Packers vs Bears: Reviews & Grades

Senior writer jclombardi reviews & grades Packers win over Bears.

Summary: After a fast start building a 14-0 lead in the first half, the Packers offense imploded against a toughing Bears defense allowing the Bears to get back in the game. Yet, the defense created the big turnovers, scored the Packers’ final touchdown score producing the margin of victory on NT Raji’s 18-yard touchdown interception return, and CB Shields’ interception iced the victory in the final minute for a 21-14 win.

Game balls: NT Raji; CB Shields; WR Jennings; DE Jenkins; P Masthay.

Injury Report: OLB Walden (ankle sprain).

Report Card–Good, Bad, & Ugly: JC vs SE:

Pass Offense—C- vs C. After a hot first half performance to lead the Packers to a 14-0 lead, QB Rodgers struggled in the second half. He looked shaky and erratic failing to get the big plays. Overall, he had only 17 completions for 244 yards, 2 interceptions, and a poor 55.4 passer rating. The first interception occurred when the ball that bounced off WR Driver into LB Briggs’ arms. The other interception went into the arms of LB Urlacher on third-and-goal from the Bears six yard line, costing a probable scoring opportunity to put the game away. WR Jennings was super for 130 yards. WR Nelson made clutch catches for 67 yards. Yet, in the final 41 minutes, the offense got nothing on the scoreboard. Their final eight possessions produced a punt, interception, interception, punt, punt, punt, punt, and punt. On big third downs, Rodgers was 1-for-7 with a sack and an interception. For the most part, Rodgers’ protection held up well as the Bears defense got only one sack, three TFLs and three QB hits.

Rush Offense–B vs C. The Packers rushed for a good 120 yards averaging a decent 3.8 ypc. RB Starks had 22 carries for 74 and 1 touchdown averaging 3.4 ypc. QB Rodgers had 7 carries for 39 yards and 1 touchdown averaging 5.6 ypc. In a tale of two halves, in the first half, they averaged 5.8 yards with 104 yards. In the second half, they had only a pitiful 16 yards.

Pass Defense—B+ vs B. The defense thoroughly confused and harassed Cutler without having to use blitz pressure. Cutler was only 6-of-14 for 80 yards, 1 interception and a 31.8 passer rating while in the game. Then, the defense knocked out the Bears’ top two quarterbacks, Jay Cutler and Todd Collins. Third string QB Hanie led a fourth quarter comeback completing 13-of-20 for 153 yards and 65.2 passer rating. The Packers withstood a rally led by Chicago third-string quarterback Caleb Hanie. He led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives, but NT Raji’s interception touchdown return put the Packers up 21-7. Yet, QB Hanie led another scoring drive to make the score 21-14. In Chicago’s final series trying to tie the game, the comeback ended in the final minute when Shields came up with his second big interception. The Packers had 3 interceptions and 2 sacks. CB Shields had two interceptions, 4 tackles, 1 sack, and 1 forced fumble. DE Jenkins had a whale of a game. So did B.J. Raji. It just shows what pressure up the gut (inside rush) can do to a quarterback. Raji has done it all year and Jenkins is benefiting from that. He’s going against one-on-one blocking. Matthews draws a tackle, as well as help from a tight end or fullback; and, a lot of times, Raji gets the center and the guard. So the backside has one-on-one matchups. Also, in the first half, DE Jenkins stopped two drives alone. He ended the game with a half-sack, two quarterback hits, and two tackles for a loss. The defense, especially LB Bishop, did a great job to limit TE Olsen to only 3 catches for 30 yards. Solid LB Bishop led with 8 tackles and 1 tackle for a loss. Yet, RB Forte had a huge game with 10 receptions for 90 yards. While missing two big coverage assignments in the fourth quarter leading scores, safety Collins had 7 tackles.

