OFFENSE
Aaron Rodgers threw 35 times completing 17 of them for a paltry sub 50% completion percentage. He amassed 266 yards passing. Rodgers two worst games as a NFL starter have come against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He absorbed six sacks while running for a score and throwing 2 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. On five of the six sacks Rodgers had 4 seconds or more to work with. Three of those sacks he had an open guy or opportunity to throw it away. You can say four if you want to count another one, but it would have been ballsy to throw it away while being dragged down in the red zone. Rodgers even had one play where he had 8 seconds, EIGHT seconds to make a play and threw a bad pass.

Rodgers was throwing off balance a considerable amount Sunday. On each poorly thrown pass that I reviewed he had his center lean on right leg. This is something that happens when you fail to follow through on a pass. The sacks are effecting his mechanics. Plain and simple. Earlier in the season he was not doing this nearly as often. Rodgers will always throw off balance, but now he's throwing off balance when he's not even being pressured. It's extremely difficult to continue being accurate without a consistent throwing motion as a quarterback.

The two touchdown passes, 74 and 32 yards, Rodgers took a three step drop and released the ball just over 3 seconds. Rodgers first and second interception were play-action fakes in what I would call a five to seven step drop. The first one was not necessary as he had James Jones open eight yards in front of him. The second of the two is a ball Greg Jennings should have caught. It was not a wise decision to throw it into triple to quadruple coverage. However, the ball was perfectly placed and Jennings should have snagged it. No question about it. The third interception he had underneath options that would have netted a first down or at least very close to it.

Ahman Green ran the ball six times for over 40 yards, including a nice 26 yard run and became the Packers all-time rushing leader. Ryan Grant had a nice day with 96 yards as well. Grant's 2 yard touchdown was impressive as he simply would not be denied a score. Grant shows flashes of a good running back at times. The problem, it's not consistent.


DEFENSE
The special teams and interceptions did no favors for the defense. I feel they played above average last Sunday. B.J. Raji played a good game. He had several good penetration plays where he shoved his guy into the backfield. I'd credit him with two tackles for loss if I was keeping track. Nick Barnett (who is leading the team in tackles) recorded his fourth fantastic tackle for a loss in as many weeks. Is Nick flourishing in the 3 - 4? A.J. Hawk made two plays with his 7 yard sack (the lone Packer sack of the game) of rookie Josh Freeman being the better of the two. All in all the defense did a fairly decent job. It shouldn't be lost that Nick Collins made a nice play with his interception. Another thing noticed was the Packers used a Dime defense for the first time this year. What does this mean? It means they would rather Jarrett Bush on the field than Hawk. That does not sit well with me. To be fair, Bush made a nice play and almost had a pick six.


SPECIAL TEAMS
Jeremy Kapinos punted the ball well and pinned the Buccaneers deep when he didn't have Gene Hayes body slamming him. Mason Crosby kicked a lot of deep balls into and out of the end zone. The coverage units failed miserably. After the Packers took what should have been a commanding 11 point lead they flip up on a generous 83 yard return by Clifton Smith that kept the Buccaneers in the game and gave them the momentum needed for putting the Packers down for good. We need Jordy Nelson back on Kick Returns and Tramon Williams should never return a punt or kick again. The man simply doesn't run NORTH. Yes, he's running 30 yards on each return, the problem is, only 4 to 12 of those 30 is north.


ZEROs PRATTLE
I didn't see much of the tough aggressive play in this game that I was starting to expect every week. That saddens me. I was begining to think we were going to get mean and punish teams. Instead, us, the fans are being punished by watching this "special" (and boy do I mean special) teams unit flounder field position away time and again making it increasingly harder for the defense and offense to be effective for four quarters.

Did you notice Donald Lee was held up on Rodgers third interception? Speaking of holding, Hawk's interception should have counted as he did not do anything wrong. You're allowed to bump the receiver within five yards, just as Hawk did. If that interception counts, the Packers get the ball back with under seven minutes to play at mid field with a five point lead. It changes the game. Instead, for the second straight week the Packers gave up 38 points.

Bottom line, the Packers are not as bad as we think they are. Unfortunately, they are not as good as we thought either. There somewhere in the middle. [url=index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=119]full article[/url].

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Good observations Zero. I especially agree with the interception call on Hawk, what he did was completely legit. I feel like the penalties aren't even our fault anymore, we just had a reputation and now the refs feel they have to uphold it. I also feel like half of our penalties are more than just a few yards but cost us touchdowns, big plays and turnovers. It's frustrating to watch especially because the teams we play have basically been given a free pass in penalties.

Solid read. One thing I'd pick out though...


I'm not sure I'd agree with Mason and Kapinos getting the pass you give them Z...

Kapinos has been terrible. He punts ok at times, but his hangtime is no where near where they need it to be. He averaged 3.96 hang time according to Bob McGinn, and frankly that doesn't cut it. Yes the coverage units suck, but they could use the help of having a bit more time to block the return lanes. Kapinos has been below par, IMO.

And Crosby... he's struggled too. Check the direction of his kickoffs and the hangtime. Hangtime is 3.97 seconds, he has the ability (i.e. power) to consistently get 4.00+ seconds easily. He can kick deep, but when you kick what are more like line drives as opposed to high kicks... well you aren't helping your coverage units at all - and they can use every bit of help they can get.

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I'm not giving them a free pass. They're doing an okay job. Of course it can be better, what position couldn't be better?

When looking at the big picture and what's being asked of them, I can't fault them for that and I don't know how any reasonable person could. Of course Crosby could do better on his 50+ FG's and of course they both could get more hang time. No kidding, what kicker/punter gets 5+ every single kick/punt?

Peoples expectations are way too damn high. It's not the kicker and punter that are the problem on special teams, its the dang coverage units failing to maintain their lanes and tackle.

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It's hard to maintain lanes when you can't even get set up in your lane in the first place.

That's my point; I'm not asking for 5.00 seconds of hang time, and no where do I even even imply/suggest that be the standard to judge them both against.

But once again, big returns this week and last week on kickoffs were the result of bad coverage, AND Crosby failing to aim the ball in the corner and his inability to get good hang time. You're talking about a player in Crosby who has shown he can get in the 4.1 range of hang time on kickoffs.... we need THAT Crosby.

It should be telling that in his weekly reviews, Bob McGinn has given Crosby and Kapinos 1/2 stars out of 5 for their performances. They've been bad, like the rest of STs.

Vs Minny: Crosby's sliped on a kickoff that led to Harvin's game-changing 48-yard return. His four kickoffs averaged 58 yards and 3.92 seconds of hang time. That needs to improve..

He played slightly better against Tampa by kicking the ball further, but his hangtime is no where near where it needs to be. Nor is his aim with angling kickoffs into corners.

You set coverages based on where you want to place the ball, and plan accordingly the return lanes that will need to be blocked. Doesn't do much good when your kicker (or punter) can't consistently place the ball where they are supposed to.

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