This is getting ridiculous
Posted Oct 19 2009, 12:35 PM by Brian Carriveau
Thanks goes out to Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for the reminder of what a good job Desmond Bishop has done in game situations
"Bishop had 24 tackles, two interceptions, one sack, one forced fumble and one recovered fumble in exhibition games," wrote McGinn last Friday. "Of the seven fumbles forced by the entire linebacking corps in the last 20 games, three were by Bishop in a mere 142 snaps."
The fact that Bishop is not playing on defense is bordering on ludicrous. Look at those stats again. A.J. Hawk has zero interceptions, zero sacks, zero forced fumbles and zero fumble recoveries through five games this season.
Hawk's playing time has decreased to around twenty some snaps per game as he's only playing in the base defense. And while he's been reliable, he's not an impact player. Bishop could be.
"How does he not get on the field?" a personnel director from another team said in McGinn's article. "If you watched (Nick) Barnett the first four games you'd say Bishop is a better football player. He makes more plays than Hawk. Maybe there's something I don't know but I know this: That guy was making like nine, 10 tackles a game in preseason."
I'll admit that Nick Barnett is improving with every game this season and he A) recovers from his knee injury from a year ago and š gets more comfortable in the new defensive scheme.
It would stand to reason that Bishop would take Hawk's place on the field and not Barnett's. But the time to make the change is now.
Maybe the coaches are seeing something on the practice field that is causing them to hold Bishop back. But the game isn't played on the practice field. It's played when the game is on the line. And the Packers could use some impact plays from Bishop now.