Packers Stock Report: King's in the Corner, MASH Unit Expanding

While a healthy secondary didn’t do a whole lot to reverse the Packers’ fortunes from what we saw eight months ago in Atlanta, there was at least one player in the group who stated his case for more playing time, even if one of his position buddies failed to do so. Meanwhile, and old defensive veteran splashed and a new addition to the offense struggled mightily. Here is your Packers stock report as we head into week three:

Rising

Kevin King: The second-round rookie was one of the brightest spots of the night for the Packers. King replaced Damarious Randall—we’ll get to him later—and performed admirably, making three tackles and breaking up one pass. King did not allow a completion and was on the field for 46 of 58 defensive snaps. His confidence appeared high, he certainly didn’t shy away from the task of defending arguably the best receiver in the league in Julio Jones, and he put a solid performance on tape. Mike McCarthy said Monday that King has “earned the right to potentially play more,” and it would surprise nobody to see the rookie in the starting lineup sooner rather than later.

Ty Montgomery: Even playing from behind, the Packers made a concerted effort to get Montgomery involved, and he did not disappoint. He was active in the passing game and showed more of his hard-nosed running style both between the tackles and in the open field. Time will tell how Montgomery’s body responds to delivering such punishment over the course of a full season, but his attitude and versatility are proving to be extremely valuable to the Packers’ offensive attack early on.

Clay Matthews: Maybe it was a product of exploiting a weak matchup, but Matthews was disruptive throughout the game. He finished with 1.5 sacks, working well off the edges as well as a few stunts from the inside. He’s still not the playmaking machine of old, but the level of effectiveness he’s shown thus far in 2017 will do just fine.

Falling

Damarious Randall: While he wasn’t the only member of the secondary who struggled, he seemed to stand out the most. One of the main topics of discussion following the NFC Championship debacle was how the game might have played out had Randall (and others, to be fair) been healthy. If nothing else, Sunday’s matchup provided an answer to the hypothetical, and it didn’t look a whole lot different from what we saw the last time around. It seemed like Randall was a step behind the Atlanta receiving corps at every turn.

Martellus Bennett: To be fair, I think Bennett’s stock is only slightly falling this week. You can attribute that to the drop issues he experienced in the first half of the game, though he and Aaron Rodgers seemed to connect a little better later on. That said, the drops can't be completely ignored, especially when the Packers are counting on Bennett to play a crucial role in the offense.

Health: This is low-hanging fruit, but it can’t really be swept under the rug. The Packers lost, in no particular order, Mike Daniels, Jordy Nelson, Randall Cobb, Kentrell Brice, Davon House, and Dean Lowry throughout the game. And that list doesn’t include starting tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga. Fortunately, initial reports indicated that Daniels, Nelson and Cobb are not expected to miss extended time.

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Comments (47)

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:16 am

Sorry to nitpick here, but what has Jamaal Williams shown that keeps Aaron Jones on the bench? I'm seeing zero explosion or vision out of Williams.

And sorry to get testy, but I don't want to hear, "The coaches see these guys in practice."

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:18 am

I also want to see Jones play. Jones I think would add a lot to the offense.
Williams has talent, I just don't think the game has slowed down for him yet.
I simply think its more of the fact that they think Williams is the better pass protector right now, and with the 2 OT's not playing they needed the pass protection.

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:24 am

True, but Chicago's small back can't block at all, but we don't see them benching him and putting in slugs with no chance to succeed.

Williams may come around--I honestly don't care, since we have 2 other rookies needing a chance--but Jones has so much better vision and burst. Plus, Jones was blocking better late in camp.

If we're goiing to completely write Jones off like McCarthy has (no, you haven't done this), then we might as well just insert Ripkowski when Montgomery needs a breather.

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:44 am

yeah, but to be fair he isn't protecting the leagues best QB either.

I agree about Jones. I think Jones deserves some opportunities over Williams. I am just thinking that's how they feel.

I don't think McCarthy has written off Jones. I think we will see him at some point soon. This last game I think we may have seen him, but the score got to where they couldn't run the ball much.

Out of the the 3 rookie RB's overall Jones I think is the most ready right now. Hopefully we do get to see him some more.

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dobber's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:36 am

What has Montgomery shown that would make us not want him on the field?

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:44 am

Oh, I think Monty looks great! I'm just talking about when we give him a breather.

The last thing we want to do is wear Monty down.

