Packers May Be Down to Two Corners This Week
You know about all of the injuries the Green Bay Packers have at cornerback. Sam Shields is on injured reserve, Damarious Randall is out another few weeks after surgery and Quinten Rollins has been sidelined by a groin injury for three weeks. Now Demetri Goodson is in concussion protocol.
That could realistically leave the Packers with just two healthy cornerbacks on Sunday — LaDarius Gunter and Josh Hawkins.
Although Rollins returned to practice this week, he’s been limited and is no certainty to play on Sunday. Considering how the Packers have traditionally handled concussions, Goodson seems likely to sit as well.
What would happen if that scenario plays out?
Gunter obviously starts on one side and the Packers would likely turn to safety Micah Hyde on the other. Hyde played corner as a rookie and has filled the nickel corner slot since Rollins and Randall have been sidelined.
So does this mean Hawkins will finally get some action? He did play briefly against Detroit, but notably fell down while covering Marvin Jones and gave up a huge gain. And that was the last we saw of Hawkins on defense.
The Packers may have no other choice this week with the pass-happy Colts in town.
They could use safety Morgan Burnett as the nickel back and bring in rookie Kentrell Brice to fill Burnett’s role. Alternatively, Brice could play centerfield and Ha Ha Clinton-Dix could fill Burnett’s role near the line of scrimmage. Clinton-Dix — and his seeming lack of awareness in the passing game — is better for that role anyway. Of course, that leaves an undrafted rookie at the back of the defense.
And what of the dime cornerback? It would have to be either Hawkins or Brice. If it’s Brice, that would bring another undrafted rookie, Marwin Evans, in at safety.
Both Evans and Brice have seen action on defense this season. It’s not as if they’re clueless. However, having two safeties covering Colts’ receivers isn’t a desirable situation.
If both Rollins and Goodson are out, the Packers need to give Hawkins a shot.
What the hell is he on the roster for if he can’t play in this scenario?
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Take the over.
The best of cornerbacks can be beat. Hawkins stumbled on one play. If needed I think he will do fine. May get some defensive holding penalties, but so does Goodson. Hawkins may show that he is better at corner than Goodson, at least I hope so. Evans to me has better change of direction skills or looser hips than Brice. Evans would be better as a corner than Brice in a pinch. Brice may be a lot better as the up safety rather than the free safety. Brice brings a punch in run support. The problem with Brice is he has always played free safety. Even at Tech he was usually lined up so deep you never saw him on film. Again I believe Whitehead was brought up for corner help not safety help. Whitt and Perry must be putting in a lot of hours.
I don’t understand the lame ass comment about Clinton Dix lack of awareness in the Passing game.. haven’t missed a Packergame in the past few years… Darren Perry Safeties Coach & Mike MCCarthy have written as well as stated the exact opposite of that Stupid comment about Clinton Dix… in the future if you wish to be taken Seriously as a sports writer try watching a few games prior to making negative comments with no facts to base your comments … it easy to write a clueless article .., try not hitting the Sauce each sauce at nite and watch some film prior to getting diarrhea of the mouth..
Be careful, you might piss off “John Smith”.