How to handle Julio in week 2 (and other top wide-outs for that matter)?

[elcid]

I wanted to start a discussion on how to contain this monster. This season we will face some of the greats at the WR position in the NFL today (Jones w2, Green w3, Bryant w5, Brown w12 and Evans w13).

While Jones only got 29 yards on 3 receptions (5 targets) in week 5 on us last season, he absolutely destroyed us in the NFC CG with 180 yards on 9 receptions (12 targets). In both games I believe Gunter shadowed him primarily, and while he did allright in week 5, luckily we won't have to rely on him this time around.

I remember House making some plays on Julio in 2014, but when I looked to Jones's stats that game I quickly remembered this was also the game where he completely blew us up for a dazzling 259 (!) yards on 11 receptions (and 19 targets).

Home Sweet House and in comes King, and you have to wonder who will take on the duty guarding Julio. While King has the slight advantage in size, speed and range, at the moment I'd give House the slight nod for being around the league longer. However, this could all change in week 1 , with a good test coming to Title Town in Baldwin.

If King impresses fairing against him in the chances given, I'd say throw him in the deep in week 2 and let him solely focus on Jones. We are going to need King unimpressed by name tags sooner rather than later and what other way to do it then by getting him his feet wet.

What do you guys think is the best approach? House guarding him? King? Randall!? Depending on where he lines up?

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I wanted to start a discussion on how to contain this monster. This season we will face some of the greats at the WR position in the NFL today (Jones w2, Green w3, Bryant w5, Brown w12 and Evans w13).

While Jones only got 29 yards on 3 receptions (5 targets) in week 5 on us last season, he absolutely destroyed us in the NFC CG with 180 yards on 9 receptions (12 targets). In both games I believe Gunter shadowed him primarily, and while he did allright in week 5, luckily we won't have to rely on him this time around.

I remember House making some plays on Julio in 2014, but when I looked to Jones's stats that game I quickly remembered this was also the game where he completely blew us up for a dazzling 259 (!) yards on 11 receptions (and 19 targets).

Home Sweet House and in comes King, and you have to wonder who will take on the duty guarding Julio. While King has the slight advantage in size, speed and range, at the moment I'd give House the slight nod for being around the league longer. However, this could all change in week 1 , with a good test coming to Title Town in Baldwin.

If King impresses fairing against him in the chances given, I'd say throw him in the deep in week 2 and let him solely focus on Jones. We are going to need King unimpressed by name tags sooner rather than later and what other way to do it then by getting him his feet wet.

What do you guys think is the best approach? House guarding him? King? Randall!? Depending on where he lines up?

I'm extremely worried about the Packers facing several top wide receivers this season as the team still lacks a #1 cornerback. In my opinion King is the player currently on the roster with the highest ceiling but it's probably too much to ask a rookie shutting down the likes of Jones, Green, Bryant, Brown and Evans during his first season in the league.

As a side note, I fully expect Randall to cover Baldwin in week 1 as he mostly lines up in the slot.

 

[elcid]

I'm extremely worried about the Packers facing several top wide receivers this season as the team still lacks a #1 cornerback. In my opinion King is the player currently on the roster with the highest ceiling but it's probably too much to ask a rookie shutting down the likes of Jones, Green, Bryant, Brown and Evans during his first season in the league.

As a side note, I fully expect Randall to cover Baldwin in week 1 as he mostly lines up in the slot.

Thanks for the Baldwin comment, I did not know that!

While I am also worried, can we realistically expect more productive play from House or any of our other DB's? We are going to need King ASAP, if not this year, next. He has to be used to shadowing these guys and what better way to do it then by throwing him in the deep in week 2? If he stinks as much as what we saw last year, House takes on AJ in week 3, or any of our other DB's who stood out at that point in time. No one would expect King to shut down Julio so it's not like it will break his confidence if he het gets burned. We'd give him some more time and try again later.

To me, this seems to be one the benefits of being one of the worse past defenses in the league. You are free to try something new without high expectations or pressure. Here is to hoping our secondary gets helped by either Matthews and Perry have a unrealistically healthy and productive year, or our offense not coming off the field ever (which I find to be more realistic then the before mentioned option ).

