OFFENSE
I'm beginning to think that Aaron Rodgers wants the record for most 300 yard passing games in a career. Whether he does or not, if he continues on this path, he's going to have it. Rodgers was 32 out of 45 with 2 touchdowns and 344 yards. Pretty damn good numbers. The Packers are a spoiled franchise when it comes to quarterbacks. If you don't believe that, ask any Bears fan after watching Cutler throw worse than my High School quarterback. Rodgers maintained a more consistent follow through Sunday which resulted in more accurate passes.

The offensive line is credited with giving up two sacks (bringing the total to 43 for the year), although one of them can be faulted on Rodgers. The other was a design roll-out off a play action pass. There's not a lot you can do when the defender is in your face thanks to Mark Tauscher. During his post game conference Rogers said that Tauscher surely thought he had help on the inside.

In what I thought was the call of the game occurred when Rodgers made a pre-snap change. It was visible he was changing a route and had that look on his face that said, "You screwed up and now you will pay!". Sure enough, he hits Greg Jennings on a ten yard slant and who breaks it for 64 yards and a score. The intentional grounding call was a good call too. The ball fell three or so yards short of the line of scrimmage. I was curious about that call as FOX failed to adequately display a reasonable replay. Rodgers showed great awareness on his 10 yard scamper too. What does 274 mean to you? To Rodgers it means a career first half in passing yards.

Ryan "Where The Hell Have You Been?" Grant rushed like I thought he could rush when I was on his bandwagon a month ago. I spoke words like "he needs more carries to be effective". Then after I seen him run straight into his own offensive lineman against the Browns (where he could have bounced it for 70 plus yard score), I quickly jumped off. I might have to go aboard again.

Grant ran with menace yesterday and I do say it was great to see. I was most impressed with two plays specifically. Grant took the hand-off, bounced outside ran up the side line and what does he do? He steps into the defender, knocking him backwards instead of sliding out of bounds. That's what I like to see out of my running back. Make damn sure they know you're here all game and there's more where that came from. The second one came on the final drive on (I believe a halfback dive up the middle) with Grant running into a pile, kept his legs churning and bounced it to the left for a 21 yard gain and new set of downs. More impressively regarding Grant's last two performances is who it was against. Eighth ranked rush defense, Cowboys and 3rd ranked rush defense 49ers Grant combined for 40 carries with 205 yards and a score. I'm hoping Grant can keep this up. If he does, it's perfect timing for the Packers.



DEFENSE
Mike McCarthy called for a challenge with just under seven minutes to go was a good call. It might not have netted a reversal, but it gave the defense more time to rest than a time out would have. The defense played lights out in the first half with consistent pressure on Alex Smith so heavy he was wanting to chuck the ball up to avoid getting hit. [Straying off topic a bit: When you compare fundamentals between Smith and Rodgers, Rodgers wins hands down across the board. It's hard to believe these two came from the same draft and harder to believe that Smith was selected over Rodgers.] The Packers defense applied loads of pressure during the first half but backed off in the second half as both Aaron Kampman and Al Harris fell to season ending ACL injuries.

B.J. Raji netted his first sack of his young career. Johnny Jolly and Ryan Pickett both had tipped passes. Kampman and Cullen Jenkins both registered a sack a piece. Nick Collins made an athletic reach to his toes for an interception that assisted in a short field in which the offense took advantage of.

It has been said that the Packers run defense is not as good as their rank suggests. I say, bull. The Packers played Frank Gore and a Dallas trio of Felix Jones, Marion Barber and Tashard Choice who are very talented and did very well early on against them. So good that their respective coordinators stopped calling their numbers. Is that the defenses fault? No, in fact it's a credit to the defensive play to urge pass instead of run.


SPECIAL TEAMS
Mason Crosby didn't miss a 50 plus yard field goal this week, something to cheer for. Please note, he didn't attempt one either. Coach McCarthy had an opportunity to kick a 56 yarder, but decided to send Jeremy Kapinos out to punt instead. Smart play as Kapinos pinned them down at the one yard line with the gunner stopping the ball. The ensuing play was an interception by Nick Collins. I think it might be time to continue punting when the ball is beyond the 32 yard line.

