Week 10 Unit Grades

QB Scott Tolzien (16) stands in the pocket. Photo credit: packersnews.com

QUARTERBACKS: B
Scott Tolzien (24 for 39, 280 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT) made a few bad mistakes, but considering the guy was on the practice squad just last week, he exceeded expectations. Seneca Wallace looked serviceable but unremarkable in his one drive early in the game, so it makes complete sense why Mike McCarthy wasted no time in appointing Tolzien the starter for next week.

RUNNING BACKS: D
Eddie Lacy, James Starks, and John Kuhn ran for 80 yards on 29 attempts, good for an absolutely pedestrian 2.8 yards per carry. Lacy broke tackles early on but struggled after Evan Dietrich-Smith and Don Barclay went out in the second half. The Eagles were loading up the box with 8 or 9 players on nearly every down, but the running backs need to play better to give the Packers any chance at winning without Aaron Rodgers.

WIDE RECEIVERS: A
The unit made very few mistakes today, helping Scott Tolzien out with a few great catches and runs. Jarrett Boykin looks more and more like the second coming of Donald Driver. Jordy Nelson had a likely touchdown catch ruled incomplete (mistakenly, if you ask me), and James Jones showed a rare lapse in footwork when he couldn't get both feet inbounds on another possible touchdown reception.

TIGHT ENDS: B+
Brandon Bostick had his first big career game with 42 yards and a TD on 3 receptions, likely capitalizing on his familiarity with Tolzien from practices. Andrew Quarless and Ryan Taylor caught a ball each. The tight ends are trying to fill the gap left by Jermichael Finley, and the Packers hope Bostick, who might be their best receiving tight end, can continue to make progress.

OFFENSIVE LINE: D
Marshall Newhouse is bad. Real bad. If he was looking to redeem himself in today's game, he failed quite spectacularly and only further ensured his status as a career backup. TJ Lang filled in surprisingly well at center, though once EDS and Barclay went down, the whole unit really collapsed in run blocking.

DEFENSIVE LINE: C+
Datone Jones had his first big game in the NFL with 2 sacks, 2 tackles for losses, and 2 QB hits. Johnny Jolly made a few plays in the running game as well. Mike Daniels joined Tramon Williams on a sack. The line did well stopping inside runs and managed to get some pressure on the quarterback despite dismal linebacker play. Still, once Jolly went down, the unit fell apart, leading to big questions about depth.

LINEBACKERS: F
AJ Hawk had a tackle for a loss. That's just about the only thing the linebackers did the entire game, totaling 0 sacks and 0 QB hits as a unit. Even worse, they allowed LeSean McCoy to constantly get the edge, running for 155 yards total and mostly outside the tackles. Clay Matthews is playing with a club, but he went against a backup left tackle for most of the game and made nothing happen. The linebackers need to get pressure on the quarterback to help cover the mediocrity of the DBs.

SAFETIES: F
Rivaling the week 1 game against the 49ers in terms of total ineptness, the safeties were just awful tonight. The difference between week 1 and week 10 is Morgan Burnett - but despite his pay raise over the summer, Burnett has played poorly in pass and run defense. MD Jennings is bad, but I think we all knew that. Perhaps the most worrisome part of the performance tonight was that most of the mistakes made were not technical but mental - being unaware of the ball, yourself, and your teammates. Those are hard things to fix by coaching. McCarthy alluded to some big changes this week, so don't be surprised if rookie Chris Banjo gets the start opposite Burnett. At this point, they couldn't get much worse.

CORNERBACKS: F
Nick Foles had all day to throw, but the cornerbacks did not take advantage of several bad passes he made. Tramon Williams - who I will remind you is the third highest paid player on this team - has seriously, seriously regressed and might even have his starting spot questioned. Just about everyone had a missed tackle. There were no interceptions and no passes defended. The Packers now have 3 interceptions in 9 games, putting them on pace for a historically low 5 in the season. Next week, they play turnover machine Eli Manning. If they can't get any interceptions at MetLife, the team might find themselves 5-5 and solidly outside the playoff picture.

SPECIAL TEAMS: C
A pair of missed field goals by Mason Crosby was a fun new wrinkle to add to this season, but the generally bad field position was an all-too-familiar curse.  Micah Hyde fumbled a kickoff but fortunately recovered it in the endzone. Kicking coverage was good, and the Eagles did not return either of Tim Masthay's punts.

COACHING: F
I'm not on the "fire Dom Capers" wagon (yet). But I am solidly on the "Mike McCarthy is not a good playcaller" wagon. The amount of short passes Scott Tolzien was made to throw on 3rd and short? Unacceptable when you have Eddie Lacy on your roster. Speaking of that - I wrote in an article earlier this week that to succeed, the coaches needed to cycle Lacy, Starks, and Franklin more to keep them healthy and effective. Today, Lacy had 24 carries and Starks had 4, putting Lacy at 75 carries in the last three games. He averaged 14 carries per game his final year at Alabama, so you'd think the coaches might be slightly worried about overworking him. Some may criticize Capers for being inflexible, but an objective observer of the game would see through that - the Packers defense was simply getting outplayed. Their blitzing was ineffective, they couldn't get pressure without blitzing, and they couldn't maintain coverage even when dropping seven.

I said I wasn't in favor of firing Dom Capers, but I am in favor of other staff and personnel changes - including the firing of Joe Whitt, the cornerbacks coach who has managed an inconsistent and, at times, downright terrible defensive unit for far too long. I'm also in favor of benching M.D. Jennings - who should have never started in the first place - for rookie Chris Banjo, who has much more upside.