Gut Reactions: Week Two
By Aaron Nagler on Sep 13, 2012 with 108 Comments
- Clay Matthews is the star of this team right now.
- Mike Daniels, Dezman Moses, Jerron McMillian, Jerel Worthy – the rookies came to play.
- Cedric Benson is the best running back the Packers have had in years.
- Aaron Rodgers still hasn’t hit his stride.
- Tramon Williams is a stud.
- Jay Cutler is a whiny kid.
- Charles Woodson is a ninja.
- I hope the failed third and one’s (lead play out of the I formation and the fullback dive) shut up the Packers fans who lament the times when McCarthy spreads the field on third and short. They are not a line-up-in-a-power-formation-and-get-a-yard team. They just aren’t.
- BJ Raji finally showed up.
- James Jones’ effort on the Rodgers’ INT was pathetic.
- I’m glad Jay Cutler felt it necessary to wish the Packers’ cornerbacks “good luck”
- Trade Greg Jennings. Give me a break.
- Tom. Effing. Crabtree. How about the stones on McCarthy calling a fake field goal on 4th and 26?
- Hey Jon Rehor. Still Done With Dom?
- Tim Masthay has swung the special teams advantage firmly toward the Packers after years of Devin Hester killing the Packers.
- Charles Woodson’s interception was a thing of beauty.
- Capers’ plan for Brandon Marshall was fantastic. Mostly Tramon manned up w/a safety bailing at the last moment to cover over the top.
- Donald Driver’s touchdown dance was priceless.
- Bring on the Seahawks.
- The Bears Still Suck.
Filed Under: Featured • Gut Reactions
big time win. The offense hasn’t shown up yet this season so its very nice to see the D carry them for once. Let’s see it continue against a good offensive line.
Matthews is just awesome.
Clay was getting held every other play. Once, I swear, was for about ten seconds.
These refs are awful.
I think the refs must hate the new Jumbotron. How could they miss that?
Saw that. It was the play where Cutler scrambled to the left and picked up several yards. Even as he was passing Clay the dude was still holding him and all he could do was put his arms in the air while trying to break away.
Yes, how long does he have to extend his arms to show the refs he is being held? That was unbelievable. I think I counted to 11 seconds
After 3.5 sacks, my thinking is that the refs felt so sorry for Webb that they thought holding would put them on equal ground.
By the end of the game, Jamarcus Webb was just tackling clay from behind every play.
Also – give credit where its due. Aj Hawk had a very solid game today
Can’t fiqure out if Capers or Cutler should get the game ball. Well just give it to CM3 instead
Just give it to Cutler. He can hold onto it for a little bit and then I’m sure he’ll send it back
This needs more love. lol
or get sacked by CM3
+1
Awesome win. I know it was frustration when I made my comments about Capers (Done with Dom). And it was only one game. Perhaps the 49ers are just better, and the Bears arent all that great. Whatever Capers did on this short week, it was, well, genius? But, its two games. Lets see how it plays out in the next few weeks, to see how we really look.
For the first time in a full year, the defense played man coverage for a significant portion of the game – the kind where we don’t give a 10 yard cushion to the receivers every play and BAM! our defense looked decent. Way to go Dom…better late than never with the adjustments.
Also, Bush was out of the rotation and CB and Shields and Hayward both seemed to be significant improvements over #24.
This! Loved all the man coverage.
When our guys aren’t giving 10 yards of space when the play is 3rd and 7, I don’t have little tiny heart attacks, weird.
Top to bottom. Amen.
Exactly, the coverage scheme was much simpler and the players responded!
My feelings exactly, it was the whole package was fabulous.
Watching Cutler made me even more impressed with Rodgers and how quickly he gets the ball out. We brought pressure tonight, but Cutler hanging on to the ball helped out a lot.
credit coverage
The only thing missing this time was Cutler quitting.
i’m an idiot.
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offense still looks pretty crappy, though.
they will get it together eventually. they always have trouble against the bares
Not counting last year, I feel like it generally takes a handful of games for our offense to get into a rhythm. I still think there’s too much talent on offense for it to stay bottled up too long. Here’s to hoping at least…
But JerMike, what the crap?
Less JMike, more Driver.
dermike
Your penance is complete my son.
