After Further Review: Packers vs. Seahawks

Ross will provide a few observations every Monday afternoon following a Packers game based on a few viewings of the condensed version of the game on NFL GamePass.  While this might not be the All-22 camera deep dive that might be more "educational", it should provide a conversation point for the rest of the week.

McCarthy gets a lot of flack for being rigid, you definitely have to respect what he did in this game with James Starks.  Two carries, no passing targets.  He hasn't been effective this season, he wasn't effective early in the game so they went with Montgomery and Michael.  

It is obvious, though that Michael and the young fullback might not have a full understanding of the playbook.

Montgomery is the best back on the roster.  I'm very comfortable with a Lacy (re-sign him), Montgomery and Crockett backfield next year.  They can probably re-sign Michael if they wish.  I will say, though, that I don't view running back as much of a draft need unless it's in the first round and it's Leonard Fournette or Dalvin Cook.

Mike Daniels is a monster.

Coach McCarthy, you cannot challenge that. Can. not.

That is an unbelievable job by Richard Rodgers to make that catch in the third quarter.  There are a lot of things that Richard Rodgers struggles with but catching the football is not one of them.  He has a purpose to serve and if they could ever keep Cook healthy his role as a TE2 would make sense, as hard as Packers fans are on him.  That was a helluva play.

What an awesome play by Kam Chancellor at 14:08 4Q.  I haven't seen a screen in a long time blocked up as well as the one Green Bay ran to Montgomery there.  Chancellor had no business making that stop, and he did it anyway.

Why? Why doesn't Jayrone Elliot get to play more? I understand that he is a valuable member of the special teams unit and has been a leader there since Jarrett Bush was not re-signed.  That's all great.  He's still good enough to play 18 snaps a game on defense.  He's good enough to play more when Clay Matthews is playing hurt and Nick Perry isn't playing at all.

I can't stop laughing at the Christian Ringo play.

This is the defensive backs group I thought we were getting at the beginning of the season.  I really believe it was the Sam Shields injury that slowed everything down.  Losing Randall didn't help either, but these guys weren't ready right away to play without Shields.  Shut down guys? Not a one of them.  LaDarius Gunter would actually be the closest thing to that but he's not fast enough.  Play makers? All over the place, especially Randall and Rollins.  These guys were drafted to create turnovers, and create they did.  I always thought this team defense would be a suped-up version of the 2011 defense that gave up so, so many yards but continued to force big turnovers in big moments.  This defense looked like 2010.

The Christine Michael botch, followed by the Crosby miss, followed by Wilson missing a Jimmy Graham TD could have been a LOT worse than it was.

The same people that are complaining about Clay Matthews while refusing to make concessions about how hurt he is are those who refused to admit Davante Adams played hurt a season ago.  I can't help them, neither can you.  There is a legitimate 15.5 points allowed per game differnece when Matthews is active vs. inactive.  

Damarious Randall is a hell of an athlete.

Has there been a dumber take in recent years than the mid-season requests to trade Aaron Rodgers? He's an MVP candidate.  He's still the most talented quarterback to ever play the game.  I actually think that when he's injured he's a better player (right now).  For whatever reason the post-2014 Aaron Rodgers became so obsessed with protecting the football and extending plays that he developed a tendency to hold on to the ball for a long, long time.  

Earlier in his career Green Bay had an awful offensive line and Rodgers got rid of the ball quickly, trusting his playmakers to get yards after the catch.  It seemed as the years had gone on and the vertical passing game had developed the time Rodgers took in (and out of) the pocket increased.  When he's hurt he has no choice but to hit his drop, make his read, and fire the ball.  It shouldn't be surprising that he's very, very good at it.  Rodgers is on pace for 4,300+ yards and a 39/9 TD to INT ratio.  That's an MVP season in a lot of seasons.

If you remove him throwing the ball away he only missed one throw.  At the 1:20 mark he missed a touchdown throw to Davante Adams by about a yard and a half.  

