Christl/Baranczyk analysis: Defensive outlook bright as key players get healthy

Secondary

Once again, Calvin Johnson padded his stats against the Packers, and, once again, Tramon Williams prevented him from making a game-changing play. Williams gives up six inches in that matchup, but his vertical leap makes up for some of that and his ability to play the ball helps as well.

House missed a tackle early on a 13-yard run by Joique Bell and should have played the 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tony Scheffler more aggressively. House needs to see that pick coming and get his hands on the receiver at the snap of the ball.

Woodson figures to replace M.D. Jennings, but there also are things he does better in the slot than Casey Hayward.

One, Woodson does a better job of timing the blitz. Two, he has more savvy than Hayward on running plays. When a pulling lineman comes out, Woodson knows where to be. He knows he can’t be too deep and that he has to take on that blocker low and create a pile-up. Hayward isn’t there yet. He takes on blockers too deep.

Outside linebackers

In the first half, when the Packers allowed 117 yards rushing, Moses and Zombo were awful, and Walden’s play was inconsistent.

Zombo was cut down by Matthew Stafford on a wide receiver reverse and then sucked in on Stafford’s 4-yard keeper for a touchdown. How unathletic is that to get cut by a quarterback?

Moses isn’t physical against the run and gets his shoulders turned. He even gets reach-blocked by tight ends. That means he’s lining up on a tight end’s outside shoulder, and the tight end is getting to his outside shoulder.

Defensive line

Week after week, Ryan Pickett and B.J. Raji do their job as consistently well as anyone on defense.

Daniels might be short and might lack the up-field speed of Jerel Worthy, but he has more junk in his trunk than Worthy. Daniels’ squatty build gives him more power in his lower body.

But his best asset is his hands and that’s unusual for a rookie. His hands never stop and that’s how a D-lineman gets late sacks. On his fumble recovery, Daniels kept separation and his guy eventually let him go. Daniels kept using his hands, kept his feet moving and when he saw the ball he went after it.

Alex Green

Early in the year, Green was impatient, didn’t set up blocks, didn’t look like a first-down back. He’d get the ball and was ready to go 100 miles an hour. But he’s getting better and two plays, in particular, showed that.

With 11:44 to go in the first half, he gained 12 yards. He headed inside, slowed down, used his eyes and bounced it outside. Earlier in the year, he maybe doesn’t make that play. He might have followed D.J. Williams, the up-back, through the hole.

In the third quarter, with 7:26 to go, Green ran a power-play for 11 yards. The blocking was good, but Green helped set it up. He didn’t just grab the ball and run to the hole. Instead, he stepped toward the middle, which allowed the linemen to get better angles, and then he bent it and followed the pulling guard around the corner. His first two steps drew the backers in, drew the linemen in. That made it an easier block for Williams, the tight end, and helped Evan Dietrich-Smith get a better angle on the scraping linebacker.

Green also is doing a better job of running with his pads out over his toes. Now, he’s delivering blows instead of getting blown up.

DuJuan Harris’ 14-yard touchdown was blocked perfectly. He was untouched. But he also showed some quickness and vision on his seven carries.

Offensive line

The slippery track helped in pass protection. On a field like that the advantage is with the offensive line. But the line also did a good job at the point of attack in the running game, especially on the right side with Don Barclay and Josh Sitton. But three times, Barclay had trouble with a tackle-end twist in pass protection. That’s something that will have to be cleaned up.