NOTHING TO PONDER

Packer Offense Shines against Vikings

Maybe this is the vision Mike McCarthy had all along. By now every fan, opponent and member of the media knows McCarthy has made a running game the point of emphasis of the off season. As the season has ground on the Packers are like a rough lump of coal been rounded and polished by every encounter in the NFL. It was a rocky start, going 1 – 2, but since the running game has begun to gel the look of the Packers offense is starting to resemble that of a bona fide juggernaut.

In the not too distant past the Packers offense was Aaron Rodgers throws left, Rodgers throws right, Rodgers over the middle, Rodgers scrambles, run and either gains 12 yards or loses 5 yards, Rodgers goes deep, Rodgers under pressure, Rodgers finds ________ (fill in the name of Jordy Nelson or James Jones or Randall Cobb or Jermichael Finley here) open in the end zone, touchdown Packers.

This was only an okay formula. While the Pack was piling up points Rodgers laser like tosses

covered many of the Packers’ blemishes. Blemishes that were the lack of a running game, a pass poor defense, a defense that could not tackle, and a shaky special teams unit. As each season since the ’10 magic carpet ride the Packers looked more imposing on offense and less threatening on defense. And let’s not forget Mason Crosby’s stunningly sudden case of the shanks last year. Since winning it all in ’10 the Packers have been impressive against the lesser fare of the NFL. Against the big dogs in the big games? Well… not so much.

The ‘Cover 2 defense’ became the battle cry for opponents. As fans scrambled to find out what exactly a ‘Cover 2’ defense was opponents began preparing to stop Rodgers and his receivers and nothing else. Cover 2 became the ‘Ah Ha!’ moment of the teams that employed a solid D. The Giants became the Pack’s personal Rubicon along the way. The 49ers ignored the Packers running game, loaded up on the back end, spotted the Packers a 14 – 7 lead and then Cover-2ed Green Bay right out of the playoffs.

McCarthy had seen enough. Talking about developing a running game was falling thin. James Starks was looking like he could become the man. But Starks history of injuries has kept his star from rising. The offseason imported new faces with Eddie Lacy and Jonathon Franklin. The Packers look like they have scored an ‘A’ for last year’s draft and have plugged holes on both sides of the ball. The term ‘Next Man Up’ has become a rallying cry as new faces eager to make an impression are doing just that.

The question lingers as to just how good could this Packer team be by the end of the season? The answer is scary good. With Lacy now pounding the ball Rodgers has become far more judicious and efficient with his throws. The problem with the Pack has never been Aaron Rodgers. It has been that even Rodgers had a hard time finding men open when teams like the Giants and Niners, teams that roll out hefty front 4 and 3 looks that can generate pass pressure while dropping 7 and even 8 men back into coverage. Cover 2 was the terminology used for a defense leaving the 2 safeties back in pass coverage and thumbing their nose at the Pack’s backfield.

Green Bay was not winning games in the process as much as merely outscoring their

opponents. But after the pretenders and unprepared fell along the way the NFL’s best found a way to beat Green Bay. In the process McCarthy set about rebuilding his team into a fully balanced squad. Just shy of the halfway point in the season the Packers are now beginning to build some momentum and are picking up a head of steam. The Lions and Bears broke fast from the gate but have slipped. Green Bay has already knocked off Detroit and now Minnesota. It is not beating them that is the story; it is how they are doing it.

The Packers offense rolled over and flattened the Vikings by a count of 44 – 34. The game opened with the Pack’s special teams looking very unspecial by laying an egg on the opening kickoff. As the Vikes Cordarelle Patterson grabbed Tim Masthay’s boot a mere 2 feet from the back of the end zone and to the delight of Packer fans began to run it out. Those fans stopped laughing as Patterson broke off an NFL record that can never be broken by going 109 yards and putting Green Bay in a 7 -0 hole.

The Vikings are struggling clearly. Adrian Peterson is mortal and has been unable to shake the funk off of Minnesota’s tepid QB’s. Matt Cassel bombed in relief of Cristhian Ponder and Josh Freeman was an unmitigated disaster last week in a woeful Monday Night performance and the fallen savior Ponder was sent back out the turnstile. The Vikings have holes in their defense and Josh Sitton, Evan Dietrich Smith, T.J. Lang, and newcomers Don Barclay and David Bahktiari kept opening enormous holes for Lacy and Starks to hit. Rodgers took the ball and marched the Packers right down the field to knot the score.

