan and I hate to say this but I see a 6-10 season coming our way unless the coach changes it up a little. It figures though. Our defense starts to get going and now our offense is going to struggle. Sounds like golf to me.
Oh well, maybe I’ll just become a Vikings fan. I’ve always liked the Vikings name and everything anyway!!!
Twitter: GPN_JR
Um yeah. Maybe you should become a Vikings fan. Don’t sound like like Packer fan material anyway.
Is it just me…or do we definitely need a couple more receivers? I know I’m a girl …and FYI…Wisconsin girls know the game just as well as the boys do…
Well Tanya, they can only keep so many on the roster…do you mean add one or get better receivers?