What an amazing game. I fiddled with my television's RGB settings, because I was convinced I wasn't watching the Bears vs. Packers game. It's been quite a while since our defense has dominated the line of scrimmage so thoroughly. But that's what Dom Capers brings to the table. They had no answer for Johnny Jolly or Cullen Jenkins. Jay Cutler broke under the harassment of our defense (did you see his shove on Clay Matthews, III? It's football!) B.J. Raji did not play but we played so much nickel that it was hardly noticeable. Michael Montgomery did decently in his limited opportunities as well.

As great as we did in this game I'm still left with a lot of questions and concerns.

The offense. This unit generated so many questions that they must feel like they're at a Senate hearing. But where did the mistimed throws and poor running game come from? The culprit is our offensive line. Despite adjustments by Aaron Rodgers at the line, they were unable to stop the pass rush. The only person I did not notice as doing poorly is Daryn Colledge, but some of my fellow posters have stated he stunk as well. Anything I say about Allen Barbre has already been said. Regardless: he looked like a child against Adewale Ogunleye. Hopefully it was only opening night nerves.

The touchdown pass to Devin Hester concerns me. Are we going to have to adjust our coverage for fear that our 2nd Team All-Pro safety is cramping? It was probably only one play. But it was inexecusable. Overall our safety play was solid and this was one play out of 71. It could become a trend, though. That worries me.

The conclusion that we should draw is that Ryan Pickett did what he was supposed to do. If Jolly and Jenkins had huge games, then logically our nose tackle must have done his job, right? On Jolly's interception he was sealed out of the play by the center. It was the only time I noticed him. I am a huge Ryan Pickett fan. But in the end, he is what he is: a solid player. He's not the long term solution at nose tackle and I hope that B.J. Raji is given more opportunities there as the season wears on. After one week my concern is no longer the depth at defensive end, but the play of our nose. It didn't cost us much this game. It could in the future, though.

I expect that Ryan Grant will get his yards. Driver will not drop as many passes. Rodgers will play turnover-free football. Jenkins will continue to dominate. I have a lot of optimism about this team. These three concerns could mean the difference between a winning and losing season. I've had enough losing with so much talent on this team.

Ryan Pickett was the man on the goalline stand. No way, shape or doubt about it. . . Four strait plays he bore the brunt of the double team and didn't budge. On the first one he opened things up for a stuff by Hawk and Rouse on 3rd and inches that almost ended the drive. On the second one he held strong and was involved in the inside stuff. On the 3rd one, he stuffed the inside forcing the play out to the left, and then he followed the play and ended up making the tackle after other players held up Matt Forte. The next play was the incomplete pass. Nobody bought the fake, but had they run the ball he was there holding the middle again. If he's healthy, I feel good about Ryan Pickett at NT for now. I think that he'll be very good for this season and should be extended a few years to split time with Raji in the future. B. J. Raji is the long-term answer at NT, but Ryan Pickett is adjusting to his role in the new defense very well.

There's going to be some plays where the NT gets moved out. It's the NFL and his opponents are often just as talented as he is. That's the reality of things. The goal is for the NT to take on double teams and hold the point of attack more often than he gives it up. I think that Ryan Pickett definitely won more battles than he lost (and I expect B. J. Raji to do the same or better once he gets onto the field.)

I'm not a huge Pickett fan, but I will say this for him: he always starts the season well. The last couple years, he has declined as the season has progressed. I'm inclined to think that's because he's been overused. The key to the Packers' defensive line is being able to rotate the personnel without any tangible drop-off. They spent much of Sunday night in a 2-4-5 with Pickett on the sidelines (maybe that's why he had a quiet game). That augurs well for December.

My concern about the DL is not how it plays early on, but how it survives through the second half of the year. One long-term injury to a key player — say, Raji — would leave no depth at all at Nose and Montgomery as the principle rotation guy at End. The linemen are still the thinnest group on the 2009 defense.

The key to the linebacking corps as well!

Over the course of the season we will play 50% of our snaps in base, 50% in sub. Last year Pickett, I believe, played around 54% of the snaps. He should get plenty of rest this year with Raji spelling him.

I was very impressed by the goalline stands that we made. I did not notice if it was Pickett who held up the middle. But that's the job of a 3-4 nose, just look at Jamal Williams' career stats.

Nearly 200 views and no more replies? Any thoughts out there on these observations?

I'll give it a shot. The concerns on offense have ben deabted in other threads, probably why there's not much reaction. Barbe was horrible, nothing left to say. Either he plays better vs Cincy or we have a real problem there.

Your second concern is that Collins had cramps, giving up a TD. Not sure how being injured is inexcusable as you said?

Then your last concern was Pickett, but you started out by saying he did what he was supposed to do. So I'm not sure why that's a concern?

OK. Obvious about Barbre. 1st game jitters, whatever. Next game is important for him to show he keeps his job or needs to be replaced. I expect he shows much improvement. The rest of the OL needs to play better as well. WRs need to catch the @#$$ ball, especially Driver. Did not expect that last week.

The long passes are a concern and I am the belief that Woodson and Collins made huge mistakes for one reason or another. That is on them. Pickett is getting up in years, but he is extemely important for this team going even beyond this year. His play makes Jolly, Jenkins, Raji and all of the LBs job easier and he will not get enough credit. As long as the other team is not ripping big runs up the middle, then he is doing great.

This D will give up big plays, but they will make a lot more and cause even more havoc for the oppsoing O that will make us all a lot happier. I believe the D will win us a few games this year, including the first one.

Well, I'm not concerned about Collins and cramps for one thing.

I'm concerned about the OLine - gee, what a novel thought and new and unexpected concern!

