I’m not sure any recent season has been quite so anticipated as this one and if anyone was predicating an anticlimax here they were as out-of-position as the Saints defense that failed en masse to stop the Packers and Aaron Rodgers in particular.
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Despite having no help at all from his colleagues on defense, Drew Brees still managed to make a game of it and that alone stands testament to just how well he played. It’s not strictly true but at times it felt like it was Devery Henderson, Darren Sproles and him taking on the might of the Packers as a trio. Sproles immediately looked like an upgrade on Reggie Bush and I can’t see many Saints fans shedding a tear at his departure.
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Far better to save them for the defense because while having suspended defensive end Will Smith unavailable didn’t help, it really wouldn’t have made much difference here and likely won’t going forward. Let’s get into the detail by starting with just how bad they were:
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New Orleans – Three things of Note
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1) Defensive Woes
I was expecting the defense to struggle but nowhere near as much as they did. While the secondary didn’t do many things well they were given no help at all from their front seven. They did get some pressure (two sacks, three hits and nine hurries) but it was usually at the expense of bringing every available linebacker and often Roman Harper for good measure too. For example, of the 30 passing plays Scott Shanle was on the field he blitzed 50% of the time (last year, in the blitz happy Saints D, he averaged 28%).
Jonathan Casillas got a plug from his coach as a future superstar but if that’s the case there was zero evidence here to back it up; he constantly struggled to handle either Packer guard at the second level, over-pursued and also missed as many tackles as he made (one). I kept on asking myself if the coaches thought so much about him, why did they take him out in base? Maybe it’s a holdover from a preseason injury but he has to improve from this.
I could go on (and on) but I’ll stop at saying just how disappointed I was by the new recruits at defensive tackle. We knew Sedrick Ellis was poor (-3.0 overall here) but we loved Aubrayo Franklin’s run defense last year. Unfortunately here he was every bit as poor as Ellis (-2.9 overall) and hardly looked like the immoveable object of 2010. Finally, while we know Shaun Rodgers is usually overrated against the run purely because of his size, he was worse than normal (-2.6 vs. the run) and also got no pressure at all on the few occasions he was left in on passing downs.
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2) Brilliant Brees
Playing catch-up for that long you would usually expect to see some incredibly poor throws as Drew Brees (+7.2) had to push but the remarkable thing was he made very few bad decisions. Sure he forced a few throws (the pass Jarrett Bush defensed on the corner route late in the fourth for example) but that was understandable. I’d prefer to dwell more on the pin-point throws to Jimmy Graham and Marques Colston where the window was so small and yet he still got the ball there without taking undue risks.
Its worth mentioning the support he received from Devery Henderson. We’ve never been big fans but this was exactly the sort of performance that will make us forget our past indifference. On 41 pass routes he was targeted eight times, caught six and picked 100 yards and a TD against Sam Shields (who he made look very ordinary all game). In the matchup of speed against speed there was a clear winner.
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3) The New Right Tackle
I’m not massively high on new RT Zach Strief (-2.8) but I have been vocal with my opinion that he would be an upgrade on Jon Stinchcomb. So was I right? I think the jury is still out. He looked stiff and struggled early on against Clay Matthews before settling down in the second half. He gave up one hit and four hurries but against this you need to remember the quality of the opposition. It’s not going to get significantly harder than going up against Matthews in Lambeau so if he can move on from here that’s great. If this is just a sign of things to come I’ll have to rescind my support.
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Green Bay – Three Things of Note
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1) The Passing of the Flame?
Is this the year that Aaron Rodgers (+6.1) unequivocally puts himself above the other players at his position? Tenure will always be a point of debate for another few years but on this performance quality will be a given. Sure he had an armchair ride but he only missed on eight passes of which one was a drop and another, a throw away. He was also incredibly consistent; in our remarkably picky grading system we only had him down for three sub-optimal throws and none of those were terrible. He also seems to be forming an almost telepathic relationship with Greg Jennings who also looked like he was in the fifth quarter of Super Bowl XLV; the body control on the catch against Greer in the third quarter (2:26 left) was quite brilliant.
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2) Offensive Wall
When your Pro Bowler (although the actual definition here can be dubious at times) is the worst player on your line you can’t be doing much wrong. Across all five positions they only allowed three hits and three pressures (two hits and one hurry were given up by Chad Clifton) and did a superb job opening holes for the backs. Bryan Bulaga (+5.6), Josh Sitton (+5.1) and Scott Wells (+5.1) were particularly impressive and, once at the second level, made life miserable for all the Saints’ linebackers.
The only caveat to this is the quality of the opposition; the New Orleans line has struggled for some years to stop the run and the linebackers are notoriously lightweight; as a tune up for Detroit, this was definitely third rate.
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3) Two out of Four ain’t bad….. Or is it?
The linebackers for the Packers are a mixed bag; Media Superstar (Matthews), unheralded star (Desmond Bishop), overrated high draft pick (A.J. Hawk) and Journeyman nobody (Erik Walden) and if you asked us to rate them before based on 2010 it would look very similar to how we saw them in this game. Not only did Matthews get pressure he also played the run well as did Bishop. The problems come with Hawk in coverage (as he gave up yards and first downs to both Sproles and Pierre Thomas) and Walden in run defense, where he couldn’t get the better of Jimmy Graham and rushing the passer; generating only an unblocked sack and three late hurries against Jermon Bushrod.
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Game Notes
● It became not the story it might have been but as it was in our “Three to Focus on” here are the stats: Marques Colston vs. Charles Woodson – matched-up 16 times on passing plays (13 slot, 3 outside of which Woodson blitzed five times) – three targets, two catches, 28 yards, 4 YAC
● Technical guru Ian Perks has been busy working on our unique signature stats and as a result we have this nugget of information. Jordy Nelson picked up 4.05 yards for every route he ran, James Jones 0.08.
● The Packers used a 2-4-5 package on 80.3% of plays. They used a base 3-4 on just one play.
● The Saints defensive line picked-up seven total pressures on a combined 125 pass rushes. Pitiful.
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PFF Game Ball: Packers OL
Utter dominance from this, at times, maligned unit, allowed the likes of Rodgers and Jennings to make the plays and take the headlines.
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Follow Neil on Twitter: @PFF_Neil … and our main feed too: @ProFootbalFocus
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