Game 2: Commanders at Packers - Thursday, Sept 11 7:15 PM

[adambr2]

One thing I think we can all agree on is to be grateful that Joe Barry isn’t in charge of maximizing this new defense with Micah Parsons.

Would be like handing the keys to your Ferrari to your 101 year old grandmother.

[CheezWizHed]

12 minutes ago, adambr2 said:

One thing I think we can all agree on is to be grateful that Joe Barry isn’t in charge of maximizing this new defense with Micah Parsons.

Would be like handing the keys to your Ferrari to your 101 year old grandmother.

What do you mean?? Micah would be great dropping back into coverage to shut down Justin Jefferson!

[HarryDoyle]

5 hours ago, adambr2 said:

I would also like to state that it’s not a bad thing, at all, to win dominantly and still have things to say “there’s a lot here that can be improved on and cleaned up, here, here, and here”.

In fact I would say that it’s a very good thing to be able to do that, and probably a major focus of the team every week. 

 

Yeah, I don't think MLF told the team after the game that it was okay that there were some mistakes made on the field because they won.

[Yaz19]

GO PACK!!!!!  (That is all)

[adambr2]

4 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

What do you mean?? Micah would be great dropping back into coverage to shut down Justin Jefferson!

Our best player should guard their best player. It doesn’t get more logical than that.

[BrewerFan]

5 hours ago, True Blue Brew Crew said:

They will in time. Right now he's the only one who the defense is gonna have to respect deep. I'm excited to see what they do with Golden later in the year when Watson is around to be the deep guy.

That could be SO big for the Packers. It's a little like adding Parsons to the defense in the way he tilts the field and the safeties either rotate over to help double him, OR he just beats you deep. He's not on the same level as Parsons as a WR or... he'd be Jamar Chase/Justin Jefferson, but you still have to account for him. Watson on one side, Golden on the other, Wicks, Doubs, Kraft, Musgrave, the middle just opens up. 

It'd also obviously be better if Reed was healthy, but... with the Jones fracture he has, missing two months isn't the worst thing in the world... I guess. Let both things heal.

 

15 games in the regular season left, a LOT of things still have to go right, but this team also has a LOT of upside and a lot of room for improvement yet. 

[endaround]

Golden is not a top 5 draft pick.  People expecting Olave are way too optimistic.  If he matches Drake London's first season, that would be outstanding( 72 receptions for 866 yards). I would go with the under but it could happen.

I also am not sure what Watson will bring.  No one knows if he lost speed and given he's never really been a great route runner (likely due to never being healthy enough to get there) its unclear what he brings.  The fact he was willing to sign a 1 year deal makes it look like his camp isn't sure how much he'll actually be ready to go this year.

[BrewerFan]

20 hours ago, LouisEly said:

Jordan Love has an average deep ball completion percentage according to this source.  Ranked 17th in 2024, 16th in 2023:

https://www.playerprofiler.com/nfl/jordan-love/

It's far from a predictor of success.  According to that same source, Patrick Mahomes ranked 34th in 2024 (26.5%), Josh Allen ranked 26th, Lamar Jackson ranked 27th.  

I just think misses stand out more than hits. He dropped that ball into Reed perfectly on the play he got hurt, he hit Heath where only he had a chance to catch it. I'd love to see a VR of what it's like to play QB in the NFL with everything crossing your eyes and everything going on around you. 

I didn't see the route that Golden ran, but for Love to overthrow him... a 4.29 guy, that's almost impressive. But if nothing else, we've seen... beyond any doubt, that Love has every single tool needed to be an elite QB. An MVP caliber QB. Gotta put it all together and do it consistently, but... he's been great at time.

 

16 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

The entire DB was solid and covered well all night.  

• Nixon won't play like that every night, but it seems like he continues to improve as a CB.  Funny there were still some in TC thinking he wasn't an outside CB. Very sticky tonight with a lot of breakups.

 

Edit-I'm not even touching the rest of what you said because... I think you nailed it. 

 

Yeah... but SO much has changed from when we were going to run out Nixon, Hobbs and Valentine with Bullardd in the slot(where he was terrible last year). Hafley played 3 CBs over 80% of the time at BC and about 80% of the time last year. This year, he's played 3 CBs just 5 snaps in BOTH weeks. I still think CB is an area of weakness. 

