Injury Updates, Finley’s Impact, Walden’s Status

Posted by Brandon Rifkin on December 7, 2011 Jump To Comments

A few things worth going over as we approach a physical showdown with the Raiders…

A.J. Hawk and Desmond Bishop are still hurting. Hawk was able to do some full speed drills off to the side of practice, but Bishop was a complete no-go. Yeah, I’d love to see them back out there as soon as possible, but given that the goal is to win the Super Bowl – not 16-0 – I think it’s for the best to make sure they’re as close to 100% as possible before bringing them back. Based on reports all over the internet, Hawk is considerably closer.
- I was pleased with Francois and Smith last week. Filling in for the veterans, they combined for 12 tackles, 1 TFL and one pass defended. With Matthews causing chaos all over the field, solid tackling is really the main contribution needed from the stopgap linebackers. If they can keep it up, Green Bay’s D should be fine.
Tom Silverstein of the Journal-Sentinel had a great piece on the various ways Jermichael affects a game. I specifically enjoyed this from an anonymous NFC personnel executive (badass job, BTW):

“They move him a ton, too,” the personnel executive said. “The backfield, they flex him out, they use him to see how a team is going to defend him so Aaron knows what kind of coverage he’s going to get. He (Rodgers) has got this guy that can move around and see how the defense shifts.

“He’s so fast and quick in and out of his breaks, just like a big receiver. A linebacker can’t play him. You go straight man, you have to put a cover safety or a big corner on him and then put a safety over him. We don’t have one of those. I really want Santa to bring us one of those for Christmas.”

High praise. Yes, his drops have been frustrating this year. Back to back drops in New York could have potentially cost the game and the perfect season for the Packers. But at the end of the day, Finley’s a monster, and if Green Bay doesn’t wanna pony up the cash at the end of the year, you can bet plenty of teams will be in line for his services. Personally, I haven’t decided yet what I want the Packers to do. It’s a joy watching Finley play, and there are numerous occasions where it seems like Rodgers is just going to #88 every play until the defense proves it can stop him. But he’s going to cost a lot of money, and Thompson will have some other contracts to extend. There will be a lot of discussion about this after the Super Bowl. Stay tuned.

Erik Walden has been charged with disorderly conduct, but is on track to keep playing. For the record, disorderly conduct is one of those bullshit charges that cops can apply to just about anything. Tell a cop his socks aren’t matching, boom, disorderly conduct. Ask a cop for directions, boom, disorderly conduct. In Walden’s case, it seems like there’s some ‘he said, she said’ going on – never an easy thing for the courts to handle. As I said last week, just gonna let the judicial system do its thing. If he keeps playing, great. If not, well, I’d certainly understand. Some things are more important than football. Not many. But some.
ROSTER MOVE: Graham Harrell has been signed to the active roster and Andrew Quarless has been placed on IR. Nothing too shocking, given the depth at tight end on the roster. No need to call up another one. And let’s just say that if Graham Harrell is playing, something went terribly, terribly wrong.