Cheese Curds: Green Bay Packers News and Links for June 29, 2013

Happy Saturday, everyone! While you're relaxing this weekend, so is everybody around the NFL. Except for the people who do advanced statistical analysis on football, of course! They're hard at work, so we're happy to recognize their efforts and send you over to their websites to read more about their stats in depth. We kick it off, however, with a story about one of the Green Bay Packers' young defensive linemen who is currently flying under the radar.

Nose tackle Jordan Miller took circuitous route to Packers - JSOnline
Jordan Miller benched 225 pounds 37 times and recorded 18 sacks in 31 games at Southern University. It seems to me that he gets overlooked a lot in the Packers' defensive line competition, and he is a candidate to get some serious snaps at nose tackle.

Christian Ponder will lead Minnesota Vikings in pivotal season - NFL.com
Count me (and probably a number of you) among Ponder's doubters.

NFL Daily: June 28th - Defensive Response | Pro Football Focus
The Packers used their base defense on just 68% of plays when the offense lined up with one running back and two tight ends, fewest in the NFL. They also used it on just three of 164 snaps against packages with three wideouts, good for third-fewest in the league. Shocker: Dom Capers likes the nickel.

2012 Play-Action, Offense | Football Outsiders
The Packers were near league-average on their success using play-action passes in 2012, but were the second-best team in the league (behind the Broncos) when not using play action. I'll bet that the presence of Lacy and Franklin improve their play-action performance this year.

2012 Play-Action, Defense | Football Outsiders
The Packers' defense, on the other hand, was 4th-best in the league against play-action passes.

Patriots offer free Aaron Hernandez jersey exchange in July - SBNation.com
Good on the Pats for doing this. They're clearly trying to disassociate themselves from Hernandez in every way possible.