The Green Bay Packers pulled Sunday’s win over the New York Jets out of their you-know-what.
Muhammad Wilkerson getting ejected, an untimely timeout (if you’re the Jets), an injury to Eric Decker and Jets’ offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg inexplicably ditching the option and misdirection plays that worked so well for his team in the first quarter.
It sounds like I’m saying the Packers had no business winning that game. That’s not true. Any time you come back from 18 points down to win an NFL game, you deserve all the credit in the world. But you usually need some help to make that comeback happen and the Packers got it.
After two games, I still don’t know what to make of this Packers team.
Save for two quarters, the defense has looked atrocious. The offense caught fire against the Jets, but still couldn’t drive down for the dagger touchdown in the fourth quarter.
There’s no way the Packers win Sunday without Aaron Rodgers making some great throws, yet he still insists on holding the ball forever and taking unnecessary sacks. Receivers are struggling to get consistent separation without a legit pass-catching tight end, but does that matter when you’re as good as Jordy Nelson?
It sounds like I’m complaining. I’m not. The Packers are 1-1 even though they haven’t put together a full game yet. The ceiling for this squad remains high, but a few leaks still need to be patched.
On to the stock report:
Rising
Jordy Nelson
For a while, it looked like Jordy Nelson was going to try and beat the Jets all by himself. Eventually, his teammates arrived at Lambeau Field and gave him some help. But until they showed up, Nelson made play after play to keep the Packers offense from completely imploding.
Josh Sitton
Kudos to Sitton and other players on the Packers’ offense for mixing it up in the end zone after Green Bay scored to take the lead. It’s usually silly to risk a 15-yard penalty in the name of “toughness,” but in this case it was completely justified. I’m sick of seeing teams unload on Rodgers and run over our defense as our players hobble off the field and get put on injured reserve. Fight back. Be mean. Tell the other guys to eff off. You could sense the fans at Lambeau loved seeing some attitude from the team in green and gold, too. And, hey, the Packers weren’t flagged and Wilkerson was ejected for throwing punches.
Mason Crosby
A kicker in the rising category over Aaron Rodgers? Yup, a kicker in the rising category over Aaron Rodgers. I kind of assume everyone recognizes Rodgers as a riser every week, so he has to go on a really good run before I officially put him there. That allows me to recognize players like Crosby, who absolutely drilled a 55-yard field when the Packers were on life support.
Steady
Randall Cobb
Jordy Nelson got all the praise (deservedly so) while Cobb went out and hauled in two touchdown passes and a key two-point conversion. Cobb seems to be having some trouble getting separation from DBs, but he’s been reliable in the red zone when Rodgers needs him most.
Tramon Williams
When the Packers defense was getting run over early, it wasn’t because of Williams. According to Pro Football Focus, Williams was targeted six times on Sunday. He allowed one catch for zero yards and had an important interception. Williams has transformed himself from a really good, yet kinda soft cover corner to a tough-as-nails, do-whatever-it-takes veteran leader in the secondary. It used to be maddening watching Williams get run over in the flat or play soft on opposing WRs. Williams no longer gets run over and he takes on any and all WRs.
Mike McCarthy
As loudmouth bloggers like me, fans at Lambeau and Packers fans in front of their TVs screamed at McCarthy to go for it on a couple of fourth downs in the first half, the coach kicked field goals. I even tweeted this. McCarthy ignored all of it and kept putting points on the board, confident that his team would come around and eventually put it together. They did. If McCarthy wasn’t Mr. Steady and listened to all the crazies like yours truly instead of putting points on the board, the Packers might be 0-2 today. McCarthy was far from perfect on Sunday, but he was steady on those difficult fourth down decisions.
Falling
A.J. Hawk
Remember how awesome it was to see the Packers offense go toe-to-toe with the Jets after Green Bay scored to take the lead? I thought that attitude and toughness would lead to a three-and-out on defense. But on the very first play, Jeff Cumberland (who?) caught a 14-yard pass in front of Hawk. It’s time to see what Sam Barrington can do next to Jamari Lattimore.
Letroy Guion
You can’t tell me that Ryan Pickett isn’t better than Guion.
Jarrett Boykin
Davante Adams appears to have passed Boykin on the depth chart, for now. Boykin got off to a slow start last season and picked it up. Let’s see if he does it again.
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 .
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Your opening comments about this team are spot on. We know that there is talent, we know that there is horsepower but the inconsistency is overwhelming. I don’t want to keep using the potential card when discussing this team, it reminds me too much of talking about Finley. There are some traits that I would like to see disappear:
Slow Starts: We keep coming out of the blocks slow and late. This must be coaching and scheme. Playing catch-up is not where we want to be. Make others change their scheme against this offence. If we have a drowsy start against Detroit, Rodgers is going to take a beating.
Creativity: This goes hand-in-hand with slow start. I love the Rodgers to Nelson connection but doesn’t this offense have enough weapons to keep teams on their heals? Do we have any TE’s? I have a 4 cylinder engine because I don’t need to go fast and I want to save money, the Packers are running this offense in ECO mode.
Battle of the trenches: I think that both our D-line and O-line set the ceiling on what can be done with our “schemes”. When our D-line stops being pushed around, we will see this unit shine. Our O-line needs to give the run game a chance. On both fronts, we need to dictate the space.
Good article Adam
Falling: Dom Capers, falling, hell, he is at rock bottom. Brutal!
