"Chips Report" From Packers' Divisional Round Loss to the Giants

Donald Driver had a record setting performance while Charlie Peprah had a forgettable day. But who else earned out weekly distinctions in the Packers' 37-20 loss to the Giants in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs.

Our weekly "Chips Report" will always include two blue chippers (outstanding, exceptional play), two red chippers (good, though maybe not great) and two cow chips (dud performances). From the 37-20 divisional round loss to the New York Giants...

Blue Chips

  • Donald Driver––Driver was easily the best  performer of the day with three clutch catches that covered a total of 45 yards. The first two receptions were key third-down conversions, two of only six on the entire day. The third reception went for a 16-yard touchdown from Aaron Rodgers in the fourth quarter that kept the Packers' hopes alive, however slim they were. Driver became the Packers' leading receiver in postseason history with 49 receptions, beating the only record previously held by Antonio Freeman (47).
  • Desmond Bishop––Bishop played well in all phases of the game. He put two crushing hits on Giants quarterback Eli Manning via the blitz. He broke up a pass in coverage. And he was part of a group that limited New York to 3.5 yard per carry. Bishop accounted for five tackles and showed he's an inside linebacker on the rise.

Red Chips

  • Mason Crosby––Crosby closed out the best season of his career with another solid performance. He went two-for-two on field goals, hitting from 35 and 47 yards. All three of his kickoffs that weren't onside kicks went for touchbacks. And he added two extra points. You can't blame Crosby for the questionable decision to go for the onside kick in the first half.
  • Ryan Pickett––After missing several games late in the season due to a concussion, Pickett showed his presence makes a ton of difference, especially defending the run. He made four tackles including one for a loss and was a big reason the Giants averaged only 3.5 yards per carry. One could make the argument that he put one pressure on Manning rushing the passer too. Brad Jones made the case that he deserved a red chip with a blocked kick and a sack.

Cow Chips

  • Charlie Peprah––Peprah might see Hakeem Nicks in his sleep. He was mostly at fault for the Giants first touchdown of the game by trying to throw a shoulder into Nicks and not wrapping up. Nicks bounced of the hit and went 66 yards to paydirt. Peprah was also part of the group in the endzone that allowed Nicks to catch the first half Hail Mary that might have been the "emotional dagger." The strong safety was continually a step late all day, allowing several passes in front of him and took a poor angle on a run by Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw that went for 24 yards.
  • Jermichael Finley––Finley caught less than 50 percent of the passes targeted for him, only four of nine. That's not to intimate that Finley was at fault for every incompletion thrown his way, but he had his fair share of dropped passes. And on the fourth quarter third-down incompletion late in the game, it appeared that both Finley and Rodgers were at fault: Finley for slowing down and Rodgers for a pass that was still off target even with Finley slowing down.
0 points
 

Comments (43)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Tony's picture

January 15, 2012 at 08:42 pm

Tram probably saved a buttload of money by Finley underachieving all year. And maybe have a more motivated tight end, too.

0 points
0
0
LACheez's picture

January 15, 2012 at 08:44 pm

Cow chip to the Packers season ticket holders for assuming that the Pack was going to win today, holding out for the Championship game, and selling their tickets to Giants fans. Seeing that much blue was not cool. Felt like when we won in Atlanta last year and Packer fans were cheering at the end of the game. Cold and depressed.

0 points
0
0
Chopper's picture

January 16, 2012 at 09:56 am

I agree that was the hardest thing to watch today.

0 points
0
0
JJB's picture

January 15, 2012 at 08:49 pm

Peprah needs a one way ticket out of GB. Nick please be ok. MM needs a cow chip to. His worst coached game as a Packer.

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:09 pm

pep is a solid backup but i don't want to see that guy starting on this team next year. it looks like collins will make his decision by march so we should know if he's coming back soon. i think after watching woodson today that he should move to safety and then we could draft a CB

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:12 pm

also, i thought mccarthy coached a decent game. i thought the early onside kick was a stupid call though. the giants were clearly ready for it

0 points
0
0
Jeremy's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:21 pm

Mike McCarthy will tell you that football games are won/lost during the week before. This one was lost during the three weeks before.

