The win over da Bears proved 2 things the Packers are better than
da Bears and Mike McCarthy is better than John Fox. Beyond that everything else
that came out of the game is pure speculation.
The Packers offense, despite the offensive line shuffling once
again, and the loss of Ty Montgomery, Jamaal Williams and Davante Adams,
continued to produce. Aaron Rodgers was great with 4 touchdown passes and no
interceptions, despite having his 300-yard game streak broken, and the game
plan allowed him to be sacked only twice.
Rodgers seems to be righting his ship elevating his quarterback
rating (100.7) to over 100 for the first time this season after starting the
season at 86.5. Coming into the Bears game Rodgers was second in the league in
passing yardage (967) behind Tom Brady (1,092) and 3rd in TD passes with 6
behind Brady (8), Matthew Stafford (7) and, get this as far as irony is
concerned, Alex Smith (7), who was drafted ahead of Rodgers and who will lose
his job with the Chiefs at the end of the season.
Another positive on the offense was the play of 5th round draft
pick Aaron Jones, who I have been calling for to play since the beginning of
the season. He stepped in and gained 49 yards on 13 carries with 1 TD in his
first career game
With Montgomery out with broken ribs and No. 4 pick Williams out
with a knee injury that leaves just Jones, who I like a lot, and No. 7 pick
Devante Mays, the only running backs left on the 53 besides fullback Aaron
Ripkowski, I would hope he gets to start against the Cowboys. However, McCarthy
hates him just like he hates Jeff Janis and to prove it Williams and Mays were
active in week 1 and Jones was inactive, despite both being terrible in the
preseason (Williams averaged 2.4 yards a carry (25-61) and Mays 2.7 (16-43),
while Jones led the team in rushing with 105 yards on 19 carries with an
average of 5.5.
However, I bet Thompson signs some retread and McCarthy gives the
job to him. One columnist has already speculated who the Packers will sign with
a list of 5 he likes, including current free agent DeAngelo Williams (which
probably wouldn’t be a bad pick up) along with Devontae Booker (Broncos),
Adrian Peterson (Saints), T.J. Yeldon (Jaguars) and Charles Sims (Bucs). I
don’t know much about the Booker, Yeldon and Sims, but it seems Peterson is
either a misfit or after thought with the Saints or has nothing left. I
wouldn’t trade for him, but if they cut him I would bring him in to see if he
any tread left on his tires. However, I would sign Williams now along with
Brandon Albert at left tackle, I thought I’d bring that up one more time.
Some more positives were the continued play of Jordy Nelson and
Randall Cobb, when he is healthy, the punting of Justin Vogel and the kicking
of Mason Crosby and I guess the snapping of new long snapper Taybor Peppers,
who was re-signed after Brett Goode went on injured reserve for the second
straight year.
The play of the 4 guard line was also a positive with left guard
Lane Taylor moving to left tackle and guard Justin McCray starting again at
right tackle. Lucas Patrick made his first start at left guard to replace Taylor
The Packers defense, despite Mike Daniels being out and Nick Perry
limited, and losing Joe Thomas to injury, had a good night, but I think some of
the good was the result of a strange game plan by Fox and a particularly bad
night by quarterback Mike Glennon.
Also having a good night and seemingly a resurgence lately is the
Claymaker, who became the Packers Official Sack Leader with the strip sack of
Glennon in the first quarter giving him 75 for his career edging out KGB
(Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila) by a half a sack. Congrats to Clay Matthews who achieved
that feat in 8 seasons and 4 games while KGB did it in 8 seasons and 7 games.
However, since sacks have only been recognized as a stat since
1982, Matthews is actually in fourth place behind Willie Davis (with over 120
in 10 seasons), Ezra “Hot Dog” Johnson (84.0 officially unofficial in 11
seasons) and Henry Jordon (somewhere near there in 11 seasons).