I'm so freakin' impressed with Jordy Nelson.  Maybe Nelson will be able to generate separation next season when he's one more year removed from his ACL injury, but he's not creating it now.  Nelson is usually closely guarded and has to make contested catches.  Has it mattered? Abso - freaking - lutely not.  Such impressive work for him to modify his game and still be an elite player.  Nelson has gone from burner to red zone assassin.  Unreal.

I actually completely agree with McCarthy's decision to remove Rodgers from the game when he did.  It's not OK to use the 2014 NFCC game as a reference point for a home regular season game in 2016.  The Packers were almost assuredly going to win that game and they're going to need Rodgers if they're going to win a championship.  A top 10 pick is now out of the question so what have you really accomplished if you don't win the title?

How was Marcel Reese out of football for that long? Freakin' love that guy.  Matchup nightmare.

"What Bostick couldn't do......." Shut up Joe Buck.

That Janis end around is awesome.  People are going to be able to scout the hell out of it because Jeff hasn't been a big part of the passing offense but it's an awesome play.  Wathcin Davante Adams rag doll Richard Sherman was fun, even if Sherman did slip.

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Ross Uglem is a staff writer for Cheesehead TV. He can be found on Twitter @RossUglem 

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Comments (17)

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jeremyjjbrown's picture

December 12, 2016 at 06:51 pm

"Has there been a dumber take in recent years than the mid-season requests to trade Aaron Rodgers?"

Probably not. However that doesn't put him above question. He needs to come into next season ready to play. No more complaining about the preseason as a waste of time. He isn't getting any younger and for 20+ million a year his offseason preparation needs to be impeccable.

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Oppy's picture

December 12, 2016 at 08:38 pm

" For whatever reason the post-2014 Aaron Rodgers became so obsessed with protecting the football and extending plays that he developed a tendency to hold on to the ball for a long, long time. "

This is exactly why I pondered trading Rodgers.. He had developed a habit of not executing the offense as it is designed to be executed, and it certainly looked and sounded as though he had become too stubborn to accept any coaching to remedy the situation.

I couldn't be happier that the man has turned it around. However, I certainly hope it's not just because, as the author posits, he is injured and has no choice but to get rid of the ball quickly and let his receivers makes plays. If that is truly the case, what happens when Rodgers is healthy and can scramble again? Do we go back to more of 2015-early 2016? No thanks. Aaron, let the ego subside for a minute and look at how deadly this offense is when you get the ball out and execute the offense. Keep it that way.

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pacman's picture

December 12, 2016 at 10:05 pm

I wasn't talking about trading him but if you're not accurate on the deep throws but you are winning making short ones, then stay with the short ones. Somebody's ego was in the way there - either MMs or ARs or both. We are all glad AR is back on track. But what would the Packers' record be if this didn't happen? We might not have needed any help to get into the playoffs.

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Packer_Pete's picture

December 12, 2016 at 07:53 pm

"That Janis end around is awesome. People are going to be able to scout the hell out of it because Jeff hasn't been a big part of the passing offense but it's an awesome play. " - but according to someone here, Jet sweeps simply do not work in the NFL...

"I can't stop laughing at the Christian Ringo play." - I love that play, whenever I am re-watching it I am wondering what that Seattle OG is actually doing...

"He (Richard Rodgers) has a purpose to serve and if they could ever keep Cook healthy his role as a TE2 would make sense, as hard as Packers fans are on him. That was a helluva play." - I never understood why Packers fans are so hard on him. He is playing hard, even though he is slow. He catches everything. It's idiotic to use him on a 2 yard pass where he has to get another 8 for the 1st down while running sideways, but if used correctly, he is actually a good player. And again, if I'd have to pick a super fast ball dropper like Finley vs a sure handed guy like R. Rodgers then I'd take Rodgers any day and twice on Sundays.

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Ross Uglem's picture

December 12, 2016 at 08:36 pm

Neither of the plays Janis scored on were jet sweeps.

