Give Colledge Some Credit
By Aaron Nagler on Dec 09, 2009 with 11 Comments
Daryn Colledge has gone from having his finest season in 2008 to having his poorest (and that’s saying something) in 2009 – but everyone who can should go back and watch the job Colledge did against the Ravens defensive line and Haloti Ngata in particular. Ngata is one of the best defensive tackles in the league, just an excellent player, and Colledge not only held his own but he flat out beat Ngata on nearly every play he was matched up with the former first round pick. Did Colledge completely stone him? Of course not. But watching the line play again last night when I got home from recording Transplants, I was just shocked at how well Colledge did.
If the Packers are going to continue this winning streak it will take unexpected, even hidden performances like the one Colledge gave on Monday night. It was an encouraging sign from a player that, up until now, has been a huge disappointment this season. Hopefully this is a sign of things to come…
Filed Under: Daryn Colledge
Colledge did have a good game, but I still feel Lang is better than Colledge and should be starting at guard. With our book ends having a strong possibility of going down with 4 games to go and a playoff run, Lang is going to get some serious playing time. Lang needs all the reps he can get. Colledge is better at coming off the bench than a rookie. In the short term you are putting your best lineman on the field. If one of the tackles goes down you put Colledge back at guard and insert Lang at one of the tackles.
It’s amazing what Mark Tauscher’s presence do to this OL. Since they don’t have to allways worry about compensating for the RT, quite the opposite, they can concentrate on their jobs, and be good at it. 9 sacks in the last 4 games, 5 in the last 3. Considering we had 36 in the other 8 games, those are very encouraging numbers.
Not only Tauscher’s presence, but MM’s gameplan correction, as well as Rodgers improvement in going to the checkdown receivers, and the improvement of the forementioned checkdown receivers, have completely revamped this OL.
I think the biggest help to the O-line is MM’s play calling and the fact that A-rod has a better pocket presence and time clock in his head. Barbre was just not ready for prime-time.
At LG colledge hasn’t been bad all season. His stint at LT is where most of his sacks given up came from. and in terms of run blocking the middle of the line has been pretty good most of the season. with some steady play at both tackle positions, it gives the guards more oppertunities to just focus on their jobs, and they have played better. I feel college was the scapegoat for cliftons early troubles and others at LT. Barbre was the weak link and he’s out of the rotation. Also rodgers getting rid of the ball quicker has had a HUGE affect on the O-line
I thought the line collectively played great on Monday. I watched the offensive side of the game again last night and keyed on the line play. A few times guys got beat but the remarkable thing was that this line really didn’t have a mental mistake. Not one time did a player rush free to Rodgers. The RB’s had a lot to do with that also. Colledge was also a beast in run blocking. Just a great night by the line. The did seem to have the most trouble with the off tackle or pitch out run plays. Just not an effective unit in that regard. I also don’t remember a screen pass being called all game but that may have to do more with how the Ravens were getting off the ball.
I think I heard his name one time Monday night when he either got a penalty or blew an assignment. Since I don’t “watch film” I am unable to fully critique his performance, but I trust your judgement.
I hope he does start doing better, so I can be proud of him playing for Boise State instead of embarassed.
Very interesting. College isn’t a player we here often about, but his performance was spectacular. Football is a team game, and everybody needs to pull their own weight to win every game.
BTW: The game on Sunday has been moved to 3:00 Central time. Wait, your CHTV. You probably already knew that
I don’t know if I chalk it all up to Tauscher, though undoubtedly he is a vast improvement over Barbre. The entire team has gone through a sea change since the Tampa debacle. Colledge is just one example of players who, at one time, were giving absolutely horrid performances and are now playing at least adequately.
If you praise Colledge, you also have to praise AJ Hawk, who was only in for a handful of plays a game at one point. Or even Josh Sitton, who had some rough games. How about Aaron Rodgers and the “holding the ball too long” issue? Ryan Grant suddenly able to wait for the holes to appear?
Kudos to Colledge, but there’s something deeper and team-wide afoot here. And that’s a good thing.
I’m scared! All four D limemen are on the injury list. Pcikett did not participate, the rest saw limited action.
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Colledge didn’t do bad Monday. LG might just be his position. Let’s hope they don’t have to keep moving him around.
If everyone on the D line is hurt, they always have Lang to put in at DE. Ok, probably not.