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Unleash the Hounds!

Despite their current undefeated status, much has been made of the Green Bay Packers’ pass rush, or lack of it, this season – all with good reason. Without consistent pressure, opposing quarterbacks have had the time to rack up some gawdy yardage numbers and complete a plethora of big plays on the Packers’ secondary.

We have all been in a quandry – wringing our hands and nervously rocking back and forth while mumbling to ourselves, “where’s the pass rush… where’s the pass rush…”

The main focus of course was on Clay Matthews. We kept reading about how Matthews is grading out so highly per the coaches’ evaluation, but where were the sacks and big plays? After seeing Matthews over and over engage with a blocker and then just pull up, without going any further, it became apparent to me CMIII just did not have the green light to go hog-wild after the QB.

At the other outside OLB, the common refrain was that  “Walden hasn’t done anything” (which I fully disagree with). Walden has also graded out well on the coaches’ charts for handling his primary responsibilities. So were the Packers’ pass-rushers under performing this season as many thought, or just doing what they were told?  Read more... (1320 words + 3 images, estimated 5:17 mins reading time)

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Desmond Bishop is a tackling machine. I think anyone who has watched the Packers the last two years knows that and his stats prove that. Desmond Bishop loves to make the big hit and blow up running backs – again, no big surprise. But there is one thing about Bishop that perhaps goes overlooked – If you’re an opponent carrying the football, he will track you down from wherever he is on the field. Simply put, he wants to get to you more than you want to get to the end zone.

Remember the Eagles playoff game last season? 1:45 left in the game, Packers up by 5, Eagles marching down the field… Without this play, the Packers’ playoffs could have been over after one game. In case you’ve forgotten, here it is:

Simply amazing. He’s in man coverage on a tight end on one side of the field and comes all the way across to catch up with DeSean Jackson and probably save the game. Most inside linebackers probably would not have even tried.

I was reminded of this play as I watched the Packers Vikings game this past Sunday. We all saw Adrian Peterson rattle off three very big runs against the Packers. On two of those plays, Desmond Bishop comes a long way with incredible effort to track Peterson down and make the tackle.  Read more... (458 words + 2 images, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

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Packers Linebackers Vic So 'oto and Jamari Lattimore

My initial impetus for this film study was to take a closer look at Packers’ LB Vic So’oto, who seemingly has caught the attention of many Packers fans. As I played back the Arizona preseason game, I soon noticed that Jamari Lattimore was getting quite a few snaps over at ROLB. Why not take a look at both, I thought to my self. Well, I’m glad I did.

Taking a close look, it’s easy to see what Ted Thompson saw in both of these players, and just as easy to see why they didn’t get drafted. When you are a very successful college football player, as both of these men were, and you don’t get drafted, it’s because you’re missing something. It could be a physical attribute, a mental deficiency, a lack of experience or playing against inferior competition.

By coincidence, what each of these players lack is something that the other player has as a strength. If we could combine their best attributes into one body, we’d have the perfect 3-4 OLB (aka Clay Matthews).

Jamari Lattimore is 6-2, 230 pounds and was the Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior. On the season, he tallied 64 tackles, 11.5 sacks, two blocked kicks, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Lattimore’s strength is quickness and lateral agility. His pro day numbers of 7.04 in the 3-cone drill and 4.40 in the 20 yard shuttle, would have landed him in the top 10 and top 20 respectively, among linebackers at the NFL combine. His weakness is lack of size and strength  Read more... (767 words + 3 images, estimated 3:04 mins reading time)

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As part of my preparation for Super Bowl XLV, I decided to take another look back at last year’s game between the Packers and Steelers. Ah, memories… I’m sure everyone remembers how the game ended, but do you remember how it started?

It was week 15 of the 2009 season. The 9-4 Packers with a red-hot Aaron Rodgers came  riding into Pittsburgh with a 5-game win streak following their incredulous loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the now-famous Monday morning “Come to Jesus” meeting. The Packers’ secondary, however, was missing Al Harris, Will Blackmon and Pat Lee, forcing the likes of Jarret Bush and Josh Bell into emergency duty.

