The Best and the Wurst is a weekly series wherein I highlight just a few of the things that stuck out to me in last week’s game. They are not only or merely the best or wurst players overall, but are merely observations from the game. Sometimes the considerations aren’t even players at all, but play calls, incidents, or various nonsense.
Datone Jones: Man, Datone has really come on as of late. He’s definitely now playing like a first round pick. He accumulated two sacks and a pass defensed last night. He was basically just all around disruptive. The pairing of Jones and Mike Daniels is really starting to wreak havoc. When you throw a good performance by BJ Raji into the mix, the Packers have a formidable front.
Eddie Lacy: Lacy came back in a big way yesterday, accumulating 100 yards and averaging a nice 4.5 yards per carry. While Rodgers and the receivers still had trouble getting in-sync, Lacy provided the stability that the Packers’ offense needed to get rolling. Minnesota has a decent defense, and the Packers scored more points on them last night than anyone has all season. Credit a lot of that to Lacy’s consistency.
James Jones: Jones made some ridiculous catches in this game, including a TD pass at the far side of the endzone. While he’s been quiet in recent weeks, Jones stepped up and made some big plays.
Mason Crosby: It’s easy to forget about Crosby, but he put up 16 points against the Vikings, going 5 for 5 on FGs and 1/1 on XPs. I know that some fans are likely still upset about that botched FG last week against the Lions, but no one should take Crosby for granted. He’s one of the best kickers in the league.
J.C. Tretter: Losing starting center Corey Linsley on the first offensive drive of the game could have put the Packers in a big hole. Instead Tretter stepped in and played very well. You can attribute some of Lacy’s success to Tretter.
Randall Cobb: Cobb had some big time drops. It’s unclear what’s going on with Cobb, but he’s been regressing over the past few weeks. We all know that the talent is there, but Cobb needs to get back to fundamentals. Make the catch first, then think about running.
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Taylor O\'Neill is a Packer fan born and raised in Oshkosh, WI. He currently lives in Florida and is pursuing his PhD. Taylor is a writer with PackersTalk.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @TaylorONeill87 for more Packer news.
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3 responses to “The Best and the Wurst: Packers @ Vikings”
MY QUESTION–WHERE has this offense been for last 3 weeks? Where has this defense been last 3 weeks? Don’t want to hear about how well they played vs. Lions–C’MON MAN, many college school teams could probably defend the Lions, despite their improvement against Bridgewater and Vikes-the MIDDLE is WIDE OPEN in GB’s LB/secondary coverage. Rodgers still looks too antsy in pocket and WR’s aren’t getting off press cover quick enough, did ANYBODY NOTICE–I’ve been calling for GB to run some GUARDS PULLING RUN PLAYS–WAHOO, Clements/McCarthy actually had the whole O-line pull to left on a Lacy run–problem is, this O-line just is NOT very good at run blocking. Did ya SEE? Rodgers hand off to Lacy 4 yds DEEP in backfield and Bulaga had already been pushed 3 yds DEEP by D-lineman who dropped Lacy for 4 yd loss! Is THAT what you call “run-blocking”? No wonder these RB’s get most yds by INDIVIDUAL effort and NOT team blocking. Cobb needs to get his head screwed back on straight, he’s NOT focused. What’s going on McCarthy? TEMPER TANTRUM ’cause Clements is calling “O” and you’d rather team look bad than FIX the problems? Ya’ let this season get away, can’t ever tell how bad they may play next year–McCarthy’s job is to get this ENTIRE team playing to their talent level and EARNING their paychecks–tired of seeing some just show up and participate.
The Packers beat a 7-2 team at their place by 17 points yesterday. I think that’s something to be positive about.
Ya’ think LOSING 3 consecutive games off a bye week SHOULDN’T put some fire in somebody to get a win? IF this were a team OWNED by somebody like Bob Kraft or JJones or a Rooney owned team–Dom Capers would’ve been GONE 3 years ago. Did ya’ not see bad tackling and poor coverage over middle yesterday? Yeah, they got Peterson shut down, but he’s like Gurley, it only takes ONE big run to turn a game around and Peterson fumbled on THAT run. Look at coverage by Vikes DB’s–like GLUE on Pack’s WR’s, but Packers were very soft over middle and Bridgewater threw behind some WR’s–THAT is the weakness in Capers soft zones–and he’s scared to play much man to man. IF ya’ listened you heard Aikman mention Vikes are susceptible to the run, Lacy’s production improvement proved that. Had it been Hawks or Broncos “D”, I don’t think production would’ve been any better than it has in past 3 weeks.