 

[Deleted member 6794]

While I am also worried, can we realistically expect more productive play from House or any of our other DB's? We are going to need King ASAP, if not this year, next. He has to be used to shadowing these guys and what better way to do it then by throwing him in the deep at week 2? If he stinks as much as what we saw last year, House takes on AJ in week 3, or any of our other DB's who stood out at that point in time. No one would expect King to shut down Julio so it's not like it will break his confidence if he het gets burned. We'd give him some more time and try again later.

I don't believe any other cornerback than King even has the potential to cover opposing top receivers. I'm not keen on assigning King with that task early in 2017 as long as he isn't ready to because that would definitely rattle his confidence going forward.

Unfortunately Thompson not adding a veteran #1 cornerback this offseason might result in the coaching staff not having any other choice though.

 

[C-Lee]

Pray

 

[thisisnate]

Dom seems to hate giving our CBs a Safety blanket over the top
but maybe he could let Josh Jones dip his feet in the water a little bit early and take some shots on him
drilling Julio with a 220+ pound safety a few times early in the game might take just a little pep out of his step

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Dom seems to hate giving our CBs a Safety blanket over the top
but maybe he could let Josh Jones dip his feet in the water a little bit early and take some shots on him
drilling Julio with a 220+ pound safety a few times early in the game might take just a little pep out of his step

I believe a lot of fans have way too high expectations of Jones entering this season.

 

[thisisnate]

I believe a lot of fans have way too high expectations of Jones entering this season.

my only expectation here is that he is a big strong kid
didn't say he had to cover julio
just smoke him a time or two

 

[Deleted member 6794]

my only expectation here is that he is a big strong kid
didn't say he had to cover julio
just smoke him a time or two

I understood that but have a hard time believing Jones will have a huge impact next season, especially early during his rookie campaign.

 

[DCPack80]

The best way to handle JJ and any other stellar wideout. Get to the QB, blow up the play. Not a db in this league who can shut him down if Ryan has 6 seconds to throw the ball.

 

[thisisnate]

The best way to handle JJ and any other stellar wideout. Get to the QB, blow up the play. Not a db in this league who can shut him down if Ryan has 6 seconds to throw the ball.

I definitely agree with that, good point, but as I've posted elsewhere on this site, I have very low expectations for our pass rush this year.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

The best way to handle JJ and any other stellar wideout. Get to the QB, blow up the play. Not a db in this league who can shut him down if Ryan has 6 seconds to throw the ball.

On the other hand it's impossible for the pass rushers to put any pressure on opposing quarterbacks if the cornerbacks can't even cover receivers for two seconds. That happened a lot with the Packers last season.

 

[Zartan]

Well find out if Kevin King is worth his draft pick. Also Randall and Rollins have maybe improved over the off season from Garbage Fire to Cat Litter.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

Dom Capers is cooking up something really special, you just wait and see.....

But I am going to wait and see how the preseason and all the DB's pan out, before I get too nervous. I am leaning slightly towards the optimistic side that either Randall and/or Rollins is playing better than their up and down injury filled 2016 seasons and House settles back into the Green Bay Defense as an average #1 or at worse, a good #2. I am with Captain though, we can't expect too much out of King in his first year. The safeties are going to have to step up their game as well and give more support, while Capers is going to have to figure out how to get more pressures on the opposing QB's.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

The safeties are going to have to step up their game as well and give more support, while Capers is going to have to figure out how to get more pressures on the opposing QB's.

There's only so much Capers can do with limited quality depth at edge rusher though.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

There's only so much Capers can do with limited quality depth at edge rusher though.

I know what you are saying and after losing both Peppers and Jones and only gaining Biegel, I think a lot of us expect a drop-off from what wasn't a very solid group in 2016. The optimist in me, wants to think that TT, McCarthy and Capers believe in the young guys stepping up their game. I guess we will see.

 

[Deleted member 6794]

The optimist in me, wants to think that TT, McCarthy and Capers believe in the young guys stepping up their game. I guess we will see.

I'm convinced that Thompson believes in Elliott, Fackrell and Biegel providing quality depth but unfortunately TT has erred on the defensive side of the ball more often than not in the recent past.

