Eric Walden: turd on wheels

[Fritz]

In every playoff run, there's a game in which the team's defense has to carry the day when the big offense gets stuffed. My fear is that this defense, for whatever reason, doesn't have that ability this year. I would not be surprised to see the Pack get knocked out the of playoffs at any time.

As for Walden, if he doesn't follow the plan, then he's useless. Capers has said time and time again, and again recently, that the success of the defense - especially the run defense - is predicated on everyone taking care of his assignment.

My guess would be that we'll see Zombo/So'oto and maybe a little Lattimore this coming weekend.

Zombo needs to pay the fuck attention now. If he wants to be a starting OLB in this league, this is his big chance. And that means being assignment-sure, first and foremost.

[Brandon494]

Our whole defense has been a turd on wheels this season and it all starts up front. We really need to address our D-line in the upcoming offseason. I don't really get into the draft until the season is over but I'm hoping this defense is deep on defense.

[Pugger]

Great use of the word egregious - I love a woman with a vocabulary!

In TT's defense, he cannot pay everybody and is forced to make some decisions that will obviusly be deemed as "gaffs" by fans. Think back to Wahle. TT, and ALL GMs are forced to make bets on who they must keep and who to let go, who will shine and who is a JAG it is dictated to them by the salary cap. There was no feasible way to keep Jenkins, plus all the guys he did keep. Plus, Jenkins was often broken as many posters have pointed out.

Neal has all the tools, but has proven to be brittle. Wynn should be a player, but just aint getting it.

TT spent the last two 1st's on protecting the Franchise. Clearly, that has been his focus. I won't chide him for that. He went up and got CMIII, so he has spotted at least one legitimate pass rusher, but they don't grow on trees. And you already point out the secondary has lapsed with Collins missing. Tramon and Shields are looking anything like they did last season; is that Collins' influence?

But it turned out Jenkins wasn't going to cost a fortune but for some reason TT didn't even bother to talk to his agent from what I heard. I wish he had spent the money on him rather than Walden, that's for sure! Yes, Williams and Shields are not playing anywhere nearly as well as last year and Peprah is JAG. And I am glad TT spent on protecting The Franchise. If we didn't have all of these O linemen we would really be in trouble right now, wouldn't we?

[Brandon494]

But it turned out Jenkins wasn't going to cost a fortune but for some reason TT didn't even bother to talk to his agent from what I heard. I wish he had spent the money on him rather than Walden, that's for sure! Yes, Williams and Shields are not playing anywhere nearly as well as last year and Peprah is JAG. And I am glad TT spent on protecting The Franchise. If we didn't have all of these O linemen we would really be in trouble right now, wouldn't we?

Walden wasnt a FA, I wish he would have spent that money on Jenkins instead of that bum Hawk though.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Jenkins is a good player, but statistically he fell off completely after a great start to the season. He had 5 sacks in the first 5 games when the Eagles were stumbling to a 1-4 start while giving up 26.4 points/game. Then, he had 0.5 sacks in the last 10 games.

[SkinBasket]

Jenkins couldn't stay healthy for more than 4 games at a time. Although, he's really tearing it up in Philly. 4 of his 5.5 sacks came in the first three games, and he has 37 tackles on the year. Yehaw! Even if he were playing more than half the games, it's not like he would have been Jesus to this defense. He wouldn't have even been Job.

[SkinBasket]

Thanks for stealing my thunder Bangers.

[pbmax]

Piss poor game from Walden yesterday, although the defensive line was just as bad. As an outside linebacker in a 3-4 scheme you can't lose contain and it happened over and over again and then having our inside linebackers walled off by tight ends was frustrating. The Bears were pulling two linemen on a regular basis and not once did the Packers blitz those gaps. Defensive ends have to force the offense to block them with two guys, and that isn't happening.

I saw Bishop get through once, but that was it. Wilson was the only guy making any hay and he might have been the only one working off single blocking. Raji was getting DT'd and turned.

[Pugger]

Jenkins couldn't stay healthy for more than 4 games at a time. Although, he's really tearing it up in Philly. 4 of his 5.5 sacks came in the first three games, and he has 37 tackles on the year. Yehaw! Even if he were playing more than half the games, it's not like he would have been Jesus to this defense. He wouldn't have even been Job.

But wouldn't you agree he'd be better than Green, Wilson and Wynn?

[pbmax]

Walden does a couple things that amaze me. Most outside backers fight, kick scratch, and basically go to war to hold the edge and keep contain. Walden could basically give a shit. If he holds the edge, it's cool. If he gets whipped, it's oh well.

The other thing is his tendency to freelance. Sometimes, he gets it in his head to take an inside rush. He just goes, without any communication with his defensive parners. He just goes cowboy and charges to the inside. He's been doing that shit since he got here. I think the KC game was where they drew the line. The old pro saying is "if you can't do it, I'll find somebody who can".

Dom and Kevin are now looking for somebody who can get the job done.

I get the sense that something changed, because at one point, I thought Walden was identified as the one OLB who could set a mean edge. Given that he has been abused in two straight games by virtually the same play, it seems like he must be reacting poorly to something new. Because he wasn't this horrible before. Or teams have discovered exactly how to take advantage of the weaknesses KYPack sees. The even more depressing thing is Nutz's point that teams are blocking Walden AND cutting Hawk and Bishop out of pursuit. Though I am not seeing TEs do this (the TE is abusing Walden from what I recall, its the Guards that are getting free on the ILBs).

Wilde and Silverstein spent time talking to Capers and Green and Wilde emerged with a sense they would like to see more Zombo. But he was inactive (McCarthy said ST played a factor in that decision) and So'oto had been performing well in practice. Elsewhere it was mentioned that Zombo is being hurt by being injured and that he has lost ground because of it.

Essentially, expect to see Zombo, So'oto, Lattimore and Jones get a lot of reps versus the Lions so they can sort this out. So'oto was judged raw by Dom and in his defense, that might be a hard thing to overcome in one week.

Wilde: http://t.co/ElTBGUXW

Silverstein: http://t.co/EE6RFZsk

[pbmax]

Jenkins couldn't stay healthy for more than 4 games at a time. Although, he's really tearing it up in Philly. 4 of his 5.5 sacks came in the first three games, and he has 37 tackles on the year. Yehaw! Even if he were playing more than half the games, it's not like he would have been Jesus to this defense. He wouldn't have even been Job.

It seems that the Jim Washburn "wide 9" defense was a boon for Jenkins and bad for rest of the defense. When they altered it to shore up the leaking ship, he fell off the planet. Makes you wonder if that is what made Haynesworth seem so invincible in Tennessee. In fact, the wide 9 defense is probably why everyone thought the entire problem was with the linebackers and not their D line or scheme.

[Upnorth]

I really hope we can see a little more of So'oto playing like the tease we got in the preseason. During the offseason I was a huge Zombo guy, but have been let down by him as well.
Really the whole LB corp with one exception has let me down, which makes me wonder more about how the DL is not taking up space and rushing well. Sigh, isn't this the Christmas season?

[Fritz]

It sure sounds though like Capers thinks So'oto is way, way raw and not ready for prime time. I wonder if Zombo ends up starting by default.

[denverYooper]

It sure sounds though like Capers thinks So'oto is way, way raw and not ready for prime time. I wonder if Zombo ends up starting by default.

Perhaps, but I think they'll give So'oto a decent shot this weekend to earn some more snaps.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Jenkins is a good player, but statistically he fell off completely after a great start to the season.

Statistics tell very little. Clay Mathews had his worst season statistically. but is playing better than ever.

Jenkins would have been important addition to DL rotation.