Green Bay Packers Thread

Billy86

Arawn wrote: »

Not true, they are ****ing super on the first two downs of every series we need them to make a stop. It's those third downs

Unless of course, there is not much time on the clock for the other team to get up the field. Then we just don't bother and just let them through on first.

Arawn

Billy86 wrote: »

Unless of course, there is not much time on the clock for the other team to get up the field. Then we just don't bother and just let them through on first.

Oh this ball is coming straight into my hands that any untrained monkey could catch?? better drop it

Billy86

Eddy Lacy's longest run today was 8 yards by the way... but he went 21-for-81, against possibly the hardest defence to run on and the best LB corps in the league, often getting hit or having to change his angle well before the line of scrimmage. So to be positive before I head off to bed, that was some massively impressive consistency on his part. If Franklin proves to be the tricky big play threat from the backfield we hope he will next season, and with Starks coming in to slam his knees into opposing defenders skulls every now and then, the future of our running game is extremely bright.

Arawn

Billy86 wrote: »

Eddy Lacy's longest run today was 8 yards by the way... but he went 21-for-81, against possibly the hardest defence to run on and the best LB corps in the league, often getting hit or having to change his angle well before the line of scrimmage. So to be positive before I head off to bed, that was some massively impressive consistency on his part. If Franklin proves to be the tricky big play threat from the backfield we hope he will next season, and with Starks coming in to slam his knees into opposing defenders skulls every now and then, the future of our running game is extremely bright.

Lacy is rookie of the year and our mvp for the year

Billy86

Arawn wrote: »

Oh this ball is coming straight into my hands that any untrained monkey could catch?? better drop it

You want it? We ain't got it! Don't want to be too harsh on Hyde after his rookie season picked near the end of the 5th round mind. I'm fast losing faith in Burnett as an even 'decent, NFL level' player though - and all our other safeties should be released and never play in the league again.

My #2 wish for the offseason is somehow landing HaHa (#1 is obviously Capers going).

Billy86

Arawn wrote: »

Lacy is rookie of the year and our mvp for the year

Without question - over 1,500 yards from scrimmage including today (and missed 1.5 games with the concussion) and 11 TDs despite facing 8 in the box for half the year, and I'd imagine on average being hit within 1 yard of the LOS. Incredible, easily the best RB we've had since at least Ahman Green's 1,887 yard rushing season already (with Favre healthy all year and a much, MUCH better o-line). Didn't think that was a decade ago already!

Can't wait to see what he'll do running behind Bulaga and Sitton next year.

Arawn

Billy86 wrote: »

You want it? We ain't got it! Don't want to be too harsh on Hyde after his rookie season picked near the end of the 5th round mind. I'm fast losing faith in Burnett as an even 'decent, NFL level' player though - and all our other safeties should be released and never play in the league again.

My #2 wish for the offseason is somehow landing HaHa (#1 is obviously Capers going).

HaHA is being drafted to us in most mock drafts

Billy86

Arawn wrote: »

HaHA is being drafted to us in most mock drafts

I just don't know if he'll make it down - and Ted almost never trades up. If he does though, it's got to be automatic.

Evan DietrichSmith

Wouldn't blame House too much for that missed catch, should have reeled it in mind , but it wasn't easy

Packers lost in my opinion a game they could have won when they couldn't hit the end zone before the last field goal.

Then let Kaepernick out of the cage at least twice in the last drive on 3rd downs.

That's football,and in fairness overall given the Packers centre ( can't think of his name!) got away with holding on the. Packers last touchdown, could have won, but 9ers shaded it overall and on the scoreboard.

I'd love to wish them well but that coach Harbaugh for some reason annoys me intensely .

Wish the players well though.

Good luck

jman0war

winnable game, closer than I thought.
Pity in more ways than one.

Because our D held the 9ers to 23 points does that mean Capers gets a passing grade?
Nevermind the rest of the season...?

Evan DietrichSmith

jman0war wrote: »

winnable game, closer than I thought.
Pity in more ways than one.

Because our D held the 9ers to 23 points does that mean Capers gets a passing grade?
Nevermind the rest of the season...?

A few weeks ago I would have said. Capers has to go, but last night certainly you couldn't blame him.

Injuries screwd things up a lot and just wrong decisions like the one where the GB player had CK. In his sights,for some reason went on the inside ,allowed Gore to block him and then left CK with around a 15-20 yard scamper.

Good description, that game WAS winnable for the Packers, very winnable.