The Steelers, on the other hand, had lost five games in a row, and at 6-7, their chances of making the playoffs were in sure-fire jeopardy. The defense was giving up too many big plays and the turnovers were not coming as was the norm.

Based on all of these facts, the game started just as you would have expected. The Packers came out throwing and the Steelers, knowing they would, went right after Rodgers with an obvious attempt to intimidate him and cover up for their under-performing secondary.

In just the first minute of the game, the Steelers blitzed Rodgers 4 times and on their first  and only offensive play of the first minute, the Steelers victimized the decimated Packers secondary and Jarret Bush in particular.

Lets relive that first minute:  Read more... (1349 words + 3 images, estimated 5:24 mins reading time)

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Watching the Packers – Eagles video again, three Packers players made plays that  stood out for me in terms of greatly affecting the outcome of the game.

The phrase “game changer” can have many meanings. It can be a play that sends a message, changes momentum, affects the score, cripples another team, etc. To me, I always include an incredible individual effort into the equation.

I look for individual players chasing perfection and catching excellence during the game. Players and plays that would make Vince Lombardi proud.

Of course, this is very subjective. I’m sure many of you will have different opinions, and I want to hear them. But for me, here are my three plays, in order of importance:

PLAY #3: Sam Shields Sends a Message:

The speed and talent that the Philadelphia Eagles have at wide receiver is no secret. They have won many  a game with big plays down the field to DeSean Jackson and Jeremy Maclin. Eight minutes into the first half, the Eagles decided to take their first shot.

As could be expected, they went after undrafted rookie Sam Shields. Seeing Shields with single coverage on Maclin, the Eagles tried to setup Shields and catch him looking in the backfield. As Vick give a half roll to his left and pump fakes, Maclin takes a few jog steps like he’s not involved and then suddenly turns on the burners.  Read more... (1065 words + 3 images, estimated 4:16 mins reading time)

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I know a lot has changed from Week 1 till now, but there’s still stuff to glean from watching the Packers vs. Eagles film from that time and seeing some of the general tendencies of the teams. Here’s what I saw.

I hope the people who study film at 1265 Lombardi Ave. are seeing some of these things (certainly they’re massively more qualified to say if they are ‘things’ or not) and acting on them.

-Clay Matthews was unstoppable, as we know, but matched up against Brent Celek he was pretty much transcendent. Whether the Eagles’ No. 1 tight end was chipping him or assigned to block Matthews one-on-one, he trashed him nearly every time, including on the game-ending sack of Vick on fourth and one. If Capers can get Matthews matched up on Celek, look for him to make plays.

-Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton were awful against Trent Cole and Juqua Parker. Both Parker and Brandon Graham (since placed on IR) were able to blow past Tauscher with speed, or bull-rush him with power, or chop his hands down at will. Bulaga will have to be much better then Tauscher was in pass protection.  Read more... (875 words + 5 images, estimated 3:30 mins reading time)

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The Green Bay Packers’ Clay Matthews III exploded onto the 2010 NFL season like a shotgun blast.  Lately however, fans are saying he’s making about as much noise as a pea shooter.

On one hand, it certainly wasn’t realistic to expect Matthews to continuing sacking quarterbacks at the incredible pace he had set early in the season.

On the other hand, his sack production has fallen off a cliff.  Since injuring his shin against the Jets, Matthews has 2 sacks in the last four games (one was a gift “touch” sack of Brett Favre) and none in his last two.

For his part, Matthews says the injury has not affected him during games: “”I’d say it’s more a nagging thing,” Matthews said. “It’s just sore and constantly annoying than anything else. It’s fine, and I’m fine on Sundays.”

Mike McCarthy also says Matthews hasn’t been hampered physically, but perhaps somewhat mentally, due to missed practice time. This issue was explored on this site last week by Adam Czech.

But it seems to me that something else is going on. Certainly other teams are game planning for him, but exactly how much? Is he being regularly double-teamed? Are teams running/passing away from him?

My curiosity spurred me on to do a  little film study. I used the 49er game for this study, since the Packers dominance of the time of possession meant the 49ers ran only 46 offensive plays (taking out punts, kickoffs and field goal attempts). That made my job a little easier.  Read more... (2025 words + 3 images, estimated 8:06 mins reading time)

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