Game View: Cardinals 26, Packers 20
January 24, 2016
So, here it is, the final Green Bay Packers Game View for the 2015 season. This was less painful than last season’s finale, but there were some similarities.
GRADES
A
- Jeff Janis
- Nick Perry
- T.J. Lang
- Jared Abbrederis
B
- Aaron Rodgers
- Bryan Bulaga
- David Bakhtiari
- Josh Sitton
- Corey Linsley
- Mike Daniels
- B.J. Raji
- Letroy Giuon
- Jake Ryan
- Damarious Randall
- Ha Ha Clinton-Dix
C
- Clay Matthews
- Julius Peppers
- Mike Neal
- Casey Hayward
- Morgan Burnett
- Mike Pennel
- Richard Rodgers
- James Starks
- Eddie Lacy
D
- James Jones
F
- Sam Shields
- Tim Masthay
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I understand that Sam Shields dropped 3 interceptions, including a game winner, but can we agree that he had at least a good game? How does he receive an “F” Thrown on 10 times, 3 completions for 27 yards. He was excellent in coverage. Does a lesser CB even put himself in position to make those plays? It says something about him that he put himself in position to make 3 plays against a team that was otherwise an offensive juggernaut all season. Sure, in big games, you need to make big plays when the opportunity is there. In that regard, 0 for 3 chances is completely unacceptable…But the guy was concussed. He had a very serious brain injury. His head left a divot on Lambeau field, and he missed 4 games. FOUR GAMES!!! Yeah, I know, he was playing, which means he passed protocol. Blah blah blah. It is entirely feasible that his brain getting raked got in the way of him seeing the ball into his hands. Give the guy a break. At least he wasn’t getting BURNED like Hayward would have been if Sam didn’t play.
And another thing, even without his 3 would-be-interceptions, WE STILL WON THE TURNOVER BATTLE!!! When you win the TO battle in a playoff game, you should win. Let’s not use 3 missed tough plays that weren’t made in an otherwise exemplary Sam Shields performance as a scapegoat for a complete coaching failure.
You could maybe make the case for a C grade, but if you’re trying to convince ME, personally, of anything other than an A for Shields, it would be a tough task…McCarthy deserves an F, that’s about it.
Then you had the audacity to give Damarious Randall a B? Overall, he did have a good game, but he actually fucked up. Sam Shields didn’t fuck up, really. 23 fucked up in OT and essentially lost the game for us…
I agree, especially with the part that he was recovering from a serious injury which had kept his reps to a minimum…..
Janis and QB1 deserve an A+ just for giving us hope going into OT….
The whole front line D needs to be moved up – I believe I heard that holding Cards to under 80 yds total rushing hadn’t been achieved by anyone in 2015 ….
I think Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth deserve an A rating just for the comments before and after Hail Mary RevB…..
Shields wasn’t concussed Shaun, lets get that out of the way for the 4th time. The NFL doesn’t let anyone play concussed, It’s not an excuse that he was concussed 5 weeks earlier. As a matter of fact, i think if a guy makes 9.5 mill/year, because he’s a playmaker, and drops 3 bunnys in a playoff game, that indeed deserves an f.
Coaching staff should see your game views. Not that they would learn someting but they could.
@Shaun
Last season I said Shields could be a liability and before this game someone said about him that it could be “see you see that shit?” or could be “see you see that shit” . I understood and agreed.
So I don’t think it was his concusion per se.
Why are you putting up the game film? It’s too hard to watch that! The way our team has lost the last two seasons it’s just too hard to watch football until next season.
Dude, to quote Fred Nietzsche :
Was Ihn nicht umbringt macht Ihn staerker …..
Haha
I am over getting stronger as a Packers fan! The packers need to get stronger! Lol! Dig the Nietzsche . . .
Oh yeah, great job Shaw !
You’ve really done a great job bringing you play commentary to a new level in 2015…. (as painful as it was watching many of the reels)….
Look forward to more starting in September as GB heads towards SB-LI
It’s Shawn – sorry !
Mcginn wrote in his latest article that McCarthy is fed up with Thompson’s lack of free agency activity. I really hope this spurs something. And I am well aware someone will respond me saying McGinn has issues with the team…. At least he has balls. The majority of the reporters dick ride the organization pathetically
FKN A
Amen to that!
I thought it was odd, that you didn’t diagnose the last touchdown play. Why is that? I started watching the tape at the 75 yard Fitzgerald catch to actually see a view over the top. I thank you for providing the tape, but……. How do you know that portion of the field was Randall’s zone coverage, you don’t know, and you even admitted as much stating that it may have been Peppers zone (which i believe it was). I disagree with you that if Peppers rushed instead of dropping back into zone, that he would have sacked Palmer, but unless you have some clairvoyant powers, it’s hopeful thinking at best. I agree with you that where Peppers was playing was useless, he was covering nobody. But that was only because, his eyes never left Palmer, and there was never anything in front of him to cover, NOTHING. If he was reading Palmers eyes, then that should have told him to drop back further into coverage as Palmer was looking to his left the whole time until he felt pressure, then Peppers came after Palmer leaving his zone (from 15 yards away) leaving Fitzgerald even more open.
