After dominating the Bears in the second half, don't some of the players have to be looking back on last week and wondering what could have been?

Zero2Cool;201246There's no reason for him not to start. He'll probably play into the 2nd half. Unless he's getting banged around then he'll be yanked.

I wouldn't say there isn't any reason. I know McCarthy's mindset but I wasn't sure if he was a little more precautious going into next week due to the latest string of injuries the Pack have endured as of late.

I am absolutely disgusted with the defense.

Outside of Bishop, Woodson and Claymaker, I think it is fair to question the heart of starters on defense. They are playing terribly.

I'm being very serious when I say that unless we dramatically improve on D between now and the 1st game of the playoffs, we are not getting to the Superbowl.

At least we could stop the run. It's mind-boggling how much Pickett meant to this team. Don't get me wrong, Pickett is a great piece for this defense. But, seriously, are you telling me without him we are suddenly incapable of tackling, maintaining gap control, and containing the edge? Pathetic.

I've given up hope of a pass-rush threat emerging on the opposite side of Clay. At least Walden had shown traits we could use opposite Clay. I don't know WTF happened, but Walden absolutely sucks. Cannot pass-rush at all. Cannot hold the edge at all any longer. Seriously, he's a shell of the player who was emerging a few weeks ago. Given that our only option is Zombo (can't contain either, and is injury prone this year), Jones (can't do much of anything well), and two raw rookies in So'to and Lattimore... if Walden is not on game, we are in serious trouble.

I pray that the coaches start subbing someone in for AJ Hawk at LB. He is so medicore on the downs he plays on. Seriously, go make a f'n play. Be aggressive. Take a damn chance once in a while. For what his salary is, Hawk has been woefully lacking.

I am so beyond frustrated and furious at this Defense. They should not be this bad; they have the talent to be - on their worst day - average. Yet, they consistently grade out poorly. Turnovers save their ass quite a bit... but I seriously worry we are in over our heads in the playoffs if we cannot improve on D. Midway through second quarter, I found myself playing poker on my laptop because I could not stand to watch our D's performance. This post cannot even begin to do justice to the anger I feel at most of our Defensive starters for playing so poorly. Scary thing is, each week we seem to be regressing a little more. It leaves me dumbfounded.

all_about_da_packers;201252I am absolutely disgusted with the defense.

Outside of Bishop, Woodson and Claymaker, I think it is fair to question the heart of starters on defense. They are playing terribly.

I'm being very serious when I say that unless we dramatically improve on D between now and the 1st game of the playoffs, we are not getting to the Superbowl.

At least we could stop the run. It's mind-boggling how much Pickett meant to this team. Don't get me wrong, Pickett is a great piece for this defense. But, seriously, are you telling me without him we are suddenly incapable of tackling, maintaining gap control, and containing the edge? Pathetic.

I've given up hope of a pass-rush threat emerging on the opposite side of Clay. At least Walden had shown traits we could use opposite Clay. I don't know WTF happened, but Walden absolutely sucks. Cannot pass-rush at all. Cannot hold the edge at all any longer. Seriously, he's a shell of the player who was emerging a few weeks ago. Given that our only option is Zombo (can't contain either, and is injury prone this year), Jones (can't do much of anything well), and two raw rookies in So'to and Lattimore... if Walden is not on game, we are in serious trouble.

I pray that the coaches start subbing someone in for AJ Hawk at LB. He is so medicore on the downs he plays on. Seriously, go make a f'n play. Be aggressive. Take a damn chance once in a while. For what his salary is, Hawk has been woefully lacking.

I am so beyond frustrated and furious at this Defense. They should not be this bad; they have the talent to be - on their worst day - average. Yet, they consistently grade out poorly. Turnovers save their ass quite a bit... but I seriously worry we are in over our heads in the playoffs if we cannot improve on D. Midway through second quarter, I found myself playing poker on my laptop because I could not stand to watch our D's performance. This post cannot even begin to do justice to the anger I feel at most of our Defensive starters for playing so poorly. Scary thing is, each week we seem to be regressing a little more. It leaves me dumbfounded.

The 2nd quarter was a lull generally, not just on defense.
Adjustments were made at the half, though.
Keep in mind, We lost Collins for the year.
That's huge.
Neal has been a huge disappointment.
And yes, we lost Pickett.

I think Sproles would eat this defense alive.
He did enough in week 1, when we still had Collins to chase him down.
BUT we won't play them until the NFC Championship, and it will be at Lambeau.
The conditions will slow him down.

The Giants scare me a little, but we can beat them.
We can also beat the 9ers.

C.J. Wilson was the best defensive lineman tonight. Of course, that's like saying Betty White was the hottest Golden Girl.