Where you REALLY see it is on 3rd or 4th and short and you need to get up in the faces of the WRs, the ball is coming out quick and that's been the ONE area the Packers have not been able to get stops. Vs either the Lions or the Redskins.  

This was a pretty big concern by... the National Media and the Local press, so I'll just speak for myself, but I was concerned that they hadn't added any outside corners and we relying on guys who'd played almost exclusively slot or like Hobbs and Nixon had played better in the slot than he had as an outside corner... I didn't follow camp all that closely as I said, but when we'd talked about it... we were talking about Hafley's scheme which is ideally, more man coverage(more as in...like 60-40 or 50/50 zone/man, nobody is running man every play other than... maybe Gregg Williams). 

Even then(during or around the draft, when Garrett wanted a trade) it was kinda an either or. We need to improve the CBs or get more pressure. 

Micah Parsons changes all of that... but guys like that are so seldom traded, I didn't really think it was realistic... even when I posted about it, it felt like every other trade... but even more far fetched as this was the Cowboys and so much less than I thought.  Now... Hobbs, Nixon, Bullard... just like the pass rush grades of most of our DL, their coverage has improved drastically. 

I don't think those players have changed in what they're capable of doing, but NOW you can play to their strengths. Nixon can play on his toes, break on the ball faster, knowing he has help over the top.... When asked what's changed, why is this team playing with more swagger this year," he says, "Swagger? Yeah, we got Micah Parsons!" 

 

So yeah, when we were looking at losing Jaire and the off-season additions Gutekunst had made, the CB room was a HUGE red flag. They moved a WR to CB and he's probably our #3/4 CB. We only played with 2 CBs in Week1 and in Week 2, we played 3, but only 2 on the field all but 5 snaps. So it's a pure zone defense, but... just speaking for myself, this was back when we were talking about how the Packers defense was going to take the next step. We were getting rid of Ja and you had Hafley and Matt LaFleur talking about how they weren't able to play the way they wanted to at times due to personnel... and a defense that thrived off interceptions... which unless you have a pass rush that's just dominant and getting strip sacks, that's hard to rely on(Xavier McKinney started off with... 5 straight games last year IIRC.) This year you have one.... I believe.

So yeah, playing a C1, single high man scheme, I had and still have... very little confidence in this defense taking the next step in THAT respect(though... if you have confidence, who knows). 

Hell, we were talking about a lack of excitement about this team a day or two before the trade because we didn't know what we had. If Gary would bounce back, Clark, what would LVN make that big jump and then Edgerrin Cooper. Those were the things were were hoping would keep our defense at the level it was last year.

But Nixon being able to drop into a zone, know he's got help over the top, but also know the ball is coming out quick, that's it. Micah Parsons is a force multiplier. 

 

I think that speaks to Jeff Hafley as well. Bullard isn't good in man, so he started rotating him with Hobbs in the slot and they're also playing VERY little base....Parsons and Gary were allowed to stand up when they're comfortable, the Cheetah package with LVN, Gary and Parsons plus Wyatt. And I'm listening to James Jones right now on that show with Acho talking about how he was worried about that secondary and now "they an sit on those routes." That's what he's doing. He's not locking anyone down and he doesn't need to. Just come up, hit, don't allow YAC yards... which they didn't until late in the game.

 

But MAN... this is like a dream. Brian Gutekunst talked OPENLY about wanting to an elite edge and how if there was one, he'd hypothetically be willing to add edge rushers and you go out and jump on that opportunity and now you can play to the strengths of your secondary, you don't need to cover longer in order to send pressure. 

What this actually looks like... the '96 scheme. You had Fritz Shurmur who kinda pioneered that zone blitz by overloading one side... and the dropping a DT. 

We played with Butler, Eugene Robinson and Mike Prior with Newsome and Doug Evans, the front 4, Gabe Wilkins in pass rushing downs for Gilbert and then Wayne Simmons abusing TEs, Brian Williams flying around like Cooper. I'll take Cooper, Bullard and Wyatt, Wooden over Wilkins, Santana and Mike Prior, but the scheme is VERY similar.

