Just realized something about the GB defense

[ampant]

My QBs are Romo and Cutler. Obviously I have concerns with Romo and his punctured lung on a Monday Night game. I was sweating Cutler against a "very good" Green Bay defense. Looking for a replacement I was checking out matchups (points allowed vs fantasy QBs). To my surprise, I discovered that Green Bay has allowed more points to fantasy QBs than any other team?

What am I missing? I know they faced Brees week 1, which I could understand skewing things a little. But week 2 they got lit up by a rookie QB playing his 2nd game as a pro.

Is this an anomaly? A result of the shortened preseason and defenses not being able to prepare? Or is Cam Newton really that good? Or maybe GB isn't all that good against the pass?

Thoughts? It seems like QBs in general are scoring a lot more than usual this year.

[TexasBornCowboysFan]

Shields has been out, I'm not sure if he's back or not. I think this is partly due to the lockout. DCs are just beginning to see some of the new plays OCs cooked up during the offseason.

I'd start Cutler in your situation, Forte should get some decent receiving yardage also.

[ATLbraves]

They also just lost Nick Collins for the year. Doesn't look good for the GB defense.

[Hippo45]

Tramon Williams was injured and didn't play week 2. He should be back in week 3. I don't think Cutler will have a great day and the Packers defense should be decent. However, it is a home game for Cutler so he might be starter worthy this week.

[Cleokatrah]

I think it's more a case of it being the second week and the first game (76 offensive points, total) skewing the stats.

[Chicago 2]

Offense numbers are up across the board and defensive numbers are down across the board, I do feel that the lockout has affected defenses more.

The defense has been concerning, but at the same time they faced the Saints and an unknown commodity in Cam Newton, both teams looked sharp offensively. It is still too early in the season and such a small body of work to really judge the defensive woes.

My concerns thus far have been with the diluted pass rush, sure we have tallied 7 sacks, but I've watched both games and we are not pressuring the QB enough, Brees and Newton had all day to get rid of the ball. You can't rely on Matthews to create pressure each down, someone else needs to step up and I don't see that guy, Packers fans seem to think Vic So'oto could be the guy once hes back from injury. I like some of the guys on the defensive line but I feel they are getting tired with the 5 man rotation. I'm not going to downright mock our pass rush because the Saints and Panthers do have some decent offensive lines but if they can't get pressure vs. Chicago then I'll be concerned.

We have had injuries, but so does every other team, we have depth to replace Nick and Tramon in the meantime. People forget Peprah was our starter last year after Burnett went down and he did a decent job, it is hard to replace Nick but their are 53 men on a roster for this very reason.

I forget which network I was watching, but one expert indicated the Packers have typically struggled vs. teams with a solid group of tight ends and I agree. Graham, Shockey and Olsen all made an impact vs. us. I've been telling Bears fans I am happy Olsen is gone because we couldn't cover him.

Hopefully these are just short term problems but this weekend's game should provide a clearer picture of our defense.

[mattb47]

I have done the analysis I'm doing of fantasy defenses and the points they are allowing to each position based on the average output of the players in all their other games and right now Green Bay is actually giving up exactly what the QBs they've faced have averaged right now. So right now it looks like their defense is just average against the pass with both QBs they've played just happening to both have started off the season very well. Right now their weak spot in the passing game seems to be containing opposing RBs coming out of the backfield. So far through 2 games they've giving up 23 receptions for 235 yards to just RBs which is absolutely ridiculous. Seems that teams are using their more aggressive defensive style against them and attacking them through those shorter passes to the RBs and then once they take that edge off they look downfield again.

So with that considered, I think Cutler and Forte both make for decent plays this week because we've seen how much Cutler will throw the ball to Forte and we see how much the Packers allow to RBs through the air so it could definitely be another 100+ yard receiving day for the RB position.

[ampant]

Thanks for the insight and analysis guys. I was trying to make sense of it, but figured there would be some folks on here who had more background knowledge of GB, and defensive numbers in general. Love the Cafe.

[Sex Panther]

Cutler's on pace for 88 sacks.

The Bears line & WR's are awful.

Martz's system is basically designed to get QB's killed. It worked in STl w/ 4, maybe 5 HoF'ers on the offensive side of the ball - not so much since.

Atlanta sacked Jay 5 times week 1, the Saints sacked him 6 times week 2 (w/out W. Smith & hit him pretty much every time he dropped back to pass).

Green Bay can still get after the QB.

If Cutler makes it past week 5 (Detroit) I'd be shocked - after giving up the farm to get him, as a Bear's fan it really pisses me off that they refuse to surround him with talent.

Sad to say it, but start GB with confidence.