[align=center]TOP HAT'S WEEKLY GAME REVIEW:[/align]
SUMMARY:
The Packers defense forced three turnovers, including a big play by CB Woodson to recover a forced fumble for a defensive touchdown, to outlast the Redskins 17-14 in a wet & cold day game. After a sluggish start, the defense took over in the second half shutting down the Redskins to preserve the victory. The Packers offense struggled throughout the game. The rushing offense got only 59 rushing yards. QB Favre had a really bad day completing only 19 of 37 passes for 188 yards with 2 interceptions and a 43.5 passer rating. With the two interceptions, QB Favre got another record: the NFL’s all-time interceptions leader at 279 passing QB Blanda.
QUOTES:
Coach McCarthy: “I’ll take that game right there as a very good illustration of the character of our football team. There was a number of momentum swings in that game, and they just kept battling back. That’s what we talked about after the game. That was a huge character win for us. We beat a very good football team, not to be redundant. You have to find a way to win football games. That’s the National Football League, and we did that today.”
Coach McCarthy: "I didn't think we were very sharp. We weren't very much in sync in the passing game and our running game is a continued work in progress."
QB Favre [asked whether he is concerned about the offense being too one-dimensional facing cover 2 defenses]: "Sure, I am. How can you not be? We're winning, but we need to run the ball. We needed to do that in several situations this year to force people out of the cover-2 (and couldn't). (Defenses) are playing cover-2, which is so difficult to throw the ball against. But we're not able to really dominate the run game part of it when they're in cover-2. We're not seeing anything like we saw earlier in the year from these defenses. So we have to run the ball better, no doubt about it."
Redskins G Kendal: "I'm not a GM but some teams are built to stop the run, which they do very well, and then they get after you at the end. As long as their defense keeps playing as well as they are, that's a very good football team. I don't know if that's going to be 12 wins or what but that team has a chance to win every week."
TURNING POINT:
In the third quarter, with a strong offensive drive into Packer territory, the Redskins looked to score to put the game away. Highlighting an inspired defense, DT Williams smelled out a reverse to WR Moss. Slicing through a pair of blockers, he stripped the ball from Moss. CB Woodson recovered the fumble & returned it for a 58 yard touchdown giving the Packers a slim 17-14 lead.
KEY STATISTIC:
Luck is a 12th man for the Packers. The difference in this game was the Packers’ ability to recover fumbles vs. the Redskins’ inability to recover fumbles. The Redskins lost two of their four fumbles and the Packers recovered all four of their fumbles.
REPORT CARD: The Good, Bad, & Ugly
Passing Offense: D+
QB Favre completed only 19 of 37 passes for 188 yards, two interceptions, three [or more] dropped interceptions, two crucial sacks, and 43.5 passer rating. While he did good in play action plays, Favre had accuracy issues executing the fly route weapon against a tough cover two defense. He under threw four times to open deep receivers including three to WR Greg Jennings and one to a wide-open WR Jones leading to two interceptions. WR Driver, RB Wynn, and TE Franks dropped passes. Also, two questionable official calls negated two touchdown passes. A 23-yard touchdown pass to WR Jones was negated by T Tauscher's questionable holding penalty. Another questionable call negated a touchdown pass to TE Franks. On NFL Network, VP Mike Perrara agreed it was a really bad call by the official. Sadly TE Franks hurt his knee on the play. Yet, during critical offensive drives, crucial penalties and sacks continued to self-destruct the offense team.
A reviewer said: “The Packers had a golden opportunity to put the Redskins away when LB Hawk recovered RB Portis’ fumble on the Redskins’ 9 early in the fourth quarter, but Green Bay was unable to score. Favre was sacked for a 12-yard loss to the 20 and K Crosby’s 38-yard field goal attempt bounced off the left upright and was no good. The series summed up Green Bay’s lethargic offense, which finished with 59 yards on the ground, third best total of the season, and 169 through the air.”
Rushing offense: D
The Packers had 20 carries for 56 yards, averaging just 2.8-yard per carry, close to their team 65.7 average yards per game. RB Wynn and RB Morency need to improve their cut back play. In the first half, after a good second offensive series scoring a running touchdown, the offense went three-and-out in four series! In the final seven minutes of the game, the offense failed to run the clock out going three-and-out on two series! C Spitz and G Moll did adequate jobs filling in, although the pocket did shrink at times. G Colledge had a better game than previous games. T Clifton and T Tauscher did well against the DEs. However, they need to be more consistent in the coming rest of the season.
