The Packer Pundit

Tauscher Returns To Practice,
Status Upgraded
Right tackle Mark Tauscher returned to practice on Thursday for the first time since injuring his groin back on Nov. 12 at Minnesota and has been upgraded from doubtful to questionable on the injury report. Tauscher has missed the last four games, and earlier this week it was thought next Thursday's game against Minnesota would likely mark his return. Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski wouldn't speculate on whether Tauscher would be ready to play on Sunday, but his return to practice, which included participating in individual and team drills, is a very encouraging sign. "He did a nice job," Jagodzinski said. "I was real pleased with what he did today." Jagodzinski said Tauscher's biggest challenge will be getting back to game speed after missing so much time. "Just feeling OK and feeling confident enough he can go that hard," he said. "It's just his first day, so we'll wait and see (about Sunday)." Receiver Donald Driver, who injured his shoulder last week at San Francisco but finished the game, also returned to practice on Thursday and it appears he'll be ready to play. "He's a very tough guy," Jagodzinski said. "If you could have a whole team full of Donald Drivers, I tell you what, that's the guy you want. He's a special guy. "I said in the meeting the other day in front of the whole offense, hey, practice like this guy. It's not a fluke he plays that way, he sets a good example." Center Scott Wells also was back at practice after missing Wednesday's workout because of an illness.

Big guy missing
Detroit's Pro Bowl defensive tackle Shaun Rogers has been out since sustaining a season-ending knee injury in Week 6. Rogers was a force in the middle, recording four solo tackles in the first meeting between the Packers and Lions this season, a high number for an interior lineman. His absence has certainly affected Detroit's defense, but will it change the Packers' approach? "We probably don't have to put four guys on him anymore," Jagodzinski joked. "We'll have some guys blocking other people." Kidding aside, the Packers still expect Detroit's defensive front to be stout, as it traditionally is. Defensive end Cory Redding has moved inside to take Rogers' place. "They've had some experience with him out earlier in the year so guys have stepped in and had to play that position," Wells said. "So it's not like we're going against some green guys that have never played. They still have an excellent defense and we still have to execute our fundamentals."

Happy Holiday
After signing with the Packers on Dec. 5 and practicing just three days, wide receiver Carlyle Holiday not only played against San Francisco, he caught a pass for three yards in the 30-19 victory. Holiday admitted that quarterback Brett Favre wasn't supposed to throw him the ball but called an audible on first and 10 from the Packers' 14-yard line with 5 minutes 9 seconds left. "It was a little bit of a surprise," Holiday said. "Brett wasn't supposed to throw it at all because we were trying to run the clock out. He said, 'I got yelled at in my head-set.' " Holiday, who played quarterback at Notre Dame, was looking forward to an expanded role against Detroit. "With the injuries we have at receiver you know your number is going to be called," he said. "Not only that, I'm probably going to get thrown out there a little more on special teams."

Barnett's new look
Linebacker Nick Barnett practiced with a modified version of the padded cast he has been wearing to protect his broken hand. This version had a "claw" instead of a ball on the end, which enabled him to grab better. However, he wasn't sure if he would be able to play with it Sunday. "It depends what the league says is legal," he said.

Mystery turf
Kicker Dave Rayner said he had not been able to practice on the re-sodded playing surface at Lambeau Field. "We went out there (Wednesday) and it was tarped," he said. "Today, it's been raining all day. Apparently, they don't want me to go out there. "I actually might go out tomorrow and see if I can hit a couple balls, just to see what it's like. If we don't, it's supposed to be really nice this weekend so I'm not worried about it."






