SnoTap’s Star Ratings: Colts-Packers

Five Stars
Ha Ha Clinton-Dix – It was poetic to see Ha Ha Clinton-Dix having a big game against Indianapolis. Ryan Wood wrote late last week how Clinton-Dix lacked ‘splash plays’ this season despite having a quality start to the season. He got a couple of those ‘splash’ plays with two interceptions of Andrew Luck and a big sack as well. Sadly, Clinton-Dix had a chance at sacking Luck late in the fourth that would have ended the drive, and Aaron Rodgers would have had one more shot at winning this game. It’s too bad he didn’t fully come home.
Jordy Nelson – Another strong game for Jordy Nelson after two stinkers in the middle of the season. Nelson had seven catches for 94 yards and a touchdown. When Aaron Rodgers got a free play and threw it towards the end zone with a pass that looked like it would be picked… Nope, Nelson snagged it from thin air and got the touchdown for Green Bay.
Four Stars
Jacob Schrum – What a day by the punter! Schrum looked at certain points of last season when he would get cut from the roster, but last night, Schrum had a couple boomers out there to flip the field. Not sure if he’s more comfortable punting the ball or changed his routine yet whatever it is, Schrum should keep doing it.
Corey Linsley – Solid start to Linsley’s season coming back from injury. If you want to look at a few positives, Green Bay is stacked at offensive linemen for the remainder of the season. If J.C. Tretter is healthy again, they have six starting offensive lineman ready for their disposal. It makes you feel good if someone goes down with injury. James Campen has a decision to make when Tretter is ready to roll again. It might end up mean Lane Taylor to the bench, and Tretter to right guard.
Three Stars
Richard Rodgers – While Green Bay’s offense probably spent too much time trying to get him the ball early on, it was still nice to see Richard Rodgers be a part of the offense. He completely disappeared against Atlanta, but Green Bay found a way to make him part of the offense this week. It’s good to see him have a little bit of an impact. Still, he had a brutal drop on third down which led to a missed field goal.
Two Stars
Aaron Rodgers – He gets a bump up for the comeback, but Rodgers decided to return to the YOLO offense where he doesn’t take the easy seven yards. Rodgers had underneath routes all day, yet Colts defense convinced him that he could throw the deep ball which he missed every time. There was one to Nelson in the second half where he had double-coverage and barely noticed the ball coming to him.
Ladarius Gunter – After two good weeks, Gunter still proved his only a rotation guy versus an actual starting cornerback. Gunter got beat on the biggest play of the game when Luck caught the Packers defense napping with a beautiful post route to T.Y. Hilton to seal the game. Great throw by him, but Gunter was two steps behind Hilton.
One Star
Mike McCarthy – i’m writing something a little longer this week about McCarthy, but it’s apparent that his way of doing things is growing stale with the team. There’s no excuse for losing to Colts at home as a seven-point favorite. Coming out flat before you have three straight road games is not an ideal way to do things. While the comeback was fun, Green Bay deserved to lose this football game. It’s starts at the top and the hot seat has never been warmer for him.
Ron Zook – Another coach deserving of a tongue-lashing is Ron Zook. The kickoff team had gotten burned a couple times this year with big returns, and they officially suffered the worst one of the season with an opening kickoff return. Zook’s punt return team nearly had a roughing the punter penalty that was thankfully wiped off due to an Indianapolis penalty. Some people are way down on special teams this season, but I’m not one of them yet. I think they’ve done a fine job leading up to this week. It’s hard to have a good special teams unit with the amount of injuries Green Bay has on their team.
Charlie.