As columnists noted about the zone blocking system for the running game: "[T]he linemen...[continue to do] a poor job making backside blocks, which are the blocks that cut off pursuit from behind the play and open up cutback lanes for the running back."
Rushing defense: B
The front seven had a solid game holding the Redskins to 36 rushing yards below their 130.2 average rushing game. RB Portis got only 64 yards on 20 carries. DT Pickett and DT Jolly had solid games. DT Williams, always a defensive gamer, forced the crucial fumble returned for a touchdown. DE Kampman had 9 tackles and 2 sacks. DE Jenkins had 5 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble. LB Barnett was outstanding with 12 tackles including one that stopped a crucial fourth down play. LB Hawk played solid with 8 tackles, a forced fumble, and recovered one, but he did miss several key tackles.
Passing defense: C+
In the first half, having all time to throw, Redskins QB Campbell played solid. TE Cooley had a field day beating the LB Poppinga, LB Hawk, and Safety Bigby, catching 7 passes for 97 yards with one touchdown, & giving the Redskins a 14-7 halftime lead. LB Poppinga was beaten by TE Cooley in three plays for 53 yards and dropped an interception. In the second half, the Packers made the necessary adjustments with bracket coverage holding Cooley to two passes for 8 yards. With an improved pass rush lead by DE Kampman & the defensive line settling down in the second half, QB Campbell ran for his life and did overthrow several open receivers. CB Woodson, CB Harris, and S Bigby had generally solid games. CB Woodson did give up an illegal infraction penality to keep their offensive drive alive and has defensive responsibility for the touchdown pass to TE Cooley. Also, Harris, Bush, & Bigby were lucky when receivers beat them & did not make crucial catches.
Special teams: D+
Rookie K Crosby struggled in cold and rainy weather missing 2 crucial field goals. Further, the Packers had very poor punt and kickoff returns, especially due to wedge blocking and timing issues. The Pack are lucky that KR/WR Robinson is now back. Also, the coverage team struggled with KR Cartwright returning 4 kicks for 109 yards averaging 27 yards & getting a long 40 yard return. Yet, K Ryan had a decent game with 8 punts averaging 42.1 gross, 39.1 net and 4.42 hang time.
Coaching: C+
While the halftime defensive adjustments saved the day, the coaching staff failed to execute a control passing game plan against a solid but typical cover two defense. With Favre having an off day, the control passing game simply stalled into nonexistent leaving it to the defense to win the game. Also, after six games, Coach McCarthy must accept responsibility for the ongoing lack of consistent improvement in the running game. As McCarthy said: "…[R]unning the football is about attitude and fundamentals. We need to improve both.”
Overall: B-
The Redskins were a tough test for the Packers. The Packers managed to find a way to win it showing character to win a tough game & bouncing back from a tough loss. After one-third of the season in a bye mode, the Packers are 5-1 leading the NFL North division & tied with the best record in the NFC.
GAME BALLS:
1. CB Woodson. 2. LB Barnett. 3. DE Kampman.
PREVIEW:
"Regardless, the [running game] issue will become increasingly important, because defenses are sure to emulate the way Chicago and Washington have defended the Packers in the last 1½ games. The Bears shut down the Packers in the second half two weeks ago by playing their Tampa-2 zone, with two safeties deep, the entire second half. Washington tweaked that by bringing up a safety as the eighth man near the line of scrimmage when the Packers deployed two running backs, and played Tampa-2 zone when the Packers had only one running back on the field. Like Washington, future opponents probably will emphasize taking away the short slants, which is the Packers’ bread and butter this season, and dare them to run. Whether they’ll have the quality of personnel to be as effective is another matter. To beat those types of schemes, the Packers will either have to run much better, hit on some [long] plays down the sidelines or get their [receivers] open in the middle seams."