First drives have left Packers out of gear
Green Bay has just 14 points
on game-starting possessions
By ROB REISCHEL / Special to Packer Plus
Posted: Dec. 14, 2006
Thirteen possessions. Fourteen measly points. This is what the Green Bay Packers have to show for their first drives of the game this season. The Packers scored touchdowns against New Orleans and Seattle on short fields after their defense had forced turnovers. Aside from that, though, Green Bay hasn't generated a single point on its 11 other game-opening possessions. Add it up and Green Bay is averaging just 1.1 points on its first drive each game. If the Packers (5-8) hope to close the 2006 season with any type of momentum, starting the game faster would be a good place to begin. "Well, we're not doing a good job scoring on the first drive," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "We need to do a better job coming out of the gate, and this is something that we've emphasized. "We do the first 15-play normal down and distance thoughts like a lot of people do. We can do a better job on the first drive, but we are starting OK. As an offense, you always want to do better." As is the staple of most West Coast offenses, McCarthy and offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski script the first 15 plays each week. To date, though, those plans have yielded next to nothing. Green Bay has punted the ball eight times to begin the game, fumbled it away twice and was stopped on downs another time. The Packers have run just 55 plays and gained 183 net yards on their 13 first drives. That's an average of just 4.23 plays per possession and 3.33 yards per play. In Green Bay's 13 opening drives, it has just 11 first downs (0.85). And the Packers are holding the ball an average of just 1 minute, 59 seconds on that first drive. In several instances, these slow starts are putting the Packers in holes they can't dig out of. "We're not getting out of the gate well at all," left guard Daryn Colledge said. "We all wish we knew what it was so we could get it fixed. The game plan seems fine. I guess we're just not executing it." -- More



Packers' offense will stay in the zone
They'll keep blocking scheme even if
Jagodzinski goes to BC
By Pete Dougherty
greenbaypressgazette.com
If offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski leaves the Green Bay Packers to become the coach at Boston College, the Packers should be able to continue the distinctive zone-blocking scheme he installed. Jagodzinski was interviewed Tuesday for the BC job, though the Boston Globe reported Thursday that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple remains the leading candidate. Jagodzinski's candidacy raises the issue of Packers coach Mike McCarthy's offense and the major commitment he made to a specific version of the zone-blocking run game when he hired Jagodzinski. All teams run some form of zone blocking at times, but the Packers' scheme requires a full commitment to the system Alex Gibbs devised while with the Denver Broncos. Jagodzinski taught the scheme and its specific drills to offensive line coach Joe Philbin and his assistant, James Campen, in the offseason. They've taught them to the players since the start of offseason workouts. "(Philbin) does a super job for us," Jagodzinski said. "He knows it inside and out. He's been working on it now for almost a year, non-stop. No question (he could run it). The foundation's in place and I think it's real solid." The Packers' commitment to the zone-blocking scheme goes beyond Jagodzinski. In April, the Packers drafted three smaller, more mobile offensive linemen to fit the system, which requires combination blocks and reads on the move. All three — second-round pick Daryn Colledge, third-round pick Jason Spitz and and fifth-round pick Tony Moll — will start Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions. Colledge and Spitz are guards; Moll is a tackle. -- More



Sticky situation
Highly paid Gbaja-Biamila has reduced role as specialist
By GARY D'AMATO / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 14, 2006

"Right now, this is the situation I'm in. I'm content with that and I'm going to try to be faithful with it. If they want me to play 100 snaps, I'll do that and be very faithful with that.
Of course, I'd like more opportunities. This means I just have to do everything with less opportunities." -- Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila

Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila is caught in a Catch-22 as he prepares for his 100th game in the National Football League. The Green Bay Packers' veteran defensive end wants to be on the field for every play but acknowledges that he might be just as productive, if not more so, as a pass-rushing specialist. And if less is indeed more, "KGB" likely will have to settle for a situational role after starting 60 of the last 61 games, including all 13 this season at right end. Defensive line coach Carl Hairston indicated that 305-pound Cullen Jenkins, who replaced the 250-pound Gbaja-Biamila on early downs and was effective against the run in the Packers' 30-19 victory over San Francisco, would start against the Detroit Lions on Sunday at Lambeau Field. "It could be a permanent thing," Hairston said. Gbaja-Biamila, who has 63½ career sacks and is five away from the late Reggie White's team record of 68½, seems to be taking his demotion in stride. He was upbeat in the locker room Thursday and insisted that he would make the most of whatever playing time he got. -- More






