2015 PRE WK1 GB(team #95) @ NE

I'm right with the others on last night's duds.

Bakhtiari really fell short in taking his run and pass blocking up a notch, which was surprising. He actually seemed to regress. But, I don't think it is anything to worry about.

Barclay, on the other hand, wow. What a disaster. I suspected his play would suffer coming off the ACL.

Raijon Neal didn't perform like he has in practice.

Carl Bradford looked into far too many blockers. At least he finally made some good plays, but he really needs to be challenging the ball carrier and not the blocker. However, I finally got to see him perform with a measure of confidence. Great sack, nice break on the TE in the flat to bust up a pass, and he got some good pressure. Need to see more flow to the ball to disrupt plays before they develop.

John Kuhn looks pretty ineffective. Adams disappointed with a few missed catchable balls.

That entire right side of our defense on the score, and the entire left side on the long screen. Wow. Made us look really bad.

Back in the day it was Bevell who worked on the red zone offense. The Packers were pretty good at it back then.  That being said, it's only preseason.  It's easier to judge individual players than it is the play calling or design.

Don't know who the OLB was on the long TD run by the Patriots, but he looked like he was doing an imitation of AJ Hawk. Instead of going for the runner, he actively sought out the blocker and allowed himself to be taken out of the play. Who does that?

It really was the collective of Mulumba, who got sealed, Palmer, who got caught in the wash, and Ha Ha, who slipped. Pretty ugly. Problem is, it happened twice, with the same group.

Just bad angles by Palmer and Dix. Palmer is probably still adjusting to ILB and it was his first game there, so I cut him some slack. Dix just made a bad play, it happens though, not the end of the world. This is the point of preseason, to make some fck ups and then learn from it.

Patriots deserve a lot of credit there also, it was a well executed play. Even if Dix takes the right angle then we still end up with a big back vs. a leaner Safety...that's pretty favorable for the Pats. Palmer just has to take a better angle and the left side of that line (Mulumba/Pennell) can't be driven back so far and so easily.

Forgot Barrington got caught up in the wash too. Pretty ugly. This actually happens with Sam Barrington quite a lot.

Palmer was trying to make that play with a club on his left hand. Good luck with that.

This is classic. https://t.co/rQfSWzanqA

— Mason Crosby (@crosbykicks2) August 14, 2015

This Telemundo announcer lost it over made field GOOAALLL (via @n_j_l_) http://t.co/Ae8EFEgIYC pic.twitter.com/U60yo7LGN7

— SB Nation (@SBNation) August 14, 2015

Bam doesn't have that outside containment though. It's not his best play, but he wasn't necessarily part of the problem. In reality Palmer doesn't even have that outside containment. The CB does his job there forcing the run inside, which is what Mulumba is also supposed to do, funneling the ball carrier in to Palmer with Dix there to clean up.

How about the stars on D last night?

Datone Jones 2 sacks, 2 TFL
Jake Ryan 1 sack, 2 TFL, 6 tackles
Adrian Hubbard 1 sack, 1 TFL, 3 tackles
Carl Bradford 1 sack, 1 TFL, 2 tackles
Jermauria Rasco 1 sack, 1 TFL, 3 tackles
Jayrone Elliott .5 sack, 1 TFL, 7 tackles

Ladarius Gunter 1 INT, 3 tackles, 1 PD
Quinten Rollins 4 tackles, 2 PD

These guys all played some pretty good ball. A few mistakes here or there, but real improvement deep into our defensive depth. I would say I was most impressed with Ryan, Gunter and Rollins.

On that TD run. No Perry, Neal, Peppers, Matthews... no outside contain.

 

Those that were on the field will watch the tape, and as Brad Hamilton once said, "Learn it. Know it. Live it." 

 

 

 

not a bad first outing at all.  deep team.

however I do hope they spend the rest of the preseason figuring out how to pick up 1 yard with 90% or greater consistency and redzone offense.

Rollins appears to have the makings of being a very good NFL player some day...but it's clear he has a long way to go. I'm actually quite surprised he looked so good considering how green he is.

 

Glad to see Scooter do so well...feeling much better about him as our backup than last year.

