wpr
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13 years ago

Offensive line play is typically the last thing to fall into place for a National Football League team.

Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy may be holding his breath that it doesn't take beyond Sept. 8.

The Packers certainly aren't the only team in the NFC North - or the NFL, for that matter - that is allowing its quarterback to get hit too much this preseason. But they are the team in their division expected to have the most stable line given four of five starters return and they haven't suffered any significant injuries.

But you wouldn't have thought that Friday night the way tackle Chad Clifton let all-pro end Dwight Freeney bull-rush him all the way to Bloomington; guard Josh Sitton got his feet stuck in mud against former Bears nemesis Tommie Harris; or tackle Bryan Bulaga whiffed and let Aaron Rodgers get hit as he released the ball on a third-down play.

"I think we'll see on film that we ended up having some good drives and that we didn't finish," Sitton said after the Packers' 24-21 victory over the Indianapolis Colts. "We have to finish those drives and that means protecting the quarterback. That's what ended some of them."

The No. 1 offense had five drives and scored a touchdown and a field goal. One of the five drives ended with kicker Mason Crosby missing a 41-yard field goal, but another flamed out at the Indianapolis 6-yard line when Freeney bull-rushed Clifton for a sack and another ended when Clifton and running back James Starks combined to allow Freeney a sack on Rodgers.

Finally, the drive that ended in Crosby's missed field goal was snuffed out when Clifton was guilty of a holding penalty. The play had ended in receiver Chastin West catching a 20-yard pass from Rodgers.

You could certainly argue that the time Clifton missed being rested in practice last week - and throughout training camp - affected his play. It's rare that Clifton allows someone to get under his pads the way Freeney did, and either Clifton was playing way too high or he is starting to lose it.

"There's no excuse for it," Clifton said. "I need to play better. Our job is to perform and perform at a high level. I didn't do that tonight. I know it wasn't one of my finest performances. I'll just have to learn from it."

There's no shame in getting beat by Freeney, but usually it's around the corner. Clifton has had some very good moments against Freeney over the years, and giving up 1½ sacks and committing a holding penalty aren't among them.

jsonline wrote:



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nerdmann
13 years ago
Everyone in Wisconsin knows that our offensive line will suck as long as Campen remains in the coach and our special teams will continue to suck as long as Slocum is the coach. It's no big mystery.
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wpr
  • wpr
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13 years ago

Everyone in Wisconsin knows that our offensive line will suck as long as Campen remains in the coach and our special teams will continue to suck as long as Slocum is the coach. It's no big mystery.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 




everyone but Uncle Ted and Mike you mean.
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Porforis
13 years ago

everyone but Uncle Ted and Mike you mean.

Originally Posted by: wpr 



Fire Ted Thompson! Fire McCarthy! Fire Slocum! Fire Campen!
wpr
  • wpr
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13 years ago

Fire Ted Thompson! Fire McCarthy! Fire Slocum! Fire Campen!

Originally Posted by: Porforis 




:-k Wouldn't it be easier to simply fire Nerdman? 🤷 I am just saying. :-"
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StoicFire
13 years ago
I was at the Indy game, and from sitting behind the endzone it was even more evident than on TV that the O-line got badly outplayed. Some people say it is just preseason, but after that performance I am actually starting to get concerned about the protection and run-blocking.

Our rushing game didn't exist at all against a traditionally atrocious run defense, we couldn't convert in short yardage situations, and there were too many sacks. Guards and Tackles struggled in every quarter (I believe Sherrod even got torched at Tackle with the third-stringers and gave up a sack).

Was anybody else very concerned?
"the Quarterback can run if he wants to, but with this rocket attached to your body... who would?" -Aaron Rodgers
evad04
13 years ago
I think Green Bay actually does a damn good job protecting on blitzes (or, at least they did last year). Things, however, continue to break down against four man rush scenarios. I was also there last night and being in person really shows just how spread out the Colts front four is on third down. The DEs are lined up 2-3 yards outside the tackles.

Green Bay struggles against the four man pass rush because even with four receiving targets the defense has seven in coverage. Think about the troubles Tampa gave us a few years ago -- or how Chicago always seems to limit our point production. Those teams all run Cover 2 defenses and rely on their d-line to bring the pressure.

Part of this falls on Rodgers. In my opinion the third sack (if I'm remembering correctly) was partially due to holding the ball a bit long. I think Rodgers could do better sometimes to take the easier underneath pass rather than look for something downfield.

Overall, though, Sitton's assessment of it seems pretty accurate. They had some nice sustained drives and they didn't finish. Maybe it's the hurry up, but still -- no excuse. And while we are on the subject of offensive line performance, they all collectively have to do better with the run. There was just nowhere to go last night. (I believe Alex Green's 8-yard run in the 3rd quarter was their longest). Grant didn't have anywhere to go on most of his carries.

side note: don't expect us to run hurry up to the extent that we did last night. I think it was a gameplan situation where they want to familiarize themselves as much with it before the season starts.
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zombieslayer
13 years ago

Fire Ted Thompson! Fire McCarthy! Fire Slocum! Fire Campen!

Originally Posted by: Porforis 



I know you're saying this in jest, but for the record, 🇹🇹 has done his job at picking OL. If you check his drafts, we've been drafting OL a plenty. So I think the weak link here is Campen. Campen should have been developing 🇹🇹's picks. He hasn't been doing it well.
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buckeyepackfan
13 years ago
Wow, didn't even take till the first regular season opener before we find out just who is going to "suck" the whole season.

Looking foward to the O-line bashing the rest of the year, should be fun.

Cliffy was beaten by one of the best, in an away pre-season game, so were Sitton and Bulaga.

Keep Bulaga, he is still young enough to learn from his mistakes, time to cut ties with Clifton, Wells, and Sitton, they have been there long enough to know better, play perfect football, or get the hell out!!!!

Really sad that The Packers threw their whole regular season game plan at Indy, and the results were very mediocre at best.

:-k
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Dexter_Sinister
13 years ago

Everyone in Wisconsin knows that our offensive line will suck as long as Campen remains in the coach and our special teams will continue to suck as long as Slocum is the coach. It's no big mystery.

Originally Posted by: nerdmann 


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