The Darnell Savage appreciation thread

[Guiness]

He has been playing some kind of ball

Zach Kruse
@zachkruse2

Dec 28
QBs when targeting #Packers S Darnell Savage since Week 10, per @PFF
: 3/16 for 57 yards, 0 TDs, 4 INTs, 6 other PBUs.

Adding onto this: Darnell Savage is @PFF's No. 1 rated safety between Week 10 and Week 16. 90.2 overall grade.

And Adrian Amos is fourth.

More interceptions than completions. Just wow.

[Bretsky]

Always liked Savage; as yall know I've always liked him better than the Baconator

[RashanGary]

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While we're at it, baconater has been enfeugo too!

[Joemailman]

Always liked Savage; as yall know I've always liked him better than the Baconator

Don't you know the Baconator makes Savage better?

[GB-Brandon]

I thought Gute reached for him and gave up too much even though he is uber talented. Had a promising rookie year. First half this season looked like we might of busted out. He looked lost and deer in head lights. He seems to have figured something out. Several weeks ago he made a play that I posted about that was “Big Time” which really showed his talent. He seemed to build on that play and made more each week and now the dude is totally dialed in. He plays the position I played all the way through college and he is just balling out. It’s fun watching him now. Let’s say I’m about ready to buy a Savage Jersey. Very impressed to say the least!!!

Keep Balling Out Savage!!!

[Bretsky]

Don't you know the Baconator makes Savage better?

You're right

We used to joke how the Baonator makes the opposition better

Now he's making his own defense better. Nice to see !!!

[gbgary]

much better since they've stopped moving him around. same for amos. the D's been much better since "the talk." it may have saved pettine his job.

[RashanGary]

much better since they've stopped moving him around. same for amos. the D's been much better since "the talk." it may have saved pettine his job.

Playing defense in the NFL isn't easy. It's even harder when the whole secondary is young and the front has a bunch of new pieces just added a year ago as well.

Learning the intricacies of various zone coverages takes young guys a little time. Last year the offense sputtered so bad, the defense couldn't train the young guys on new things. They had to do whatever they could to win.

This year the defense would rank really high if you took out the inept play while we were ahead 2 or more scores. Fans bitching about soft zone coverage was a weekly thing, creshendoing a few weeks ago.

It’s possible and IMO probable that Lafleur and Pettine have discussed 2+ score leads as the best time to implement the less perfected zone concepts in hopes to develop that aspect of defense so they could use zone blitzes and mask coverages later in the season when it really counts.

All of a sudden, after weeks of practicing zone defense, we’re seeing a whole slew of zone blitzes and Rodgers mentioned this week that
The defense did a really good job masking coverages. You can’t mask zone as man if your guys can’t even play zone, hence practice and perfect it when you have leads.

The inept defense looked inept at a glance, but maybe that’s how it looks when you’re training guys to do new things.

With the newly added zone concepts, Pettine is mixing all sorts of looks and calling a dominant defense. Magic wanding 23 year olds into savvy players was never going to happen. He trained them the right way, when we had leads and now Pettine deserves credit for coaching up (while still winning games) a whole secondary of young players into an elite unit.

[Fritz]

much better since they've stopped moving him around. same for amos. the D's been much better since "the talk." it may have saved pettine his job.

I did not realize Mike Pettine, at his age, was unaware of the birds and the bees. I am also not sure how being armed with that information (imagine Dr. Z explaining it: "So you see Mike, when a boy like a girl, and a girl likes a boy...") helped Pettine be a better defensive coordinator.

But who am I to quibble, if it worked?