0 points
0
0
Brenda Jensen (from WI, watching in LA)'s picture

January 15, 2012 at 08:51 pm

I agree with the Blue Chips. Donald Driver made three terrific catches at clutch times in the game. I really hope he stays for another season. Yes, he's lost some quickness, but he can get YAC and he showed tonight that he still has amazing hands.

One person that wasn't mentioned amongst the chiops was Aaron Rodgers. Yes, there were a lot of drops. But Aaron Rodgers missed a lot of critical passes and never seemed in sinc with the offense. He was a cow chips alternate in my opinion.

0 points
0
0
asshalo's picture

January 15, 2012 at 08:57 pm

lot of terrible performances tonight, but with finleys contract talks, hes got to be gone. Sick of is drops

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:06 pm

i'm sick of the drops too but he has the ability to be a very good tight end if he learns how to run the correct routes and holds onto the ball. i would like to see him back but i wouldn't break the bank. i don't think many teams would pay him after the lackluster season he had this year. i think he's going to be good one day but he still has a lot of growing to do

0 points
0
0
maxginsberg's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:15 pm

Finley is a rare talent. His drops this year were mental; he'll get it sorted out. Give him some time and he may go down as one of the best.

0 points
0
0
John's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:34 pm

Totally agree with you. It would be a huge mistake to let Finley go. Other team must take him into account and that leave less coverage for others. Anyway who is going to replace him, Crabtree, Taylor, Williams? Please. He is young and only going to get better. I am glad TT the GM and not some of these posters:)

0 points
0
0
asshalo's picture

January 16, 2012 at 10:26 am

Just venting last night. In no way does Finley deserve an extension after this year, but the Franchise makes perfect sense. Unless the Thompson can somehow find a trade partner for Flynn in time to tag him, they can give Finley a cheap, low-risk second chance.

0 points
0
0
nerd's phone's picture

January 15, 2012 at 08:58 pm

At least we didn't lose to Tebow!

0 points
0
0
murphy's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:32 pm

Amen (heh).

0 points
0
0
Wenis's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:02 pm

@JJB

McCarthy coached pretty good today. You can't fault him for the offense coming down with fumblitis.

0 points
0
0
nerd's phone's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:27 pm

It's the coach's responsibility to get his team to play to it's potential for 60. MM's teams have never done this.

0 points
0
0
Dean's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:04 pm

Sad way to end the year. You can't beat ANYONE with 8 drops (1 a TD to Jennings), 3 lost fumbles, 1 overthrow of a sure TD to Jennings early in the game and a non-existent pass rush. Lousy fundamental play in all phases. A-Rod had an off game, but his runs helped extend drives. Otherwise, the score would have been much worse.

0 points
0
0
Cole O's picture

January 15, 2012 at 10:09 pm

To be fair the Packers got there own breaks as well such as the Jennings fumble and the personal foul on hit against Rodgers

0 points
0
0
Chip Soup's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:09 pm

Thanks Donald. I hope this wasn't a curtain call. TT should keep him just for the example he sets. Finley seems like he's trying too hard. I personally don't mind his antics, and would like to see him back, but not for a ton of cash and only if he can learn to play within himself.

0 points
0
0
maxginsberg's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:13 pm

Besides Driver, I was wondering who was going to get the other Blue Chip. Difficult day to determine the Blue and Red Chips.

0 points
0
0
PackRat's picture

January 15, 2012 at 09:31 pm

I remain very impressed by Desmond Bishop. Like many, I would like to see DJ Smith next to him--both play downhill.

No one is commenting on the season Tramon had--after an amazing year last year he was slow and non-dominating this year. With Shields getting burned by passes in front of him and then receivers running over him, the Pat Lee-Jarrett Bush backup tandem makes us vulnerable for the foreseeable future.

For one of the youngest teams in the league, the Packers looked older/slower on defense.

