Atom Feed (xml)
The blue chip, premiere players:
- Aaron Rodgers -- The Packers' new quarterback is the talk of the national media after leading the Packers' to two scoring drives and throwing for 117 yards in just a quarter of play. Rodgers didn't exactly get a ton of help either. A drop by Donald Driver on third and 17 negated what would have been a first down on the opening drive of the game. Another drop by Chris Francies resulted in an interception when the ball bounced off of him. Rodgers was also plagued by shaky pass protection from guard Josh Sitton and running back Brandon Jackson.
- The middle linebackers -- Nick Barnett picked up where he left off last year when he was making plays from sideline to sideline. He was second on the team in tackles with five despite only playing for about three series. He was also involved in all four of the team's first four tackles of the game. Production didn't decline once Barnett left the field either. Abdul Hodge showed he's back from knee surgery in a big way. Hodge led the team in tackles with six, one of them going for a loss. He was very active always showing up where the ball was. Desmond Bishop did himself no favors when he couldn't play and Hodge could.
The red chip, solid players:
- Tramon Williams -- Getting an opportunity to start in place of inactives Al Harris and Charles Woodson, Williams made the most of his chances. He frequently shadowed star receiver Chad Johnson and didn't allow any big plays. He also showed he's worthy of being of teaming up with Will Blackmon as the team's top kick return duo when he took two kickoffs for a 24.5 yard average.
- Brandon Jackson & Kregg Lumpkin -- The only thing that prevented the two reserve running backs from being blue chips were one big mental error apiece. Jackson totally whiffed on a Bengals blitzing safety that led to a sack of Aaron Rodgers. Lumpkin, meanwhile, fumbled the football on the Packers' possession in the fourth quarter of the game when they were down by three points. Working in their favor was that Jackson averaged 7.3 yards per carry with Lumpkin averaging 5.1. Lumpkin also scored a touchdown on a screen pass. They're young and will learn from their mistakes.
The cow chip, forgettable players:
- Jon Ryan -- Ryan totally shanked one punt for 15 yards and had another that was partially blocked that went for 14 yards. Two more punts reached the endzone. His final net aveage was 31.3 yards, a good high school punter can do better than that. Consistency has been his problem.
- Several offensive rookies - Brian Brohm was terrible in relief of Rodgers. He completed less than 50 percent of his passes and threw and interception. If Flynn has another good outing, he could vault in front of Brohm for the top backup job. Fifth round offensive linemen Josh Sitton and Breno Giacomini also looked like flops. Sitton underachieved with a penalty and giving up a sack after being inserted into the starting lineup. Giacomini was routinely outperformed by the players on the other side of the line of scrimmage.
7 comments:
It is a sign of the utter desperation of Packer Nation that the very average, shaky performance of Aaron Rodgers is being hailed as some kind of revelation. He threw a pick, missed several wide open receivers, took two sacks, and generally looked unsteady against perhaps the worst defense in the NFL last year, in an exhibition game where the opponent runs straight vanilla schemes. Even his one scoring pass was high and behind James Jones. Only an amazing effort by the wideout turned that from another incompletion into a 7.
Just be warned: you are all setting yourselves up for a massive fall when the real games start. If they're lucky, this team goes 6-10. If they're REAL lucky, that leads to the firing of Ted Thompson and his bag man, that gap-toothed dolt, Mark Murphy.
To the first responder...that might be the stupidest comment I've ever heard. 6-10? You really believe Favre made that much difference? Do you work hard on being that stupid or is it genetic?
glad to see all the hype about jones and jackson being much improved was true. could tell rodgers should be accurate and capable enough with these receivers to win some games. team around him looks improved and strong.
rk
Hey Retard,
list for me all the games GB won last year when No.4 played poorly? That's right, none. Do I think Favre made that much difference? Are you too stupid to live? Yes to both.
Take your mouth off Ted Thompson's joint for a second and actually watch a game--then write something.
Moron.
Ah, now I see. When you were a teenager, instead of posters of hot women on your wall you had a picture of Favre. I won't guess what you did while staring at that picture.
So remind me, did Favre play defense last year? Oh, and leading the league in yards after catch, was it beacuse Favre ran down field to block for the receivers? And I do believe the offense really took off in the second half. Might that have something to do with establishing a running game? And the special teams were tons better than the year before, but I don't remember Favre covering kicks.
I didn't say he was no good. He's my favorite player ever. But the team will not be 6-10. You have a better chance of getting a date with a girl than the team going 6-10.
"He threw a pick" - You lose any credibility with that statement alone. He threw to his first read, who was open, hit the receiver in the numbers, and the receiver didn't catch the ball. If you think that was Rodgers' fault - you have no business watching football.
I like your term cow chip.
Post a Comment