More Banjo: Week 12 @ Philly

[denverYooper]

The Eagles were the #1 Defense in the NFL at Football Outsiders. And the Packers just ran them over on the road. That is a big deal.

The Eagles Offense was ranked #21. They held them to 13 on the road. That's how it should be. There were no monster ruptures like the past 4 games. Eagles had no gains over 24 and only 4 over 20 yards for the game (Packers had 5 including the 50 yarder).

So its good, but the D needs to be tighter. And the pass rush must get consistent.

Schwartz has also given M3 + Rodgers fits in the past given similar horsepower on his DL.

[Fritz]

I dislike Gruden but he made a good point last night: your pass rushers include five first round picks - Clark, Jones, Perry, Matthews, and Peppers. Uh, somebody should be getting home pretty regularly, no?

[Joemailman]

On the one TD Pass to Adams (not the slant), were he and Cobb supposed to be that close together? It looked like Cobb thought for an instant it was intended for him. http://www.packers.com/media-center/...5-c9df2fc823f4

[Maxie the Taxi]

I dislike Gruden but he made a good point last night: your pass rushers include five first round picks - Clark, Jones, Perry, Matthews, and Peppers. Uh, somebody should be getting home pretty regularly, no?

"First Round Pick" is a relative term. Consider the following:

Clark, drafted #27, selected before Clark: Joey Bosa, Leonard Floyd, Sheldon Rankins, Darron Lee

Jones, drafted #26, selected before Jones: Ezekiel Ansah, Barkevious Mingo, Sheldon Richardson, Star Lotulelei, Sharrif Floyd, Jarvis Jones

Perry, drafted #28, selected before Perry: Luke Kuechly, Fletcher Cox, Bruce Irvin, Chandler Jones, Dont'a Hightower, Whitney Mercilus

Matthews, selected before Matthews: Brian Orakpo, Robert Ayers,

Peppers, 2nd overall pick in 2002

The point is "First Round" does not always mean "First Round," especially when one of the First Rounders was drafted 14 years ago.

[gbgary]

On the one TD Pass to Adams (not the slant), were he and Cobb supposed to be that close together? It looked like Cobb thought for an instant it was intended for him.

you certainly wouldn't think so. someone f'd up.

[gbgary]

I dislike Gruden but he made a good point last night: your pass rushers include five first round picks - Clark, Jones, Perry, Matthews, and Peppers. Uh, somebody should be getting home pretty regularly, no?

yeah...if any one of them (besides matthews) was really that good. peppers is old, chark is rookie, jones is a bust as a 1st rounder but he'd be considered ok for someone drafted in the later rounds, perry is having a good year and hopefully continues to improve. again...drafting where we do on top of questionable talent evaluation gets you what we have.

[pbmax]

our d was still pretty bad. wentz was hitting wide open guys. still say we need to blitz less, and play bump and run, with our secondary so weak. dallas doesn't blitz. they keep their guys in coverage and play physical. it's paid off for them and their secondary may be worse off than ours.

If they commit to playing zone for an extended period, they can close some of that up. They just play so little of it that its not instinctive. I think they need it to be able to staunch the threats of big plays.

They do that, get some pass rush and keep playing offense this way, you might have something.

[pbmax]

They were getting four man pressure later in the game and then on last drive. But it needs to be from the get go.

[Zool]

On the one TD Pass to Adams (not the slant), were he and Cobb supposed to be that close together? It looked like Cobb thought for an instant it was intended for him. http://www.packers.com/media-center/...5-c9df2fc823f4

This is happening multiple times every week. It makes me wonder if it's designed, or people are screwing up.

[Pugger]

"First Round Pick" is a relative term. Consider the following:

Clark, drafted #27, selected before Clark: Joey Bosa, Leonard Floyd, Sheldon Rankins, Darron Lee

Jones, drafted #26, selected before Jones: Ezekiel Ansah, Barkevious Mingo, Sheldon Richardson, Star Lotulelei, Sharrif Floyd, Jarvis Jones

Perry, drafted #28, selected before Perry: Luke Kuechly, Fletcher Cox, Bruce Irvin, Chandler Jones, Dont'a Hightower, Whitney Mercilus

Matthews, selected before Matthews: Brian Orakpo, Robert Ayers,

Peppers, 2nd overall pick in 2002

The point is "First Round" does not always mean "First Round," especially when one of the First Rounders was drafted 14 years ago.

And often when we were drafting late by the time our turn came the guys were choosing from were really second rounders. All the good ones were long gone.

[Maxie the Taxi]

And often when we were drafting late by the time our turn came the guys were choosing from were really second rounders. All the good ones were long gone.

By the way, Matthews was #26 seven years ago. Plus, on the three occasions we've had to draft at or near the top of the draft, we're only one out of three so to speak (BJ Raji with #9 in 2009). Justin Harrell at #16 was a classic bust and AJ Hawk at #5 was not the difference-maker we had all hoped for.

[Patler]

By the way, Matthews was #26 seven years ago. Plus, on the three occasions we've had to draft at or near the top of the draft, we're only one out of three so to speak (BJ Raji with #9 in 2009). Justin Harrell at #16 was a classic bust and AJ Hawk at #5 was not the difference-maker we had all hoped for.

...and TT was wise enough to trade up to get Matthews when he was available.

AJ Hawk wasn't the player we hoped, but an awful lot of players taken after him in the first round that year wouldn't have been either. You can only pick from those available, and while everyone can now say Tom Brady or Brett Favre would have been great picks even at #1, in reality only a limited number of players have college resumes and workouts sufficient for consideration in the top of the first round.

[VegasPackFan]

While AJ never became a superstar player, he is the all-time leading tackler for the Packers. That's at least longevity and consistency there.

[ThunderDan]

While AJ never became a superstar player, he is the all-time leading tackler for the Packers. That's at least longevity and consistency there.

Yup, I was a big AJ Hawk supporter. He was never flashy but made tackles even if they were 6 yards down field. I use to defend him against the "we should have drafted Davis the TE" PackerRats on this board.

But to compare what Hawk and Clay does is ridiculous. Clay is explosive, Hawk was a plodder after his first couple years in GB.

[Smidgeon]

Yup, I was a big AJ Hawk supporter. He was never flashy but made tackles even if they were 6 yards down field. I use to defend him against the "we should have drafted Davis the TE" PackerRats on this board.

But to compare what Hawk and Clay does is ridiculous. Clay is explosive, Hawk was a plodder after his first couple years in GB.

Hawk tested at the combine favorably to Matthews. The athleticism, the explosion, all of it. But he only showed a fraction of it on the field. A microcosm of how scouting is an inexact science.