Green Bay Packers Report Card: Grading Each Unit

With their 16th straight victory, the Green Bay Packers improved to 10-0 on the season with a close win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

This was one of the sloppiest games of the season for the Packers, and even though they won by a score of 35-26, the game was much closer than that.

Here is Green Bay's Week 11 report card and grades for each unit.

Quarterback

It's hard to watch Aaron Rodgers these days because he is so freakin' good. When he throws an incomplete pass you react like a giant comet just steamrolled your neighbors house.

Rodgers is putting together one of the greatest seasons by a quarterback in NFL history. However, Week 11 wasn't his best performance. He missed numerous throws and for the majority of the second half, the Green Bay Packers' offense was completely useless.

The problem for the rest of the NFL is that when Rodgers has a bad game, it is still an incredible game by others' standards, and he still leads his team to victory. Let's just hope that this wasn't the beginning of a slide similar to what happened to Tom Brady in the second half of the 2007 season.

Final Grade: A-

Running Backs

Can anyone tell me why Ryan Grant is the "starter" for the Green Bay Packers? It's pretty clear at this point that James Starks is the only running back deserving of carries.

Starks had a fairly impressive game with 91 total yards on 17 total touches. Sure, he only had 38 rushing yards, but that is all this offense needs from him.

Neither Starks or Grant will ever be relied on too heavy, so as long as they can gain some yards on the ground, catch passes out of the backfield and provide some protection for Aaron Rodgers, I'm okay with low rushing yards.

Final Grade: B

Reicevers/Tight Ends

Grading the receivers was pretty difficult this week.

For example, if I was grading just Jordy Nelson and Donald Driver, the grade would be an easy A+. However, I also have to grade Greg Jennings, Randall Cobb, Jermichael Finley and James Jones, and their combined grade would be closer to the D- range.

Nelson and Driver combined for 10 receptions for 195 yards and two touchdowns, while the rest of the receivers and tight ends had 6 receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown. Jones and Finley also had the only dropped passes by the group.

I'm going to give credit where credit is due and focus more on the good than the bad.

Final Grade: B

Offensive Line

This entire unit scares me. I'm not a fan of Aaron Rodgers scrambling for his life and needing to be picked up off the ground.

Over the past few weeks, the offensive line for the Green Bay Packers has really gone south. Yes, they only gave up two sacks, but Rodgers was under a consistent amount of pressure all game long.

There is no doubt that the offensive line is the weakest unit for Green Bay, and if they don't pick up the slack soon, we may see things happen to Rodgers that we don't want to see.

Final Grade: D

Defensive Line

As bad as the offensive line has been the past few weeks, the defensive line hasn't been that much better.

They are putting no pressure on opposing quarterbacks, and have been playing awful against the run. Neither B.J. Raji, Ryan Pickett or Jarius Wynn were impressive against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For this defense to get back to where it was at the end of the 2010 season, the defensive line needs to create more pressure and fill more gaps.

The only reason I'm not grading this unit lower is because of the fact that Raji scored an offensive touchdown. Seriously, how awesome was that?

Final Grade: C-

Linebackers

The more I watch Clay Matthew and Desmond Bishop, the more I get excited about this team. However, the more I watch Erik Walden and A.J. Hawk, the bigger my doubts grow about this defense.

There were missed tackles by the linebackers all game long. Both Hawk and Bishop had a chance to bring down LeGarrette Blount on his 54-yard touchdown run.

Even though Walden recorded a sack, he is still easily the weakest link of the unit. Green Bay needs to get more pressure off the ends, and Walden just hasn't been cutting it this year.

It wasn't a great performance from this unit, but it certainly could have been worse.

Final Grade: B-

Secondary

There were two key plays from the Green Bay Packers' secondary on Sunday.

The first was Tramon Williams' interception in the first half against Josh Freeman. That play showed just how dangerous and talented this secondary is.

The second play was Freeman's late touchdown pass to Dezmon Briscoe where Charlie Peprah completely blew his coverage assignment. It was a poor play that has happened all too often this year.

There is no doubting this unit's abilities, but there are still major issues with execution.

Final Grade: C+

Special Teams

All I have to say about the special teams this week is that Tim Masthay is the man. When he purposely botched the snap on his first punt attempt of the game, and then rumbled for a first down, it was a beautiful thing.

Oh yeah, Randall Cobb was pretty good too.

Final Grade: A

Coaching

I've always been a critic of Mike McCarthy's conservative play calling late in games. However, this week, with his team up late, he let Aaron Rodgers air it out.

Of course, that led to an interception and allowed the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to cut the lead to only two points, but I still liked the move. Green Bay's offense has proven to be nearly unstoppable all year, and that isn't because of James Starks and Ryan Grant running the football.

Overall, McCarthy coached a very good game today.

Final Grade: B+