Star Ratings: Packers-Falcons

Five Stars
Ladarius Gunter – Sometimes, we overreact at SnoTapWI HQ, and two weeks ago when I asked for Gunter to be ‘off the roster’ that’s what we call an overreaction. He looked good against Alshon Jeffery and held his own against Julio Jones. Dom Capers did a marvelous job scheming against Julio all game long even if he was banged up in the second half. Gunter nearly had a pick-six that would have sealed the game for Green Bay. They were inches from being 5-2.
Aaron Rodgers – This is not surprising if you’re next level thinker on Rodgers. After we saw glimpses of greatness on Thursday night in the second half against Chicago, Rodgers looked ready to deliver the hammer against bad pass defenses. He did that versus Atlanta making some vintage throws like the 58-yarder to Jordy Nelson or the touchdown to Trevor Davis. Rodgers has seven touchdowns and no picks in his last two games, and he’s starting to get in rhythm with his receivers. There’s no reason to blame the starting quarterback for this loss. If you’re doing that, you’ve ran out of ideas or an ax to grind.
Four Stars
Morgan Burnett – A part of Gunter’s success was the double-coverage over-the-top and Burnett played a large part in that. I don’t think he gets enough credit for being a stabilizing force in the Packers secondary. Burnett is one of the underrated glue guy son this defense. He didn’t make any significant plays, but Burnett made sure Jones didn’t burn Green Bay deep.
Jordy Nelson – After a rough Thursday night outing, Jordy came through with four catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. Nelson struggled in the past couple of days, and he really benefited from the extra time off. Nelson made a great catch to open the game with a 58 yard reception. We keep seeing glimpses of the old Jordy being back. Hopefully, he’s okay as Nelson suffered an arm injury at the very end of the football game.
Three Stars
Trevor Davis – There were some nice things out of the rookie wide receiver from Cal filling in for Randall Cobb and Ty Montgomery. Davis had a great touchdown catch on a beautiful throw by Rodgers. He also broke a punt return which set up the score Davis caught and it feels inevitable Davis will break a punt return. Davis could end up being a difference maker as he continues to mature in the system.
Two Stars
Health of the team – The Barstool boys would call this being ‘woke’ but walk with me a little bit… Green Bay knew they could compete with a bad Atlanta’s defense without some of their star players. Randall Cobb and Clay Matthews both needed to get healthy and having a full week off would help them for the stretch run instead of being hurt all season. Fingers crossed, Green Bay gets back Matthews, Cobb, Quinten Rollins and Montgomery for next week’s game. Green Bay could still do some big things versus Indy with this same group of guys, but it’s not going to be easy.
One Star
Jake Ryan/Blake Martinez – When people compare you to A.J. Hawk in pass defense, it’s not a good thing. Jake Ryan really struggled today in open space. He looked foolish on the fast turf. Ryan couldn’t bring anyone down and let an unknown named Austin Hooper control the middle field while Green Bay covered Jones downfield. Blake Martinez wasn’t much better. He missed a few key tackles in the middle of the field, and Martinez suffered in coverage like his buddy, Ryan.
Geronimo Allison’s Twitter Game – Clean it up, big fella. Clean it up.
Packers WR Geronimo Allison might be a rookie on the field but he's long been a Hall of Fame tweeter pic.twitter.com/1g2ImL09rn
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) October 30, 2016
Charlie.
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