LINKS:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674616
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/index.php?ntid=251112&ntpid=4
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674499
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/10/14/mmqb/3.html
http://packers.scout.com/2/690659.html
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674612
http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/PKR01/71015166/1989
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674869
SUMMARY:
The Packers defense forced three turnovers, including a big play by CB Woodson to recover a forced fumble for a defensive touchdown, to outlast the Redskins 17-14 in a wet & cold day game. After a sluggish start, the defense took over in the second half shutting down the Redskins to preserve the victory. The Packers offense struggled throughout the game. The rushing offense got only 59 rushing yards. QB Favre had a really bad day completing only 19 of 37 passes for 188 yards with 2 interceptions and a 43.5 passer rating. With the two interceptions, QB Favre got another record: the NFL’s all-time interceptions leader at 279 passing QB Blanda.
QUOTES:
Coach McCarthy: “I’ll take that game right there as a very good illustration of the character of our football team. There was a number of momentum swings in that game, and they just kept battling back. That’s what we talked about after the game. That was a huge character win for us. We beat a very good football team, not to be redundant. You have to find a way to win football games. That’s the National Football League, and we did that today.”
Coach McCarthy: "I didn't think we were very sharp. We weren't very much in sync in the passing game and our running game is a continued work in progress."
QB Favre [asked whether he is concerned about the offense being too one-dimensional facing cover 2 defenses]: "Sure, I am. How can you not be? We're winning, but we need to run the ball. We needed to do that in several situations this year to force people out of the cover-2 (and couldn't). (Defenses) are playing cover-2, which is so difficult to throw the ball against. But we're not able to really dominate the run game part of it when they're in cover-2. We're not seeing anything like we saw earlier in the year from these defenses. So we have to run the ball better, no doubt about it."
Redskins G Kendal: "I'm not a GM but some teams are built to stop the run, which they do very well, and then they get after you at the end. As long as their defense keeps playing as well as they are, that's a very good football team. I don't know if that's going to be 12 wins or what but that team has a chance to win every week."
TURNING POINT:
In the third quarter, with a strong offensive drive into Packer territory, the Redskins looked to score to put the game away. Highlighting an inspired defense, DT Williams smelled out a reverse to WR Moss. Slicing through a pair of blockers, he stripped the ball from Moss. CB Woodson recovered the fumble & returned it for a 58 yard touchdown giving the Packers a slim 17-14 lead.
KEY STATISTIC:
Luck is a 12th man for the Packers. The difference in this game was the Packers’ ability to recover fumbles vs. the Redskins’ inability to recover fumbles. The Redskins lost two of their four fumbles and the Packers recovered all four of their fumbles.
REPORT CARD: The Good, Bad, & Ugly
Passing Offense: D+
QB Favre completed only 19 of 37 passes for 188 yards, two interceptions, three [or more] dropped interceptions, two crucial sacks, and 43.5 passer rating. While he did good in play action plays, Favre had accuracy issues executing the fly route weapon against a tough cover two defense. He under threw four times to open deep receivers including three to WR Greg Jennings and one to a wide-open WR Jones leading to two interceptions. WR Driver, RB Wynn, and TE Franks dropped passes. Also, two questionable official calls negated two touchdown passes. A 23-yard touchdown pass to WR Jones was negated by T Tauscher's questionable holding penalty. Another questionable call negated a touchdown pass to TE Franks. On NFL Network, VP Mike Perrara agreed it was a really bad call by the official. Sadly TE Franks hurt his knee on the play. Yet, during critical offensive drives, crucial penalties and sacks continued to self-destruct the offense team.
A reviewer said: “The Packers had a golden opportunity to put the Redskins away when LB Hawk recovered RB Portis’ fumble on the Redskins’ 9 early in the fourth quarter, but Green Bay was unable to score. Favre was sacked for a 12-yard loss to the 20 and K Crosby’s 38-yard field goal attempt bounced off the left upright and was no good. The series summed up Green Bay’s lethargic offense, which finished with 59 yards on the ground, third best total of the season, and 169 through the air.”
Rushing offense: D
The Packers had 20 carries for 56 yards, averaging just 2.8-yard per carry, close to their team 65.7 average yards per game. RB Wynn and RB Morency need to improve their cut back play. In the first half, after a good second offensive series scoring a running touchdown, the offense went three-and-out in four series! In the final seven minutes of the game, the offense failed to run the clock out going three-and-out on two series! C Spitz and G Moll did adequate jobs filling in, although the pocket did shrink at times. G Colledge had a better game than previous games. T Clifton and T Tauscher did well against the DEs. However, they need to be more consistent in the coming rest of the season.
