Nine of Washington QB Jason Campbell's 21 completions on the day went to TE Chris Cooley.
The Green Bay Packers' defense did about all they could in the first half Sunday except for one critical thing: stop Chris Cooley.
Seemingly every time the Redskins' offense was in need of a big play they would look to their talented tight end and for good reason. In the first half alone, Cooley caught seven balls for 97 yards and played a particularly huge role in his team's second scoring drive with two first-down receptions before capping the drive with a 14-yard touchdown catch.
Despite these gaudy numbers, it's not as if the Packers defense didn't come to play in the first half. After all, a unit can't do much better than holding running back Clinton Portis to 32 yards on 11 carries and limiting Washington's wide receivers to a single catch by Antwaan Randle El for 12 yards. It also didn't help that the Packers offense was on the field for 11 minutes, 37 seconds, compared to 18:23 for the Redskins' offensive unit.
At any rate, the Packers found themselves in a 14-7 hole at halftime due in large part to Cooley's effectiveness. At that point, they had two choices: Let Cooley continue to catch balls all over the place, or put the clamps on him and essentially shut down quarterback Jason Campbell and the entire receiving corps.
Fortunately for the Packers they were able to accomplish the latter.
In what could be described as a tale of two halves, Green Bay not only minimized Cooley's contributions in the second half, they basically took him away almost altogether as he managed only two catches for eight yards. Though overall he racked up nine catches for a career-high 105 yards, the job the Packers' defense did on him in the second half just may have been the difference in their 17-14 victory.
Not that containing Cooley was easy. As linebacker Brady Poppinga explained, Cooley is an elite tight end.
"He found ways to get open," Poppinga said. "He's a guy that's very good at getting separation from the guys covering him, whether it be a safety, whether it be me, whether it be A.J. (Hawk) or anybody. He's just a good player and you've got to give him credit for that.
"In the second half we tightened things up, and I think we adjusted to him a little more in terms of how he was getting open."
Like many of his players, Head Coach Mike McCarthy admitted that stopping Cooley was no small task.
"He was a focus of ours in game-planning all week," McCarthy said. "We just cleaned some things up and did a better job of covering him. But he's a good football player. He was clearly the No. 1 player in their passing game."
{sportsad300}According to some defensive players, the second half was more about buckling down on Cooley and not necessarily making too drastic an adjustment in how they schemed for him.
However, cornerback Al Harris and safety Atari Bigby said there were a few things the defense had to do to take away Campbell's favorite option.
"We ended up putting a 'DB' on him," Harris explained. "It ended up being our nickel (corner) or safety, or we just ended up putting a cover guy on him to take pressure away from our linebackers.
"He's a very good tight end and I think he's very underrated. You don't hear a lot about him but when you're watching film, he's always got the ball in his hands."
Bigby said it was a matter of being more physical, especially in regard to containing Cooley.
"We pressed him on the line more (in the second half)," Bigby said. "When you press receivers and it's hard for them to get off the ball, he (Campbell) has less time to drop back and make his reads."
Whether it was making adjustments, showing more concentration, or just being in the right place at the right time, it was clear that in order for the Packers to come out on top they had to slow down Cooley in the second half. Considering the Redskins as an offense gained 1 fewer yard (96) than Cooley himself had in the first half (97), it's fair to say that mission was accomplished.
