Bretsky
01-11-2012, 10:09 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/football/giants/ny-giants-stop-green-bay-packers-qb-aaron-rodgers-article-1.1004383
In the year of the quarterback, the Giants have to stop perhaps the quarterback of the year.
Aaron Rodgers set an NFL record this season with a quarterback rating of 122.5 with 45 touchdowns against six interceptions. The Giants came close to beating him once this season. Now they’ll have one more shot with a lot more on the line.
Can they stop him? No.
Can they beat him? They do possess a number of elements needed to pull that off. It will take near perfect execution, but here is one formula for getting that done:
BRING THE HEAT TO THE KITCHEN
Here’s a quote from the Lions Ndamukong Suh from before this year’s Thanksgiving Day game. It still pertains:
“He’s playing at a very high level, but the way to stop him is to continue to hit him. We had a great game plan against him last year. He wasn’t able to come back in the game, and that’s one way to take care of business. Another way is to continue to be in his face and cause him problems — just don’t allow him to get in a rhythm.”
NY GIANTS PLAYOFF REWIND: A LOOK BACK AT BIG BLUE'S THREE SUPER BOWLS
“It doesn’t really matter what coverage you play if you hit Aaron Rodgers silly,” said Matt Bowen, a former safety who played for Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and now writes on X’s and O’s online for the National Football Post. “It doesn’t matter what you draw up on the chalkboard. If you can get Aaron Rodgers to move off the spot, slide his feet, make him avoid pressure, routes break down when that happens. The timing’s off.
“You can’t throw the ball from your back,” Bowen adds. “The Giants’ front four is the most dominant and most physical that anyone is going to see at any stage of the playoffs.”
This is where the entire hopes of the Giants lie, that they can get to and disrupt Rodgers. It’s happened before. The Chiefs held the Packers to 14 points in handing the Packers their only loss and they has just one dominant pass rusher – Tamba Hali. On the Giants, Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora have spearheaded a dominant D-line rotation that has allowed Fewell to drop seven into coverage.
In other words, make this a Super Bowl XLII reprise.
“The big thing is can they get to Aaron Rodgers early in the game?” notes Brian Baldinger, analyst for the NFL Network. “Can they get to him and hit him and affect him? As good as he is, it’s much like Brady in the Super Bowl. Perceived pressure is just as real as real pressure sometimes. And it you can get him to take his eyes off down the field for just a second, I think that’s pretty big.”
Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel says that what his team was able to accomplish.
“We were able to put a little pressure on him at times and get him off the spot. He wasn’t quite as accurate as he normally is,” Crennel said. “We used five-man pressure and Tamba Hali had a great game for us. They’re more effective with a four-man rush.”
Baldinger thinks Fewell will have four defensive ends on the field at once at times, another Steve Spagnuolo tactic from ’07, and, at the least force the Packers to max-protect, eliminating a potential receiver.
“What you try to do it, can you make him move, can you make him bring the ball down? Can you make him pump? Can you get a hand in his face where he doesn’t have clear vision?” Baldinger ask. “Those are the type of things you try to do and I don’t know if there’s anybody in the league playing better than JPP. There’s no one who can handle him.”
Of course, Rodgers isn’t going to go soft like Matt Ryan did Sunday. Pierre-Paul, for the most part, put Rodgers under a lot of pressure in the regular season game but the Packers offense still put 31 points on the board. On the game-winning drive, Tuck, at full speed, was in Rodgers’ face and Rodgers made a throw few other QBs could make, hitting Jordy Nelson up the left sideline.
YOU CAN ALWAYS HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM
The Giants will also have to do a better job of contain, something the Chiefs did quite effectively. Rodgers is the most accurate quarterback in the league throwing on the run, moving to either his right or left (where he’s one of the best - ever). He was also able to pick up scramble yards, especially when the Giants played man coverage.
“You definitely don’t want to let him get outside the pocket,” former Jet head coach and current ESPN analyst Herm Edwards told CBS Sports earlier this year. “He’s so dangerous there. The problem is not what’s happening there but what’s happening on the back end where your zones are fragmented. I’ve seen this guy roll to his right, stop, then throw to his left 60 yards and hit his receiver in stride. Your coverage zones can get distorted when he’s running around like that, and that’s tough.”
In a perfect world, the Giants would be able to create quick pressure up the gut, breaking up the rhythm of the play, while flushing Rodgers out to the guys responsible for contain.
It’s noteworthy, too, that the Packers’ offensive line is healthy again and will have both OTs, Bryan Bulaga and Chad Clifton together for one of the few times all season.
