Larry Brown Sports

Thursday night in Green Bay couldn’t really have gone any worse for Jay Cutler and the Bears offense. After passing all over the Colts in Week 1, Chicago was confident it could enjoy similar success against the Packers. The Packers are not the Colts, and the 23-10 final reflected that.

Earlier this week, Cutler and Brandon Marshall basically said Green Bay’s defenders would be making a mistake if they tried to get physical and play press coverage against the Chicago receivers. Considering Cutler finished the game with a modest stat line of 11-for-27 passing, 126 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions, I think it’s safe to say the Packers knew what they were doing.

“I don’t know if we took (Cutler’s comments) personal,” Charles Woodson said after the game according to the Chicago Tribune. ”But we thought it was kind of funny, that all of a sudden they were the team to beat because they got a couple of new guys. They had no answers up front.

“Jay is a guy, he’ll give you a chance. You just have to be in position. It’s the same old Jay. We don’t need luck, Jay will throw us the ball. Proof is in the pudding.”

Woodson couldn’t be more right. In seven career games against the Packers, Cutler has thrown 15 interceptions compared to only eight touchdowns. His QB rating of 60.5 against Green Bay is by far the lowest against any team he has played more than two games against. The Packers defense has figured out a formula for beating Cutler and the Chicago offensive line, and obviously the addition of Marshall did not crack the code.

H/T The Big Lead

Packers safety Charles Woodson took a swing at Saints tight end Dave Thomas in Thursday night’s season opener and somehow managed to avoid ejection. What’s even more stunning is that the event took place right in front of a referee. Woodson was penalized for the play but he should have been tossed. The Pro Bowl defensive back admits he lost his cool on the play. He should be happy he didn’t get thrown out the way other players who have thrown punches have been. The referee may have missed the play, but the NFL won’t. A fine is assuredly coming.

Forgive me if I begin sounding somewhat like Rex Ryan for saying that Darrelle Revis deserved Defensive Player of the Year over Charles Woodson. I’m not saying that Woodson didn’t have a fantastic season but I am saying that Revis was more dominant. To me, Revis missed out on the award because his stats weren’t as pretty as Woodson’s. Woodson had nine interceptions, three returned for touchdowns, two sacks, and 74 tackles. Those are good numbers. Revis had six interceptions, one returned for a score, no sacks, and 54 tackles. Good numbers but not eye-popping the way nine picks are. Revis was by far more dominant than Woodson, he just didn’t make the types of plays Woodson did, probably because he was so good teams were afraid of him. In fact, the stats opponents didn’t accumulate against him tell the story better than his own stats do. Check out the stats for opposing receivers against Darrelle Revis:

The stats after week 12 don’t reflect specifically what Revis did against that player man-to-man but what the opposing team’s top receiver did against the Jets. Chances are most of those numbers were against Revis though. It’s plain to see that Revis was nothing short of dominant even against the League’s best players. He impacts opposing team’s gameplans by essentially erasing their top receiving threats. Did Charles Woodson do that? I think we saw in the playoffs that he was no match for Larry Fitzgerald. Yes he did have a strip — another pretty play — but I doubt Revis would have been lit up in the same way. No Revis’ stats weren’t as appealing as Woodson’s were, but he was the more dominant defensive player. Revis deserved Defensive Player of the Year.

(half the stats from the chart courtesy of Revis Island)