I've read that some claim that Packers fans shouldn't complain about the special teams play because, hey at least we're not the Pittsburgh Steelers who have given up a touchdown on special teams eight straight games. I'm going to say that's not completely accurate. A special teams score on a return is sometimes better than giving them a short field. Reason being, as a defense you don't like playing with your back against the wall time after time. Plus with a short field the offense gets to eat up more time on the clock and if they score it's demoralizing to the defense. I'd rather trot my offense back out to eat up the clock and control the tempo of the game than pit tired defense against the wall. Especially a defense that just lost two pro bowl starters.


ZEROs PRATTLE
I like the physical play from this team which was shown again when Jordy Nelson leveled 49ers cornerback, Reggie Smith on Jennings 64 yard touchdown reception. Touching more on the physical play, I really hope Dom Capers doesn't scale the aggressive nature we've seen the last two weeks because of the unfortunate losses of Harris and Kampman.

Losing Harris is going to hurt us more than most realize. I hear a lot of "Harris will be replaced by Tramon Williams". That's true, to a degree. Tramon has played in over 60% of the plays on defense already, that means Jarret "Who Burnt Me Last" Bush and/or Brandon "I'm A Black Pencil Wearing A Uniform" Underwood will be on the field much more in our sub packages. I can only hope for a lot of base defense blitzes. I believe that's reasonable considering we don't play too many teams that have multiple receiving threats.

The tears in Kampman's eyes as he was being carted off the field left me feeling bad for the guy. He has one of the most relentless motors I've seen in my young life. Kampman's next contract most surely will be a one year deal with a team that plays a 4 - 3 ending a solid career as a Packer. I'm confident Harris will return with a chip on his shoulder to prove to everyone even at his age (he'll be 35 in December) he is able to come back from a serious injury, again.

Thom Brennaman and Brian Billick, please find your way to the unemployment line. It's nothing personal, I just prefer the announcing crew to not have their lips firmly planted on all 90 active players asses when calling the game. And is it too much to ask for an announcing team to do some homework and study the teams playing? Routinely this announcing duo from made gaffes no professional should.

I lost respect when I heard something about the Packers offensive line has done well all year except for the 41 sacks. I damn near scratched my ears out. I think the NFL should hire a crew of announcers for every team for every game. And you have the announcing team that's watched your team play all season. At least they would get the players names coincided with the large numbers on the jerseys. Since that won't happen, as it's not feasible (and makes sense) I would urge all announcers to review game film of the last couple games of each team and take notes on it. [url=index.php?name=Pro_News&aid=123]full article[/url].

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It's okay to say it's a bad write up instead of nothing at all ya know! lol 😛

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it's a bad write up... lol. sorry, i have been working with my dad doing inventory the last couple days and my brain is pretty much broken. This is what happens when you come to see the folks for thanksgiving, you get put to work!

I liked what I saw from the o-line the last two weeks. i hope tausch can stay healthy and it was a relief to see Colledge step up, somewhat at least.

All I have on my mind are the two injured players on our defense. I would imagine that this means less sub-packages. I think part of the reason for going into sub so often is to get Tramon on the field. Well, now he'll be on the field in base, and the focus shifts from keeping tramon on the field to keeping Bush and Underwood off. I am concerned about our pass rush, but with Brad Jones in the lineup, i expect him to be able to offer more coverage in the passing game than Kamp. He was a liability in that regard. It's nice to see Raji start playing with some authority. That should only improve our run D and force teams to abandon the run earlier. I hope that this can be used to our advantage and we don't start getting burned in the pass game with Bush and Underwood on the field more.

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I love the part about Grant. He really did seem to be running harder than usual. Sadly enough, he still didn't break off a really big one, but he appears to be regaining his 2007 form.

