"Chips Report" From Packers Week 13 Win vs. Giants
Donald Driver had two touchdowns on the day and Marshall Newhouse was abused at left tackle, but who else earned our weekly distinctions in Green Bay's victory over New York?
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 Week 13 win over the New York Giants...
Blue Chips
- Jordy Nelson––Every catch Nelson made was a lesson in route running, body control, foot placement and ball security. He made his living along the side, seemingly every catch made by tip-toeing along the sideline. Though he was limited to four catches, he made each catch count taking them for a combined 94 yards. His final catch for 27 on the Packers' last possession of the game helped set up Mason Crosby's game-winning field goal.
- Donald Driver––On a day when Packers' receivers were dropping balls left and right, Driver caught every pass targeted for him. He only caught four, but two went for touchdowns. A third was caught along the sideline for a first down, which required a replay to confirm whether he kept both feet in bounds. The veteran still has it.
Red Chips
- Clay Matthews––Matthews was the only Packers putting a rush on Eli Manning. Most of him damage came in the first half when he deftly intercepted a pass intended for Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw in the flat and took it to the house. He followed that up with a second-quarter strip-sack of Manning that was recovered by B.J. Raji. Matthews finished with two tackles and two quarterback hits on the day.
- Aaron Rodgers––Rodgers finished with a season-low 106.2 passer rating, due mostly to completing only 28 of 46 passes. Dropped passes certainly were a factor. But the passes he did complete went for 369 yards. The drive he directed that set up the fourth-quarter game-winning field goal can only be described as "surgical." That alone is worthy of the red chip. Tim Masthay deserved consideration for red chip too after each of five punts were downed inside the 20.
Cow Chips
- Charles Woodson––The Packers came into the game with their defense having the fewest penalty yards in the entire NFL. On Sunday Woodson was flagged for two times for 20 yards, one for illegal contact for five yards and another for roughing the passer for 20 yards. He also was beat by Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks for a third-quarter touchdown that pulled the Giants within four points. It tough to blame Woodson for being injured and having to leave the game, but his replacement, Jarrett Bush, gave up a fourth-quarter reception that set up the Giants' game-tying touchdown.
- Marshall Newhouse––The Packers have Newhouse plenty of help, chipping in with tight ends and running backs. Whenever he was isolated, he was abused by Giants pass rushers including Jason Pierre-Paul and Dave Tollefson. The Giants put six quarterback hits on Aaron Rodgers on the day. They weren't all Newhouse's fault, but he was exposed when he didn't have help. Charlie Peprah deserved consideration for a cow chip after the Packers gave up several deep passes and the Giants threw for 347 yards.
Comments (73)
December 04, 2011 at 08:30 pm
I'd give Finley a cow chip too. He keeps dropping catchable balls and blames everyone but himself. Kinda tired of it.
December 04, 2011 at 08:36 pm
Finley was abysmal. Drive killer. Nearly cost us the game.
December 04, 2011 at 08:46 pm
When did he blame others but himself?
December 04, 2011 at 08:53 pm
+1.
Also, I noticed a distinct lack of show-boating. Yes, I get that he dropped a couple of passes that he should have caught. But I'm seeing a different level of professionalism, and I think he will get better. He made several key catches today.
He's to hoping Quarless is o.k.
December 04, 2011 at 08:57 pm
Show-boating was evident after his TD reception. He needs to knock off the 'look at me' crap.
December 04, 2011 at 09:02 pm
Wasn't he making some kind of comments about how the QB needs to get better passes to him or some nonsense like that?
December 04, 2011 at 09:06 pm
I haven't heard about it...
December 04, 2011 at 09:34 pm
NO... His comments to the press this week were more along the lines of saying he needs to get his chemistry back with A-Rod. He said nothing about the quality of the throws.
December 04, 2011 at 10:33 pm
Seemed like if he didn't catch it he was looking for the flag every time no matter what.
December 04, 2011 at 10:38 pm
It did seem to me he was getting mugged.
December 04, 2011 at 10:51 pm
Yep, because the refs had different criteria for both teams regarding contact after 5 yards.
December 04, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Can't tell if you're serious or not and I was unfortunately busy so I couldn't want the game with 100% attention - but what little bits I did see seemed like the refs were allowing more downfield contact from the Giant's DBs than ours.
Then again I usually try to be impartial but, of course, I'm a huge homer
December 05, 2011 at 02:32 pm
Oh, it's definitely getting old.