Barry missing the action
Offensive lineman eager to return from injury
By RICK BRAUN / Packer Plus writer
Posted: Dec. 14, 2006
Kevin Barry can hardly wait until March. And one could hardly blame him. The Green Bay Packer offensive lineman has spent all of the 2006 season watching his teammates play either from the luxury box level or on television. Barry, signed to a two-year contract last spring, was expected to compete for a starting spot at right guard before he collapsed in a heap on the practice field during a May minicamp, the victim of a torn quadriceps tendon. That's the same injury that put running back Ahman Green out for the final 10 weeks of the 2005 season and pretty much all of the off-season camps. Barry had surgery and has spent his time rehabilitating, with the idea of returning sometime next spring. And with a new coach and so many new teammates, he sometimes finds himself feeling like an outsider. "Like any guy that's been on the IR list, it's a little rough trying to feel like you're on the team," Barry said. "You're still part of it; you go to the locker room and hang around with the guys and stuff like that, but you still feel like you're out of the loop. You can't do all the things that they're doing, whether it's in the weight room or out there on the field. You just feel a little bit left out of things. I know I'm going to be back out there, but it just sucks now for this year because I want to help, but I just can't right now." -- More



White Brings Speed, Smarts To Special Teams
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 12/14/2006
To the untrained eye, special teams coverage can look pretty chaotic and the result mere happenstance. Take the Packers' first kickoff against San Francisco last Sunday midway through the first quarter. Dave Rayner's boot is fielded by Maurice Hicks at the 4-yard line. The wedge of blockers forms around Hicks and as the return reaches the 20, Green Bay's Jason Hunter and Tracy White blast through the wedge at full speed and down goes Hicks at the 21, with the tackle credited to White. Seems easy enough. Just tear down the field with no abandon or fear, take out anyone in your way and you'll get to the ball-carrier. But if it were that easy, anyone could cover kickoffs and punts, and there'd be no need for specialized coverage players, let alone practice time devoted to their craft. The reality is that while all the full-speed running does lead to some chaos and unpredictability on special teams, there's more strategy and design involved in making the plays than most realize. It's that knowledge and experience that makes a player like White so valuable to special teams coach Mike Stock. A four-year veteran linebacker who played primarily special teams for Seattle (2003-04) and Jacksonville (2005) before coming to Green Bay, White combines the speed and the smarts to be a mainstay on all four of the Packers' special teams units (return and coverage on punts and kickoffs). So what all went in to White bringing down Hicks after just a 17-yard return last Sunday? First, it started with film study, where the players learned how the 49ers like to set up their wedge of blockers. Next, it required the speed to be one of the first coverage guys down the field. Then, it was a matter of executing the coverage against that blocking scheme. "If you're going down to cover the kick and you're going to attack the wedge, are you going to run into the guy, or run into the crease?" Stock said. "You run into the crease, because that's where the ball carrier is going to run. He's not going to run up the back of one of those guys. "So if we don't fit the creases, and they block us one-on-one, creases are open and the ball carrier can bust through and we're in trouble. They have to know where to go and how to fit it." But timing is also an issue. Based on film study and practice, the players are told which seam to hit first, which to hit second, and so on, and the players have to adjust on the fly based on who gets there first. Now White, who normally prides himself on being the first guy down the field, was actually beaten by Hunter this time. So Hunter did his job, taking up two blockers in the wedge, and the next move was White's, knowing teammates Patrick Dendy and Atari Bigby were in the outside lanes. "Basically I saw Hunter in front of me, and he hit the seam where I was supposed to go, so I played off him, and the hole was wide open," White said. "The returner came through, and it was a clean hit. I wasn't expecting it, but when I saw it, I was like, 'Please, come on through.'" It was a textbook blow-up of the wedge, and White's ability to read and react at break-neck speed is one reason he's tied for the team lead in special teams tackles with 12. He had another key tackle in the San Francisco game on a third-quarter punt return. The 49ers' Brandon Williams faked a reverse to a teammate, who was played perfectly by Bigby, and as Williams tried to turn the corner on the near sideline he was dragged down by White for a 5-yard loss. "That's about as fine a special teams play as we've seen all year." said Head Coach Mike McCarthy, who awarded the special teams game ball to White this week. -- More







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