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Morgan Burnett accepted an early Christmas present from Christian Ponder with this interception in the end zone. (Photo from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

This week’s Packers Stock Report features something that’s never happened before in stock report history.

I won’t spoil it in the intro. Read the stock report and let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

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

Rising

Mason Crosby
The struggling kicker made some progress in digging himself out of a very deep hole by nailing three out of four field goals, including a 47-yarder in the third quarter and a 31-yarder that gave the Packers a nine-point lead late in the fourth. This is a major step in the right direction for Crosby. Mike McCarthy has made it clear that Crosby is his kicker and it’s good to see signs of progress.

Morgan Burnett
The safeties had a rough time against the Giants and if you just look at tackling against the Vikings, they were bad once again. Burnett had two missed tackles that played a role in Adrian Peterson gaining an extra 122 yards, but I’m still putting Burnett as a riser. Peterson is the best running back of this generation, and I don’t think it’s all that close. Missing tackles on him is frustrating, but it happens. Burnett made up for it by picking off Christian Ponder twice, including an athletic takeaway when guarding Kyle Rudolph that brought back memories of Nick Collins.  Read more... (846 words + 1 image, estimated 3:23 mins reading time)

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The Packers are hoping to see this familiar scene on Sunday versus the Vikings

The Minnesota Vikings visit Lambeau Field and face the Green Bay Packers for just the first time this season.  The two teams will square off again in week 17 in Minnesota.  Both teams are coming off of a big loss and are fighting to keep postseason hopes alive.

The Packers were handed their worst loss in years at the hands of the New York football Giants while the Vikings were soundly defeated by the first-place Chicago Bears.  Both teams will likely be fired up and looking to get back on track.  At least they should be in a divisional game this late in the season.

Let’s take a look at the key matchups that will manifest themselves this Sunday.

Vikings Defensive Line vs. Packers Offensive Line

In the number one slot is the matchup most critical to Green Bay’s success this week.  As is likely to be the case for the rest of this season, the Packers have to find a way to protect Aaron Rodgers and start winning their matchups up front.

Minnesota features Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen, who will square up on Packers left tackle Marshall Newhouse.  Last season, Allen had three total sacks on Rodgers in the two games and that was when the Green Bay offensive line was playing better than they are now.  Allen is athletic and can get after the ball so Rodgers and the offense need to be mindful of where he is at all times.  Read more... (2019 words + 3 images, estimated 8:05 mins reading time)

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Packers rookie CB is leading a younger and more aggressive secondary.

I know your belly is still full of Thanksgiving turkey and you’re probably all excited that you managed to outlast the middled-aged lady next to you for that discounted Xbox at Wal-Mart on Black Friday.

If you can overcome your full stomach and pause your Xbox euphoria, take a minute and watch the video of the Packers allowing a Hail Mary touchdown to the Giants’ Hakeem Nicks before halftime in last season’s playoff loss.

Makes your full tummy feel more like the stomach flu, right?

Now, take another look at the play. Notice the four players around the ball when Nicks comes down with it? Not one of them will be on the field for this Sunday night’s rematch.

Charlie Peprah is off the team. Charles Woodson is injured. Sam Shields is injured. And Jarrett Bush mainly plays special teams (I suppose it’s conceiveable that Bush could end up out there, but hopefully not).

If Eli Manning launches another Hail Mary on Sunday, the players around the ball will likely be a combination of Tramon Williams, Casey Hayward, Davon House, Morgan Burnett, Jerron McMillian and M.D. Jennings.

That group is a lot more aggressive than the group that stood there with their thumbs up their butts while Nix caught the ball in the playoffs.

Hell, Jennings has already intercepted a Hail Mary pass this season, even though it counted as a touchdown for the other team.  Read more... (414 words + 1 image, estimated 1:39 mins reading time)

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So I’m going to do something a little bit unusual from the usual Packers Playbook series; first off I’m going to breakdown a special teams play, namely Davon House’s blocked punt which turned into a special teams touchdown, but ru because I want to hear your rationale for running this play because frankly I don’t really understand it.

The Situation: The score is 7 to 3 in Green Bay’s favor and the Packers defense has just forced a 4th down.  The Jaguars have stayed in the game longer than most people had predicted but it’s probably more because the Packers seem to be off rather than any offensive firepower displayed by the Jaguars.

