Packers at Rams Game Thread

Should be wearing #4.

Four players who've appeared on the regular season roster have worn it since Hornung retired (no one since 1988 though), 3 of them were under Forrest Gregg over a span of a couple years. Makes me wonder if there was bad blood between those two guys.

No, but Micah Hyde is a sure 1st ballot guy.

That # needs to be retired.

It's unlikely that Hines would keep that number if he makes the roster. Same goes for Gillett with #1. 

Brandon Smith is the Davon House of this week. Bad game for him

Brandon Smith is the only guy who looked really awful tonight.

Are you sending dick pics again?

Smith isn't going to be on the 53 and may be a long shot for the PS.

The only play tonight that pissed me off was that garbage effort by the OL on the third and short run before the FG. I'm happy with what the starters and #2s showed outside of that. I'm not particularly bothered by Hyde's blown coverage or Bakhtiari's whiff, they'll learn.

Well, he was in prison.  Apologies....couldn't resist.  I hope he makes the team. What a story!

Maybe if I had an ankle-banger like you, Henry!

Meh, I was fine enough with the night. I really thought there was a ton more energy than I saw last week, that gives me hope.  Along with that, I saw some semi-competent backup QB play.

Besides, other than a late late garbage TD by the guys who pretty much would pray to gawd to be on the PS, we shut out a Jeff Fischer team on the road. He wanted to win, he wanted to win bad, I wouldn't be surprised if he went all Heisenberg on a couple of rooks telling them if they didn't score on that last drive, their family, extended family, and anyone who might have annoyed him in the last 5 months is dead.

Or at least Dan Devine's dog.

Shiva hates us.

Nice to get a win even if it's preseason.  A few thoughts:

- Rodgers looked good, but he always does

- Impressed with Lacy.  He hits the holes with power and is a tough guy to tackle

- Finley looked like a beast.  Let's hope he keeps it up

- I don't recall Rodgers getting touched... Nice work by the OL

- Hyde isn't the fastest guy out there but he sure looks like a good football player

- Jolly will make this team.  He just has a knack of making impact plays

- I think Crosby wins the kicking battle and gets cut if he slumps during the season

- Franklin doesn't look great in the backfield or returning kicks

+

Finley, Lacy, Jolly, Mulumba, Hyde

Hyde gave up the one long ball but otherwise played well and TT got great value in the fifth with him.

Much more energy on both sides of the ball than the lethargic effort last week. 

-

I thought Moses and Williams both played pretty poorly in addition to Smith.

As far as the kicking battle goes, the job was always Crosby's to lose and he's not doing it.

Rodgers looked in midsession form 

Lacy made a statement tonight he can RTFB

Hyde got burned on the long pass play but he competes like a mofo 

Jermichael can be a weapon if he stays focused 

Jolly continues to make plays and will be a good addition to the DL 

Moses had a terrible game as did Brandon Smith 

Jolly is making this team.  Can still make plays and he rallies the team.  As he gets in better football shape, watch out. 

Look at these quotes from Rodgers and Pickett about him last night.  We need this guy in the locker room and on the field.  For the spirit he brings and provides as much as anything else.

Rodgers: "One moment that sticks out more than any tonight was Johnny Jolly having an interception. If you could have a camera on the sideline, I know what I was doing: I was jumping up and down, running down the sideline and I know James Jones was doing the same thing. There were probably 25 guys on the field congratulating him. That just says a lot about his presence, his personality, the way the guys feel about him, how happy we are to have him back and he played great tonight. He had a tip that went for the first interception and then he picked the second one off. So I’m happy he’s back and I couldn’t be happier for him.

 

"Johnny’s a great locker-room guy. Johnny is a guy who made some mistakes, he made some decisions that hurt himself, and I think he’s a different guy with a different outlook on life. He’s been given a second chance, and he wants to make the most of it. As brothers on the team, we’re going to come beside him and help him as much as we can, but there’s nobody I don’t think on this team, me personally and I know I speak for a lot of the guys, who we want to see do well than Johnny."

Pickett:  "That was the funnest thing to see him play, just to see where he came from. He was just out there doing his thing. That was the best."

I want to see Jolly against starting caliber offensive linemen before I get too excited, but his play so far is encouraging.

Sounds like quotes from a "leader" regarding Jolly by Rodgers.   Didn't hear about any major injuries from the game.  Can anyone confirm that?

Don't worry.  The 'Rodgers expects us (the defensive guys) to catch the opponent QB passes too' interviews are coming.  Just give it time. 

