Great win on Sunday for the Packers. A signature win.
I’m not sure if I’d call this week’s stock report “great” or “signature,” but nonetheless, here it is:
Aaron Rodgers
After the first half, I thought this might be the week that Rodgers drops out of the rising category. Boy, than was a dumb thought. Rodgers came to life in the second half, overcoming several dropped passes and shaky protection to keep the Packers out front and eventually put together a game-winning drive with 58 seconds left. He finished with a QB rating of 106, his lowest of the season, but I think we’ll let that slide this one time.
Clay Matthews
Can you name another player on defense that did much of anything on Sunday? Walden had a few pressures. Shields tipped away a couple of passes. Raji was active early. Otherwise, Matthews was the lone bright spot on D.
Jordy Nelson
It didn’t matter if Nelson was covered or only had a few inches to work with along the sideline, he was determined to make the catch when Rodgers threw it to him. A nice rebound game for No. 87 after a ho-hum performance against the Lions.
Steady
Greg Jennings
Not even the NFL’s silly rules about catches in the end zone could keep Jennings from scoring. After a brief slowdown in weeks nine and 10, Jennings is back on track.
Donald Driver
Two of Driver’s four catches on Sunday went for touchdowns. Not bad for an old-timer. Most importantly, Driver didn’t come down with a case of the dropsies like most of the other Packers WRs and TEs.
Falling
Charlie Peprah
Many readers pointed out in the comments section of my game summary that the loss of Nick Collins is negatively impacting Peprah. This is 100 true. Unfortunately, Collins is also not able to protect Peprah from landing in this week’s falling category.
Marshall Newhouse
I really went back and forth on including Newhouse here. The Giants front four might be the best in football. Newhouse is essentially a rookie. Rodgers dropped back to pass 50 times on Sunday. Talk bout a near-impossible task. There was bound to be some pressures allowed by the young man. However, when the goal is the Super Bowl, inexperience, quality of opponent and difficult assignments are no excuse. Newhouse needs to clean it up.
Tom Coughlin
Somebody needed to hide Coughlin’s challenge flag on Sunday. In the future the flag should be used to clean off the giant HD screens at MetLife Stadium so Coughlin has a clearer view of replays. It will save the Giants some heartache, or at least a couple of timeouts.
Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
——————
Slight disagreement re. DD. Did you see the catches he made? Did you see the enthusiasm he displayed? He is definetely on the rise at just the right time of the year. Definetely, a “buy.”
If you consider his age, he can’t be on the rise. But if you look at his last 3 or 4 games and compare to the rest of the season, and to last year, he is.
Amen! And just at the right time. He’ll be getting a lot of one-on-one coverage in key situations.
Falling: Finley – YOTDP
The drops are tough to stomach, but Finley is so tough on defenses. Not going to list him as falling yet.
It was a pleasure meeting you, your dad and the rest of the Czech guys last Sunday at the game. Keep up the great writing, I really enjoy your posts.
Hi Art, That was actually Chad Toporski and his brothers/Dad that you met at the tailgate…
A couple of adds: Ryan Grant – Falling, Mathsay – Rising.
Grant, probably yes. Not ready to put Masthay up there yet.
Newhouse deserves the benefit of doubt here.The Giants knew they had to get Rodgers and going after the 6 game in rookie was the doorway if there was one.Taking into the fact the mindset and the stake the Giants were in and being tied to for a frying with a loss,IMO,Newhouse did better than could have been imagined from realistic thinking people.
The upside is he survived with applause from me and some great film to benefit from as he continues to give/compell Sherrod with a lot of work to do.
Finley has been a disappointment two weeks now, only catch of any significance last week was the first pass from Rodgers on the last drive, his earlier drops kept giving Giants more opportunities. Driver has been consistent and depenbable all season, talk of his age is overblown especially with his performance for 3 weeks in a row now. Run game is not producing, especially over left side of line where blocking is not as good with Clifton out-time for more screen passes or dump offs to Saine, Grant since Starks is likely not to play much against Raiders. Secondary looks bad because QB’s getting too much time for receivers to get open, it hurts with Collins out but this secondary played better last year with Peprah and Shields in and Al Harris, Atari Bigby out.
I know a friend who was very interested on this issue. Could you let me share this on my facebook wall please?