Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 + Season Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 + Season Week 9 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 + Season Week 15 Week 16 Week 17 (VS Chicago Bears): Click here for visual. My Coverage Player of the Week:Week 1: Tramon Williams
Week 2: Sam Shields
Week 3: Nick Collins
Week 4: Charles Woodson
Week 5: Tramon Williams
Week 6: Nick Collins
Week 7: Nick Collins
Week 8: Charles Woodson
Week 9: Charles Woodson/Tramon Williams
Week 11: Tramon Williams
Week 12: Charlie Peprah
Week 13: Tramon Williams
Week 14: Tramon Williams
Week 15: Charles Woodson
Week 16: AJ Hawk
Week 17: DefenseTalk about a cheesy coverage player of the week, but I was going to split it between Hawk and Tramon, until I realized that Woodson was damn good breaking up passes around the line of scrimmage. Then I felt like Collins deserved to be added for the big defensive stop at the end of the game. Oh well, our entire D played well and if not for the pressure on the quarterback, the back end would have looked significantly worse. Our defense finished with their best performance of the year allowing a season low 4.31 YPA, our second performance below 5 (Detroit rematch).
Tramon was extremely impressive this week and I can't speak of how impressive he's been all season. Very smart, knows the system, great technique, good ball skills, physical...he's the perfect package as a cover corner.
Hawk gave up 5 completions on 5 throws toward his target, but for only 24 yards. He gave up most of the yards on 2 3rd and long plays, but made the tackle on both to prevent the 1st down and force the punt. The one tackle he made on Forte was remarkable. He was beat initially on the route, but recovered incredibly to allow no extra yards after the catch and stop him 2 yards short of the 1st. On a run play that was intended to go left end, he took a great angle to force the run back inside, which stopped Forte from grabbing more than 2 yards. He's really picked up his game in his de facto contract year.
I'm pretty sure all 3 of Woodson's deflections were on blitzes, including the all important one on 4th and 2 from the Packers 40, which could have led to at least another field goal. Though we didn't get a score on the ensuing drive, it basically flipped field position. Great game from him around the line of scrimmage.
I don't need to say how important Pep's interceptions was. It was a bad/late throw and decision by Cutler and Peprah undercut the route and came up with the pick in the endzone saving at least 3 points. Outside of that, he wasn't incredibly impressive on the day. He allowed 2 first downs and was the beneficiary of 2 other drops (or at least 1, depending on how they classify drops). Still, the Bears have the ability to connect on some deep balls, so when we played Cover 2 (much less than usual it would appear), he was doing his job.
Watching the game more closely this time around, I can't emphasize how well Erik Walden played. I saw and noted his potential following his first start, but this was a remarkable game for a player of his experience. He played both OLB and "MIKE" in this defense and did a better job than I've seen from Zombo all year...BY FAR. Besides his sacks, he had a couple "hustle" plays, including a tackle on Rashied Davis 20+ yards down the field after going a couple yards into the backfield on a pass rush. He also crashed down the LOS to make a tackle on the opposite side of the field and limit Forte to a 2 yard gain. He was also used in that delayed MIKE "blitz" that Capers allows his players to use at their discretion. His philosophy is if you see a clear lane to the QB, take it. We saw Clay Matthews grab one of his first 6 sacks (I believe it was the Philly game) on a similar read. I expect him to be assigned a lot of responsibility in stopping Mike Vick this week.
Hats off to Nick Collins for coming away with a game-clinching play. It's about time we had a big one like that in a game that mattered.
A final point of note...BJ Raji was not dropped into coverage. His target came on a pass he deflected (and nearly picked off) at the line of scrimmage. However, it is also worth noting that the Bears motioned a back out to the right side to create a 3x2 formation and anyone notice who followed him? None other than CJ Wilson. I'm glad Cutler didn't read that. [url=Pro_News/aid=159.html]full article[/url].