Comments on: Game thoughts – Packers/Cowboys

By: Ace

Ace — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 03:17:19 +0000

Defending Rodgers. O line overwhelmed. Need healthy Wells at center and Spitz at guard, although everyone on O line was overwhelmed. AR had no time. He hurried a couple of throws badly. With #4 that was a double figure sack game or close. Disappointed in red zone lack of imagination and execution. Different ballgame if they convert two of those three red zone chances in the first half. Key to game——Dallas controlled the ball on offense and GB was often 3 and out. GB defense exhausted by being on the field so long. In the stands we were actually wishing Blackmon would not go the distance in the second half so the D line could catch a breather.

Punt and kickoff returns–against Bucs let’s just not block and let Blackmon do it all on his own. That way we will not lose yardage on punt returns. Let kickoffs go to the end zone and down them. We at least get the ball to the 20. Return penalties are game changers. Field position was a determining factor yesterday. Partly due to special teams–not good yesterday.

Key play yesterday. GB D and penalty hammer Dallas to about its own 5 and GB starts play after the 75 yard punt on its own 10. If Blackmon does not make a leaping catch it’s a 95 yard punt and we get the ball on the 20. Awesome kick even with the wind. Momentum had swung to GB and they lost it on one enormous boot.

By: Aaron Rogders

Aaron Rogders — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:03:42 +0000

I was just thinking, if our offensive line can block like they did on the QB sneak, we will be pretty good.

By: bucky

bucky — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 22:51:58 +0000

The only thing I would disagree on in here is where you state that “Romo faced similar pressure” to that felt by Rodgers. I think that was true on maybe three or four plays, but I think Dallas’ front four closed the pocket quickly on very nearly every pass attempt, whereas the Packers got close to Romo only when he held the ball. He had time to get the ball deep, time that Rodgers did not have.

By: awhayes

awhayes — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:40:04 +0000

A Rodg – they may have brought Grant back in despite Jackson’s good carries in part because I was lobbying hard for it from the stands. Grant is on my fantasy team you see. Just kidding, I too wanted Jackson to stay in. Dallas seemed to struggle with his size almost – he runs so low and is so slippery I he almost seemed to run right under them. Grant may be physically easier for them to tackle because they are all so huge and Grant is decent-sized himself. I’m not ready to chuck Grant yet though – he was decent for what he had to run through. But there is something to be said for momentum and Jackson had it there for a few minutes – so I would have let him continue.

I think Jon Ryan would have helped our field position game last night, certainly more than Frost did. Even though Ryan was not always great with hang-time, he at least could have driven Pacman back 20 yards. Frost doesn’t seem to have that strong of a leg.

By: daveK

daveK — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:28:29 +0000

Joe, that is a good point about max protection. It does eliminate the check down to the RB or TE. But, it seems to me that if you keep a TE and RB in to block that should buy you enough time to find the open WR IF you are calling plays/routes that take advantage of the secondary scheme they are throwing at you. I am by no means an expert on the 3-4 defense but I just get the impression that the Packers are not adept enough at finding its soft spots. Maybe they just don’t have the personal on the o-line to do that.?? I really don’t know but in two games against the Cowboys I have come away with the nagging feeling that the Packers were out-coached in both of them.

By: Aaron Rogders

Aaron Rogders — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:24:41 +0000

Why, PLEASE tell me why Jackson was running the ball very well and we take him out. Grant was running poor and Jackson was running good. So lets stick with Grant. This is not that same Grant from last year. Lumpkin runs a lot better then him right now. We need to put him in the mix as well.

Can we get our Jon Ryan back please?

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:44:55 +0000

Another reason Rodgers could not find people and had to hold the longer was becuase they were in max protect much of the night and only 2 or 3 recievers in the pattern.

By: daveK

daveK — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 18:31:56 +0000

Thank you for your report on the Dallas secondary. The hardest part about watching on TV is you can’t really see the secondary and what scheme they are using. It seemed that Rodgers held the ball a lot longer then the first two games. He either didn’t have too many options open or he wasn’t able to find the open guy before the pass rush forced the issue. From your comments it seems that he was holding the ball because his first option or two were not open. I guess you give Rodgers good marks then for not forcing the ball into coverage. But, if they are jumping slants and bringing safties down then you have to beat them deep and we seem to have the WR group to do that but maybe we don’t have the o-line to give him the time against Dallas. I was waiting for that deep ball all game and it never seemed to come.

I can’t quible too much about the Packer defense. I thought they played good enough to win this game. They essentially shut down T.O. and really only gave up 7 points in the first half. Injuries and fatigue caught up with them in the 2nd half as the Packer offense couldn’t stay on the field. Dallas had great field position the enitre 2nd half thanks to 3 to 4 Packer drives that went no-where or backwards and a slew of special teams penalties.

I also have a problem with McCarthy putting Rodgers at risk towards the end of the game. He took a few good shots with just a few minutes left and they where down three scores. Take a knee or run up the middle with Lumpkin as we really don’t have a backup QB.

By: Keith

Keith — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:12:34 +0000

Nice analysis, I agree with pretty much everything.

But Jennings better than TO? Come on.

By: ScottinDC

ScottinDC — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:07:37 +0000

I also think we learned a lesson from this game. While Tramon Williams was excellent in back-up, Woodson is the guy to have on the big play receiver. TO was essentially a non-factor last night. If not for Woodson, Dallas could’ve won by an even larger margin. I believe this was one of your game keys. Well played sir.