From The Blog : Packers Midway Report Card

[Mark87]

http://wisprtstalk.blogspot.com/2015/11/packers-midway-report-card.html

Here we are at the half way point of the 2015/15 season. As is tradition I present the midway report card.
Offense:
QB: After a hot start Aaron Rodgers has cooled off, Aaron appears to have taken steps back the last few weeks. A combination of pressure and mistrust in his WR has resulted in some poor performances. Still Aaron is one of the best in the game. GRADE: A-

OL : What was a strong group last year is a beat up and discombobulated group this year. Both OT are hobbled with bum knees and our OG are also off. This group has allowed 14 sacks and 29 hits through 8 games. The depth isn't there so we sink or swim with our starting 5. GRADE : C -

WR : Hard group to grade as a whole. James Jones is a god's send and I was wrong a great signing. Cobb is still a huge threat but people forget he's playing injured in a harness. Adams when healthy can really be an asset but again playing hurt. The remainder of the group is untried and has very little playing time. Grade : C -

RB/FB : Lacey started out hot got injured and hasn't been the same. Starks has some fantastic runs and then disappears at times, still great upside in the screen game. Grade: B

Overall this offense is a plain C... average with a great QB.

Defense:
DL: This group had me eating crow the first 3 games and then starting playing like the last 2 years. Tough as nails one series and then like swiss cheese the next. No consistency.
A big pet peeve is they love to jaw with the offense. STOP play hard do your job then talk smack.
Grade : C

LB Corp: Clay Matthews plays like a man on a mission but he can't do it all. I have seen sparks from Nick Perry and Peppers but the others are are not doing much. Again no consistency and a group that has blown more then an assignment or 2. GRADE : C-

DB/S : Interesting group led by Sam Shields, started out hot when the front 7 was getting pressure. I really think for a group of young DB they do ok. The big mark down comes for the poor technique I have seen since SF. Damarious Randall has really great upside as does Rollins.
Grade: C +

Again as a whole this defense is under performing. They have to to play more consistent.
Grade : C

Coaching :
MM and staff seemed to have rocketed out the gate but the SD game exposed some flaws in the underbelly of the team. Dom Capers has to adjust his defense when his front 7 can't get home and help the secondary with some different coverage's and different stunts etc.
Rodgers and the offense need to slow it down and go back to a patient dink and dunk offense, no need to get greedy.
This a very good football team that isn't there yet. Now is the time to say we can adjust our schemes and approach and really start getting hot down the stretch.
Grade : C

So in summary despite a 6-2 record I will be giving this team a C plus grade. They can do better in every piece of the game. GB may need to keep a back or TE in more to protect Aaron.

I fully expect a 12-4 ball club to roll into the playoffs but the team can't swell up and believe anymore press. One game at a time playing smart football leads you to the Super Bowl.

Feel free to add your own midway grades and discuss !

 

[HeartyHops]

RB/FB : Lacey started out hot got injured and hasn't been the same. Starks has some fantastic runs and then disappears at times, still great upside in the screen game. Grade: B

This is another group that's hard to judge as a whole. I wouldn't mind giving Starks an A-, and Lacy a D+. It would sure be nice if in the not-too-distant future if Lacy could fix whatever it is that's wrong, be it mental, injury, or excess avoirdupois.

I fully expect a 12-4 ball club to roll into the playoffs but the team can't swell up and believe anymore press. One game at a time playing smart football leads you to the Super Bowl.

 

[realitybytes]

from marc sessler of nfl.com:

Dom Capers: Capers cannot be killed. No matter how many hundreds of yards the Packers allow, Green Bay's oddly coifed coordinator remains in charge. Giving up 491.7 yards and a whopping 28.7 points per game over their past three tilts, the Packers D is responsible for a two-game losing streak that pulled Green Bay out of pole position for an NFC bye. Capers clearly has photos of somebody important doing something ghastly.

 

[CaptainD]

McGinn midway report http://www.jsonline.com/sports/pack...elevate-their-game-b99614960z1-349262741.html

Midseason, a time for reflection on what has been and what might be, has arrived in Green Bay and the National Football League.

