Giants Discussion Trial Balloon

[pbmax]

Packers practice today:

Jennings was full go for what the media observed (usually under 10 minutes-EDIT-looks like they got a 30 minute window today).

Matthews, Shields and Wood were out.

[pbmax]

McCarthy at Press Conference: Jennings officially Questionable, Matthews out.

[pbmax]

Packer Report @PackerReport
Jennings questionable, Manning OUT, Matthews OUT, Quarless questionable, Raji probable, Shields OUT; Woodson OUT Packers injury highlights

https://twitter.com/PackerReport/status/272051812918521856

[pbmax]

If Quarless is active, could see return of two TE sets and make that 2 deep safety vulnerable.

[Fritz]

If Quarless is active, could see return of two TE sets and make that 2 deep safety vulnerable.

Knowing the Packers' M.O. with injured players, I'd guess Quarless will have to wait until next week to suit up.

No Matthews again? That's three weeks now, not two. This SOB of an injury better not be lingering. Let's hope this is the mid-season break Matthews needs to come back re-energized and healthy.

Uh...is DJ Williams even still on the team? That guy fell off a cliff.

[channtheman]

Uh...is DJ Williams even still on the team? That guy fell off a cliff.

Who?

[The Shadow]

If the Giants do indeed sit 2 safeties back in that deep shell, I think the player they will most be concerned with in the middle will be Cobb.
Finley seems to have lost a bit of luster as the guy defensive coordinators worry about
Therefore, Finley in the middle could be the key for the Packers in this game.

[Tony Oday]

I think CMIII is out because they dont want this to linger if we make the playoffs.

[digitaldean]

Finley could be the key again. Unless Jennings plays, NY will just have the 2 deep safeties and will try and have us nickel/dime them and hope they can catch us in a mistake. Cobb will have the bulk of the attention since he's been the X-Factor for us lately. That's the reason Finley better not turn to mush like he has recently. Yes, he had the TD catch and the great 30 yd gain vs. Detroit, but otherwise he's been full of drops and inconsistent.
If Finley can have a bigger role and comes through, it opens up a ton of other options to exploit.
NYG's pass rush was neutralized vs. Cincy. If we play like the first 2/3 of the Detroit game, Aaron will get killed. But toward the end of the game, the newly configured line got their stuff together and contained the Detroit line, which is a lot like NYG's.

[George Cumby]

I think CMIII is out because they dont want this to linger if we make the playoffs.

I'm with you. It seems to me that M3 holds guys back for later in the season when games really count. A loss to NY isn't great, but with four division games coming up, not critical.

[Pugger]

I suppose if we gotta lose to these clowns I'd rather it be now than in the playoffs.

[pbmax]

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/packers-rookie-tackles-adjust-to-nfl-2f7ooa9-180656601.html

McGinn on Daniels and Worthy; he does not doom and gloom them yet as he did earlier this year with Jenning's contract or the defense being "lazy".

He does note the the D line pressures have increased as have sack totals, though Daniels and Worthy don't have huge numbers in either category. Daniels is the more efficient, with tackles and pressures per snap well above Worthy. Worthy has played a ton of snaps, with a good number of them at DE, something you might not have expected to see when they set their roster for the reg season. Trgovac likes his guys.

Worthy has lost 20 pounds from his combine weight, Trgo seems to think naturally, Worthy paints it as intentional, but neither thinks its a problem. McGinn and Trgo seem to think Worthy will rebuild that weight with an NFL offseason in the weight room.

[pbmax]

Can anyone summarize this article at Packer Report?

http://gnb.scout.com/2/1243019.html

[pbmax]

Silverstein on Newhouse versus Jason Pierre-Paul http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports...ce=twitterfeed

First meeting was all JPP (1.5 sacks, 3 QB hits, 2 hurries). Second meeting, with Clifton and Newhouse playing, JPP was much quieter with 2 tackles (none for a loss) and 1 pass defended.

In the playoff game, I remember him giving Clifton fits and Newhouse playing more steady, if that is the word. JPP was still disruptive and I would bet Rodgers feet bailed them out a bit as he ran 9 times. But the bulk of the damage was done by LB Boley (2 sacks) and Umenyiora (2 sacks). And Umenyiora often replaces JPP at RDE and would face Newhouse in pass rush situations. If healthy, JPP and Tuck usually move to DT for passing downs.

I think he (#72) might be the guy to watch.

[RashanGary]

I think that interior of their line is going to be scary. I imagine they're going to try to get Pierre Paul and Tuck in there against EDS and Saturday quite a bit. If those two are pinning their ears back and shooting gaps, we're not going to have a whole lot of time for the slower developing interior run plays. Quick hits inside, I think we can break some big ones. Have to get to the hole before JPP and JT tackle our guy in the backfield though.

Newhouse, I think, is the least of our concerns.

As far as the DL goes, I think that week off for Worthy should really help. Also, Neal has been taking more snaps. If they lighten his load a little, he could come on as a pass rusher over the next few weeks.

These next couple weeks are going to finalize my opinion of Alex Green this year. He's back from the injury. He had the bye and another week off on top of that. If he's going to be an explosive, big play weapon, now is when we're going to see it. Hopefully his leg drive, explosiveness and speed all see subtle increases. I'd love for him to be a big 3rd down weapon for us, but that hope is starting to dwindle.