 

[gbgary]

i've been preaching for years to play these top wrs the same way sea does. punch them at the line, grab, whatever, to nullify them. play to the limit and beyond. sea knows the refs aren't going to ruin the game by calling a penalty on every play so we should do the same. someday the league will have enough of that type of crap and put an end to it, but until that time comes...

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

I know what you are saying and after losing both Peppers and Jones and only gaining Biegel, I think a lot of us expect a drop-off from what wasn't a very solid group in 2016. The optimist in me, wants to think that TT, McCarthy and Capers believe in the young guys stepping up their game. I guess we will see.

I think the dline is making a come back. Perry is a stud. Between them(4), we will have a solid pass rush, run stop...
Our two wild cards in the lb corps is Mathews, who can rush, and cover pretty good either way from the olb position. And the rookie Jones, who is perfect to cover those big TEs, and fast rbs both from the ilb position.
He could be a weakness against the run, but a strong dline in front of him will mostly compensate for that....we are essentially taking out a ilb instead of a de to bring in the extra dback to cover the te. Allowing us to play more base 3-4 than nickel all the time.

I also think the new CBs are better built to man up and be physical against these super athletes like Julio Jones. The safety's will have to dedicate more time to punishing wrs and tes down field, rather than rbs, up on the line though.
Clinton dix shouldn't be getting 100 damn tackles any way you look at it.... I love that he can, but he shouldn't. Our safety's should be so starved for tackles, that they feast on the wrs, when they do get a tackle. Impact tackles, and ball hawks. This will help slow down guys like Julio. When we can have a big fast physical cb man up, with a safety in range at all times.

 

[JK64]

Dom seems to hate giving our CBs a Safety blanket over the top
but maybe he could let Josh Jones dip his feet in the water a little bit early and take some shots on him
drilling Julio with a 220+ pound safety a few times early in the game might take just a little pep out of his step

Why not? What they've been doing sure isn't working.

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

Dom seems to hate giving our CBs a Safety blanket over the top
but maybe he could let Josh Jones dip his feet in the water a little bit early and take some shots on him
drilling Julio with a 220+ pound safety a few times early in the game might take just a little pep out of his step

I think if you look at this from Atlanta point of view. They would be quick to hit one of their great rbs, and get us that way... this is where Jones comes in from the ilb spot imo... we have a ilb who can shut down a rb of that caliber, or a te... then they need to go to plan C, or D or force plan A.

We have two very very good safety's who could easily ruin Julio's day. IF IF IF!!! They weren't forced to play up with the lbs to compensate for our pathetic dline pressure.

 

[Sanguine camper]

You have to put King on elite wr'ers and give him safety help. No other Packer cb has the athleticism to stay with elite WR'ers. House was torched by Jones in 2014 when he went off for 259 yards. Dont expect different results if House or Gunter or any other cb lines up on him.

 

[Pokerbrat2000]

While I like the futures of both King and Jones, I think too many people are expecting a couple of rookies to step right in and be great. Give them time, until they get enough NFL reps, they too will make some mistakes.

 

[jakemillar]

Interesting to me how so many of you think Kevin King, a rookie who has barely practiced in the NFL, is going to come in and match up with Julio Jones and be successful, safety or not...

Truthfully, Davon House is wildly overrated on these forums as well IMO. He's a serviceable cornerback, but would only start on a handful of teams in the NFL. Unfortunately GB is probably one.

My 2 cents here is that, based on their play before injuries seemingly derailed their progress, Quentin Rollins and especially Damarious Randall were really good young players. Emphasis on Randall. He had moments in 2015 where he along with Jason Verrett looked like the next young up-and-coming star cornerbacks in the NFL. His play as a boundary cornerback at times was spectacular that season, tackling and in coverage.

I don't think we should be so quick to dismiss these two young players, especially given the fact that the two people everybody is penciling as the "starters" (on the assumption they are better hence they will be the starters), Davon House is essentially a journeyman CB, and Kevin King has not played a single snap in the NFL.

The fact remains that we have seen Damarious Randall and even flashes of Rollins play at a high level in the NFL. Not so much for the other two. IMO Randall is the best CB on the roster until proven otherwise, injuries and the subsequent confidence loss withstanding.

 

[Poppa San]

What they've been doing sure isn't working.

Step outside the box and exhaust him. May be NSFW.