Giving Hawk his due
By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel
Sept. 15, 2009 4:10 p.m.
Green Bay - Packers linebacker A.J. Hawk has had plenty of criticism laid at his doorstep.
Specifically in this space.
Far too often in his still-young career, Hawk has been way too tentative. For whatever reason, Hawk has preferred to play mistake-free instead of impactful. Maybe he always colored inside the lines as a kid. Who knows?
It wasn't always that way. As a rookie in 2006, Hawk played a little more free and made big plays. He played how you would expect a player taken fifth overall to play -- or at least in the ballpark.
The past two years Packers coaches have tried to turn that switch back on with Hawk.
Maybe it's starting to work.
Let it be said loud and clear (so no one thinks anybody is anti-Hawk): Hawk played very well in the season-opener against the Chicago Bears.
"I thought he played a lot more aggressive," said assistant head coach/inside linebackers Winston Moss. "He did a very good job of stepping up and making some plays that he was supposed to make."
Hawk, who had four tackles and a one for a loss, has almost always been in the right place from play to play, even though he hasn't been the quickest at reading his keys and then reacting like the elite players at linebacker are.
What the Packers want from Hawk is for him to instinctively read a play and then shoot a hole to make play. He did some of that in college and then as a rookie.
In the new 3-4 scheme, it's imperative that he do that. Against a power-running team like the Bears, he had to.
And he did.
"I think as a whole on every play against the run, he was a lot more aggressive than he's been the last three years," Moss said. "So that was extremely encouraging to see. I think he's going to be able to take a look at the film we just studied and be able to gain a lot of confidence in that he can just go ahead and trust his ability, trust the scheme and continue to go out there and make a lot of plays."
Has Hawk turned a corner? We'll have to see. When training camp started, Hawk was also very physical the first few days and was very impressive. Then, for some reason, he went back to thinking too much.
The Packers are hoping he sticks with it this time.
"I like A.J.," defensive coordinator Dom Capers said. "Everybody's thinking he was drafted high. I've seen it many times. Everybody expects a guy to have a cape on. But A.J.'s a good football player. I think he's good in the huddle. He's really done a nice just calling the plays. He had some physical plays (on Sunday night). Part of that run defense, our linebackers got to the ball pretty good."