Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago


Green Bay Packers see red after halftime
 


By Tom Ziemer and Tom Oates / Wisconsin State Journal | Posted: Friday, November 27, 2009 8:00 am

[img_r]http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/lacrossetribune.com/content/tncms/assets/editorial/b/79/72b/b7972b18-db16-11de-ad6a-001cc4c03286.image.jpg?_dc=1259300154[/img_r]DETROIT - The Green Bay Packers were moving the ball up and down the field, and yet at halftime of their 34-12 Thanksgiving win over the Detroit Lions at Ford Field, they had just 13 points to show for it.

That despite the fact that quarterback Aaron Rodgers had thrown for 204 yards and the Packers had amassed 256 as a team.

It was a familiar situation for a Green Bay team was in a similar spot last week last week against San Francisco after a 1-for-4 first-half red-zone showing.

"We kind of cleaned things up in the second half," running back Ryan Grant said. "And that was what we said at halftime, we want to score touchdowns. Field goals aren't going to cut it, and we wanted to put them away."

The Packers were much more efficient in finishing drives in a third quarter that saw them grab full control of the game.

While a Rodgers sack-and-fumble ended Green Bay's first drive of the second half, the Packers scored touchdowns on their next two.

Rodgers, who torched the Lions for 348 yards and three scores against no interceptions, found receiver Donald Driver for a seven-yard score against a heavy blitz to make it 20-7 with 6 minutes, 38 seconds left in the third. On the Packers' next possession, he hit receiver James Jones for a 21-yard catch-and-run to push Green Bay's lead to 27-7 with 38 seconds to go in the third.

"That's the one thing that you have to correct," Driver said of finishing drives. "And we corrected it and then you see after that, we was able to put points on the board."

Those were just two of the highlights from Rodgers' latest carving of the Lions.

He completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 636 yards and six touchdowns vs. no interceptions in two meetings with Detroit last season, and was 29-for-37 for 358 yards and two touchdowns and one interception in the teams' first game this season.

But he left Ford Field "pretty sore" after taking a shot from Lions rookie linebacker DeAndre Levy, a former University of Wisconsin athlete, on a third-down play early in the fourth quarter.

"Got my left side of my body kind of jarred and then I kind of landed awkwardly on my knee," Rodgers said. "Been through knee surgery before, just a little bit worried for a second there. But I laid there for a second and got up. ... Didn't want mom to worry at all, so knew I was going to be OK and jogged off the field."

Line 'em up

The Packers had three players knocked out of the game by injuries: left tackle Chad Clifton (hamstring), receiver Jordy Nelson (shoulder) and cornerback Brandon Underwood (hamstring).

Clifton's injury threw a wrench into the Packers' plans at right tackle. He came up hobbling after a Rodgers-to-Driver completion midway through Green Bay's second drive of the second half.

The veteran stayed in for one play before being replaced by rookie T.J. Lang. Lang had been rotating with Mark Tauscher on the right side, coming in for one series in the first half.

Clifton's injury meant Tauscher played the entire second half.

"I felt good. I did," the former University of Wisconsin athlete said. "It was a lot of fun being out there. I really don't have any clue (about the plan), I just go play. When they tell me to go in, I go in; when they tell me to come out, I come out."

Lang has bounced around the line this season, but took all the snaps at left tackle during Tuesday's practice because Clifton sat out with a knee problem.

"I felt good going out there at left tackle," Lang said, "and I've taken enough reps at both right and left tackle the past few weeks that I feel whatever they need me to play, I'm going to go out there and I can feel comfortable playing either one."

Airing it out

Rodgers tested his arm strength on his 68-yard pass to a wide-open Driver in the second quarter, a ball that traveled 70 yards in the air.

"I'd say about 72 probably is (my) max," Rodgers said. "If I had thrown a perfect spiral, I think I could have gotten another yard or two out of the ball."

Another yard or two would have given the Packers a touchdown because Driver was well behind Lions safety Marvin White and had to wait for the ball, allowing White to recover and make the tackle at the 9. It didn't matter because Rodgers threw a touchdown pass to tight end Donald Lee on the next play to tie the game at 7-7.

