Ha Ha Clinton-Dix Sore, But Gaining Confidence
You’ve probably noticed. The Green Bay Packers did well in drafting safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix.
The guy has 70 tackles and a pick in his rookie season. Perhaps more importantly, he’s added some toughness to the Packers defense and made it more flexible by freeing up Morgan Burnett.
This past Sunday, Clinton-Dix was again impressive. Not so much in a statistical sense, but more so in what he was asked to do and how he performed.
Clinton-Dix was one of the Packers defensive backs asked to cover Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, who is not only the best tight end in the league, but also probably the toughest match-up of any pass catcher.
As we noted yesterday, the Packers didn’t exactly shut Gronkowski down, but they did enough to limit him. Most importantly, he didn’t get in the end zone.
The one time he came close, Clinton-Dix was there to knock the ball out of his hands.
“Tom (Brady) just threw it up,” Gronkowski said. “It was a fade route. I tried to go up and make a play. I went under it. I am pretty sure I caught it, but at the last second (Clinton-Dix) made a nice play and hit it out of my hands. It was a good play by him.”
That play obviously could have changed the game if Gronkowski had made the catch. Instead, we’re talking about a big win for the Packers and a rookie with an awful lot of confidence.
“It gives me a lot of confidence,” Clinton-Dix said. “I just want to keep making plays, and continue to make this defense better. … It’s amazing just to come out with a win against a guy like Tom Brady. He’s one of the greatest in the business right now. Just to have all the weapons he has one offense, to come out with a win is a great thing.”
Of course, he also took some lumps battling a guy who’s 6-6, 265 and built like a brick shithouse.
I will never try and hit @RobGronkowski up high again. #RESPECT #sore
— Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (@haha_cd6) December 2, 2014
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Man, I am soooooo glad the JETS took Pryor instead of HHCD. Little Eddie Murphy is fitting in really well with the Pack’s secondary. CJ Mosley was the only dude I wanted above HHCD and he was gone. Good consolation prize.
Great pick.
Not sure CJ was the prize. I like you was man we have to get a first round ILB. Looked at highlight film of both Shazier and CJ. Shazier is one fast guy but looked to small. When looking at highlight film of CJ there was always a player that flew onto the screen and would usually beat CJ to the tackle or at least be there at the same time with a punch. It was HHCD. I was sold at that time on HHCD as the better pick even though CJ would have been great. I never thought HHCD would make it to the Pack. I believe he had a slow 40 time that may have dropped him, but damn he plays faster than his pre draft times would indicate. The Pack got a great pick and this upcoming draft we will get at least one great ILB.
i think our D needs another tall, fast CB first. shields is starting to get fragile in cold lambeau games [cf. last year’s playoff loss to SF, and last sunday’s concussion protocol injury]