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RCPackerFan's picture

December 13, 2016 at 07:28 am

The Janis end around... Beautiful. I love that McCarthy is doing more things offensively. Earlier in the game i saw they ran a fake Jet sweep with Cobb. I thought they were going to use that play to set up something else later, but I think the combination of Cobb getting hurt, and Rodgers getting hurt they took that play out.

Love, love, love watching Ringo come flying in from the sidelines and throwing the LG 3 yards backwards. I'm just wondering where Ringo is going to come from next time? They going to have him line up at Safety and blitz from there?

Richard Rodgers has dropped to many catchable passes this year. He dropped at least 2 TD passes this year and a few 3rd down passes.Yes they were not the easiest of catches, but they were balls that hit him in the hands. His hands were supposed to be his best trait. I can live with him being slow as long as he catches everything. But throughout the year he hasn't done that.

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Amanofthenorth's picture

December 12, 2016 at 08:01 pm

Tank Ringo looked a bit like sponge Bob's friend Patrick. Oh I'm late boom boom boom boom boom boom Major Frickin BOOM!!

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Gianich's picture

December 12, 2016 at 08:43 pm

15.5 ppg difference with Clay on the field. Damn! Good piece, Ross. 100% spot on.

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EdsLaces's picture

December 13, 2016 at 12:01 am

Randall can definitely play but even though Rollins has had a couple lucky ints in his career I still maintain that he does in fact suck....imo ofcourse.

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 13, 2016 at 02:26 am

A) 15.50 ppg better with CM3 on the field.
B) 15.17 ppg worse with Perry on the field.
C) 14.00 ppg worse with Goodson on the field.

Three stats with no context. Obviously, using these bald stats, I deduce that we should back up the brinks truck for CM3 as he is clearly underpaid, cut Perry, and cut Goodson. Well, I agree with one of those scenarios.

CM3 missed the Detroit game (27 pts allowed), Atlanta (33), Indy (31) and Titans (47). Those 4 teams are ranked #17, #1, #9, and #11 in ppg. Against Detroit, Burnett and of course Shields were inactive. Against Atlanta, Randall, Rollins were out. Against Indy, Randall was out, Rollins played but I suspect he was injured. Against Tennessee, Randall was out and Rollins played roughly half the game, probably hurt, and then left the game. In other words, against Tennessee, Atlanta, and Indy, Goodson played, leading to the dreaded "Goodson effect." In the 6 games that Goodson was active, GB allowed 32.17 ppg (which would rank dead last in the NFL). In the 7 games he did not play, GB allowed 18.17, which would be 4th best in the NFL.

Stats are fun; stats can be illuminating. Stats with no context often lead to questionable conclusions. The 15.5 ppg positive difference when CM3 plays is a dumb stat when put in context.

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dschwalm's picture

December 13, 2016 at 10:51 am

Hear! Hear!

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Thegreatreynoldo's picture

December 15, 2016 at 03:59 am

Here is a stat from Demovsky that does support the notion that CM3 helps GB's defense:

"Clay Matthews has played each of the last four games despite dealing with nagging injuries. The Packers have generated pressure on 39 percent of dropbacks during this recent stretch, which includes 47 percent of the time when Matthews is part of the pass rush."

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Oppy's picture

December 15, 2016 at 03:33 pm

The stats I would love to see is blitz percentages per game, and look for correlation between blitz percentage and personnel factors.

My gut may be wrong, but it tells me that Capers called off the dogs (comparatively) when the secondary was depleted. Capers has a well-documented history of playing conservatively at the line of scrimmage when he isn't confident in his safety play.. I am guessing when his #1, 2, and 3 CB's were sidelined, he probably was not sending 5 nearly as often as when SHields, Randall, and Rollins were on the field.

This would further tie into the clay/perry pressures/points statistics.

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Ferrari Driver's picture

December 13, 2016 at 03:06 am

Liked the article. Good thoughts.

Lot of freakin

Would like to have seen a couple of "Hecks" and perhaps a "Dang" or two.