The Formation: To be honest I wasn’t able to find any of the position names for any of the positions, so I will be using my best approximations.  Naturally first off is KR Randall Cobb (18), who for obvious reasons is not in the picture and since this is a blocked punt play, is irrelevant to the play.  In the gunner/jammer positions are CB Davon House (31) aligning to the top of the screen and CB Jarrett Bush (24) and CB Casey Hayward (29) aligned to the bottom of the screen.  In terms of linemen (are they called linemen?), at RDE is ILB Jamari Lattimore (57) and at LDE is OLB Dezman Moses.  In the “middle” at DT is ILB Robert Francois (49) and TE Ryan Taylor (82).  In the “backfield” are SS Sean Richardson (28) and FS MD Jennings (43).  Read more... (941 words + 9 images, estimated 3:46 mins reading time)

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Is Packers CB regaining his 2010 form?

The cameras focused on Clay Matthews destroying Jay Cutler, the announcers raved about Tramon Williams shutting out Brandon Marshall, and fans cheered as the Packers took a 10-0 halftime lead on the Bears after a surprise field goal resulted in a touchdown.

Meanwhile, Sam Shields kept silently plugging away.

Shields spent most of his time tracking Alshon Jeffry, helping to limit the rookie to one catch for seven yards.  Shields never did anything flashy — the Packers had Matthews, Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams to make the big plays. The third-year CB just did what the Packers needed him to do: Be fundamentally sound in pass coverage and get physical if needed.

The physical part started against San Francisco, as documented by Rob Demovsky here and highlighted in the video below.

In case you don’t believe what you just saw, that was Shields going hard after the ballcarrier (Frank Gore, nonetheless) and stopping him short of a first down. We didn’t see Shields stick his nose in there like that last season, and it’s a major reason why Shields had to fight to get his job back this season.

Shields played 60 of 63 snaps against the Bears and was only targeted once (on a pass to Devin Hester). After catching three passes for 80 yards in the season opener, Jeffry never sniffed the ball with Shields on him.  Read more... (485 words + 1 image, estimated 1:56 mins reading time)

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Packers S M.D. Jennings is one of the new characters in the Packers secondary.

We’ve all sat through a terrible movie before. I’m not talking about a movie where it’s so bad, it’s good. I’m talking about a movie that is just plain bad, even painful.

Watching the Green Bay Packers allow almost 5,000 passing yards last season was like watching a bad movie, for a whopping 17 weeks.

If a director makes a terrible movies, he’ll probably try and make some serious changes so his next movie isn’t as bad. Maybe he’ll bring on actors with more experience or a production staff that has a several good movies under their resume.

Not if the director is Ted Thompson.

The Packers GM looked at his flop of a defense and said, “I’m going to get some guys that have even less experience and are more unproven than they players we had last season.”

Nowhere is that more evident than in the secondary.

Who are these guys?

The Packers first regular season game is only a few days away, but we have little idea what the secondary will look like. We know Tramon Williams will be at corner and Charles Woodson will be at safety in base and slot corner in sub packages. We also know Morgan Burnett will be at safety.

But that’s about all we know. We don’t know who the No. 2 corner will be in base and we have little clue what the sub packages will look like.  Read more... (1569 words + 1 image, estimated 6:17 mins reading time)

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Packers CB Davon House

The right leg injury Desmond Bishop suffered against the San Diego Chargers did not look good. And according to Packers head coach Mike McCarthy, it isn’t good.

Bishop suffered a right knee sprain, but it’s a severe hamstring tear that could sideline him for the entire 2012 season. After Saturday night’s practice, McCarthy acknowledged the impact of losing Bishop:

“Unfortunately, the hamstring injury was what we feared. Surgery is imminent, and Desmond’s season is in jeopardy. Once we have the surgery, we’ll have a better idea on his status for this season.”

On the concussion front, McCarthy also hinted that Marshall Newhouse would return to practice this Monday or Tuesday but that Greg Jennings is probably a little further away.

Several other players sat out practice on Saturday, including running back James Starks, defensive end Jerel Worthy and cornerback Davon House. House suffered a dislocated left shoulder against San Diego and is expected to be out 2-3 weeks.
The Packers dodged a bullet with House, as losing him for an extended period of time would have been devastating to their secondary. Competing for a starting job against Jarrett Bush, Sam Shields and Casey Hayward, House has consistently been the team’s best option across from Tramon Williams throughout training camp.

Starks is “week-to-week” with turf toe, which would further explain the Packers’ interest in Cedric Benson. Without Starks at practice and with Benson not officially signed yet, Alex Green got the No. 1 reps with the first team on Saturday.  Read more... (297 words + 1 image, estimated 1:11 mins reading time)

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