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rdent's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:41 pm

Monty needs some work on his blocking but they say he has improved

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Razer's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:59 am

I agree that it would be nice to get the other guys involved. I am guessing that Jamaal Williams is assignment sure and the other guys are not. Aside from protecting Rodgers, the RB's need to know what is being changed at the LOS when Rodgers is reading the defense. I doubt that our offense is easy to learn and you need to know what is happening before that ball is snapped. May be why we don't see Kendricks all that much.

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:34 pm

Then insert Ripkowski.

As for Jones and Mays, if they are still so utterly clueless on assignments that they can't replace someone with no vision or burst on a handful of downs...

...then cut them immediately.

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croatpackfan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 01:07 pm

Mays is in front of Jones because he playing much higher role on ST. Aaron Jones is completely out of ST picture. Nobody writing of Jones. He will be on PS if Packers thinks that Jones is not valuable enough...

Btw Mays is the speediest RB on Packers roster...

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 02:53 pm

I love Mays's size and speed, but he doesn't look nearly as explosive out of a cut as Jones.

Good player, though. If McCarthy is so dead set against Jones, then put Mays in. Or Ripkowski.

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croatpackfan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 04:07 pm

As far as I know, Mays was active for first games and Jones for second...

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

September 20, 2017 at 03:00 am

Croat, I think you've got things backwards. Mays has only played 1 ST snap. Jones has played 8. Neither has played on offense.

Jones ran a 4.49 forty at the combine, while Mays ran a 4.52 forty at his pro day. Jones ran a nice 6.82 3 cone, while Mays ran a dreadful 7.43 3 cone. Mays is an inch taller, considerably stronger (22 reps to 16 reps), and much heavier (230 lbs to 208) man than Jones. If they can both learn to pass protect, I like both better than Williams.

Aaron Jones was inactive week one. Mays was inactive week 2. I don't remember if one or the other was injured or if they were healthy scratches.

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SpudRapids's picture

September 19, 2017 at 04:24 pm

Well the guy has had 4 carries so I don't know how you can make a judgement on anything

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 07:41 pm

I go by the same thing you go by--the eye test.

It isn't just his 4 carries, but also all his preseason carries, as well as those of Jones.

Jones just looks much more explosive, with better vision. I haven't seen a single person on any of these threads dispute that.

Got anything else?

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SpudRapids's picture

September 20, 2017 at 01:44 pm

I don't think you can use the eye test in preseason unless your are playing with and against the # 1 units. Eye test is great but slower and less explosive players on the field later in preseason games and that's when Jones busted those plays.

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Brandon Fisher's picture

September 20, 2017 at 08:02 am

Agree 100%...Williams hasn't shown me anything even in preseason. I still think Jones has a chance to be a future starter for us though with his big play ability .

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:16 am

Couldn't agree more.

King, Montgomery and Mathews looked great.

Randall, Bennett struggled. And the health of the team really has dropped off.

A few notes on other players.

Rising -
Cobb - he again had a great game. He ended up with 6 catches on 9 targets for 60 yards. He also had a 36 yard reception but that got wiped out by penalty.

I thought Murphy played well at LT. He played well last week. At the very least if our OT's miss games I think he can fill in pretty well.
And to be fair McCray played a lot better then I anticipated.

Burnett is flying under the radar but in 2 games he is the big reason why Jimmy Graham and Austin Hooper were held to 3 catches on 7 targets for 8 yards and 2 catches on 2 targets for 7 yards.
Burnett has been very good in the ILB role he is playing.

Falling -
Jake Ryan. He looked slow.

Geronimo Allison. Losing Nelson I thought we are ok we have Allison to play. And Allison basically did nothing. 3 catches out of 5 targets for 24 yards. And one of the targets he slowed down which caused the interception. We need Allison to play a lot better for it to get to where we want it to be.

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:19 am

I agree with every word of this.

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dobber's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:37 am

Jake Ryan looked a lot like A.J. Hawk on Sunday.

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rdent's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:44 pm

Thanks Dobber, I was trying to think of who Ryan reminds me of.

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jeremyjjbrown's picture

September 19, 2017 at 07:39 pm

AK Hawk never looked that slow to me.

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dobber's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:38 am

Cobb looked like a guy who knows he needs to earn his $$.

Allison looked like a guy who took a week off.

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:41 am

I thought Cobb looked like himself and is healthy.

Agreed on Allison. Hopefully he didn't spend that week doing something he wasn't supposed to.

