Studs and Duds - Week 4 GB vs NO

[ThunderDan]

I thought I would quick put something up to direct post game discussion.

First off, I can't take another week like the last two. My blood pressure is soaring and I am starting to yell at the TV again. I am still trying to decompress from the game so this won't be the usual full write up.

Studs:
James Jones - Played fantastic, caught everything he got his hands on even when the other team was grabbing him. Thank goodness that he wasn't playing like that 2 years ago beacuse we wouldn't have resigned him for what he would have demanded.

The OL- They went from 8 sacks in one half last week to no sacks today. I don't know if they got that much better or if NO sucks but they gave ARod plenty of time to throw today.

Cedric Benson - May not of done anything exceptional but he ran hard everytime he touched the ball. He definitely has the "edge" this team needs.

Jordy Nelson - 8 catches, 93 yards and a TD.

Special Teams - Great fake punt deep in our own side of the field. We kept Sproles underwraps for almost the whole game.

Duds:
The Defense - They let the NO offense light them up like last year. It seems like we need to play more bump and run against strong QBs.

The refs- After last week I couldn't believe it would be as bad. But it was. Clear fumble that probably would have sealed the game and the non-overturn of the Grahm catch. Yuck! And the offensive PI on the NO first TD that wasn't called.

Others:
ARod- Played very well but made enough bad throws to keep him off of the Studs list. It sure was nice to see him play MUCH better than weeks 1-3.

Greg Jennings - I love him when he is playing but it is now a major concern at this point. He needs to stay on the field.

[LegandofthePack15]

Hey, you stole my thunder! Actually, I think I may have stole it from you, so I am more than happy to give it back. :-D

Shields, dud - was terrible in coverage in all day and his tackling sucked, especially on the bomb; Tackle the guy and hold NO to a FG and Pack would still be up 21-20.

Finley, stud (for 2nd str8t week) - didn't have any boneheaded drops; the drop in the endzone was well defended.

3-men rush, dud - get rid of it already! Every time Capers runs it, its automatically a 1st down other teams.

[mraynrand]

Greg Jennings - I love him when he is playing but it is now a major concern at this point. He needs to stay on the field.

Injury Prone!

[Tony Oday]

Whoa Finley needs to make that catch. AR needs to start hitting throws again. Bump n Run Dom. CMIII should not be taking on Guards...Cmon man. Benson was so cloee to breaking one today a couple of times. MM had a terrible review that almost cost us the game.

[ThunderDan]

I just thought of another positive from the game. ARod led a forth quarter come from behind win and we won a close game.

[pbmax]

Matthews gets most of his sacks on plays he faces someone other than the Tackle, so lining up in side is not unusual and has worked before. His sack came on a stunt when he took on a Guard who was busy being fooled by Worthy.

I had to listen to the radio for the beginning of the game. Did the Packers play off the LOS in coverage the whole game or did they adjust to it when the pass rush was going nowhere?

I have to suspect either that or concern about Graham and Sproles left all the other WRs in single coverage.

[pbmax]

I just thought of another positive from the game. ARod led a forth quarter come from behind win and we won a close game.

That game should be exhibit #1 why that stat is useless. A hold, encroachment and missed field goal won that game.

[LegandofthePack15]

Whoa Finley needs to make that catch. AR needs to start hitting throws again. Bump n Run Dom. CMIII should not be taking on Guards...Cmon man. Benson was so cloee to breaking one today a couple of times. MM had a terrible review that almost cost us the game.

On Finley's "drop", the Saint defender made a great play at the last second and knocked it out of Finley's hand.

Nelson's drop, now that was a bad drop. But then again, that drop made McCarthy throw the red flag, which in turn created a butterfly effect, which in turn diverted the Packers from losing the game. :)

[Patler]

On Finley's "drop", the Saint defender made a great play at the last second and knocked it out of Finley's hand.

Nelson's drop, now that was a bad drop. But then again, that drop made McCarthy throw the red flag, which in turn created a butterfly effect, which in turn diverted the Packers from losing the game. :)

To be a "stud" Finley should make that catch, simply out-muscle the defender for it. The defender made a good play, but not a particularly strong play. Finley could have come up with it, but I won't criticize him for not making it.

Finley certainly wasn't a dud yesterday, but neither was he a stud.

[LegandofthePack15]

To be a "stud" Finley should make that catch, simply out-muscle the defender for it. The defender made a good play, but not a particularly strong play. Finley could have come up with it, but I won't criticize him for not making it.

Finley certainly wasn't a dud yesterday, but neither was he a stud.

Finley's been playing good football the last couple of weeks, imo. Made some difficult catches against Seattle; had a strong start against NO before the Saints made adjustments.