As columnists noted about the zone blocking system for the running game: "[T]he linemen...[continue to do] a poor job making backside blocks, which are the blocks that cut off pursuit from behind the play and open up cutback lanes for the running back."
Rushing defense: B
The front seven had a solid game holding the Redskins to 36 rushing yards below their 130.2 average rushing game. RB Portis got only 64 yards on 20 carries. DT Pickett and DT Jolly had solid games. DT Williams, always a defensive gamer, forced the crucial fumble returned for a touchdown. DE Kampman had 9 tackles and 2 sacks. DE Jenkins had 5 tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble. LB Barnett was outstanding with 12 tackles including one that stopped a crucial fourth down play. LB Hawk played solid with 8 tackles, a forced fumble, and recovered one, but he did miss several key tackles.
Passing defense: C+
In the first half, having all time to throw, Redskins QB Campbell played solid. TE Cooley had a field day beating the LB Poppinga, LB Hawk, and Safety Bigby, catching 7 passes for 97 yards with one touchdown, & giving the Redskins a 14-7 halftime lead. LB Poppinga was beaten by TE Cooley in three plays for 53 yards and dropped an interception. In the second half, the Packers made the necessary adjustments with bracket coverage holding Cooley to two passes for 8 yards. With an improved pass rush lead by DE Kampman & the defensive line settling down in the second half, QB Campbell ran for his life and did overthrow several open receivers. CB Woodson, CB Harris, and S Bigby had generally solid games. CB Woodson did give up an illegal infraction penality to keep their offensive drive alive and has defensive responsibility for the touchdown pass to TE Cooley. Also, Harris, Bush, & Bigby were lucky when receivers beat them & did not make crucial catches.
Special teams: D+
Rookie K Crosby struggled in cold and rainy weather missing 2 crucial field goals. Further, the Packers had very poor punt and kickoff returns, especially due to wedge blocking and timing issues. The Pack are lucky that KR/WR Robinson is now back. Also, the coverage team struggled with KR Cartwright returning 4 kicks for 109 yards averaging 27 yards & getting a long 40 yard return. Yet, K Ryan had a decent game with 8 punts averaging 42.1 gross, 39.1 net and 4.42 hang time.
Coaching: C+
While the halftime defensive adjustments saved the day, the coaching staff failed to execute a control passing game plan against a solid but typical cover two defense. With Favre having an off day, the control passing game simply stalled into nonexistent leaving it to the defense to win the game. Also, after six games, Coach McCarthy must accept responsibility for the ongoing lack of consistent improvement in the running game. As McCarthy said: "…[R]unning the football is about attitude and fundamentals. We need to improve both.”
Overall: B-
The Redskins were a tough test for the Packers. The Packers managed to find a way to win it showing character to win a tough game & bouncing back from a tough loss. After one-third of the season in a bye mode, the Packers are 5-1 leading the NFL North division & tied with the best record in the NFC.
GAME BALLS:
1. CB Woodson. 2. LB Barnett. 3. DE Kampman.
PREVIEW:
"Regardless, the [running game] issue will become increasingly important, because defenses are sure to emulate the way Chicago and Washington have defended the Packers in the last 1½ games. The Bears shut down the Packers in the second half two weeks ago by playing their Tampa-2 zone, with two safeties deep, the entire second half. Washington tweaked that by bringing up a safety as the eighth man near the line of scrimmage when the Packers deployed two running backs, and played Tampa-2 zone when the Packers had only one running back on the field. Like Washington, future opponents probably will emphasize taking away the short slants, which is the Packers’ bread and butter this season, and dare them to run. Whether they’ll have the quality of personnel to be as effective is another matter. To beat those types of schemes, the Packers will either have to run much better, hit on some [long] plays down the sidelines or get their [receivers] open in the middle seams."
LINKS:
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674616
http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/packers/index.php?ntid=251112&ntpid=4
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674499
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/peter_king/10/14/mmqb/3.html
http://packers.scout.com/2/690659.html
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674612
http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071015/PKR01/71015166/1989
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=674869