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:45 am

What do you mean? I thought Allison looked perfectly relaxed :)

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RCPackerFan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:03 pm

lol. right.

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rdent's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:47 pm

And he forgot to run the route ;)

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KenEllis's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:18 am

You forgot Damarious' running buddy Q. Rollins.

The excuse for his poor performance in 2016 was injury, just like Randall.

Now, Q is supposed to be healthy, but his play on Sunday looked just like it did last season.

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Andrew Lloyd Peth's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:25 am

Again, I agree with every word of this.

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dobber's picture

September 19, 2017 at 11:40 am

Rollins was a gamble when they took him. I don't have a lot of confidence in him earning a second contract.

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rdent's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:49 pm

Might not make it through his first one.

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egbertsouse's picture

September 19, 2017 at 12:00 pm

Q is a basketball player. TT has another one, Goodson, on the PUP list. Maybe Steph Curry wants to play some CB

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Handsback's picture

September 19, 2017 at 01:43 pm

Haven't seen any game replays, but HHCD wasn't making any noise in the secondary either. I don't know why he was always one step late to intercepting a ball or cutting off an angle. If it was scheme, then it was a poor scheme.
A bad game all around for the Packer's D. The Falcons gave were doing their run the clock out routine or it could have been 50 points.

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MITM's picture

September 19, 2017 at 01:55 pm

It indeed was VERY refreshing to see the way King was able to come in and play. Aside from the very obvious, these are a few things that bothered me personally, and I am sure may already have been touched on in another article but maybe not.

1) I was very excited for Brian Price and Christian Ringo and thought that was a very heated battle all summer that would lead to a difficult decision. When it looked like Ringo was the man over Price I agreed. Here we are now, without either. Ringo, especially being as disruptive as he was as an interior pass rusher is someone who should still be here and his absence showed this past week when we really could have used him with Daniels out. That being said, I think when Ahmad Brooks is back the interior pass rush at least on 3rd downs will get a boost by rushing Clay from the inside with Perry and Brooks outside. Obviously that wasnt possible this week with Brooks out.

2) The nitro package works well utilizing Morgan Burnett. However against a running game like Atlanta it shows why its a problem. Think Kentrell Brice getting absolutely mollywhopped trying to take on the fullback on Freemans first td run. That is where its a problem and always will be. We need to pick and choose our battles with the nitro package a little better IMO.

3) These injuries at this point are laughable. And think of how far this problem goes back to. In 2010 our depth was just that damn good, but we still had what 15,16 guys on injured reserve? Why? And every time we lose a game we have to lose at least 5 key players while we are at it. Its honestly pathetic.

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Finwiz's picture

September 19, 2017 at 03:44 pm

Sorry, but to your point number 3, I am absolutely convinced they have a completely F'd up training program, given the changes in the training camp rules, and how much they play in preseason. They need a complete revamping of the conditioning and training program. The coaches haven't adjusted and you see the same things year after year. I'm pretty much sick of this coaching staff. I think they're all stale and old.

To expound further, they just had a doctor on the radio from the Marshfield clinic. When asked where she would look to 1st regarding soft tissue injuries, her immediate response - training methods! Hello???? Anyone awake up there Mashed Potato Mike, and Geriatric Ted?

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SpudRapids's picture

September 19, 2017 at 04:22 pm

You just like to throw out baseless allegations don't you? e.g. "The coaches haven't adjusted and you see the same things year after year."

There was an article on espn.com in the 2014 season where it cited McCarthy bringing snacks to practice, the staff hiring Catapult Sports to help study practice habits and injuries, and hired Adam Korzun as director of performance nutrition who worked with Olympic athletes. McCarthy has been tweaking and adjusting his schedule and training to address this for over 3 years. The nature of the game is injuries occur, it's a contact sport. And before you go off saying that it doesn't happen to other teams look at the link below. Every team in the NFL has a long list of dinged players.

http://www.espn.com/nfl/injuries

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rdent's picture

September 19, 2017 at 05:54 pm

Every team has injuries, I just don't pay nearly as much attention to them.

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Finwiz's picture

September 20, 2017 at 08:31 am

Seriously Spud....you're going to come back at me with "bringing SNACKS to practice". What is this preschool daycare for my kid, circa 1998? OMG - I am LMAO howling. Snacks to practice, that oughta solve the problem. This has to go way beyond just nutrition.

