Observations So Far

[woodbuck27]

I do notice, Vince, that Favre tends to jam the ball into his favorite and ignore other people who are wide open. He used to force feed Javon
Walker, too, when Bubba was wide open. It's just Favre, maybe.

Yes.I'm seeing that also Fritz.

Nice to see your back.

GO PACK GO !!

[FritzDontBlitz]

great post merlin. i especially like your observations about how the chargers went apeshit with the blitz in a preseason game - i distinctly remember WATCHING a preseason game where the commentators were discussing how vanilla offenses and defenses tend to be in the preseason to keep from tipping their hand about what their opponents could expect in the regular season (can't say for sure, but i think al michaels makes that observation regularly during preseason). i downloaded that vid of the first half of the chargers/packers game, and not only did i see the chargers' defense blitzing early and often, but they were also running stunts and overloads that deliberately flooded the center/guard area with extra rushers. once i saw that i took the postgame naysaying with a grain of salt. i was tempted to write something similar to what you posted about the game but thought better of it, preferring to wait until game two in order to see how the pack looked against atl.

another thing i noticed - and i could post stills from the play if anyone would like to see them - is a play that was a glaring example of how great the zone blocking scheme will be plus how ill-suited najeh is for it. there was a run play to the right tackle area with najeh as the ballcarrier. when the ball was snapped all the linemen did their job and blocked down toward the right. as favre was handing off to najeh i suddenly noticed the entire defense had converged on the right tackle area najeh was bearing down on, with the only other defender being the man covering the lone receiver on the far left. when najeh took the handoff he dutifully plowed ahead toward the right tackle area like most rb's are taught to do, BUT IF HE HAD THE PROPER VISION he would have seen the huge open area just to his left with only one db matched up on a wr. as soon as i saw the play i thought "OMG, ahman green would have cut back and been in a footrace to the endzone on that play!!!!" why? because ahman is a cutback runner with patience and vision while samkon, najeh and noah are more traditional run-to-the-hole rb's. once we get a runner more suited to the zone scheme we will have a better idea of how well the run game is doing. i for one believe that mr green will come back at full strength, but even at 60% ahman will flourish in the zone scheme. but, i also feel the packers need to shop for another back suited to the style. maybe najeh and gado will pick it up in time, who knows...

in that same vid from week one i observed al harris' play since everyone has been ripping him so badly. people say he's loafing, dogging it, or that he's just looking old. here's a couple things i noticed about al from the charger game. the chargers initially thought they scored on a pass to wr jackson in the right corner of the end zone, but it was reversed after mccarthy mounted a replay challenge. when they showed the replay you could see harris was step for step with jackson forcing him to angle toward the sideline as he entered the endzone. phillip rivers laid the ball in perfectly - BUT, as soon as jackson touched the ball harris shoved him out of bounds before he could get his second foot down for a successful td catch. now, contrast that with ahmad carroll's coverage when he gave up a td to jackson on the very next play: jackson had got past carroll and was at least one or two steps ahead of him AND when he hauled in the pass he was at least two yards away from the sideline when he scored. harris showed excellent coverage even when he appeared to give up the score. another instance of harris showing great coverage was on a simple comeback route to another wr. harris was step for step again, but when the receiver made his break harris seemed to slip slightly as he tried to drive on the ball. harris hit the wr immediately and drove him out of bounds but gave up a first down - but, after viewing the clip a few times i realized that what harris was actually doing was attempting to make a pick that he might have had if not for the slip. the play was that close.

now, i am not able to see many packers games here in chicago because of the cities legendary hate (i call it envy lol) of green and gold, so i can't really dispute what others say is going on, but, in the things that i have seen i get the feel that things will not be as dire as so many claim. i will be watching the monday night game against cincy closely to see for myself...

[vince]

I do notice, Vince, that Favre tends to jam the ball into his favorite and ignore other people who are wide open. He used to force feed Javon
Walker, too, when Bubba was wide open. It's just Favre, maybe.

Yes, he does this without a doubt. I think it's due to Brett's comfortability in knowing where a receiver is going to be and whether or not he's confident he'll haul it in... It comes down to consistency of performance...

In the end, if Brett has more confidence/comfort with Driver and Jennings than Fergy - they'll be the guys on the field more because they'll be the guys producing...

That's why I believe Fergy'll be #3.

[4and12to12and4]

Man, there sure is a difference of opinion here of how good Harris, Woodson, and Fergy have played. I have watched both games multiple times slo moing, rewatching, keying in on guys, etc.. Woodson has played outstanding, usually blanketing his man. Harris is playing the way he has always played. Somewhat tight coverage, but he can't blanket guys like
Woodson, because he lacks the speed to catch up if he isn't behind him a bit. He has to play a little more conservatively. But, he has still done well. One thing that should be mentioned here is how well our entire defense has performed so far in not giving up the BIG play. I've watched most of all the preseason games around the league, and have seen many 40, 50, and 60 yard pass and run plays being broken. Sure, we have had our fair share of third down failures, but almost always right at or just a few yards past the marker. Our LB's and Db's have all been doing an outstanding job of making teams work their asses off to move the ball. Very tight coverages, and very mobile to the ball carrier. Also, almost all our guys have made sure tackles. Very few broken tackles even when our second and third stringers are in there.