Didn't start off well after he told the Press Gazette his dropsies were because he lacked chemistry with "the quarterback." Hey, pal, his name is Aaron and you're dropping balls because you're dropping balls.
Then he continually whines that he was held, that there was interference, that the dog at his lunch, that there was a second gunman on the grassy knoll.
So sick of his primadonna mediocrity. Totally understand why Jordy got the contract extension and Finley is stewing in his own juices.
December 04, 2011 at 10:12 pm
i was at the game and finley really stood out as being a candidate for a cow chip. there's NO WAY this guy deserves to be the highest paid tight end in the NFL. he really needs to step up his game and make those easy catches.
December 05, 2011 at 02:34 pm
he also needs a heaping dose of Grow the Heck up.
December 04, 2011 at 08:31 pm
Aaron "clutch gene" Rodgers. That is all.
GBP 4 LIFE
December 04, 2011 at 10:41 pm
Nice jab. :D I'm positive Skip will find SOMETHING about Rodg in this game to convince us and his delusional and/or brilliant self (I mean, he's famous for saying stupid, ignorant crap every single morning) that he "just hasn't shown us enough, yet." I mean, he's no Tom Brady or Tim Tebow...
In all seriousness, I don't think he started off so hot. This was a massive, clutch win, and while the drops AND THE REFS almost threw this game away, he came through and pulled it together, late. Bring on the Rrrray-das!
December 04, 2011 at 10:52 pm
"But it's one drive only."
December 04, 2011 at 08:37 pm
Jordy wanna be a thug.
what a man
December 04, 2011 at 08:49 pm
Aaron Rodgers is very good. All-time good.
Jordy Nelson is the best receiver on the team.
Worst officiating crew ever. Don't think Jennings' TD was a catch, but that fair catch was blalant and so was the hold on Raji in the 2-point conversion.
December 04, 2011 at 08:59 pm
I thought the officiating crew was pretty good, considering the insane number of close calls there were. I "objectively" agreed with every one of the reviewed plays, but they were almost all really close and would have understood had they been reversed. Most of the calls when Green Bay's way though. Can't complain.
I thought the penalties on Woodson were soft, but he generally deserves more flags than he gets
December 04, 2011 at 09:08 pm
Re-watching it it was a catch by Jennings. He's not falling to the ground so it doesn't matter that he lost possession after it, fact is, inside the redzone, he stabilished possession with 2 feet.
December 04, 2011 at 10:55 pm
I thought they correctly called several very close plays. I was pleasantly surprised.
December 04, 2011 at 11:43 pm
The uncalled fair catch notwithstanding.
December 04, 2011 at 09:02 pm
Obvious clip on Quarless who had to be supsequently carried off the field. Uncalled.
December 04, 2011 at 09:22 pm
They rarely call clips or blocks to the back. With all of the talk about safety must only be about the concussions.
December 04, 2011 at 09:09 pm
Jordy, 4 targets, 4 catches. A little consistency goes a long way.
December 04, 2011 at 09:17 pm
And it's not just catches. He's regularly making incredible catches. And he's money in crunch time against man coverage.
He's a beast, he's playing as well as any WR in the league right now.
December 04, 2011 at 09:22 pm
Agreed.
December 04, 2011 at 09:43 pm
No way JJ makes those spinning, over the shoulder catches, tapping the feet down before going out of bounds.
December 04, 2011 at 10:09 pm
I disagree. John Jefferson would have made those catches :)
December 04, 2011 at 10:11 pm
GREAT!!! I finally found the weekly rip on Jones. He has played well all year and you still want to bag on him. Call out the real slugs, FINLEY and BUSH!
December 04, 2011 at 10:16 pm
Why do people have to make a point to bash Jones? Unbelievable... I guess we have to have a hated player. But Bush appreciates that he's not the focus anymore.
And +1 Ruppert.
December 04, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Who's James Jones? Did he play tonight?
December 04, 2011 at 10:45 pm
See, I'm with you about how atrocious this crew was, today. I understand they had close calls to make, I understand that we had some close plays go our way, I understand their job is not easy, but I counted several plays, including the Jennings TD, where they made contact with our recievers and took them to the ground, subsequently. In addition to the clip on Quarless, the hold on the two-point conversion, and the obvious fair catch bungle, they were bad. The drops and non-calls were enough to turn my hair to white.
December 05, 2011 at 06:58 am
and what about pierre-paul using leverage on crosby's missed field goal?
December 04, 2011 at 08:53 pm
You can't have 6 drops and expect to win on the road. You can't turn the ball over inside your own 20 and expect to win on the road. You can't miss short field goals and expect to win on the road.