[MadtownPacker]

Finley was looking like he was about to cough up another fumble all game long. Cant that MFer tuck that shit in when he is getting tackled!

JJ = Player of the game!

[sharpe1027]

Finley's leap in the end zone was a tough catch at full extension with a defender right in his lap, but it was more about Finley than the defender. He bobbled the initial catch, before the defender got his hand in the way. He catches it cleanly and it's probably a touchdown.

IMO, you can't play tight-bump coverage against NO unless you are getting consistent pressure -- we weren't doing that.

I think we saw an immediate difference with the replacement refs as both the Pack and NO suddenly could move the ball again. My take is simple, you can no longer grab the WR 10 yards down the field to slow them down. They messed up badly on three calls, but the rest of the game was pretty evenly called.

[George Cumby]

Finley was looking like he was about to cough up another fumble all game long. Cant that MFer tuck that shit in when he is getting tackled!

JJ = Player of the game!

The black Adonis playing like Tarzan. Me like.

[mmmdk]

Very nice list, Dan! And yes, JJ was the player of the game. Amazing!

[Cheesehead Craig]

It was wierd how Finley just couldn't stay on his feet. He was stumbling all over when he had the ball. Add in that on Jones' TD catch where they were both in the area, Finley fell down there too. Just thought it was odd.

[run pMc]

Referees made some bad calls: the missing OPI on Colston's TD, the challenge on Graham's catch, Sproles' fumble.
(Boy, that makes me sound like a homer.)

WTF Harrell. It looks like he tripped, but holy smokes all you have to do is not screw up the hand off for ONE play.

Pass rush was not good. Brees was throwing a lot of short stuff, but with over 50 dropbacks you'd hope they'd have gotten more pressure than 2 sacks. Would've helped the secondary.

Speaking of which...they dropped a couple of INT's. The one where Burnett and Tramon collided and the ball hits the ground was pretty maddening. Woodson dropped one he often makes. He's a backer, but I recall 2 plays where DJ Smith could've had a pick but he either didn't see or play the ball. The blown coverage on the long Morgan TD was pretty bad -- Shields either was burned badly from peeking at the QB or he expected help from the safety.
Most of the coverage was actually pretty good. I'd argue that NO's receivers are at least as good as GB's (if not better) and a tough cover. Aside from a bad offside penalty on Worthy, I don't think the rookies did anything too embarassing -- thought Heyward played pretty well considering Brees was the QB.

I know the GB receivers dropped a couple of passes, but I can only remember one by Jordy the good JJ showed up today. 2nd time this year already -- so he's having a good year and actually bailed GB out. I thought Finley played ok, but I'm not in the JF-hater camp anyway. Cobb was good for 7-8 yards everytime he touched the ball and I thought they'd keep feeding him. Jordy was targeted a bunch and mostly caught it. Starting to feel disappointed in Jennings this year -- the injury must really be robbing him of quickness.

Rodgers missed (i.e., didn't see) a few open receivers. I think he was still a little antsy in the pocket, but his accuracy was pretty good today. The TD to Jennings was pretty impressive. The pick to Robinson was not a good decision and he knew it.

The defense in general actually made a couple of stands when it had to. Aside from the goal line stand against NO last year, did that happen in 2011? They still had a lot of trouble getting off the field, allowed NO to convert something like 9/17 3rd downs. Being -2 in turnovers and still winning is not easy.

Special teams did pretty well -- Sproles is dangerous, and thankfully we didn't have any Detroitesque coverage breakdowns.

Dodged a bullet with the missed FG, but I wonder if we wouldn't have been able to move into FG range with 2:40 and a timeout left. GB was moving the ball ok for most of the day. NO's defense is not very good.

[pbmax]

Newhouse can run block and move in space to run block. He has to have a future at Guard, doesn't he? When is the last time you saw the Packers run left so successfully?

[rbaloha1]

JJ is finally playing as expected. Deceptively fast and good route runner.

The o-line played well -- maybe 0 sack allowed?

Benson is a load with some shake and bake. Its just a matter of time before CB breaks a big one.

[mmmdk]

JJ is finally playing as expected. Deceptively fast and good route runner.

The o-line played well -- maybe 0 sack allowed?

Benson is a load with some shake and bake. Its just a matter of time before CB breaks a big one.

I hear you but I got this feeling that Saints & Packers are just mediocre teams with super star QBs.

[Patler]

Benson is a load with some shake and bake. Its just a matter of time before CB breaks a big one.

I think both the Bears and Bengals said the same about Benson, that it was only a matter of time until he broke a long one. I think we might wait a long time for it to happen.

[ThunderDan]

I think both the Bears and Bengals said the same about Benson, that it was only a matter of time until he broke a long one. I think we might wait a long time for it to happen.

