Green Bay Packers: Stock up, stock down entering Wild Card Weekend

Stock Down

Christine Michael: The former Seahawk was nothing more than a bit player in this one, but he failed to show any kind of vision in his three carries.

The one play that was noteworthy took place on 1st and 17 in the second quarter with the 221-pound running back taking too long to hit a favorable hole behind left guard T.J. Lang. By the time Michael made his move, the surrounding defenders were already in position to close in and limit him to a 1-yard pick-up.

Maybe the fourth-year pro sticks around next year as a third running back behind Lacy and Montgomery—provided Lacy is re-signed—but I don’t see much long-term upside in the Texas A&M product if he were ever summoned to perform in the role of lead back should backfield injuries reoccur.

There’s a reason why Seattle cut ties with him twice.

Mason Crosby: The 32-year-old has been reliable for the most part this season by successfully converting 26 of his 30 field-goal attempts, but he’s also missed 3 extra points, including one in the fourth quarter versus Detroit.

Luckily, Green Bay still maintained a two-score advantage despite the Crosby error. However, a missed extra point down the road could cost the Packers a ball game with tough matchups versus the Giants and the Cowboys looming.

The veteran place kicker’s value goes beyond his ability to connect on long field goals when you take into account his work in neutralizing the return game with his variety of kickoffs. But he has to be perfect on those extra points during playoff time.

Letroy Guion: Although the stat sheet indicates that Green Bay’s defense held Detroit to 3.6 yards per carry, there were far too many instances in which Zenner blew right through the heart of the defensive line with a head of steam.

The running back’s 15-yard burst on a first-quarter drive that resulted in a missed field goal by Matt Prater saw the interior lineman get moved off his spot.

Guion’s inability to gain leverage in the ground game reemerged on a 3rd-and-goal play in the second quarter in which the defender was turned by the mauling Warford with a trailing Zenner slamming it into the end zone.

The team needs more from the one-time Florida State Seminole.

Dean Lowry: There were times when the rookie lineman was simply obliterated by Warford, including a 13-yard surge on 2nd and 3 five plays prior to Zenner’s 1-yard touchdown plunge.

Big bad Warford abused the rookie again at the end of the second quarter by standing up Lowry in creating a running lane for Zenner who gained 6 yards on 3rd and 1.

As is the case with many rookies, Lowry needs to gain strength in the offseason, Unfortunately, the Packers need him to contribute right now given paucity of options on the defensive line.

Damarious Randall: The struggling cornerback had to be carted off the field with a knee injury, and while I wish him the best in his recovery, the Packers really didn’t miss him.

Stafford threw to Randall’s side repeatedly in the early going, including on a first-quarter 3rd-and-9 that saw Tate easily accelerate right by his defender off the line of scrimmage and was wide open along the right sideline on what should have been a sure touchdown if his quarterback hadn’t overthrown him.

The fact that there no attempt made to put his hands on Tate before the 5-foot-10 playmaker got into his route was inexcusable…and par for the course for Randall—unfortunately.

Fast forward to the end of the second quarter and there was Randall again applying his trademark off-coverage technique on (Marvin) Jones, who picked up an easy 8 yards and the first down on a 2nd-and-8 hook-up.

On that same drive, the Lions ultimately punched it in to take a 14-7 lead when Anquan Boldin stepped in front on an unsuspecting Randall on a pick/rub play allowing his man (Tate) to reel in the piece-of-cake 3-yard touchdown pass.

The young cover man has been torched, battered and beaten to a bloody pulp to the degree where you would have to surmise that Randall has to be suffering from a serious lack of confidence.

You can see it in his coverage technique, as he’s almost afraid to get too close to the man he’s covering to avoid surrendering a big play.

Randall has turned into a basket case that needs lots of work in the offseason.

Quinten Rollins: First off, Rollins seems to have avoided serious injury following a late third-quarter pass play in which the defensive back’s head came crashing down on the Ford-Field turf in his attempt to cover (Marvin) Jones on a 30-yard strike to the Detroit 34 yard line.

As for the performance of the second-year defender, one would be hard pressed to find anything positive or uplifting to offer.

Rollins, much like his brother-in-arms Randall, is very susceptible to getting beat off the line, which is precisely what happened on the aforementioned completion in which the receiver had quite a few steps on his opponent.

On an earlier play in the second quarter, Rollins was victimized by T.J. Jones, who fought off the Packer corner and gained considerable separation on his man on the 34-yard Stafford delivery.

Next: Packer Perspective: Nobody wants to meet these Packers

Poor technique and an inability to read coverages have hampered Rollins for quite a while now.