Rush Defense—B vs B-. The Bears rushed for only 83 yards. RB Forte got only 70 yards averaging 4.1 yards, but he had several significant runs. Slow LB Hawk seems to be good for one or two missed tackles and one big catch in a game. DE Jenkins had an impressive takedown of Forte for a 2-yard loss on a third-down play with the Bears backed up near their end zone in the second quarter. Bishop was stout at the point of attack, notching a team-high eight tackles (seven solo) and setting up the ill-fated last pass by Hanie by snuffing out an end-around run by Bennett to the left on third-and-3 from the Packers’ 27 for a 2-yard loss.

Special teams—B vs B-. Generally, the special teams had a good game limiting returner Hester. He had only one kickoff return for 24 yards and three punt returns for 16 yards averaging only 5.3 yards with a long return of 11. The MVP had to be P Masthay who had a solid game with 8 punts averaging a solid 41.8 yards and 5 inside the 20. Not much else stood out positively for Green Bay’s units, however. Starks slipped to the frozen Soldier Field turf on the game-opening kickoff and averaged only 15 yards in two runbacks – Woodson picked up just 14 yards on a kickoff late in the game. Williams muffed two punts, both retained by the Packers, and averaged a meager 4.3 yards in three runbacks.

Coaching–B vs B. The Packers have won five straight elimination games and became the first No. 6 seed to win an NFC title and earn a trip to the Super Bowl. They became only the third team to reach the Super Bowl by winning three straight road games. The last two to do it, the 2007 Giants and 2005 Steelers, got the league championship. The victory sent the Packers to the Super Bowl in Dallas to meet the Pittsburgh. In the early going, the Packers exploited Chicago’s soft coverage, and they forged the big lead in the biggest game ever between the longtime rivals. Having the upper hand throughout the game allowed Green Bay to again have good offensive balance. Yet, a familiar criticism is signs of complacency cropped up with his conservative play calling late in the game when the Packers struggled to exhaust the clock and thus kept the Bears in the game. Coach McCarthy must get an improved consistent game plan in the Super Bowl. DC Capers unleashed another effective game plan that featured new wrinkles. Shields assumed the familiar role of Woodson and was sent on corner blitzes a handful of times. The zone-blitz drop of Raji into coverage turned into a stroke of genius with the resulting pick-six. STC Slocum corralled Hester without being bashful about kicking to him.

Overall Game—B+ vs. B+ (CBS Sportsline). Aaron Rodgers’ accuracy early was huge, but his passer rating of 55.4 was his worst of the season. The Packers used WR Greg Jennings to beat the Bears’ cover-2 and also had another effective rushing game with 81 yards on 25 carries from their running backs. In holding the Bears to a 45.2 passer rating and knocking QB Jay Cutler out of the game, the Packers’ defense made a statement they could be the league’s best.

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Packers Crush Falcons: Reviews & Grades

Senior writer jclombardi reviews & grades Packers win over Falcons.

Summary: QB Rodgers threw 3 touchdowns and rushed for 1 touchdown as the Packers crushed the Falcons 48-21. Next Sunday, the Packers face the Chicago Bears in the NFC Championship Game.

Game balls: QB Rodgers; WR Nelson; WR Jones; CB Williams; LB Matthews.

Injury Report: CB Lee (hip). FB Kuhn (neck stinger) and NT Raji (head) are okay.

Report Card–Good, Bad, & Ugly: JC vs SE:

Pass Offense–A vs A-. QB Rodgers was unstoppable making clutch throws while avoiding pressure and throwing accurate deep passes. He completed 36 passes for 366 yards, three touchdowns, and 136.8 passer rating ripping overmatched Falcons secondary. He completed passes to eight different receivers. WRs Jennings, Driver, Jones and Nelson combined for an amazing 26 catches for 331 yards. WR Jennings had 8 catches for 101 yards and 1 big fumble. WR Nelson made 8 clutch catches for 79 yards and 1 touchdown. WR Driver had 6 clutch catches for 76 yards. WR Jones made 4 clutch catches for 75 yards and 1 big touchdown. Also, FB Kuhn had 2 catches for 14 yards and 1 touchdown. While rookie RT Bulaga generally played solid overall game giving up only 1 sack, no pressure, and solid run blocking. RT Clifton struggled in pass protection giving up soft protection and 1 sack.