0 points
0
0
Cole O's picture

January 15, 2012 at 10:06 pm

If anyone wants to take a silver lining from this game is that defense still wins championchips. Two of the best passing Os ever are out thanks to some very good defenses. Hope Baltimore beats the Pats to make it three next week.

0 points
0
0
fish/crane's picture

January 15, 2012 at 10:15 pm

Kuhn fumble, Jennings fumble, Grant fumble, Rogers fumble......that is still hard to believe.

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

January 15, 2012 at 11:06 pm

it looks like they saved up all of their fumbles and had them in this game. i prefer to have them evenly spaced throughout the regular season :)

0 points
0
0
Barutan Seijin's picture

January 15, 2012 at 10:27 pm

Well, Cole, i look at it the other way. Obviously the Packers need a better D and i'd be happy if they were stouter on that side of the ball. That said, i love it when the Packers beat the defence-wins-championships Bears. And given the choice between seeing Flacco or Brady in the stupor bowl, i'll go with Brady.

0 points
0
0
Mojo's picture

January 15, 2012 at 10:40 pm

It's all about the pass-rush, or lack thereof. Get a consistent pass-rush and the secondary looks 100% better. Although the communication and tackling in the secondary was bad this whole year.

The Hail Mary was emblematic of how the secondary played this year. Despite the ball being in the air forever, the reaction by the DB'S was non-exsistent. It was like any other passing play. Pitiful.

0 points
0
0
TundraBoy's picture

January 16, 2012 at 12:13 am

Future is still bright but what a bad day!! What is up with Grant though. Either he runs like the first play of game or he runs timidly waiting for contact, With Giants poking at balls all day he just seemed pretty non chalant. Starks helped gets us going, is less predictable and I wonder why they did not leave him in. Not like he was not well rested. He looked great. Bishop and DD were only postives today as Woodson and whole secondary were pathetic

0 points
0
0
JeremeyJ's picture

January 16, 2012 at 12:41 am

Dont really care if Finley comes back any more..Why spend the money on him when somone else can do just as much as he did this season!

0 points
0
0
cow42's picture

January 16, 2012 at 07:04 am

where's RS?

people talk about finley like he's a rookie. he's been here a while. this very well may be who he is. if letting him walk (or at least test the fa waters) means being able to franchise flynn and trade him for a high draft pick or 2, then i'm all for it.

hopefully the stadium renovation involves putting a roof on. this looks like a dome team to me. ball looked to be slippery for the players on the Packers as opposed to the giants. anyone have any rodgers cold weather stats?

you can talk about 'windows still being open' or 'the future looking bright' all you want... i (of course) disagree. there was a lot of REGRESSION this season...

starks
shields
williams (whose older than you think)
woodson
mathews (people will argue this, i'm sure)
raji
zombo
walden
greene
hawk
finley (what has happened to his hands?)
sitton
peprah
CAPERS

that's a big list full of guys who's career arrows are currently pointing downward from their performances last season. not to say that some of them can't bring the direction of that arrow back up... but you can't assume that's gonna happen.

add to the fact that driver and clifton are probably gone and there are some big holes.

to be fair, there are players with upward arrows as well...

rodgers
nelson
cobb
lang
bulaga

can those guys make up the difference? and does anyone on the defensive side of the ball have an 'up' arrow?

0 points
0
0
cow42's picture

January 16, 2012 at 07:12 am

bishop! bishop's arrow is 'up'!
and possibly burnett's.

phew...
that makes me feel a bit better.

0 points
0
0
BubbaOne's picture

January 16, 2012 at 07:58 am

How exactly does an idiot know he's feeling better?

0 points
0
0
cow42's picture

January 16, 2012 at 09:04 am

why am i an idiot?

0 points
0
0
Bearmeat's picture

January 16, 2012 at 10:10 am

You're not an idiot Cow. You're just annoying because you are SO pessimistic.

IMO this outcome was unforseeable, so I'm not going to bow at your feet for being a chicken little all year.

