LB Brian Orakpo. Green Bay RT Bryan Bulaga did a decent job on him at times during the game. But Orakpo drew his usual holding penalty, got a sack, had two tackles for a loss and his presence caused Bulaga to hesitate on one blitz, allowing Lorenzo Alexander to burst inside for a sack. On that play, Alexander lined up next to him on the left side. Bulaga expected Orakpo to rush, only to watch Orakpo drop into coverage. He couldn’t react to Alexander. Orakpo is the guy they haven’t had in the past, someone whose speed makes a difference at the end of games.

P Hunter Smith. Think he had a fresh leg? About the only thing I can quibble with is that he outkicked his coverage on the 52-yarder, leading to a 52-yard return. But is that his fault? Someone got out of their lane; don’t know who it was so I won’t even speculate (though I have an idea). Still, Smith dropped five punts inside the 20-yard line. He forced the Packers to consistently go on long drives. And even with those punts inside the 20, he still averaged 44.6 yards per punt. Welcome back. And, best of all, no fakes!

QB Donovan McNabb. He wasn’t good for the first three quarters, partly because Clay Matthews always happened to be in his face. Or so it seemed. But, with Matthews out and the rush subdued a little, McNabb went to work. His two biggest passes of the game – to Anthony Armstrong (48 yards) and Santana Moss (52 yards) came when he avoided the rush. McNabb is always looking downfield. He also doesn’t get bothered when he’s having a tough day; it’s why he can get hot. The Redskins had no running game; porous line play and the guy still threw for 357 yards.

WR Anthony Armstrong. All he did is burn the safety with a double move and then make a highlight catch that started the turnaround. He did nothing for the first three quarters, then caught the touchdown pass, a 23-yarder and then a 13-yarder off a tipped pass. He adjusts well to balls, more than Joey Galloway does at this stage of his career.

PR Brandon Banks. The guy has one job and he’s doing it well. Thing about Banks, too, is that his returns not only ignited the rally but they also helped Washington escape potential bad field position. His two long punts occurred when he fielded the ball either at or inside the 10-yard line. If Phillip Buchanon had done the same, the Redskins would have started at those spots or a couple yards further. Because of Banks, the Redskins started at the 40 and 25, respectively. Gave them a chance to operate. I like how they use him on the edge to help block field goals.

LB Lorenzo Alexander. He finished with a half-sack on a well-designed rush — he caught the right tackle eyeing Brian Orakpo for a second, only to have Orakpo drop. Alexander burst through for a clear path to Aaron Rodgers. But Alexander’s ability to cover on the fourth-and-goal situation was pivotal. He was beaten a bit off the line but recovered (in part because of Chris Wilson’s pressure).

DL Phillip Daniels. He was good in his limited time and seems to have gotten stronger even since last year. Really, he’s pushing guys back more often this year than in the past few. He did it again inside the 5, leading to a tackle for a loss. He also had a sack and another tackle for a loss. It’s all about power for him, but he uses it well because he plays with excellent leverage.

DC Jim Haslett. It’s as if his defense has a boom or bust mentality; often in the same drive. But, really, it’s bend but don’t break. After the first quarter, the Redskins defense was excellent. He used more dime coverages in the second half in situations that, in the first half, he used nickel. Having Reed Doughty instead of another linebacker or linemen enabled them to play with more speed. It worked. I loved the coordination of the blitzes and stunts; it led to pressure and sacks in the second half. Haslett has a lot of versatility at linebacker and the more his guys play, the more he should know how he can use them. His schemes also took away Rodgers’ first read in the second half a lot more.

CB Carlos Rogers. I know there were some soft spots in the zone, but it typically wasn’t in his area. Rogers dropped another interception, though on this one it came because the ball arrived just after he had turned around. He has a hard enough time catching passes when he’s been turned around for 10 seconds let alone one. But he was in great position. And his ability to blitz was crucial as he came a few times and willingly took himself out to create lanes for others (London Fletcher recorded a sack because of it). Saw a few times when Rodgers looked his way for a first read only to quickly look elsewhere.

WR Santana Moss. Caught seven passes for 118 yards; that’s a stud in any book. Adjusted well to McNabb’s scramble in the second quarter and that led to a 52-yard completion. Moss is off to the second best start in his career (the only one better was 2005 when he caught 33 passes in the first five games). Moss’ route-running was excellent.

Duds

RG Artis Hicks. One week after having a good first half vs. Philly, Hicks really struggled. Saw his weakness from this summer flare up: he would get too upright. For a guard, that’s tough. Another time his head was down when he engaged in a block and that’s another no-no. Funny thing is, he looked comfortable at center; he bends well enough to handle the outside rushers. Green Bay’s linebackers were a bit too athletic for him to reach on cutbacks, too.

RT Jammal Brown. Maybe it was the injury and it most definitely had something to do with the player he was facing most of the game (Clay Matthews III). But Brown was just not very good. It was a bad matchup; Brown did not bend well and Matthews gets unbelievably low. One time his helmet was about at Brown’s chest. Brown was knocked back on the first play of the game and, on the second, his head was down when he blocked. No-no. Nobody got more marks in the bad play category than Brown. To be honest, I’m concerned about him going forward, even if he is able to play this week. He seems banged up and inconsistent.

LG Kory Lichtensteiger. For the first three quarters he was not as bad as everyone thinks. Or, at least, he wasn’t the biggest problem. There were many times when I saw others breaking down, but the ‘Steiger was handling his business. But his breakdowns are too frequent and come at costly times. In the fourth quarter and overtime, Lichtensteiger first allowed a pressure, then was driven back, driven back again, was driven back a third time, allowed a sack when he missed a blitz – twice he couldn’t get over in time – and then he was badly beaten on another run, leading to a loss.

LS Nick Sundberg. He didn’t have any that led to problems, but he can thank Hunter Smith for that. There was one snap in which Smith bobbled on a field goal, but Sundberg had a couple bad snaps on punts. Though none have gone awry yet this season, he was inconsistent and that needs to be corrected. Otherwise …

FS Kareem Moore. Listen, the long run by Brandon Jackson was not his fault alone. Before a running back gets to the safety someone else has to mess up and it appeared linebacker Rocky McIntosh did not fill the right gap. Not positive about that; but that’s how it appeared. Anyway, Moore’s job is to prevent the long gainer and he took a bad angle to the ball, got turned to his right by a fake and watched Jackson blow past him. Later, he took a bad angle on a diving catch by Donald Driver. Moore rounded off his path and that’s never a good thing. Driver bounced up and ran past him for another 13 yards. Moore recovered a fumble off a Landry hit, but he’s a bit rusty on his angles.

CB DeAngelo Hall. Just hasn’t looked the same the past two weeks for whatever reason. He did make 12 tackles, but that’s never a good sign for a corner. He also seemed to allow too much cushion on some plays, but I’m still not sure if that’s what they wanted or if he was so intent on not getting beat deep that he was willing to give up the underneath stuff. He also missed a tackle on Brendan Jackson’s long run, requiring him to chase him down about 60 yards later.

Suds

LB Rocky McIntosh. I’ll put him here because I’m not sure I’m blaming the right guy; but on the long run by Brandon Jackson it looked like he got stuck behind the linemen and either couldn’t see the back; or he simply hit the wrong gap and failed to realize that LaRon Landry had the outside contained. If I knew for sure, I’d put him in a different category. And there’s always the chance I’m wrong so he stays here. But, regardless, one of the linebackers should have been in the hole. But he also made a nice stick at the goal-line in conjunction with London Fletcher.

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