The post match reaction and stuff will be interesting.

raze_them_all_

No. has to be sacked. We used to have ballhawks all over making plays to compensate for the D. Now we don't and had some of the least turnovers for the season

WakeyTyke

Whilst naturally hugely disappointed that the Packers lost, to be fair, in the end we lost to a stronger team. To take them so close the D deserves great credit.

Losing Shields and Neal early in the game was a huge blow.

After Mulumba got injured our only OLB was Perry (who still seems more of a DE) giving Kaepernick freedom to run outside. Capers did an excellent job of trying to compensate with what he had at his disposal. I would be more critical of some of McCarthy's playing calling, particularly in the first-half with 3 3-and-outs to start the game.

I really enjoyed this roller-coaster of a season, watching the team overcome so much adversity and yet still making the play-offs.

With the incredible Rodgers at the helm we have plenty more exciting seasons ahead of us.

jman0war

Well, people have short memories, and you're only as good as your last game.
So, Capers gets a Pass

Offensively the future looks promising.
But it's the D that really screws us, time and again.

So with Caper on board i guess we should lower expectations and be contented with a 1 playoff game and home sort of team (rinse and repeat).

raze_them_all_

He doesn't get a pass though. He is shocking and needs to move on. Think Andy Reid kind of way. Sure he can coach a defenseman but needs a new team

UnitedIrishman

That'd be my biggest fear this off-season is that they only look at the last game or so and let Capers off the hook.

I'm sorry but we managed to make the playoffs in spite of him, not because of him. You'd think the D might stand up and be counted when Rodgers goes down injured but no, it was that we needed Tolzien and Flynn to lead the offense to over 25 points to even stand a chance of being in the mix in a game. That's just not good enough.

I know we were unlucky with injuries, especially with Shields and Neal the last game but that doesn't excuse some absolutely inept coverage as a result of bad playcalling. There were times this year that a receiver could have walked his way to a first down. Some of that is personnel of course but a lot of it is guys either not knowing where they should be or the call being terrible - both of which are DC fault.

We're pretty set on offense with a good set of receivers, good RB's and of course A Rod. Add a bit of cover on the O-line in the later rounds (**** Newhouse out the gap) and focus on getting some guys on defense and we should be set for next year.

It was mentioned earlier but Lacy definitely was our MVP and rookie of the year. Must also give a mention to Bakhtiari who has been excellent at LT this year for a late round draft pick.

Another season done but can take a lot of positives out of it, including having Flynn back as backup. We finally have a contingency plan if Rodgers goes down again. Hopefully we sort out his contract for next season. All in all, given how downhearted about our chances I was after the Lions game at Thanksgiving - fairly happy at how we battled back and didn't give up.

WakeyTyke

I would have to say that part of our problem stems from Ted Thomson's poor defensive draft choices.

With the exception of Clay Matthews there has been some very disappointing picks. Our last four first round draft picks Bulaga, Sherrod, Perry and Jones have all failed to leave up to their expectations. Clearly tackling ability or aggression have not been part of the criteria on which draft picks were picked on.

It is hard to see how our deficiencies at LB and Safety can be addressed in this year's draft though at least we should have some extra picks for the loss of players in free agency.

Billy86

Jones is a rookie - rookie 3-4 defensive linemen rarely do much of anything. Bulaga is good, he was arguably a top 5 RT but has been out injured for a year and a half. Sherrod is hard to tell - he has had huge injury problems, though I think next season is make-or-break. And Perry has been disappointing, but AGAIN has been hampered by injuries, and the third year is usually very telling in his position.

Thompson's drafts have not been too bad defensively - I think our defensive line has improved a lot recently and has a number of young players who will only improve. We are rock solid at CB, and he has padded out our depth well with UDFAs and late-round picks. ILB has been lacking though, and since Nick Collins had to retire we've been lacking badly at safety - those are two areas we need to improve on a lot. They are two areas that require significant improvement as things stand.

We're not one of the top, top teams in terms of defensive talent - but we are a long way from the worst. But Capers does a good job making us look like it.

cosatron

Really proud of the team at the weekend. Great effort by everyone and things are looking up. If we could get new defensive coordinator and haha, we will be in contention for Super Bowl. And Rodgers is absolute legend.

Arawn

Mike neal and sam shields are unrestricted free agents this year btw

Billy86

Arawn wrote: »

Mike neal and sam shields are unrestricted free agents this year btw

Neal is a kind of interesting one in terms of how we will handle it, but I think we need to get Shields back at all costs - Haywar has a higher ceiling but as of now Shields is our best DB in my opinion.