If you'd told me that we'd lose a shootout, I'd have believed you. But not our O just completely sucking like this. That. Was. Shocking.

You are right about so many of the players arrows pointing down after last year. Everyone guns for you. But that ALWAYS happens to the defending champs. It makes what the Pats did in 03 and the Broncos in 98 that much more impressive.

The truth about so many players 'regressing' is probably somewhere in between the level achieved in 10 and 11.

JMike/Raji/Tramon/Shields/Sitton and some others should do better in the future - a permanent regression does not make any sense.

0 points
0
0
BubbaOne's picture

January 16, 2012 at 10:39 am

How many articles saying that tagging and trading Flynn is highly unlikely...on a par w/ you being accepted into Mensa...have to be written before believing them?

Even in jest, saying you hope the new renovations include a roof is moronic.

It's a common occurence player production falls off after winning a SB yet you seem shocked that this happened.

There's more but I think it would be lost in telling them to you. Plus I have more important things to do.

0 points
0
0
cow42's picture

January 16, 2012 at 05:29 pm

thanks for setting me straight, bubba.
it must be awesome to be right about everything.
i wouldn't know.
i'm always wrong.

fine - don't tag flynn... but don't give big $ to finley either.

fine - don't put a roof on Lambeau... but then put together a team that can play in cold weather (little bit of defense/ability to run the ball might help).

point #3 has me scratching my head... is it really common knowledge that players get worse after winning a super bowl? that always happens, huh?

could you show me some stats/proof, or should i just take your word for it?

0 points
0
0
Bog Blue Baby!'s picture

January 16, 2012 at 09:53 am

13-0 to start the season, and 2-2 to finish it. What a joke the Packers turned out to be this year. Total domination by the Giants and utter humiliation for the Packers, the only 15-1 team ever to not win a playoff game!

Go drown your sorrow in cheap Wisconsin beer and cheese turds, er, curds.

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

January 16, 2012 at 10:04 am

total class. i would expect nothing more from a giants fan

0 points
0
0
jack in jersey city's picture

January 16, 2012 at 10:07 am

p.s. GO 49ERS!

0 points
0
0
Bearmeat's picture

January 16, 2012 at 10:21 am

Hey Bog

Your team was hot. You beat us. Congrats.

Now that that's over I will say this:

NY runs hot and cold. You don't have the most talent, nor the best coaching staff. You somehow get red hot about 1 every 5 years.

Enjoy it now - cause it's not coming back for awhile.

Meanwhile, we'll be enjoying a shot at the SB every year for the forseeable future because we DO have the best coaching staff, the most talent, and the deepest 53 in the NFL.

Just remember this when you are out of the playoffs next year. That's all I ask.

0 points
0
0
wes mcallister's picture

January 16, 2012 at 06:39 pm

what a bunch of cry babies go giants
lots of giant fans in the stadium, nice fan base in GB lol

0 points
0
0
wes mcallister's picture

January 16, 2012 at 07:05 pm

if they could just learn to catch yes very deep lol

0 points
0
0
Big Blue Baby!'s picture

January 16, 2012 at 08:21 pm

I think the Packers got caught in the hype, to be honest. Do the commercials after the season. (Though maybe they shot the dumb insurance ones during the lockout; who knows?)

Packers were a great team this year, for 13-14 games. They got beat fair and square (even with the horrible referee hurting the Giants) by a team that has played better five of the past six weeks than it did just about all season.

I have no clue whether they can keep it going, but if you look at a team being able to get red hot for half a season or so and win it all (see Packers 2010-11), then the Giants might just redo the 2007-08 insanity.

Packers are once again a team with a target on its back because of how good they have been. So teams will gun for you and inevitably kick you a--. It happens. As a lifelong Yankees fan who has enjoyed the past 18 seasons with great joy (1994-2011), I know what it's like to root for a team that has great success and can end up with what we take for a bad year whwn they don't win it all (1997, 2001, 2003, 2004, etc.).

0 points
0
0