The Green Bay Packers are a team defined by Aaron Rodgers and their offense
Za’Darius Smith Jersey , but it is a defensive player who is earning some individual honors for his excellent start to the 2018 season.Pro Football Focus
has compiled “All-Pro” teams for the first four weeks of the season, and
linebacker Blake Martinez is the one player they listed on their equivalent of a
first-team unit. Last year, Martinez finished in a three-way tie for the NFL’s
lead in total tackles, matching Preston Brown of the Bills and Joe Schobert of
the Browns with 144. However, Martinez had the most solo tackles of the group
with 96, and also the most pass breakups with nine.This season, the former
Stanford linebacker sits in a tie for tenth overall in tackles with 34,
including one sack. However, he has seemingly taken a big step forward in his
coverage abilities, as PFF notes:Joining Martinez on the first team is Seattle’s
Bobby Wagner, who has three first-team All-Pro honors from the AP. But Martinez
sees his name on this group ahead of Luke Kuechly, who earned an honorable
mention (PFF’s equivalent of a second-team). The Packers did land three players
on the list in that honorable mention section, however. Two names should come as
no surprise to Packers fans: left tackle David Bakhtiari
Billy Turner Jersey , who has been a rock on the blind side, and rookie punter JK Scott, whose hang time and net punting average are among the very best in the
NFL.However, the third name might be a bit of a surprise: safety Ha Ha
Clinton-Dix, who comes in as an alternate behind Seattle’s Earl Thomas. Although
Clinton-Dix has had a few lapses in coverage and reading routes, he does have an
interception in three straight games, and his overall performance against
Buffalo was one of his best games since his 2016 Pro Bowl season. Packers head
coach Mike McCarthy’s decision to punt on fourth-and-two while down three points
with 4:20 left to play in Thursday night’s loss to the Seahawks began being
second-guessed even before the Seahawks were able to run out the clock.It wasn’t
just people watching the game from afar who felt they would have handled the
situation differently. Veteran Packers cornerback Tramon Williams said after the
game that he thought the best thing to do was leave the team’s fate in the hands
of Aaron Rodgers rather than Russell Wilson.“I want to go for it,” Williams
said, via Michael Silver of NFL Media. “I want to play to win. We’ve got?Aaron
Rodgers. We (should) play to win — period. We don’t want to put it in anybody
else’s hands. We’ve got the best quarterback in the league. We’ve got to put it
in his hands and let him do what he does.”Rodgers lamented missing a “gimme”
pass on third down before being asked about whether going for it on fourth down
could have been a “galvanizing moment” for the team.“If we had gotten the first
down, if not then it?? a short field and we have to hold them to three and we
are in the same situation,” Rodgers said.The Packers couldn’t finish in a game
they led most of the way and the late punt will likely go down as a white flag
for the season if they don’t have a major winning streak in their immediate
future.