I've said before I think if you take Reggie off that '96, '97 defense, they're average, not special. This defense was better. 

 

It's gonna come down to jhow can Jordan Love play in the post-season, how healthy they can be. 

Right NOW though, dominated the #1 defense last year and the #5 defense last year, long season, but as indifferent as I am to the Badgers right now, I'm THAT excited about the Packers.

The ONE thing I'm worried about at THIS moment... is Myles Garrett. He may be the only player better than Micah at that position, Tom is questionable. I don't care if Kraft doesn't go out for a pass, you better take care of Garett. Keep him off Love. 

 

16 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Love - really nice overall night for Love.  He does run hot/cold, but most QBs do that at times.  I'm concerned about his ability to pick up the blitz though.  It still seems to "surprise" him and he has no plan for a hot read.  The OL was part of it, I'm sure... but he has to read the blitz and make the adjustments necessary or a D like MN will eat him alive.

I agree, that's a bit of a concern. Free runners, you gotta have a hot read, or there should be a guy who's in man who you can try and throw back shoulder to, a checkdown. There were free blitzers and we were getting beat quickly at times.

BUT... for the plays we've seen Love leave out there, the two passes to Golden, the deep throw and then early on 4th down where he had the DBs beat, through 35 games Love is 20-15, Rodgers was 19-16, Love has 64/22 TD/INT, Rodgers was 63/23. QB rating, Rodgers was like 98.1 and Love is like 96.7(that one is off memory).

So he's still in that dropping a DIME in there to Reed, hitting Heath where only he can get it on the sideline. Just gotta start hitting even ONE more a game and you're adding 7 points. He's SOOO close to being MVP caliber and... again, because of Parsons(I don't think you can give him too much credit) he's not forcing the ball in there and it seems like he knows he'll get the ball back. 

It's a LONG year, but I won't pretend this isn't the best team in the NFL right now. We still need a LOT of other things to go right for us, but right now, this is the best team in the NFL.  

So... to your last point;

[BrewerFan]

16 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

• Overall... way too many penalties.  That kept Washington in the game.  MLF won his challenge, so we have that going for us. Nice win all around though.

I'm also impressed by Jayden Daniels.  He picks up the blitz better than Love does.  He has so few weapons at his disposal though...  Get him an OL, a few WRs, and a TE that isn't at his EOL and he will be dangerous. 

I think the biggest area they can improve, Love just... he starts hitting a couple more of those shots where he's got someone open and this goes from a team that LOOKS like the best in the NFL to just a dominant team on offense and defense.

They still played sloppy, penalties, missed blitz pickups(Brooks in Week 1 made at least one TD possible just ROCKING two guys in pass protection. I'm positive that's the reason you're seeing him and not Wilson.

But those things did keep Washington in the game. I think there's another level Love is going to get to. We can dream on Watson, Golden, Reed, Doubs, Wicks, Heath and then Kraft, Musgrave... and Fitzpatrick who is  complete TE(so is Kraft, but... I don't need to say that, right?)

 

Jayden Daniels to me is what everyone said Lamar was coming out, but he hasn't had the coaching, the defense, the OL or the run game. 

The differences;

1-Daniels takes hits outside the pocket that Lamar just doesn't. Lamar has that Barry Sanders like ability to seemingly never get hit square. 

2-Daniels ability to throw outside the numbers and downfield is... MILES ahead of younger Lamar, even first MVP Lamar and I think he's better than Lamar NOW at it. 

Daniels could be the #2 QB in the NFL in a year or 2... and he may very well be better than Mahomes for a stretch. That's what's possible. It's also possible he's Randall Cunningham(in the modern NFL) but the hits wear on him too much. 

But he is SO impressive. I thought Caleb Williams was so clearly the most TALENTED QB in that draft class...and then I watched Merril Hodge(who is shockingly good at evaluating QBs) break them down and Daniels biggest flaw was he almost refused to throw over the middle. He stayed away from it, but he was throwing just darts on those 40 yard throws to complete a 20 yard out or rolling out to his right and hitting his guy in stride. 

