Aaron Rodgers

[Merlin]

Let me be the first to say that I was truly impressed with Aaron Rogers composure in the situation he was put under. I felt that he played a very good game. Although I am not ready to crown him our next starter, he has proven that he is at least a serviceable backup.

Yes, I am eating crow right now. Up until this point, Rodgers hasn't shown me any life, he made me re-think my opinion tonight. Although he telegraphed his passes and was skidish in the pocket, at least he had the common sense to pull it down and run with it. That gave us an element to our offense that Favre hasn't had in years. He made the throws he needed to even if they weren't anything spectacular. He managed the game and kept his composure and both of those attributes make all of the difference when looking at a starting QB for your team. Although he is extremely rough and not as well versed as would be expected for a 3rd year backup, hopefully he will get more playing time the next 4 games as the Packers beat the crap out of their remaining opponents.

On a negative note, our defensive play calling was horrible. Our secondary looked horrible, Harris looked lost and we now know we have no one who can backup Woodson currently. Our special teams looked horrible and I have to question the offensive play calling after our first drive up until Favre left the game.

Other then that, I believe the Packers have a legitimate shot at going all the way. They will not lose to this team again should they meet. Clearly the Cowboy's gave it all they had and they only beat us by 10. After being up by 17, with our second string QB in the game, they couldn't stop us very well. Next time we will have our whole defense (I hope) and Favre appears to be "ok" at this point. If I were a Cowboys fan, I would be worried about playing this team again.

Does anyone know how teams that play 3 games in 12 days fair? I think going 2-1 in basically a 2 game time frame is pretty good. We have lots of good things to look forward to.

[Partial]

Good post. Especially the defensive play calling. It was god awful. They essentially took Harris out of the game by dropping him into a zone. He is too slow to play zone coverage.

[Joemailman]

It was odd that there was an article this week about how the last time the Packers faced T.O., they tried to play zone on him and it didn't work. It didn't work this time either.

[Merlin]

Bob Sanders is not the answer. I think he has all the parts, he just doesn't know how to put them together. This defense is over-rated and underachieving. There is no reason for any team to torch us the entire game. A few plays, yeah. The whole game, no.

[Scott Campbell]

You could make a case for us losing the game because of the decision to let Woodson return punts.

[Scott Campbell]

We have lots of good things to look forward to.



I assume you're talking about Ted's induction to the HOF?

[RashanGary]

Nice post, Merlin. He was skiddish, but he showed real signs against a starting defense for the first time. It was nice to see but it's not time to crown anyone.

[Partial]

He was skiddish because they were dominating the trenches. They sure were getting after us. It was a pretty impressive game for him considering we were down and they were sicking the dogs on him.

[Bossman641]

The Packers played zone because TO was dictating the entire Packers D. Did you not notice that on almost every play they sent him in motion? The Packers tried to play man for a while, it didn't work.

Playing in space is not Al's game at all. If he can't get his hands on the opposing WR he is average and his lack of quickness really shows. The Packers tried man and TO either got free releases against Al and was able to beat him or got switched off onto one of the other DB's and faced no challenge at all. They tried zone, which all their DB's seem to struggle with. It was really lose-lose.

It was a great game plan by Garrett.

Al did play like shit though, he didn't play the ball well in the air at all.

[Partial]

I don't get why they didn't move Harris with him in motion. I thought it was a terrible game plan. I bet Al gets reamed out for manning up on several zone plays.

[Bossman641]

I don't get why they didn't move Harris with him in motion. I thought it was a terrible game plan. I bet Al gets reamed out for manning up on several zone plays.

They did off and on. TO is way too quick for Harris. If he can't get the jam on him it's over. And it's pretty tough to jam a moving target.

[Partial]

I don't get why they didn't move Harris with him in motion. I thought it was a terrible game plan. I bet Al gets reamed out for manning up on several zone plays.

They did off and on. TO is way too quick for Harris. If he can't get the jam on him it's over. And it's pretty tough to jam a moving target.

You can't be moving when the ball is snapped. He has to take a moment and become stationary. I agree with you though. They kept Al off of him because its all over if he gets past him. I thought Nick Collins was invisible today. Personally, I would have put two men on Owens at the LOS. Don't let him get into a route at all. I mean everyone knows a safety is committed strictly to stopping Owens so why even try to disguise it? Plus by doing this it opens up some additional blitzing options.

[oregonpackfan]

Back to Aaron Rodgers. One dimension he brings that Favre does not have is running ability. I counted at least 3 times tonight where Rodgers ran for a first down. Favre cannot do that anymore.

As Merlin posted above, I thought Rodgers did a very commendable job as a reserve. At one point, he had completed 7passes in a row.

