Packers DC Pettine doesn’t leave good impression heading into offseason

 Mike Pettine, Packers defensive coordinator (⬇️ DOWN)

Green Bay’s defense got run over against San Francisco in the NFC championship game as for some reason Pettine decided not to stack the box against a run-heavy team (or, you know, adjust in the first half). We all saw the result. The Packers’ defense was decent overall in 2019 but that last impression wasn’t a good one. Case in point: In his season wrapup press conference, head coach Matt LaFlauer was noncommittal about Pettine’s future as Green Bay’s defensive coordinator. Ruh-roh, Raggy.

Khris Middleton, Bucks forward (⬆️ UP)

Attention those in the NBA who make the decisions for the All-Star Game: Middleton remains on fire. In Milwaukee’s three games last week he made 25 of 38 shots (65.8%) and hit three 3s in each contest (in just 14 attempts combined). He averaged 22.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.7 assists while being tied with Kyle Korver for the highest plus/minus of the week (+11).

Kyle Korver, Bucks guard (⬆️ UP)

Speaking of Korver … he averaged 10.0 points over 19.1 minutes per game last week. He made an incredible 11 of 14 shots – he was a perfect 5-for-5 in Monday’s win over Chicago – and hit 7 of 9 3-point attempts. Korver is shooting 55.6% from 3-point range in nine January games.

Markus Howard, Marquette guard (⬆️ UP)

The Golden Eagles had three games in the past seven days and in those contests Howard scored 35, 42 and 32 points as Marquette went 3-0. In Tuesday’s victory over St. John’s, Howard passed St. John’s Chris Mullin and Villanova’s Kerry Kittles into sixth place on the Big East’s all-time scoring list. He needs just 25 points to pass Seton Hall’s Jeremy Hazell for fifth place and 31 to move ahead of the Pirates’ Terry Dehere for fourth. With 38 points he’s surpass Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody for third place and 97 gets him into second ahead of Boston College’s Troy Bell. Syracuse’s Lawrence Moten has held the conference scoring record since 1995 with 1,405 points. Howard needs 114 to pass him. We like his chances.

Eric Bledsoe, Bucks guard (⬇️ DOWN)

Bledsoe is coming off consecutive games in which he made 3 of 5 shots in each, but on the week he averaged just 8.0 points and 3.7 assists. A bit of a downturn after four straight double-digit performances including back-to-back 20+-point games.

Aaron Rodgers, Packers quarterback (⬇️ DOWN)

Green Bay lost and Rodgers turned the ball over three times. Oh, and he’s 36 years old (37 next December). Let’s just say there were a lot of hot takes on the interwebs following Sunday’s game (and since).