A lot of running QBs, they open up the passing game because you have to commit another player to him or you have to change the way you rush, but Daniels... to me, if he lost his ability to run like he can and he had Jordan Love's mobility or Matthew Stafford, I think he would still be a franchise QB. 

 

If I was a Washington fan, I'd be feeling VERY confident about the future of my team. They need to get younger, they need to hit on some more picks, but you have a franchise QB there... if you can keep him -healthy. 

He also seems so mature, he has poise, he seems like the perfect young QB you want coming in after the JOKE of a franchise they've had with the Front Office and Management and all of their sexual harassment and just sleezy stuff, this kid is perfect to lead them into the future and to... give them a new look. 

[BrewerFan]

7 hours ago, endaround said:

Golden is not a top 5 draft pick.  People expecting Olave are way too optimistic.  If he matches Drake London's first season, that would be outstanding( 72 receptions for 866 yards). I would go with the under but it could happen.

I also am not sure what Watson will bring.  No one knows if he lost speed and given he's never really been a great route runner (likely due to never being healthy enough to get there) its unclear what he brings.  The fact he was willing to sign a 1 year deal makes it look like his camp isn't sure how much he'll actually be ready to go this year.

I don't think they are. Love underthrew him on one throw he got behind the defense and then overthrew him on another where he should have taken it for 6. 

There's not much of a difference between where Olave was graded coming out and where Golden was. They were both really good route runners.. and in fact, that's what people were talking about Golden about while saying Bond was the burner(remember both were considered 1st rd picks). 

Golden went about 10-12 slots below projections, Olave above... I don't think Golden has to match Olave's numbers to have his impact. The Packers spread the ball out. 

Nobody had more than 76 targets last year and 5 guys were between 70 and 76. Olave had 119 and 138 targets and was a #1 by FAR right out of the gate. The offense isn't centered around Golden. I think you'll see him on the same level as Olave as the year goes on. 

 

As for Watson, I've had 3 ACLs. They were when I was 18, 20 and 23. They were clean. They're so much better now than they were 20 years ago when I had mine and they're... so much better than they were 20 years before that. I don't think he's going to have any issue getting back to full speed.

The biggest issue is having patience... you start feeling 6 months in like you're good to go and that's when you can have catastrophic injuries and re-injure your knee. 

But he had a clean tear. All I need him to do this year is to be able to run a go and take a Safety with him... 

4 players in NFL HISTORY have run sub 4.4 40s, at 6.5 220.

He doesn't need to run a full route tree. He's a weapon and a threat and he won't be all the way back this year, but he's going to be a huge addition. 

[BrewerFan]

I posted this on the Packers 2025 season, but this covers Nixon, Belton, Morgan, the scheme...

 

Nixon does make a great play in man on 4th and 4. That's... kinda my only TINY concern at this point(which I just wrote War and Peace on). But I like the Breakdowns of Belton, Morgan, the scheme, Musgrave and Kraft on that big play to Kraft. Doesn't really touch on how many plays the Packers left out there... which I actually find encouraging as I think Love will start hitting Golden as he starts to get his chemistry down. Anyway... 

 

[OldSchoolSnapper]

On 9/12/2025 at 11:10 PM, endaround said:

Golden is not a top 5 draft pick.  People expecting Olave are way too optimistic.  If he matches Drake London's first season, that would be outstanding( 72 receptions for 866 yards). I would go with the under but it could happen.

I also am not sure what Watson will bring.  No one knows if he lost speed and given he's never really been a great route runner (likely due to never being healthy enough to get there) its unclear what he brings.  The fact he was willing to sign a 1 year deal makes it look like his camp isn't sure how much he'll actually be ready to go this year.

Uh, any player in his shoes signs that deal. 

I think Watson is a potential game changer, but it depends on being healthy. I think the Packers offered that deal because they think his ACL was a one-off, and that they solved the nagging soft tissue problems. 

I don't think they have another WR on the team with Watson's ability. 

[endaround]

14 hours ago, OldSchoolSnapper said:

Uh, any player in his shoes signs that deal. 