 

Mike Pennel is gonna make the squad...the dude dropped some LB's and looked like a man possessed...especially with Guion and Dat One being out week 1 and 1-3 respectively.

I saw Tolzien place the ball in the same tight spots we've seen AR put them in.  Only difference his receivers weren't catching them.  Not to say he didn't have other problems but his ball placement showed some really good things.

Rollins. Doesn't look anything like a guy that hasn't played a lot of football. Once he established position he snapped the head around to find the football. He's going to be really good. Great job of peeling off his guy and putting the RB down with a great tackle on the swing pass. Looks like a football player. 

 

Ryan. Surprised me. Smart football player. 

 

Elliot. Not sure if he's ever more than a situational pass rusher. But at times he looks  unblockable. 

 

Montgomery. Not sure if he was a focal point or if he has a knack for working himself open. He didn't throw a great block but routed his guy just enough to help cause the three man Patriot pile up on Harris' TD run. Good to see him mix it up downfield though. 

 

Red zone. It's clearly in this teams head. I think Dick Rodgers is a better option in the red zone over Q. 

 

The depth on this team is silly. Rick Spielman can't believe the haul he's going to have a shot at in the coming weeks. 

Really like the depth on this team.

Tolzein has taken a step, and Blanchard and Hundley have skill sets worth developing.

Exciting competition for 3rd RB - Neal better step it up as Harris and Crockett can play. Pretty deep team when your wondering who the 5th and 6th WR will be - White, Janis, 

 Pinkard have all showed something. 

Going to cut one or two TE with talent as Perillo and Backman have skills .

Second OL unit was decent, except for Barclay, yikes, hope he gets back to where he was. 

 

Like depth at OLB, Mulumba and Elliot can rush the passer, Hubbard looks promising. 

Jake Ryan has great instincts. watched Bradford quite a bit last night, he doesnt belong, I know he ran into a sack, but otherwise he was awful. Barrington and Palmer don't impress either, guessing we see a lot of Clay and Ryan(hoping)this season. Vaughters looked good last night in limited action. 

I thought Pennel, Datone, and Gaston looked good. Along with Ringo some nice depth to chose from. 

As stated, Gunter and Rollins were awesome last night. Looking forward to seeing Randall. If Sam and Hayward stay healthy we will have nice depth in the secondary. 

 

This team is deep. If Ted keeps this up, the NFL is going to force us to split into two teams to make it fair for the rest of the Division. 

 

 

 

 

 

John Kuuuuuuuuuuuhn can pick up one yard... when you need two.

For you folks out of the area unable to catch the practices, Randall looks as good as Rollins did last night, if not better. Gunter looked as good through OTAs and TC practices as he did last night as well. Not an aberration. Three huge additions with great talent at CB for the Packers, who have consistently impressed with their play.

Jake Ryan was the biggest surprise of the night for me. He seemed like he belonged in practice, but was thinking a lot and it was noticeable. Man, he translated all that info into some very impressive game play.

Crockett is a hammer! Jeezus that guy doesn't quit

Can the Turk lick the players before cutting them so the Vikings won't want to pick them up? 

Most impressive play from Crockett was 3rd and 2 with 1:15 left in the game. Tiny crease. Plowed through it for 3 yards to close out the game. No hesitation. 

 

Really weird watching #36 pick off a pass and turn that thing upfield like he knew what to do with it. 

Nice write-up Packdog

 

Barclay wasn't really an NFL OT to begin with and post-injury he's really struggling and slow to react. He still has time, but despite GB's depth, they look pretty thin at OT

 

Bradford looks Lost in Space

 

 

 

 

Team is very deep and looked solid last night for game 1 of the journey to SF

 

That actually kind of looks like bradford.

Barclay looked like a guy not ready to trust the knee. Still good depth. Just needs more live bullets. 

Stupidest post-game observation

 

Rodgers face looked very thin tonight during press conference. Am I the only one who thought that?

— Steve HomerTrue (@espnhomer) August 14, 2015

 

Everything looks deflated in New England. 

No one seems to like Carl Bradford.