Rush Offense–C+ vs C. The Packers rushed a pedestrian 96 yards on 31 carries averaging 3.1 yards. RB Starks had his moments running with power and speed getting 66 yards on 25 carries. In the first half, he got only 14 yards on 9 carries. In the second half, he got 4 carries for 27 yards on a big touchdown drive. RB Jackson had 1 carry for 13 yards. FB Kuhn rushed for 1 touchdown. QB Rodgers had 1 red zone touchdown.

Pass Defense–B+ vs A-. DC Capers defensive plan worked getting strong blitz pressure defense to rattle Falcons QB Ryan. Facing blitz pressure and tight coverage, Falcons QB Ryan completed only 20 of 29 passes for 1 touchdown, 186 yards, 2 big interceptions, 1 fumble, and horrible 69 passer rating. WR White had 6 catches for 57 yards and 1 touchdown. In the span of two and one-half minutes before the first half, CB Williams had a touchback interception and then scored on a momentum changing interception. The Packers had five big sacks on blitzes.

Rush Defense—C+ vs C+. In the first half, RB Turner had 9 carries for 37 yards and 1 touchdown. In the second half, with the Falcons facing a rout, he had only 1 carry. For the game, RB Turner had only 10 carries for 39 yards averaging 3.9 yards. The effective weapon against Turner was to force the Falcons into their passing game and make Ryan commit mistakes. CB Woodson had 6 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 sack and 1 QB hit, while LB Bishop had 6 tackles and 1 fumble recovery. OLB Matthews had an overall impressive game with 4 tackles, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 sacks and 2 QB hits.

Special teams—D+ vs D. Punter Masthay, who wasn’t needed to punt once, was off the hook from a lot of blame to go around with another lousy performance by the special-teams units. Eric Weems added to Green Bay’s malaise in the early going with a record-setting 102-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to put the Falcons up 14-7. Then, Starks inexplicably tried to field the ensuing kickoff as it sailed toward the sideline and the ball glanced off him out of bounds inside the Packers’ 10. Starks averaged just 10 yards in two runbacks. Also, the Packers tried Pat Lee on another kickoff. Williams didn’t have a punt return with two fair catches. Crosby rallied after a 50-yard field-goal attempt hit off the left upright with makes of 43 and 32 yards.

Coaching–A- vs B. Maligned special teams coordinator Slocum can thank his colleagues for bailing him out with a dominating performance by the offense and defense. Head coach/play caller McCarthy had his finest hours in orchestrating the offense on an injury-marred secondary. McCarthy didn’t abandon the effective running game to do so intermixing runs to soften up the Falcons even more on play-action. DC Capers also applied the full-court pressure in the indoor venue, shaking, rattling and rolling Ryan out of his unflappable tendencies in the pocket with a heavy dose of blitzes. The Packers finished with big advantages in total yards (442-194) and time of possession (38:19-21:41). The Packers were 8 for 12 in third down conversions and 4 for 6 in the red zone. They had 6 penalties for 65 yards and 1 fumble.

Overall Game—A- vs. A (CBS Sportsline). With the score tied at 14, QB Rodgers took over & never looked back. Rodgers threw for 366 yards and 3 touchdowns. Despite team’s No. 6 seed, Packers are likely favorite to represent NFC in Super Bowl.

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Packers: Bloggers “Falcons Reviews” Grades

Senior writer jclombardi grades bloggers’ reviews.

Commentary: Based upon massive research and conversations with the great fans in the Packers nation, we present the fair and balanced grades about major Packers’ bloggers articles with their Packers win over Falcons analysis!

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Packers vs Giants: Reviews & Grades

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers win over Giants.

GAME BALLS: NT Raji; LB Bishop; WR Nelson; FB Kuhn; QB Rodgers.

INJURY REPORT: S Bigby (groin).

