Green Bay Packers Return To Playoffs in Impressive Fashion

The Green Bay Packers won decisively over the Seattle Seahawks Sunday in front of their home crowd. Even as that crowd watched the scoreboard of the Carolina Panthers doing the same with the New York Giants. It was very reminiscent of 2004, when an inferior team helped the Packers make it into the playoffs by beating the Vikings even as the Packers thrashed the Denver Broncos.

The only question that remains is, will the Pack be the fifth seed or sixth? That may be determined before Green Bay even takes the field Sunday in Arizona—if the Cowboys lose to the Eagles, the Packers are the fifth seed. If they tie or win, the Packers need to do likewise to be seeded ahead of either them or Philadelphia.

For now, we will dwell on getting in following a 4-4 start and a loss to the previously winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers (a loss that does not look as bad in light of two straight road wins, including one over top-seeded New Orleans). It was an all-around team effort, and here are the grades by unit:

Quarterbacks: A-

Aaron Rodgers had another strong performance, finishing the game with a 103 passer rating that probably does not do his game justice since it overemphasizes completion percentage. He may have only been 12-23 (.522), but he threw for 19.8 yards per completion (237 yards). He may have had only one touchdown but had no turnovers and set up the team's rushing success; before his deep completion to Greg Jennings, the Packers had no carries for over three yards and a total of nine on five carries.

Rodgers had only one carry for nine yards himself and was sacked once for nine; Matt Flynn had only two kneeldowns for two yards total lost. Flynn was four of six for 36 yards in relief of Rodgers (plus drew a 36-yard pass interference) during garbage time. Overall, that gives the quarterbacks 271 yards on 33 plays, an 8.2-yard average.

Running Backs: A+

In what was easily the best performance of the year, all three running backs got into the action, both with yardage and scores. Thanks to a 56-yeard score, Ryan Grant led the way with 16 carries for 97 yards (6.1 average) and two touchdowns. Ahman Green also had one touchdown among his eight runs, and although he averaged under four yards per carry (3.6) with just 29 yards (most of it on one 16-yard carry), he made the most of what he was given.

Brandon Jackson had just 20 yards on five carries (4.0), but one was a nice cutback score and he got into the endzone on another carry. Moreover, he caught three passes for 19 yards, including a 13-yard touchdown. Korey Hall also had a catch for seven yards, giving the unit 162 yards on 33 touches (4.9 average) with no turnovers and all six touchdowns.

Receivers: A-

With no drops and an average of 20.6 yards per catch, why the minus on that A? Easy: no scores and no remarkable catches.

Still, it was an impressive performance by the unit, led by Greg Jennings' four catches for 111 yards (27.8 average). Jermichael Finley had three catches for 80 yards, an incredible 23.3-yard average for a tight end. Donald Driver had three catches for 33 yards, Jordy Nelson had one for 17, and James Jones had one for six.

Offensive Line: B-

It may be nitpicking, but Rodgers was sacked twice more than the one listed on the sheet; they were just nullified by penalties. Also, the holes to run through were not there consistently enough.

Still, one official sack (even against a subpar pass rush) and an average of 5.2 yards per carry (albeit also against a subpar rush defense) excluding kneeldowns is pretty good. It should also be noted that Green Bay was able to get backup linemen T.J. Lang and Evan Dietrich Smith over a quarter of play.

Defensive Line: A

Cullen Jenkins and Johnny Jolly seemed to be disrupting Matt Hasselbeck on every play. Their efforts may have only netted five tackles and an assist, but also led to three sacks by the linebacking corps.

While Seattle's two running backs had 109 yards on 28 carries (3.9 average), 61 of those yards came on the 10 carries after the Packers had reached a five-touchdown lead. In other words, in the two-plus quarters before the game was a total blowout, they held Seattle's backs to 48 yards on 18 carries (2.7 average).

Linebackers: A-

Linebackers accounted for a whopping 32 tackles and seven assists, with seven different players getting in on the action as the Packers emptied the bench. The 'backs did catch seven passes for 55 yards, and the linebackers also have tight end John Carlson's eight-yard catch on their hands—a total of 63 yards on eight passes for a productive 7.9 average.

Nick Barnett had led the way with a huge game: six tackles, three assists, and a sack. A.J. Hawk had five tackles, an assist, and a pick. Rookie seventh-round pick Brad Jones (proof that one thing Tightwad Ted Thompson can do is draft!) had five tackles, an assist, and a sack, while Brandon Chillar had four tackles and a sack.

Defensive rookie of the year Clay Matthews had three tackles and an assist, and Desmond Bishop also added a tackle and an assist. Brady Poppinga got a tackle, and Cyril Obiozor, in his first action at linebacker this season, registered a tackle.

Defensive Backs: B+

In the past three weeks, Charles Woodson has gone from a lock for defensive player of the year to one of the players on the short list. He played fine, registering four tackles and not getting beat for any big plays. He held T.J. Houshmandzadeh to four catches for 51 yards and no scores, but had no big plays himself, either. Overall, the wide receivers had 10 catches for 119 yards.

This time, a non-Pro Bowl player—Atari Bigby—led the way with two tackles, five assists, and two picks. However, safeties have to take primary blame for the one 16-yard score to tight end John Carlson; Nick Collins had five tackles.

The surprising play was from the rest of the backfield that was torched by Pittsburgh. They were largely responsible for Hasselbeck's relatively low completion percentage (.514) despite the plethora of short passes (10.4 yards/completion).

Jarrett Bush actually made a play, getting an interception to go with his two tackles. Brandon Underwood had two tackles, Tramon Williams added one to his two assists, and Josh Bell had a tackle.

Special Teams: B

I don't remember the last time I gave this unit this high a grade. Let's start with the bad: Jeremy Kapinos had a pedestrian 41-yard average on his four punts, one of which was returned for 20 yards; on the other hand, no others were even returned.

Granted, Mason Crosby did not have to make a pressure kick, but his 52-yard attempt went right down the middle, and he hit a 29-yarder plus all six extra points. He also put three of eight kickoffs into the endzone, including one touchback and helped the Packers hold Seattle to just a 20.3 average per return with a long of 30 yards.

There were no punt returns and Nelson let a ball go he should not have, yielding an extra 15 yards. But kick returns were pretty good, with Nelson getting one for 33 and another for 23; Woodson had one for just 12 because the Packers had the hands unit out there and no blocking set up for him.

I originally wrote this article for Sports Scribes. Please also check me out on PackerChatters.