I especially loved one run, where he got a 1 yard gain or something. It doesn't show on the stat sheet, but he made a tackler or 3 miss and/or ran over, making a -3 yard run a 1 yarder. That's what I like to see.

Good write up Zero.

One play I really liked that game was Jennings 64 yard touchdown. For two reasons...Jennings is still showing he is a great player, he had an outstanding game overall and whenever a receiver can juke and make two players on the same team run into each other, it always gives me a chuckle. Also, Jordy Nelson's aggressive play laying out the DB going after Jennings. Could that DB have made a touchdown saving tackle? Probably not...it makes that block so much better.

Defensively- It hurts to see Harris and Kampman go down. Hurts even more to see Kampman's face when he was getting carted off the field because unlike Harris, Kampman's future may not be with the Packers (its like a dagger in the heart saying that). Two key playmakers in the Packers defense every season...both will be missed on the defense. I believe these guys will be great sideline players though if that makes any sense.

Two players who I was down on that are continually impressing me each week: Barnett and Grant. I am glad their play is coming around and I hope it only continues as we start to face better teams after the Detroit Lions.

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Me too, I just love it when the player I criticize makes an ass out of me. God Clifton and Colledge suck.

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Yeah, I agree. I was all against Ahman getting signed and he made me look stupid already.

Maybe that works....good for nothin' Clifton and Colledge!
C'mon Bush...you can't even play in the UFL!!!!

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The Packers overwhelmed the 9ers much of the game, but they STILL have not learned how to close the door on teams. They put together a great first half, and then come out and let the 49ers get 21 points. That will result in a loss against better teams. Say we lead Pittsburgh 17-3 at the half, we would get beat by Pitt because we are too busy protecting the lead instead of adding to it.

I have a serious problem with Jarrett Bush in our Nickel. He was out there far too much when Harris was healthy, now he will most likely end up covering the #2 receiver in nickel. Sometimes he will likely get caught horribly mismatched with the #1 WR(please lord no...) Tramon will stay as the Nickelback, leaving Woodson roaming to cover whoever is hurting us, and Bush. That is a sad joke and it is angering that Ted Thompson was not prepared for a situation like this. Bush is clearly the weakest link on the Defense and has been whenever he has seen the field in his entire career. I remember in the Tampa Bay game, every time he subbed in, Josh Freeman threw it at Bush almost every time. He was probably being told to target Bush by his Coordinator through his earpiece. Imagine what Roethlisberger and Flacco, or even Cutler, could exploit in the pass D...

With all that said, the whole key to pulling this season off will be can we continue to APPLY PRESSURE ON THE QUARTERBACK. We have done so in the last two games. If Capers goes soft, and starts to play max coverage, we will lose a few games.
The "players only" meeting that was held after the TB loss was very meaningful. Did you notice a difference in the intensity and overall effectiveness of this team in the next game after the meeting? I know I did. We overwhelmed Dallas, then overwhelmed San Fran. Impressive stuff that I honestly did not think we were capable of with this coaching.

The positive signs are that we are starting to learn and adjust to our weaknesses. My biggest complaint with McCarthy is that he does not use his strengths and protect his weaknesses at all. He just continues to do the same thing, and expects better results... BUT, the last two games he has started to hide the poor pass protection with screens and quicker pass plays. The OLine's better run blocking has to be a direct result of other players chewing their asses out in that meeting. Two games in a row we won the trenches, against teams that normally win the trenches. Again, impressive stuff.
On D, Capers has finally realized that our 4 man rush, with or without Kampman, was not good enough to put CONSISTENT pressure on the QB. Jenkins is playing his ass off, but we HAVE TO blitz to force the QB to get the ball out or get sacked. Clay Matthews is the man... he has single handedly given this team a fierce blitz. As long as we continue to stack the line on D, and always bring pre-snap blitz looks(like we have the last two games), I think we will be okay. No Al Harris will result in some annoying completions though (I can envision the 15 yard cross pattern for a first down on 3rd & long. and we all know who will be the CB who got burned BUSH......)

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