I’m also very worried about the O.
But now they have 11 days to correct.
Fabulous pressure on Cutler. Some of those sacks were pure coverage sacks. DB’s took Cutler’s challenge to heart and played a great game.
Yep.
So I guess Cutler is a great leader then?
“I hope the failed third and one’s (lead play out of the I formation and the fullback dive) shut up the Packers fans who lament the times when McCarthy spreads the field on third and short.” I still say there’s gotta be something better than chucking it 40 yards into double coverage or diving over Jeff Saturday into the teeth of the defense.
Yes. There is. Spreading it out and letting 12 pick a matchup or run with it.
Right. And watch the receiver drop the ball.
Sometimes convention becomes convention for a reason. There was a good piece in this year’s Football Outsiders Almanac on this precise issue (running the ball on third and short). I got to side with FO on this one.
I don’t really mind passing on third down, but do it from under center and not shotgun spread.
At least keep them honest with play action.
There is nothing wrong with siding with FO on this issue, but the Packers are a terrible power run team and a great spread team. Just because it’s a general rule doesn’t make it a universal rule.
Nah. That’s like say “we just not a good tackling team so we are going to try to stick to what we are good at instead.”
The Packers third down (in)efficiency rate was 28% last night. Who can see that number and think “yup, they are doing everything right!”
That should’ve been PA.
The John Kuhn play works when it’s not a team that has seen us run it 10000 times. Everyone knew it was coming.
I agree. Aaron is flat out wrong. Like we’ve all been saying, play the percentages. On this particular Green Bay team, run blocking is not a strength. So what should we do on third and one? Don’t throw a deep pass or run the ball! Our receivers are more than capable of picking up short yardage first downs.
Agree with Aaron here – 12 is generally a good decision-maker downfield. And we can’t ever seem to convert 3rd and short with the run. Whatevs, still feels a lot better than it did Sunday.
3rd and short, I would like to see Rodgers bootleg out with a pulled guard and Cobb on a short route. If the defender leaves Cobb he is wide open, if he stays with him, Rodgers can walk to the first down. Always send someone across the field deep in case the safety bites as well.
“I dream of getting sacked 7 times and throwing 4 picks”
We’ve got some dudes that, if you’re gonna get up in their face, even our speed guys are gonna get around them, and our big guys are gonna throw and go. And now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to start defrosting this crow…
- Cutler
He looked toasty during that press conference,
Re: third and short… I don’t think a data point of one proves much.
Third down efficiency is a major concern right now.
Hawk should have cut his hair years ago. Or dropped the weight. Or whatever he did that improved his game this year. And the rest of the D. What a different team. Reminded me of the 2010 Jets and Cowboys games. Loved it. Seriously, CMIII? Are you even human? I am almost glad we lost last week. Really pleased to see Rogers remaining patient, and McCarthy was just amazeballs for sticking with the run and rallying his offense with te fake FG. Christmas came early.
I told all of you not to jump off a cliff last Sunday.
Nor should you exult for too long this Sunday. The D looked great. Keep in mind the Bears OL wouldn’t hold mustard in Division 1 college football.
Great win. Lots of fun embarrassing the Bares. But it’s a long season.
Bears still suck indeed.
Today was one game. Still have 14 more to go. Consistent performance and improvement over that time would be nice before i begin to change my tune
Oh, boo who.
Consistent performance?? After you called for the head of Capers after 1 GAME??? And don’t feed me anything about last year’s team. New team, new players. EVERYONE needs a greater sample size before jumping to conclusions on the 2012 team.
Glad to see after 1 game you’re ready to call Capers the savior. Were you bashing your head against a wall after last week’s performance? How about all of last year?
But I forgot, after a Packers win its all roses and sunshine.
Whatever.
So 1 game serves to form a notion but 1 game doesn’t serve to disform it?
Ok then…
I’m not saying that this one game proves ANYTHING. My point has always been to gather an accurate sample size before making rash, sweeping statements. The guess here is that the Packers defense is not the rehash of 2011 many people concluded after the 49ers’ game and not the 85 Bears defense they appeared to resemble tonight. It’s not flashy but they are likely somewhere in the middle. The defense is young, Dom isn’t a relic or senile.
