September 2008 - Posts

• The silver lining: the young cornerbacks

  Posted Sep 30 2008, 06:11 AM by Brian Carriveau

  After every single Green Bay Packers game here at Railbird Central, we bring you the silver lining. In a loss, it's the reason for optimism. In a win, it's an unexpected performance. Either way, it's good news for Packers fans.

  Today's silver lining: the young cornerbacks.

  We gave the cornerbacks a red chip in our weekly segment listed below, but their play deserves a closer look.

  After the ruptured spleen of Al Harris became public knowledge, there was plenty to worry about for Packers fans.

  Tramon Williams made his first ever start in Harris' place. There were pieces the now-starting Williams can learn from, but he didn't give up the big play.

  “Tramon Williams played well, played very well,” head coach Mike McCarthy told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “He played very good as far as the coverage stuff. He had a couple of run fits that he can clean up but definitely had the big play down there with the interception. He played OK on special teams. I would definitely say he had a winning performance.”

  As for the other young cornerbacks that played in Sunday's game against the Buccaneers, they met if not exceeded expectations.

  Will Blackmon played the next biggest role as he stepped into the nickel cornerback job. He ended the day with three tackles on defense and stay sharp on special teams with an additional two tackles.

  What was perhaps the nicest thing to see from Blackmon was him re-entering the game after having to leave the field briefly for injury concern. Most fans probably had "same old Blackmon" going through their heads thinking of previous seasons of the oft-injured cornerback.

  Rookie Pat Lee and Jarrett Bush also played in a handful of defensive packages on Sunday, some due to injury concerns. Their play was mostly unnoticed, but that's about as much as you can ask for a being a dime back.

  Both of them failed to record so much as a tackle, but their help was needed defending the pass moreso than the run. The biggest problem the defense faced was stopping the run anyhow.

  And that's your silver lining.

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  Filed under: Jarrett Bush, Tramon Williams, Will Blackmon, Pat Lee

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• Blue chips, red chips & cow chips from Packers loss to Buccaneers

  Posted Sep 29 2008, 05:44 AM by Brian Carriveau

  

  After every Green Bay Packers game, Railbird Central will provide you with a look back while we hand out our blue chip, red chips and cow chips for yesterday's performance.

  The blue chip, amazing performances:

  • Greg Jennings -- It's hard to classify anyone's performance as being "blue chip" yesterday, but Jennings comes close. He's on his way to his first Pro Bowl berth this upcoming February. After another 100-plus yard performance, Jennings leads the entire NFL in receiving yardage. He's at his best after the catch when he almost always makes the first guy miss, and frequently the second and third guys too. He's learned well from Donald Driver.

  Nick Collins -- Not only does Collins have three interceptions this season after having had only four in his previous three seasons combined, but he's showing an aggressiveness in his tackling this year that he has never shown before. The Packers are definitely struggling without Atari Bigby in the defensive secondary, so it was nice to see Collins display a little toughness and return to the lineup against Tampa Bay. In one memorable play, a Buccaneer receiver got a reception downfield, and while the rest of the defensive backs were positioning to make an open field tackle, in came a diving Collins to take the receiver's legs out from under him.

  The red chip, solid performances:

  • The young cornerbacks -- Tramon Williams wasn't perfect, but his number of good plays outnumbered his bad ones. He gave up a handful of completions, but his interception helped make up for it. The play of Will Blackmon and Jarrett Bush were the most encouraging. When it was known Al Harris would be missing several games at the minimum, that was a scary thought. Williams, Blackmon and Bush helped weather the storm.
  • Brady Poppinga -- It was really hard coming up with a second red chip performance. Poppinga comes the closest after leading the team with 12 tackles including one for a loss. He was very active although he among others gave up too many yards against the rush.

