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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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CB Tramon Williams and S Morgan Burnett fight for an interception against the Saints

On Monday, we graded the Packers offense through nine games. Today, we look at the defense.

Defensive Line: C-
If Mike McCarthy says the Packers are going to fix something in the offseason, they generally fix it. This offseason, what needed fixing was tackling. So far, the tackling appears fixed, and the Packers appear to have the right tools to make sure it doesn’t break again.

The Packers still give up too many runs where the running back gets stopped up the middle, but bounces outside for a big gain. Other than that, the front three (or four, or two, or sometimes one, however many people Dom Capers puts on the line), has been solid in run defense and tackling.

Ryan Pickett is having a strong season, highlighted by a dominant game against Arian Foster and the Texans when the Packers needed him most. Cross your fingers that the injury bug doesn’t infect Pickett because he’s a huge part of the improved run defense. C.J. Wilson has also quietly been decent against the run.

The overall grade comes down a bit because I’d still like to see more pass rush out of this group. Mike Daniels and Mike Neal have flashed occasionally. Jerel Worthy has had a few moments. But this group needs to be a little more consistent. I’m not expecting Packers linemen to rack up a ton of sacks, but there are too many occasions where Capers calls a blitz up the middle and it just gets swallowed up.  Read more... (898 words + 1 image, estimated 3:36 mins reading time)

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After finishing dead-last in total defense last season, the Packers put an emphasis on improving their defense last offseason.

Packers general manager Ted Thompson used the 28th overall pick on USC outside linebacker Nick Perry, before trading up twice in the second round to help bolster the Pack’s struggling defense. Thompson is stingy when it comes to parting with his draft picks, but as he put it after the draft, “I’m no longer my father’s son.”

In the second round of the 2012 NFL Draft, the Packers traded up to No. 51 overall to select Michigan State defensive end Jerel Worthy. After losing Cullen Jenkins the previous offseason, Green Bay hoped to add a versatile pass rusher to its defensive line.

Seven picks later, the Packers, again, surprised everyone by moving up to select Vanderbilt cornerback Casey Hayward with the No. 58 pick. The secondary struggled mightily in 2011, and given the fact that Pro Bowl safety Nick Collins would no longer play for the team, the Packers wanted to add a defensive back capable of playing from day one.

And so far, Hayward certainly looks the part.

Through six weeks of the 2012 NFL regular season, Pro Football Focus has Hayward graded out as the No. 2 cornerback in football. Not the No. 2 rookie cornerback in football. The No. 2 cornerback in football, just behind Vikings veteran cornerback Antoine Winfield.

The folks at Pro Football Focus take every single play from every single game, and put each player under the microscope.  Read more... (816 words, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)

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If the Packers play this season has you down, just look at James Jones’ sleeveless turtleneck and smile.

The Packers are not a bad football team. At least I don’t think they are.

The Packers are playing bad right now, but I don’t think they are bad.

Then again, maybe the Packers are just bad. I suppose that’s possible. But consider the following:

• Their No. 1 WR has barely played
• 95 percent of all bad calls go against them
• They drop 95 percent of their interception opportunities
• They lost their starting RB, TE and NT last week
• They played a very inspired team last week

Every team goes through stuff like that. I get that. But all of that this early in the season?

• You have to think some of those calls will start to even out
• How many more picks can Woodson and Tramon drop?
• They’ve always adjusted well to injuries and Jennings should come back eventually
• They won’t be playing a team whose coach is in the hospital with leukemia every week

Does this mean the Packers will beat the Texans? Not necessarily. But I think it will be a good game and I wouldn’t consider it much of an upset if the Packers won.

Now that all the positivity is out of the way, let’s get to the stock report. There isn’t much positivity there.

Rising  Read more... (535 words + 1 image, estimated 2:08 mins reading time)

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Aaron Rodgers and the Packers should have put Sunday’s game against the Colts away at the end of the first half.

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers gets annoyed when people ask him about not having many fourth quarter comeback wins on his resume. Rodgers usually points out that he’s won a lot of games in the second and third quarter, making any type of late comeback unnecessary.

The Packers had one of those game-clinching opportunities late in the second quarter on Sunday against the Colts. Instead of putting the game away, the Packers went three-and-out and everything unraveled from there.

After Adam Vinatieri missed a 53-yard field goal, the Packers had the ball on their own 43 with 1 minute, 17 seconds left in the first half. The offense was rolling, the Colts were reeling, and another score — even a field goal — would have probably been the deciding blow.

Time to end this one early, right? Unfortunately, the Packers did just the opposite.

Rodgers hit John Kuhn for six yards on the drive’s first play, then missed Jordy Nelson, then saw Jermichael Finley drop another pass (the drop was bad, but it was also a weird play call, Finley likely would not have reached the first-down marker even if he caught it).

We’ve seen some pathetic efforts from the Packers offense this season, but that drive might have been the worst.  Read more... (452 words + 1 image, estimated 1:48 mins reading time)

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Packers DE Mike Neal

Defensive end Mike Neal served a four-game suspension to start the 2012 season. And now that he’s eligible to return to the field, the team has activated him to the 53-man roster.

Neal practiced with the team this past week, and he’s now available to play tomorrow against the Indianapolis Colts. Sunday’s game will be a bit of a homecoming for Neal, who was born in Merrillville–about 150 miles north of Indianapolis.

The Packers selected Neal in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, but he’s appeared in just nine games in two NFL seasons. Still, Neal remains one of the Packers’ most athletic defensive linemen, and the team hopes he can provide a push up the middle.

Green Bay’s pass rush has registered 15 sacks through four games this season. However, the interior of the defensive line has been unable to generate much of a pass rush. None of the Packers’ six defensive lineman to play this season currently holds a positive grade in the pass rush department, according to Pro Football Focus.

To make room for Neal, the Packers cut veteran defensive end Phillip Merling.

The Packers signed Merling this summer as an unrestricted free agent from the Miami Dolphins. After an impressive training camp, the coaching staff decided to keep Merling over defensive lineman Daniel Muir while Neal served his suspension.  Read more... (299 words + 1 image, estimated 1:12 mins reading time)

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CB Tramon Williams and S Morgan Burnett fight for an interception against the Saints

Through three games, the Packers defense looked good. Not great, but good.

This past Sunday, however, was a different story. Saints quarterback Drew Brees carved up the Green Bay defense for 446 yards and three touchdowns. For Brees, it was like stealing candy from a sleeping baby.

Just six days earlier, the Packers gave up only 130 passing yards–106, if not for a certain 24-yard play to end the game. But Sunday’s soft defense brought back some painful memories from last season, when the Packers’ leaky pass defense was continually bailed out by its unstoppable offense.

So, why did the defense look so much worse this week?

Well, for one, Brees is really, really good.

But also, Capers tends to err on the side of caution in regards to his play-calling, rushing only three and dropping eight into coverage, especially against top-tier quarterbacks like Brees. And again on Sunday, his “bend-but-don’t-break” philosophy hurt the team.

In a matter of four plays on Sunday, the Packers pushed the Saints backwards on 1st and 2nd down, but then allowed New Orleans to convert a 3rd-and-17, and a 3rd-and-14. The Packers failed to put any pressure on Brees, allowing him to sit back in the pocket and step up to make timely throws to his receivers.  Read more... (770 words + 1 image, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)

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