Ask A Packer Fan

I think Packer fans have this game circled as one of the hardest games remaining on our schedule. This, the Giants, and the Bears are our three toughest remaining tests. I haven’t watched you guys play much this year, so I honestly don’t know…

I’m going to agree with arodgb though, it’s not going to be as bad as you are thinking right now. The Packer have really only blown out two teams this year, the Broncos and the Vikes. With the Broncos McCarthy wanted to focus his team on closing out the game. With the Vikings I think he saw their fans and coach talk about beating us all week and just wanted to blow them out of the water.

Otherwise the Packer offense tends to be a pass first offense that moves to a run first offense when the game gets two or three scores up. McCarthy likes to grind out games and run down the clock to a win and doesn’t feel the need to put up mass amounts of points if the game is well in hand. A great example of this was the Rams game where the Packers didn’t score a point in the second half. When questioned about it McCarthy put on his best indignant face and said he wasn’t going to apologize for winning by three TD’s.

Bottom line the Packers don’t expect to see a 40 point game unless the Bucs score 30 and keep it close.

Waiting for my membership to clear the waiting period and then you’’ll get some help over there…

To start with the Bucs would need to score north of 25 points and hold the Packers to their season low of 24. Right now the way the offense is set up I don’t see them scoring anything below that.

Least satisfying part of the offense….you could flip a coin here between the running game and the pass protection. Lately the interior pass protection has seemed a bit leaky which is slightly unsettling. The bigger part of pass protection is the fact that we have a back up LT in with Marhsall Newhouse. He’s done okay, but it’s not quite what Chad Clifton is typically able to do. The running game is okay generally, but it has a tough time getting started. Right now we have two backs who have a running style that is best when it wears down a defense and gets 20 carries a game. Problem is that we are splitting carries between them and typically one does well and the other plays like ass. Mix that with not many carries and the running game looks pretty weak.

Least satisfying part of the defense…..

1. Pass rush. The Packers aren’t getting an interior rush this year from the d-line mixed with a lack of a consistent running buddy for Clay Matthews has resulted in a rather middling pass rush. This lack of a pass rush has allowed good QB to look better than they are and great QB’s to crave us up.

2. Communications problems on the back end. Early in the year the Packers lost our three time Pro Bowl FS Nick Collins to a neck injury. Scary part is there is talk about his career being done. Well he was the guy who was the main communicator on the back end and making sure the cover assignments were down. Since he’s left there have been games where there is total break down on the back end. This results in big plays that often go to scores. Monday was better but they still have a ways to go.

3. Covering the tweeners. The rise of hybrid offensive playmakers has hurt our defense like everybody else’s. I’m talking about the scat backs (like Darren Sproles) and the receiving TE (like Gates or Gonzales). Our ILB’s are great at stuffing the run and blitzing the QB, but sometimes struggle in one on one coverage. This is where you see teams get all those oodles of yards and then get shut down in the red zone when these players get swallowed up in shallow zones.

How a loss would unfold…..

Winslow has a big game. Freeman doesn’t make mistakes. The front four get pressure on Rodgers and force him to make some mistakes of his own. Lablount (I hope I spelled that right) has a big game and helps set the tempo for the Bucs.

Going into the year some thought that the Bucs last year were a flash and others thought they were the hip team coming up the line. As the season went on it stayed mixed early, with the believers saying how you could close out games, like what happened in MN, and others just waiting for the collapse. Right now it’s a main question of whether the Bucs can upend our perfect season, especially considering what happened in 2009.

Being a pass first team with the current state of o-line. I’m fine with it. It’s how the team is built really, in fact most Packer fans tend to be driven nuts when the Packers do run the ball. Often Packer fans just want to see the team destroy our opponent instead of play smart football and control the clock with the running game.

As for the o-line being leaky….I hate it when I say things like that to give you the impression that I think the o-line is bad. It’s not. Actually they do a pretty good job of pass protection over all and some of the guys on the line are quietly becoming some of the best in the league. The problem is that our best lineman, Sitton, is having a down year….slightly. I think he might be battling something. So he will allow the occasional inside pressure. Mix that with a back up LT and Rodgers can be dancing around for a bit. He tends to handle it and knows how to protect himself so it’s not that big a deal really. It might even help the Pack stay grounded and hungry to keep improving week in and week out. After Monday night’s performance Rodgers stated that the offense didn’t perform up to the level they should be at yet so he thinks they still haven’t played their best this season.

Final score? I hate predicting these things but I would have to go 23 – 34 Packers.

