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Packers DT Ryan Pickett getting after it.

If you’re an NFL fan who subscribes to Game Rewind and likes to re-watch games in order to see what happens away from the ball, Packers defensive lineman Ryan Pickett is your type of player.

The 330-pound 33 year old doesn’t make many plays that garner immediate attention on the game broadcast. To appreciate what Pickett does, you have to watch the film. That’s when you’ll nod your head at the veteran’s quickness off the ball. You’ll pump your fist when he shoves two blockers backward and frees up a linebacker to make a tackle. You’ll notice that Pickett is often the reason why a mess of players pile up at the line and the ballcarrier fails to pick up a short-yardage first down.

After 12 seasons, Pickett should be slowing down. Instead, he looks as strong and nimble as ever. It’s not a rarity to see space-eating defensive linemen play effectively as they creep into their mid-30s and beyond — Casey Hampton, Ted Washington and Pat Williams come to mind as older, run-stuffing linemen who excelled as they aged.

I planned to do an in-depth study of stats and numbers to tell you just how great Pickett has been the last few years, but I said the hell with it. Pickett’s worth goes beyond *numbers.* Let’s watch some film instead.

Here’s Pickett wrecking the Houston Texans offensive line:

   Read more... (462 words + 1 image, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

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Next up in the AllGreenBayPackers.com’s positional group analysis is the defensive line, who while showed some improvement from their disastrous 2011 season was still probably the reason behind their playoff collapse this year.

Where Are We Now

Here are the current suspects;

• BJ Raji (1st round, 2009)
• Ryan Pickett (1st round, 2001)
• Mike Neal (2nd round, 2010)
• CJ Wilson (7th round, 2010)
• Jerel Worthy (2nd round, 2012)
• Mike Daniels (4th round, 2012)
• Philip Merling (2nd round, 2008, cut week 4)

So that’s where we are.  Thompson has made quite an effort to shore up his defensive line, with three 1st or 2nd rounders in the last four years.  However, despite Thompson’s focus on the defensive line, not much good has happened.  BJ Raji hasn’t been as dominant a force as he was in the 2010 Superbowl season, Mike Neal is essentially starting his sophomore campaign with all the injuries he suffered and rookie Jerel Worthy looked like a raw rookie before suffering an ACL injury.  Read more... (1446 words + 1 image, estimated 5:47 mins reading time)

• Raji: Raji spent considerably more time as a defensive end this year than as a nose tackle (536 snaps at DE vs. 123 at NT) and overall as I’ve written in my previous articles this is probably the best move for the Packers as defensive ends are much more important to a 3-4 defense than nose tackles.  While Raji definitely had a better season than his lackluster 2011 campaign, it still pales in comparison to his 2010 season where he earned the nickname “the freezer”.  One distinct possibility is that Raji is starting to wear down due to all the snaps that he’s had to take since there were no other viable DL around, but the addition of Worthy, Neal and Daniels will hopefully allow the Packers to have a decent DL rotation.

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1) Introduction: The freezer broke onto the scene in during the Packers post-season run to the Super Bowl in 2010 and at that point it looked as if the Packers had another star in the making.  2011 however was a significant down year for Raji, who was hampered by an ankle injury for most of the season.  Fans were hoping to see the re-emergence of the Freezer in 2012.

2) Profile:

Busari J. Raji Jr.

• Age: 26
• Born: 07/11/1986, in Washington Township, NJ
• Height: 6’2″
• Weight: 337
• College: Boston College
• Rookie Year: 2009
• NFL Experience: 4 years

Career Stats and more: 

3) Expectations coming into the season: Many fans wrote off the 2011 season for Raji due to his injuries and were hoping that he would regain his old form and provide pressure and collapse the pocket from the nose tackle position

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Raji’s best game of 2012 was against the Titans in week 16, where he posted 3 quarterback hurries, a blocked pass, a tackle and an offensive negative play.  However, Raji never managed to figure out how to beat the San Francisco 49ers offensive line, which would come back to haunt the.

5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Raji spent more time as a defensive end than a nose tackle and ironically played better as a defense end than as a nose tackle.  As a defensive end, Raji often had great success against the run with marginal success at rushing the passer.  Read more... (320 words + 1 image, estimated 1:17 mins reading time)

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Clay Matthews and the defense stepped up big and the Packers are on their way to San Francisco.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” or so the saying goes, and the Green Bay Packers got their revenge against the Minnesota Vikings by winning their NFC Wild Card game 24-10 a week after the Vikings beat the Packers 37-34 which cost Green Bay a first round bye.