"It wasn't the design of the play but it was a heck of a throw," coach Mike McCarthy said. "I think it starts up front. Obviously, the protection was very good. He extended the play and Donald got behind them. When he threw it and I looked up to see where Donald was, I was impressed that he got the ball there. And I think the safety was surprised, too."

Rodgers, who has faced an intense pass rush all season, was probably surprised because he had about 7 seconds to throw the ball.

The Lions faked a seven-man pass rush on the play and Rodgers intended to dump the ball off to fullback Korey Hall. When they rushed only three, however, that gave Rodgers time to go all the way through his progressions before locating Driver running free behind the defense.

"I think they just kind of lost him (Driver) because I was running around out there like I didn't know what was going on, looking to the left, looking to the right," Rodgers said. "I kind of saw Donald out of the corner of my eye and had to make a little split decision about whether I could throw it that far. I still didn't throw it far enough where he could catch it and score, but I think they kind of lost it there. It was a fun one."

On the defensive

As expected, Jarrett Bush assumed nickel back duties with cornerback Al Harris done for the season and Tramon Williams moving up to take Harris' spot.

Green Bay also made the move most anticipated they would at left outside linebacker, with rookie Brad Jones starting in place of Aaron Kampman, whose season is also over. Brady Poppinga rotated in periodically to spell Jones, while Jeremy Thompson also saw time to give rookie Clay Matthews a break on the right side.

"We played some more people," McCarthy said. "We had some different combinations."


