Friday Injury Report: Green Bay Packers at Tampa
by Brandon on Nov 7, 2009 1:18 AM CST
in News
0 comments
The week's list is long for the Green Bay Packers. While a lot has gone wrong for the Buccaneers during their 0-7 start, injuries have not been their biggest problem.
For the Packers, a couple players (Lang and Allen) were injured during practice this week. Chillar is out for a couple weeks after having surgery on his broken hand. Driver (neck stinger) and Rodgers (feet) were held out all week, until Friday's practice, but they're almost certain to play through the pain. Clifton was back at practice all week, apparently his practice on Friday was limited just as a precaution, and he should start on Sunday. Hall was back in practice, after missing a couple weeks, but he was still limited and a good candidate to be left inactive on Sunday. Maybe the same can be said for Martin. There was nothing written, at least that I read, about Woodson's injury, so it's apparently not serious and he should start on Sunday. Again this week, Finley, Nelson, and Spitz are all out.
For the Bucs, their starting WR Antonio Bryant is likely to miss the game due to the knee injury he aggravated while flying coach. Maybe they'll be without 2nd year CB Elbert Mack, but since he's only started 1 NFL game, he's probably not a key part of their defense.
The complete injury lists, for both teams, are after the jump.
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Tex's Friday Preview - Tampa
by texwestern on Nov 6, 2009 10:16 AM CST
1 comment
So...I kind of dropped the ball last week. Midterms caught up with me, and a big Halloween weekend in Madison (including two great Badger Hockey games and that 37-0 shellacking of Purdue) left me with no time on Friday to write a preview for that depressing game last week. But maybe it was for the best. That game was analyzed to death beforehand, and I don't know that I would have come up with anything new that would have been insightful or interesting anyway. In any case, I just wrapped up my one midterm for this week, and since there's none of the holiday craziness in the People's Republic of Madison this weekend, I can actually take a little time off to write up a preview.
The Packers have been fairly predictable this year. They beat the bad teams soundly (STL, DET, CLE) and lose to the very good teams (CIN, MIN). If that trend holds up, the Pack should beat Tampa by double digits this weekend. That said, here are a few things to watch.
1. The Offensive Line (big shocker here)
This is a perfect opportunity to rebound after the line was beaten like a drum by Jared Allen et al. A struggling Buccaneers defense without Monte Kiffin is exactly what the Packers' big uglies want to see to get some confidence back. When I look at your roster and the most recognizable names on the defensive line are Chris Hovan and Michael Bennett, I feel pretty good about going up against your defense. (And I only recognize the name Michael Bennett because he shares a name with a former badger running back).
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Preview: Green Bay Packers at Buccaneers
by Brandon on Nov 6, 2009 7:15 AM CST
in Analysis
18 comments
The first thing that jumps out is zero, which is the number of 2009 wins by the last remaining winless team this season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They looked very good in week 4 last season when they beat the Packers 30-21, but that seems like a long time ago. Since then they've fired their Super Bowl winning head coach, their long time defensive coordinator left for the University of Tennessee, and they've released or traded several defensive starters, including Pro Bowl LB Derrick Brooks. After an ugly loss to the Patriots in London, the Bucs are coming off the bye-week and giving their rookie 1st round QB Josh Freeman his first NFL start. As long as I'm dumping on the Bucs, I might as well mentioned how they shot themselves in the foot by firing Ron Wolf back in 1978.
Sometimes a record doesn't tell the whole story. But in this case it does; the Bucs are as bad as they look.
Instead of using the official NFL stats this week, I'm going with Football Outsiders. The problem with the official stats, which are based on yards/game, is that they don't take into account that their opponents have only attempted 180 passes against the Bucs, which is the lowest total in the NFL. I don't know why teams aren't throwing the ball against them because they aren't very good at stopping them: they've allowed 16 TDs to 8 INTs while their opponents' QB rating against them is 102.1. So from Football Outsiders.com:
| Team | Run Offense | Pass Offense | Run Defense | Pass Defense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Packers | 13 | 8 | 6 | 7 |
| Team | Run Defense | Pass Defense | Run Offense | Pass Offense |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buccaneers | 30 | 31 | 20 | 26 |
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Around the NFL: Studs/Duds, Power Rankings, and Week 9 Picks
by Brandon on Nov 6, 2009 12:01 AM CST
in Analysis
0 comments
The NFL writers of SB Nation did our annual mid-season Studs and Duds awards. Warning: a couple of Vikings are listed as studs, so read cautiously.
The writers kept the Saints at No. 1 while we pushed the Green Bay Packers down from No. 12 to 14 in the Week 9 power rankings.
It's no surprise we picked Packers to win on Sunday, amongst all of our Week 9 Picks.