Some teams discovered their hopes were little more than pipe dreams. Other teams suffered major injuries to quarterbacks and valuable players, and their hopes have dimmed.

Underachievers though they might be, the Green Bay Packers are among the fortunate few still very much capable of winning the Super Bowl.

Look at the Packers' roster. Tight end is their only position where the die is cast and it's wait 'til next year for an upgrade, although even there hope exists in the likely return of Andrew Quarless from a knee injury.

General manager Ted Thompson, having passed on the opportunity to acquire Vernon Davis in a possible trade with San Francisco, obviously doesn't view tight end as an area of urgent need.

At the 21 other starting positions, not to mention depth across the board, the Packers can match their roster with anyone's.

Thompson always likes his players and his teams, and he has every reason to like this one.

Fans can be a lot like scouts, nitpicking this player and that player. Sometimes familiarity does breed contempt when it comes to watching the same team week after week.

A general manager used to say to his scouts, "Tell me what a player can do, not what he can't do."

That would be good advice for those that doubt just how talented these Packers are.

The whipping boys change on a weekly basis. Of late, it has been the offensive line.

Not long ago, a defensive line coach for a team on the Packers' schedule spent extensive time breaking down their offensive linemen. Our conversation turned to left tackle David Bakhtiari, who has given ground against bull rushers all season.

"He's playing damn good," the assistant said. "When you watch your own guys, sometimes you don't think that. But you watch the so-called (top) guys in the league...(Philadelphia's) Jason Peters was getting his (expletive) beat all the time...

"(Aaron) Rodgers' mobility really helps them, but sometimes he's back there six, seven, eight, nine seconds holding the ball. If you watch Green Bay's line, you say, 'Boy, these (expletives) can play.'"

The defense fell apart the last three weeks, and the widespread criticism has been well-deserved. Still, that doesn't diminish the caliber of personnel that the Packers have on all three levels, a fact noted by Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford last week.

"Their front seven is as talented as anybody we play," Stafford told reporters. "They have a great defensive line, their linebackers are really good players and, in the secondary, they've got talented guys who are young."

Six weeks ago, a savvy personnel man color-coded every player the Packers have, assessed all their position groups in detail and concluded that they would finish 14-2 and win Super Bowl 50.

Across the league, opponents struggle comprehending just what is going on in Green Bay.

On Wednesday, an executive in personnel for an NFC North team said, "I looked at it (Green Bay's loss to Carolina). From the second half on they were back on track the way they play, which is scary."

They see Rodgers, the franchise quarterback regarded by some as the best player in football, and they cannot fathom statistics like 25th in yards, 26th in passing yards, 27th on third down and 30th on first down.

At the same time, foes find it hard to understand how a defense with Clay Matthews and other talented players can be 23rd against the pass and 28th against the run.

"Six and two is a good record," wide receiver James Jones said last week. "At the same time, who cares about the record? It's about the expectation.

"We know what type of football team we are, we know what type of product we want to put on the football field ... we know what it's supposed to look like, and the last two games is not what it's supposed to look like."

There are two likely explanations for the general malaise that has befallen the Packers since the blowout of Kansas City in late September.

First, coach Mike McCarthy isn't getting nearly enough from this team.

Second, the number of players who have performed below their level of ability is much higher than the number who have elevated their games.

After dropping the ball last January in Seattle, McCarthy's major moves were firing Shawn Slocum, the team's special teams coordinator, and abdicating his role as offensive play-caller.

Under Ron Zook, the special teams have been solid as an oak. They've been the best of the team's three phases.

Nothing on offense has been as good on game days with McCarthy basically serving as just another set of eyes for Tom Clements.

McCarthy has more time now to sift through reams of analytical data, attend to administrative chores, sit in meetings with the defense and special teams, talk to players, circulate around the building and tape a weekly podcast, among other things.

His passion, his primary expertise, is calling and managing a game, areas in which opponents have said he ranks with the NFL's finest. Some of the creative friction between him and Rodgers that made the Packers so feared on offense has been lost. And for what?

