Bench Eddie Lacy?

[rodell330]

That's right. The good teams, i.e., the ones you need to beat in the playoffs, only rush 4 against the Packers and put tremendous pressure on Rogers. And they stop our running game doing the same thing. That's what you do if you control the LOS.

Yup and I guarantee we see Minnesota try that tomorrow night .

 

[El Guapo]

It's been well-noted throughout Rodgers ascent into QB eliteness that he typically destroys teams when they blitz. As JBlood pointed out, what he actually seems to struggle with is the four man rush against 8 man coverage. In my simplistic world, a 5 man line should be able to block that so either Rodgers needs to use his legs and scramble for yards or he needs to swing the ball out to the RB releasing into the flat, underneath the coverage.

*Edit*
I found this on the ESPN website which kind of disproves my statement above, at least against the Bears: "Aaron Rodgers was pressured on just three of his 21 dropbacks against four or fewer pass rushers Sunday. Rodgers went 18-of-20 when facing such pass rushes Sunday, completing his first 11 attempts. - Rodgers was 6-of-6 overall passing 15+ yards downfield Sunday. Five of those completions were against standard pressure. - Rodgers was 10-of-10 targeting Jordy Nelson when facing standard pressure Sunday."
http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=400554207

Also on the website is an interesting note about Bears tight ends. I would have thought that Greg Olsen might have caught 100 yards against us: "Martellus Bennett had a career-high 134 receiving yards Sunday. According to Elias, Bennett is the first Bears tight end with at least 100 receiving yards against the Packers since Mike Ditka had 190 yards on November 12, 1961."

 

[rodell330]

I would have thought that Greg Olsen might have caught 100 yards against us:

Lol no, he just always seemed to catch passes for 1st downs . I was ecstatic when they traded him..as He was a thorn in our side. Now we have a new problem in Bennett. One day TT will draft a complete lbs in the middle. Can run, tackle, blitz, and play the ball. I can count on one hand how many game changing plays Aj has made in his career. Sure he gets a lot if tackles but that's usually 5-6 yards downfield.

 

[PikeBadger]

*Edit*

Also on the website is an interesting note about Bears tight ends. I would have thought that Greg Olsen might have caught 100 yards against us: "Martellus Bennett had a career-high 134 receiving yards Sunday. According to Elias, Bennett is the first Bears tight end with at least 100 receiving yards against the Packers since Mike Ditka had 190 yards on November 12, 1961."

Wow, that's an amazing number, and we were NFL champions that year. I'll bet the message board fanatics were screaming for heads to roll after that monumental breakdown (tic).

 

[HardRightEdge]

Wow, that's an amazing number, and we were NFL champions that year. I'll bet the message board fanatics were screaming for heads to roll after that monumental breakdown (tic).

It was week 9. Ditka had 190 of the Bears 242 total yds. that day. As you might suspect, the Packers won the game. Ditka invented the modern TE position that season; it's not too surprising that the Packers were not particularly prepared for him.

The comments coming from chisels put to stone were more on the order of "what, huh?" than screaming for heads.

Among the several and sundry defensive problems the past few seasons is defending TEs. It looks like Kyle Rudolph is out for tomorrow's game. That's a good thing. Dix seemed to be the only guy to get a good initial lick on Bennett; I would hope he draws more TE duty in the future.

 

[lambeaulambo]

How can you bench a guy who has no where to run? This is all on MM's "best line in recent memory". And Kuhn is on his way out. Why they didn't hunt for a lead blocking FB is beyond comprehension.

 

[brandon2348]

How can you bench a guy who has no where to run? This is all on MM's "best line in recent memory". And Kuhn is on his way out. Why they didn't hunt for a lead blocking FB is beyond comprehension.

Kuhn hasn't even really been out there with Lacy. The problem is Lacy isn't all that great running from the shot gun. It doesn't play to is strength.

 

[bozz_2006]

FEED THE MAN!

 

[Scottwallace15]

why bench after a couple of quiet games? it's hard to get a good run going when you're just constantly play dive runs, if we can give this guy a hole and use him right, he'll go to the house, MM just using him as a bulldozer to get that extra yard at the moment

 

[OldSchool101]

Lacy isn't like starks he needs a few yards to get up to speed, while starks can just zip right from the start.

Yes. This is exactly what I've saying since week 1. Lacy is successful on the short passing game also because he often has 2-3 yards separation so by the time the tackler closes he's building momentum and then gets his 5 yards and carries the pile for another yard or so. Much of the time he is hit at LOS or in the backfield

 

[Zeck180]

I compare Lacy to an old steam engine, it takes some time to build up steam but once its gets going..