UserPostedImage
Fan Shout
dfosterf (1h) : tell her I reckon
dfosterf (1h) : Micah Robinson cut. Probable PS player tomorrow. Has to call mom back and t
Zero2Cool (4h) : New site so much better. Might make switch and deal with it.
dfosterf (4h) : Mecole Hardman to our practice squad
dfosterf (4h) : Nick Nieman from Texans our 5th linebacker. Special teams signing
TheKanataThrilla (5h) : Looks like we signed Clayton Tune as QB3
wpr (5h) : TKT people lose their minds over QB3. Point is almost none of them are ready that's why they are on the PS and other teams don't take them.
TheKanataThrilla (6h) : Unfortunately he doesn't seem ready to be an emergency QB.
TheKanataThrilla (6h) : As a Canadian and a follower of Canadian University football. I am rooting for him
dfosterf (6h) : I bet a lot of us will follow the Taylor Elgersma journey with interest. Personally, got a Kurt Warner vibe goin' on. I like him
TheKanataThrilla (6h) : Not sure if either will be claimed though.
TheKanataThrilla (6h) : Tune or Hooker would make sense
dfosterf (6h) : Clayton Tune cut by the Cards? Don't know if that's the guy, we shall see
TheKanataThrilla (7h) : Per Bill Huber, the Packers will not be bringing back Taylor Elgersma or Sean Clifford on the practice squad, so a new third quarterback
Mucky Tundra (7h) : Schefter must have deleted his tweet
dfosterf (9h) : Hopefully Jerry reaches under the seat cushions and ashtrays of his jet and scrapes up the 45 million apr and spares us further nonsense
dfosterf (9h) : Have to admit the PO'd Cowboy fan videos would be fun to watch. Problem with draft picks is half their fanbase barely knows what that is
beast (9h) : I think Cowboys fans are ready to get their pitch forks and burning sticks if Jerry were to trade Micah
dfosterf (9h) : If Jerry traded Micah to GB, here in northern Va. they would have to quick build yet another data center to handle the internet hate traffic
Zero2Cool (10h) : its signing and trades that you don't hear about, other then announced
Zero2Cool (10h) : If you hear rumors about Packers sign or trade, won't happen. Not how they work
dfosterf (10h) : 19 players in a contract year. Jones called loss to us worst loss in Cowboy history. Forget Parsons trade. Not happenin' Cap'n
packerfanoutwest (11h) : The Packers, meanwhile, are the youngest team in the league for the third consecutive year.
dfosterf (13h) : That it was darkest before the dawn in Bengals and Commanders before they got deals done
Zero2Cool (13h) : what is Schefter saying?
dfosterf (13h) : He was getting Dorito infusion therapy
dfosterf (13h) : He's outta shape. Why, just the other day I saw him splayed out on the trainers table
Mucky Tundra (20h) : Parsons has followed Rasheed Walker on Twitter. Quite the choice
Mucky Tundra (20h) : Kuhn is a former player who works for the team, if somethings going down, he would be close to it
Mucky Tundra (20h) : @kuhnj30 Micah Freaking Parsons
Mucky Tundra (20h) : A LOT of buzz on the Bird App regarding Parsons; even Schefter is saying it's serious
dfosterf (26-Aug) : *Orzech*
dfosterf (26-Aug) : Orzich long snapper 3 yr extension
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : Packers signed someone for three year deal
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : lol i know it's insane ... sign up for the waiver wire then you'll know
wpr (26-Aug) : YES!!!!!!
Mucky Tundra (26-Aug) : WE WANT THE LIST! WE WANT THE LIST!
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : @JJLahey · 2m Holy crap, Packers, where the heck is the list?
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : haha folks on Tweeter every year this time ... 'where is list Packers!!" hahaha
wpr (26-Aug) : He played pretty good.
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : NAZIR STACKHOUSE HAS MADE THE 53
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : NOOOOO KALEN IS GONE
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : Kalen King and Kamal Hadden making it. me thinks
schroeder84 (26-Aug) : @dfosterf I suspect Elgersma WILL be hard to hide. Raw, but talented
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : pp.com is broken, halt testing, gotta go do work things for a bit
hardrocker950 (26-Aug) : Mecole Hardman was released, to the surprise of few
Zero2Cool (26-Aug) : PP.com updated. Reset Password works, and now User Profile pages are a thing
Zero2Cool (25-Aug) : Soft hope plan is having fantasy football weekly on-site that i build. cannot do that with this setup.
Zero2Cool (25-Aug) : It's older technology, resource hog, cannot be upgraded/changed. That's to start.
packerfanoutwest (25-Aug) : Ok, but what is wrong with this site?
Please sign in to use Fan Shout
2025 Packers Schedule
Sunday, Sep 7 @ 3:25 PM
LIONS
Thursday, Sep 11 @ 7:15 PM
COMMANDERS
Sunday, Sep 21 @ 12:00 PM
Browns
Sunday, Sep 28 @ 7:20 PM
Cowboys
Sunday, Oct 12 @ 3:25 PM
BENGALS
Sunday, Oct 19 @ 3:25 PM
Cardinals
Sunday, Oct 26 @ 7:20 PM
Steelers
Sunday, Nov 2 @ 12:00 PM
PANTHERS
Monday, Nov 10 @ 7:15 PM
EAGLES
Sunday, Nov 16 @ 12:00 PM
Giants
Sunday, Nov 23 @ 12:00 PM
VIKINGS
Thursday, Nov 27 @ 12:00 PM
Lions
Sunday, Dec 7 @ 12:00 PM
BEARS
Sunday, Dec 14 @ 3:25 PM
Broncos
Friday, Dec 19 @ 11:00 PM
Bears
Friday, Dec 26 @ 11:00 PM
RAVENS
Saturday, Jan 3 @ 11:00 PM
Vikings
Recent Topics
4m / Fantasy Sports Talk / Zero2Cool

55m / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

2h / Green Bay Packers Talk / bboystyle

7h / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

20h / Green Bay Packers Talk / Cheesey

26-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

26-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

26-Aug / Feedback, Suggestions and Issues / Zero2Cool

25-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / wpr

24-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / Mucky Tundra

24-Aug / Around The NFL / beast

23-Aug / Feedback, Suggestions and Issues / Zero2Cool

22-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / Mucky Tundra

21-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / beast

20-Aug / Green Bay Packers Talk / bboystyle

Headlines
Copyright © 2006 - 2025 PackersHome.com™. All Rights Reserved.