Packers-Cowboys: Aaron Rodgers has dominated Rod Marinelli defenses

[LambeauLegs]

I am not sure if the Dallas defense is similar to any of the past defenses that Rodgers had gone against but I guess we can hope it is!

Packers-Cowboys: Aaron Rodgers has dominated Rod Marinelli defenses - CBSSports.com

Not only is this weekend's Packers-Cowboys game the first time the two teams have squared off in a playoff game at Lambeau Field since the Ice Bowl in 1967, it is also a chance for Aaron Rodgers to once again face a defense coached by Rod Marinelli. The former Lions coach and Bears assistant head coach and defensive coordinator is now the defensive coordinator in Dallas.

From 2008 through 2012, Rodgers faced a Marinelli-coached defense 10 times in the regular season and once in the playoffs, acquitting himself very nicely, to say the least.

(Pro-Football-Reference) Total dominance. Despite facing defenses that, on average, ranked in the top-third of the NFL by Football Outsiders' DVOA, Rodgers completed more than two-thirds of his passes for over 8.0 yards per attempt, and had a passer rating that would rank as the second-best all-time for quarterbacks who have thrown at least 500 passes in their career.

If we isolate just the seven games from the three seasons Marinelli coordinated a top-four defense with the Bears, Rodgers had a 6-1 record, completed 164-of-238 passes (68.91 percent) for 1,879 yards (7.89 per attempt; 268.4 per game), 16 touchdowns and six picks, all of which was good for a 101.5 passer rating. That is still all-time great production.

Looking ahead to Sunday, this season's Dallas defense is much closer to that 2009 Bears unit than it is to any of the three teams that succeeded it. The Cowboys finished the 2014 season ranked 22nd in defensive DVOA, and also 22nd against the pass. That Bears squad, which finished 21st in overall defense DVOA, was 22nd against the pass as well.

The major difference between those two Marinelli defenses comes when you dig deeper into the passing DVOA numbers. The 2009 Bears ranked 20th in pass DVOA against No. 1 receivers, 22nd against No. 2's, 16th against slot receivers, 10th against tight ends and 22nd against running backs coming out of the backfield. This season's Cowboys were similarly weak against No. 1's (15th), No. 2's (29th), tight ends (10th) and running backs (13th), but they were very, very strong against slot receivers, ranking third in pass defense DVOA.

Orlando Scandrick and Sterling Moore handled the majority of the snaps in the slot for the Cowboys, who allowed a quarterback rating of just 82.2 on passes to the slot. They'll have their hands full against the Packers, though, because Randall Cobb might just be the best slot receiver in the NFL. No wideout in the league had more catches (75), yards (1,067) or touchdowns (12) out of the slot than Cobb.

 

[Tainthappening]

Thanks for the reading material.

 

[R.J. MacReady]

Those stats are great and all but what happened in the Buffalo game?
Rodgers went for 17/42. The Bills have a good pass defense but it's not that good.

It's just a great example of how unpredictable a match up can be.

I guess it's good entertainment to go over these kind of stats or to compare the results of the games we played against the lions.

One thing I did notice. Nobody has really committed to pounding the rock against the pack in the 2nd half of the season.

 

[LambeauLegs]

Those stats are great and all but what happened in the Buffalo game?
Rodgers went for 17/42. The Bills have a good pass defense but it's not that good.

It's just a great example of how unpredictable a match up can be.

I guess it's good entertainment to go over these kind of stats or to compare the results of the games we played against the lions.

One thing I did notice. Nobody has really committed to pounding the rock against the pack in the 2nd half of the season.

As far as your comment on teams not pounding the rock against the Packers in the second half of the season.

If you go look at the scores of the games in many of those cases the Packers had a lead by 2 or more scores and in many cases it is hard to comeback from bigger deficits running the ball.

 

[R.J. MacReady]

As far as your comment on teams not pounding the rock against the Packers in the second half of the season.

If you go look at the scores of the games in many of those cases the Packers had a lead by 2 or more scores and in many cases it is hard to comeback from bigger deficits running the ball.

You just describe what happens to the Cowboys ...and soon as we start to get behind we run home to mama. (pass)

One thing I did notice today, I believe the 4 games the Pack lost were by teams who rushed 30 times or more and those teams won the TOP.