I disagree.  House at least ran with his guy and didn't make the play.  Smith just let the guy go by him without a thought about if he should be covering him or not.  The StL WR was so open that if he dropped that ball, he gets cut on the spot.  There was no one within 20 yards of the guy. 

Agree with most your points; however, AR was sacked one time. Still, left side looked pretty good. As for Hyde, he did looked good, but we all know speed kills. I am not totally sold on him.  And, I enjoyed watching Lacy do his thing.

Agree with most of the +s and -s posted. I love that Lacy spin move. What I HATE is all the damn flags. I swear, the League is trying their damndest to make this an unwatchable sport. With all of the rule changes every year that just adds more opportunities to call penalties, why do they feel it's necessary to call the "holding" calls like the one on Finley? It's getting impossible to block anymore. I hate having to watch a play, and then quickly look at the top of the screen to see if there's a flag on the field. It's pathetic.

yeah, I havent seen anything from Franklin yet that would put him over Harris on the depth chart. 

In Soviet Russia, Jolly make team!

What a country!

Rob Demovsky. A look at who helped themselves last night

Can't argue with those 5.

Just preseason, but I thought the line did an excellent job of protecting Rodgers last night against some pretty fierce rushers. Bakhtiari wasn't outstanding but he did well and held his own against one of the better pass rushers in the NFL. I thought Barclay had an excellent game vs. Chris Long, nice to see him coming along. 

Rob Demovsky A look at who hurt themselves

Don't know who the Rams analyst is, but after Stoneburner's TD catch, he referred to the TE's "athletic-cism".

Nah, a real leader would have taken responsibility for Brandon Smith's drop of coverage.

If I recall correctly, on the play that Bahktiari gave up the sack, Rodgers shifted the RB from the left to the right side.

Maybe that was a blitz read on his part, but it suggests that he has more confidence in Bahtiari's pass blocking than Barclay's.

Both had tough assignments and held up well, IMO.

One of the fastest WR's in the NFL had a step on him and Hyde immediately tackled him after the reception. Better bulk him up and move him to LB, he's obviously too slow.

Before Hyde was drafted, he was listed as a S/CB on draft website profiles. The Packers immediately listed him solely as a CB when they added him to the roster. With the guy's size and physical style, I can't help but wonder if they may eventually start working him out as a S sometime soon.

I think that was Torry Holt. He needs to work on the craft. He also criticized Nick Perry for having "only" two sacks his rookie year. At least Siciliano pointed out that he only played six games.

Hyde will undoubtedly see time at both CB and Safety. When he's ready, Dom should be able to use him in a Woodson role. Rush the QB, run support, drop back in coverage.

There were some good individual performances last night, but team defense still needs lots of work. Pass rush is anemic, and downfield pass defense is still open for those 15-20 yard passes. And we still have a problem containing the rusher when he bounces outside.

I'll be glad when MM and TT finally get their gut full of Hawk. Why they would ever call a defense that requires him to drop into coverage is beyond me, and he gets stoned on every blitz attempt. Blitzes as a whole were woefully inadequate.

I'd be glad also if they go ahead and make the call to start Barclay over Newhouse. He still has lots of value as an experienced backup, but he's the same as he's been the last couple of years.

Starks and Green are 50/50. One can go, one can stay, and I don't see it making much of a difference.

VY is still who I thought he was, too. He's got potential, but it's the same potential he had 5 years ago. He can't read defenses and he can't throw.

When has the pass rush ever looked good in preseason? Even in 2010, they only showed up in game 3. I remember they looked decent in game 3 against the Bengals last year, but the general rule for preseason is sparing use of vanilla blitzes in a scheme that relies on blitzes. We'll see what they do next week in game 3 against the Seahawks. I feel like this team's defense may finally be rebuilt (I still have some questions about SS and ILB, though), and they're going to turn some heads this year. In spite of the obvious problems against Peterson and Kaepernick last year, people can't lose sight of how much they improved from 2011 to 2012. Another, similar leap will put this defense amongst the top in the league.

The pass rush was also missing their number 1 pick. The secondary was missing Williams and Heyward. The guys on the other team ARE being paid too, ya know. I would like to see Perry develop some kind of rush move though, and he needs to hold the edge better than he has for us to slow down the Niners. I think Jolly gives then a disruptive force in the middle. I'm not a big fan of Pickett. He doesn't do a lot except take up space, which would be ok if he's surrounded by some more penetrating type linemen. I think the defense will be improved this year and the running game should keep them off the field more than in the past.