As far as Fergy goes, he has caught all but one pass thrown his direction, and as mentioned here, is being ignored most of the time. That slant play that Favre went to Jennings and he scored on, Fergy was the wideout on the right side, and was open, but Favre didn't even look at him. He was looking back at Favre and was 3 yards deeper than Jennings. This is just one example. I have noticed this on numerous plays. It is an excuse to say that there is no trust with Favre and him. Favre needs to challenge him NOW, while the games don't count. He is doing everything asked of him, now Favre needs to look his way. Also, I have noticed that on EVERY play, Fergy busts his ass in blocking his guy out. He is very good at it, and is relentless in his blocking. I hope that Favre will give him a chance this year, because it seems as if he is ready to prove himself, and has done a great job the few times the ball has come his way. If he could get his hands on the ball 5 or 6 times a game, he will break one for a long gain, as Jennings did on that slant, he is very quick and powerful, and his attitude seems to be very good. Just my observations.

[HarveyWallbangers]

That slant play that Favre went to Jennings and he scored on, Fergy was the wideout on the right side, and was open, but Favre didn't even look at him. He was looking back at Favre and was 3 yards deeper than Jennings. This is just one example. I have noticed this on numerous plays. It is an excuse to say that there is no trust with Favre and him. Favre needs to challenge him NOW, while the games don't count. He is doing everything asked of him, now Favre needs to look his way. Also, I have noticed that on EVERY play, Fergy busts his ass in blocking his guy out. He is very good at it, and is relentless in his blocking. I hope that Favre will give him a chance this year, because it seems as if he is ready to prove himself, and has done a great job the few times the ball has come his way. If he could get his hands on the ball 5 or 6 times a game, he will break one for a long gain, as Jennings did on that slant, he is very quick and powerful, and his attitude seems to be very good. Just my observations.

The slant pass that Jennings scored on was thrown by ARod.

[Packnut]

Woodson

Well if it's any indication so far, QB's are not gonna throw at Woodson. How do you get 10 picks if the ball ain't thrown your way?

[Green Bud Packer]

Re: Observations So Far

[quote="MerlinWizard222"]Sherman never let Favre call an audible. quote] favre is enjoying football again. allowing him to call audibles will keep him more focused and he'll make more plays. audible calling will cut down on his interceptions as he'll be the one dictating to the "d" not vice versa as it was under the worm and rossley's version of the west coast run and poop "o".

[Merlin]

Woodbuck27:
As far as Colledge goes, All I have heard are rumors and speculations from other posters and some sport announcers. I can't confirm or deny it. With the emergence of Moll and Spitz as the starters, I suspect it may not be true and if it is I sure hope they are using it to get his ass in gear because frankly, he sucked out there.

Ferguson is a whole other story. He has always been the guy to make the ridiculously hard catch and the drop the easy ones. With all of the slant, hook and out routes we have been running (and it doesn't hurt that the ball is impaled into his chest by Favre), he may have found his place in this offense. Sherman's offense relied more on the receiver to think, not react to the coverage. Don't ask Ferguson to think, tell him the route to run and he will be there. Personally, I gave up on Ferguson after the Darius hit. I was at that game, 12 rows up at the end of the field it happened in. It was a cheap shot, pre-meditated (Darius lined him up for it if you watch the replay) and if it were me, I would have quit the game. Last year Ferguson was so gun shy it wasn't even funny. He talked a big talk but never came close to walking the walk. So far this preseason, he has run some beautiful routes and caught the ball even when he knew he was going to get clobbered. Driver, Jennings and Ferguson all look like the same guy out there in those slant routes. And they all have performed well with a few drops by Jennings (which is to be expected in preseason).

I disagree that Favre is throwing to a specific receiver. I think Favre is throwing a specific route. In the West Coast Offense your receiver routes are pretty standard. One goes on a deep route, one goes up the middle, one slants and the FB or RB goes to the check down. The reason this offense is so successful is because of how the routes are run. You never saw the "pick" route or crossing routes from Sherman. Although "picks" are illegal, you can run them legally if the routes are run correctly. Crossing routes can tie up the defenders to when run correctly. Favre has been hitting the hot read more often then the 1st read. That is usually the slant or the check down. The catch that Driver made in the Atlanta game on a medium slant route where the defender was right on him, the ball was throw exactly where it needed to be. Not many QB's in the league would have even throw that pass and that is the dimension that you get with Favre. I know that Driver has been getting a lot of balls, but Favre is by no means zeroing in on him. His route running ability and the WCO are clicking right now. Favre keeps going back to Jennings and Ferguson, even after they drop one. Last year, if you dropped a pass, he wouldn't throw your way again. I think he sees that now and is going to do his best to find the right read and get the ball there.