Adam – Nice job on the article. I think some of the inconsistency that we are seeing from the Packers may be the result of less practices and little playing time for the starters during the preseason. I am not saying the starters should play more in the preseason but at least some of our starters may still be in August. Now with our first win under our belt and a dominating 40 minutes of football we need to get past the remaining kinks and into mid-season form. We cannot survive another slow start against the Lions on the road. It may still be September on the calendar but we need to get out of the September football mode by this Sunday. Razer makes a good point about the tight ends, where are they? We need Bulaga to get back to help get the ground game going again and solidify the OL. I have not been a big fan of Morgan Burnett, but he had a good game and I may have put him in the rising column also. Go Pack Go! Thanks, Since ’61
This time we are on the same page. Packers looked like they were just awakened and surprised where they are. And start to play in the middle of the 2nd Q.
Guion is horrible and doesn’t belong on a football field. If the Vikings unloaded him he has to be aweful.
You should have a letting your qb get hammered catagory… Sherrod would win every week.
For what it’s worth, Bob McGinn of the Journal-Sentinel doesn’t especially agree with your assessment of Guion.
“The coaches gave Letroy Guion (38 snaps) another shot and had to be relatively satisfied with his improvement. Guion played lower, stayed off the ground and made a few plays in pursuit. You can see some of the power traits that the Packers admired during his long career in Minnesota.”
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/rating-the-packers-vs-jets-b99351881z1-275239061.html
I saw him running after people 10 yards down the field, but that was about it. As a rule the Packers admire fat blobs that get blown off the line… maybe he will develop into that.
Guion was better Sunday than against Seattle, but that’s not saying much. Pickett would not be a dominant player, either, but I refuse to believe that he’d be blown off the ball as often as Guion has been so far.
Absolutely no reason why Pickett should not be on the field.
Nice Job Adam! Glad to see you gave Big Josh Sitton a plug for mixing it up with that Dirt bag Jet Mohamed Wilkerson in the end zone. I wonder how much lighter his wallet will be when Roger Goodell sticks one up his ass! Week in week out Sitton is constantly looking out for his teammates, Tramon Williams is experiencing a renaissance and looks like he’s returning to his 2010 season form. That was a nasty shoulder injury he incurred during the 2011 season opener against the Saints.
The camera focused on Wilkerson as he walked off the field, laughing and grinning as if he thought he was a star attraction. That is an “in your face” to the NFL and it just might cost him more then he thinks. Very dumbass move.
Could Williams be returning to form as you put it because it’s contract time again?
I have no problem putting Cobb as “steady,” especially given his point production against the Jets. But in the bigger picture, the Packers very much need him to be much more dynamic than he has been for the first two games. He had some favorable matchups today, and didn’t get much of anything aside from the short scoring plays.
Maybe I’m being pessimistic here, but I can’t get past the feeling that all is not well with the Packers passing game. ARod’s eyes are glued on Nelson, Cobb has averaged 49 yards per game, Boykin has 1 catch for 6 yards on the year, and no one has yet located our tight end group. That’s not awesome.
Which brings me to ARod. I know he’s great, and his numbers against the Jets sure look shiny, but there’s no question he’s not quite on his game. Technically, that puts him clearly in the “Falling” category.” And we’ve all agreed that he needs to get rid of the ball better.
I know it’s just two games (and against good defenses), but the Offense needs to improve its efficiency. They are close to the bottom in yards rushing as well. Again, just two games, I know.
I suppose we could say that Sherrod is “Rising” … as long as we include the words “from the inky blackness of complete despair” right after that. I’ll hold off on calling him a riser, but he was tolerable in the second half. Not so much in the first… I like what I’m seeing from the rookie at center. He’s far from “catching lightning in a bottle,” but he was a very nice draft pick. Loved, loved, LOVED the fight in the end zone….
Defensively, I would definitely have given some love to Mike Daniels, who was excellent, as well as Tramon and D. House who very played well in the backfield. Interesting also to see 290 lb cornerback Julius Peppers chalking up not one, but two passes defended. He also led the D in pressures with 3 1/2.
I looked at the game again and noticed that virtually every catch by Jordy Nelson was a difficult one. Rodgers passes were a little high, a little in back etc. Jordy was stretching and diving for the ball. The only exception was the 80 yard touchdown – that was picture perfect. I say this only because we are so used to No 12 being so accurate.
Totally agreed. We have grown accustomed to saying that Rodgers makes his receivers look better. Against the Jets, Nelson made Rodgers look better.
Rodgers has been just a bit off in the first two games, both with his accuracy and decision-making when it comes to holding the ball. Yes, that’s nit-picking, but he even said on his radio show yesterday his accuracy against the Jets was only a 7 out of 10.
Cobb has never come back to 100% following broken leg. Could make for difficult contract talks. Guy is still young but if he has lost ability to separate he’s not worth big bucks anymore. Damaged goods?
No one is playing 100% yet… I think they are all pissed off at MM’s assanine play calling. Let Rodgers call the majority of plays and keep the defenses on their heels…
Are you saying that Rodgers isn’t able to make calls at the line? It seems to me like he will often kill what is called and either switch to a pass or a run based on what he sees.
I think Rodgers is not playing his best football and that includes calls at the line.
I would put Bakhtiari in the falling category. He allowed 3.5 knockdowns and another pressure, and his run blocking was bad too. Sherrod was bad too, allowing 4 pressures and arguably a sack (I personally charge Rodgers with 3 of the 4 sacks), and he allowed that with lots of help from RBs and TEs. Sherrod was also bad run blocking. Lacy was impressive in pass protection, helping Sherrod and Lang, who also had a bit of an off night. It is really difficult when both your LT and RT have bad games. We need more out of Cobb. He had mismatches against LBs and safeties a lot against the Jets, and his production was underwhelming. I guess steady is okay given his 2 short TD receptions and the 2 pt. conversion. Linsley and Sitton both looked good and very good, respectively.