Why The Packers Stink: Reason #2 - It's The NFL, Stupid!

Second in a series of posts chronicling the mess that is the 2008 Green Bay Packers

It's the NFL, stupid!

In a league structured for every team to finish 8-8 and every game to end 28-27, teams going from good to bad happens All. The. Time. Take a guess how many teams have finished above .500 in each 2006, 2007, and 2008. Come on, guess. Two. That's it. Two. New England and Indy. Pittsburgh? No. Tampa? Nope. Seattle, Carolina, San Diego? No, no, and no. With one more win, Dallas will become the third.

This isn't to excuse Green Bay, rather show that this should hardly be a shock to anyone. If you're surprised by what you see in the NFL, you haven't been watching it very much. Week to week, year to year it's totally bi-polar. I could give you a million examples, but will only spare you a few:

The Packers have lost a bunch of close games, Minnesota has won a bunch. Some will even say they've been "lucky." The Vikes have beaten sorry Detroit by the scores of 12-10 and 20-16. Would anyone really be surprised if Green Bay's 5-8 and Minny's 8-5 records were flip-flopped? Or maybe Gus Frerotte is a really good close-game quarterback, but I doubt it.

Two years ago the Bears were 13-3 and in the Super Bowl. Before 2007, the talk wasn't if Chicago would make the playoffs, rather by how many games will they win the NFC North. Making the playoffs was an afterthought. Result? 7-9.

2007 San Diego Chargers: 11-5 and gave the Pats a great game in the AFC Championship. Now? 5-8.

2007 Jags: 11-5 and also gave New England all they could handle in the playoffs. 2008? 4-9

Seattle, 2007: 10-6 and won a playoff game. 2008: 2-11.

And the 2008 poster child of this roller coaster ride NFL: The Cleveland Browns. 10-6 and just missed the playoffs last year. Bright, young talent across the board: Joe Thomas, Derek Anderson/Brady Quinn, Braylon Edwards, Lieutenant Winslow, Kamron Wimbley, Josh Cribbs, etc. They were even bold in the off season trading for Shaun Rodgers, Corey Williams, and signing Donte Stallworth...giving them all big money. The result: 4-9.

The Dolphins? WTF? 1-15 to 8-5 and possibly division champs? Atlanta: rookie QB, rookie coach, tough division, no matter...8-5.

These are not anomalies. I could drone on, and on, and on (what I do best on this site) with more examples. Every year half the teams that made the playoffs one year, don't the next. This is not an opinion, but a fact in the last 10 years. That's the NFL. It really shouldn't come as a surprise the Packers are 5-8.

Why The Packers Stink: Reason #1 - Defensive Line

First in a series of posts chronicling the mess that is the 2008 Green Bay Packers.

The Issue
I've said it once, and I'll say it again: I've never seen a GOOD team that cannot stop the run and does not pressure the quarterback. It's never happened, on any level. Ever. Never-ever. Then, throw in shoddy special teams.....forget about it.

This isn't exactly "advanced football strategy" but if you can't stop the run it's a total snowball effect. The other team has endless 3rd and 1s instead of 3rd and 8s, play-action becomes 1000 times harder to defend, you sneak your safeties up for run support, which leaves your secondary out to dry. Weak DTs who do not command double teams makes your LBs look like garbage as O-Linemen come free off the snap and block you 12 yards downfield. Remember how Brian Urlacher was "overrated," then "great" during that Super Bowl year, and is once again "overrated?" Well, he had a pre-injured Tommie Harris and pre-Militia Man Tank Johnson in front of him in 2006. Same with Ray Lewis. He was "getting old" a few years ago. Now is "rejuvenated" ever since Haloti Ngata arrived takes on multiple linemen every snap. And I don't care how good your secondary is. If the opposing QB has enough time to drop back and fill out his tax returns, he'll pick you apart. Matt Schaub looked like Warren Moon last weekend.

What Happened?
You could see this coming. After Jolly got hurt and missed the final 6 games last year, the pass rush went downhill. Jolly’s not great, but he’s a key cog in the rotation...keeping the other guys fresh. They brought back basically the same guys sans Corey Williams. I don't blame Ted for not re-signing Williams (how's that $45 million investment looking in Cleveland? 40 tackles, 0.5 sacks). Again, Williams isn't great, but you need a rotation. I do blame Ted (yeah, I said it) for not bringing in somebody. Through the draft, at least. As for the other guys: Cullen Jenkins went down early, Ryan Pickett seems to have caught a case of "Chad Clifton-itis" and aged quickly, KGB's knee never healed, Colin Cole is just OK, Aaron Kampman gets double-teamed every play. Mike Montgomery has showed flashes (15 tackles, 1 sack @ Tennessee), but is nothing special. Rookie Jeremy Thompson also shows promise. I mentioned the lack of a pass rush here in the season preview, just don’t read any of the other stuff. Thanks.

Where Do We Go From Here?
Draft, trade, free agents, bring in an elephant from the Milwaukee County Zoo...they have to do something. A Haloti Ngata, John Henderson, Kevin/Pat Williams, Jamal Williams, Al Haynesworth, Justin Tuck....someone like that. Of course, EVERYBODY wants one of these. They're like #1 starting pitchers.