I think Watson is a potential game changer, but it depends on being healthy. I think the Packers offered that deal because they think his ACL was a one-off, and that they solved the nagging soft tissue problems. 

I don't think they have another WR on the team with Watson's ability. 

If you think you are going to come back and go banana pants over half a season, you don't agree to a 1 year deal for $13.5 million before the season starts.  If you think you might come back late, not come back or come back and not be 100% you jump at that deal.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

31 minutes ago, endaround said:

If you think you are going to come back and go banana pants over half a season, you don't agree to a 1 year deal for $13.5 million before the season starts.  If you think you might come back late, not come back or come back and not be 100% you jump at that deal.

You agree to a $13.5 million deal because if you come back and get hurt again you are playing the following season on a vet minimum if you're lucky. Any agent in the world that advised Watson to not sign that, and just come back and play, should have his license revoked.

That the Packers offered it at all tells me that they think he's very likely to be able to make a recovery. He has the injury-plagued badge on his jersey, but the real nagging problem was soft tissue, which they did seem to get past last year. The ACL was an unfortunate one-off that can happen to anyone, and really isn't the injury it used to be.

Even if he went banana pants you're talking about what's probably going to be a handful of games. Teams would use it to drive his price down. This is really the best outcome for him, he gets to play next year with a nice AAV and earn a giant contract.

[CheezWizHed]

On 9/13/2025 at 5:26 AM, BrewerFan said:

I just think misses stand out more than hits. He dropped that ball into Reed perfectly on the play he got hurt, he hit Heath where only he had a chance to catch it. I'd love to see a VR of what it's like to play QB in the NFL with everything crossing your eyes and everything going on around you. 

I didn't see the route that Golden ran, but for Love to overthrow him... a 4.29 guy, that's almost impressive. But if nothing else, we've seen... beyond any doubt, that Love has every single tool needed to be an elite QB. An MVP caliber QB. Gotta put it all together and do it consistently, but... he's been great at time.

 

Edit-I'm not even touching the rest of what you said because... I think you nailed it. 

 

Yeah... but SO much has changed from when we were going to run out Nixon, Hobbs and Valentine with Bullardd in the slot(where he was terrible last year). Hafley played 3 CBs over 80% of the time at BC and about 80% of the time last year. This year, he's played 3 CBs just 5 snaps in BOTH weeks. I still think CB is an area of weakness. 

Where you REALLY see it is on 3rd or 4th and short and you need to get up in the faces of the WRs, the ball is coming out quick and that's been the ONE area the Packers have not been able to get stops. Vs either the Lions or the Redskins.  

This was a pretty big concern by... the National Media and the Local press, so I'll just speak for myself, but I was concerned that they hadn't added any outside corners and we relying on guys who'd played almost exclusively slot or like Hobbs and Nixon had played better in the slot than he had as an outside corner... I didn't follow camp all that closely as I said, but when we'd talked about it... we were talking about Hafley's scheme which is ideally, more man coverage(more as in...like 60-40 or 50/50 zone/man, nobody is running man every play other than... maybe Gregg Williams). 

Even then(during or around the draft, when Garrett wanted a trade) it was kinda an either or. We need to improve the CBs or get more pressure. 

Micah Parsons changes all of that... but guys like that are so seldom traded, I didn't really think it was realistic... even when I posted about it, it felt like every other trade... but even more far fetched as this was the Cowboys and so much less than I thought.  Now... Hobbs, Nixon, Bullard... just like the pass rush grades of most of our DL, their coverage has improved drastically. 

I don't think those players have changed in what they're capable of doing, but NOW you can play to their strengths. Nixon can play on his toes, break on the ball faster, knowing he has help over the top.... When asked what's changed, why is this team playing with more swagger this year," he says, "Swagger? Yeah, we got Micah Parsons!" 

 

So yeah, when we were looking at losing Jaire and the off-season additions Gutekunst had made, the CB room was a HUGE red flag. They moved a WR to CB and he's probably our #3/4 CB. We only played with 2 CBs in Week1 and in Week 2, we played 3, but only 2 on the field all but 5 snaps. So it's a pure zone defense, but... just speaking for myself, this was back when we were talking about how the Packers defense was going to take the next step. We were getting rid of Ja and you had Hafley and Matt LaFleur talking about how they weren't able to play the way they wanted to at times due to personnel... and a defense that thrived off interceptions... which unless you have a pass rush that's just dominant and getting strip sacks, that's hard to rely on(Xavier McKinney started off with... 5 straight games last year IIRC.) This year you have one.... I believe.

