Defense should shine tomorrow.

Packerlifer

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Most of the struggles in this very young season for the Packers have been on the offense and special teams. But in last week's loss to Cincinnati the new defense looked uncomfortably like the old one last year at times.

They did okay at the start but after the "3rd & 34" disaster, which can be fairly said to be the play that was the "hinge" on which the rest of that game swung, the defense seemed to lose its confidence, aggression, communication and play-making ability.

Now they get the Rams, who were shut out by Seattle and held to just 7 pts by Washington in their first two games. If the Packers can't match those defensive performances tomorrow something's wrong.

The Rams are 32nd in the league in scoring, 31st in total offense and passing offense, 20th in rushing.

But St.Louis has some a couple of things well. They've protected the ball; no interceptions, 2 lost fumbles. And they protect their quarterback. Marc Bulger has been sacked only 4 times in 2 games, which is less than half what the Packers have given up on Aaron Rodgers.

They do have an elite back in Steven Jackson and as a team have been averaging over a hundred yards per game; about 20 ypg better than Green Bay's ground game to date.

But if the switch to the 3-4, the new coaching, the moves toward creating a "defensive culture" in Packers football are going anywhere this is a game where it should be evident.

Stopping the run, rushing the passer, creating turnovers, keeping the opponent's offense off the scoreboard and off the field are what good and great defensive teams do.

For the next couple of games, at least, the defense is going to have to be the "carrying wing" of the team so let's see if there's really a G Force out there tomorrow.
 

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If you take a look at last game, Rouse was responsible for the 3rd and 34, for the flea flicker reception (he was too deep), and for one of Palmer's TD (he followed the wrong guy). But then again, there was a play that 6 guys missed a tackle on Benson.

I think the first two games, specially the last one, have re-humbled our team. The players bought the hype, and it shouldn't have happened (Patriots did the same, BTW). The fans are allowed to do so, but not the players.

I believe they're going to come out with a mean streak, and deliver it to both the rams and the queens. I wouldn't bet any money in it, however... It's more of a wishful thinking, maybe even a gut feeling, than a rational expectation.
 
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While I think it's time to put the Bengals game behind us I think that loss stings because it was a game the Packers really should have won, at home against tht opponent.

There were a lot of upsets last week and some traditional powers in the league are off to slow starts. But New England, Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and the like can treat those kind of games as aberrations because they have playoff and championship credibility already built up.

The Packers don't. Cincinnati was just one game but so last year was Atlanta, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Houston. All those "just one games" added up to a 6-10 season.

When we see something like that happening again this year it's a little uncomfortable.

But win tomorrow, play well at Minnesota - regardless of the outcome - and then sweep those four very favorable match-ups after the bye and we'll be at least 6-2 or 7-1 at the midpoint and then the Cincy game can be put to rest.
 

Murgen

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Here's to putting the bengal's game behind us and seeing a resurgent D and O. If we can't get it done against the lowly RAMs....ugh... I don't even want to think about it.
 

PackersRS

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Well, IMO aside from Chillar they did. Very little missed tackles, and more than a couple loss yards plays. That, coupled with the amount of takeaways we force, is a good defensive play to me!
 

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they did indeed, RS. ...and once again, they had to. Those first three offensive possessions were mind boggling. BUT!!! Crosby was nailing 50 yarders and shanking extra points instead... WTF?? Hahahahaha... hopefully next week, McCarthy can keep these guys focused.
 

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Defense did alright, but Chillar as a SS clearly did not work and should not be tried again. Ever. Him being out of place I think really made some holes on the defense which were taken advantage of again and again and you can bet that if a team ever spot that setup again they're going to abuse it.

Blitzes also seemed off. Maybe it was fear of the running game, maybe the fear of the coverage unit being burned, but they really weren't showing their potential today.

Ballhawks and good line play really did the job, but if a real safety isn't in against Minnesota then we're gonna get burned in a very, very bad way.
 

bad93ex

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They had Chillar in at Safety?!?! I didn't get to watch the game that closely after they went up by a couple TD's my sis-in-law switched it to NASCAR and I was watching my fantasy team online.
 

Hobbes09

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Chillar was in as SS which meant Bishop came in for Barnett after Barnett had his 40 reps. Which may sound great to a lot of you, but Bishop blows in coverage and is more used to lining up in Hawk's position, not Barnett's.

Then again Barnett didn't have the most fantastic game either. Either he's not all there yet or he's really not suited to be a 3-4 ILB.
 

GreenBayCracker

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LOL I was posting in the other thread about who was SS, thanks for verifying Chillar being there. Sure he is probably our best pass protection LB but in no way does that make for a good SS. Wow I hope this isn't the scenario for the Viqueens game.
 

bad93ex

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What happened to Martin? In the beginning of the game I saw him in there but maybe he was blowing assignments. Hopefully they have that fixed for next week because they wont be able to get away with that against the Vikings.
 

PackersRS

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Big Oakie the name of the package Chillar plays as SS. So Chillar didn't actually played SS. Only if you consider the 5th DB in nickel packages a LB...

About Martin, they just decided playing Chillar because they wanted to stop the run. Martin played some.
 

bad93ex

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Big Oakie the name of the package Chillar plays as SS. So Chillar didn't actually played SS. Only if you consider the 5th DB in nickel packages a LB...

About Martin, they just decided playing Chillar because they wanted to stop the run. Martin played some.
Do you think we will see this package when they want to load the box against Adrian Peterson? I can see them doing and make Favre beat them with the pass.
 

PackersRS

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Depends on the condition of Bigby and the level of progress BOTH Martin AND Giordano. Giordano is better at run support than Martin.

And I correct myself, it's not Big OAkie, it's Big Okie.
 

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