"Chips Report" From Packers Win Vs. Bears
Erik Walden had fantastic outing and Bryan Bulaga fared poorly, but who else earned our weekly distinctions following the Packers' 10-3 win over the Chicago Bears on Sunday?
Our weekly designations from the Green Bay Packers' 10-3 win over the Chicago Bears...
Blue Chips
- Erik Walden–What a way to get noticed! Showed good athleticism by running down plays and hustling to get sacks. He tied for the team lead in tackles with 11, had two sacks for 19 yards and two more quarterback hurries. Also did a good job in pass coverage making a couple tackles short of the first-down marker. You can tell he's starting to feel more comfortable in the Packers defense, and at the same time, the coaching staff is having more confidence in him by moving him around the field and asking him to do different things.
- Tramon Williams–He probably wouldn't have been blue chip status on his defense or special teams play alone, but taken together, he continued his string of solid play that's lasted all season long. His 41-yard punt return was arguably the most explosive play of the day. On defense he didn't have any interceptions, but his value came from nearly stonewalling Bears wide receivers. Aside from Rashied Davis, Bears wideouts only had one reception all night long. Williams did tally one pass break up.
Red Chips
- Tim Masthay–Did a great job in preventing Devin Hester from hurting the Packers. Masthay had eight punts for a 43.5-yard gross average and a 36.6 net, but his biggest value was his four punts placed inside the 20-yard line. Had a long punt of 56 yards.
- Charles Woodson–There's plenty of other candidates including A.J. Hawk, Nick Collins and Charlie Peprah, but Woodson gets it for the variety of ways in which he helped the team. His standout moment was probably his fourth-quarter sack of Jay Cutler, but also broke up three passes and had six tackles.
Cow Chips
- Bryan Bulaga–With three penalties on the evening, it wasn't Bulaga's finest moment. Also primarily responsible for one of the Bears' sacks. Bulaga isn't the only one to blame, but Rodgers was flushed from the pocket too often than than comfortable on Sunday.
- James Jones–Jones had one dropped pass, but makes the "cow chip" list more so for being a non-factor on offense on a day they could have used him. Only had a single catch for eight yards.
Comments (40)
January 02, 2011 at 10:30 pm
I had Walden for three sacks...but oh well, maybe I gave him a gift. Regardless, he was my DPOG. ARodg was my OPOG and he didn't get much help from his playmakers (what's up with GJ dropping another TD pass?...)
January 03, 2011 at 09:02 am
I had him for three as well... maybe 2.5
January 02, 2011 at 10:30 pm
I'd give Mashthay a blue chip for an outstanding job at not only keeping Hester from having a chance to return one, but for pinning the bears inside the 20 four times, particularly given the weather.
January 03, 2011 at 02:52 pm
I concur WRT Masthay should be a blue chip.
January 02, 2011 at 10:35 pm
Agreed on everything, except I would have put Masthay as a Blue Chip. Walden was awesome, my only quibble would be his first sack, when he came untouched from Cutler's blind side, he could have gone for the strip and stopped the Bears from getting their field goal, which (assuming nothing else changed) would have given them a shutout. But that's really being picky.
Kudos to Lovie Smith for keeping the starters in and making a game of it. I think the football gods will reward him (hopefully not as much as they rewarded the Giants a few years ago when they tried to keep NE from going 16-0 in the regular season when they had nothing to gain). I actually gained some respect for the Bears today, and that's saying something!
January 02, 2011 at 11:25 pm
Norman,
If we're talking about the same play where you think Walden should have gone for the strip while sacking Cutler, I think if you get the chance to watch it again you'll find that Walden does make an attempt to chop down on Cutler's upper arm and slide down his forearm to his hand.
However, Cutler was pretty wily, when he felt Walden closing in, at the last possible second, he quickly transfers the ball to his other hand- the exchange obscured from Walden's view. Walden ended up with the equivalent of an air ball in his strip attempt.
January 03, 2011 at 10:12 am
Oppy,
I think we're talking about two different plays. I just watched again, it's at 5:01 remaining in the second quarter. Walden has a clean shot to go for the arm but he goes up high, around the shoulder pads, and makes no attempt to swat the ball or pin Cutler's arms as he takes him down. And Cutler doesn't move the ball to his other arm. Watching again I'm fairly certain he could have forced a fumble if he tried, but again, I'm being picky. Happy with the sack and holding them to a field goal.
January 02, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Who's your frontrunner for DPOY Brian?
Brian Carriveau
January 02, 2011 at 10:43 pm
Matthews just might get it.
January 02, 2011 at 11:25 pm
I think that injury slowed him to much but could be in the running
January 02, 2011 at 11:36 pm
Let's hope so. He definitely let some other guys get in the conversation.
January 02, 2011 at 10:37 pm
Masthay gets my game MVP. TWO downed inside the 5. That's great in ANY game, but INSANE against the Bears. He really only gave Hester one somewhat returnable punt. GREAT game by Masthay.
January 02, 2011 at 11:27 pm
not just two inside the 5, but two punts downed on the 3 yard line- on back to back punts.
Just an amazing performance by Masthay today, and a nod to the coverage teams as well.
January 02, 2011 at 10:40 pm
Four (all four) flags on Bulaga.
January 02, 2011 at 10:52 pm
I thought the holding call was kinda weak...but $#!+ happens...
January 02, 2011 at 11:13 pm
He's been a surprise and an overall asset. My point is what are the chances that a single team is flagged four times and all by the same player?