Offense is not the only area to get a facelift. Over that past 2 years McCarthy and Ted Thompson have done an overhaul of their defense emphasizing younger, faster, more athletic. This approach is paying dividends. The list of players sidelined looks like an All Pro lineup. Cobb, James Jones, Finley, John Kuhn and Starks (both back after missing a month with injuries) as well as Morgan Burnett (back after opening the season injured), Clay Matthews, Nick Perry and Casey Hayward have been out with season interrupting dings.

The likes of Davon House and Micah Hyde have stepped in on D to fill the void. 2^nd year

man Mike Daniels chipped in with 2 sacks and has become a solid relief man on the now stout defensive line. Ponder wasn’t awful against Green Bay but trying to match Rodgers point for point is an uphill climb the kid could not master. Ponder has shown he can play (at times) but also he can play well against the Packers (most times). For the improved Packers defense stopping the run, in this case headache-giving Adrian Peterson, has been a marked improvement from last year. Peterson did not light up the Pack. Keeping Peterson to a meager 60 yards on 13 carries is an impressive feat. Ponder didn’t throw any picks but could only muster 145 yards thru the air. It bears mentioning that Greg Jennings, who was very vocal when signing a lucrative deal in the offseason, took revenge on his former team and signal caller with 1 catch for 9 yards. As the teams met at the end of the game Jennings was seen bending Rodgers’ ear for a long time.

In fact had Minnesota not been aided by two very shaky pass interference calls against Tramon Williams this game could have been uglier. How ugly? Try this one on for size – the Packers held the ball for almost 41 minutes and ran 30 more plays than the Vikings 73 – 43. A ball control, ground attack game complementing Rodgers air mastery is exactly what McCarthy was envisioning. That it would come together like this, at this time with many of the key components sitting it out does not bode favorably for the rest of the NFC. As the Packers’ Kiddie Corps cuts their teeth in real, live competition it will only serve to make this team better.

In spite of giving up Patterson’s electrifying opening kick return the Packers countered with their own newest weapon. When Jeremy Ross was assigned the kick return duties and let the opportunity – and the ball – slip thru his fingers Randall Cobb went back to do one of the things he does best in returning punts. That didn’t exactly sit well with McCarthy or anyone else who knows how integral a component Cobb is to the offense with his diversity.

No Cobb? No sweat. Rookie CB Micah Hyde slid into the punt return role and Franklin

now handles the kickoffs. Hyde matched Patterson’s gallop with an eye popping return of his own by channeling his inner Charles Woodson and taking the ball the distance with a 93 yard return. Anything you can do I can do better. McCarthy is on record calling Hyde the most “…natural return man he’s seen since Charles Woodson. He even catches the ball like Woodson...”

For the day Rodgers was a ho-hum 24/29 for 285 yards, 2 TD’s and 31 yards rushing. While the Vikings were credited with 2 sacks those sacks resulted in a cumulative loss of 3 yards. Jared Allen has been a stalwart and standout for Minnesota since arriving from Kansas City. Rodgers made it clear he did not want to see Allen doing his famous steer roping celebration of a sack in this game. The assignment for dealing with Allen fell to LT David Bahktiari, a 4^th round rookie banging heads with one of the NFL’s elite pass rushers.

Chalk this one up to the kid. Not only did Bahktiari keep Allen from garnering a sack Allen had exactly 0 tackles for the game. Zero. This while opening up Mack truck sized holes for Lacy who put up 94 yards. In his first game back since wrenching his knee Starks showed why the Packers have stuck with him. Starks moved fluidly and showed no ill effects as he posted 57 yards and a brilliant 25 yard bolt to the end zone.

The rock solid run game has now given Rodgers more at his disposal. As Lacy repeatedly gashed the Vikings interior to support the run the Vikes safeties began peeking and coming in to support the Vikings once potent/ now puny run defense.

That is not a wise move against Rodgers. Seeing the safeties creeping Rodgers was able to hit Jordy Nelson on a quick middle-in slant. Nelson grabbed the ball, shook off Viking LB Chad Greenway, blew past the now hopelessly out of position safeties and raced 76 yards to give the lead back to the Pack, a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the game. The Packers so dominated the game from the offenses’ perspective that not only did they win the time of possession and field position battle punter Tim Masthay did not have to punt at all. For the day the Packers were 15 for 20 on 3^rd and 4^th downs (80%) in keeping the chains moving and Masthay idling till the next kickoff.

That is an efficient, balanced ball controlling clock killing offense. As the season moves along the rookies, unheralded and 2^nd year players are taking up the flag. The next man up is doing his job begging the question just how good could the Packers be when – and more importantly if – all the starters return.

In the interim McCarthy keeps finding new and inventive ways to impose the Pack’s will on a game. But then again, he knew what he was doing all along.