“But,” Baldinger notes, “the Giants are as healthy as they’ve been all season up front and the Packers’ two tackles haven’t plays in a long time.”
Pierre-Paul will have a chance to win his matchup, and, as the theory goes, all you have to do is win one.
A PRESSING ISSUE
There’s an old theory that goes back to the Raiders and the old AFL, that brawn beats finesse.
“You look historically at how some of the great offenses have been shut down,” Bowen notes. “They physically whipped guys in press coverage. That’s one way to do it. But you really have to beat that wide receiver to death at the line of scrimmage.”
The Giants got very physical with the Falcons receivers Sunday and were able to stifle the passing game. The Chiefs played press coverage (Greg Jennings didn’t play) and took the Packer receivers out of the game.
“They challenged us and, frankly, that’s the way you stop a team that can throw the football,” head coach Mike McCarthy admitted after the game. “They played us a lot of two-man or cover one. They got up, and they pressed us from the time we got off the bus.”
Baldinger sees the Giants going the same route
“I don’t think they’ll play very far off the receivers. I think they’ll play on a lot because if you do play off, Rodgers will just throw smoke on you,” he said. “He’ll go to an automatic and get the ball out to any one of them and make you pay.”
But ESPN’s Tim Hasselbeck doesn’t think the Giants have the personnel to match up in press coverage all game.
“To look back and say they had this formula that no one else had is inaccurate,” he says of the Chiefs’ game plan. “Here’s the other thing that people don’t know. People say, ‘oh, the Kansas City Chiefs, they’re not any good.’ Well guess what? Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr, are really good players. The Kansas City corners are better than (Corey) Webster and (Aaron) Ross. People don’t know about them but the reality is they’re better.”
“Green Bay’s got great players. It just comes down to technique,” Bowen says. “I thought the Giants’ DBs were excellent in the Atlanta game. I thought they were very active. I thought they challenged routes. I thought they played good man in coverage. The Giants aren’t going to be afraid of these guys. They’ll play press coverage.”
“Just don’t get beat at the line of scrimmage,” Bowen adds, however. “You get beat at the line of scrimmage, you’re toast. You’re put in a trail position, you start to panic a little. And these Green Bay receivers: Jordy Nelson has shown the ability to get off press. Jennings has. (Donald) Driver’s a veteran, he’s seen press man for a decade.”
In the year of the quarterback, the Giants have to stop perhaps the quarterback of the year.
Aaron Rodgers set an NFL record this season with a quarterback rating of 122.5 with 45 touchdowns against six interceptions. The Giants came close to beating him once this season. Now they’ll have one more shot with a lot more on the line.
Can they stop him? No.
Can they beat him? They do possess a number of elements needed to pull that off. It will take near perfect execution, but here is one formula for getting that done:
BRING THE HEAT TO THE KITCHEN
Here’s a quote from the Lions Ndamukong Suh from before this year’s Thanksgiving Day game. It still pertains:
“He’s playing at a very high level, but the way to stop him is to continue to hit him. We had a great game plan against him last year. He wasn’t able to come back in the game, and that’s one way to take care of business. Another way is to continue to be in his face and cause him problems — just don’t allow him to get in a rhythm.”
NY GIANTS PLAYOFF REWIND: A LOOK BACK AT BIG BLUE'S THREE SUPER BOWLS
“It doesn’t really matter what coverage you play if you hit Aaron Rodgers silly,” said Matt Bowen, a former safety who played for Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and now writes on X’s and O’s online for the National Football Post. “It doesn’t matter what you draw up on the chalkboard. If you can get Aaron Rodgers to move off the spot, slide his feet, make him avoid pressure, routes break down when that happens. The timing’s off.
“You can’t throw the ball from your back,” Bowen adds. “The Giants’ front four is the most dominant and most physical that anyone is going to see at any stage of the playoffs.”
This is where the entire hopes of the Giants lie, that they can get to and disrupt Rodgers. It’s happened before. The Chiefs held the Packers to 14 points in handing the Packers their only loss and they has just one dominant pass rusher – Tamba Hali. On the Giants, Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora have spearheaded a dominant D-line rotation that has allowed Fewell to drop seven into coverage.
In other words, make this a Super Bowl XLII reprise.
“The big thing is can they get to Aaron Rodgers early in the game?” notes Brian Baldinger, analyst for the NFL Network. “Can they get to him and hit him and affect him? As good as he is, it’s much like Brady in the Super Bowl. Perceived pressure is just as real as real pressure sometimes. And it you can get him to take his eyes off down the field for just a second, I think that’s pretty big.”