But that being said, its tough to be successful in a division that includes NO and ATL…

Also, how do you feel about being a Pass-First team seeing as how you said the O-line is "leaky". Even with being so successful, do you believe you should run more and use Starks to keep the D on the heels a little more?

I love the fact that GB is a pass first team. The fact that GB runs 3 or 4 wide so often means that Rodgers is able to read blitzes easier. Overall, I’m not worried about the line. I feel confident in 4 of the 5 OL (the LT being the issue) and a decent amount of the sacks that GB has given up are due to Rodgers hanging on to the ball too long. He has the 2nd highest rushing yards in the NFL over the past few seasons and his scrambling ability has caused him to hang on to the ball longer than most QBs would. (It is preferable to the alternative)

Last but not least…..how do you see the game playing out. Final score is….?

31-17 GB. Sorry but I’m just not impressed with Tampa’s offense this year (and no one has stopped the Pack)

I think something like Packers 35, Buccaneers 17. Sorry, but I’m not impressed with Tampa Bay’s offense and no one has stopped the Packers this year so far (unless you count the second half of the Rams game, where the Packers didn’t really need to try that hard on offense).

I remember watching the game against the Falcons in the playoffs last year just dumbfounded by his level of play. Now it’s almost to be expected each week out of him.

He’s been on a tear since the Super Bowl. Fast and big, good hands. He’s a pretty complete receiver.

as GB has the best complete WR roster in the league and Rodgers directs them with near perfect precision. A RB here (outside Kuhn) is an afterthought. Just like a Manning-led IND team. Luxury but not required to win.

Starks and Grant are both good, one cut runners, but neither has really been spectacular this season (Like, one or two rushing touchdowns between them). Starks is quicker and gets out of his cuts faster, and he also has a second gear that Grant doesn’t have. Grant is generally the more dependable blocker, and I think the coaches trust him more than Starks. The Packers operate a two back system with Kuhn coming in for occasional touches at RB [for short yardage situations], although his main position is fullback. Starks has been getting more touches than Grant recently. Probably like a 60-35-5% splits at this point in the year. Fumbling isn’t much of a problem, as Grant is probably the most sure handed back in the league, with only one fumble [this year] in the last two or three years. Starks has only had one career fumble.

You won’t have to worry too much about GB’s run game until the 4th Qtr. So far this season, the only time the running game gets used much is when GB is trying to run clock at the end of the game. Otherwise, they’ll throw in a few runs by Grant (who will run into a blocker for a 3 yd gain) and Starks (who will run over a defender for a 4 yd gain) so that they can use the PA. The only purposes that McCarthy has for the running game is to set up the play action pass and run clock when they have the lead. The other guy to watch out for is the full back KUUUUUHHHHNNNN who’s a solid goal line back and receiver.

60% of Rodgers passes against the Vikings traveled 5 yds or less in the air, so the passing game can substitute for a strong rushing attack. GB won’t break a big run on TB but they’ll do just enough so that the play action works.

Everything else is gravy from there. If the Packers lose a game or two in the regular season I won’t be too shaken. I will be a bit disappointed if we don’t win our division or get a first round bye.

That said I don’t want to see them rest starters. I would rather see them play and try to win the games, especially since the last two games are division games, one in prime time, and on major holidays. I want to spend Christmas watching the Pack kick the crap out of the Bears and rake in the New Year watching the Pack beat down the Lions.

I hated it when the Colts sat their starters at the end of the season a couple years ago. I want GB to play the starters for most of the last couple games.

McCarthy stresses that every press conference. In preseason, he plays to win. He said it sends a terrible message to your football team if you’re not playing to win. So yes, I think he’ll go for the undefeated season… if we reach that point.

Tolbert of SD is the only big back that I can remember them facing this year. It seemed that he did pretty well, but IFRC they abandoned the run late in the game to try to score quickly. He ended up with 19 carries for 83 yards and a TD (and ran over quite a few defenders to do it. GB’s run defense has been solid (for the most part), but their biggest asset in stopping the run is the offense. Teams don’t run when they’re behind by a few scores.

Big reason. He’s played terrible the last three games, and I think he’s winded from playing too many snaps. Defensive end is a position many people want to address in the draft this year, but we have a dude coming back [Mike Neal] who should more or less fill in Jenkins role once he gets healthy.

I read recently that John Jolly is going back to prison. Was actually a starter or just a bench player this year?

Rodgers is very confident in his abilities (as he should be), I don’t think he’s arrogant.