Packers fans are just smarter than this. We’ve won a Super Bowl with this core of people and let’s trust that the leadership in place knows what they are doing.
My post wasn’t directed to you.
My opinion is exactly the same as yours, as I’ve said it in John Rehor’s post “Done with Dom”.
This has nothing to do with me anointing anyone anything. This has to do with you being “Done with Dom” after one game into 2012. The defense was historically bad last year, not much denial in that. But one game into 2012 doesn’t seem to be enough information to make sweeping generalizations.
The difference in our assessment seems to exist in the definition of the problem. You seem to suggest that it’s the scheme (which has 3 years worth of evidence), while I believe it was the players (which with the current group has 2 games-ish).
PackersRS,
I actually picked that up after I posted. We seem to be on the same page here.
I didn’t catch it well enough, but how well did Perry play tonight? Was he creating trouble from the other side? Also did Bush play? Didn’t hear his name once!!!
Gonna have to change your nom de plume. Grrrrrr…….
I noticed Walden and Moses on the field quite a bit, Perry didn’t stand out to me. If Bush played, it wasn’t much, I don’t recall seeing him.
I believe Perry was benched for a significant portion of the middle of the game, but I have been wrong before.
Yeah, what’s up with that?
If I’m not mistaken he had Carimi beat out of the edge 3 times, Cutler avoided but 2 of them ended in sacks.
Offense struggles without Jennings need him back
D was great but DJ Smith is a huge liability in coverage. The Bears only O in the game was exploiting him (Forte in the first half and the TD pass). I think Francois deserves some more PT especially in passing situations. Overall great win, O will get on track next week and Cutler still sucks.
The best thing about this game was Nagler’s seoond gut reaction. A few of the youngins played well,
Thank God for Aaron Nagler ‘s Gut Reactions. This was a convincing defensive win. Keep it up Packers.
4th and 26. Something GOOD happened on 4th and 26… FOR US!
D looked great, should only get better with time. Something seems off on Offense. I know 85 was out, but even Rodgers looks a scoche off, not worried, the O will get in their groove.
We’ve played 2 very well coached, and talented teams. I feel very good about where the Pack is right now, they’re just going to improve as the year continues.
GBP 4 LIFE
I wonder how much his hand/arm were bothering him after they got rolled up on in the first quarter.
Good question.
I just have to say that the Tom Crabtree TD on the fake is historic. These Packers Bears games are remembered, and that play is one of those amazing plays that will be remembered. It will go right on the list of great plays of this historic rivalry. Welcome to history Mr Crabtree.
Totally. A lot of the bad bare losses I remember through the years, it seems like they had an epic ST play that turned the tide. Nice for us to have a memorable one!
They had that amazing one last year that got called back for a meaningless penalty, which was just so unfortunate…
Two weeks in a row, ST come up HUGE.
“They are not a line-up-in-a-power-formation-and-get-a-yard team. They just aren’t”.
Perhaps not but your chances improve dramatically when JOHN FATSHITCAT KUHN isn’t running the ball.
Or Ced Benson.
what a game ! leaves one exhausted.
Watched what we got here in Appleton of the
NFL network postgame show with Clay M as the guest….very funny when they gave him
the gift bag !!
So happy for Driver !!
A lot of people in WI did not get the game.
Must be some upset people..and I don’t blame them.
If this D continues and we can get great play from the rookies and Clay keeps getting to the QB. AND….. Our O flips the switch. WATCH OUT! That’s all I’ll say, WATCH OUT!
The fake field goal turned the game.
But damn, that was the most impressive defensive performance I have seen since the 2010 jets game. Not only Matthews (who looked like the beginning 2010 unstoppable CM3), but Walden, Raji, Daniels, Worthy, even Perry once he got back on the field later in the game were getting push and penetration. It was like a hurricane around Cutler. The young talent really came to play today. Hayward looked competent as well. Tramon and Revis are the best CB’s in the league when healthy. Just can’t say enough with how far the D has come in four days. Hawk played well also. Although DJ Smith is a liability in coverage the guy has a lot of positive plays … he is a player.
As for the offense. It was okay. I think Rodgers was playing it safe because he knew the D was playing so well. I still contend that without Jordy and Jones’ drops and the Finley fumble, we would’ve had two more TD’s. Not worried. Benson really looked good.
