Monday, October 6, 2008

Um, Green Bay, We Have A Problem...

"Who do you know want's to buy a Packer helmet?"

...lots of problems. Where? Not where you would have thought to start the season, but plenty of to go around.

Is it Aaron Rodgers?
No. Even the most ardent Favre-ites would tell you Rodgers has been fine, and that he's hardly the problem in Green Bay. In fact, he’s probably exceeded most people’s expectations.

Al Harris Injury
Nope, can't pin it on him. Trammy Williams has been more than adequate.

Chuck Peprah
Yeah, you'd rather not have your #4 safety play all game, but he didn't play terrible. He's not the issue.

The O-Line
Not playing great by any means, but getting better. Averaging 4.1 yards per carry as a team. Why Brandon Jackson doesn't get more carries, I have no idea. He's got "John Clay" syndrome right now...can't get the ball enough. Just put him in for a series here and there....why not?

You're Winner: Yup, it's the D-Line.
No question about it. Things have certainly turned in this department. Remember the moans when Justin Harrell was drafted? It wasn't because he has a knack for the training room. It was: "why are we using a first round draft pick on our deepest unit? We're fine at D-Line!" Well, how does that look?

Problem #1:
Cannot stop the run. Opponents are rushing for a whopping 5.1 yards per carry!! Wow. The defense is pretty much the same exact unit (which finished 6th in total D, 9th vs the run) as last year...what happened? Does Corey Williams make that much of a difference? No chance. He has 14 tackles and 0.5 sacks in Cleveland. Not exactly advanced football category, but if you can't stop the run, you're screwed. The other team grinds out first downs, controls the clock, makes you cheat up your safeties, exposing your corners: who can only cover guys so long because....

Problem #2: ...the Pass Rush Is Atrocious.
KGB has obviously lost a step. Kampman can only do so much. Jenkins provided a some until he shredded his titty. The rest of the guys are just pedestrian (Montgomery, Jolly, Cole...). Anybody playing QB can look good when having enough time to do their taxes.

To this, I blame Bob Sanders. Where are all the exotic blitz packages we were promised? Open the playbook! Hell, they don't even SHOW blitz. Play in and play out its the 4 down linemen, with the LB's 5 yards back. They don't even bluff a blitz...and when they do, it's easy to see where its coming from. Just watch other teams. Bring Collins to the line of scrimmage here and there, send all 3 LBs, blitz a corner...DO SOMETHING to make a rookie QB get nervous!!

I'll blame Ted Thopmson too. (See Matt/MGD Mike, I can rip him once in a while). I don't fault him for not give Corey Williams $45 million. They need another big body and pass rusher, that's for sure.

Penalties
Good lord. They're averaging 9 a game. All told, 44 flags for 318 yards! McCarthy keeps saying "We have to clean things up. We have to clean up the mistakes. Clean, clean, clean." Well, holy crap. Somebody send this guy a truck load of Pine-Sol and pour it into the Goddamn Don Hutson Center. But don't worry. Rookie CB Pat Lee (who played pretty good, actually) has an excuse:

“It was just a bad call,” Lee said. “I ain’t even do nothing. I just went straight for the ball.”


Quote of the year nominee? Why not.

Not So Special Teams:
I totally drank the Kool Aid on this...especially after week 1 when Blackmon won the game with a punt return TD and our new punter was drilling kicks inside the 20. I thought the special teams would give B+/ A- play every week. I was wrong. Too lazy to look up the stats, but I bet the GB kickoff coverage is one of the worst in football. The new punter sucks. So does the old one. Where's Mike Sherman to draft one in the 3rd round? Never mind. Crosby is still good, until some retard gets a holding call, taking 3 points off the board.

To recap: Allowing 5.1 yards per carry, getting flagged 9 times a week, and playing shitty special teams will not win you very many games in the NFL. Shocking, I know.

If I declare "The Packers Are Dead," will it work like it did the for Brewers? Can't hurt.

The Packers Playoff Chances Are Dead!

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

I also put a good amount of blame on Ryan Grant playing like most players after they sign a big deal after holding out.

Clown said...

I stand by my prediction before the year started of 3 wins.

How genius does Ted Thompson look now? He'll be gone by the end of this season.

Anonymous said...

Aaron Rogers has been fine, but he is hurt, I don't think that surprises anyone but maybe Ted Thomson! He sure did a great job on getting us a back up QB! This team is done, when Aaron can't play next week or the one after that. You know it's coming.

Can some one please tell Ted Thomson that offensive line by commity does not work! Sorry, Brad this line is not getting better it still sucks. Aaron is running for his life, and zero run blocking! The only reason it looked better was because we were playing crappy
Atlanta.

Also, this great defense is just plain BAD! Nice job of putting together those bunch of turds Teddy!

Finally, I have joined the Aaron Roger will be fine and I think Bret Farve is a whinning cry baby camp, but what the hell was Ted Thomson thinking, I think Farve gets more credit for 13-3 than Teddy!

Ted Thompson must go!

Anonymous said...

How many wins did you predict last year? Probably 3 as well.

Anonymous said...