The Packers spotted the Vikings an early field goal as the Vikings marched down the field. Some fans began to experience a sense of déjà vu as the Packers went three and out on the following drive.  Thankfully that malaise didn’t last long as the Packers got into the end zone on the next drive and went up 7-3.

Green Bay never looked back as they got to Vikings quarterback Joe Webb and raced out to a 24-3 lead that held throughout most of the second half and gave up a touchdown pretty much in garbage time as the score settled to 24-10 as time expired.

Here are the good and the bad for the Packers in the victory that eliminated the Vikings.

Game Balls

LB Erik Walden

It was not even a week ago that the Packers allowed Adrian Peterson to run all over them, but the Packers put forth a much better effort Saturday and Walden was a big part of it.  Read more... (1129 words + 1 image, estimated 4:31 mins reading time)

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So Packers vs. Vikings part II with a definite part III coming up.  Again, if there is any play in particular you would like to see my analyze, please leave comments below.  As for this week I’ve decided to take a look at one of the times where quarterback Christian Ponder was able to beat the Packers defense through the air.  My belief is that the Packers at best can only slow down Adrian Peterson, so it becomes paramount to stop Christian Ponder and the passing since the Packers have already proven that Adrian Peterson can destroy the Packers run defense and still lose the game.

The situation: The score is tied at 27 all with the Packers surging in the 2nd half with 12 minutes left in the 4th quarter.  The Vikings know they have to make a big move soon or be on the losing end of a scoring race to the finish line.  To their advantage is that Adrian Peterson has maintained his regular season form and is playing lights out, which makes the Packers very susceptible to play-action as every Packers defender is fixated on Peterson.  Read more... (1152 words + 7 images, estimated 4:36 mins reading time)

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Packers WR Greg Jennings is rising after Sunday’s game.

For the last three years, I’ve always been confident whenever the Packers play because they had the best player on the field.

No matter who the Packers were playing, what the score was, or how slow the Packers started, I always felt good because I knew that Aaron Rodgers played for Green Bay and would probably find a way to win the game. He was the best player on the field and the best player on the field typically comes through and leads his team to a win. Not always, but usually.

When the Packers play the Vikings in the playoffs on Saturday, Rodgers will not be the best player on the field. That title will belong to Adrian Peterson, and it scares me.

The Packers are better than the Vikings in almost every facet of the game. But as long as Peterson is carrying the ball, the Vikings will have a shot. I shouldn’t be nervous about Saturday, but I am. And it’s all because of Peterson.

Hopefully, for at least one night, Rodgers regains his best-player-on-the-field championship belt. Rodgers can then worry about getting the Packers to another Super Bowl and defending his best-player-on-the-field title next season.

On to the stock report:

Rising  Read more... (866 words + 1 image, estimated 3:28 mins reading time)

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Vikings RB Adrian Peterson swallowed up the Packers defense on Sunday. If he does it again on Saturday night, the Packers season will probably be over.

The Mayans may have been wrong on the world as a whole, but the Green Bay Packers finally lost an NFC North game.

After winning twelve straight games against the NFC North, the Packers lost 37-34 to the Minnesota Vikings in an instant classic to wrap up the 2012 regular season.  Thanks to the victory by the San Francisco 49ers over the Arizona Cardinals, the Packers now have to take the long road to the Super Bowl.

The defense couldn’t stop the Vikings and Christian Ponder had a better than expected game. Oh and that Vikings running back had a good game as well. At least he didn’t get the record, though (Eric Dickerson, you are welcome).

The Packers open the playoffs this Saturday once again facing the Minnesota Vikings, this time at Lambeau Field.

Game Balls

NT BJ Raji

While the defense as a whole couldn’t shut down the Vikings, but Raji perhaps had his best game of 2012.

Raji had only four tackles but he disrupted the offensive line all game and gave the defense opportunities to shut Adrian Peterson down.  Unfortunately for the Packers, no one really was able to do it.  Read more... (1226 words + 1 image, estimated 4:54 mins reading time)

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