Studs and Duds - Packers vs Titans

[Joemailman]

Studs

Malik Willis - 275 total yards, 2 TD's, 0 turnovers

Wilson - 85 total yards. Complements Jacobs well.

Jaire - Pick 6 and shut down Ridley

Christian Watson - 2 big catches against a tough defense.

Wide Receivers - Blocked like demons.

Defensive line - 8 sacks, in particular:

Enagbare - 1.5 sacks, forced fumble, pressure on another sack.

Devonte Wyatt - 2 sacks

Lucas Van Ness - Sack and fumble recovery

Preston Smith - 2 sacks.

Coaching - MLF has brilliantly built offense around Willis' skills and Hafley made great 2nd half adjustments.

Duds

Left side of OL - Jenkins and Walker with 2 holding penalties each.

McDuffie - Thought he was a step behind all day. I could be wrong.

[MadtownPacker]

Winners:



If there was no Love to go back to we would be shitting ourselves over how good Willis has been the past two weeks. Strong performance back up or not.

McKinney - Sets a record in his 3rd game as a Packer. Must be doing something right.

Loser:

Mcduffie - Doesn’t appear to have the physical tools to be great.

Nards - If he isn’t gone soon he will be.

[QBME]

Only thing I have to offer:

Dud - Musgrave. For a high draft pick he has a long way to go. Needs to put some serious muscle on those bones. On one play in particular he was supposed to pick up a block on a d lineman. Said lineman basically picked him up and threw him backwards into the ball carrier behind the LOS. Which makes me wonder, who gets credit for the tackle?

[Guiness]

Does Wicks get a mini-dud for being the only player with a target and no reception?

7 players had a reception, that's a good sign that Malik is getting comfortable back there.

[texaspackerbacker]

Stud: Tom Clements

They coulda had Willis, and we maybe woulda picked up Levis if the Titans had decided differently. And if that had happened, would things have been different? Hell No IMO. Levis throws the ball to the other team and doesn't protect it well, but I can't help thinking if he was the Packer QB, he'd learn his lessons from Clements and shape up. And if Willis was their QB, I really doubt he shows the discipline he has showed for the Packers.

Not throwing interceptions is a hallmark of the Packers and has been as long as Clements has been around.

[Joemailman]

Only thing I have to offer:

Dud - Musgrave. For a high draft pick he has a long way to go. Needs to put some serious muscle on those bones. On one play in particular he was supposed to pick up a block on a d lineman. Said lineman basically picked him up and threw him backwards into the ball carrier behind the LOS. Which makes me wonder, who gets credit for the tackle?

That play wasn't just lack of muscle. Pad level was not near what it had to be. Huge disappointment so far.

[run pMc]

Musgrave has had a slow start this year, and a quiet camp. It's a little concerning, but it's very early. Not all TEs take off right away. I think in specific matchups he can be a real problem for a defense.
He's always been more of the receiving TE type, right now they are playing a lot of run-focused football with Willis at QB.

The penalties were a problem, and Nuke Hopkins started to go off for a while there. Overall, I'd say MLF had another good game plan, the offense scored 20+ and the defense made enough adjustments and plays.
Honestly, I think if Joe Barry was the DC Will Levis only gets half the pressure he did today and throws for 350 and maybe wins the game.

TEN is a better team than IND, but I don't think they are a good team. GB has the better roster overall. Coaching matters too.

[RashanGary]

Comparing LVN to Gary coming up…. I thought Gary had a little more push. Gary wasn’t all out winning pass rush reps too often in his first year and neither is Van Ness.

Even though they tested with the same speed, LVN looks a have a little more burst and closing speed on the field. He also appears a little more limber and bendy. But Gary looked stronger.

I’m definitely not giving up. LVN seems equal but different than Gary at this stage.

[smuggler]

Wicks blocked well, but he had a drop and was oblivious to a deep throw where he was open.

[Tony Oday]

Willis has more wins than Love this year

[Joemailman]

Willis has more wins than Love this year

More than that, they are undefeated with Willis and winless with Love. Do the Packers have to reject Love to win?

[run pMc]

Comparing LVN to Gary coming up…. I thought Gary had a little more push. Gary wasn’t all out winning pass rush reps too often in his first year and neither is Van Ness.

Even though they tested with the same speed, LVN looks a have a little more burst and closing speed on the field. He also appears a little more limber and bendy. But Gary looked stronger.

I’m definitely not giving up. LVN seems equal but different than Gary at this stage.

Wayyyy to early to give up on LVN. He's still pretty raw; he wins on effort and bull rush. Needs to have more pass rush moves and to have a pass rush plan. He's not there yet. I think Rashan was a little farther along after a season.
Hafley's 4-3 is a better fit for him - I think he's more of a 4-3 DE than OLB. He's super athletic and very strong. Plays the run pretty well. I don't think he'll be a superstar but I do think he can be a solid pass rusher who can replace Preston (who seems a bit miscast in the 4-3 and is aging). If he gets you 6-9 sacks a year that's ok.

Having 4 halfway decent pass rushers (RG, Preston, JJ and LVN) is a luxury.

[MadScientist]

Dud - team discipline. Way too many penalties, and many were stupid ones that shouldn't happen. Smith lining up offsides, illegal formations, jumping on hard counts, etc. A disciplined approach to lining up and doing your job will eliminate a bunch of them. They can't have 10+ penalties against a hot team like the Vikings.

[RashanGary]

Wayyyy to early to give up on LVN. He's still pretty raw; he wins on effort and bull rush. Needs to have more pass rush moves and to have a pass rush plan. He's not there yet. I think Rashan was a little farther along after a season.
Hafley's 4-3 is a better fit for him - I think he's more of a 4-3 DE than OLB. He's super athletic and very strong. Plays the run pretty well. I don't think he'll be a superstar but I do think he can be a solid pass rusher who can replace Preston (who seems a bit miscast in the 4-3 and is aging). If he gets you 6-9 sacks a year that's ok.

Having 4 halfway decent pass rushers (RG, Preston, JJ and LVN) is a luxury.

I’m still very interested in seeing him develop. Gary had 5 sacks his second year playing a similar amount of snaps. He’s incredibly gifted. He’s one of the guys I really pay attention to and I think he has a lot of burst for a guy that big. I completely agree with the Preston comp and I don’t think there is a bigger Preston Smith fan than I am so I see that as really high praise.

[run pMc]

My gut reaction of LVN coming out as a prospect was that best case he could put on a little weight and develop into JJ Watt. I don't think that's going to happen, but I do think he can at least be very solid player. He's still pretty young (23) with plenty of upside left (with development/coaching).