Grading Green Bay Packers Defense/Special Teams

We are wrapping up the Green Bay Packers season with a grading of the offense/defense/special teams of the 2013 season.  I will also choose an MVP for both sides of the ball. 

Defensive line 
B.J. Raji - Many times when a player is in a contract year, they tend to perform above their head to get their money which there is nothing wrong that yet B.J. Raji is not one of those players. He had an sub-par year overall. There is nothing that made you think Raji is a even a homeless man's version of Vince Wilfork. I have no idea where his motivation has gone, but it is not there right now. I realize nose tackles are not really supposed to make tackles, but they are suppose to fill holes for the awaiting linebackers. If he still wants eight million dollars a year, I think he is honestly crazy. GRADE C-

Ryan Pickett - Not a bad year for Big Grease. He is not a flashy player at all, but Pickett makes some plays in front of the line. I also think he does a lot of good for the younger players on this team. People forget his contract is up, and he already said there is no retirement plan. I realize Green Bay likes to get younger, but Pickett's leadership would definitely be worth keeping him another year or two but what the hell do I know. GRADE C+  

Mike Daniels - ALL ABOARD THE BANDWAGON. I am fully supporting Mike Daniels. Easily, he became my favorite player on the defense. The guy is true bulldog in there being only six feet and 300 pounds. Daniels is built for a 4-3 more so than a 3-4 yet he does not give one single damn about it. The leverage he gets ins phenomenal, and I really do not see how a team gets a book on him when it all comes down to leverage. A six-footer can get underneath a 6'6 or 6'7 offensive lineman especially if he has the strength. GRADE A-

Johnny Jolly - What a year it was for him from a just coming back and being an emotional leader of this football team. It seemed like Green Bay had its edge back as football team for a little bit at the beginning of the year, and I felt along with others, Jolly was a big reason why that happened. The crowning moment of his year happened with the Atlanta game where he forced and recovered a fumble with everyone shouting 'JOLLY' 'JOLLY' 'JOLLY' in the stands. Hopefully, his injury lets him play again and I do not think one person wants to see him leave the team. GRADE B

Datone Jones - I have to say it has been a disappointing year for Jones. He made a couple plays here and there throughout the year, but definitely did not have the impact, I think folks including myself expected him to have with the team. Jones needs to live with Daniels, and figure out how he is doing it against these big offensive lineman. The grade is a low one, but I do think he will come back to be fine for the team. GRADE C

Linebackers
Clay Matthews - My assumption is the natives are beginning to get restless with Clay. He never seems to stay healthy while granted breaking one's thumb is not entirely the fault of the person. This pisses people off, and they begin to sour on him. Matthews made some impact plays leading up to him breaking his thumb, but really he can only be looked at like Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee. He changes the game when he is healthy, and that's not very often. I would kill to see one full year of Clay being virtually healthy. GRADE C+

A.J. Hawk - Easily, the best year of his career for Hawk. I am not saying he deserved to go to the Pro Bowl, but he made plays this year. Rather, it was not just Hawk filling the hole and making a tackle, it was him sacking the quarterback or getting a key interception. Speaking of sacks, Hawk had five of them this season which is a career-high for him. My assumption is we will be seeing more of Hawk rushing the quarterback next season.  This is a great bounce-back year for him, and I wonder whether Hawk will be able to keep this up. I tend to lean on yes. GRADE A-

Brad Jones - After having a great year that earned him a contract, this was a disappointing year for Jones. It is not all his fault. I would contend he played hurt for at least 75 percent of games this year meaning we should judge him playing differently. He had a bad hamstring multiple times then had an ankle injury at the end of the season. Jones is not a bad player, but he might be an average player which makes him mediocre when injured and that's a little concerning given his contract. He might be the one player I am most interested for next year.  GRADE C

Nick Perry - I think we need to all admit to ourselves that Nick Perry is not a left outside linebacker. It is not a position he seems to excel at even with Clay on the other side. Perry played well against Chicago and San Francisco coming from the right side and maybe it is time for Green Bay to experiment with Clay and Perry flipped. I realize the need to want Matthews coming off the blindside, but Perry is giving nothing from the left side. He does need to stay healthy though as he missed another five games meaning in two years, he has only played 16 games. GRADE C+

