Bob:

Watched Eagles and Steelers preseason games last night. I noticed something that you need to take on board. Both Jim Johnson and Dick Lebeau blitz extensively during preseason. You know why? Because they want their players to be good at it. Going back and watching the Bengals game, you blitzed three or four times, and you know what? Your players are really, really bad at it. Way too much dancing. And that’s down to coaching. And the scary thing is, it’s not just timid third string cornerbacks (Though Will Blackmon blitzing is an UGLY sight) but even your top flight starters. Going back to tape from last year. AJ Hawk, on more than one occasion, runs across the line, meets a blocker, does a little two-step, and then proceeds to hug him. Conversely, when Brian Dawkins rushes the quarterback, he blows people up. Now some of that is on the player and his physical desire, but most of it is on you. You’ve got to coach these guys up on the blitz, and then let them loose during the remaining preseason games. You’ve got to do it. Because right now, your players blitz like they’re in non-contact practice drills.

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• What I Don’t Get…

Mike Mcarthy is talking, but I’m not listening.

Coach is quoted as saying, regarding Grant playing tonight:

If he can go, I would like to see him go

No you wouldn’t.

You’re telling me McCarthy is going to play Grant on a gimpy hamstring for a meaningless preseason game, but would NOT play Kabeer or Woodson against the Cowboys in a regular season game with playoff positioning hanging in the balance? Right.

Also, reports say that Al Harris’ back has acted up, so I would be shocked to see him on the field tonight in anything other than street clothes. This is actually a great development for the short term, as it should give the defensive coaching staff a good look at guys like Tramon Williams, Will Blackmon and Jarrett Bush against Cincinnati’s stellar wide receiver duo of Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh. I’m also hoping Patrick Lee gets some looks with the number ones. As I wrote after Family Night, the kid has the goods.

However, long-term the idea of Harris’ back is extremely troubling. It’s an injury he dealt with all year last year, without ever missing a game. As anyone with a football IQ could tell, Harris really struggled against the more athletic number one receivers he faced. He needs to be at one hundred percent (and yes, I know the shop-worn platitude that no football player is ever at one hundred percent - you know what I mean) for Sanders to trust his coverage enough to send waves of blitzers at the quarterback. Otherwise, we may see the Packers’ new ‘Full Onslaught’ mentality put back on the shelf before it’s even out of the box.

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• The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

Excellent commentary from Dennis Dillon over at Sporting News. Dillon writes:

With Favre around, the defense was like a kid brother. Now, it has to be more like the man of the house.

That pretty much nails it.

Word out of camp so far is that the Packers are experimenting with a lot of different defensive alignments, with a 3-3 and a 2-4 being spotted on Friday. (Which makes sense, seeing as how 2 healthy defensive linemen seems to be all the Packers have)

The Packers themselves are not being secretive about the switch in emphasis. (Check out the players featured on the top banner on the team’s official website - Kampman, Harris, Barnett, Woodson, Hawk) As Dillon notes, McCarthy has preached not only to the public but to the team itself that the 2008 Packers are going to be a squad that suffocates opponents on defense and that has an offense that can hold the ball and produce points.

Now, this is all well and good in August before even a single preseason game has been played. But I have said time and time again, everything comes down to Bob Sanders. (That sound you just heard was Corey’s head exploding) If Sanders can find it somewhere deep inside his conservative nature to dial up a much more creative game plan, the talent is there for this defense to be overpowering.

One of the key things to watch for is how the Packers disguise their intentions pre-snap. Last year they were awful, with designated rushers declaring themselves far too early in the snap count over and over again. Anytime an opposing quarterback played the Packers and encountered one of their rare blitzes, they simply had to find their hot read and deliver the ball. McCarthy hinted this week that he may have noticed this deficiency when he said:

I really like the way they were disguising their pressures and so forth. We were 85% (blitz) in the team periods.

As I stated back during OTAs - Bob Sanders needs to show me. His track record the last two seasons makes it extremely difficult to believe such a drastic overhaul is in the works.

