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Not even Randall Cobb could rescue the Packers against the Giants.

I’ve been doing the Packers Stock Report weekly for over two years now. Most of you know how it works.

But just in case, it’s important to know this while you’re reading and agreeing/disagreeing with my selections:

I don’t base the rising/falling/steady selections solely on the most recent game. The most recent game receives the most weight, but I typically factor in the last three games, sometimes more.

For example, if Donald Driver would have caught six passes for 100 yards and a touchdown on Sunday (we can dream, right?), I still probably wouldn’t have put him in the rising category. One good game out of 11 does not necessarily mean you’re rising. It means you had one good game.

I’m trying to identify more long-term patterns or trends that might play out over the next couple of weeks. While it seems like the rising category should be empty this week, remember that I’m factoring in more than the debacle against the Giants.

NOTE: For expanded coverage, listen to the Packers Stock Report Podcast (links below)…

Anyway, now that that’s out of the way, let’s move on to this weeks report:

Rising

Dezman Moses
He’s done enough to enter the rising category. By no means have we forgotten about Clay Matthews, but it’s nice to see Moses making a few plays with the opportunities he’s had the last few weeks. I’m looking forward to seeing Moses and Matthews on the field together. Fewer snaps for Walden will probably keep him fresher, too.  Read more... (919 words + 1 image, estimated 3:41 mins reading time)

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Packers LB Clay Matthews is rising again this week.

If you were an investor, would you invest in the Packers right now?

They’ve been a wildly up-and-down stock so far. Before the season, they were the Apple of the NFL, a juggernaut that struck gold with the iPhone and was almost guaranteed to offer a good return on your investment despite its high buy-in price.

After losing to the 49ers, they fell a bit, but bounced back quickly by rolling over Jay Cutler and the Bears.

The market didn’t know what to think after the Seahawks loss. Was it a fluke because of the replacement refs? Or did allowing eight sacks in the first half point to serious trouble?

Projections leveled again after beating the Saints and investors started buying up as much Packers stock as they could during the first half of the Colts game.

Then there was an Enron-like collapse in the second half against the Colts and investors couldn’t dump their green and gold stock certificates fast enough.

Now the Packers are coming off their biggest win of the season, a 42-24 route over the previously undefeated Texans on the road. If you were smart and bought in when the Packers stock was low after the Colts’ loss, you’re probably set to make a whole bunch of money over the next few weeks.

If you didn’t, you could still buy in if you think the Packers are on pace to return to Apple status.  Read more... (1155 words + 1 image, estimated 4:37 mins reading time)

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Jeff Triplette proves he’s worse than a replacement ref by signaling Saints ball after an obvious Darren Sproles fumble on a kickoff return in the fourth quarter.

Whew. Glad the Packers escaped that one a winner.

Normally if a Packers’ opponent is flagged for holding on the go-ahead fourth-quarter field goal minutes after a star running back drops an easy third-down catch, the Packers should consider themselves lucky for winning.

Not the case this week. The real refs blew a couple more calls on Sunday, and the Saints late misfortune was actually some long overdue breaks for the green and gold.

Also, one more note about that holding call: Don’t forget that the refs had called holding on two previous extra points, one against the Packers and one against the Saints. For some reason, they were looking for holding on kicks on Sunday and actually calling it.

I don’t buy the make-up call argument at all, so if someone tells you that was a makeup call just go Cutler on them and walk away.

Rising

James Jones
What a day for Jones. He intercepts a touchdown pass intended for Jermichael Finley (more receivers should try this given Finley’s inability to catch the ball) catches another touchdown that was actually intended for him, and ices the game with an amazing catch while getting taken to the ground by the defender. Jordy Nelson is showing signs of life, but Jones has been the Packers best receiver through four games.  Read more... (865 words + 1 image, estimated 3:28 mins reading time)

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Former Packers great Gilbert Brown created plenty of havoc in his day.

Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel caught up with former Packers defensive lineman Gilbert Brown on Tuesday. After Brown talked about his football camp and what it’s like coaching the Green Bay Chill, he shared some thoughts on B.J. Raji and the Packers defense.

Here’s Brown’s best quote on Raji:

“B.J. has all the tools to be great. I think he has the drive, he has whatever he needs. But he has to turn it up a notch I would say. Because if he gets out there, creates havoc and makes noise, it’s contagious. Everybody wants to be like that. B.J. has it. He’s the monster in the middle. He has to set the tone for the team.”