  The cow chip, crappy performances:

  • Run offense -- Grant started off the game with four rushes for 17 yards. While that was spectacular, the yards were hard-fought including one rush that went for a first down. It went all downhill from there. Fifteen rushes for twenty yards for a paltry 1.3 yard average was not what the Packers were looking for especially since Scott Wells returned to the starting lineup. The number of rushes that went for either zero or negative yardage was simply unacceptable.
  • Run defense -- After getting torched by Marion Barber and Felix Jones of the Cowboys, the Packers got beat by Earnest Graham of the Buccaneers to the tune of 111 yards on 20 carries for a 5.6 yard average and an additional 63 yards by Warrick Dunn. The front seven of the Packer defense is not playing exceptionally well this season and the only difference from last year is the loss of Corey Williams. Now Williams was a good player, but should he alone be the difference? Where are the '07 versions of Nick Barnett and Ryan Pickett?
  • Derrick Frost -- Do you think getting rid of Jon Ryan was a mistake yet?
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  Filed under: Jarrett Bush, Tramon Williams, Will Blackmon, Nick Collins, Greg Jennings

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• Future Packer Michael Oher?

  Posted Sep 27 2008, 08:40 AM by Brian Carriveau

  The Green Bay Packers game is still one day away, but on Saturdays here at Railbird Central we give you something to watch today while tying into the Packers. Consider it a little NFL Draft preview. 

  Mississippi tackle Michael Oher passed up a chance at the NFL to get another year of seasoning in the college game before going to the next level.

  His Rebels go into Gainsville today to take on perhaps the best team in the nation, the Florida Gators.

  And while it might appear to be a blowout on the surface, Ole Miss has played Florida pretty well. The Rebels gave them all they could handle a year ago in a tight loss, 30-24. The Rebels also beat the Gators in 2002 and 2003.

  This is also a better-than-you-think Ole Miss team. Part of the reason Oher stayed at Mississippi was the coaching changes that brought head coach Houston Nutt and offensive line coach Mike Markuson over from Arkansas.

  The Rebels have lost to two better-than-you-think teams as well this season. Losses to Wake Forest and Vanderbilt might have seemed terrible just five years ago, but they're both ranked right now.

  The Rebel defensive front should be able to give the Florida offense enough trouble to stay competitive. Ole Miss has one of the best defensive lines in the SEC with end Greg Hardy and tackle Peria Jerry. So far this year, Florida has not been the juggernaut offense it has been in the past.

  The true task will be up to Oher and the offense to see if they can go blow for blow with Florida. Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead is talented but has been plagued by turnovers. If Oher and company can give Snead some time to pass, the Rebels can make this an interesting game.

  As for the Packers, Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher are reaching the ends of their careers. And while the Packers have been adding several offensive linemen through the draft the past couple years, are any of them starting quality tackles?

  The fact that the Packers have kept both Allen Barbre and Daryn Colledge at guard makes you think that they might not ever become tackles in the NFL. If that's the case, the Packers had better start grooming some tackles of the future.

  Oher is definitely a first round draft pick. And it would not be out of the realm of possibility to see the Packers spend their first round choice on a future starting tackle.

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• College football picks

  Posted Sep 27 2008, 08:14 AM by Brian Carriveau

  It's Saturday. Make sure to head over to the Daily Drink to read up on this weekend's top picks in my weekly feature, Against the Spread.

  And make sure to bet your Schrute bucks!

  

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• Will Chillar see more playing time for Packers?

  Posted Sep 26 2008, 06:10 AM by Brian Carriveau

  Newly acquired linebacker Brandon Chilllar, who the Green Bay Packers signed in free agency to a fairly decent sized contract, saw his first extended playing time on defense against the Dallas Cowboys after not playing much in the first two games of the regular season.

  It comes as a surprise to see Chillar on the bench after paying him so much money. Sure, Brady Poppinga has been solid, but why did you go out and sign Chillar then?

  Maybe it was a mistake to barely play Chillar in the first two regular season games and then expect him to play a critical role against perhaps the NFC's toughest team with very little experience in the Packers' defense.

  Poppinga has played well. He deserves some playing time. But maybe it would just be nice to see Chillar getting a little more playing time on third and long when the team doesn't decide to blitz. It would be nice to have Chillar's coverage skills in the game a little more often.

  Chillar, for his part, has been a big contributor on special teams. The Packers have picked up where they left off last year as on the better special teams units in the entire NFL.

  Chillar and company have had to make up for a shoddy punting game by providing great coverage while having to deal with some short punts with low hang time.

  As the Buccaneers game nears, here's to hoping we see Chillar get some more P.T. on Sundays.

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  Filed under: Brandon Chillar

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