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (JC vs. SE):

PASSING OFFENSE:  A vs A. Rodgers threw for 404 yards, 4 touchdowns, and 139.9 passer rating, returning from a concussion to lead the Pack past the Giants 45-17.  Rodgers completed passes to nine different targets and challenged the Giants downfield.  With good protection and scrambling against a strong pass rush, Rodgers connected seven passes for longer than 20 yards. Though the Giants sacked Rodgers twice, they generally didn’t get much pressure. When they did, Rodgers escaped the pocket and either completed a pass or ran for a first down. WR Jennings had 7 catches for 142 yards. WR Nelson had 4 catches for 124 yards and 1 touchdown.

RUSHING OFFENSE: C+ VS C+. The Packers rushed for 118 yards averaging a poor 2.8 yards.  Yet, they kept the Giants defense honest running often enough and well enough to open up play- action pass plays with these running plays and tough yards. The Giants have a swarming defense. And what the Packers essentially did was use their strength against them. They got the Giants defenders running to the ball and then threw over the top of them. It also slowed down the Giants defensive ends on the pass rush.  And the Packers accomplished that by the number of times they ran. The ball-carrying committee of RBs Jackson and Nance and FB Kuhn combined for 93 yards in 33 carries. Although FB Kuhn had only 29 total yards, Kuhn scored three touchdowns on an 8-yard run, a 5-yard pass from Rodgers and a 1-yard plunge.

PASSING DEFENSE: B- vs C. The defense gave up two big touchdown pass plays on two freak plays. Manning (17-for-33, 301 yards) did have his good moments and capitalized on one-on-one coverage breakdowns by cornerback Charles Woodson and Williams for touchdown throws of 36 and 85 yards to Nicks and Manningham, respectively. The Nicks touchdown was the plays in culmination of three consecutive which Woodson slipped, committed an illegal-contact penalty and slipped again. Yet, the defense got 6 big takeaways including 2 fumbles. With a decent pass rush against QB Manning, the Packers got good pressure forcing 4 crucial interceptions. Manning completed only 17 of 33 passes for 301 yards, 2 TDs, 4 INTs, and 63.6 passer rating. The Packers scored 24 points from turnovers. After CB Williams’ interception set up the Packers’ second touchdown, fumbles forced by CB Woodson and LB Matthews and interceptions by CB Shields, S Collins and LB Hawk turned the game into a rout.

RUSHING DEFENSE: A- vs A-. The Packers held the Giants to 21 carries for only 90 yards. The two momentum changing takeaway fumbles were caused by CB Woodson and by OLB Matthews.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B- vs B-. The Giants averaged only 18.6-yard on kickoffs and only 4.3 on punts. Punter Masthay did okay with five punts averaging 39 yards including a 54 yard one. The return combination of Shields on kickoffs (15.0 average) and Williams on punts (3.5 average) looked very average.

COACHING: A vs A. For the game, the Packers were 5 for 6 in the red zone. The Packers had season highs in total yards (515), points (45), and defensive takeaways (six). A second straight week of well-balanced play-calling between the pass and run enabled Rodgers to thrive with play-action and by going deep as the Packers piled up a season-high 515 yards and held the football for more than 37 minutes. The combination of never trailing and controlling the line of scrimmage when the Giants did run allowed defensive coordinator Capers to have his ball-hawking charges zero in on Manning and generate a season-high six takeaways.

OVERALL: A vs CBS Sportsline A-. Rodgers threw for 404 yards and 4 TDs in his return. The offensive line held up against the Giants’ active front four and the WRs were too much for the Giants cornerbacks. Eli Manning was forced into four INTs and the Giants turned the ball over six times. The Giants were held to 90 yards rushing on 21 carries.

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Packers vs Vikings: Reviews & Grades

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers win over Vikings.

SUMMARY: After a sluggish first quarter, QB Rodgers rebounded to throw for 301 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Packers over the Vikings 31-3. With timely turnovers, the defense shut down QB Favre and RB Peterson holding the Vikings to a field goal.