Hilarity by Micheal Rodney of Packer Update.
Awesome Twitter feed.

Yeah, this defense is absolutely abysmal. Letting a quarterback that is taking a temporary hiatus from his high school coaching career and having not started an NFL game in over four years run circles around us (if you watched the game, literally) is disgusting.

nerdmann;201253The 2nd quarter was a lull generally, not just on defense.
Adjustments were made at the half, though.
Keep in mind, We lost Collins for the year.
That's huge.
Neal has been a huge disappointment.
And yes, we lost Pickett.

I think Sproles would eat this defense alive.
He did enough in week 1, when we still had Collins to chase him down.
BUT we won't play them until the NFC Championship, and it will be at Lambeau.
The conditions will slow him down.

The Giants scare me a little, but we can beat them.
We can also beat the 9ers.

It's not the players lost to injuries on D. Granted the losses hurt, but we are playing D like a bunch of scrubs.

You expect players to stay in their gaps. Tackle. To not be pushed back from the line of scrimmage / point of attack. That's basic fundamental football. I can understand blowing coverage to some degree (very young Safety, back-up who you have limited rapport with). But the things that are leading to bad performances from our D? They are all fundamentals that you expect them to practice, and things they clearly have the talent to do. Week after week, they seem to be regressing.

The problem is this: Capers' D is predicated on stopping the run. EVERYTHING flows from controlling the run. You want to cover up for the lack of pass-rush? Well, once you have the opposing offense in predictable situations and 1-dimensional, you can start sending blitzes to help Clay out. You can have players recognizing the more limited options on the opposing offense and begin jumping routes to get turnover opportunities.

Last two weeks, we've been atrocious at stopping the run. Capers is also bringing 8 men in the box. One less Safety in coverage, which hurts. More of a risk of one of our DBs biting on play action. You can't blitz, because if the RB gets to the second level, he has a good deal of space to work with. The DC has a harder time matching personnel because he is unsure of designed run / pass plays.

Put in short: if we cannot stop the run, we may as well be running Slowik's scheme because getting stops is an extremely uphill battle. We are so much more vulnerable. Add to it that the Saints / 49ers / Falcons all have good ground games. Imagine them coming to Lambeau in the cold. We struggle to stop the run, and no matter how good our offense is we are going to be in a world of hurt because the other team will control time of possession and limit our offense's chances of finding a rhythm.

Again, if we have to fix one thing between now and the playoffs starting it's getting our run D back on track. Because that gives us a chance (to get to the Superbowl). If we still can't stop the run going forward, teams are going to be in tremendous position to have a recipe to beat us at home.

Getting Pickett back will help alot with the run defense.
Getting Zombo back wouldn't hurt either.
What we really need is Neal to step up.
Nagler said he flashed something today.
Didn't see it myself, but it would be nice.
Some have even alleged that MM and DC hold back various plays, formations play calls and blitzes until the post season, so teams can't prepare for them.

nerdmann;201258Some have even alleged that Mike McCarthy and DC hold back various plays, formations play calls and blitzes until the post season, so teams can't prepare for them.

That's called blind optimism and mindless homerism.
Look, this team can't even tackle third-and fourth-string quarterbacks outside the pocket.
What makes anyone think they will have the capacity to throw in some exotic play calls or blitzes without being completely exposed?
I highly doubt this defense has anything up its sleeve it hasn't already shown.

I think people are forgetting just how bad the Packers' opponents have been the past few weeks.

nerdmann;201258Some have even alleged that Mike McCarthy and DC hold back various plays, formations play calls and blitzes until the post season, so teams can't prepare for them.

So, the Packers aren't wrapping up on tackles because they want to surprise everyone in the playoffs with their l33t tackling prowess? I believe tackling is a fundamental and the Packers defenders appear to go for the strip first, or a shoulder hit. I don't think you should go for a strip unless someone has engaged contact already and is in the process of taking the ball carrier down.
If you're the first defender to the ball carrier, your primary task should be to wrap up said ball carrier and attempt to bring them down. Sure, if you're trailing late in the game and need a turnover by all means, go for the strip first.

I could never be a defensive coordinator in the NFL. I'd have a frickin aneurism or something with the piss poor tackling fundamentals we see in the NFL by most defenders.

Aim for the hips, put your ear hole on the ball carriers waist, shoulder into belly and drive'em backward!! Personally, on special teams tackling like that was one of my favorite things. I knew once I had my arms on the ball carrier he wasn't going anywhere and it was just a matter of how far back can I drive him and drive him into the ground. One of the advantages of being short is you got leverage over of the tall fellas. :)


But hey, maybe you're right and come the middle of January the Packers will unveil their tackling ability for the first time this season?