Mike Neal - I owe this guy an apology. I thought Neal would be just a workout warrior who could not stay healthy and I have been proven wrong. Neal played his ass off this year at outside linebacker. He did really well at that position. I think there is a future there for him, and I would not be opposed for a competition between him and Perry if they chose to keep him on the left side of the defense. There are definitely things Neal has to learn when it comes to playing the position, but that will come with time. GRADE B

Defensive Backs 
Sam Shields - To think, this was an undrafted rookie whom did not play much at cornerback at Miami. He had a big year for Green Bay when they won the Super Bowl then since there had not been much until this year. Shields delivered a defining play against Dallas, and he did a great job holding down some of the top receivers in the league. Shields is going to be wanted around the league, and will be expensive. I expect him to be back next season, but it would not surprise me to see someone overpay for him because his speed/catch-up speed is worth it. Shields' best is still left to come. GRADE B+

Tramon Williams - Quite the year for the longest member of the Packers secondary. People believed he was washed up. Many folks assumed he never recovered from his shoulder injury in 2011, and it had been downhill since then something changed against New York in the middle of the year. I have no idea what happened or what changed. I guess if you want me to venture a guess, I think Williams stopped playing scared he would hurt his shoulder again. I am excited to see what he has left for the following season. GRADE B-

Morgan Burnett - He will become the most-hated Packer to begin the year. Hell he already has been probably. I am willing to give him a little leash until we see what lines up next to him. I think MD Jennings hurt him more than we will probably ever know. Burnett seemed to play with an attitude of 'Cannot make a mistake' meaning he looked tentative out there. He made a couple of plays, but nothing special at all. Makes you wonder what Green Bay would have done if he did not get a contract and played this way.  GRADE D

MD Jennings -  If I have to watch MD Jennings attempt to play strong safety, I will gauge my own eyes out. It is one thing to be a strong safety that can come up and make bone-cracking hits yet not have the ability to cover anyone. It is another thing to be a strong safety that cannot hit or cover which could define Jennings. He will still be on the roster, but maybe he can go the Jarrett Bush route of being a good special teams player. Mike Gonzalez, MD Jennings and Marshall Newhouse caused me a lot of pain this season. GRADE F

Micah Hyde - This is a defensive and special teams grade. Out of the rookies, he probably had the second most impressive year next to Lacy. Sure he missed an interception in the playoff game, but Hyde played pretty well as a young secondary member. Green Bay now has quite the stable if Shields stays with Williams, Casey Hayward, Shields and Hyde. That's quite the group of secondary members who could really make some noise. I love the physicality of Hyde and his return game was valuable when Randall Cobb went out with injury. GRADE B

Special Teams 
Mason Crosby - Remember in late August, Crosby was having a kicking competition with a guy they brought in from the streets. He ended up dominating him including a 60+ year field goal. Crosby only missed four field goals all season. He did not even have a bad game for people to say 'Here we go again with the shit from Mason.' There is no reason to be worried about him next season. I feel like 2012 will just be a blip on the radar. GRADE A

Tim Masthay - Another great year for the Ginger Wolverine. I never feel nervousness when he is punting the ball. I would not say he is someone that can always flip the field, but Masthay improved as a punter this year. I can only imagine he gets better next season. The Ging as Aaron Rodgers calls him, owns the coffin corner. GRADE B

Charlie.

Sportandfashion-news Packers Classroom: Pittsburgh v. Green Bay

We give grades to the different aspects of the Packers game from Sunday or Monday.  Am I too critical sometimes? Yes.  Am I also too nice sometimes? Yes.  I do not have a teaching degree in case you were wondering. 

A-Game
Eddie Lacy- Despite his injury, a good day to be Eddie Lacy. I feel like he has made his case to be Offensive Rookie of the Year. I realize Keenan Allen had a great year, but Lacy deserves it for essentially being a big part of keeping Green Bay in the division title hunt. Lacy's jump into the end zone was one of the coolest things I saw live at Lambeau Field. It happened right by our seats and it sent the Packers fanbase into excitement. (h/t @gifdsports) 

Andy Mulumba - Am I alone here in thinking the rookie played really well when Matthews went out with injury? Le'Von Bell did have a big day, but it seemed like most of it came in the first three quarters of the game. Mulumba gave some great effort out there having six tackles with four of them being solo. We see it all the time with rookies where they round into form as the season finishes up. I think Mulumba will obviously not be Clay Matthews, but he can definitely contribute for them in the following year.