Chiefs coach Romeo Crennel says that what his team was able to accomplish.
“We were able to put a little pressure on him at times and get him off the spot. He wasn’t quite as accurate as he normally is,” Crennel said. “We used five-man pressure and Tamba Hali had a great game for us. They’re more effective with a four-man rush.”
Baldinger thinks Fewell will have four defensive ends on the field at once at times, another Steve Spagnuolo tactic from ’07, and, at the least force the Packers to max-protect, eliminating a potential receiver.
“What you try to do it, can you make him move, can you make him bring the ball down? Can you make him pump? Can you get a hand in his face where he doesn’t have clear vision?” Baldinger ask. “Those are the type of things you try to do and I don’t know if there’s anybody in the league playing better than JPP. There’s no one who can handle him.”
Of course, Rodgers isn’t going to go soft like Matt Ryan did Sunday. Pierre-Paul, for the most part, put Rodgers under a lot of pressure in the regular season game but the Packers offense still put 31 points on the board. On the game-winning drive, Tuck, at full speed, was in Rodgers’ face and Rodgers made a throw few other QBs could make, hitting Jordy Nelson up the left sideline.
YOU CAN ALWAYS HOPE TO CONTAIN HIM
The Giants will also have to do a better job of contain, something the Chiefs did quite effectively. Rodgers is the most accurate quarterback in the league throwing on the run, moving to either his right or left (where he’s one of the best - ever). He was also able to pick up scramble yards, especially when the Giants played man coverage.
“You definitely don’t want to let him get outside the pocket,” former Jet head coach and current ESPN analyst Herm Edwards told CBS Sports earlier this year. “He’s so dangerous there. The problem is not what’s happening there but what’s happening on the back end where your zones are fragmented. I’ve seen this guy roll to his right, stop, then throw to his left 60 yards and hit his receiver in stride. Your coverage zones can get distorted when he’s running around like that, and that’s tough.”
In a perfect world, the Giants would be able to create quick pressure up the gut, breaking up the rhythm of the play, while flushing Rodgers out to the guys responsible for contain.
It’s noteworthy, too, that the Packers’ offensive line is healthy again and will have both OTs, Bryan Bulaga and Chad Clifton together for one of the few times all season.
“But,” Baldinger notes, “the Giants are as healthy as they’ve been all season up front and the Packers’ two tackles haven’t plays in a long time.”
Pierre-Paul will have a chance to win his matchup, and, as the theory goes, all you have to do is win one.
A PRESSING ISSUE
There’s an old theory that goes back to the Raiders and the old AFL, that brawn beats finesse.
“You look historically at how some of the great offenses have been shut down,” Bowen notes. “They physically whipped guys in press coverage. That’s one way to do it. But you really have to beat that wide receiver to death at the line of scrimmage.”
The Giants got very physical with the Falcons receivers Sunday and were able to stifle the passing game. The Chiefs played press coverage (Greg Jennings didn’t play) and took the Packer receivers out of the game.
“They challenged us and, frankly, that’s the way you stop a team that can throw the football,” head coach Mike McCarthy admitted after the game. “They played us a lot of two-man or cover one. They got up, and they pressed us from the time we got off the bus.”
Baldinger sees the Giants going the same route
“I don’t think they’ll play very far off the receivers. I think they’ll play on a lot because if you do play off, Rodgers will just throw smoke on you,” he said. “He’ll go to an automatic and get the ball out to any one of them and make you pay.”
But ESPN’s Tim Hasselbeck doesn’t think the Giants have the personnel to match up in press coverage all game.
“To look back and say they had this formula that no one else had is inaccurate,” he says of the Chiefs’ game plan. “Here’s the other thing that people don’t know. People say, ‘oh, the Kansas City Chiefs, they’re not any good.’ Well guess what? Brandon Flowers and Brandon Carr, are really good players. The Kansas City corners are better than (Corey) Webster and (Aaron) Ross. People don’t know about them but the reality is they’re better.”
“Green Bay’s got great players. It just comes down to technique,” Bowen says. “I thought the Giants’ DBs were excellent in the Atlanta game. I thought they were very active. I thought they challenged routes. I thought they played good man in coverage. The Giants aren’t going to be afraid of these guys. They’ll play press coverage.”
“Just don’t get beat at the line of scrimmage,” Bowen adds, however. “You get beat at the line of scrimmage, you’re toast. You’re put in a trail position, you start to panic a little. And these Green Bay receivers: Jordy Nelson has shown the ability to get off press. Jennings has. (Donald) Driver’s a veteran, he’s seen press man for a decade.”