Personally, I know what he is capable of as a player, and think he really just needs reps on the field to reach his potential. He made far more plays than Sam Barrington last night. I watched him throughout his career at ASU, and he is a great player, with very sound instincts. A play maker.

I know he had a whiff on the RB, and got tied up in some blocks, but he also applied good pressure, defended a pass, and got a sack. I'm telling you, this guy just needs more reps. I think he will be good, and I admit my bias, fully.

So the 5 year development program.  Pass.

Feeling much better about the secondary than I was prior to the game.   Rollins and Gunter can play.    If Randall adds anything, we are looking at an improved secondary even with the loss of Williams and House.   Very impressive Mr. Thompson. 

I don't think anyone has ever doubted his attitude or some of his skills. He's a good blitzer and goes hard, but there's more to being an ILB than just playing hard and blitzing. He's at ILB because he couldn't hack it at OLB...he couldn't handle dropping in to coverage and he couldn't seem to really make strides as a pass rusher technique wise. Those guys that are skilled but not skilled enough to be contributors are core ST players. That's what Bradford probably will be and some guys make a whole career out of that...Jarrett Bush probably should have been out of the league years ago, but his ST ability kept him on board. I don't think anyone dislikes Carl Bradford, but he's not a starter.

       
       
That was my feeling as well. He hasn't played in any live action in a while. That bad sack he gave up to their rookie DE, you can see be overset like crazy, probably be because he didn't trust his knee. He overset and that DE gave him a power move and he was done. He just needs more experience.

Bradford just doesn't look fluid or comfortable out there. At ASU, he had one very basic job and he did it quite well. Now, he is being asked to do a lot more and his limitations are showing - both athletically and on the football IQ side.

 

He's had an entire season ( 2014) and an entire offseason ( 2015 ) to learn his role

He should have a pretty good grasp by now, but it appears he doesn't and his 15 on the Wonderlic isn't inspiring confidence.

 

 

At some point this preseason I'd like to see Ryan and Barrington get some extended PT next to each other. 

A few observations:

Tolzien may be in Houston next year with that cavalcade. He's got better tools than Flynn ever had. All the QBs looked relatively good.

 

Montgomery: It surprised me a bit to see him as protector on the punt team rather than gunner, but it does give him a chance to follow the wedge busters.

 

Janis: He's no Jordy, nor even Schroeder. He's Travis Jervey with a higher jersey number.

 

ILBs: unimpressed. New England had all sorts of issues in the A-gap all night and they still had issues. Ryan was my favorite, Barrington was not.

 

Gunter: poor-man's Richard Sherman - He can play but if he misses the jam, he's toast. Rollins looked solid. CB is even less of a concern now, IMO, even though it was only preseason game 1.

 

Bakhtiari and Barclay were downright bad. Barclay has rust as an excuse, at least. I don't underestimate continuity and chemistry, but Bakhtiari is the O-line's weak link.

 

Crockett looked good with the ball in his hands, but there's no way he gets regular season PT if his pass blocking doesn't improve dramatically.  

 

John Kuhn rhymes with mushroom for a reason. He's just kind of there and doesn't add a lot of pizzazz.

 

Clinton-Dix channeled his inner-Deion on the TD play.

Bradford looked pretty bad in space which is a problem. I think Palmer is still ahead of him because he's more athletic and looks more fluid in space. Team needs that badly over the middle

 

Barclay was rough. Yikes. Really hope he's just knocking some rust off that knee because a few years ago he showed he could be a capable RT but last night was brutal. Bakht was pretty bad too which wasn't good to see. Got whipped a few teams and caused Rodgers to take a hit that he luckily was able to anticipate to help lessen the impact

 

 

Barclay was always pretty marginal in pass protection prior to the injury and he really didn't have any room to regress. Hope he and Bak can get it cleaned up because it was difficult to watch.

Tackle is the obvious weak spot and considering Bulaga's injury history it's certainly a concern.   

 

Tretter looked solid at C, I just don't think he has the size to be a capable backup tackle.   If Bulaga goes down we are looking at 2 below avg tackles protecting the franchise.  

If Barclay would only learn to hand check...he'd be ok.