Micah Hyde - I thought this was Micah's best game of the season overall. He became a game-changer on special teams with a big kick return at least giving Green Bay a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, and then on defense, he played really well. There were not many major plays through the air, and Hyde played a large part of that. Hopefully, his shoulder injury he suffered at the end of the game is not serious, and he can play against Chicago next week.

B-Game
James Jones - One of Jones' best games of the year. He really seems to come and go with major games for Green Bay (That's not a bad thing for Jones, it is more so Green Bay's system rather than Jones being inconsistent.) Matt Flynn looked the most comfortable when throwing the ball to Jones, and I do not blame him for it with some of the incredible catches Jones made on Sunday. I would expect him to take over more of the number one role on Sunday if Flynn remains at quarterback.

A.J Hawk - As we sat at Lambeau with Green Bay trailing 10 points and the crowd deader than roadkill, my buddy Seth goes 'We need something to get the fans back in.' Sure enough, Hawk makes a big balls interception of Ben Roethlisberger leading to Green Bay getting a field goal. The middle linebacker for the Packers overall has had an above average season, but one of the bigger things with Hawk is the increase in impact plays for this Packers defense.

Jarrett Boykin - Another good game for Boykin including a fantastic catch for a touchdown where I yelled he 'facialed' Cortez Allen which was probably inappropriate for Lambeau's crowd. With Jones' contract up, I have no idea how he will remain on the team with wanting more money plus the emergence of Boykin. I doubt they will keep both players. Boykin has been one of the best surprises of this bizarre Green Bay season.

C-Game
Matt Flynn - Man, he did some nice things in this game, but holy hell did he do some bad things in this game. Let's start with throwing the hitch route... Hey Matt, STOP THROWING THE GODDAMN HITCH. He does not have the arm strength for it, and they kept begging for a pick-six which sure did happened changing the landscape of this game. Flynn also had a back-breaker fumble when he needed to escape the pocket and you wonder if he would have got the first down if he slid down. I have no idea because I am a slave to technology and could not see it from my vantage point at Lambeau.

Mike McCarthy's playcalls - Most notably the hitch route, but I had no idea at times what McCarthy was thinking out there. He seems to forget Eddie Lacy and James Starks can definitely hammer it into the end zone. When Aaron Rodgers was still at quarterback, I wondered if McCarthy would overthink about play calls trying to decide whether Rodgers or Lacy deserved the ball.  The fact Green Bay only had two plays with a minute left to go in the game is pathetic. Mac deserves some of the blame, but also the quarterback is at fault.

D-Game
Clay Matthews - This is not really for the game, but more for Matthews' season as he fractures his thumb again knocking him out for the year. It was a disappointing year for Matthews whom started off so strong only to come up with multiple injuries. It will be interesting to see what the narrative will be about Clay in the following off-season. People will start saying he is injury-prone because people are goddamn idiots. Breaks are so much different than strains, sprains and tears.

F-Game
Nick Perry - Man oh man. Perry jumped offsides on a field goal attempt at the end of the game. It led to the game being 38-31 instead of 34-31 (Let's be realistic) and costing Green Bay their final timeout. I could not believe a second-year player like Perry would make such a rookie mistake. It was the story of the game with Green Bay's special teams though. Granted, they had some nice kick returns, but from the fake punt to Perry's offsides just a disaster for defensive special teams.

B.J. Raji - This is a guy currently on my shit list. If I were Santa Claus, Raji is getting coal in his stocking. He is a man whom we see on this football team as a leader and he did not look like one on Sunday with a horrific personal foul call after the play against Pittsburgh. Instead of the Steelers being third and six from Green Bay's 39, Pittsburgh got the ball from the 24 and got a score out of it. Completely dumb and something Raji hopefully will never do again.

NFC North - I am going to write more about this tomorrow, but I really have no idea how Green Bay has a chance at this division yet I do not know if I want the title. I will take it, fine, but this has been a real frustrating season. I do not want it to end, but I feel like a boxer in the 12th round where I have been beat to hell yet there is still a chance for the belt even if I do not know if I can take it anymore.

Charlie.