Also did a bit of rooting around and found this, in relation to some bullsh** talk about Rodgers 'not getting it done' in the playoffs:

Rodgers' postseason record is 5-4, Peyton's is 9-11, and Brady's is 17-7. However, Brady's defences concede only 18.8 points per game, Manning's 21.75 and Rodgers... concede 26.9ppg. Basically our defence puts Rodgers at a disadvantage of over more than 7pts compared to what Brady faces, and over 5 points compared to what Peyton faces (over their careers).

Rodgers' on average score 29 points per playoff game (on top of the highest QBR in post-season history), whereas Brady cores 24.75 and Manning 23.0. This despite no real advantage over the others for WR/TE/RBs taking all three careers on average over time, and having a sizeable disadvantage on the offensive line. It's amazing how much our defence just keeps letting him down...

Also, just because I think Eli Manning is incredibly over-rated - his defences on average only concede 17.25ppg, he on average scored just 19.7 (almost 10 whole less points than Rodgers... per game!), he has never won when his team have conceded over 20 points, and only once in the playoffs has he scored over 24 points... ironically enough against our crappy 2011 defence! Not only that but his WR/TE/RB/O-line help has typically been about level with the other three. Imagine if Rodgers had that defence, my guess he'd probably have at least three rings right now.

jman0war

Free Agents include: Jermichael Finley, BJ Raji, James Jones, John Kuhn, Sam Shields, Michael Neal, Jolly, Starks, etc...
http://www.spotrac.com/free-agents/nfl/green-bay-packers/

Arawn

jman0war wrote: »

Free Agents include: Jermichael Finley, BJ Raji, James Jones, John Kuhn, Sam Shields, Michael Neal, Jolly, Starks, etc...
http://www.spotrac.com/free-agents/nfl/green-bay-packers/

Khun,jones,jolly and starks are dead certs to be back. Finlay might never play again for anyone

Red Crow

Billy86 wrote: »

Neal is a kind of interesting one in terms of how we will handle it, but I think we need to get Shields back at all costs - Haywar has a higher ceiling but as of now Shields is our best DB in my opinion.

Also did a bit of rooting around and found this, in relation to some bullsh** talk about Rodgers 'not getting it done' in the playoffs:

Rodgers' postseason record is 5-4, Peyton's is 9-11, and Brady's is 17-7. However, Brady's defences concede only 18.8 points per game, Manning's 21.75 and Rodgers... concede 26.9ppg. Basically our defence puts Rodgers at a disadvantage of over more than 7pts compared to what Brady faces, and over 5 points compared to what Peyton faces (over their careers).

Rodgers' on average score 29 points per playoff game (on top of the highest QBR in post-season history), whereas Brady cores 24.75 and Manning 23.0. This despite no real advantage over the others for WR/TE/RBs taking all three careers on average over time, and having a sizeable disadvantage on the offensive line. It's amazing how much our defence just keeps letting him down...

Also, just because I think Eli Manning is incredibly over-rated - his defences on average only concede 17.25ppg, he on average scored just 19.7 (almost 10 whole less points than Rodgers... per game!), he has never won when his team have conceded over 20 points, and only once in the playoffs has he scored over 24 points... ironically enough against our crappy 2011 defence! Not only that but his WR/TE/RB/O-line help has typically been about level with the other three. Imagine if Rodgers had that defence, my guess he'd probably have at least three rings right now.

The refs tried their best to give you guys the NFC in 2011 and Eli still got it done. Also the Giants defence is nothing special and we have one of the worst OL/TE/RB groups in the league if not the worst.

WakeyTyke

Arawn wrote: »

Khun,jones,jolly and starks are dead certs to be back. Finlay might never play again for anyone

Hard to ever know if anyone is a dead cert with Ted Thompson as only he knows the 'worth' of a player based on balancing the salary cap and their long-term health prospects.

Many were surprised when he allowed Desmond Bishop to leave last season but he only managed to play one game, in Week 6, for the Vikings ( I know it could be argued that an ACL tear could happen to anyone).

Billy86

Red Crow wrote: »

The refs tried their best to give you guys the NFC in 2011 and Eli still got it done. Also the Giants defence is nothing special and we have one of the worst OL/TE/RB groups in the league if not the worst.