The 14-player underachiever list starts with Eddie Lacy. Unneeded poundage has slowed him getting to and through holes. He isn't as violent. He's often indecisive.

After a brilliant September, Rodgers has been stunningly ordinary. Decisions aren't as crisp, accuracy is off, strength of leadership appears muted.

Randall Cobb, with five of the team's very manageable total of 13 dropped passes, has been playing through a shoulder injury. Without Jordy Nelson, he has remained a No. 2 receiver, not a No. 1.

Corey Linsley has been nicked for 4 1/2 sacks after he didn't allow any until Game 17 as a rookie.

Even though his playing time is just 58.1%, Bryan Bulaga is tied for first among the starting offensive linemen in "bad" runs with seven and is tied for second in pressures allowed with 12. His knee is an issue.

The Packers once thought so highly of Davante Adams. It remains to be seen if his 4.55-second speed was worthy of a second-round selection in a wide receiver-loaded draft, and if he can stay on the field.

B.J. Raji has been a stout, steady fulcrum against the run. You can count on him to plug his gap. But, after a great start in which he was disengaging from blocks and disrupting run and pass, his game has been more line-of-scrimmage based.

At this point a year ago Letroy Guion had 7 1/2 pressures and four tackles for loss. Now, after letting the team down with off-field conduct that warranted a three-game suspension, those totals are 1 1/2 and one.

Julius Peppers' sack total of 5 1/2 has drawn attention. More important, however, is down-after-down production. His midyear pressure total has slipped from 19 to 13 1/2, and he ranks fourth in tackles per snap among the four most-used outside linebackers.

Mike Neal is playing a different side, almost never gets to rush inside with his hand down anymore and probably has to play too much. Still, his midyear pressure total of 8 1/2 is down from 11 last year and 20 1/2 in 2013.

As a rookie, Casey Hayward was the epitome of a ballhawk with team-leading totals of six interceptions and 25 passes defensed. He sits at zero and four halfway through the season.

Credit to Ha Ha Clinton-Dix for being the only defensive player to play every snap. But he hasn't delivered as many shattering hits this season, and mistakes continue to pop up.

A calf injury has limited Morgan Burnett to 34.8% participation. When active, he has been just so-so.

Tim Masthay has rebounded in the last few weeks, but his slow start is reflected in rankings of 20th or worse in the four key statistical measures for punters.

On the other hand, the players that have taken it up a notch would be Datone Jones, Nick Perry and Mike Pennel, when compared to last season, and Damarious Randall, when compared to training camp.

Fortunately for the Packers, they have that 6-2 record, a generous break on injuries and more than enough time for every one of their underachievers to elevate his game.

The same time frame applies for McCarthy. It might not be fair sometimes, but the performance of every player and every assistant coach is his responsibility.

For that matter, everything football-related on offense, defense and special teams goes right back to the head coach. It's the way it works.

In Green Bay, it starts with Aaron Rodgers. Last spring, an AFC personnel man said the Packers' default position is eight victories in every season that their quarterback plays 16 games. In August, Raji said Rodgers is worth 17 points every time he steps off the bus.

They also have built-in factors that provide incalculable advantages.

Facilities that are perhaps unmatched in the NFL. Immense financial resources flowing to football, not an owner's debt service.

The league's second-largest stadium packed with ardent spectators. No team other than maybe Pittsburgh can count on such widespread fan support at almost every road venue.

Little or no interference from management when it comes to football operations. A general manager and coach with contractual security and consistent support from their boss.

We've heard it all in the last few weeks. The Packers are too this, too that. They're weak here, weak there. He's not any good, nor is he.

Talent when used properly wins. Talent when misused never does.

The Packers didn't play well in the first half. It has left them tied with Minnesota in the division and two games plus the tiebreaker behind Carolina in the conference.

On paper, the Vikings and Panthers are no better than the Packers, even considering how the Packers have played.

Players are players. It falls on McCarthy to straighten it out and turn this squad of underachievers into one of achievers.

 

[diesel]

I give Rodgers a C minus at this point. Great article though, and thanks for posting it. Well done! c

 

[realitybytes]

yeah, that piece by mcginn was excellent.