Defense mechanism looking out of sync
Cincinnati The Green Bay Packers won’t often face a quarterback the caliber of Carson Palmer this season, but the way their supposedly revamped secondary played Monday night against Cincinnati, they will make far less talented players look almost as good.
The worst part of a night on which the Packers’ defense allowed Palmer to produce three touchdowns and a field goal in four series his first action since blowing out his left knee in the playoffs Jan. 8 was that free agent veterans Charles Woodson and Marquand Manuel added next to nothing to a secondary that wasn’t any good last year.
If it weren’t for cornerback Al Harris locking up receiver Chad Johnson, the whole unit would have been worthy of being on the list of players cut loose today when rosters must be trimmed to 75 at 3 p.m. No one was immune from the whipping Palmer and his teammates gave the Packers in both teams’ third exhibition game, traditionally the best judge of a team’s ability because of the length of time the starters play.
In a 48-17 loss at Paul Brown Stadium, the starters should have stayed home.
“It was all us,” Woodson said.
Woodson, the free agent whom the Packers signed to a seven-year, $39 million contract, was a step behind on everything and gave up two of the three touchdowns Palmer threw. Palmer completed four passes for 85 yards against Woodson, three of them to No. 2 receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh.
Palmer had a lot of time to throw and there appeared to be a few breakdowns in coverage elsewhere, but Woodson was signed to be a stopper and he looked overmatched against the Bengals’ precision passing game.
“It’s not good,” Woodson said. “No one likes to put bad film out there, no one likes to go out there and have a game like that for your teammates. It’s pre-season and I’m glad it was. Now we can just keep working toward the regular season.”
Manuel, whose lack of speed was clearly evident, also struggled. He has battled a calf injury all of training camp and was making his first start of the exhibition season. He slipped on a completion in front of him and appeared to be the man beaten on Palmer’s first touchdown completion, a 6-yard pass to receiver Tab Perry, and was not in position to make a tackle on one of the touchdowns Woodson gave up.
“It was just communication, and they capitalized on our mistakes,” Manuel said. “When we failed to execute they capitalized. It happened a couple times. They kept drives going on third down.”
Harris didn’t think communication was a problem.
“I don’t know of any communication errors,” Harris said.
Regardless, there were all kinds of plays given up.
Safety Nick Collins, the second-year pro who is supposed to emerge into a playmaker this year, let Houshmandzadeh catch the ball in front of him and then juke him for a 12-yard catch, and couldn’t catch up with the Bengals receiver on a third-and-12 play on which Palmer was hit by defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins.
In the second half, cornerback Mike Hawkins, making his first exhibition game appearance because of a sore knee, gave up a 25- yard touchdown completion from quarterback Anthony Wright to receiver Bennie Brazell, and rookie safety Tra Boger allowed receiver Reggie McNeal to catch a ball in front of him behind an all- out blitz and scamper the distance for a 28-yard touchdown.
Overall, the pass defense was abysmal, with the defensive line not generating any pressure until late in the half.
Asked if he could sense the team was going to be so flat, perhaps from an extended week of long practices, Woodson said, “I don’t think it’s something you can sense, but I think you could kind of see it once the game got started. Hey, it’s something you have to fight through.”
Of all the positions on defense, the secondary was the one most maligned last season, which is why general manager Ted Thompson went out and signed Woodson and Manuel (five years, $10 million). Even with a game plan aimed at revealing little for the regular season, the Packers should have been able to defend better against a quarterback seeing his first real action in eight months.
But after missing on his only pass on his first series, Palmer went to work. Running no-huddle for much of the half, Palmer hit two of two for 15 yards and a touchdown on the next series, even scrambling 11 yards for a first down to keep the drive alive.
Is this a sign of things to come for the Packers?
“I’m not concerned,” Harris said. “Not at all.”
Then with the Bengals ahead, 24-0, Palmer really let the Packers have it. He completed a pair of 14-yard passes on a 13-play, 90- yard drive that ended in embarrassment for Green Bay. Houshmandzadeh caught a pass in the left flat, broke Woodson’s weak tackling effort and then raced down the left sideline past cornerback Ahmad Carroll and linebacker Nick Barnett, who allowed themselves to be blocked by a single receiver.
When it was over, Houshmandzadeh, who had five catches for 96 yards, was in the end zone with a 33-yard score.