Rodgers twice led the Packers on touchdown scoring drives. I feel much more confident with him as the Packers #2 and potential heir apparent to Favre.

[The Leaper]

Bob Sanders is not the answer. I think he has all the parts, he just doesn't know how to put them together. This defense is over-rated and underachieving. There is no reason for any team to torch us the entire game. A few plays, yeah. The whole game, no.

I think Thompson is partly to blame as well.

I'm not sure he understands the need for COVERAGE safeties in the scheme. He keeps going after physical guys who can't really cover all that well. Collins. Bigby. Manuel. Rouse.

This defensive scheme needs COVERAGE safeties...guys who can sit back there and help the CBs when they get beat off the LOS. Without coverage safeties, guys like Owens will always kill us simply by going in motion and attacking the safeties.

We have the players up front that we shouldn't need a ton of run support from the safeties...especially against a talented passing team like Dallas.

[Bossman641]

I don't get why they didn't move Harris with him in motion. I thought it was a terrible game plan. I bet Al gets reamed out for manning up on several zone plays.

They did off and on. TO is way too quick for Harris. If he can't get the jam on him it's over. And it's pretty tough to jam a moving target.

You can't be moving when the ball is snapped. He has to take a moment and become stationary. I agree with you though. They kept Al off of him because its all over if he gets past him. I thought Nick Collins was invisible today. Personally, I would have put two men on Owens at the LOS. Don't let him get into a route at all. I mean everyone knows a safety is committed strictly to stopping Owens so why even try to disguise it? Plus by doing this it opens up some additional blitzing options.

You can't be moving forward but you can certainly be moving along the LOS. They had TO in motion nearly every play.

[Partial]

Right, he was in motion but he would always stop and plant for the snap. He's not going to get a decent jump if his feet are moving side ways, you know? He squares up before the snap.

[Bossman641]

Right, he was in motion but he would always stop and plant for the snap. He's not going to get a decent jump if his feet are moving side ways, you know? He squares up before the snap.

Eh, not always. His TD in the 2nd quarter for example. He came in motion from the left, didn't square up, faked a crossing route and then headed up the field totally losing Collins.

I dunno, I just thought the Cowboys did a good job of moving him around. If he wasn't in motion, he was in the slot. Totally neutralized Harris' strength.

[FritzDontBlitz]

Right, he was in motion but he would always stop and plant for the snap. He's not going to get a decent jump if his feet are moving side ways, you know? He squares up before the snap.

Eh, not always. His TD in the 2nd quarter for example. He came in motion from the left, didn't square up, faked a crossing route and then headed up the field totally losing Collins.

I dunno, I just thought the Cowboys did a good job of moving him around. If he wasn't in motion, he was in the slot. Totally neutralized Harris' strength.

Usually, when a player goes in motion, Harris would hand him off to Woodson on the other side rather than follow him across. With Woodson out, there was no capable DB to hand him to. I assume he was passing him off to Jeb Bush but Jeb did not have a good half. Or quarter.

[Bossman641]

Right, he was in motion but he would always stop and plant for the snap. He's not going to get a decent jump if his feet are moving side ways, you know? He squares up before the snap.

Eh, not always. His TD in the 2nd quarter for example. He came in motion from the left, didn't square up, faked a crossing route and then headed up the field totally losing Collins.

I dunno, I just thought the Cowboys did a good job of moving him around. If he wasn't in motion, he was in the slot. Totally neutralized Harris' strength.

Usually, when a player goes in motion, Harris would hand him off to Woodson on the other side rather than follow him across. With Woodson out, there was no capable DB to hand him to. I assume he was passing him off to Jeb Bush but Jeb did not have a good half. Or quarter.

Exactly, glad someone else noticed it. No one could cover him man, so then they played zone which they all suck at.

[packrat]

Don't let the offense off the hook. Whether it was MM or Favre who was calling all those bombs, they just don't work when Favre is off the mark as he was on long passes all night long. ANd, the long passes got him hurt. The way the COwboys were rushing, they needed more quick stuff to beat the rush. If the offense had held the ball longer and scored more points and not made two interceptions, the defense would have been good enough

[cpk1994]

Right, he was in motion but he would always stop and plant for the snap. He's not going to get a decent jump if his feet are moving side ways, you know? He squares up before the snap.

Eh, not always. His TD in the 2nd quarter for example. He came in motion from the left, didn't square up, faked a crossing route and then headed up the field totally losing Collins.

I dunno, I just thought the Cowboys did a good job of moving him around. If he wasn't in motion, he was in the slot. Totally neutralized Harris' strength.

Usually, when a player goes in motion, Harris would hand him off to Woodson on the other side rather than follow him across. With Woodson out, there was no capable DB to hand him to. I assume he was passing him off to Jeb Bush but Jeb did not have a good half. Or quarter.