Scanning this database, it looks like a weak year for DTs. Lard Ass Terrence Cody (Alabama) tops the list. Someone called him "a taller Gilbert Brown." Sold. One guy I saw dominate a couple times on TV is Peria Jerry (Ole Miss). Not massive, but big enough and can also get to the QB Plenty of DEs this year including Brian Orakpo (Texas), Michael Johnson (Georgia Tech), and George Selvie (South Florida). The wildcard is another guy from Ole Miss - Greg Hardy. Great player, sort of crazy. In fact, somebody compares him to Charles Haley. Certainly, you remember our friend Charles. None of these guys, however, lock top 10 picks.

Ted, don't let me down....if you're silent on D-Line moves this off season, you might get some divorce papers in the mail.

Ugh

Another terrible game. The Texans did all they could to give the Packers the game and the Packers gave it right back with penalties. I will say that it seemed the Packers were getting the short end of the stick on some of the calls. If that was holding on Moll on Grant's first down run, than Kampman was most certainly held in the end zone on that dump off pass to Leach. Anyhow, the D's inability to stop the Texans when it mattered and the Packers crap % on third down helped lose the game. I also like how the Texans had not converted a 3rd and 9 or longer all season and convert two in the first half. Excellent job guys.

Would also like to point out that Steve Tasker may be the best color guy in the league. Also, I wish that Lions lineman would have completely blown out Jared Allen's knee. That guy leads the NFL in cheap shots. Sometimes you just get what is coming to you. It will be fun to watch the Vikes lose by 30 at home in the first round of the playoffs.

Mike Cameron or Melky Cabrera (LOL)

Time to go on record in the comment section bitches!

Ignore money, future ability, and other miscellaneous variables.

Unofficial Chuckie Hacks poll:

Who would you rather see roaming CF for the 2009 Milwaukee Brewers? Mike Cameron or Melky Cabrera?

Since we're a blog, I can give 2 points to help you decide which some may consider "biased."
Mike Cameron is an ok baseball player.
Melky Cabrera fucking sucks.

Go on record. My vote is for Cameron.

Dave Bush - Lucky to be alive

OK, I was too busy whining and crying about how bad the Brewers are and how sick of the Packers I am to actually see the fight. I just watched for the first time on mlb.tv. Wow. I'll withhold judgement because I have no clue what was going on or what was said. Just seeing that video, it doesn't look good for Prince and I will leave it at that.

Now, the aftermath. Dave Bush almost got flattened by Prince. If Prince hurts Parra and make Bush a pancake, he takes out 40% of the starting rotation. Excellent. I like that Kapler comes over and provides a line of defense in front of Parra. I like that Braun is yelling at Prince.

Most of all, I love that JJ appears to be going off on Prince. JJ usually seems quiet, but that was something to see Hardy show some emotion. I think he may be off my shit list after 3 years. So something good did come of this.

Parra just sat there like, what the fuck?

Seriously, Yost just sat there like a boob. Do something. Heck go sissy slap Parra as well. At least do something. Fuck, I never say fuck. I may finally be in the Yost has to go camp.

Finally, I can see why Griffey gave the throat slash gesture to the Reds color guy. He seems like a buffoon. I didn't know the Brewers were swept by the Mets last week.

The Brewers are just brutal right now

I think the Brewers are playing the worst ball in the Majors right now. So, lets just stop all this Packers talk and talk about a team that is blowing playoff hopes right now. Not one that won't start their season for another month.

The Brewers fucking suck right now. I have no confidence they can come back from any deficit anymore. It takes too many solo home runs to do that. Right now, there are only three players worth a shit and they are Sabathia, Braun and Prince. The rest of the team is just brutal. J.J. Hardy has reverted to his god awful performance at the plate. Looks like a repeat of last year. One good month and the rest is shit. Corey Hart is god awful right now. He looks like shit both at the plate and in the field. Cameron can't make contact. Weeks sucks. Ugh, this team blows at the moment. Fuck.

Over the past month, Hart is hitting .217 with 2 homers, 9 RBIs and 12 runs scored. The highlight is his .635 OPS. What a turd.
Cameron is hitting a robust .212 with 3 homers, 12 RBIs and 7 runs scored. His OPS is at .742.
Surprisingly, Dick Weeks is batting .273 with 1 homer, 10 RBIs and 19 runs scored. However, his inability to turn a basic double play are not included in these stats.
I am not going to look it up, but I imagine the three headed dildo at third is doing jack shit.

Ugh. I can't go on. I have no hope for this team right now. Nothing is clicking. The offense is at 2002 levels. I only feel good when Sabathia is on the mound and the D has been rough of late. In June and July, they were hitting the ball hard and at least had productive outs. Now, nothing. Fuck. I think it's time for a run. Maybe I'll get hit by a car and this misery will end.

Oh, and happy Civic Holiday to all of our Canadian readers. This sounds like a pretty bunk holiday according to the wikipedia entry, but hey, what the heck, we have some pretty stupid ones as well.