So yeah, playing a C1, single high man scheme, I had and still have... very little confidence in this defense taking the next step in THAT respect(though... if you have confidence, who knows). 

Hell, we were talking about a lack of excitement about this team a day or two before the trade because we didn't know what we had. If Gary would bounce back, Clark, what would LVN make that big jump and then Edgerrin Cooper. Those were the things were were hoping would keep our defense at the level it was last year.

But Nixon being able to drop into a zone, know he's got help over the top, but also know the ball is coming out quick, that's it. Micah Parsons is a force multiplier. 

 

I think that speaks to Jeff Hafley as well. Bullard isn't good in man, so he started rotating him with Hobbs in the slot and they're also playing VERY little base....Parsons and Gary were allowed to stand up when they're comfortable, the Cheetah package with LVN, Gary and Parsons plus Wyatt. And I'm listening to James Jones right now on that show with Acho talking about how he was worried about that secondary and now "they an sit on those routes." That's what he's doing. He's not locking anyone down and he doesn't need to. Just come up, hit, don't allow YAC yards... which they didn't until late in the game.

 

But MAN... this is like a dream. Brian Gutekunst talked OPENLY about wanting to an elite edge and how if there was one, he'd hypothetically be willing to add edge rushers and you go out and jump on that opportunity and now you can play to the strengths of your secondary, you don't need to cover longer in order to send pressure. 

What this actually looks like... the '96 scheme. You had Fritz Shurmur who kinda pioneered that zone blitz by overloading one side... and the dropping a DT. 

We played with Butler, Eugene Robinson and Mike Prior with Newsome and Doug Evans, the front 4, Gabe Wilkins in pass rushing downs for Gilbert and then Wayne Simmons abusing TEs, Brian Williams flying around like Cooper. I'll take Cooper, Bullard and Wyatt, Wooden over Wilkins, Santana and Mike Prior, but the scheme is VERY similar.

I've said before I think if you take Reggie off that '96, '97 defense, they're average, not special. This defense was better. 

Yes, we all know Micah Parsons impacts the whole defense.  But Nixon proved he was a starting outside CB in the league last year.  Not HOF, not All-Pro, not even ProBowl... just a solid starting outside CB.  But people still chirped about him being outside again this year.  I think he has proved he belongs at outside CB. 

That is also why I gave Gute some credit for bringing in Hobbs to be an outside CB.  Perhaps our system fits those two better as outside CB? I was very comfortable with Nixon, Hobbs, and Valentine as the people getting most of our snaps at outside CB.  There might not be a high ceiling with those three, but it gave us a pretty high floor.  

I do agree (and always did) that our depth was the biggest concern.  We have a lot of youth and inexperience there... but hopefully some gems start to form out of the dust... or perhaps another waiver/PS addition as the year goes on will help our depth.  

And of course... Micah's (and the rest of our DL's) impact will certainly help cover our DB backend.  Detroit's pass rush showed that you need more than one guy and thankfully, we have more than one. 

[BrewerFan]

11 hours ago, CheezWizHed said:

Yes, we all know Micah Parsons impacts the whole defense.  But Nixon proved he was a starting outside CB in the league last year.  Not HOF, not All-Pro, not even ProBowl... just a solid starting outside CB.  But people still chirped about him being outside again this year.  I think he has proved he belongs at outside CB. 

That is also why I gave Gute some credit for bringing in Hobbs to be an outside CB.  Perhaps our system fits those two better as outside CB? I was very comfortable with Nixon, Hobbs, and Valentine as the people getting most of our snaps at outside CB.  There might not be a high ceiling with those three, but it gave us a pretty high floor.  

We're pretty much playing Joe Barry schemes. We played a league low man coverage in 9% of the snaps the first two weeks. That was what everyone was upset with Barry for. Sitting back in coverage. 