December 04, 2011 at 08:54 pm
That crossed my mind too. We've all been waiting for ARod to have a bad day. This may have been it.
December 04, 2011 at 11:20 pm
I'll take 369 yards and 4 TDs as my bad day. Yes he wasn't other-worldly, but it's a testament to how ridiculously good this guy is that we think a passer-rating of 106 was his down week.
December 04, 2011 at 08:55 pm
But for some strange reason, I still expected too....
December 04, 2011 at 09:03 pm
In previous seasons, this is one of those demoralizing losses. We're still going into those "lulls," but we're now winning despite it all. Winning ugly at times, such as today. But winning nonetheless.
December 04, 2011 at 09:13 pm
+1
December 04, 2011 at 09:13 pm
We played a sloppy game, at their home, against a desperate team, and we still won in the end.
A team can beat us, but it'll take a bad game for us and a perfect game for them.
In the playoffs, we'll either play in a familiar field with the crowd at our favor, or we're going to play on a controlled environment. And the Packers' crowd is one of the best in football, there're no fairwheater fans in there, they know football and they'll make themselves present.
Though to beat this team in those conditions...
December 04, 2011 at 10:49 pm
Nice call about our fans and their home field importance. I mean, it seemed like for much of the game the Giants fans were church-quiet. Especially after a score when they could've made things really difficult for us. And if we don't play the NFC Championship in Green Bay, where I like our odds, it would be in San Francisco, most likely...where I REALLY like our odds. :)
December 04, 2011 at 10:50 pm
Right on assessment.
December 04, 2011 at 09:05 pm
Drops were horrible.
I thought both calls on Woodson were ridiculous...particularly the pass interference. That was a bullshit call...barely touched the guy.
The shot to the head was weak as well.
December 04, 2011 at 09:16 pm
A LOT of those same contacts were made by the Giants and nothing was called. IIRC they did it to Finley 2 times, both in 3rd downs.
December 04, 2011 at 10:51 pm
The shot to the head was COMPLETE BULL. He was in the air when the ball was still in Eli's hand. Even though he was still in the motion, he put the breaks on mid-air by fanning out and putting his forearms up to his chest so there would be no hands to the face, so he's showing the intent to stop, which many others don't have the sense to do, and what does he get for it? Yeah, awful refereeing job, today.
December 04, 2011 at 09:09 pm
Jordy is money. Finley was frustrating, but that catch & run on the final drive absolved him IMHO. Saine is looking like quite a find. Loved seeing Driver make those great catches.
Hope Woodson's ok...
December 04, 2011 at 09:10 pm
Put a clause in Finley's new contract that cost him money with every drop
December 04, 2011 at 09:24 pm
secondary in general was abysmal. Burnett bit too many play actions, Peprah had lousy coverage on just about anyone he covered,Tramon just got beat a few times, Woodsons penalties, Shields lack of awareness, Bush being Bush. Plus Francois and Smith had trouble with coverage although they have an excuse. When we don't penetrate an offensive line with three missing starters, we've got a problem.
December 04, 2011 at 09:45 pm
Frankly I'd take Franois over Hawk in coverage any day. As for DJ Smith, he's probably good enough to start. Or at least he doesn't suck.
December 04, 2011 at 10:19 pm
Tis true. If anything Smith and Bishop would be good, but can you substitute for Hawks leadership?
December 04, 2011 at 10:55 pm
Hawk is not much of a leader, moreso very good at play recognition and adjusting the defensive calls.
But he's nowhere near the elite guys, like Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher.
December 04, 2011 at 09:45 pm
i didn't see James Jones, was he active?
December 04, 2011 at 10:06 pm
Brandon Saine.
Grant has Donovan McNabb syndrome, he has no hunger, 0%.
Brandon Saine, he was hungry.
If Starks is out for next week to heal, give Saine most of the practice reps. NFL stands for Not For Long, and Grant is beginning to fade in my eyes.
December 04, 2011 at 10:40 pm
4.3. Our running game was horrible though. I'm getting sick of not dominating in the trenches. LOL. Not that I'm complaining, being that we're undefeated.
December 04, 2011 at 10:58 pm
I've already accepted the fact that the OL will never be a strenght of this team, let alone be dominant in run blocking...
Of course, this OL is pretty young, they're going to get better each year.
December 05, 2011 at 10:08 am
You are 0% correct about Grant having no hunger/desire.
December 04, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Speaking of pass rush, did Mike Neal even play?
