What Did We Learn Tonight?

[rbaloha1]

Grant at 100% wouldn't have mattered a lick.

Agree.

Where was the backside pursuit on the Cowboy misdirection runs?

MM blamed alignment errors. This is not preseason especially with an experienced defense.

Nelson seems to be learning quite well from the other receivers in getting open after the play breaks down.

Noted.

I agree, this shotgun formation straight to pass crap has to stop. I don't agree that we need more trickery, we need less and more of the two RB sets/back them off with the quick slants.

Disagree. Shotgun is effective when the Packers are also running the ball.

Shotgun also helps AR get into rhythm. IMO Arod was never in passing rhythm.

[rbaloha1]

Re: What Did We Learn Tonight?

5. Hawk over pursues and gets faked out too easily.

Calling out Hawk is silly. He played a fine game last night. The Dallas OL was opening huge holes out there and it got to a point where the team had to start selling out to stop the run.

Why don't you call out Barnett? Where the hell was he all night long?

Agreed. Both over pursued and were over powered at the point of attack. IMO Hawk receives too much praise; Barnett too little.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Re: What Did We Learn Tonight?

Agreed. Both over pursued and were over powered at the point of attack. IMO Hawk receives too much praise; Barnett too little.

Not this year. Hawk has been much better than Barnett this year. Hawk deserves praise for his early season play. Barnett deserves blame. Notice how Barber never bounced off Hawk--like he did with almost everybody else on our defense.

[privatepacker]

Wouldn't be surprised to see another punter worked out. Also, Rodgers has to get used to the 3 step drop and get the ball out. Also need to see some more roll-outs.

[rbaloha1]

Wouldn't be surprised to see another punter worked out. Also, Rodgers has to get used to the 3 step drop and get the ball out. Also need to see some more roll-outs.

Agree. New punter needs to be located. Frost kicks too low.

MM needs to mix up A-rod throws. Break tendencies by rolling-out to the left.

[bobblehead]

I guess this is a chat site and people will tend to overanalyze things so I won't complain about that.

Bottom line is this: Dallas is a better team at this point, but not by a huge margin. Mainly it came down to their OL was better than ours. They protected romo a bit better and were a bit better in run blocking and we were a bit inferior. Over the course of a game that will wear down your DL thru time of possession.

If we meet again in the playoffs I unfortunately don't like our chances except for one thing...romo has choked in the playoffs 2 years running and ARod truly does look like pressure doesn't bother him (DL pressure does though).

If we meet again we need a steady diet of blitzing and pressure on romo to force more 3 and outs so we don't get worn down. For christ sake it would be nice to stop a 3rd and 20 by sending more than just 4.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Honestly, I don't think we match up well with Dallas. If we get to the playoffs, I hope somebody else beats Dallas for us.

[MadtownPacker]

Shotgun also helps AR get into rhythm. IMO Arod was never in passing rhythm.

My thought exactly. And once M3 tried to get something going the pukes defense knew the pass was coming.

[bobblehead]

You know I know that Grant hasn't been producing, but I swear to God that Brandon Jackson has been getting way bigger holes to run through these last couple games. Maybe Its because teams play us to pass more when he is in there. Or maybe I'm delusional.

We got pretty well handled today. The thing that kills me is all the big plays we gave up to chumps. Well, Felix Jones is not a chump, but he should have to break more than one open field tackle to take it 70 yards to the house. And who the hell is Mike Austin a prowrestler. The first big catch should have been about a 15 yarder and on the second one Rouse took a terrible angle to the ball. But Williams has got to keep running and make that play he slowed down to find the ball and let that completion go. It was a sweet pass under pressure though.

One last thing. Chillar/Pop is a damned if you do damned if you don't scenario. I would have loved to see Poppinga helping to defend Barber, he gets jacked for these kind of physical showdowns and gives some of his best games. On the other hand then maybe Witten grabs 10 or twelve balls and dominates the game. So what are you going to do? I still think Poppinga deserves to start and should have tonight.

Which is why I was one of two posters against paying grant so soon. Its amazing what a difference a big hole to run through makes.

Our running game will improve as we go, but unfortunately we can't cut our own guys in practice so we start out the season slow. As we work it every sunday it will come around and wear down defenses better than it has so far.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I think we didn't learn more than we learned:

we didn't learn that the offensive line is terrible. they competed reasonably well, and no player was an obvious weak link. They played an excellent front seven, who put steady pressure on Rodgers. Rodgers ussually had a chance to pass, just a little less time than in the past.

we didn't learn that Rodgers played terribly under pressure. I doubt any QB would have done significantly better.

WE didn't learn that Rouse sucks. I didn't look at the stats, but I bet he lead the team in unassisted tackles. I think it is human nature to look for a dramatic weakness to blame and correct, but Rouse didn't take "bad angles" all night as some people were saying. HE missed a tackle on Barber in the backfield, and he screwed up on a long touchdown.