Create havoc. I love that phrase. That should be the No. 1 goal for Raji and all Packers defensive linemen.

I’ve gotten into some spirited discussions in the comments section of this blog about what the role of the Packers defensive line is in a 3-4. I say that there is no rule against a 3-4 lineman dominating opposing blockers, maybe even making a play every now and then. Others say it’s unfair to expect a 3-4 lineman to get the glory or pile up stats. A 3-4 lineman’s role is to tie up blockers.

When I hear the phrase “tie up blockers,” I shudder. I think of battling the offensive lineman to a draw. Draws are worthless. You need to win your battle with whomever is trying to block you. Period.  Read more... (621 words + 1 image, estimated 2:29 mins reading time)

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Veteran free agent DE Phillip Merling became the twelfth defensive lineman on the Packers' offseason roster.

Call it the “shotgun approach.” Ted Thompson added his twelfth defensive lineman to the roster on Wednesday with his signing of DE Phillip Merling, who spent the last four years with the Miami Dolphins. Of the four (non-Packer) veteran free agent signings by Thompson this offseason, three have been defensive lineman: Daniel Muir, Tony Hargrove, and now Merling.

There’s obviously been some emphasis by the Packers on bolstering the talent and depth across the unit. The drafting of Jerel Worthy and Mike Daniels take the total number of new linemen up to five, meaning almost half of the group will be new faces in training camp.

Is this a case of desperation in response to the horrible performances of last season? No, that’s taking it a bit far. Ted Thompson is not spending beaucoup money on these free agent players, which one would tend to do when desperate.

But he is stockpiling the talent pool in a variety of ways, and hoping a good number of them stick.

The three free agent signings are not superstars. Tony Hargrove is the most well known of the group, but he’s probably not going to be a game-changer. His career has been up and down, playing with four different teams over eight years and racking up just 19.5 sacks and 16 run stuffs in the process. Hargrove hasn’t started a game in two seasons, and he only has 25 starts to his name across his entire career. Those numbers aren’t meant to discourage anyone – they’re certainly not the whole story – but they’re not indicators of a guy who’s going to “tilt the field.”  Read more... (1080 words + 1 image, estimated 4:19 mins reading time)

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As you may know from reading my past blog posts, I love me some stats. I don’t think they’re the be-all and end-all when it comes to football, but I do think they are a useful tool to use when analyzing a team, a unit, or a player. Perhaps that’s why I enjoy following sites like Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Football Outsiders (FO).

These two groups of data crunchers put a lot of time and critical thought into representing the performance of players and teams in the form of numbers. Through careful observation and grading of every play of every football game of the year, these statisticians are able to eventually tell us which team’s offense is performing the best based on their results and the strength of the defenses they’ve played.  Or they can present a numerical “grade” for an individual player for something like “pass blocking efficiency.”

Like I said before, they provide a great tool for professional football analysis. We can use the information to either support what we think we’ve seen, or use it as a jumping off point to examine something further.

So without further ado, here are some interesting tidbits I’ve read about Green Bay Packers players as presented by the teams at Pro Football Focus and Football Outsiders. Take them as you will.

FOOTBALL OUTSIDERS  Read more... (1199 words + 1 image, estimated 4:48 mins reading time)

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Packers GM Ted Thompson traded back into the first round to take Clay Matthews in 2009.

The day was April 25, the Saturday of the 2009 NFL draft, and Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson had a franchise-altering decision staring him in the face.

As he sat in the Packers’ war room, having already acquired nose tackle B.J. Raji from Boston College with the ninth overall pick, there was a name he couldn’t shake and a need he knew he needed to fill.

The name was Clay Matthews, and the need was 3-4 outside linebacker.

Matthews, a wavy-haired overachiever with Hall of Fame bloodlines, remained available as the first round came to a close. A walk-on at USC who didn’t play full-time until his senior year, Matthews was an ideal pass rushing outside linebacker for his new defense. And Thompson knew that if there were two positions most important to making the Packers’ new 3-4 defense under defensive coordinator Dom Capers work, it was nose tackle and outside linebacker. Raji was the answer inside, Matthews could be the same on the edge.

In his hand was a weapon he rarely held, and uncharacteristically, Thompson pulled the trigger.

A man notorious for trading back in the draft to stockpile picks, Thompson sent a second and two third-round picks to the New England Patriots for the No. 26 pick in the first round and a later fifth rounder.  Read more... (1290 words + 1 image, estimated 5:10 mins reading time)

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