Green Bay Packers Notebook: Brandon Jackson's Best Game, Aaron Rodgers' Issues

For Green Bay Packers' running back Brandon Jackson, Sunday night's victory over the Minnesota Vikings must have felt good, and for a number of reasons. 

Beating a division rival and joining the Bears atop the NFC North have to be reasons number one and two, respectively, but there's no doubt Jackson has to feel a little more comfortable about his role after putting together what Packers' coach Mike McCarthy calls his "best game". 

For weeks after incumbent starter Ryan Grant was lost for the season to injury, Packers' fans far and wide were calling for reinforcements at running back, but Packers' management held faith in Jackson's ability to hold down the position. 

And finally Sunday night, that faith was rewarded. Jackson's stat line might not turn any heads—13 carries, 58 yards, one touchdown and 46 yards receiving—but it was clearly his best game of the season. 

In his various touches, Jackson was reading the holes and hitting them hard for what seems like the first time this season.

Because of that, the running game finally provided a little balance in the offense, and when the Packers did drop back to pass, Jackson was able to contribute there as well. 

He picked up several blitzes from the Vikings in pass protection, and also caught a 36-yard screen pass that set up a Packers' touchdown. His overall performance was enough for McCarthy to give Jackson the offensive gameball. 

"I thought he played at a high level, I thought he played tough," McCarthy said. "In my opinion I thought that was his best game as a Packer."

That vote of confidence from McCarthy, added in with the faith put in him from management, has allowed Jackson to get more and more comfortable being the starter each week.

Hopefully, he can continue to build on his progress that he's made since taking over the starters' role. 

"It's like anything else," running backs' coach Edgar Bennett said. "It's getting into a comfort zone and having a complete understanding of our scheme and what we're asking him to do."

Rodgers Only Average Again?

Surely the Packers' win over the Vikings was huge for Aaron Rodgers—vexing the demon of Brett Favre finally—but he had his own struggles Sunday night with a few throws that were strikingly similar to his predecessor and a lack of understanding with his receivers that has to be concerning. 

His two interceptions were really inexcusable, and he had a number of throws that were beyond five yards from any Packers' receiver.

The first interception Rodgers threw was more of a panic play then anything. With the Packers' in the red zone, Rodgers was looking for Dmitri Nance on a screen pass but threw it right into the arms of Vikings' defensive end Jared Allen. 

It was clear that Rodgers hurried the play, and the result was his first interception in the red zone in 159 snaps within the opponents' 20-yard line. 

The second interception was something we haven't seen Rodgers' do much in his 39 career starts as Packers' quarterback: a forced throw into the endzone. 

I realize Rodgers probably felt that the matchup with Frank Walker covering Greg Jennings is undoubtedly advantage Packers, but to force a pass into the endzone on a second down play was a decision I'm sure he regretted making. 

“It was the end of the half, he could have thrown it away and given us a better shot (on third down),” Packers' quarterbacks coach Tom Clements said about the play. 

Tough to argue with that logic, and the two picks for Rodgers already has him at nine for the season—two more then 2009 and putting him on pace for 21 in 2010. 

But it wasn't only the points squandered by interceptions in the red zone that turned Rodgers' night into an average one. On four or five throws, Rodgers and his receivers were clearly not on the same page and that turned into some ugly looking incompletions that stalled a number of Packers' possessions. 

For a quarterback and receiving combination that has been together for almost two and a half seasons, you wouldn't be expecting misreads to be happening on the scale they did Sunday night. 

"The route adjustment between the receiver and the quarterback, we weren’t on the same page," McCarthy said. "But we had a couple back-shoulder throws that the timing and the throw were just not what you look for."

Even from McCarthy, you could sense a little frustration about the incompletions and, in particular, how they turned sustained drives into punts. 

But in all reality, it's been a down season for Rodgers statistically. His 89.0 quarterback rating is almost seven points below his career rating, and he's already had four games this season with a rating below 85 after only having two such games all of last season. 

Could it be possible that, with nearly two and a half years of film out on Rodgers, defenses have begun figuring him out? Let's hope not for Packers' fans, because there are some tough defenses waiting on the schedule yet for Rodgers and the offense. 

The Good and Bad of Packers' Playcalling

Speaking of offense, another common complaint about the Packers young 2010 season has been the playcalling from coach McCarthy. It's a viable argument, and even when the Packers improved in that area on Sunday night, there were still some question marks. 

But before we get into the one bad call, let me note there were clearly several improvements. I thought the Packers were finally able to achieve some type of offensive balance, and most fans will take a ratio of 35 passes to 23 runs. 

What was possibly more amazing then the balance was the reappearance of the screen pass in the Packers' offense. While Rodgers made a stupid mistake on one such screen, the other three that were called resulted in three catches for 63 yards (Jackson, one for 36, and Donald Lee, two for 27). 

The threat of the screen dramatically helped slow the Vikings solid pass rush, and was part of the reason Rodgers wasn't sacked once. It's something I hope the Packers' continue to use extensively in their offense week-in and week-out. 

Finally, the Packers even got a little tricky on fourth down. You have to love the fake field goal, and if Andrew Quarless doesn't trip over his own feet, it would have been a pretty looking play call.

Regardless, it was still a well designed trick play that was executed at the right time. Gadget plays can work in the NFL when the timing is right, and it's nice to see the Packers have a few tricks up their sleeve yet.

However, there were still some head-scratchers, including running John Kuhn on back-to-back fourth down plays. Kuhn barely made it on the first fourth down conversion, and to run the exact same play on the next try really didn't make any sense. 

Besides, I didn't understand going for it on the last fourth down anyway. The Packers should have kicked the field goal and gone up by seven to ensure themselves that there was no way Favre and the Vikings were beating them on that last drive. 

McCarthy actually said that kicking the field goal was his "first reaction based on the spot", and I think he should have stuck to his original decision. 

A Few Roster Moves

Both Mike Neal and Brady Poppinga were put on injured reserve Tuesday, and the Packers also signed two linebackers. 

Diyarl Briggs, a 6'3", 250-pound pass rushing linebacker was signed from the Denver Broncos' practice squad, along with veteran Matt Wilhem formerly from the San Francisco 49ers and San Diego Chargers.

Green Bay also released Maurice Simpkins who was the primary backup to inside linebackers A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop. 

That means that one roster spot is still open, which could signal that Al Harris or Atari Bigby will be taken off the physically unable to perform list sometime this week. 

Far from the big time moves that everyone crucifies Ted Thompson for not making, but two new names to keep your eye on nonetheless.