Now to John Fox, the soon to be fired head coach of the Bears. The
not-so secret to beating Dom Capers’ defense is to throw the ball down the
middle whenever possible, on 1st-and-10, 3rd-and-27, 2nd-and-1 or any other
down and distance imaginable. But after the first series Fox called only two
more passes in the middle and both were intercepted, but only when Glennon
overthrew the receivers who were open.
That ranks right up there with McCarthy’s play calling during the
Overtime Collapse against the Seahawks in the playoffs when after Richard
Sherman injured his shoulder and had the use of only one arm during virtually
the entire game McCarthy didn’t change his game plan and called NO and I mean
NO plays at Sherman, who couldn’t cover a receiver and couldn’t tackle.
Then we come to the fourth quarter when Fox, once again, doesn’t
bring in Mitch Trubisky to pump up the passing game, and since he didn’t ran
8:53 off the clock calling 5 passes and 10 runs on the drive that scored a
touchdown with 6:06 remaining. He basically gave up and, if I was running the
Bears, I would have fired Fox the minute he arrived back at Halas Hall. There
is no room for losers in the NFL.
At the end of the game the Packers, who came into the game with
starting offensive tackles David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga, starting defensive
lineman Mike Daniels and starting left cornerback Davon House out with injuries
added 4 more to the M*A*S*H unit when starting running back Ty Montgomery broke
his ribs on the first play, No. 2 running back Jamaal Williams injured his knee
4 plays later, inside linebacker Joe Thomas injured his ankle and starting wide
receiver Davante Adams was literally knocked out of the game. Safety Josh Jones
(back) and inside linebacker Blake Martinez (concussion) were also injured, but
returned to the game.
Speaking of Jones, I don’t know if you noticed, but play-by-play
man Jim Nance called him James Jones. I guess he needed to be a Bear to get his
name right, since Nance and Tony Romo spent most of the game talking about the
Bears, despite Packers leading the entire time. It was like Joe Buck and Troy
Aikman were announcing the game.
The other negative in the game was the play of the General Manager
Ted Thompson’s prize free agent pickup Martellus Bennett, who was targeted 7
times and caught 6, but for only 39 yards. If you take away a brilliant 26
yarder the rest of his production was 5 catches for 13 yards. To put a finer
point on the broader topic of tight end production Lance Kendricks was thrown
and caught 1 pass for 0 yards (by Brett Hundley) and Richie “Hail Mary” Rodgers
was used as a blocker or decoy when he got in.
For the season Bennett has 17 catches for 141 yards (8.3 average)
with 0 TDs, but if you take away two 26-yarders and an 18 yarder, his average
drops to 5.1 for 14 catches, pitiful for the prize free agent pickup.
Kendricks has 5 catches for 70 yards (14.0 average) and 1 TD and
Rodgers has 2 catches for 22 yards (11.0 average). The one Thompson let get
away (Jared Cook) leads the Raiders in receiving with 13 catches for 124 yards
(9.5 average) and 1 TD (remember that is for only 3 games).
Speaking of lack of production the saga of right corner and former
2015 No. 1 draft pick Damarious Randall seems to have hit a crisis point.
Randall has been the starter all season, despite having a terrible preseason,
but was benched at the half after giving up a wide open TD just before the
half. He was later told to leave the field in the fourth quarter after getting
into a shouting match with an assistant coach. We’ll see where this leads, but
undrafted two-year player Josh Hawkins seems to be the new starter (at least
until Davon House returns).
The secondary is now 2-year Hawkins and rookie Kevin King at
corner with former 2011 #4 House and udrafted rookie Lenzy Pipkins in reserve.
2015 No. 2 pick Quinten Rollins has already been benched and is now on special
teams, so the top 2 picks from 2015 can now officially be called busts.
Continuing on lack of production the hero of the Bengals Geronimo
Allison had NO passes thrown to him and thusly caught NO passes. And for the
4th straight game Jeff Janis hasn’t returned a kickoff with 17 touchbacks and
one that went out of bounds because they were afraid of him, maybe.
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