Green Bay Packers: Struggling Secondary Has Giant Opportunity
By Joe Kiemen
The Green Bay Packers enter the playoffs with a struggling and injured secondary. A Wild Card matchup with the New York Giants gives the unit an opportunity to make a statement. Will the secondary rise to the occasion?
When Packers GM Ted Thompson drafted Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins, he allowed himself to replace a pair of soon to be expensive cornerbacks. Davon House was seeking a big contract, and Casey Hayward followed suit the next off-season.
Figuring that Sam Shields would anchor the secondary, Thompson drafted the young players with the hope that at least one of them would become a shutdown defender.
However, Shields’ season-ending concussion put a dent in these plans. Subsequently, Randall and Rollins turned into the team’s top cornerbacks.
Throughout the season both players struggled in coverage and run support. Given that Randall and Rollins are still in their second year, mental errors should be expected. However, breakdowns in coverage can not adequately explain their regular season struggles.
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In the case of Damarious Randall, opposing teams have taken advantage of his eagerness to make a big play. Seeking an interception opponents make use of a double move to beat him deep. After biting on the receivers initial route, Randall falls out of position leaving his matchup wide open down the field.
A portion of Randall’s struggles can be attributed to an early season groin injury. After his return, he relied on playing away from the line of scrimmage. While this may prevent getting beat deep, it also gave the opposing offense easy completions.
In the week 15 matchup at Chicago, Randall was benched after giving up a touchdown to Alshon Jeffery. On the play, the Packers cornerback lined up as if he were expecting Jeffery to run a deep route. The result was an uncontested touchdown for Matt Barkley and the Bears.
With Quinten Rollins going through the concussion protocol, the Packers most glaring weakness has become even more susceptible. With Randall still battling injuries of his own, a combination of his own, Ladarius Gunter, Micah Hyde, Morgan Burnett, and Josh Hawkins will be in charge of holding down the Giants receivers.
While there are many reasons to worry about how the unit will fare, this combination of players came through with NFC North title on the line.
Other than allowing the Lions to secure a jump ball in the end zone, the unit was able to get off the field when it mattered. To seal the victory, Micah Hyde intercepted Matthew Stafford and sent his opponent to Seattle.
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Even though the Packers secondary has no reason to be confident, they should be excited for an opportunity to prove their worth. A game-changing interception in the playoffs can go a long way towards erasing any regular season frustrations.