Obviously we have LBers who are long and more athletic, but I think Hafley is just making the scheme work with the personnel. 

Nixon can run and hit. I thought he would make a good safety for those skills, but he's doesn't have great agility. So, they're not asking him to stay in Jameson Williams back hip, they're just asking him to carrying him up the field and if he's not going deep, passing him off to the safety and he's doing a GREAT job jumping anything in front of him and driving on the ball. I think it's basically a Cover 3 Match that Seattle played mixed with a Cover 2, but our LBers aren't really taking that deep drop like that Tampa Two. 

In THAT type of defense, I'm good with a player like him. He's definitely proven he can be a pretty solid CB. Last year in coverage, he was one spot above the middle for CBs. I thought it was 112 out of 225, but I could be wrong. But he's always been aggressive, physical and now maybe more confident plus the pressures?

At the time though, we were talking about how this defense was going to get better. Again, the 'we didn't always have the personnel to play the way we wanted to,' Hafley is a guy who played a good deal of Man and now he's playing almost none.
Also, we are playing almost zero snaps with 3 CBs. That makes the depth a bit less concerning. 

You're also absolutely right, we do have more than one guy who can rush the passer. Gary was a top 20 ranked edge. That's good. You get the breakout it seems like LVN is giving you and you can have a solid defense. ONE guy can always be eliminated(though Dexter Lawrence is trying to disprove that). We did it to Aaron Donald a few times and he is about as good at his best as anyone since Reggie/LT. Him and JJ Watt. But we found a way to slide, chip, double. 
Gary, Wyatt, LVN and then well timed blitzes are so important. 

Another thing he did, I don't think we blitzed much vs Detroit, but we blitzed the 2nd fewest in the NFL in 2024. Jayden Daniels struggles vs the blitz(as do most QBs). We blitzed him 32% of the snaps last night and on 23% of his drop backs. 3/11 for 30 yards and I think one of them was on the Ertz TD, but you got off the field and he's making the adjustments he needs to.

Other than that, Barryn Sorrell looked REALLY good re-watching the game and so did Wyatt. If he stays healthy, he's going to get a big payday. Maybe a 3 year extension right now may be called for. He is 28 by the time of his 5th year option, so I'd consider that. The only negatives I could find on that side of the ball were a couple bad plays by Quay...even then, the missed tackle on Ertz is a tough play to make when you're going one way and he's going the other on that crossing route. Cooper maybe left a couple big plays on the field... I guess. Xavier McKinney didn't have a pick when he should have. It's so nitpicky with the defense. I feel like we could have been up both games by 4TDs in the 4th Quarter. 

 

I would expect a lot of 3 man routes moving forward and a lot of max protect. I just hope we're doing the same vs Myles Garrett. He might be the only DE in the league better than Parsons and even Tom is gonna need some help. Good test for the OL.

*Also... Anthony Belton played well and that holding call was the right call, but I didn't actually think Belton got beat or held him. Maybe poor hand placement, but man, I am so ready for Sunday and the Browns. 

 

One thing about Baseball, you only have to wait 21 hours more of the time. The NFL, you only get 17 games(this year I expect 20). 

[BrewerFan]

18 hours ago, endaround said:

If you think you are going to come back and go banana pants over half a season, you don't agree to a 1 year deal for $13.5 million before the season starts.  If you think you might come back late, not come back or come back and not be 100% you jump at that deal.

He and his Father seem pretty damn confident about him... and from everything coming out of GB, he THINKS it'll be sooner.

Also, 13.5M makes you think... the Packers feel fairly confident he's going to be back this year. 8M for a guy who misses the whole year is a fair deal.... but we'll see. They initially wanted to get a the Vikings 32nd pick... which still would have been an overpay(using the old chart) for the 2 2nds.

 

13.5M is almost exactly what the 5th year option would have been. So that seems like a number they just kinda went off of. 

~4M mark on Watson, not much later on Tom. 

Also, Tom with a "torn oblique?"

If that's true... I don't care how "minor" it is, just throw him on IR and make sure he heals up. Cleveland, Dallas and a Bye. 

You don't need to push through it at this point in the season.