Well whatever the adjustments they've made aren't working, so maybe it's back to the drawing board, starting with some medical doctors from well known med clinics like Marshfield or Mayo.

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SpudRapids's picture

September 20, 2017 at 01:52 pm

Well unless you have an education in sport nutrition your laughing and howling mean squat to me. I'll trust a sports nutritionist who was on the U.S. olympic committee and helped produce 48 gold medals at the 2012 olympic games to put a program in place to help the Packers reduce injuries. You say "Well whatever the adjustments they've made aren't working" but have you tracked injuries thoughout the year that actually point to this being true or are throwing out an emotional reach because you don't like how many are on the injury report right now.

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SpudRapids's picture

September 20, 2017 at 01:53 pm

BTW I appreciate the back and forth and that you get Snarky with me without us getting into personal attacks. Respectful debate is good for all and it's been fun on this forum going back and forth with ya.

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Finwiz's picture

September 20, 2017 at 02:03 pm

I don't mind - it takes quite bit to get me to the point of personal attacks.
That aside, the fact remains, they have the same types of injuries they've had in past years, only maybe even a few more - to key players. The guys that are playing are the ones getting hurt, and I imagine there will be more to the guys they put in their place. You aren't going to solve hamstring, groin and quad pulls with just nutrition/hydration. Maybe they need to pony up and spend some bucks on better doctors. They certainly can afford all the medical advice they might require. The doctor I heard from Marshfield clinic didn't say anything about "snacks" when responding to the soft tissue injuries, her first response was the training. Sorry, but I'm still laughing at the "snacks" comment.

Maybe the same guy making decisions on free agents, (TT) is the same cheap fink making decisions on what medical consultants to use? Just a thought.

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Roadrunner23's picture

September 19, 2017 at 02:06 pm

The sky is not falling, Atlanta at the "Bird House" is a bad match up for the Pack and they were the Super Bowl almost Champs last year. The Packers will improve, this is one game and I still believe the Packers secondary will improve greatly as the season progresses.

Silver Lining:
No season ending injuries!!
King and Jones look like they will be the real deal and they are starting to play more.
Montgomery is looking like a really good all around back
Murphy is gaining experience as a swing tackle and looks solid.
Mathews is starting to look like Mathews
Clark is going to be a stud.

This is going to be an excellent team, McCarthy's teams usually start slow anyway.

Keep the faith Packer brethren!!

Go Pack!!

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BPEARSON21's picture

September 19, 2017 at 04:39 pm

Gosh I wish we would've dumped Randall and Rollins this season and went out and got one of the MANY solid CB's on the market. Or another stellar D lineman (I suggested Calais Campbell who had 4 sacks game 1). All off season long I pleaded the case that our D had gotten no better and we needed to go get some help in FA (and oh gosh please don't tell me Davon House, RJF whom we've since cut were good moves). How many more games like Sunday night do we need to see? How many more brutal play off losses? How many more bottom ten defensive rankings do we need to find ourselves in before we make changes. I just don't get it.

If you were doing the same thing over and over and over again and kept getting bad results... would you keep doing it...? The rest of the league laughs at how much we're just blowing an all time greats career. It's a joke.

A small part of me is happy though. I think it will take at least 2 more years of absolutely miserable defenses to realize we need to stop "draft and developing" and stop throwing UDFA and rookie CB's out there. Just doesn't work.

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Archie's picture

September 19, 2017 at 06:06 pm

No sense in posting here - my post from earlier today was removed for expressing too negative of an opinion of our esteemed GM, though every word was 100% true and factual.

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BPEARSON21's picture

September 19, 2017 at 07:31 pm

That'll happen. Trust me haha

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Finwiz's picture

September 20, 2017 at 08:32 am

Repost it, I want to read it.

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Packer_Fan's picture

September 19, 2017 at 06:18 pm

So let's think back. A lot of people thought that DB would be OK and Randall and Rollins would bounce back. After two games, not so sure on that. After Randall was struggling in preseason, I thought the Pack should bring in veteran help. Still think that. Also, if Rollins and Randall are liabilities against Atlanta, play Hawkins more to see if he can make a jump during the season. Like 6-10 plays. If your original starter and nickel DB aren't doing what you want, then find someone who can. Start with depth on the bench and then look elsewhere. We still have 14 games to play. Plenty of time to work in King and Hawkins to see how well they play. Also work in Jones into the DB work. Evans can play in place of Brice till he heals. Gotta try something.

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