Week One in Review

Seeing Nick Collins as a captain tugged at the old heart strings a bit. Good luck Nick!

The Packers have started the 2012 season with a thud, losing 30 – 22 at home to the 49ers. There will be no run at perfection this year and no talk of ‘best team ever.’ The Pack is now 2 – 3 in their last five games, including last year’s playoff loss to the Giants. While the trend is not positive, we are a far cry away from panic time. The fact is, the 49ers returned the best defense in the league last season and played accordingly, making yards and points tough to come by for the Packers in the early going. Our defense showed some of the same issues from last year, but did not play horribly. Of course Alex Smith is no Drew Breese, so you would have liked to shut him down, but this revamped defense needs some time to get to know each other. There were some positive notes to go along with the overall negative game, and at the end of the day it’s still just one loss.

Thumbs Up:

1.       RANDALL COBB!!! This guy is straight up electric. He was targeted nine times yesterday for a total of nine catches and 77 yards. He was sure handed, confident in his assignments, effective after the catch, and the team’s best pass catcher. The 49ers went to great lengths to prevent Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings from beating them deep (namely playing two safeties deep nearly the entire game), which created opportunities for Cobb underneath. The precocious second year veteran took advantage of every inch he was given by the defense. His punt return for a touchdown was sensational and timely. He has great vision on special teams, which we’ll return to shortly.

2.       Clay Matthews. Two and a half sacks are a great line for any outside linebacker, but add in two tackles for loss and four quarterback hits, and it’s obvious that Matthews was all over the field yesterday. Matthews faced only one blocker time and time again, and he made the Niners pay. I wonder how much of the single man attention given Matthews was the result of this year’s draft picks threatening to make plays from other spots on the field. In other words, even though Perry, Worthy, Daniels and even Raji didn’t create much pressure themselves, was their presence enough to free up Matthews like two seasons ago? Either way, fantastic effort from Clay, and a great sign of potential things to come this year.

3.       Special Teams. The Cobb return was the obvious difference maker for special teams. It came at a time when a quick touchdown was exactly what we needed, and it is so exciting to see a legitimate return game in Green Bay. Beyond Cobb, Tim Masthay punted six times for an average of over 48 yards, and pinned four punts inside the 20. This guy is likely the best punter in the league, and showed why he was given a lucrative contract extension. Crosby did not attempt any field goals, but limited the Niners to one kickoff return, recording a touchback three out of four times. Still waiting to see him face a high pressure kick.

Thumbs Down:

1.       Secondary. We only gave up 211 yards in the air, but the communication was often frantic and at times downright laughable. There were missed assignments galore, which led directly to points on more than one occasion. Frankly, we’re lucky we didn’t give up more points through the air. Now, there were new starters at both the strong safety (Woodson) and Z corner (Jarrett Bush) positions, and secondaries (like offensive lines) take time to gel. I’m not writing off our pass defense yet, and I think our defense will evolve to be much better than they were last year. That being said, they did not exactly look sharp in their first effort.

2.       D.J. Smith. I didn’t want to put him here, and he didn’t really have a bad game. The fact is, he is a significant downgrade from Desmond Bishop. Sure he had nine tackles and didn’t give up any obvious huge plays, but he showed no explosiveness or playmaking ability. He essentially looks like A.J. Hawk lite, which is still a fine player, just not a difference maker. He has gotten to this point in his career by outworking the competition, so let’s hope he can work to hone his instincts and take his game to the next level. If not, don’t expect many impact plays from our inside linebackers this year.

3.       Replacement Refs. Now I’m definitely not going to say that they cost us the game. As a matter of fact, their bumbling buffoonery may very well have benefitted us. The bottom line is that they did a bad to horrible job in yesterday’s game. They took forever to make calls, missed obvious calls, did not look confident, called a block in the back on a KICKING team (I would guess that hasn’t been called more than once in the last decade in the league), and certainly had an effect on the game. Both teams have to deal with them, so it’s not necessarily an advantage for anyone, but it won’t be long until these jokers really fuck something up that changes the outcome of a game. I’m just hoping it doesn’t happen to us.

It was not an ideal start to the season, but I am not worried even a little bit. We’ve got a short turnaround to play the Bears at home, and a win on Thursday would go a long way. The reality is that this could be another loss, and tons of people will hit the panic button if that happens. I’ve said it before, but professional athletes know how to react when their backs are against the wall. It’s easy for them to rise to the occasion when nobody says they can. The pressure that comes from expectation far exceeds that of the pressure that comes from doubters. Of course a win yesterday and a win on Thursday would be better, but all is not lost if we start the year 0 – 2. I look for our front seven to create all kinds of pressure for Jay Cutler on Thursday, which should lead to a couple of picks. Cutler will throw balls up from time to time, and our d-backs know how to capitalize. Anyway, fuck the doubters, keep your chin up, GO PACK!