I'm a little concerned about the safety position - this is being discussed extensively elsewhere.

There are things I'm always concerned about, like injuries, of course. Or little things like losing.

I'm less concerned about over confidence this week than I was last week.

I won't add to the O line concerns but I will say I'm hoping they'll be better this week. Geathers is a pretty good DE but I don't think Cincy's D is as good as Chicago's. Safety is a concern. I didn't like hearing about Bigby hurt again. I hope we can run more effectively and keep them honest so they just don't pin their ears back and knock Rodgers silly. They have a pretty good RB and Palmer is no slouch but he isn't as mobile as he once was.

The only concern I have about Pickett is that we keep him for the future. He isnt that old, 29 I think. And he does a good job as the fat immovable guy.

My concern is the dropsies the WRs seemed to have. With the limited protection we couldnt afford those drops. I don't think this will be a problem again. But you never know.

Offensive line: played out. Understandable.

Collins is a professional football player. I don't know where his cramps were, but I doubt they were bad enough to cause his excellent pre-snap position to be wasted on that play. He was late to that play. There's really no excuse for that, even if you're having cramps. He's always been there to make a play and it's the first time in a long time that he wasn't. Considering his comments this past offseason about not caring about football, it does make me a little nervous to think that he won't consider this a big deal and it'll happen again and again. I love Nick Collins and have been a fan of his since he was drafted. I am probably just being nitpicky.

Regarding Pickett: I was wondering if he actually did what he was supposed to do. Jolly and Jenkins had good games, does it stand to reason that Pickett was the reason for that? I wasn't able to rewatch the game so I can't tell you. Another poster stated that he held up well on the goal line. I saw at least one play where he was washed out. Pickett won't win every double team. I guess you can't expect a player to ever win every double team. All it's going to take for us to have a bad game, defensively, is for him to get beaten more often than not. And that's a real possibility with him.

What comments did Collins make about wanting football out of his life?

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/2009/...?sports&nfl

I'll edit my original post to reflect what he actually said.

So let me get this straight - the cardinal sins committed by the Packers are:

1.) They gave up 1 passing TD.

2.) Despite holding one of the better RBs in the league to 55 yards on 25 carries and getting a ton of pressure on the QB, Ryan Pickett got washed out once and didn't win every battle?

Is that right?

I hardly referred to them as sins. To put those concerns in to more context:

1) Our pro bowl safety gave up a passing touchdown.

2) I did not watch enough of Pickett to know if he played particularly well or not. But you should know from previous seasons that secondary stats do not mean a player did a good job.

Our defense gives up one big play - forces 4 turnovers - sets up the offense in favorable field position all night long -and we have to "pull it out" in the fourth quarter in come from behind fashion ? Thats inexcusable.

Yea - the offensive line has been beat to death, but you know what ? It is everything. Rodgers can drop the nose of a football into a thimble from 60 yards from all accounts - but he can't do it off of his back foot or with a clouded mind nearly as consistently. Now take away half the west coast offense because we have to max protect. Sure Barbre did better in the second half, he had help in the form of tight ends running backs and fullbacks not to mention Ogunleye was exhausted from running 10 yard sprints and tackling Rodgers every play. Throw in the fact that the other guys up front had a bad game and what do you have ? You are going to face an uphill battle all day if the majority of your run plays on first down set you up for 2nd and 13. Neither Rodgers or Grant can have a banner day without the guys up front giving you that they did Sunday night

Its hard to pass if you cant run and its hard to run if you cant pass. Everything starts up front. Sure Driver had a drop and Crosby missed a field goal. If our offensive line had even just a good day that game is out of reach by the end of the first quarter.

Its all about the trenches remember ?

Our d-line trench guys had an outstanding night and look at what our defense did.

Our o-line trench guys ........ underperformed and look at what our offense did

Everything else is just smoke and mirrors

Lets say you had a father, that you and your immediate family were extremely close to, and he was dying of cancer during your offseason workouts. Would you care much about football at the time?

To think he purposely blew a coverage because of this is pretty questionable. He made a poor read and got beat, it happens to every defensive back in the league at some point. If he starts doing it with regularity then i'll get concerned.

As I said, I'm probably being nit picky. I won't presume to put myself in his shoes. I sure hope that it doesn't happen anymore.

Every defensive back gives up plays from time to time including the best safeties.

I have seen Ed Reed,Baltimore, Troy Polamalu, Adrian Wilson, Nick Collins, Quintin Mikell... all make mistakes and all get burned on occasion.

Nick Collins attitude and work ethic has never been questioned by the coaching staff or by his teammates. He spends more time in the film room than others and has always been in great shape.

You are taking his comments out of context in my opinion.

This is probably considered piling on.

You're probably right. I love Nick Collins. I've never questioned his work ethic or professionalism. I've also never seen him give up a play like he did on Sunday night. My only hope is that it doesn't continue to happen.

You don't care for piling on? How quaint.

Now I ask you, did Henry Fonda complain about piling on in the Ox-Bow Incident?

Hang in there, Monkey. Homo sapiens are all monkeys too.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't. Oh well.

One thing I'm definitely not concerned about is this game being interesting! Go Packers!

Do you guys realize that even the best players in the league will get beat from time to time? Harping on individual mistakes is ridiculous. The time to call a player out is when he sets of trend of committing the same glaring, inexcusable mistake over and over.

Do you guys really expect to have a defensive backfield that never gives up a single big passing play? That's insane. Insane.

Two words: Marquand Manuel.


Feel better now????

I think anyone could knit-pick any team, any position, or any player. So I will state it like this, I would like to see an improvement in the run game. My impression is that other teams do not respect it.

Or even Aaron Rouse last year.