Packers Stock Report: Flashback to 2011 Edition

Jordy Nelson

My throat is scratchy. My nose is runny. I’m sneezing every 8 minutes and the bags under my eyes are turning a weird shade of black and purple.

Do I have a common winter cold, the same affliction that knocks down most of us for a few days when the weather turns cold? Or do I have something much more serious? An illness only contracted by Packers fans called “Capers-itis.” Capers-itis sets in when the Packers’ defense starts playing like it’s 2011 all over again.

Symptoms of Capers-itis include the following happening to your favorite football team’s defense:

  • Sam Shields getting completely out-physicaled on deep passes.
  • No pass rush.
  • One player (see: Jones, Julio) does whatever he wants up and down the field without repercussion.
  • Brad Jones actually plays defensive snaps.
  • Defensive backs peeking in the backfield and getting burned deep.

I’ve been to several doctors, none of which have given me a diagnosis yet. They all said to wait until after Sunday’s Packers vs. Bills game. If Kyle Orton stands in the pocket and throws for 300 yards, or Sammy Watkins catches 10 passes for 198 yards, I probably have Capers-itis. The only way to get rid of it is to drink large quantities of beer.

Personally, I think I just have a cold, not Capers-itis. Matt Ryan and Julio Jones are really good. What they did to the Packers on Monday night, they also did one week earlier against Arizona, a team most people say has a legitimately good to great defense.

The Packers also might might have just checked out for a bit to start the second half, and by the time they woke back up, they were in a fight.

Either way, you don’t want to deal with a potential case of Capers-itis this late in the season. Hopefully it’s just a common cold and we don’t have to start talking about quarantines or anything like that.

To help me recover from whatever is ailing me, let’s knock out this week’s Packers Stock Report:

Rising

Aaron Rodgers
As long as he keeps doing what he’s doing, I’m going to keep putting him in the rising category. Over his last five games, Rodgers has completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,560 yards, 16 touchdowns, zero interceptions and a QB rating of 127.1. If I do have Capers-itis, Rodgers might be the cure instead of beer.

Jordy Nelson
Any time you let Nelson run freely off the line and into the secondary, you’re asking for trouble. The Falcons found that out the hard way on the Rodgers-to-Nelson 60-yard touchdown Monday night.

Offensive line
I can’t pick just one offensive lineman so I’m going to cheat and just list the entire o-line as rising. I’ve been saying it the last two weeks and I’ll say it again: If the Packers offensive line continues playing this well, the Packers will win the Super Bowl.

Steady

Eddie Lacy
Let’s hope Lacy’s hip bruise is nothing to worry about. Like he did last season, Lacy is rolling now that the weather has turned cold. He’s also catching passes, making him that much more dangerous.

Clay Matthews
The run defense has been much better with Matthews inside. Matthews also registered the Packers only sack on Monday night. I like how Dom Capers is using Matthews in this new hybrid role. It takes advantage of Matthews’ explosiveness and frees him up more often. When Matthews only rushed from the outside, sometimes he’d repeatedly just bang into double teams and not really get anywhere.

Falling

Sam Shields
Shields looked like he should’ve sat out last night after missing an entire week of practice. But really, he hasn’t played all that well over the last month or so. Hopefully, he pulls it together down the stretch. Otherwise, McCarthy should’t hesitate to use more of Davon House.

NFC South
Does the NFC South winner really have to play in the playoffs? Can’t we send them on a nice all-expenses-paid vacation somewhere instead?

——————

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 .

——————

9 thoughts on “Packers Stock Report: Flashback to 2011 Edition

  1. You may have Capersitis, but Shields has stage III contractitis which he caught from Tramon Williams with a decreased immunity due to being an alumni of “The U”. It usually displays shortly after signing the second contract and typical symptoms include general sluggishness and malaise, impaired decision making, inability to catch, and fear of contact. Secondary impairments include frequent injury susceptibility and prolonged avoidance of activity.

  2. Personally, I would say that Shields is getting a little bit too much crap, although he certainly did play like crap. The entire secondary played like crap, and Shields wasn’t getting a lot of help. Burnett was OK-ish, but a lot of times they were walking him into the box to take away the run. The Packers also seemed to play more zone than normal. Hyde was every bit as bad as Shields, IMO, and quite possibly even worse.

    I’d give a falling grade to any and all kick protection on special teams, whether punting or field goals. This is getting embarrassing, and sooner or later it will bite us if the protection is not fixed.

    If you have to pick one O-lineman, I thought Sitton stood out the most. Bahktiari was the worst of them, but even he wasn’t bad.

    I thought Starks was almost as good as Lacy.

    You could have put any or all defensive linemen into the falling category. They were horrible against a very poor O-line. (And that’s one of the reasons why DBs were getting torched right and left.)

    And finally, in the picture above, why does Jordy Nelson have two mouths?

    1. Let’s give Shields another week and see if gets his head together. He had a concussion and it may take awhile to recover (if he ever does).

  3. I am sure that the defense will have better games/halves than the Atlanta performance. And, other than ILB, I am sure that we have enough talent to get the job done . What worries me about this defense is the game-to-game inconsistency particularly when it comes to assignments. By now the secondary should know what to do and should be able to perform as a cohesive unit. Way too many blown coverages and way too much confusion past the line of scrimmage. How are you going to play fast when you are not sure of your coverage and support.

    Obviously a good pass rush minimizes this concern but as a fairly average Atlanta O-line proved, you can’t rely on Clay Matthews to be the pressure. Perhaps our linebackers are handicapping both ends of this defense. Either way, we need to get to playoff form if we hope to make it past the first post-season game.

  4. Capersitis is a serious condition that should be addressed by a Defensive Specialist immediately. If ignored and not treated it can cause one-and-outis in the playoffs!

  5. The longest pass play of the game was given up by Williams. Shields ran down Jones from behind or he walks into the end zone. I don’t think Shields is only guilty party. Hayward stunk also. It was a team effort by the DBs.

  6. It would be tough for me to say whether Hyde or Hayward played worse. Between Tramon and Shields, who ever was covering Julio Jones played worse on that play. Clinton-Dix seemed a step late in coverage and run support in the 2nd half. Burnett seemed roughly okay, probably mostly because he played in the box a lot. House was up and down, but at least he had some ups.

  7. Actually what you have Is Caperrhea… when the defense plays like diarrhea running down your leg.

  8. The 2nd half of Monday nights game certainly was a flashback to 2011. If it repeats itself then I think we have a major problem on our hands and we’re going to be disappointed come January – again.

    BUT, apart from the 2nd half of SEA, ATL, NO and the 1st half aginst the CHI and NYJ, the D has done VERY well this year. Not average. Very good. I understand that is a fair amount of outliers, but it’s no more bad looking stuff than, say, DEN’s D, or NE’s D throughout the year.

    I think this article is wise. Let’s see how the D looks against the remaining 3 bad offenses. If we shut them down (and we should), I think we’re ok.

Comments are closed.