The Green Bay Packers put outside linebacker Nick Perry on injured reserve on Wednesday and activated tight end Andrew Quarless from the physically unable to perform list.
Perry had wrist surgery earlier this week and had missed the last three games because of a knee injury. The Packers will now be forced to go with Clay Matthews (who has an injured hamstring), Erik Walden, Dezman Moses and Frank Zombo at outside linebacker the rest of the season.
Not all is lost if one of those guys goes down though. Both Brad Jones and Jamari Lattimore played the outside last season before moving inside in training camp. In an emergency situation, the Packers could theoretically use Lattimore on the outside or shift Jones, who’s currently starting at inside linebacker, outside and go with Robert Francois, who started last season in place of an injured A.J. Hawk, inside.
As for Quarless, AKA God’s Gifts, he’s returning from a torn ACL suffered in week 10 of last season. Prior to that, Quarless was virtually a non-factor. He caught just three balls for 21 yards in 10 games after catching 21 for 238 during his rookie season.
So, here’s an idea. The Packers have plenty of tight ends — five to be exact — and hell, at least three of them might be capable of contributing on offense.
Why don’t the Packers throw in more two tight-end sets like the New England Patriots do with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez? Granted, these guys are not Gronk and Hernandez, but we do know Jermichael Finley is a matchup problem and Tom Crabtree has come through with his share of big plays.
Just a thought.
Quarless was a contributor in 2010 and made some plays. Last year, Quarless had developed into the Packers best blocking TE. Quarless didn’t catch a lot of passes since Finley was the primary pass catching TE, but he DID contribute.
Props to Crabtree for the couple plays he’s made this year, but people seem to have forgotten his tendency to drop big passes, especially in the Giants playoff game and against KC.
So, why not run the two TE set and throw the ball more? Because they have the tendency to drop the ball. Simple answer.
Great idea Monty…also would help out the O Line deficiencies by leaving in at least one extra blocker who keys the coverage and decides whether or not to remain in as a protector or get down the field as an outlet receiver.
So to sum up: we’re going to replace two first round picks in Matthews and Perry with undrafted free agents in Moses and Zombo and a street free agent in Walden. Then, our depth if one of those three goes down is another undrafted free agent in Lattimore, or a 6th round pick in Jones (or was it 7th?).
Please forgive me if I’m nervous about our pass rush…..
To be fair, Walden’s been playing exceptionally well of late. Moses can get some push, but even with Zombo/Lattimore/Jones, clearly that won’t add up to CM3.
Still, I think the rush will be sufficient, especially given the contributions we’ve been getting from the defensive line (Neal, Daniels, Wilson, and Worthy each have recorded at least 2 sacks) and whatever (unfortunately, fairly infrequent) exotic blitzes Capers can dial up with corners/safeties. It should, at least, be enough to hold things up ’til Clay is healthy enough to go.
I don’t disagree and I wasn’t being alarmist. You could make the case that TT has done a great job finding these guys. Your own word: “sufficient” doesn’t inspire confidence is all I’m saying.
Remember that 3rd and short in the 4th quarter of the NFC championship game (shortly after peppers was flagged for unnecessary roughness on #12)? Quarless let a first down pass go right through his hands to kill the drive at the 40. I remember thinking “This is bullshit, if Finley was healthy, we’d have a first down”
LOL get it? ’cause I was insinuating that finley could catch