Morning Buzz: Lots to work on over bye
Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a cup of coffee and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers.
While many players will be scattered around the country enjoying their bye, the coaching staff will be busy this week working on the early problem areas for Mike McCarthy’s team. Tom Silverstein does a great job laying out exactly what McCarthy and company have to work on.
One thing that doesn’t seem to need much work is the run defense, spearheaded by the superb play of Mike Daniels. In their weekly film review, Eric Baranczyk and Pete Dougherty make the case that Daniels has become the most indispensable player on the defensive side of the ball for Dom Capers’ unit.
For the third straight week, we saw just how irreplaceable Daniels is on the Packers’ defensive line. He has been the linchpin for a run defense that leads the NFL in fewest yards allowed per game and per carry. He’s also a key pass rusher on the interior. He’s the guy who makes this defense go.
Tom Silverstein and LeRoy Butler do an excellent job laying out what exactly is going on with Damarious Randall and the other young members of the Packers' secondary in their weekly “5 Questions” video.
'5 Questions' and 'X's and O's' with LeRoy Butler
Over at the Packers' official website, Mike Spofford does a great job week in and week out breaking down the tape and looking at things people may not have noticed watching the game the first time around, and this week is no different. Check out Mike’s “What You Might’ve Missed” for the Lions game.
If you enjoy X’s and O’s and tape breakdowns, Ben Fennell has a Twitter feed Packers fans should check out every day. Ben always has great breakdowns of the game tape and the games within the game, and today is no different. Here, he highlights the play of Mike Daniels.
For those less interested with X’s and O’s and more interested in players’ stories off the field, ESPN’s Jason Wilde has a great look at Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix re-enrolling at Alabama this past January, spurred on by the civil unrest throughout the country. It is an engaging read from Wilde.
Elsewhere in the NFL, Wisconsin’s favorite son and current Houston Texan J.J. Watt is reportedly expected to be placed on injured reserve after re-injuring his back. The Texans are set to visit Green Bay later this season, but it sounds like Watt will have to wait to play his first game in Lambeau and against the team he grew up rooting for.
Speaking of teams on the Packers' schedule later this year, many fans may have thought the trip to Philadelphia wasn’t going to be much of a challenge when the schedule was released in April, but the Eagles appear to have a legit rookie phenom on their hands to go along with a stingy defense.