A bad day for Davis and his defense

GREEN BAY, Wis. - This one is on Bill Davis.

Aaron Rodgers is probably the best quarterback in the NFL right now. The Packers have a remarkable home-field advantage at Lambeau Field. The Eagles offense and special teams did Davis' defense no favors.

And the coordinator simply doesn't have talent in the secondary like the Dolphins and Lions - teams that slowed Rodgers and competed with Green Bay by playing mostly man-to-man defense with a single high safety.

Which is why Davis' decision to play mostly single high and leave cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher, Cary Williams, and Brandon Boykin in one-on-one situations against very good wide receivers with Rodgers pulling the trigger was a bit of a head scratcher. The same held true for whichever safety, Malcolm Jenkins or Nate Allen, was responsible for coverage underneath.

Let's be honest here: Even if Davis had a better scheme and called a cleaner game, the Packers were winning with a pinpoint-accurate Rodgers. But did his unit have to allow 23 of 30 points and 314 yards before the half in an eventual 53-20 embarrassment on Sunday?

"Give credit to the Green Bay Packers," Davis said. "We had a horrible day today and didn't execute on any level."

Davis was banking on his pass rush, which had nine sacks last Monday night against the Panthers and was third in the league in sacks per pass play, getting to Rodgers. He was counting on his press-man corners to bump Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb and disrupt the timing of Rodgers' throws.

But neither the four-man pass rush nor the coverage delivered. Rodgers was sacked only once and was never hit as he threw. And the cornerbacks, Fletcher in particular, couldn't keep up with Packers receivers once they got off the line cleanly, which they often did.

"We're a single-high team," Jenkins said. "We get up, we try to press, disrupt the timing, and try to get the quarterback, and Aaron Rodgers just got the ball out really quickly. We weren't able to disrupt the timing, and we didn't get much pressure on him because we didn't disrupt the timing."

Rodgers got the ball out quickly, but he completed longer-developing vertical passes, too, including a first-drive, 64-yard strike to Nelson. He and his receivers were able to improvise when the secondary clamped down - for instance, when Cobb caught a 22-yard pass on third down later in the first. And Rodgers was able to scramble twice for 16 yards when coverage was solid.

In other words, the pass rush wasn't getting home - neither were four-man rushes or whatever blitzes Davis called.

"You cannot let them scare you out of bringing any pressure," Davis said. "You've got to make sure the pressure gets there, and you have to cover behind it. And we didn't get it done today. Sometimes we rushed three."

Davis' confidence in his rush was warranted. It generated 29 sacks over the previous six weeks and consistently had quarterbacks off their spots. It was a combo deal with the rushers - linebackers Connor Barwin, Brandon Graham, and Mychal Kendricks, in particular - getting initial pressure and the secondary giving them extra time.

But with receivers running free against man-to-man defense, Rodgers never felt any heat.

"There's some credit for him," Barwin said. "He's got a great hard count. He slowed us at the line. I thought he got the ball off in certain situations pretty well, but there were other times he held the ball. We have to be more disciplined and stay on our feet and have better rushes."

The Eagles didn't strictly play single high. Davis mixed in some zone. The corners played off some. By that point, though, Rodgers, who missed last year's meeting between these teams with a broken collarbone, had figured out the scheme.

There were no exotic play calls for a defense that could have used them.

After a rough early-season start, Fletcher had rewarded Davis' patience with steady play over the previous four games. But he was exposed by Rodgers and Nelson, who caught four catches for 109 yards and a touchdown and drew a pass-interference penalty down to the 1-yard line.

There have been calls for Davis to bench Fletcher for Boykin, but he has had his struggles as well. Perhaps Nolan Carroll should get a shot outside.

"I've just got to be better next time," Fletcher said.

The same goes for Davis, who, for the most part, has done yeoman's work over the last year and a half. He had said last week that he anticipated facing Rodgers and the Packers and using the test as a barometer.

All is not lost. The Eagles are 7-3 and stand atop the NFC East. But Sunday's drubbing showed that Davis' unit failed this exam and still isn't consistent enough to limit topflight quarterbacks.

"We didn't do very well on that test right now and we have to continue to work," Davis said. "If we have to play this team again, so be it. . . . At the end of day, when I step back, we had a bad day, and give them all the credit for having a good one."

The Eagles could get another chance at Rodgers in the playoffs. But first, Davis can't afford any more bad days.