STUDS AND DUDS: SF @ GB

STUDS:

Randall Cobb - Despite all the mishaps, he performed like it was midseason. A very viable option on offense. I understand why Driver didn't play much.

James Jones - He showed he has flash in crunch time. He is and continues to be Mr Anonymous on the offensive side of the ball.

Jeff Saturday - I thought he played very well considering it was his first game in Green Bay.

Jermichael Finley - one crucial drop on 3rd down, but he did make his presence known. Less talk to the opposition, however he is talented.

Clay Matthews - 2 and a half sacks, and was held with no calls all game long.

DUDS:

Jarrett Bush - the definition of insanity of seeing something over and over and expecting a different result, he is still lost playing CB.

SCAB officials - hard to believe that it makes this large of a difference. In every game I tuned to today, the players were yelling at them due to missing seemingly everything. Simple things: defensive players bating OL to jump offside then getting the call, letting secondary players and LBs MUG receivers, etc. I saw in the Seattle game they gave them 4 time outs in crunch time.
Unless the NFL wants to see their public start to shy away, they had better get the refs on the field.

AJ Hawk - getting buried in blocks on running play until the runner is 7 yards downfield. SLOW!

Morgan Burnett - More tackling drills please. Force people out of bounds by getting a good angle. His pass D angles were way off as well.

Dom Capers - Wake up!! Your scheme isnt working, try something else.

Ryan Pickett - He is invisible. I can't say I remember a play he made today.

Run OL - Benson running the ball and no holes to run through.

This is a team that is going to have a lot of growing pains on the Defensive side of the ball. I think that the D will start to come midseason due to this. The youth of the Defense needs to be able to help on contain and pressure the passer.

I thought SF was the better team today, but I expect better things even by Thursday. If not, it is going to be a long season.

Pretty good assessment. That secondary, especially Bush looked lost out there. They were still trying to figure out their assignments while the ball was being snapped to Smith. We sure miss Collins.

Spot on, IMO. Hawk continues to amaze me in his inability to push anyone ever backwards. If he is lucky to have the ball carrier accidentally run into him, he still gets dragged for five yards or more. Embarrassing. He would not start anywhere in the NFL.

Losing Bishop is going to hurt. DJ Smith is, at best going to take a while to fill those shoes. Until he does, the middle of our defense is very soft and under powered.

Hopefully, the offense returns to last year's power house form.

I'll start this one off.

Studs:

Randall Cobb - Caught most all of the passes thrown his way. Fought for extra yardage. Returned the punt for a TD, yes with a non-called penalty BUT after some BS calls against us. I feel like he really showed his future value to this team! 9 receptions, 77 yards.

James Jones - Really showed that he has stepped up his game. He made a SENSATIONAL catch at the 2 yard line, but was called OPI. I think that he is going to be a real force this year. 4 receptions, 81 yards and a TD.

Clay Matthews - He didn't have a ton of tackles, but he recorded 2 (well, 2.5 sacks officialy.) sacks and seemed to be a real force all day long. I think he was on his A-game today.

Duds:

Jermichael Finley - Dropped a ton of passes. He cost us at least one possible TD in a couple of first-down passes that were dropped. Yes, he scored a TD...and at least he did that correctly.

Packers Defense - Missed tackles, couldn't stop the run or pass game all game long. Seriously, I thought last season would have taught them (and Finley) some real lessons. When Alex Smith starts looking like a major threat there are problems on defense. I thought we addressed our issues with a stellar defensive NFL draft.

Mike McCarthy - I really love this guy. I do. However, I really have to ask where his head was this game. He hardly ran the ball at all. I understand that Benson didn't do amazing things with the ball when he got it, but with only 9 carries what do you expect? Why bring him in if you won't use him? We HAVE to get a run game going if we want to be successful. Also, where was Donald Driver? I don't think he was injured...that is a guy we need to be throwing the ball to, instead of Finley.

Caught in the Middle:

Aaron Rodgers - Sometimes he looked like 2010 and 2011 Aaron Rodgers, and other times he looked like someone was dropping Brett Favre pills in his Gatorade. He was over-throwing and underthrowing receivers. Throwing interceptions that were just...bad. I mean that pass went straight to Bowman. I know that Aaron isn't superman. I know he will make mistakes...and no I am not spoiled on last season, but come on. Not only was it a bad interception, but it was the play that really shifted things into "OH ****" mode. It lead to a TD. That being said, he was pretty accurate, and hit JJ and JM for some nice TDs.

All this being said I really hope this is a wake up call for the team. I thought last season's kick-in-the-nuts of a playoff loss was a big enough wake up call. Apparently not. I know the 49ers are no joke but we should have won. Take away some bad calls, and turn those drops by Finley into catches and the game is at worst a tie at the end of 4.

Here is to Thursday being the REAL debut of the Packers.