Yeah, I don't think CB will get one to the house. His long TD run is 42 yards and that is his 2nd longest play from scrimmage running in his career. He did have a 46 yarder in 2008.

It was nice to see him getting 3-6 yards a carry and breaking even a 15 yard gain will take pressure off of the passing game.

[Patler]

Yeah, I don't think CB will get one to the house. His long TD run is 42 yards and that is his 2nd longest play from scrimmage running in his career. He did have a 46 yarder in 2008.

It was nice to see him getting 3-6 yards a carry and breaking even a 15 yard gain will take pressure off of the passing game.

Agreed, if he can do that regularly it will be all they really need.
Benson, himself, is a big part of the reason that his career average is less than 4 yards/carry.

[mraynrand]

Agreed, if he can do that regularly it will be all they really need.
Benson, himself, is a big part of the reason that his career average is less than 4 yards/carry.

yep. But he could teach the receivers a thing or two about what to do when you have an angle on a defender and you need that extra yard or two.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I hear you but I got this feeling that Saints & Packers are just mediocre teams with super star QBs.

ouch. maybe so. This describes half the top teams in the NFL the past decade.

[pbmax]

I think both the Bears and Bengals said the same about Benson, that it was only a matter of time until he broke a long one. I think we might wait a long time for it to happen.

He does have a little of Dorsey Levens get tripped up by the last man in him, doesn't he?

[mmmdk]

He does have a little of Dorsey Levens get tripped up by the last man in him, doesn't he?

:lol:

[Brandon494]

To be a "stud" Finley should make that catch, simply out-muscle the defender for it. The defender made a good play, but not a particularly strong play. Finley could have come up with it, but I won't criticize him for not making it.

Finley certainly wasn't a dud yesterday, but neither was he a stud.

Love to hate

[Brandon494]

He does have a little of Dorsey Levens get tripped up by the last man in him, doesn't he?

He even made a nice Dorsey Levens one handed catch in the game.

[Patler]

To be a "stud" Finley should make that catch, simply out-muscle the defender for it. The defender made a good play, but not a particularly strong play. Finley could have come up with it, but I won't criticize him for not making it.

Finley certainly wasn't a dud yesterday, but neither was he a stud.


Love to hate

Huh? To be a stud, don't you have to do something above and beyond what is routinely expected of a player at your position? Finley makes the catch, and it is a stud-like play. But he didn't. On the other hand, he made the plays that if he had missed would have qualified him for dud status. Therefore, he should be on neither list, stud nor dud.

I don't hate Finley. I just think he is aggravatingly inconsistent and an underachiever for the talent he has been given.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Drew Brees doesn't take sacks. In his Saints career, he's been sacked more than twice in just 11 games. Out of 99 games.

[mmmdk]

Drew Brees doesn't take sacks. In his Saints career, he's been sacked more than twice in just 11 games. Out of 99 games.

That's a fantastic stat for Drew Brees yet you still have to pressure Brees 'cos he sure does throw those ints [when pressured]. Great stat find though :tup:

[mission]

He does have a little of Dorsey Levens get tripped up by the last man in him, doesn't he?

It's better than having a little of Ryan Grant get tripped up by the first man!

RG could hit a seem and take it to the house, but what I like about Benson is his vision and little stop, juke step that lets him cut back and usually avoid the first defender flying to the ball.

CedBen would be a career 4.2 runner playing with the Packers all those years.

[Pugger]

It's better than having a little of Ryan Grant get tripped up by the first man!

RG could hit a seem and take it to the house, but what I like about Benson is his vision and little stop, juke step that lets him cut back and usually avoid the first defender flying to the ball.

CedBen would be a career 4.2 runner playing with the Packers all those years.

It is rather nice to have a back that can get something out of nothing instead of falling over after getting hit by the first defender like Grant used to do more than I care to recall.

[Patler]

Grant was OK with legitimate contact, it was the stuff around his feet and ankles that would bring him down. He couldn't seem to get through that. I suspect he just doesn't lift his feet real high when he runs, and doesn't have great balance.

[3irty1]

By my count the defense had a shot at three interceptions in that game. Those plays need to start getting made and the Packers are all of a sudden the best defense in football.

[pbmax]

That's a fantastic stat for Drew Brees yet you still have to pressure Brees 'cos he sure does throw those ints [when pressured]. Great stat find though :tup:

Should have had two of them except for Keystone Cops safeties.

[mraynrand]

By my count the defense had a shot at three interceptions in that game. Those plays need to start getting made and the Packers are all of a sudden the best defense in football.


TOs win games, even against clearly superior teams. Just ask AZ.