Teams that experience injury epidemics in today’s NFL usually don’t make the playoffs -- much less with the Super Bowl. Of all the ingredients of championship, the 2010 World Champion Green Bay Packers proved quality depth is one of the most important. The Packers went to the Super Bowl with 15 players on injured reserve, six opening day starters (three on offense, three on defense) and eight different players who started at least one game. So how did they do it?



EXPECTATIONS

Let’s start with 2010 training camp last August. Several national figures came to Green Bay touting the Packers as the favorite to win the NFC. No less an authority than Peter King, the legendary lead NFL writer for Sports Illustrated, actually predicted it would be Green Bay-Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV. He made that prediction in August!!



Perhaps many of us were a bit too close to the forest to see the trees. I knew the Packers had an exceptionally deep team (at least by today’s NFL standards), but I looked at the Vikings, defending Super Bowl champ Saints and Cowboys at the top of the conference with the Falcons, Giants and Packers in that next group of talented teams. However, the Packers themselves were much more confident than those of us in the local media contingent. They strode into their “welcome home” luncheon in Green Bay, just before the regular season opener, wearing cowboy gear - hats, boots, etc. – as they began a season they believed would put them in Cowboys country - Dallas in February.



REGULAR SEASON

In the regular season opener in Philadelphia, the Packers played like the champs they were picked to be. But right from the start the injury bug hit. Injuries would be a common theme throughout the season right through the Super Bowl in February.



Running back Ryan Grant, coming off back-to- back 1,200 yard rushing seasons, went down to a season ending ankle injury in the first half. DE Cullen Jenkins injured a hand also in the first half of that game and finished wearing a cast to protect the injury. He would be impaired through the first five weeks of the season due to that injury, but his play and presence along the defensive line - even playing with one hand - was outstanding (Later Jenkins would miss the last four games of the regular season due to a calf injury.)



Offensive right tackle Mark Tauscher sustained a shoulder injury Week 4 against Detroit and eventually went on the IR list. LB Nick Barnett, the second all-time leading tackler in the history of the franchise, went out for the count with a wrist injury. Starting safety Morgan Burnett, who became only the second rookie safety to start a season opener for the Packers since 1988, also went down for the season with a knee injury.



Week Five at Washington was a particularly costly game for the Packers. Not only did they lose in overtime on the second play from scrimmage, but also lost Jermichael Finley, who was off to the best start for a tight end in the history of the franchise. Finley incurred a season-ending knee injury. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers suffered his first concussion in overtime of that game, as the Packers dropped their second game of the season.



Starting outside linebacker Brad Jones incurred a shoulder injury in Week 7 against Minnesota and the revolving door opposite Clay Matthews at outside linebacker swung wide open. The Packers would start four different players at that position through the remainder of the season.



Along the way they lost key backups (sub package starters) at linebacker in Brady Poppinga and Brandon Chillar. The injury epidemic was beginning to weigh on the confidence of this team as they reached midseason with a 5-3 record -the three losses coming by a combined total of just nine points. Maybe this just wasn’t going to be their year.



The injury toll on defensive was immense. The Packers had been Number One against the run in 2009, giving up 83.3 yards per game. With all of the losses up front, that wasn’t going to happen in this season. Green Bay ranked 18th in rush defense, giving up 114.9 yards per game. They were 28th in average per rushing attempt (4.7 yards), but yielded just six rushing TDs all season.



The marvel about this unit was, despite the injuries, in many ways it actually improved over the 2009 defense. The Packers ranked 5th in the league in pass defense allowing just 194.2 yards per game. Perhaps a more telling statistic though - they limited opposing signal-callers to a passer rating of just 67.2 - best in the NFL! After allowing 29 TD passes in 2009, the Packers gave up only 16 passing TDs last season - 4th in the NFL.

Led by two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Clay Matthews with 13.5 sacks, the Packers were second to Pittsburgh (48) with 47 sacks this past season. The Packers led the league with 333 sack yards.



Green Bay improved 16 places in Red Zone Defense over the 2009 club - ranking12th in Red Zone defense, allowing opponents to score TDs on 48.4 percent of their trips inside the 20. That was a huge improvement over the 61percent TDs allowed in the Red Zone by the 2009 unit.



The Packers were at their best when put on the spot by offensive turnovers. The offense committed 22 turnovers and the defense yielded just 70 points off of those turnovers. That was a huge improvement over the 2009 unit that gave up 70 points on just 16 offensive turnovers. Conversely, the offense scored 111 points off the 32 takeaways by the defense ranking 5th in the NFL. So how did they do it?



Second year nose tackle B J Raji stepped up in the middle and played at an all-pro level. He led NFL nose tackles with 6.5 sacks and made a crucial interception returning it for a touchdown in the NFC Title game in Chicago.



Ryan Pickett moved to DE replacing Johnny Jolly and was solid. Cullen Jenkins played through injury and, when in the lineup, he was very good recording seven sacks in 12 games. The Packers acquired street free agent defensive lineman Howard Green, who was let go earlier in the week by the Jets, just in time for the Jets game and he delivered with four tackles in the shutout win at the Meadowlands.



At linebacker, when Nick Barnett went down, it was Desmond Bishop’s time to step up. And step up he did! Bishop had been very good in training camp. In regular season games he not only showed big-hit ability and a capability to make plays, but he also botched assignments. The coaching staff did not know if they could count on him to make the consistent plays required of a starter. Well, they had no choice when Barnett went down. In his first big opportunity Bishop did not disappoint. Dez was second to A J Hawk in tackles and, in the opinion of many, played at a level at or above what longtime starter Nick Barnett was playing at when he went down in Washington.



It also should be noted that when Barnett was lost, Hawk took over as the signal caller for the defense. He had the communication (from the coaches) device in his helmet. His leadership skills resulted in the best overall performance of his career and a Pro Bowl designation in February. A J was outstanding, not just from a numbers standpoint with a team leading 134 total tackles, 97 solo and three interceptions, but his intangibles steadied the defense through a tumultuous wave of injuries at midseason.



At outside linebacker, free agent rookie Frank Zombo played very well in place of the injured Brad Jones. When Zombo went down, missing the last three regular season games, free agent Eric Walden, a midseason pickup, stepped in and on the final weekend of the regular season was the NFC’s defensive player of the week in a playoff clinching victory over the Bears. Walden made 16 tackles and recorded three sacks.



In the secondary, veteran journeyman Charlie Peprah came in to replace Burnett at safety and was a solid steady influence in a secondary that would feature three Pro Bowl talents.

All Pro starting cornerback Al Harris was unable to regain his form off a devastating knee injury in late 2009. His replacement, former nickel back Tramon Williams emerged as an All Pro, leading the Packers with six interceptions and career-high 23 pass breakups.



I believe this defense, despite the injuries, was a more effective unit than Dom Capers’ more highly ranked unit of 2009. First off, Raji and Hawk really emerged in performance and leadership roles. Zombo, Walton, Bishop, Peprah, Williams and Shields were arguably better than the people they replaced in this defense and saved what could have been a disastrous campaign on that side of the football. Rarely does an NFL defense get better when that many “fill-ins” have to step up. This one did - and it saved the season.



The offense, as well, had to overcome injury adversity in 2010 and we will analyze how they handled their business in my next blog.