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RCPackerFan's picture

December 13, 2016 at 07:07 am

'McCarthy gets a lot of flack for being rigid, you definitely have to respect what he did in this game with James Starks.'
-Moving forward this is the role that Starks should play. Starks played 7 snaps (12% of the offensive snaps). In comparison Montgomery played 30 snaps (51%), Ripkowski played 24 snaps (41%) and Michael played 17 snaps (29%).

'Montgomery is the best back on the roster. I'm very comfortable with a Lacy (re-sign him), Montgomery and Crockett backfield next year. They can probably re-sign Michael if they wish. I will say, though, that I don't view running back as much of a draft need unless it's in the first round and it's Leonard Fournette or Dalvin Cook.'
-Montgomery is a perfect RB for the Packers offense. McCarthy likes to spread teams out. Often he has spread Lacy, Starks and even Kuhn out wide and they essentially were completely a non factor. Teams could game plan how to stop that because they could slide their safety protections elsewhere. With Montgomery when he motions out of the backfield he is a legit weapon that teams have to pay attention to.

Next year I would love to see the Packers resign Lacy. And possibly Michael. Give Michael an offseason to learn the playbook, and he along with Lacy and Montgomery would give us our best group of RB's in a long time. I still would like to see them draft a RB though. The 1-2 punch of Lacy and Montgomery would be really, really good. The RB class coming out is very good.

'That is an unbelievable job by Richard Rodgers to make that catch in the third quarter.'
-That was such a bullshit play. Seattle's cheap shots may be a reason why the league looks to add targeting into the rules. A play like that one should have ejected Wright from the game.

'Why? Why doesn't Jayrone Elliot get to play more?'
-Every time he makes it onto the field he makes at least 1 big play. He deserves a lot more snaps then what he gets on defense. At the very, very least he should be a 3rd down pass rushing specialist. After Mathews his is our most explosive OLB. Get him on the field.

'I can't stop laughing at the Christian Ringo play.'
LOL, that play is just great. I am still laughing from it.

'This is the defensive backs group I thought we were getting at the beginning of the season.'
'Damarious Randall is a hell of an athlete.'
-Randall showed what has been missing from the defense. A CB who could make a play. He looked like a centerfielder with his interception at the end of the first half, which completely changed the game. Seattle was down 21-3, and would have been 21-10 at half time. They would have went to half time with a ton of motivation. This play prevented any momentum swings.

'The same people that are complaining about Clay Matthews while refusing to make concessions about how hurt he is are those who refused to admit Davante Adams played hurt a season ago. I can't help them, neither can you. There is a legitimate 15.5 points allowed per game difference when Matthews is active vs. inactive.'
-Mathews when on the field gets attention of the offense.

'I'm so freakin' impressed with Jordy Nelson.'
-Nelson deserves come back player of the year. His chemistry with Rodgers has shown what the Packers sorely missed from last year. Rodgers missed his security blanket. The subtle move in the end zone where Nelson flashes a hand and Rodgers throws it to that spot. Thats the difference. A TD vs settling for FG's.

'That Janis end around is awesome. People are going to be able to scout the hell out of it because Jeff hasn't been a big part of the passing offense but it's an awesome play. Wathcin Davante Adams rag doll Richard Sherman was fun, even if Sherman did slip.'
-This end around play is a love/hate thing for me. Love it. Its working great. But why in the hell couldn't they have done this type of thing Last year? Last year we were desperate for something like this in our offense. But last year is last year. I love that its being used now, and Janis is a perfect player for that play. He has the speed and strength to make it work.
And I LOVED Adams knocking Sherman out of the play. After Sherman's cheap shots, this was awesome.

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Handsback's picture

December 13, 2016 at 08:31 am

Good article after a great win. Do you think Ringo goes to Fackrell and say's "This is how you do it rookie!"?

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NMPF's picture

December 13, 2016 at 11:10 am

Funny how a play like Ringos' in the game on Sunday is comedy fodder. 4 weeks ago comments would include FIRE MM, FIRE CAPERS, FIRE TT, FIRE MURPHY.

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