MGD Mike - Did you call that same defense "turds" last year?

You sound like you think GB would be 5-0 with Favre....

Anonymous said...

Jesus Relax people, if they beat ATL we would be fine.

If you guys think TT will be gone after the year you are on some drugs. Even if they 2-14 he will still be back, just relax, a win this week against the team we OWN, and ship the Colts game, we will be 4-3 going to the bye.

Anonymous said...

Anon-

Yes I did, did you see how well they stoped the Giants in the NFC Championship game?

the D-line besides Aaron Kampmen can't Rush the QB, they have never been good against the run. The line backers are Average at best. AJ Hawk is always a step behind the play. The Safties are also, average at best. When they are playing, and the " Shut down corners couldn't shut them down when we needed them too!

First let me say.. Bret Farve is an Ass wipe!
If he was the QB we would have probably lost the Dallas game by more. I'ts not that Farve is better than Aaron, it's just the presence ...it's hard to explain. Look how a crappy Jets team is winning with him, even though his numbers are not as good as Chad Penningtons or Aaron Rogers, but yet they are a Super Bowl team in the AFC? I don't get it, but it's true! It just his dam vibe or something.....

Clown said...

The Seahawks are due for puttin a whoopin on the Packers.
Seahawks 36 Packers 13

Ship the game against the Colts? I think you're the one smoking something and it isn't Salmon. Enjoy getting crushed by a real quarterback.

Colts 28 Packers -6 (yes, that's a negative number. It will happen..)

When the Packers end with a season well under .500 and the Jets are in the playoffs we'll see how safe Teddy's job is.

Anonymous said...

clown-

I couldn't agree more!

Well said!

Tim said...

This all boils down to the offensive line. No pass protection so no pass routes develop downfield. There is no threat of a run because there is no run blocking, so there is no reason to keep any help near the line. If Rogers had any time at all to pass, Driver and Jennings could easily catch twice as many balls underneath or over th middle and run like the wind - just like last year. He just has no time to get them the ball.

Anonymous said...

Why is everyone bringing up Favre and the Jets? Can Brett stuff the run?

MGD Mike - with all due respect, you're nuts if you think last years defense was all turds. The Giants scored a whopping 23 points, including overtime. That's not exactly blowing anybody out. You want numbers? 6th best ppg defense in the whole NFL. 11th best in yards. I see your points for this year...but not for last year.

Clown said...

Mgd Mike, I also agree with your assessment that Favre brings intagibles to any team. It's just a different feeling when he's around. It's not even like he's a good leader or anything. I don't get it, but it's a fact. Without him this team seems lost. (Or is that Loss?)

Anonymous said...

Brad,

I may have got carried away with saying last year they were all "Turds", however, they were exposed to weakness in the NFC championship that were not addressed this off season. This is not a Super Bowl Defense as people have been saying, and never was! Not even last year.

Ted Thompson is no genius. He must go!

Anonymous said...

Favre can't rush the passer, Rodgers is VERY good... If Brett was here we'd be 2-3 and everyone would be bitching, anyway.

Justin said...

This team would not be any better with Favre. Get over it. Saying Thompson did a poor job building this defense is also an ignorant statement, as many have pointd out it's essentially the same as last year and no one was saying that a year ago.

The linebackers are not the problem, it's the defensive line and Bob Sanders' vanilla schemes. No pass rush, no blitzing, and most schemes he calls up are those you'd see in the pre-season or practice. Sanders is terrible.

And to whoever said "it's the presence of Favre' and "he has a crappy Jets team winning" and "they're a Super Bowl AFC team" you are retarded. First off that's not a crappy Jets team, they had a bad year last year, but made major upgrades on both sides of the ball. Secondly, they're 2-2. You call 2-2 winning? Yeah, that just reeks Super Bowl team.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Justin. The team can't stop the run, the special teams suck, and they get dozens of flags...yet Brett Favre is gonna help this. I'm confused.

Anonymous said...

Thank you guys.

Man you guys rush to just stupid decisions. This TEAM, T E A M, went 13-3 and was one bone head Favre play from the fing Super Bowl. Matt Millen went 35-81 and was around for 7-8 years, and now you want to get rid of Thompson? TT will look at the defense and rebuild if need be next year. They are ONE, I repeat ONE game back of the division, so let's not get stupid here.

No one backed Arod like I did, he is still our future, and I trust him. The bottom line is you can blame whomever you want to, but the last 2 weeks with under 6 minutes left Arod had the ball with a chance to take the lead and they didn't. Hopefully this will come with age. The Packers could be 4-1 and we'd be talking of praise how gutty this team is. They aren't though they are 2-3, therefore they need a win this week, and I'm expecting it. BTW if you don't think they can beat the Colts your nuts, it is a miracle they are 2-2.

I repeat they will be 4-3 going to the bye and all will be well.

Matt said...

These are the current problems.

When Rodgers goes down for the season with nothing but rookies backing him up, these problems will seem like small potatoes.

Ted is so smart.

Oh, and he's been "fixing" the offensive line since he got here. That's worked well.

lofty said...

greatone the only reason you give a flying f is because your boy brady is out for the year.