Of course he got it done - we gave up the most yards, most yards per play, third most yards per pass attempts and 5th most passing TDs in the whole NFL that season. Which is exactly my point, our 2011 defence was a complete joke, and that's the only playoff game where the Giants have put up over 24 points with him at QB.

I'm also talking through their playoff careers, not just this season or last. Your o-line was one of the better ones in the league earlier in Eli's career (didn't you have 3 or 4 All Pros at one point?) and is still no worse than ours which has never been more than barely above average in Rodgers' career. Eli has usually had a better running game than Rodgers - who was 60 yards off being GB's leading rusher from 2010-12, just think about detail that for a second. Your TEs have been lacking lately, but previously had Shockey and Boss who was decent until his knee blew out. Eli has also had good receiving options from Toomer to Plaxico to Steve Smith to Nicks to Cruz.

So it's been tough on him this year, yes. Last year Rodgers had an offensive line that ranked probably in the bottom 5 in the league, no running game whatsoever (injuries saw us go through 5 or 6 different RBs - take out Rodgers and we had the 5th least yards in the league), and injuries to our #1 and #2 WRs in Jennings/Nelson - but Rodgers still went 2nd team All Pro with 39 TDs to 8 INTs and a 108 passer rating. Eli meanwhile has thrown for 27 picks, and in doing so became only the second guy in the last 30 years to throw 25+ INTs twice in his career, along with Vinny Testaverde (whose two seasons doing so were 13 years apart). He also has a third season with 20 INTs on top of that, whereas Rodgers' career high there is 13.

The fact though is that Eli scores nearly 10 points less than Rodgers per playoff game. But he on average has had a much better defence who concede (even closer to) 10 points less than GB's defence. Three times Rodgers has got knocked out of the playoffs his team have conceded 37 points or more... do you want to guess how many combined total playoff games Eli, Peyton, Brady, Brees, Rivers, Flacco, Roethlisberger, Terry Bradshaw, Johnny Unitas, Dan Marino, Joe Montana, John Elway, Steve Young, Bart Starr and Brett Favre won when their teams conceded 37 points or more?

UnitedIrishman

Arawn wrote: »

Khun,jones,jolly and starks are dead certs to be back. Finlay might never play again for anyone

Kuhn is getting well overpaid from what I remember of his contract numbers for his position and the role he performs for us. I have a feeling Raji will have a different value too on what he's worth and what we should pay him. But if he stays I'd imagine Pickett might be gone unless he takes a cut. Dietrich Smith is worthy of a rise and needs to be kept. Wouldn't be too sure about Jolly given his age and the neck injury he has. Shields needs to be paid too. A rookie TE will be needed which will give us a bit more space than if we had to give Finley a contract (although will be tough to replicate his ability).

Going to be dicey enough though given Nelson and Cobb are due to be renewed in 2015.

Arawn

UnitedIrishman wrote: »

Kuhn is getting well overpaid from what I remember of his contract numbers for his position and the role he performs for us. I have a feeling Raji will have a different value too on what he's worth and what we should pay him. But if he stays I'd imagine Pickett might be gone unless he takes a cut. Dietrich Smith is worthy of a rise and needs to be kept. Wouldn't be too sure about Jolly given his age and the neck injury he has. Shields needs to be paid too. A rookie TE will be needed which will give us a bit more space than if we had to give Finley a contract (although will be tough to replicate his ability).

Going to be dicey enough though given Nelson and Cobb are due to be renewed in 2015.

I didn't say khun would be kept for the same money! Raji already turned down 8million a year. If he thinks he can get more, let him, He hasn't done anything in the last 2 years to earn more. No chance are cobb and nelson let go next year plus the cap is raised by 13 million next season

UnitedIrishman

Arawn wrote: »

I didn't say khun would be kept for the same money! Raji already turned down 8million a year. If he thinks he can get more, let him, He hasn't done anything in the last 2 years to earn more. No chance are cobb and nelson let go next year plus the cap is raised by 13 million next season

Sorry never meant you did say it! Quoted your post to continue the FA discussion. But yeah he'll have to take a cut to stay. Raji can do one if he wants more than that to be fair.

Re: next year. Matthews and Rodgers cap numbers bring it up by 10m.

Going to be interesting to see who they keep on. Wouldn't be surprised to see them take a ruthless enough approach to the guys on the defensive side of the ball.

SameOleJay

I’ve read Raji wants the system to give him more opportunity at the pass-rush and this was the reason for turning down the 8 mill.

Could be rubbish, probably is.