GAME BALLS: QB Rodgers; WR Jones; WR Jennings; CB Williams.

INJURY REPORT: S Bigby (hamstring).  S Smith (ankle sprain).

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (JC vs. SE):

PASSING OFFENSE:  A- vs A-. After an awful first quarter that saw the Packers get only eight total years, QB  Rodgers settled down to throw 22 of 31 passes for 301 yards, 4 touchdowns, no interceptions, and 141.3 passer rating. On offense, the Packers adjusted to quick-hitting and vertical passes exploiting the Vikings’ glaring weakness with Allen and rookie Cook at the Nos. 2 and 3 cornerbacks. WR Jennings had 7 catches for 152 yards and 3 touchdowns. WR Jones had 3 catches for 51 yards and 1 big touchdown. If the Packers have a second playmaker in their receiving corps, it’s James Jones who has overtaken Donald Driver as a playmaker. That was a great catch by Jones in the end zone. Driver hasn’t had a 100-yard game since Nov. 26 last year. Maybe the injury is a factor, but that’s what often happens to declining players. They get hurt.

RUSHING OFFENSE: C VS C. The Packers struggled rushing, but they got 91 total yards. Rookie RB Nance looked strong, especially in short yardage, getting 12 carries for 37 yards.  RB Jackson had 14 carries for 28 yards. Now, they both will share running time in future games. QB Rodgers scrambled with three runs for 21 yards.

PASSING DEFENSE: A- vs B+. Under constant pressure facing an effective Packers fire zone blitzing, Vikings QB Favre had only a quick small pocket to work with completing only 17 of 38 for 208 yards, an interception, and a rating of 51.2. The inside linebackers did a fair number of double shoots, too, and they might not have gotten sacks, but they had Favre on the carpet from the start. Jenkins, Raji, the inside backers — they were all pushing the pocket and Favre had nowhere to step up. And that’s the way to beat him. He can’t get out on the perimeter and make plays anymore. In the first half, two timely turnovers, a forced fumble by CB Woodson and an interception by CB Williams, stopped two early Vikings drives to set the tempo for the game. The entire defense looked stellar led by CB Woodson with 7 tackles and 1 forced fumble, by CB Williams with his big interception, and by LB Matthews with 5 tackles and 1 sack. Rookie CB Shields looked shaky in three coverage plays involving WR Rice and WR Lewis.

RUSHING DEFENSE: B vs B-. Led by the front seven line, the rush defense schemed to stop the run doing a great job. They limited RB Peterson to 72 yards. The defense was aggressive to limit Peterson from the big plays. The two inside backers, Bishop and Hawk, were really sound in making sure there were no cutback lanes. Nick Barnett was an aggressive player, but he had a tendency to overrun plays and leave lanes open. Both Hawk and Bishop attacked the line of scrimmage, but their run fits also were exceptional.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B vs B. On four returns, KR Harvin had only 69 yards averaging only 17.3 yards. Punter Masthay’s gross average was a low 39.2 yards, but he had an excellent net average of 38.2, placing two inside the 20 and forcing three fair catches. The Packers return specialists had no special day.

COACHING: A- vs A. While the early game plan stunk, the Packers adjusted to establish the tempo of the game crushing an important NFL rival sweeping the Vikings series.  They stand at 7-3 with the Bears at the NFC top. The Packers converted only 8 of 15 third downs. They were a solid 2 for 2 in the red zone. DC Capers’ defense continued to make timely takeaways showing solid performances in the last three games giving up only 10 points.

OVERALL: A vs. A (CBS Sportsline). About the only thing the Packers could have done better is run the ball. Their defense has given up one TD in the past 13 quarters and picked up two more takeaways.

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Packers Crush Cowboys: Reviews & Grades

Senior writer jclombardi grades Packers win over Cowboys.

SUMMARY: QB Rodgers threw for 289 yards and 3 touchdowns and RB Jackson scored twice as the Packers crushed the Cowboys 45-7. The Packers defense dominated destroying the Cowboys.

