Packers Stock Report: The Packers finally win a season-opener edition
By adamczech
It's far too early to place new Green Bay Packers playcaller Tom Clements in the rising, steady or falling category. But after the season-opener, I'd say things are looking good on the playcalling front.
The Packers' offense was sharp, unpredictable and efficient on Sunday. Of course, they were typically all three of those things when McCarthy called the plays. Nonetheless, it's reassuring to see that the transition to Clements calling plays (with plenty of input and audibles from Aaron Rodgers, no doubt) appears to be going smoothly so far.
Now comes the real test for McCarthy. After week 1, it looks like the Packers need to clean up their tackling, plug some holes in the run defense and get better on third downs. McCarthy gave up playcalling so he could be more hands on with other areas of the team, and it's time for the head coach to get to work.
Meantime, the rest of us will move on to this week's Packers Stock Report:
Rising
Clay Matthews
Outside linebacker, inside linebacker, safety, cornerback, nose tackle, waterboy...wherever Clay Matthews lines up, he makes plays. When was the last time the Packers had an inside linebacker who could sprint back and cover a large swath of the middle of the field like Matthews did on that interception? It's been a long, long time.
James Jones
Media members covering Sunday's game had easy stories to write after Jones' big day. I have to admit, I wasn't 100 percent sold on bringing Jones back. Well, I'm an idiot. I think it's safe to say that Myles White would not have hauled in that first touchdown catch.
Aaron Rodgers
I kind of forgot how great Rodgers is when he has the use of both legs instead of just one. The man makes difficult plays look much easier than they really are.
Julius Peppers
I have a strict rule of only putting three players maximum in each category, but how could I leave out Rodgers or Peppers after Sunday? So, I'm breaking my rule to include Peppers as a riser. We all keep waiting for Father Time to catch up with Peppers, and he keeps laughing in our faces and chasing around quarterbacks nearly half his age.
Steady
Corey Linsley
Linsley received the highest grade of any Packers offensive linemen from Pro Football Focus on Sunday. You could easily put Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang in the steady category as well as Rodgers rarely had to deal with up-the-middle pressure and Eddie Lacy had some decent lanes early.
Falling
Sam Shields
Too many Packers fans think Sam Shields was bad last season. He wasn't the second-coming of Charles Woodson, but he wasn't as terrible as people thought. The Packers ask a lot out of Shields and he holds his own. Well, against the Bears, there's no sugar-coating it: Shields was awful. Here's hoping Shields' bad day was more of a wake-up call than an emerging concern.
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
If I'm Mike McCarthy, I call Clinton-Dix into my office and tell him this: "Son, if you continue to drop your head and dive at the ballcarrier's feet instead of manning up and actually attempting to make a legitimate tackle, you will be holding my headset instead of playing for the world champion Green Bay Packers."
Jay Cutler
Cutler completes half his passes and throws yet another game-breaking interception and Bears fans are actually saying he didn't play that bad. If that's not "falling," I don't know what is.
Comments (30)
4thand1
September 15, 2015 at 02:41 pm
As a Packer Culter's stock should be rated as sky high. If the Bears win with him, it's a fluke. Like the time the Packers got a million yards in penalties or put the ball on the ground to many times.
EdsLaces
September 15, 2015 at 03:09 pm
Shields will bounce back. I think just how awful the one tackle was for 21 made us all question his tackling. Bennet basically walked over him. I am confident in HaHa he will improve....or I wasted 80$ on a damn jersey.
Bearmeat
September 15, 2015 at 03:35 pm
....and I just read that Barrington may be out for the season.
Friggin great. ILB sucks again.
LeagueObsrvr
September 15, 2015 at 05:58 pm
Yep. Just saw it on FoxSportsNet. Barrington is out for the season with an ankle injury. Looks like Matthews will be spending more time inside and we'll see Jake Ryan get some increased playing time.
dobber
September 16, 2015 at 11:02 am
He's still utterly replaceable...it's just a matter of how they go about replacing him...
Idiot Fan
September 15, 2015 at 04:03 pm
I do agree that Peppers showed some juice, but he seemed to tire as the game went on. I hope they don't play him that much in every game or he's going to be useless at the end of the season.
