The weapon to take away from Aaron Rodgers

This might be tricky but if somehow they can take away Rodgers' double check belt...

Rob0729 said:

The video lost me at Jordy Nelson is the best WR in the NFL. He is a great WR, but I disagree with the video and think he is in part a product of Aaron Rodgers. He would be a very good WR without Rodgers, but he is a great WR with him.

The Pats have to account for him for sure though.

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Yeah, I think it would be kind of smart for the Pats to "account for" Jordy Nelson on Sunday. I hope Belichick reads this thread...in case he overlooked that in his game plan.

Great QB's sometimes make Receivers look great. Great Receivers sometimes make QB's look great. I have no idea how good/great/awesome Nelson would be or would not be without Rodgers, just like I have no idea how good/great/awesome Gronk would be without Brady. I'm just not smart enough to figure that out and it really doesn't matter.

If you take out 2012 when he only played 12 games (but still averaged 15 yards per catch), Nelson's catches accounted for 1,263 yards in 2011 and 1,314 yards last year. He's already accounted for nearly 1,100 yards this year, averaging almost 16 yards per Reception. He has a pretty darn good case to make for being the best WR in the NFL at this point...as do a few other guys. But, I'm just worried about the damage he could do this Sunday.

call me crazy but the weapon i want taken out completely is lacy...you do that...and the pats have a 90% chance of winning

These shovel and screen passes he gets looks like a 10 yard gain...and ends up going 28.

They have 3 options you need to take away. Nelson is the most important one to take away though.

I would expect we put Browner with help on Nelson like some have already suggested and Cobb on Revis Island. Mix it up a bit but keep to that with a lot of press for the majority.

If they do those 2 things Well GB will be held to under 30 which will be enough to win.

So besides taking certain "favorable" matchups on the relievers where you can. I also expect the pats to play the contain game and keep Rodgers in the pocket while stopping the run. While Rodgers is good enough to excel there belichick has shown that's his preferred method of dealing with mobile QBS.

I would put Browner on Nelson, Revis on Cobb, and have Collins and Chung focus on Lacy.

DaBronxPats14 said:

BB will probably have different DEF Schemes having Revis on Nelson then switching at times to Cobb showing different looks at line then shifting. Without lookin it up, I believe this is first time Rodgers will be facing a BB Defense with Pats and might be a rare time that Rodgers throws a couple of Picks and might be using his legs alot when coverage is lockin up his options. Have to account for him runnin out of pocket.

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You're correct- since Rodgers took over in GB, they've played the Pats once (2010) and Rodgers missed the game with a concussion.

Pretty crazy that Brady and Rodgers have never gone head to head.

Brady6 said:

I would put Browner on Nelson, Revis on Cobb, and have Collins and Chung focus on Lacy.

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I don't think it will be that simple. I think that BB will always be aware of all 3 of these guys on every play, but I think he'll change things up to avoid getting predictable. Some (perhaps even most) of the time it may be as you describe. But I would also expect Revis on Nelson with Browner on the TE and Arrington/Ryan on Cobb; some Cover 3 zone; and other variations. Aaron Rodgers is no Matt Stafford and won't be easily confused, but they've got to mix it up and keep him guessing a bit.

so....Take away Nelson, take away Lacy, force Rodgers to stay in the pocket and put Revis on Cobb which will neutalize Cobb.

Boy, piece of cake. I'm sure no other teams have tried to do that.

Nelson and Cobb might be a harder task for us then Marshall and Jefferies was. The Bears duo kinda played into our strengths, plus Nelson and Cobb won't take any plays off (Marshall)

I think Browner, with help over the top from Mccourty, can work with Nelson. Cobb to me is just a much more better and dangerous Emmanuel Sanders. I want Revis on him majority of the time.

Problem is with GB, you can put Cobb on Revis Island all game, negate Nelson with Browner, and the front 7 can stop Lacy, but Rodgers can still find a way to kill you. He's that damn good.

Very tough, but interesting matchup we have on our hands.

AzorianPats said:

Problem is with GB, you can put Cobb on Revis Island all game, negate Nelson with Browner, and the front 7 can stop Lacy, but Rodgers can still find a way to kill you. He's that damn good.

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I agree that he will find a way to score, but if you take away Nelson, Cobb and Lacy I don't think they can score enough to survive a shootout.

luuked said:

I agree that he will find a way to score, but if you take away Nelson, Cobb and Lacy I don't think they can score enough to survive a shootout.

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It'll obviously be harder, but Rodgers, like Brady is an assassin. He'll find Quarless, or Rodgers or Jarett Boykin. Packers have a lot of talent at the skill positions.

luuked said:

I agree that he will find a way to score, but if you take away Nelson, Cobb and Lacy I don't think they can score enough to survive a shootout.

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I'll ask this again. Do you really think that it's that easy to take away Nelson, and Cobb, and Lacy? Do you really think other teams haven't tried?

How are you going to accomplish all 3? Are the Pats going to give safety help on Nelson and try to stack the box against Lacy? If they do they'll leave certain parts of the field wide open for a TE or another WR. And what about pressure on Rodgers? Opinion has it that if you give Rodgers too much time to throw he'll kill you. Do you think that a 4-man rush is going to do the trick or will the Pats have to blitz to get to him?

