Week Two Recap: Defense Sleeps, then Feasts, Packers Roll

[ThatJerkDave]

31 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

I think he was better than fine, but he was not as good as week one.  To be fair, I don't think anyone could be better than Rodgers was in week one.  Maybe equal to, but not better.

Lions were jamming and holding the WR's all game long to disrupt timing.  Rodgers didn't force it, just took what was there.

Adams wasn't fed the ball when he was out there, Rodgers spread it around.  And without Adams, he was still just fine.

His on field mannerisms were great, too.  He celebrated, he smiled.  He kept throwing to guys, even after drops.  And he was super PO'd when there was a timeout called when he had a sure fire TD play coming.  I absolutely loved how he acted on the field.  He was in control of that game, and he knew it.

About that MVS play in the end zone....I watched that a few times.  It honestly looked like MVS thought he was on the backline and was doing some funky things with his feet.  Could have been a better ball to him for sure, but something wasn't right on MVS's part either.

MVS had 2 drops that drive.  As I said in the GDT, that was probably 50-50 Rodgers-MVS.  Both balls were catchable.  Both balls could have been in much better positions.  

[vegas492]

7 minutes ago, Uffdaswede said:

The play before that, Rodgers threw a ball low to MVS in the right flat. As MVS came back to the huddle, talking, Rodgers put his finger to his faceguard like "shhh!"

What I wonder is...was Rodgers telling him to STFU cuz a play was coming into his helmet, or was he telling him to run that route to the center of the endzone and look for the ball?

I think only Rodgers can answer that.

I'd venture a guess that it was a play coming in.  Now that we can hear a lot during the game, it looked to me like MVS was doing a lot of talking on the field.  And I dig it.

Regarding where the route should have been run and possible mental lapses from MVS, it now looks like those things are simply being let go by Rodgers.  No need to dwell on it.  My guess is that the club will deal with those kinds of things in the film room.  Not the playing field.  

And I dig it.

[Leader]

1 hour ago, Packerraymond said:

This right here is why you can't have Preston Smith dropping into coverage.

Yeah....this one puzzles me. I mean, Smith is a big dude. I never figured coverage skills is what got him here or that contract. Whats the rationale? Is it a response to an offensive formation....one where they've caught us manned up wrong and we've got to put Smith out there? Or is it to accommodate Gary's increased snaps/work?

[Smidgeon]

i actually remember hearing last year that PSmith is the one piece that is experienced in the NFL dropping back with regularity.  He did it in Washington as a matter of course.  Z didn't.  I don't want Gary doing that now.  Our D-line doesn't have anyone who can do that.  And if you're sending a 2 LBs and the Dline on the rush, that's five.  Anymore and it's a blitz.  

I don't know Pettine's blitz rates and how they compare to the NFL average, but considering he likes to defend the pass first, I speculate he saves the blitzes for opportune moments and likes to not leave his coverage a man short.

Thus, Preston drops in coverage.

[Leader]

19 minutes ago, Smidgeon said:

i actually remember hearing last year that PSmith is the one piece that is experienced in the NFL dropping back with regularity.  He did it in Washington as a matter of course.  Z didn't.  I don't want Gary doing that now.  Our D-line doesn't have anyone who can do that.  And if you're sending a 2 LBs and the Dline on the rush, that's five.  Anymore and it's a blitz.  

I don't know Pettine's blitz rates and how they compare to the NFL average, but considering he likes to defend the pass first, I speculate he saves the blitzes for opportune moments and likes to not leave his coverage a man short.

Thus, Preston drops in coverage.

Well there it is   👍

[deathstar]

2 hours ago, Uffdaswede said:

The play before that, Rodgers threw a ball low to MVS in the right flat. As MVS came back to the huddle, talking, Rodgers put his finger to his faceguard like "shhh!"

What I wonder is...was Rodgers telling him to STFU cuz a play was coming into his helmet, or was he telling him to run that route to the center of the endzone and look for the ball?

Rodgers said that MVS needs to cut himself some slack. So I would bet that MVS was upset with himself and Rodgers was telling him to chill.

[Packerraymond]

2 hours ago, Uffdaswede said:

The play before that, Rodgers threw a ball low to MVS in the right flat. As MVS came back to the huddle, talking, Rodgers put his finger to his faceguard like "shhh!"

What I wonder is...was Rodgers telling him to STFU cuz a play was coming into his helmet, or was he telling him to run that route to the center of the endzone and look for the ball?

He had a smirk on his face, so my initial thought was, "hey don't say anything about that crappy ball I just threw."

[packfanfb]

Saw the all-22 view of that crosser to Sternberger....man, he'd still be running. Great design, guy just needs to catch it. 

[Rodjahs12]

I didn’t think anyone doubted that Preston could drop back and provide decent coverage if asked to, the question is for what you’re paying him does it make a ton of sense to be doing that with regularity when you can have someone like Raven Greene do that while Preston earns his money beating a Tackle/guard

[HighCalebR]

10 hours ago, Smidgeon said:

i actually remember hearing last year that PSmith is the one piece that is experienced in the NFL dropping back with regularity.  He did it in Washington as a matter of course.  Z didn't.  I don't want Gary doing that now.  Our D-line doesn't have anyone who can do that.  And if you're sending a 2 LBs and the Dline on the rush, that's five.  Anymore and it's a blitz.  

I don't know Pettine's blitz rates and how they compare to the NFL average, but considering he likes to defend the pass first, I speculate he saves the blitzes for opportune moments and likes to not leave his coverage a man short.

Thus, Preston drops in coverage.

The counter here would be: you should take one of our **** DL out and run an extra OtBLB/S and park Preston on the line. 

Edited September 23, 2020 by HighCalebR

[AlexGreen#20]

15 minutes ago, HighCalebR said:

The counter here would be: you should take one of our **** DL out and run an extra OtBLB/S and park Preston on the line. 

This

[Green19]

9 hours ago, Rodjahs12 said:

I didn’t think anyone doubted that Preston could drop back and provide decent coverage if asked to, the question is for what you’re paying him does it make a ton of sense to be doing that with regularity when you can have someone like Raven Greene do that while Preston earns his money beating a Tackle/guard

Is there any legs to the argument of creating confusion? So an offense doesn’t know if he is coming or going.

It maybe similar to an offense where you get it on tape to freeze a team. Get them thinking.

[Beast]

I don't think they're putting Preston out there to cover every snap... but as a guy they can threaten to be a pass rusher or coverage guy, and a run stopper if you run it at him.... 

Because as y'all point out, if it's just coverage, then put a DB in... but my guess would be that it's not just coverage....

Who knows, with all these coverage film of him, he might be surprise blitzing Brees next week, when Brees expected him to drop back in coverage, because that's what he did on Film.

Just purely guessing... they wanted 3 OLBers on the field for whatever they were facing, and they prefer Prestot in coverage over the other options on the field.

[Fl0nkerton]

haven't seen the film or anything, but any qb worth a damn motions a wr/rb out to the slot to see if it's man or zone. if preston was in coverage maybe he was assigned to rush but the rb split out so he had to go out and cover. Staffy could have just been playing matchups and preston got picked on a bit.