Thegreatreynoldo
September 16, 2015 at 03:40 am
Peppers played 55 snaps, 71% of defensive snaps. That is too much; I'd prefer 35 to 40. 37.5 would have been 50%. But we had to play Peppers because Neal (also 55 snaps) and Perry (31) were not so good. Elliott chipped in 19 snaps, but there are only so many pass rushing downs available. Interestingly enough, Barrington's snaps (16) plus Palmer's snaps (61) total 77 snaps, which is 100%. It appears that the RILB played every down. Edit: Per Demovsky: CM3 played 24 snaps at OLB and 53 snaps at ILB. Since Barrington and Palmer combined to play every snap at the other ILB position, one can state that GB had both ILBs in at the same time on 53% of the defensive snaps. http://espn.go.com/blog/green-bay-packers/post/_/id/23157/deja-vu-packer...
Other interesting snap counts: Randall played 61 snaps; 0 for Rollins. Pennel played just 13 snaps - it does appear that GB just yanked the guy early. Boyd played 23 snaps and Gaston played 5 snaps.
On offense, Janis and Montgomery each got just one snap. Kuhn played just 7 with Ripkowski getting 0 (but he got a lot on special teams). Walker got 3 snaps and Tretter 1.
NickPerry
September 16, 2015 at 06:28 am
Thanks for the breakdown, 55 for Peppers especially in week one were way too many but they didn't have much choice. Teams are going to continue to test the edge until the Packers show they can defend it and I wouldn't be surprised to see a bunch of the read option with Wilson running more.
The Packers couldn't get off the field, mostly because Neal played the worst game I can remember him playing as a Packer. Obviously it wasn't just Neal, but the Packers were playing an All Pro and 4 JAG for the Bears OL. The positive is Seattle's O-Line is nothing special right now but I'd feel a hell of a lot better if Guion was playing and Burnett is able to play this week.
Several teams had injuries this week and have already TRIED to fill the spot. Thompson should try and see if he could pick up a ILB for a conditional pick IMO. We've played this out before with other positions and fell short.
Has anyone picked up Weatherford, because Masthay ain't cutting it!
lucky953
September 16, 2015 at 07:48 am
Good info, thank you. Also noted Nick Perry not credited with a single tackle. Another injury issue (besides having no real passion for football)? In this defense the LBs should be making the tackles. Palmer had 7, Mathews 6, Perry 0, Neal 1. That's got to be fixed. Throw Mulumba in there, more of Jayrone Elliot. We need some guys to play with their hair on fire. Perry's got his in a bucket of ice water.
AZPack
September 16, 2015 at 09:00 am
Specifically the ILB should be making the majority of the tackles, which is why Matthews and Palmer showed up. The OLB not so much. Plus Perry and Neal didn't play the whole game. Elliot played quite a few snaps against the bears and had nothing to show for it.
lucky953
September 16, 2015 at 10:19 am
Good point, though Forte made a lot of yards running off the edge with our OLBs getting washed out.
Thegreatreynoldo
September 17, 2015 at 12:53 am
Correction of typo: GB had 2 ILBs on the field at the same time 68.8% of the time. Palmer and Barrington combined to play all 77 snaps. Per Demovsky, CM3 played 53 of the 77 possible snaps at ILB. I put in 53%, the number of CM3 snaps rather than 53 divided by 77 possible snaps. TGR regrets the typo.
PortlandMark
September 15, 2015 at 04:16 pm
Ty Montgomery looked good returning kicks. It's hard to keep him out of the rising category.
msj127
September 15, 2015 at 05:13 pm
I would have put the entire Offensive line on the steady list. A few stupid penalties, but I never saw Rodgers under constant pressure. At least they can look forward to being on the rising list. That would suggest Victory.
John Galt III
September 15, 2015 at 05:42 pm
on Barrington - if Palmer doesn't cut we will see Jake Ryan. He hits people and is unafraid.