That makes sense ..the only way to beat Rodgers is to keep him on the sidelines.

 

[jarntt]

Those numbers look great. They also look like Rodgers regular numbers, so I'm not sure they mean anything...

 

[Tainthappening]

You just describe what happens to the Cowboys ...and soon as we start to get behind we run home to mama. (pass)

One thing I did notice today, I believe the 4 games the Pack lost were by teams who rushed 30 times or more and those teams won the TOP.

That makes sense ..the only way to beat Rodgers is to keep him on the sidelines.

I would say only Seattle and Detroit games fall under that criteria. Both teams had huge TOP advantage vs Packers. Think that is result of 2 things.... Packers OL got off to a rough start... Bulaga was injured early in season and missed a few games and Packers were starting a rookie center and 2nd year 5th round LT. The OL play has steadily improved during the season.. this is the best Packers OL I remember for quite some time. Lacy also started slow like last year... hardly took a snap in preseason, first real action was week 1. But he is easily playing his best ball now.

Packers run game is going very well now... I do not see any team getting huge TOP advantage on Packers any longer.

- NO game toss out the door... Rodgers got hurt on 1st and goal play to take lead in the game, Packers were never the same after and also missing 2 starters in secondary vs Brees who still had Crooks to throw to and ate up the Packers that day... we had no speed in secondary for him. NO also only had slight TOP advantage.

- Buffalo game - this one frustrates a lot of Packers... Packers were running ball well averaging over 6.5 yards a carry... but for some reason MM and/or Rodgers wanted to throw the ball. This game was a win if Packers play calling emphasized the run more... maybe they learned from this game for week 17 game vs Lions. Bills only had slight TOP advantage... their only offense was a punt return.

Packers also won vs Jets, Bears and Eagles who also ran the ball more than 30 times.

I agree... Packers weakness yet is run defense... I expect Cowboys to be able to run with some success. Hopefully Packers can limit the success.

 

[packfancjh]

There were also what, 7 drops by wr in the Buffalo game. One of which was for the go ahead score by Nelson. The thing I'm laughing about going into this game is the 8-0 road record by Dallas. 6 of those 8 wins were against losing teams and a 7th was against a buttfumble led Eagles team. The only solid road win was Seattle. The rest were damn near a cake walk IMO

 

[Tainthappening]

There were also what, 7 drops by wr in the Buffalo game. One of which was for the go ahead score by Nelson. The thing I'm laughing about going into this game is the 8-0 road record by Dallas. 6 of those 8 wins were against losing teams and a 7th was against a buttfumble led Eagles team. The only solid road win was Seattle. The rest were damn near a cake walk IMO

Winning on the road in the NFL is never easy, not going to bash Cowboys 8-0 record on the road.

By your standards, Packers have only 2 home wins worth talking about at home (NE, Detroit). NYJ, Chi, MN, Car, Atl are nothing to brag about by your standards apparently and you just discounted the Philly win as well bashing the Dallas win on the road vs them.

Winning in the NFL is not easy, even more difficult on the road.

 

[packfancjh]

my post was more geared more towards discrediting all the cocky Cowboys fans that think just cause they went 8-0 on the road they are going to come in to Lambeau and steamroll us. That's all I've heard from the local Cowboys fans I've talked with. I know it's never easy winning on the road nor is any home game a given but please Dallas fans, quit with the 8-0 on the road talk it'll get you nowhere. But yes any team led by buttfumble is destined to lose a lot of games even though the rest of the team could be solid which Philly is.

 

[jarntt]

There were also what, 7 drops by wr in the Buffalo game. One of which was for the go ahead score by Nelson. The thing I'm laughing about going into this game is the 8-0 road record by Dallas. 6 of those 8 wins were against losing teams and a 7th was against a buttfumble led Eagles team. The only solid road win was Seattle. The rest were damn near a cake walk IMO

But, it is harder to win on the road in the NFL, no? How about this - The teams the Packers beat at home had a total of 26 road wins for the year and only one of them had a better than .500 record on the road. The teams the Cowboys beat on the road had a total of 28 home wins on the year and two of them had winning records at home. Now I'm not putting a lot of weight on that, but just wondering. why you'd be laughing or calling the teams a cake walk im not sure...