OFFENSE:
- Get the Tight Ends Involved Early To Open Up the Perimeter
The Panthers have a good, not great, Front Seven. The best player, of course, is Julius Peppers, who is having a much better year than he had last season and middle linebacker Jon Beason is an emerging young player who can not be overlooked. That said, his fellow linebackers Thomas Davis and ex-Packer Na’il Diggs can be taken advantage of in the Packers short passing game, especially if McCarthy gets the tight ends isolated on Davis or Diggs. Neither one is much good in coverage and Donald Lee or Tory Humphrey should be able to make significant gains on first and second down. This will also force Panther defensive coordinator Mike Trgovac to make the switch to having one of his safeties, most likely rookie Charles Godfrey, cover a tight end. Once that happens, Rodgers should be able to find Jennings or Driver with man to man coverage on the outside. Left corner Chris Gamble, who just this week signed a massive contract extension, is solid, but hear this - he can’t handles Driver one-on-one, much less Jennings. And if he does happen to blanket one or the other on a particular play, right corner Ken Lucas couldn’t handle either one of them last year in Lambeau and won’t be able to this year either.
- Run Power As Well As Zone
When the Packer running game has been most effective this season, it has been when McCarthy has sprinkled in a handful or power running plays to complement his zone blocking scheme. This was never more evident than the last game the team played at Lambeau against the Bears. (A good look at the difference happens to be on this highlight video. Forward to the 1:24 mark and you’ll see a classic zone run complete with Colledge getting off the double team at the perfect time to make sure he seals Urlacher. Then look at the 2:06 mark to see some classic man-on-man power run action.) McCarthy has started using some excellent power tosses to Grant where he has both John Kuhn and Jorey Hall lined up close together in the backfield. He would be wise to run a liberal amount of those plays straight at Peppers in the early going to wear down the world class pass rusher.
DEFENSE:
- Put Harris On Smith
Blasphemy!, I hear you cry. How can I advocate Al Harris taking Steve Smith over Charles Woodson after everything I’ve written this season about Woodson needing to be the number one corner? Well, Harris struggles against big, physical number one wide outs, which is why you saw Woodson on Colston most of last week. And while Smith is physical, he is definitely not ‘big’. In their past meetings, Harris has simply overpowered the diminutive receiver with brute force at the line of scrimmage. Given his incredible play since coming back, which seems to result from a pretty big chip residing on his shoulder due to the fact that he believes he won’t be back with the Packers next year (certain to be the subject of a future post) I think Harris is more zeroed in than he was when guys like Owens and Burress took advantage of his volatile nature last season. This time, it could be Harris who takes advantage of a volatile opponent in Smith, who is famous for his short fuse both on and off the field.
Ron La Canne said in November 30th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
