2nd-year linebacker struggled vs. Bears
By Rob Demovsky
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New Orleans' tight ends didn't catch a single pass in their 19-14 win over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, but you can be sure Saints coach Sean Payton saw and noted how the Chicago Bears used their tight end to exploit Green Bay Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga.
Desmond Clark caught five passes for 77 yards in Sunday's 26-0 win over the Packers.
Most of them came at Poppinga's expense.
Though it appears the Packers plan to keep Poppinga as the starting strong-side linebacker rather than sturdy veteran Ben Taylor, the coaches know Poppinga must make major strides in pass coverage or Saints tight ends Ernie Conwell and Mark Campbell could put up similar numbers on Sunday at Lambeau Field.
"If you're a young guy, an offense is going to take a look at you and you're going to get more plays because they're obviously looking to see if you have your act together," Packers linebackers coach Winston Moss said.
"It's not Brady in particular. If an offense feels as though they can take a look at you and see if you're squared away, then obviously they're going to do that."
Playing man-to-man coverage, Poppinga lost Clark on a first-down play in the first quarter that resulted in a 33-yard pass play, which helped set up a field goal. Clark also had a 9-yard catch on the same drive. In the third quarter, Clark caught a 19-yard pass against Poppinga, who tried to dive at Clark but missed.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Poppinga struggled in coverage. The strong-side linebacker has primary responsibility for covering the tight end in the Packers' base defense, but Poppinga has little experience in that role. He was a defensive end during his first three years in college at BYU, which is why the Packers like him as a run-stopper and a blitzer. He moved to linebacker in his senior season.
As a rookie last season, the fourth-round draft pick played mostly on special teams in his 12 games but got one start late in the season. In that Dec. 11 game against Detroit, he sustained a season-ending knee injury that kept him out of all of the offseason practices and the first half of training camp.
Taylor, a free-agent pickup during the offseason, worked as the No. 1 strong-side linebacker until Poppinga started the preseason finale against Tennessee on Sept. 1.
"Ben is more of an experienced player, and he's used to looking at the schemes of NFL teams a little more," Moss said. "That would probably give him a better chance of playing against some of those things. Brady is a second-year guy who hasn't had a lot of snaps. I'm not making excuses, but he's a guy who, once he gets settled down, he's going to be very productive."
Moss and defensive coordinator Bob Sanders were delighted with Poppinga's play against the Bears' running game. He had eight tackles (including seven solos), second best on the Packers.
"Brady worked extremely hard and played extremely well against the run," Sanders said. "He just had a couple of situations, one instance where a guy made a nice move and they made a nice throw."
Poppinga also showed some signs of rust on special teams, where he was among the Packers' top players last season. He was one of the players out of his coverage lane on Devin Hester's 84-yard punt return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
"I've always said with Brady, it's a process," Moss said. "He's a guy who's very eager to learn. He's going to take all the mistakes that happened in the game, and he's going to correct them. So I anticipate him coming in on Wednesday and working on some of the things he struggled with."