January 02, 2011 at 10:44 pm
I have to admit I was very nervous on the last Bear's drive. I figured if they scored a TD they would go for two (no way they want to go to OT and what do they have to lose). And after getting burned on a two point conversion in the Rose Bowl, I had visions of a nightmare football weekend coming down to two two-point conversions going against my teams.
Thanks Cutler, and thanks Nick Collins (but drop to the ground after the pick, don't try to be a hero and return it...). And thanks to whoever applied the pressure (I forget who that was). I can rest easy tonight.
January 03, 2011 at 09:37 am
Just posted the same thought in a different thread. I definitely think they would have gone for 2. I hate them for it, of course. But if the roles were reversed, I would be cheering the Packers for doing the same thing.
January 02, 2011 at 10:52 pm
Agree on all counts, except I would add all the WRs to this. Too many drops by them all year. They had a lot of let downs tonight.
I'm really hoping Jenkins is back next week. This defense matches up much better against the run and containing vick with him on the team. I really like our potential with so many impact players on defense (Williams, Woodson, Collins, Matthews, Raji, Jenkins).
Also Sam Sheilds may be the most talented person on the defense. I'm amazed at his positioning. If he learns to anticipate the ball better, everything the coaching staff says about him will come true
January 02, 2011 at 11:15 pm
Here's to TT. What a FA find.
January 02, 2011 at 11:24 pm
Blue Chip to "The Dom" & the D for keeping us in this game.
Red to MM for his Unimaginative play calling on goal to go & any third down & three or less yards.
January 02, 2011 at 11:31 pm
Um, I thought the "Fake QB Sneak-to-HB Pitch" play call was anything but unimaginative. IMO, that call was not only very creative, but was a sure-fire, no touch, sunday walk-in TD if Rodgers tossed a better ball.
Tough crowd, I guess.
PackerAaron
January 02, 2011 at 11:40 pm
Could not agree more.
January 02, 2011 at 11:45 pm
Right.
January 03, 2011 at 05:13 am
It was the right call to make unfortunately didn't come off. We will see that play again i think.
January 03, 2011 at 06:38 am
Disagree on that crazy fake sneak play. That play very easily turns into 6 the other way. The setup has a backwards lateral, a QB running into the DL, and is similar to a swing pass type of throw.
January 03, 2011 at 12:07 am
Gotta disagree with the blue chip for Walden. He was great rushing the passer and solid in coverage but he got abused in the run game. His play at the POA was the biggest weakness on our defense today. The Bears were racking up the yards rushing right at him. Luckily they went away from it for some reason. I don't mean to take away from what was a very good game for him but his play against the run was terrible and should knock him down to red chip at best IMO.
PackerAaron
January 03, 2011 at 12:11 am
I don't think it was "terrible" throughout the game though. Yes, it was ugly in the first half. But I thought he made a nice adjustment in the second half, making sure to at least try and set the edge, whereas in the first half he kept jumping inside.
January 03, 2011 at 12:27 am
I agree it was "better" in the second half. Better being a relative term. It was still very far from good though. If I'm the Eagle's OC the film he's put up the last few weeks against the run has earned him the chance to see Shady McCoy heading right at him about 15 times next week though. His play at the POA is clearly IMO the biggest weakness on our defense right now and nothing else is really close. Don't mean to take away from what he did in the other areas but I can't ignore that
PackerAaron
January 03, 2011 at 09:34 am
Again, go back and watch the second half. Again and again you see them try to run Forte right at him and almost every time he keeps contain and shuts down the play. Watched this specifically again last night. I think you're being a bit hard on him, but given his first half performance I can understand why.
January 03, 2011 at 10:33 am
I mentioned this in the post-game chat with Carriveau. I think Walden had a tough time covering the edge in the first half, but he seemed to keep contain better and not get sucked inside in the second half.
Additionally, it's not like there is anyone else who can play better than Walden at that position. Zombo had the same issues in the run game when he was active. I'd rather stick with Walden and use Zombo on special teams than allow Zombo to start Sunday's game.
January 03, 2011 at 12:14 pm
Walden played the run very well. The times they got outside had much more to do with the responsibliites of the OLBers in the scheme and the role of the safeties, corners and ILBers. If you watch the game closely, the Packers actually had Walden spilling the ball wide to a scrapping ILB. It may look like Walden got blown up but he was actually executing the scheme very well. The ILBs were slow to scrape and the safeties were late filling the alley on some of those runs. I think Walden did a heck of a job playing the run.
Brian Carriveau
January 03, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Paul Ott Carruth is exactly correct. It wasn't always Walden's job to contain, sometimes it was the job of the safeties, including on Forte's 27-yard run.
PackerAaron
January 03, 2011 at 01:17 pm
Be that as it may, there were certainly times in the first half where you can see him taking false steps inside and then trying to recover. That disappeared in the second half.
January 03, 2011 at 12:11 am
Greg can't be dropping balls like that next week, and I was so happy to see NickyC with that pick he deserved it! That's what pro bowlers do.
January 03, 2011 at 12:35 am
How about everyone's favorite Jarret Bush, locating the ball in the air and actually catching it at the 2 yard line. Give credit where credit is due
January 03, 2011 at 01:12 am
Masthay & Bush were great on that play. You can't do much better than that. Masthay was superb tonight.
January 03, 2011 at 09:40 am
I feel like that's a play (downing a punt near the goal line) that the Packers always mess up. Awesome to see them execute it to perfection not once but twice.
January 03, 2011 at 03:29 am
The Bears still suck. My minimum acceptable performance for the season has been reached. Anything good that comes out of playoffs is PURE FROSTING.
GO PACK GO!
January 03, 2011 at 01:45 pm
Props to those who mentioned Jarrett Bush. He did a nice job yesterday on special teams.