March
Al Harris is staying with the Packers: Should he be?
Al Harris is returning to Green Bay for his sixth season with the Packers.
The news became official a few weeks ago when Packers GM Ted Thompson informed Harris that the Pack would pick up his $1.2 million roster bonus and play him in 2009.
The question is, should he be?
With the Packers moving away from Bob Sander’s bump-and-run or bust defense, will Harris be able to change from the only way he knows how to play? I’m skeptical. There were times last season (mostly 3rd-and-longs) when Sanders actually called for zone coverage. It wasn’t pretty.
Harris, for one, looked very confused at those times. He seemed to not know which way to turn, and a lot of opposing receivers found big openings between Harris and the safeties.
This resulted in too many first downs for opposing teams on 3rd-and-longs. The Packers’ defense struggled with third downs plays all year, and this was one of the reasons.
