I had a chance to take this one in at Lambeau and I woke up in the nick of time to do it. I went out on Saturday night like any normal 25 year old and woke up to find my phone was turned off. I assumed this would be no big deal until I turned it on with text messages and voicemails about going to the Packer game. Hopped out of my bed and busted my ass back to Wauwatosa in time for the game.
A Grade
Jarrett Boykin - The next man up philosophy gets talked about a great deal in the Packer circle, but it rings true every week. Boykin played great on Sunday. He looked very comfortable out there playing the second receiver. It also tells you to always trust Aaron Rodgers. The Packer quarterback said Boykin was a player and he damn well looked like it on Sunday. He caught everything thrown at him and turn things up field to make bigger plays out of his catches. Jamari Lattimore - If you do not think about The Program when hearing his name, we probably cannot be friends. He had a masterful game out there yesterday. Lattimore seemed to be everywhere on the football field. He did a solid job stopping the run as well as dropping into pass coverage. Jordan Cameron only had his yards in garbage time and that has some to do with Lattimore's play on the outside. Even with Nick Perry out with a foot injury, Mike Neal, Lattimore and Clay Matthews when he's back will be a fun outside linebacker group.
Mike Daniels - I had no idea until the postgame show that Daniels is only six foot playing against guys probably at least four inches taller than him. He played another good game. This is more of an A award for his consistently good play which included a big sack on Sunday. Daniels made some major strides into becoming a key role player for this team at defensive line.
Johnny Jolly's Cousin Terio dance - Pretty upset no one on Twitter uploaded a Vine or a GIF of him doing it but it was awesome. Even more awesome, explaining to my dad at Lambeau about Cousin Terio, great moment for us as father and son.
B Grade
Davon House - From the doghouse to the bright lights for House. I talked about him at great length last week but he made some great plays. House had three more pass deflections on Sunday meaning he has six of them in the last two weeks. He also picked off an awful Brandon Weeden pass. House is a player and the Packers secondary will be damn near unbeatable when Casey Hayward gets back to full strength.
Aaron Rodgers - I feel like I am jaded here but I did not see the same Rodgers performance that everyone else seemed to on Sunday. He played well, did not make any mistakes and did a bunch with not getting much time to throw the football. But I also felt he missed a couple opportunities by not trusting some of his young, new receiving core and threw a couple balls away. While Rodgers is not the only part of it, good to see the Packers capitalizing with touchdowns in the red zone this week compared to the last two games.
Jermichael Finley - Good game from J-Mike until his unfortunate injury which we will get to in a second. Finley looked mean throughout the game. The 10-yard out he had for a touchdown should have been about a one or two yard gain yet Finley bullied his way to the endzone for a score. He had a big reception called back, but in the process, he shrugged off two defenders then bulldozed another guy. Finley looked like a beast out there.
A.J. Hawk - He continues to play like one of the best in the league. Most of his tackles were of the assist variety yet that still tells me Hawk was involved in many plays stopping the run or pass. He nearly had another sack coming free on a blitz but Hawk grabbed Weeden's facemask in the process. I would not go as far as saying Hawk is deserving of Defensive Player of the Year, but I will say he is playing like a top ten player on defense in all of the NFL. Vindication for many people who stuck by Hawk through thick and thin (I will say this has not always been me so yes there are some guys I misfire on, it happens).
C Grade
Uniformed fans are the worst at Lambeau - Ugh. As I mentioned, my viewing of this game was at Lambeau Field. As always, I had a great time even with the rain, my hangover and the cold yet the people behind me were the worst kind of NFL fans. A group of bros came up from Chicago to take in Lambeau Field. Some of them seemed like Packer fans, but the other one was a Denver fan. All of them wanted to Jordy Nelson to have a big day for their fantasy teams and kept talking about their matchups instead of the game. When Nelson made a catch, this assclown goes 'ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK.' After he did it twice, I inform the shitzipper that Nelson played for Kansas State. I hated to be the one but I would have punched him in the face by the end of the game if I did not. These guys were the worst. I do not know if this makes me sound like an elitist but if it does, so be it. I would rather take a nice couple who might care too much but dammit, they love their Packers and maybe have a flask on them.
D Grade
Don Barclay - Not a great game for Barclay by any means. I will not give him an F, but it seems like he has been struggling in the last couple of weeks. I do not know if Marshall Newhouse can be any better than Barclay, but if he struggles again versus Minnesota, it might be time to reassess what's going on with him.
Andrew Quarless - For me, one of the more frustrating players on the team right now. He is staying healthy which is a good thing, but other than that, nothing is really going well for him. Quarless needs to step up given the situation at hand and know the plays of what's going on.
F Grade
Packers' Kick Return coverage - Pretty poor performance from this group letting Cleveland nearly break one and two of them went past the 30 yard line. They did not come to play on Sunday. It is a lot like the conversations I have with myself most Sunday late nights and early Monday mornings, clean it up, start playing/acting better.
Jermichael's neck injury - Scary stuff. I did not know right away that it would be this bad for J-Mike at the stadium. I saw the crushing hit and then Finley laid there motionless. I do not want to jump to conclusions about Finley's injury so I hope he is alright and takes as long as he needs to come back to play as this could be his second concussion in as many games.
Charlie.
0 comments:
Post a Comment