Heres the tale of the tape on the Green Bay Packers after their 30-24 win over the San Francisco 49ers at Lambeau Field on Sunday. 

By Tom Pelissero tpelisse@greenbaypressgazette.com November 23, 2009


Off target

The 49ers should have known you cant play soft on the corners against the Packers receivers.

QB Aaron Rodgers exploited 6-yard cushions and on-snap bailouts again and again while racking up 274 passing yards before San Francisco adjusted at halftime. Even when the corners closed the gap somewhat, Rodgers kept throwing underneath on a variety of outs, stops and comeback routes, with only one of his 32 completions traveling more than 14 yards beyond the line in the air.

It doesnt get much easier than the Packers third touchdown drive, when Rodgers threw the same one-step option pass to WR Jordy Nelson for a 6-yard gain near midfield and a 7-yard touchdown. Both times, LCB Tarell Brown backpedaled out of a huge cushion and Nelson embarrassed him after the catch.

Of five passes Rodgers completed on that drive, four were behind the line. For the game, Rodgers completed 20 passes (46.9 percent) within 4 yards of scrimmage 11 of them to a receiver or TE Jermichael Finley, who lined up wide or in the slot 15 times.

Then again, it doesnt matter what technique you play if you cant cover.

Rodgers threw at Brown 12 times, completing eight for 108 yards and both touchdowns, plus an interference penalty. Brown was only 2 yards off on a 10-yard slant WR Greg Jennings turned into a 64-yard TD, but Jennings got a clean release anyway by baiting Brown with a hard outside step.

On the other side, RCB Shawntae Spencer was targeted seven times and gave up six completions for 68 yards. One of the few times Spencer squatted early, Jennings beat him with a double stutter for 32.

The 49ers front pressured Rodgers only once before halftime and had little blitzing help nine extra-man pressures in 46 dropbacks (19.6 percent), just one of which got home. That meant the Packers could protect with five, put more players than usual in pattern and further exploit the perimeter mismatches that made it all too easy to pick the 49ers apart.

Filling the void

Defensive coordinator Dom Capers almost surely will ditch some looks now that CB Al Harris and LOLB Aaron Kampman are done for the season.

Against the 49ers, Capers played mostly dime defense (28 of 47 snaps, 59.6 percent) for a second straight week. He also leaned more heavily on a 3-2 alignment in which ROLB Clay Matthews lined up next to mack ILB Nick Barnett, putting Matthews in position to drop deep or cross-dog with Barnett.

Without Kampman, who had a sack and two pressures in 2 quarters before his knee injury, Capers killed the inside blitzes to let Matthews rush from the edge. Rookie Brad Jones (10 snaps) and Brady Poppinga (five) each had a pressure in Kampmans place, but neither is an equal every-down rusher.

Which would be less of a concern if the Packers had Harris, who allowed only one completion in three targets a 38-yard TD pass to WR Michael Crabtree, who appeared to get away with shoving Harris in the lower back before sustaining his own knee injury early in the fourth quarter.

As usual, Harris had drawn the assignment of covering the opponents top receiver, allowing CB Charles Woodson to blitz, snipe and cover athletic TE Vernon Davis from the slot. San Francisco QB Alex Smith had thrown in Woodsons direction only three times and had no completions and one interception to show for it.

Two plays after Harris injury, Capers sent Woodson on a slot blitz and Smith spotted Davis running the seam against Matthews, who had OK coverage but didnt spot the ball on a 24-yard TD. Capers dialed down the blitzes from there, even as Smith had all day on the next drive to throw at new No. 2 CB Tramon Williams for gains of 20 yards to WR Isaac Bruce and 35 yards to Crabtree. Then, with the 49ers staring down fourth-and-5, Woodson was so concerned with making sure Barnett covered Davis he was late to the flat on RB Frank Gores 10-yard score.

Corner Okie (four snaps), with Woodson at safety, probably is a goner without Harris. All the nickel and dime looks involving a third hand-down rusher likely are out without Kampman. And Capers will have to take a hard look at whos coming onto the field in nickel (Jarrett Bush) and dime (Brandon Underwood) when deciding the best use of those subpackages perhaps finding some new ways to deploy the base personnel (six snaps) he hasnt used extensively for a month.

Playmakers

RB Ryan Grant continues to break arm tackles like never before. He did it on two of his three explosive runs, of 21 and 15 yards, gaining 31 yards after contact. Grants early 26-yard run was a product of a good frontside seal by LT Chad Clifton and Colledge and an impressive downfield cut block by rookie FB Quinn Johnson (18 snaps), who took out star MLB Patrick Willis. FB Korey Hall (11 snaps) also deserves a nod for the lick he laid on LB Scott McKillop to lead Grants 1-yard TD plunge.

One of those inside cross-dogs yielded a big hit for Matthews, whose smack on Smith led to a wobbly fourth-and-2 incompletion to halt the second halfs opening drive. Capers rushed five on 15 of 36 dropbacks (41.7 percent), producing five QB hits and one of the Packers three sacks.
Play breakers

NT Ryan Pickett hasnt gotten shoved around much this season, but C Eric Heitmann got him turned on the 49ers longest gain, a 42-yard run by Gore off an opening-drive draw. Gore ran through LDE Johnny Jollys arm and then blasted past SS Atari Bigby, who was filling a different gap and couldnt adjust. Pickett made up for it three plays later, though, beating RT Adam Snyder into the backfield to drop Gore for no gain on third-and-1.

RTs Mark Tauscher and T.J. Lang each had a hand in a San Franciscos two sacks. Tauscher appeared to think he had help inside from RG Josh Sitton, who was looking for a blitzer, while Lang gave ground to SLB Manny Lawson. The 49ers only had two other hits on Rodgers both by DT Isaac Sopoaga, who sniffed out a bootleg to force an intentional-grounding call and was in the right spot when pressure against LG Daryn Colledge flushed Rodgers into him.

In addition to the TD, Davis had a pair of explosive gains in the third quarter both against a Packers blitz, and both times with Bigbys over-the-top coverage arriving late. Buck ILB A.J. Hawk had underneath coverage up the seam on the 32-yarder, while Bush was playing inside on the 29-yarder.

Odds and ends

With Finley back from a knee injury, coach Mike McCarthy extensively employed two- or three-tight sets, with TEs Donald Lee (53 snaps) and Finley (54) getting almost the same number of snaps. The opportunities, however, were disparate Finley was targeted 10 times and had seven catches, while Lee mostly played inline, was targeted twice and didnt have a catch. Each had a drop. No. 3 TE Spencer Havner played only four snaps on offense. Another dime-heavy day meant limited snaps for Hawk (19 snaps) and Pickett (15). Rookie DL B.J. Raji (17 snaps) continued to flash, recording his first sack on a late pressure against LT Barry Sims, but still is working toward consistency.