Turn it around and say, for instance, the Packer defense is going to take away Gronk by doubling him, stack the box to slow down the Pats running game, and shadow Edelman or LaFell. Well, how they going to do all 3 of those things successfully? Would Brady and the Pats offense have no response, no options? Of course they would. The same is true of Rodgers and the Packers.

Nelson and Cobb are great receivers for a reason, and I don't think any one of us can really say who's going to win the individual battles come Sunday. And that's what it may come down to.

ExpatPack said:

I'll ask this again. Do you really think that it's that easy to take away Nelson, and Cobb, and Lacy? Do you really think other teams haven't tried?

How are you going to accomplish all 3? Are the Pats going to give safety help on Nelson and try to stack the box against Lacy. If they do they'll leave certain parts of the field wide open for a TE or another WR. And what about pressure on Rodgers? Do you think that a 4-man rush is going to do the trick or will timely blitzes be needed?

Turn it around and say, for instance, the Packer defense is going to take away Gronk by doubling him, stack the box to slow down the Pats running game, and shadow Edelman or LaFell. Well, how they going to do all 3 of those things successfully? Would Brady and the Pats offense have no response, no options? Of course they would. The same is true of Rodgers and the Packers.

Nelson and Cobb are great receivers for a reason, and I don't think any one of us can really say who's going to win the individual battles come Sunday. And that's what it may come down to.

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I never said it is easy or likely.. I was just responding to a post that said that even if we take those 3 away Rodgers might kill us. Which I disagree with..

I don't think it is so much about taking all of them away, as it is about limiting deep plays and being able to win some key match ups on third downs. We don't need to shut the Packers out, but only finish more drives than they do. And I have a lot of confidence in our secondary to put our offense in a position to succeed.

The Packers are a complete offense. They can run or pass and they have a mobile QB. If we play man-to-man and all the receivers go deep... Rodgers will see their numbers and take off running himself. So, I expect us to play more a mix of man and zone concepts.

Rodgers is their best weapon. Revis should play man on either Nelson or Cobb. Browner should try to jam someone at the line and then trail with help over the top. Arrington/Chung/Ryan can play zone and everyone has to be responsible to keep Rodgers in the pocket and prevent him from converting first downs.

We did a pretty good job against Andrew Luck. Believe it or not, the worst job we did all year was against Geno Smith.

2 Highest scoring O's in the league Pats edge on scoring D, 2 Highest pt differential teams in the leage only teams with +100 scoring differential will be a lot of fun to watch.

I stopped watching when he called Nelson the best WR in football lol. He is clearly a homer and Green Bay fanboy, on a more serious note I think our defense is better equipped to stop them rather than vise versa. Tom Brady and Co. will score points on this defense with Gronk being a mismatch and the backs pummeling there Dline

AzorianPats said:

Packers have a lot of talent at the skill positions.

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You're giving the rest of their depth chart on O too much credit. Although Quarless is pesky.

ExpatPack said:

I'll ask this again. Do you really think that it's that easy to take away Nelson, and Cobb, and Lacy? Do you really think other teams haven't tried?

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Of course it's not easy. That's why your team is 8-3 and an NFC SB favorite at the moment. Most teams don't come close to having the personnel to match up against them.

Most of the good teams present difficult matchup dilemmas:

- Denver: Manning + D. Thomas, Sanders, J. Thomas, Welker; the running game has been an issue
- Detroit: Stafford + C. Johnson, Tate, Pettigrew, Ebron; the offensive timing and chemistry have been off
- Chicago: Cutler + Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett and Forte; great set of weapons, but it's Jay Cutler

Aaron Rodgers + Nelson, Cobb and Lacy may be the best of all, but the Pats' D is built to match up with them. I think it's one of the only defenses in the NFL with the personnel to actually match up. Whether they actually do remains to be seen. Obviously, it's a huge challenge.

mayoclinic said:

Of course it's not easy. That's why your team is 8-3 and an NFC SB favorite at the moment. Most teams don't come close to having the personnel to match up against them.

Most of the good teams present difficult matchup dilemmas:

- Denver: Manning + D. Thomas, Sanders, J. Thomas, Welker; the running game has been an issue
- Detroit: Stafford + C. Johnson, Tate, Pettigrew, Ebron; the offensive timing and chemistry have been off
- Chicago: Cutler + Marshall, Jeffery, Bennett and Forte; great set of weapons, but it's Jay Cutler

Aaron Rodgers + Nelson, Cobb and Lacy may be the best of all, but the Pats' D is built to match up with them. I think it's one of the only defenses in the NFL with the personnel to actually match up. Whether they actually do remains to be seen. Obviously, it's a huge challenge.

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I think it's a fair assessment that the Pats' secondary matches up better against GB than do many other top teams. I am not quite as sold on the Pats pass rush. Putting pressure on Rodgers may be an issue and Pats DC may have to make some adjustments. Packer OL has done pretty well of late protecting Rodgers.

The same is also true on the Pats side. Protection for Brady over the last bunch of games has been pretty darn good.

I used to live in NE a while ago and still like to follow the Pats. Sadly, it was before the day of TFB. I got to watch the Bears beat up on the Pats at the '85 SB. booooooooo! Which is why every time the Bears implode I love it. I fit in very well up in Packer land.