December 04, 2011 at 10:30 pm
Love him or hate him, Finley's stock just went up. With Quarlesses career in jeopardy the Pack currently have only Williams as a true receiving TE. And he can't block.
Jordy's spinning 360 catch on the sideline was the best of the season. And DD's-no ball movement-on his catches while keeping his feet in were clutch.
The undefeated talk starts in earnest now.
December 04, 2011 at 10:51 pm
I thought the same thing after Quarless went down. He hurt himself with the drops, but Quarless being out (for possibly a long time - I thought he broke his tibia and fibula for sure, but I guess it's his knee) gives him a long time.
December 04, 2011 at 10:52 pm
*gives him a lot of leverage
No idea what happened there.
December 04, 2011 at 10:31 pm
I've long been a Bush detractor. No surprise that he blew the coverage on a key play. You could make a highlight reel of all the key plays made against him by other teams or pass interference penalties in key situations. He almost never has his man covered. He got more praise than he deserved for his play in the Super Bowl. I will give him credit though. He had enough awareness to get himself re-established in the field of play before downing the punt on the one yard line. To many times in the past have we seen him with one foot in the end zone. The coaching staff must think he's a hell of a special teams player because we cut a couple pretty decent corners in camp to keep him.
December 04, 2011 at 10:57 pm
Funny side note, while he DID show great awareness by reestablishing himself after going into the endzone, he then failed to exhibit said awareness by almost colliding with his teammate, who was perfectly positioned at the one, and bungling the ball away. :D
It's like he was in a panicked rush to be the one to get the ball to remind us and his coaches that he does, in fact, contribute.
December 04, 2011 at 11:00 pm
No no, he just doesn't think too much when he's playing.
December 04, 2011 at 11:02 pm
Couple things. The play of the game was yet another mockery of the belt thing. Someone on this blog pointed out that every time someone mocks the belt, we win. I loved the sideline action today. Made me feel like back in the day playing catch where you try to drag both feet before you go out of bounds for dramatic effect. Total backyard ball. Definitely frustrating to watch those drops. Perhaps Rodgers didn't give them the "look". And lastly, I love that we had to get challenged through serious adversity and still got the W. This a giants team that has it's back against the wall much like the pack did last year. Eli looked almost perfect. Good job giants. But the pack prevailed.
December 04, 2011 at 11:23 pm
And some love for our coaching. Prepared again, and game day tough. Bravo to all- might as well win out now...
December 04, 2011 at 11:27 pm
The Giants fans behind us harassed us throughout the game and shouted "F**k You!!!" every time we cheered for a Packers touchdown or just a great play. It was uncomfortable, to say the least. I always thought the Bears fans were the rudest and crudest, but New York/New Jersey has wrested the crown from Chicago. Neanderthals.
December 05, 2011 at 12:24 am
That sucks. I really enjoy getting to games, but there is something to be said for a good old recliner, some HD, a fridge and bathroom you can access during commercials.
GBP 4 LIFE
December 05, 2011 at 07:53 am
The giants fans were horrible for me too. I sat with about 8 Packer fans snd there where a family of goomba's that had season tickets for the 2 ROW's in front of us. These guys were serious mobster types... it was halarious. and this was a regular family reunion. I nearly got the Hoffa treat for saying the chick in front of us was cute (their neice? grandaughter? whatever) I think I heard, "I paid 10k for these seats, Im gonna..." about 400 times. Even the security guards told us the hometown crowd in section 135 was "a bit rowdy"... to say the least.
The game was crazy. Finley needs to CATCH the damn ball! Drivers TD's both were vintage DD. And I know GJ's TD catch was questionable, but all of our recivers were getting MUGGED 12yds down the field. So maybe tripplett owed us one. But overall not a bad game for Tripplett's crew. AROD was sergical, he reminds me of an old western gun slinger, but not the cliche type. The real clint eastwood type. TOTAL and COMPLETE confidence.
On to the next one...19-0?
December 05, 2011 at 01:41 pm
i was at the game too (section 140- about 15 rows behind the packers bench). the first thing that stood out to me was just how many packers fans were there. it was an amazing turnout! the giants fans around me were actually pretty cool except for 2 asshole guidos that bitched at me for standing up when the packers made a big play. c'mon idiots, it's a football game. people are going to stand up! besides that, it was an amazing experience seeing the packers for the 1st time and having the game come down to a last second, game clinching crosby field goal
December 05, 2011 at 07:13 am
great block by kuhn when he demolished that giant defender toward the sideline.