There were a few items that I didn't mention yesterday about the game against Oakland.
Some players were held out in the 4th quarter and some were hurt.
- It looked like LB Nick Barnett had a concussion on Sunday because on the sideline the medical staff was making him follow their finger with his eyes. Instead he got poked in the eye, and now he has to go see a eye doctor. Hopefully he doesn't have to miss any time because his replacement would probably be LB Desmond Bishop who isn't nearly as good and he's been inactive most of the season.
- CB Jarrett Bush got hurt but Oakland's pass attack was so bad I didn't notice it. As much as he can struggle, he's still better than his potential replacements, except for CB Will Blackmon but until this game he hadn't played in months.
- LT Chad Clifton went out, but that was probably precautionary. Clifton has been battling injuries all season, but has rarely missed any playing time.
- S Nick Collins made a fantastic tackle on RB Justin Fargas on a 4th down conversion attempt during the 1st quarter, so he looked healthy, but the Packers do have to find playing time for S Aaron Rouse, who's been surprisingly good this season.
Ben Riley: I'd be curious to chat with the game charters who do Green Bay games to see if Donald Driver always jumps a step backwards before he starts to run forward, or only when I'm watching him. It's a surprisingly effective move that tends to freeze the corner and allows Driver to pick up some nice yards after the catch.
Whenever Driver takes that step backwards I always expect him to jump back from a 1st down and then get tackled to lose it. Luckily he's so good at running after the catch that it hasn't happened, but he's so good at running after the catch that I don't think he needs that step back either.
Doug Farrar:They're running a lot of nickel coverage, focusing on bringing pressure with four, and leaving huge holes for Grant to run through. They do know that Brett Favre was injured against the Cowboys, right? Maybe you stop the run and then deal with whatever Favre might try to throw at you?
S Stuart Schweigert played a lot but the announcers said he was benched a few weeks ago. I'm not that familiar with Oakland's personnel so I didn't really notice all the nickel coverage. It seemed like S Michael Huff played a lot closer to the line of scrimmage, so maybe he was used like a linebacker. It really seemed like Oakland was playing without an outside linebacker on some of Grant's big early runs, and then I saw that ex-Packer LB Robert Thomas is starting for Oakland and that is like playing without an outside linebacker.
Doug Farrar: Tight end Donald Lee put this game far, far away with a long touchdown run after catch, during which he stiff-armed Stuart Schweigert into next month.
Sean McCormick: That was about as embarrassing a tackle attempt by Schweigert as you'll see in this league. He had the angle to take Lee down around the five-yard line, but he let himself get caught up in trash and never even attempted to get his helmet on Lee until they were over the goal line.
That was a great run by Lee, but that was an awful tackle. Oakland has a lot of poor tacklers on their team.
Sean McCormick: That was about as embarrassing a tackle attempt by Schweigert as you'll see in this league. He had the angle to take Lee down around the five-yard line, but he let himself get caught up in trash and never even attempted to get his helmet on Lee until they were over the goal line.