If the early reports are correct, Charles Woodson should return from his collarbone injury for this week’s division deciding showdown against the Chicago Bears. He’s one of a few names who are expected back, as Clay Matthews and C.J. Wilson are also expected to end their stints on the injury list. However, one question distinguishes Woodson’s return from the rest.

However, one question distinguishes Woodson’s return from the rest.

How will he be reintegrated into the Packers’ defense?

If the defense had struggled mightily in the areas Woodson covered, this wouldn’t be an issue. Yet the play at safety and slot corner has been great, if not greater, in Woodson’s absence.

At safety, M.D. Jennings and Jerron McMillian have both shown incredible ability to keep a lid on opponent’s passing games. McMillian especially has proven difficult to throw at, and veteran passers consistently look away from wherever he is stationed. Morgan Burnett has improved his play as well by rediscovering the ball-hawking ability he displayed during the first half of 2011. More impressive still, Burnett has developed pass rushing ability on safety blitzes, netting two sacks and even more quarterback pressures since Woodson’s injury. Even if Woodson takes the absolute minimum amount of time to shake the rust, it’s hard to imagine he’ll outperform this combined production.

The bigger story, though, is the ascension of Casey Hayward. Hayward went from showing mere competence as a slot corner to becoming one of the best in the entire league. Hayward plays highly instinctually, making the right reads and sticking on the hip of opposing receivers despite only having average speed for a cornerback. The slot corner spot has been Woodson’s since almost the beginning of his Green Bay tenure. It’s the position Woodson has done most of his damage: blitzing the QB, pushing around tight ends, and until recently, giving up little to slot receivers. Woodson may no longer be able to cover in the slot the way Hayward does, and it would be unconscionable to remove Hayward at this point.

So what can the Packers do to both satiate their longtime defensive leader and not see drop-offs in production? The answer may seem a little out of bounds, but when you consider the skills Woodson still possesses and where the Green Bay defense has struggled, it doesn’t seem so crazy.

Play Woodson at linebacker.

More specifically, play Woodson at linebacker in the nickel. This maximizes the skills he has while keeping the young, high-producing defensive backs on the field. Perhaps Woodson shifts to safety in the base 3-4, but it’s in the nickel where he should play primarily as a linebacker.

This wouldn’t be the first time Woodson’s played in such a role. While it wasn’t labeled as such in 2009 and 2010, Woodson played a hybrid slot corner/outside linebacker position to great effect. From this spot, Woodson would flush the quarterback out of the pocket, cover the tight end or slot receiver, and also be able to drop back with the linebackers into zone. Today, Woodson can still tackle like a linebacker, cover tight ends, and play at least as well as any of Green Bay’s current linebackers in zone. The last of these would help reduce the number of cheap 8-12 yard completions over the middle that have plagued the Packers this season.

As the Packers still play most of their defense out of the nickel – this past week the entire opening drive against the Lions was played in nickel – this would allow Woodson to get on the field without making major sacrifices. Woodson could take the linebacker spot opposite of Clay Matthews and give the pass rush the most balance it’s had since Nick Perry went down. Woodson could also shift to Brad Jones’ inside linebacker spot if coverage over the middle of the field becomes an issue.

While many fans might be pealing their jaws off the ground after reading this, such was the same reaction when the idea of playing Woodson primarily at safety was first floated. As with the other aging Packer veterans, the team must adapt to Woodson’s diminished skill set. Fortunately for the Packers, the skills he still has are incredibly unique and fit their defensive needs perfectly. Don’t be surprised to see Woodson playing a role like this as the regular season closes out.

One of the biggest additions to the Packers defensive backfield has been cornerback Casey Hayward. Brett Davis-US PRESSWIRE

By Jason Hirschhorn

We’re approaching the point where we can properly assess the Green Bay Packers‘ strengths and weaknesses even though half the season (and postseason) has yet to be played.

The eye test shows that this is a team with a strong offense and a defense that generally isn’t a revolving door. The rudimentary numbers back this up: the Packers are the 9th best in points per game and give up the 13th least points per game.

As is obvious to anyone who watched the 2011 edition of the Packers, the biggest development thus far is the defense. But how much has the defense really improved from last year?To answer that question we need to establish just how good (or bad) last year’s defense was.

The old method of measuring defense by yards allowed yields hollow results. Yards, especially passing yards, are as cheap as ever in NFL history.

Points allowed is a better metric, but even that provide false positives. A better way of judging defenses, especially giving its strong correlation with winning percentage, is defensive passer rating.

To illustrate the correlation between defensive passer rating and winning, the top 10 teams in defensive passer rating have a combined record of 43-23, and include defenses like San Francisco, Seattle, Houston, and at number one, Chicago.

October 14, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers (left) talks with Houston Texans owner Bob McNair before a game at Reliant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-US PRESSWIRE

Let’s first look at last year’s numbers:

379/621 for 4,976 yards with 32 touchdowns against 31 interceptions: good for a defensive passer rating of 82.71.

That 82.71 defensive passer rating says a lot about the 2011 defense. Mostly, that the ceaseless talk all offseason over Green Bay having the worst defense in NFL history was to some degree exaggeration.

A team does not go 15-1 with a turnstile defense, and while I wouldn’t go so far as to say last year’s unit was even average, it definitely did contribute to the 15 regular season wins. Primarily, they did it through turnovers. The 2011 defense forced a turnover in every game that season with just one exception.

That exception, as you may have already guessed, was the regular season’s only loss in week 14 to Kansas City.So how does this year’s unit compare?

Through seven games, the 2012 Green Bay defense has a defensive passer rating of 79.94, which is tenth best in the NFL right now. This may seem high, and to some degree it possibly is given the sample size, but early signs indicate that the defense has improved from last year.

The next step is to figure out why with an improved defense the Packers have lost more games than they did all of last year. Two obvious factors are luck (some random, some replacement ref) and a less effective offense. The other, as hinted at earlier, is forced turnovers.

Prior to the Houston game, Green Bay had only forced 5 turnovers and 4 of them came against Chicago. From Houston and on, Green Bay has forced 4 turnovers.

Given the 2011 defense’s propensity for forcing turnovers, it seems very likely that the defense of the last two games is more or less what we can expect for the remainder of the season. That’s assuming Woodson’s injury doesn’t completely throw a wrench into the works, but we won’t know how well Dom Capers will adjust until Sunday.

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