A.J. Hawk (1 Viewer)

[Rozelle]

When the coaches went through film of Sunday’s 37-3 victory over the Chicago Bears, A.J. Hawk looked just as impressive on tape as he did live during his first start as the Green Bay Packers’ middle linebacker.

Hawk’s coaches on Monday stopped short of saying the third-year pro, who spent his first 2½ seasons playing the weak-side spot, might end up being better in the middle. But Hawk’s play — he led the Packers with seven tackles (including six solos) while communicating the defensive plays for the first time — suggests it might be his more natural position.

“It’s only one game,” Packers linebackers coach Winston Moss said. “I hate to speculate. We’ll take it a game at a time, but he looked awfully good in there. He looked extremely comfortable. He did play to some of his strengths that we liked with him when we evaluated him coming out of college, so if he continues to improve on that, we’ll revisit that question maybe at the end of the year.”

Notebook: Game film confirms Hawk's standout performance

 

[Jack Johnson]

When the coaches went through film of Sunday’s 37-3 victory over the Chicago Bears, A.J. Hawk looked just as impressive on tape as he did live during his first start as the Green Bay Packers’ middle linebacker.

Hawk’s coaches on Monday stopped short of saying the third-year pro, who spent his first 2½ seasons playing the weak-side spot, might end up being better in the middle. But Hawk’s play — he led the Packers with seven tackles (including six solos) while communicating the defensive plays for the first time — suggests it might be his more natural position.

“It’s only one game,” Packers linebackers coach Winston Moss said. “I hate to speculate. We’ll take it a game at a time, but he looked awfully good in there. He looked extremely comfortable. He did play to some of his strengths that we liked with him when we evaluated him coming out of college, so if he continues to improve on that, we’ll revisit that question maybe at the end of the year.”

Notebook: Game film confirms Hawk's standout performance

He should be solid in the middle for the Packers for the next 5-7 years. I don't see them moving Barnett back there after his injury, and that all depends on how Hawk plays there the rest of the year.

 

[tommyk7]

WLB Brandon Chillar had a monster MNF game with 10 solos and a sack.

 

[derek245583]

WLB Brandon Chillar had a monster MNF game with 10 solos and a sack.

Thats cause he couldnt cover anybody....sometimes that is the potion for success in IDP leagues...Hawk had nothing in th first half and finally got 5 tackles late...

 

[Mikey16x]

From what I've seen the past two games. Hawk hasn't really shined at MIC at all. He looks kind of terrible in coverage and hasn't really done a great job of shedding blockers. Anybody that thinks he's excelling at this position is either can't admit they were wrong or is blind. Don't get me wrong, he's not terrible because he's this is not his position and he switched mid-season with practice.. so kudos but I wouldn't say they're cutting Barnett anytime soon because of his play.

 

[Rozelle]

From what I've seen the past two games. Hawk hasn't really shined at MIC at all. He looks kind of terrible in coverage and hasn't really done a great job of shedding blockers. Anybody that thinks he's excelling at this position is either can't admit they were wrong or is blind. Don't get me wrong, he's not terrible because he's this is not his position and he switched mid-season with practice.. so kudos but I wouldn't say they're cutting Barnett anytime soon because of his play.

Just going by what the coaches are saying. I can almost guarantee you the 3rd qtr Billy Miller TD the tv guys were blaming Hawk for was actually on Chillar. If you go back and watch, Hawk was calling something out to his left, (Chillar side), right before the snap. Hawk is very smart, he most likley recognized a problem and tried to correct it. It look like Rouse had responsibility for back coming out in the flat, Chillar ignored the TE down the seam and went for the back also, When Hawk seen the blown coverage on Miller he immediatley picked up the TE (tried to), but it was too late. I'm really surprised Jaws didn't say something, it looked pretty obvious, guess he was too busy throwing AJ under the bus.

Sometimes the guys up front are not doing their job and making the guy in the middle look pretty bad, like he can't shed and things like that. He must be doing something right for coaches to be singing his praise. I didn't get to see much of the game Monday nite, have game before recorded, but haven't had the chance to see it yet.

From my experience, there are times when you have, in this case, Hawk owners and Barnett owners and they will see things very different.

Not an owner of either one, don't care who plays mike in Green Bay.

I always did think Hawk would be a MLB though.

The Big Three...

 

[Jene Bramel]

I think Hawk has been a Jekyll Hyde guy over the past two weeks. When he's lined up in the box against a traditional offense -- Chicago early in Week 11, New Orleans late in Week 12 -- and he can move downhill in a straight line, he's been very productive. All but one of his solo tackles have come in that situation. When he's in a nickel situation or faced with a pass first situation, it's been much easier for offenses to get a hat on him and it would appear that his range is still being affected by his groin issue.

It's hard not to defer to the defensive coaches, but I've yet to see anything that would make Hawk a slam dunk to remain in the middle in 2009.