Overall, one of the most unanticipated and satisfying wins in sometime.
I still think, when our D plays like this, we are the best team in the league.
1) agree with Fitz on 4th and 26. This negates the other bad one that will not be recalled.
2) let’s cherish this d performance. But remember we still have rookies and growth. We will go up and down a bit. Don’t fall off a cliff when we are down. Just be patient.
3) classic bears pack. D all the way. Peanut is their Woodson. But they don’t have a tramon. Came down to special teams again.
4) love clay one on one. Thank you perry.
5) I predicted walden would a play bunch of snaps because of more experience with the d. This helped our 3-4 immensely in experience alone.
6) lomas brown equals Marshall and cutler
7) can we have Kuhn chip a bit more for newhouse ?
8) one day jermike will be on. I’m glad he’s being humbled. This will make him an awesome packer in the long run. Just dont let it cost us you cocky ef.
9) remember when special teams was a liability? Slocum……vindicated.
10) benson vindicated
11) can we lay off Woodson for awhile? His safety role will only become more awesome.
12) raji. You beast
Man BOHJ… I wish that negated the play that shall not be spoken of, but to me, that hurt so bad… I don’t think anything will ever cancel that out. Unfortunately.
Wrong Fitz. A 4th and 26 to win the SuperBowl in our favor will cancel that out.
It’s gonna happen this year.
I am copy/pasting my earlier response from the “Done with Dom” thread just to openly shame myself in a public forum for ever speaking poorly about my beloved Green Bay Packers.
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To trot out Sam Shields almost makes the counterpoint. There’s a guy who showed a flash of talent then basically regressed to the point where Jarrett Bush is a better option.
I’m still cursing the decision to draft Nick Perry over Janoris Jenkins. Our secondary is in shambles, and no amount of “develop” is going to fix it this year. Plain and simple: we do not have good players back there. Get your Pepto ready Packers fans, Cutler is going to shred us tomorrow night.
Did you see the athletic play Shields made to tip that pass? I’m telling you, you just can’t keep an athlete like that off the field.
Well played sir.
Jay Cutler strained a vocal cord screaming at J’Marcus Webb. He will be put on IR tomorrow.
Did we ever figure out what happened to Perry? He played the first series and then was out the rest of the half. After half-time he was back on the field.
Someone needs to teach our LB’s not to be flat footed while dropping in coverage on a TE. The touchdown this week was just terrible.
On a related note, how did Finley not get more open against a one-legged Urlacher?
Didn’t the bears sign the answer in a WR in the off season? Brendan Markswell i think was him name? I didnt hear many WR names called tonight.
Tramon Williams had as many catches as Marshall. Delicious.
this is the observation of the night.
(It’s OK Bears fans, you’ve still got the Cubs to cheer ya’ up.)
Not Rodgers best game afew balls sailed on him were a little high.(the deep pass to Nelson and the end zone to Jones)But it’s great to have a team were he does’nt have to be perfect for them to win.
Neither of these drops were on Rodgers.
I would argue that the Packers relative malaise on offense is a POSITIVE. They won tonight on the strength of the defense, and if we are in agreement that Rodgers and Co. will eventually hit their stride then look out!
I agree, Ct Sharp. Rodgers hasn’t looked like his 2011 self yet. Certainly some of the drops were drops but he threw plenty that couldn’t be put on the receiver.
As much as people like to criticize Finley, the high fastball over the middle wasn’t really his fault for not catching. Would’ve been highlight-reel if he had, though.
Moses was held on at least one play as well or he woulda been on our sack sheet….i mean stat sheet.
c-ben best RB of recent times?!?! How quickly can you forget Ryan Grant, give it a season at least, please?
Yeah, very un-Niffler-like statement.
Benson IS the best GB back since Ryan Grant of the last half of 07. Period.
Grant doesn’t make 80 yards on Thursday. He’d have run straight into the backs of our OL and not read the cutback lanes correctly.
I’d argue Benson looks better than any Packer back since Green. Right now.
It seems as though MM is testing Benson with different running plays but he sure seems most effective as a North-South runner going between the tackles.
Yeah Bout dam time. Play man. No more cushions. Just about got my wish. 28-3 lots of D .
THE BEARS STILL SUCK.