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Analysis: Tampa Bay Buccaneers Through 7 Games
by Brandon on Nov 5, 2009 11:15 AM CST
in Analysis
13 comments
You might have noticed that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are the only NFL team without a win this season, and the Green Bay Packers are going to play them on Sunday. And rookie QB Josh Freeman will have his 1st NFL start. The Packers should be favored, but they still have to travel to Tampa and win the game. Though I don't expect Mike McCarthy will let his players overlook any team.
Since I haven't watched a Bucs game this season, and don't know how the team that beat the Packers last season in week 4 has managed to become the only remaining winless team, I asked Buc 'Em blogger Niko Houllis a couple questions:
Brandon: What happened to the formerly great Tampa defense? The draft hasn't been kind in recent years, but they were still very good in early 2008. The collapse seems sudden to me.
Niko: That is a fanastic question. Most would say it's on the sideline singing "Rocky Top"! People can say what they want to, but the collapse started the game after Monte Kiffin announced he is headed to Tennessee to coach his son's defense. Other things happened around the same time too though. We got hurt on our D line, which wasn't that good to begin with. Carolina found a weakness. They were able to put 3 receivers on the field and keep us in a defense which favored their running attack. They were able to gash us for almost 300 yards on the ground in that Monday night game that Bucs fans were waiting all day for so we could finally pronounce our team for real...and give us an inside edge on the 2nd seed just like we had in our Super Bowl year. Little did we know we would not win a game again! Truth is, the Bucs misfired on their #1 draft pick Gaines Adams, and were lucky to get a #2 for him. But the defense had gotten old, and started to patch things up with bandaids like the offense had been doing too. Instead of tearing the team apart and starting over like were doing this year, the team kept using bandaids, and drafting poorly just about every draft.
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McCarthy On: Rodgers, O-Line, LB, The Blitz, ILB, and Spencer Havner
by Brandon on Nov 5, 2009 12:41 AM CST
in News
10 comments
Mike McCarthy addressed a few big points in his Wednesday press conference.
- QB Aaron Rodgers didn't practice due to his foot sprain, but McCarthy said "I fully anticipate him playing in the game."
- RT Mark Tauscher "took the majority of the reps" and LT Chad Clifton "looked healthy today."
- C Jason Spitz's lower back injury is "just kind of not making progress" so C Scott Wells looks to remain the starter for a while longer.
- LB A.J. Hawk "will take the majority of the reps in both the base and nickel" in place of LB Brandon Chillar, as he recovers from his hand surgery. Why won't LB Desmond Bishop start? Because "based on our evaluations...someone goes in front of the other."
- On the blitz packages: "Our number one target was to be better in run defense, so we're doing a better job there, and I think we'll continue to grow in our pressure packages throughout our other situations."
- On penalties: "Trust me, Johnny Jolly has been spoken to."
- TE Jermichael Finley is probably out again on Sunday. His absence hasn't been noticed in large part due to TE Spencer Havner, about who McCarthy said "He runs better than than people think that he does, and he's been productive. He's got very natural hands. You've always seen that in his time here...I'm very proud of him."
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Status of The Packers Post Week 8
by Ryan Stern on Nov 4, 2009 1:50 PM CST
14 comments
Week 8's loss to the Vikings has left many of us Packers fans in shambles but the outlook for the rest of the season is not so bleak. As it stands right now, if the playoffs were to start today, the Packers would be on the outside looking in but that does not mean that we don't control our own destiny due to our second half schedule. By dissecting the first 8 weeks of the season and breaking down the team by positions hopefully we can clearly the muddy waters that has been the Packers season thus far.
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The Run Defense
by Brandon on Nov 4, 2009 7:15 AM CST
in Analysis
21 comments
I've read a lot of negative comments/articles about the Green Bay Packers defense this week. Allowing 38 points to the Vikings can do that. And they can't give up 4 TD passes. But the special teams, and the terrible kick coverage on WR Percy Harvin, gave the Vikings a lot of great field position. It's not an excuse, but it's also one game. A very emotionally, bitter loss to swallow, but not a trend or sign of some deeper trouble.
In an attempt to turn a negative tide positive, I wanted to bring up how great the run defense has played this season. The switch to the 3-4 defense hasn't necessarily made a very good pass defense any better, or brought a dormant pass rush to life, but teams can't run against it.
In 2008, the run defense was terrible, allowing 4.6 yards/carry and 20 TDs. Through 7 games in 2009, they've allowed 3.5 yards/carry and 3 TDs. And they've done it despite having 4 games against 3 of the best RBs in the NFL: RB Adrian Peterson, RB Steven Jackson, and RB Cedric Benson.
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Sun 09/13 | W 21 - 15 |
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