 

[OldSchool101]

I wouldn't bench Lacy he's too good. He just played some of the tougher D fronts In The league in the 1st qtr of the season. It's not gonna get any tougher and his performance will improve through the season as his conditioning Increases. I would like to see a mixture of Lacy And Starks more my philosophy would be to utilize both guys to keep their legs fresh. Eg. Lacy 70% Starks 30%. The couple of drives Starks owns, he gets a sub on ST to keep him fresh. Then I would open the playbook and get a little more inventive with the blocking scheme and short passing to Eddie to give him an opportunity to get steamrolling

 

[ivo610]

Rodell you motivated Lacy

 

[Zeck180]

I compare Lacy to an old steam engine, it takes some time to build up steam but once its gets going..

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[HardRightEdge]

I don't understand why MM has been so reluctant to do a timeshare between Lacy and Starks. Look what happens when we use both RB's.

Starks is one dimensional. He's a lousy blocker; he has no instincts for finding the open spot and having the right body position in the outlet pass; his hands are poor.

Lacy's not a great blocker but he's better than Starks, and he's a very good receiver.

Surely Starks has a role in the run game, but the idea there should be anything close to equal time is not a good one.

 

[PikeBadger]

Lacy absolutely abused the Minnesota secondary in the first half. He laid some crushing blows on that bunch. Miami's DB's are not going to enjoy watching that tape next Monday.

 

[TJV]

Lacy was much better before Starks got on the field. IMO it was a combination of the OL giving him a lane and Eddie planting his foot and going 'north & south'. I agree about Starks being one dimensional but I like him spelling Lacy on about a series per half.

 

[Myndflyte]

I'm so glad they finally went away from the stupid shotgun handoffs and actually played to Lacy's strength of downhill running and let him get a full head of steam heading into the handoff. I don't know why it took 4 games to finally figure that out. It was great to see Lacy back in his bruiser form.

 

[OldSchool101]

I'm so glad they finally went away from the stupid shotgun handoffs and actually played to Lacy's strength of downhill running and let him get a full head of steam heading into the handoff. I don't know why it took 4 games to finally figure that out. It was great to see Lacy back in his bruiser form.

Amen brother

 

[Pack-12]

I'm so glad they finally went away from the stupid shotgun handoffs and actually played to Lacy's strength of downhill running and let him get a full head of steam heading into the handoff. I don't know why it took 4 games to finally figure that out. It was great to see Lacy back in his bruiser form.

Lacys running from shotgun was fine the first 4 weeks. He had been terrible running with the QB under center.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Lacy was much better before Starks got on the field. IMO it was a combination of the OL giving him a lane and Eddie planting his foot and going 'north & south'. I agree about Starks being one dimensional but I like him spelling Lacy on about a series per half.

I think it was all about the O-Line play in combination with an uninspired performance by the MIN D-Line working under a stop-the-pass emphasis (which clearly failed). There were holes to run through...they've been hard to come by in the previous games. And Lacy doesn't need that big of a hole.

Bulaga looks like he's adjusted to the knee and looks like his old self and not asking him to reach block helps his game. We also saw more Quarless and less Rodgers, the former doing a credible job in the run game in this go-round.

Other than that beautiful cut block by Sitton (Lacy's first or second run, I cannot recall which), the Packers have gone away from that fancy pull blocking that was not working. It also looks like they've gone back to being heavy on the straight-up zone blocking.

 

[El Guapo]

I agree about Starks being one dimensional but I like him spelling Lacy on about a series per half.

I'll take one dimension when he's able to average 4.5 - 5 yards per attempt.

 

[OldSchool101]

I didn't see it in here yet. But I noticed Corey Linsley getting physical and pushing back his opponent 2-3 yards o. Several runs. One which Lacy ran by his block untouched until he was like 2-3 yard past LOS. He looked really good overall

 

[Myndflyte]

Lacys running from shotgun was fine the first 4 weeks. He had been terrible running with the QB under center.

Last week he ran almost exclusively out of the shotgun position. Plus Lacy has even said he is used to being behind the QB and that running out of shotgun is new to him. Regardless, I like Lacy having a 7 yard head of steam when he gets the ball and that seemed to work well last night too.

 

[HardRightEdge]

Lacy absolutely abused the Minnesota secondary in the first half. He laid some crushing blows on that bunch. Miami's DB's are not going to enjoy watching that tape next Monday.

And in the second half. While he did not rip off the gaudy yardage runs (so popular in the fantasy world) of the early game, I distinctly recall him dragging 4 defenders for 3 yards on one run, and he toasted the DB on the TD run who could barely get him down after he scored and quit the run. He ran with dangerous intent all game.