Looking at the game again last night, I confirmed something (in my mind, at least) that I had suspected after the Atlanta game.

Bob Sanders can’t design a quality defensive back pressure package. He CAN design a quality linebacker dog/blitz but doesn’t have any quality pass rushers at the linebacking position.

The worst offender is A.J. Hawk. He is simply dreadful when called upon to blitz from the line. If he comes free, he has a distant chance. If he is presented with any kind of resistance, forget it. He simply can not get around or shed any kind of block. He GIVES UP. Let me get this straight - he can’t cover. He can’t rush the quarterback. And we made him the 5th overall pick in the draft? Yikes.

Hawk is not alone, of course. For all the talk of Poppinga’s talent as a pass rusher, after all the puff pieces this summer about how the coaching staff was putting in new packages where Brady could show off his pass rushing prowess, we’ve gotten as much production from Poppinga in rushing the quarterback as we did last year. Namely - zippo. And don’t even get me started on Barnett, who has just forgotten how to play the game.

And then there are the defensive backs. Go back and watch the Atlanta game and then watch the Tennessee game again. Every time Sanders sends Woodson or Williams, a glaring hole is left in the coverage that both Matt Ryan and Kerry Collins easily exploit for big gains. It’s like Sanders just doesn’t take into consideration that offenses can adjust their routes on site. (Note to Bob: Ask your Head Coach about this. His offense does it all the time) I mean, pull up a seat and grab your popcorn when you see a Packer defensive back rushing the quarterback. It’s Amateur Hour!

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• Woodson Should Be Number One

Just love this, from the Green Bay Press Gazette:

“No. 21 (Charles Woodson) stayed on the field and rather than go out there and have an argument because the clock was ticking, 21 said he’s going to stay and go try to get it because he’s been a field-goal blocker in the past,” Stock said. “So he just said he would take his rep.”

When asked if Woodson has that authority, Stock said: “Well what are you going to do? The clock’s running. You can’t go out there and argue.”

However, there was time to get Bush onto the field if the Packers wanted to because McCarthy called a timeout in an effort to ice Bironas.

“He wanted to stay and do the job,” Stock said of Woodson.

Now if only Woodson could waive him off the final 53…

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• Look For Martz To Come Out Gunning

Lots of people have noticed the handshakes that the secondary extended each other yesterday after both Woodson and Williams’ interceptions. (Indeed, after bellowing “picked off by Woodson!” at the top of her lungs yesterday, my wife described the displays by giddily informing me that “They’re doing an English Gentleman’s handshake!” - it was truly adorable to see her excitement)

This “celebration” was seemingly started by Woodson in the Detroit game, where I noticed he very sensibly shook hands with his teammates after both his pics. After yesterday’s game, the thinking behind it was illuminated by Charlie Peprah:

It was a business trip so we had business-like handshakes.

Love it. Here’s hoping they’re all shaking hands at away games as the year goes on…

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• The Woodson Quandry

Charles Woodson should be assigned to cover Terrell Owens when he lines up both out wide and in the slot on Sunday night. Al Harris will be eaten alive (again) by T.O.

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• Woodson Should Be Number One

Charles Woodson has a fractured toe. Apparently, he still plans to play on Sunday. We went through this last year with Woodson, who had toe problems the second half of the season (he only missed one game because of it) but his play dropped off noticeably from the beginning of the season.

Not what you want to have happen to your best corner when you’re about to play at the injury-house known as Ford Field.

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• Woodson Waived Off Bush

I’d like to take a quick break from pointing out all the things the Packers need to work on and single out Charles Woodson’s inspired play from Saturday night. Not just his interception, which was freelancing at its finest, but his very presence on the field. He and Harris completely shut down the receivers for the 49ers, and it was no coincidence that when Woodson and Harris left the line up, the 49ers had exactly zero points.

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• Woodson Waived Off Bush

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

They need a guard. And a defensive end. Not to mention a tight end and a linebacker. But the Green Bay Packers need nothing more than a infusion on talent at the position of cornerback. Not safety, cornerback.

Take a look at this excellent research compiled by the guys over at Footballoutsiders. (For an explanation of their methods and mission, and how their numbers are much more useful than mostly meaningless conventional statistics, please read here.) They break down not just team defensive ranking as a whole, but also how each defense fared in 2007 against different offensive positions. (#1, #2 and ‘Other’ WRs, TE’s RB’s, ect.) As you all know, I’m by no means a stat geek, but I found the positional breakdown very telling. I’ve had more than a few small arguments with my co-host of Packer Translplants regarding the dismal play of our #3 CB over the course of the year. Corey seemed to echo McCarthy’s argument that, when your #1 and #2 corners are as good as Harris and Woodson, of course the opposing team is going to go after the #3. And that might well explain SOME of the following but not all - Only one team in the entire NFL was worse against #3 and #4 wide recievers than the Green Bay Packers. (The Vikings were the worst). Now, as I said, some of that is due to the fact that the Packers #1 and #2 are so good. (Though thank goodness the chart only takes the regular season into account. Goodness knows how much Green Bay may have dropped against #1’s if they had included Harris’ playoff run-in with Plaxico Burress…) But a lot of it has to do with some pretty poor play from both Jarrett Bush (who I think is sub-standard at best) and Tramon Williams (who I think gives great effort but just doesn’t have the tools necessary to be a good cover guy).

With both Harris and Woodson getting up in years, and nothing in reserve behind them, it would seem obvious that Thompson needs to be proactive both in the draft and in free agency to stockpile more talent in the defensive backfield. Perhaps Will Blackmon could provide some help, but until he proves he can stay healthy for more than the opening kickoff, the team simply can’t count on any realistic contribution there.

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