The bottom line is, that Peppers was useless in that play. He didn’t know his surroundings. If anything, he should have felt everything was behind him, and dropped back, instead he was just like us, a spectator.
BTW…Raji was a 1 man wrecking crew that game, especially the last play of the game in O T and he only earned a B?
Dom Capers said Randall was supposed to follow Fitz across field. That is what I was going with.
I think we’d both probably agree that the real blame for that play goes to Capers and then the three jokers- Clay, Shields and HaHa- who assumed Fitz was going out of bounds and got bitched at the sideline.
Well, i listened to part of Capers presser, one of his 2 every year, after and before the start of the season, and honestly, a couple min. in i got bored, and clicked off. If he did say that, my bad, but being a veteran, Peppers should have known that he wasn’t covering anything but grass, and should have dropped back.
Now, if Randall was supposed to chase Fitzgerald across the field in zone coverage (which makes no sense), it’s my contention, that, as i’ve already posted, therein lies the evils of having one of the youngest teams, you are (Capers) asking a rookie to cover a HOF receiver with the NFCCG on the line and hope he doesn’t make a mistake.
So young rosters, and draft and develop maybe salary cap friendly, but one way or the other, a price has to be paid. As we saw.
He was supposed to carry him longer in his zone not all the way across the field, that’s all, he still wouldn’t have been in position to make a play on the ball in the air, but may have been in better position to make the tackle.
HOF QB Tom Brady is getting killed. Offensive lines matter.
Belichek made some questionable calls, fire him!! The patriots should have had better offensive line depth! Fire their GM!
Today once again proves how hard it is to win in the nfl consistently and win in the playoffs every year.
Especially when you have to pass the ball in under 2 seconds. Kind of hard to win then. Good call.
The Sam Shields argument can go either way. He deserves credit for putting himself in position for those picks. Yes. No doubt.
On the other hand, this is the playoffs. You make plays or you go home.
Shields is one of the highest paid players on the defense. He is the Packers’ best ball-hawk in their secondary. Three times he had his hands on interceptions that could have made the difference in the game, and three times he dropped it. Carson Palmer tried to give the Packers that game, but Sam Shields let him off the hook.
We can talk about the coach or the GM or the ball boy all we want, but the bottom line is that players make plays. The teams that make the plays advance, and the teams that don’t go home.
This is two years in a row that the Packers had a playoff win in their grasp and then failed to make the plays to put it away.
In my estimation, a normally sure-handed player choked. In 2010, with the NFC Championship in the balance, Shields made the pick to seal the game. The Packers went on and won the Super Bowl. Why that team made plays and these past two teams have failed to, I do not know. I just know that until it does, the Packers will continue to lose in the playoffs.
You said it Shawn (it pains me to put that W in there where there should be a U). Sam Shields has been there, done that, and as a former college WR at Miami, is normally sure handed. He’s a proven playmaker, and was like a blanket in coverage all day. So why the drops? Your explanation is a choke job? Nah. Could it have had anything at all to do with the fact that not 30 days earlier his brain was bouncing around in his skull like a beach ball at a rock concert? I say yes.
The plays needed to be made, yes. Especially considering how huge the game was. Do or die. But lets not ostracize the guy for it. He played a solid game. His job is to cover, he covered. I’d rather him drop a potential pick that blow a coverage or get burned by his man. It’s not like he gets paid to catch like…idk…Davante Adams…………………….
^good post. It ultimately comes down to execution. Stars have to make the plays. Backup players have to step up and make a difference. The lack of impact plays from the packers star players the past couple years has cost them. It wasnt just shields fault, there were plenty of other opportunities for plays.
Thanks Shawn for all the time you have put in this year. I would also put Randall in the same category as Clay, Ha Ha, and Shields on the Fitzgerald pass play. Randall had every oppurtunity to make a tackle at almost the same point as the other three. Randall instead started running the wrong direction, away from the play. It is not the first time Randall has done so this year, as you pointed out in an earlier game view.
Even though i rarely watch them, Shawn should get credit for making those video’s, especially when he has to go diagnose a nightmare of a game, usually when we play a good team, or we shit the bed against NFC North teams at home, that can’t be any fun.
Nice video work. Thanks.
I don’t think Shields deserved an F for those 3 drops and awful tackle attempt, C+, B- perhaps, he had pretty great coverage all game.
That said, thanks for all your hard work, Shawn, don’t always agree with ya but truly appreciate the time, effort, and thought you put into this piece and your others. Here’s looking forward to another year of this and position group grading.
This deep ball misses to Janis were brutal. Rodgers was throwing off his back foot way too much and getting too cute with it all. He really needs to look in the mirror hard about that. Janis was getting open with ease. Thanks McCarthy for never playing him this year.
Agreed on Rodgers.
Yep!
The Yep was for Nate regarding MM not playing Janis much this year, and for Rodgers not taking his “throws” as serious as he has in the past.
Kinda hard to watch receivers, when you have defenders bearing down on you trying to take you out of the game.