I didn't know Dubya's brother played football!

[swede]

Fire Jeb Bush!

[Brohm]

Jeb :lol: got benched for Williams. So yeah, he got fired :P

[Carolina_Packer]

Good original post, Merlin. No matter who, Aaron Rodgers, or anyone in a spot like he's in is going to have to find his way, get his legs under him when it's his time. He's going to have to learn by doing like every other QB. Hard to do that from just practice and limited playing time. He certainly flashed ability and it didn't look too big for him, and that's ecouraging. He was running for his life sometimes because our line was often manhandled by the Dallas D, so he made good decisions under fire.

The Dallas Offense was really good in spots, and we rarely had an answer for them, which was the difference, as I thought Rodgers and the offense gave us a chance. That frustrating 3rd and 19 conversion encapsulated the frustration of he defense last night. There were individual plays where they looked fine, but they looked lost in coverage with no answers. If Romo, or many QB's get to survey the field for several seconds, guess what?

[Merlin]

We have lots of good things to look forward to.



I assume you're talking about Ted's induction to the HOF?

Do we really have to have this discussion? Can you for once in your short life act with some class?

[Merlin]

Back to Aaron Rodgers. One dimension he brings that Favre does not have is running ability. I counted at least 3 times tonight where Rodgers ran for a first down. Favre cannot do that anymore.

As Merlin posted above, I thought Rodgers did a very commendable job as a reserve. At one point, he had completed 7passes in a row.

Rodgers twice led the Packers on touchdown scoring drives. I feel much more confident with him as the Packers #2 and potential heir apparent to Favre.

Actually he was up to 11 in a row. He is always skidish in the pocket no matter who we are playing though. He also needs to quit locking on his primary receiver. He makes one read and if he has time he sticks with the primary until they are open. Those two things scare the hell out of me. I haven't seen any progression in those areas for him in 3 years and that is my major concern with him ever being a viable starter. Basically, he isn't reading the defense very well. I also didn't like his post game interview when he said the "I moved the offense pretty well". This harks back to interviews where he used the word "I" and not "We" or "Us". I don't like to hear that from a QB, any QB.

[Merlin]

Don't let the offense off the hook. Whether it was MM or Favre who was calling all those bombs, they just don't work when Favre is off the mark as he was on long passes all night long. ANd, the long passes got him hurt. The way the COwboys were rushing, they needed more quick stuff to beat the rush. If the offense had held the ball longer and scored more points and not made two interceptions, the defense would have been good enough

I agree, we went deep too often too early.

[Bub]

That was classic Favre when he started chucking those bombs. If he gets behind early he wants to get it all back NOW. I wish we would have handed the ball off a bit more then and let Brett calm down a bit.

This is nothing new from Brett.

[LL2]

I think most would agree Rodgers is worth holding on to rather than trading.

On a separate note, looking at Favre's facial expressions while he was on the sideline looked like he didn't enjoy watching Rodgers play. Of course part of that is his competitive nature to want to be in there playing, but looked like he was reflecting back to when he took over for Majik.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Favre had a bad quarter and a half. Those Dallas teams he lost to in the 90s were better than us. Plain and simple. In those 8 games, he had 8 interceptions, so I think the perception is that he played a lot worse than he actually did. I have faith that if we play them again, Brett learned something from this game (hopefully, by watching Rodgers move the ball on the Cowboys using what got Green Bay to this point), and he'll play a much better game than he did last night.

[Carolina_Packer]

We have lots of good things to look forward to.



I assume you're talking about Ted's induction to the HOF?

Do we really have to have this discussion? Can you for once in your short life act with some class?

Merlin, I'm sure they were just kidding you. We've all gotta laugh at ourselves a little. Come on now; people kid when they care. Pity when they don't.

[Freak Out]

What is amazing is that we stunk it up in many ways but still had a shot in the 4th quarter! We stop that 3rd and 19 and we have a chance! I've been meaning to ask....what the hell was the deal on that play with Harris? He stayed up at the line for crying out loud!

[Freak Out]

I think most would agree Rodgers is worth holding on to rather than trading.

On a separate note, looking at Favre's facial expressions while he was on the sideline looked like he didn't enjoy watching Rodgers play. Of course part of that is his competitive nature to want to be in there playing, but looked like he was reflecting back to when he took over for Majik.

He looked in pain to me.

Rogers is worth holding onto...no doubt about that now. I wonder if he'll start the next game?

[Iron Mike]

Bumped for historical significance.

[KYPack]

These bumped threads need some kind of special marker on 'em.

I was freakin' out when I started to read this before I noticed when they were posted!

[LL2]

These bumped threads need some kind of special marker on 'em.

I was freakin' out when I started to read this before I noticed when they were posted!

Always look at the date.