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• Top 5 Seattle Game Thoughts

The latest from Bob McGinn about Michael Montgomery is extremely encouraging on many levels. The thrust of the piece is about Montgomery, but the real point of interest is the fact that the Packers brain trust are taking a cue from the Giants defense of ‘07 and playing with moving their defensive ends inside on passing downs, putting four defensive ends on the field, much like the Giants and their ‘Ace’ formation last year. (To be fair, Jenkins was already moving inside on passing downs, but he was a defensive tackle before he was moved to end)

More and more, things are pointing to a much more creative approach on the defensive side of the ball, which shows that McCarthy is not blind to the shortcomings that were apparent to almost everyone. (Especially Kevin Gilbride) Now it’s simply a matter of Packer fans holding their breath, hoping Bob Sanders is up to the task of presiding over a creative, multi-faceted defense.

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• File Under: Show Me

The Packer’s announced today that they have given Brady Poppinga a four year contract extension, including a $4.3 million signing bonus.

This is great for both Poppinga and the Packers. Even with the signing of Brandon Chillar this offseason, I expected Poppinga to win the starting strong side linebacker job, and it would seem the Packers do as well. I know he has his weak points (see: Tight Ends, Covering Of…) but he really came on towards the end of last season and had just a stellar game against the Giants in the NFC Championship game. There have even been rumblings that Poppinga may be used a bit at defensive end on passing downs, which makes sense if Sanders swings Jenkins inside. I wouldn’t be surprised to see something along the lines of what the Giants were doing last season with 4 defensive ends on the field at one time, what they called their ‘Ace’ package.

Overall, it’s good to see the Packers keeping good players in the fold, especially ones that fit their scheme so well and that have proved loyal and willing to do whatever is asked of them for the betterment of the team. Remember, when Chillar was signed, Poppinga didn’t disparage the team or Chillar - he welcomed him into the fold and relished the competition. That’s the kind of guy you want in your locker room, and the Packers have ensured he’ll be in theirs for the next four years.

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• Jim Corbett/USA Today Get It Right

I am an Al Harris fan. Always have been. But the time has come for Bob Sanders to put Charles Woodson on the opposing teams best wide receiver.

Writing in today’s Green Bay Press Gazette, Pete Dougherty quotes Ted Thompson regarding Harris and his performance against Plaxico Burress in the NFC Championship Game:

I thought that was a day where one guy had a heck of a game, but I don’t think it was necessarily an indication that Al’s skills have diminished…A lot of those plays were bang-bang, and the other guy made some plays. We’re not overly concerned about that.

What Thompson fails to mention is that Harris’ failure against Burress was more a mental breakdown than a physical one. Just as he did against Terrell Owens the month prior, Harris allowed the player across from him to dictate his emotions and get him out of his game. Time and again you can see Harris and Burress jawing back and forth both before and after plays. The same thing happened against Terrell Owens. Harris simply gets so jacked up for these big-time matchups that he seems incapable of keeping his cool, and against these elite talents, it costs him. Big time.

So Sanders should matchup the much more levelheaded Charles Woodson on the oppositions’ number one wide receiver. Woodson’s cover skills are just as good, if not better, and he has shown an uncanny ability to bounce back after a bad play and, for whatever reason, a better temperament for dealing with the baiting and the trash talking that the best number one wide outs all seem to engage in.

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• Woodson and Harris Get Their Wish

Believe it or not, the Packers have bigger problems than Brett Favre heading into 2008. (And boy did it feel good not typing that name even once in that last post…) If you think about it, however the Favre drama plays out, the Packers will have added value to their team that wasn’t there last month, whether it be the addition of Favre’s playing services or an extra draft pick or two.

No, the bigger problem for the Packers is the fact that their defensive line could be in big trouble in 2008. Johnny Jolly’s issues, coupled with KGB and Justin Harrell’s injury problems, on top of the loss of Corey Williams, leaves the strength of the defense in 2007 in a precarious position. Despite the reports that the Packers will be blitzing more this season, the defense is still run by Bob Sanders, who never met a vanilla scheme he didn’t like. And all those vanilla schemes need exceptional play up front, and right now, ‘exceptional’ is not a word I’d apply to anyone on Green Bay’s defensive line other than Aaron Kampman and Ryan Pickett.

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