GAME BALLS: LB Matthews; QB Rodgers; LB Bishop; WR Jones; CB Bush; S Collins.

INJURY REPORT: DE Pickett (ankle sprain).  CB Harris was released.

QUOTE: After LB Matthews’ interception touchdown, NBC’s game commentator Collinsworth said, “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen somebody humiliate the Cowboys like this,” We sympathize with the Packers nation who suffered throughout the game with the endless biased Cowboys coverage.  Who cares if Phillips got fired?  The Packers are America’s team.

Report Card Grades–Good, Bad, & Ugly (JC vs. SE):

PASSING OFFENSE:  A vs A-. QB Rodgers had a good day throwing 27 of 34 passes for 289 yards, 3 touchdowns, and no interceptions. Rodgers had good command of the pocket with good protection with all linemen, even LT Clifton and rookie RT Bulaga, playing well. Generally, except for one or two plays. Rodgers established great sync with his receivers using high-percentage short and intermediate throws. WR Jones led the receivers with 8 catches for 123 yards and one touchdown. The spread out offense with quick slants and short-passes to wide-outs game plan destroyed the Cowboys passing defense.

RUSING OFFENSE: B VS B+. The Packers struggled rushing, but they got 128 total yards. FB Kuhn had RB Jackson combined for a tough 92 yards. QB Rodgers scrambled for 48 yards.

PASSING DEFENSE: A- vs A-. Cowboys QB Kitna completed only 19 of 30 passes for 183 yards, 1 touchdown, and 2 interceptions under constant pressure. The interception highlight was the one returned by LB Matthews for a touchdown. Although rookie CB Shields had a great interception, he struggled covering WR Bryant especially on one big offensive series giving up a touchdown. S Collins got fined $50,000 for his inadvertent helmet-to-helmet hit on WR Williams. Rusty S Bigby got into the game, but we do not see him replacing consistent S Peprah.

RUSHING DEFENSE: A vs A. Led by the front seven line, the rush defense returned to its stout days limiting the Cowboys rushing to 14 rushes for 39 yards averaging a miserable 2.8 average. LB Matthews and LB Bishop dominated the inside rush defense. After LB Matthews stuffed RB Barber on a running plays, the Cowboys simply gave up running the ball.

SPECIAL TEAMS: B+ vs B. Although the kickoff coverage was shaky, they came up with two big turnovers. First, S Collins returned a fumble for a 26 yard touchdown (was the player down?).Then Bush recovered another fumble leading to another score. P Masthay had a good day averaging 49.5 gross yards and 47.5 net yards as the two kicks that landed inside the 20. Yet, K Crosby had a 54 early field goal blocked and his late first half kickoff went out-of-bounds gave good field position to the Cowboys leading to their only score. PR Williams averaged only just 4.4 yards. Rookie KR Shields will return kickoffs, especially after he returned his only one for 49 yards. S Bigby and LB Walden both looked rusty on coverage.

COACHING: A vs A. The Packers had their best game of the year with all three units delivering an outstanding performance. The game plan was solid using the simple spread out offense with 3 or 4 receivers. McCarthy focused upon using an effective running game with 34 rushing plays, employing even the old-school three backs backfield. DC Capers called another great defensive game using LB Matthews, LB Hawk, and CB Woodson on effective combination blitz schemes. The Packers go into the bye week 6-3 at the top of their NFC North division.

OVERALL: A- vs CBS Sportsline A-. The only thing the Packers didn’t do well was cover kickoffs. It was apparent they were up against a team that had no desire to make a game of it, so it’s hard to tell how well they played. The running game was solid and did just enough to keep the Cowboys off balance. The defense caused two turnovers.

COMMENTARY: The Packers are very lucky. GM Thompson did a great job getting replacement and solid backup players, especially from the later rounds in the drafts, the waivers, and free agencies. CB Shields, DE Wilson, S Peprah, LB Zombo, and DE Green really helped the team during a tough injury filled period in the 2010 season. Without them, the Packers would be 3-6 instead of a winning 6-3 record.

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