Archie
September 15, 2015 at 06:04 pm
Pack needs to hire somebody who can teach the defense how to tackle. Obviously Winston Moss, DC, MM et. al. can't do it. Same with pass rush, they get to the QB but they can't close the deal. Either too stiff or arms are too short. Pack also needs to hire another GM who can pick out defensive talent. I look at all the teams that have successfully rebuilt their defensive fronts over the last few years and then I look at what Thompson has done in GB i.e., draft and cut, and I ask myself, after 10 years is there any reason to expect it to ever change?
croatpackfan
September 16, 2015 at 04:42 am
You are not allowed to practice tackling... How many times that need to be said to some fans understand that! It is not because of caching or teaching, it is about not practicing it. In week one the whole NFL tackling is bad....
porupack
September 16, 2015 at 10:37 am
Soooo, we need more preseason games, not less; and get all them dudes, starters included to practice real time tackling cuz they don't seem to in training camp practices.
NickPerry
September 16, 2015 at 06:41 am
Thompson is a good GM Archie though I share your sentiment about his ability to draft defensive talent. Baltimore and New England to name a few draft at the bottom of the draft every year and they seem to be able to land front 7 help on a regular basis. Baltimore keeps getting their front 7 raided year after year in Free Agency yet they seem to be able to recover right away. This is just an example but the Ravens traded back in 2012 when holding the 29th pick (Packers drafted 28th) and still landed Courtney Upshaw in (2nd round 7 picks later) who at least played LB and would have been a better pick.
But on the flip Ozzie Smith can't draft a WR if his life depended on it where Ted can pick em with is eyes closed. The difference is they use FA to help supplement their roster. Waiting for a player drafted to develop takes time, by the time one develops 2 others are leaving or they never developed in the first place.
mrj007
September 15, 2015 at 07:05 pm
How can Nick Perry NOT be falling? After 3 years you would expect a first round guy to make a tackle or two. What a disappointment...
mrj007
September 15, 2015 at 07:09 pm
If Ryan, Rollins, and Randle can tackle, start them now so they can be ready as soon as possible to replace Shields, Barrington and Dix. Sick of watching teo hand touch on defense.
Tundraboy
September 15, 2015 at 08:03 pm
Boy is next week going to be a challenge.
Big Moe
September 15, 2015 at 11:17 pm
First GO PACK! I love anything to do with a win vs the (sorry Da) bears.
Second JJ welcome back! and boy what a salve to the loss of Jordy.
And Third Jay gota Jay....Great play Clay.... O by the way did all of Packerdom notice HE DID NOT FALL DOWN during the return.
Lets hope the D learns how to wrap up or we are SCREWED next week. O wait Aaron Rodgers is our QB um yeah I like our odds.
Thegreatreynoldo
September 16, 2015 at 12:40 am
Pennel should be in the falling category. 13 snaps when I expected him to start.
Not ready for Prime Time: Jake Ryan, Ripkowski (?), Janis, Montgomery (offense only - not KR). [Question mark for Rip is because GB has Kuhn in front of him - capable guy at least.]
Watch what the coaches do, not what they say.
croatpackfan
September 16, 2015 at 04:44 am
Aaron Ripkowski is one of the best ST players Packers have at the moment. SO, please, look at the bigger picture...
Thegreatreynoldo
September 16, 2015 at 07:11 am
I didn't mean to put down Ripkowski. I meant Prime Time to mean that the player is able to contribute on offense or defense, not just special teams. Sorry, I could have made what I meant more clear.
dobber
September 16, 2015 at 09:51 am
I think we all had our hopes up based on Pennel's preseason, but that doesn't mean his role is really what we think it should be.
I tend to agree: I would've liked to have seen him play more, but we don't know what happens in practice, nor do we know exactly how he fits into the game plan.
ottscay
September 16, 2015 at 01:05 am
I just wanted to say that I was also not sold on signing James Jones, and I'm happy to say that I also was an idiot. Welcome back JJ!
RichBeckman
September 16, 2015 at 10:36 am
Cutler does not belong in the falling category. Did we not long ago come to expect that he will throw an interception? Did he not perform to that expectation?
Cutler belongs in the steady category.
porupack
September 16, 2015 at 12:40 pm
Well. Kind of glad the Pack plays Seattle week 2. The Football gods have assigned GBP D to the tackling school taught by master Lynch and intern Wilson. The D might be the better for it the rest of the season.