I was pleased with Smith. From what I saw he made a few key stops on the highly regarded SF backs.

I'll also add that Benson didn't fumble, and, given his history with such, does in fact deserve a cookie. Only one though.

for those of you looking for Hawk, he was missing tackles, getting drug downfield, or far behind the guys with the ball

"A ton?" I counted 1 that was clearly on him and possibly 2 if you count the one that was throw high and behind him, that he barely got a finger on. There were 2 or 3 others where guys either got their hand inside, or were draped all over him. That's just good defense.

You forgot one big dud:

Morgan Burnett. He was in perfect position to wrap up Gore at the 3 yard line and prevent a TD. Instead, he bumps him with his shoulder and doesn't even try to make a proper tackle. He also had 2 or 3 blown coverages. He was the weakest link of our secondary.

To be honest I don't know the exact #, but I watched the game with my wife and father in law and we called his name out more than anyone else. If the game is replayed this week I will recount his obvious drops.

Yeah, Morgan should have made the tackle. Maybe we would have held them to a field goal. I also remember one big blown coverage versus Vernon Davis.

Dud Jarret Bush?

He has been sucking at CB all the time.

Caught in the middle:

Cedric Benson - Too good of a D-Line, even better LB"s, our O-Line just could not get him the room he needed. I fully believe in him, just not a good week 1 match up.

Jones dropped more than Finley. I'll give the Fin a bit of a pass because of all the time he missed in preseason.

Agree on most points. Driver may be looked at as one of the weaker receivers out there but he sucks up everything within reach. He made some phenomenal catches last year that were very difficult. I'm sure he had less touched but not nearly as many dropped balls which hurt the pack late last year.

DUD: Finley, as I have stated before. Agree or disagree, he did fizzle out. He started out good, then fell on his face as usual. It NOT the amount of drops, ITS THE TIME THAT HE DOES DROP'EM. C'mon finley...drops the ball on a critical 3rd down and 3 to go, ball hit you in the chest and then you fell down on it and tried to make it look like a catch....FAIL.

DD would have made that catch, bank on it.

Burnett with his miscomunications pre-snap and blowing coverages as well as trying to bump tackle someone like frank gore, it just cant be done.

furthermore i CAN'T call cedric a dud if we didnt give him the ball but only nine times, our line just cannot run block

Rodgers/McCarthy cost them 3 points due to poor time management at the end of the half. Why didn't Rodgers just slide instead of shoveling the ball out of bounds? Time would have run out, half over not in too bad of shape.

I am a constant Hawk basher but I thought he played a fairly good game. He seemed more aggressive than usual. You are right, he don't push anyone backwards. He likes to tackle high and wrestle people down. I wish Finley would get his stuff together. You never know if he is going to drop or catch.

Driver was the worst last season for the Packers in terms of dropped passes. 45 catchable passes - 8 drops. Ranking him 6th worse in the entire NFL.

https://www.profootballfocus.com/bl...e-2011-which-receivers-are-dropping-the-ball/

Duds: Capers. I don't mind if there are a few things that need to be changed/tweeked/rehabed with a defense, especially after only the first game. But the issues I saw yesterday, were identical to the issues last season. An entire offseason to review and correct should result in a better performance. I know that Perry looked bad in coverage, but great in run support. If he can pick up his coverage a bit, it will go a long way to improving this defense. At Safety, we need a change and take some more lumps with a rookie. At CB, Bush hasn't gotten the focus thing down by now, he will never have it. Move on. I would say that Capers needs to make some improvements this season or he is done.

We lost!!! Everybody was a freakin dud. Stop awarding mediocrity. It's like the Packers.Com page asking who the MVP of the game was even when we lose. NOBODY is the MVP in a loss.

I forgot to give BJ Raji a Dud rating as well. He was getting stoned at the pt of attack.

I too have no love of Hawk either, but I had to set the kid straight, who was sitting next to me at the game, who blamed "effing Hawk" for making his usual tackle 7yds downfield when it was DJ Smith who initially missed the tackle for a loss! Hawk led the defense in tackles. What does that say about our dud defense?

I know that there are some real anti-Hawk guys out there, and the guy didn't have a Clay Matthews day, but he made a couple of big hits and some big stops. I bet none of you noticed those. It was a big step in the right direction. He wasn't perfect, but some of you are wearing some pretty purple and gold sunglasses when watching the Pack. Go rewatch the film. I did this morning

Granted, I have not rewatched the game. But, I recall several (more than one) plays where either Hawk was being dragged downfield as he tackles to high or he forgot to use his arms when tackling. He likes to bump someone off their feet, which doesn't work all the time. Both of these are fundamental issues that should not be seen by starting middle LBers in the NFL.

Fin had a great game, only got counted for 1 drop. He faced the best lb core in the league, I think he had a good performence.

I agree 100%.