Green Bay Packers Thread

UnitedIrishman

Good to see Hayward practice today. Sitton and Lang didn't but McCarthy stated its the same situation as last week which is good because we're going to need our full o-line after watching the Eagles beat up Cam on Monday night.

Billy86

Just putting this in here, over the last 4 home games we have scored 188 points and conceded just 62. Of those 62 points conceded, 38 have been junk time fourth quarter scores with massive leads.

In the first three quarters of our last 4 home games, we have outscored opponents 167 - 24.

In the first half of our last 4 home games, we have outscored opponents 139 - 9.

In the first quarter (edit) of our last 4 home games, we have outscored opponents 66 - 0.

In those four games, Rodgers is 71 of 102 for 1,067 yards, 15 TDs and 0 interceptions. Sound impressive? Consider this...

He was pulled in every game, with 18 mins (MIN), 15 mins (CAR), 25 mins (CHI) and 12 mins (PHI) remaining... meaning those stats have come in less than 3 full games of playing time.

That is frankly, insane.

Realt Dearg Sec

Billy86 wrote: »

Just putting this in here, over the last 4 home games we have scored 188 points and conceded just 62. Of those 62 points conceded, 38 have been junk time fourth quarter scores with massive leads.

In the first three quarters of our last 4 home games, we have outscored opponents 167 - 24.

In the first half of our last 4 home games, we have outscored opponents 139 - 9.

In the first half of our last 4 home games, we have outscored opponents 66 - 0.

In those four games, Rodgers is 71 of 102 for 1,067 yards, 15 TDs and 0 interceptions. Sound impressive? Consider this

He was pulled in every game, with 18 mins (MIN), 15 mins (CAR), 25 mins (CHI) and 12 mins (PHI) remaining... meaning those stats have come in less than 3 full games of playing time.

That is frankly, insane.

Yeah but all that tells you is he can't get it done in a 4th quarter come back. Come back to me when he's digging a massive hole for himself in the first half that he then has to climb out of. THEN he'll be great.

Billy86

Realt Dearg Sec wrote: »

Yeah but all that tells you is he can't get it done in a 4th quarter come back. Come back to me when he's digging a massive hole for himself in the first half that he then has to climb out of. THEN he'll be great.

Maybe we should start Matt Flynn in future, and bring in Rodgers at half time. Surely then he would be a better QB!

raze_them_all_

Rodgers out, Alex Smith in I say! First time in franchise history to go back to back scoring 50+

moby91

hey all new to boards. Big Packers fan! how do ye all fancy our chances in the playoffs?

UnitedIrishman

moby91 wrote: »

hey all new to boards. Big Packers fan! how do ye all fancy our chances in the playoffs?

Welcome aboard!

Think the big thing for our playoff chances is to go on from last night and secure home advantage. We've 3 home games left against the Saints, Patriots and Lions. And 3 road games against the Vikings, Tampa and the Bills.

I could see us going 5-1 perhaps in those 6 games - and we would really need to go 5-1/6-0 in those to have a chance at #1 seed. Arizona are two games ahead but have a tough finishing schedule with two ties against Seattle, on the road to St. Louis and 49ers, and home to the Chiefs and away to Atlanta (who are starting to motor a bit).

I'd fancy us to beat any side in the league at home. And to be honest we're gathering momentum all the time now.

moby91

thanks! yeah i think all those games are winnable tbh. my fears are getting turned over by a tough defense or getting destroyed by a Kapernick style running performance. The playoff games against the niners still have me scarred. With Rodgers in his current form tough we have a serious chance

iggyigauna89

Have any of you guys heard the rumour that the packers will be in Wembly in 2016? I would go over in a heartbeat if they were!

iggyigauna89

iggyigauna89 wrote: »

Have any of you guys heard the rumour that the packers will be in Wembly in 2016? I would go over in a heartbeat if they were!

Would have thought the Packers would be very reluctant to give up a Lambeau game for that outing.

UnitedIrishman

Deleted User wrote: »

Would have thought the Packers would be very reluctant to give up a Lambeau game for that outing.

Yeah I can't see it happening unless it's a road game.

iggyigauna89

Here's the link.

They are due to play the Jaguars on the road in 2016, could be a possibility!

nasty_crash

i dont fear a Kap style offence anymore with matthews being moved into mlb! have really shaken up the defence in the last couple of weeks and i really hope its not a fluke! Like peppers and perry coming off the side and matthews up the middle - opposing QB just must see lads running from everywhere!!

Looking at paddy power - 10/3 favourites to win the super bowl is a bit much! Plenty of issues still to be addressed before super bowl talk! But in Rodgers we trust!!

Billy86

Couple of things from last night...

1. Aaron Rodgers has to have edged ahead in the MVP race by now - the stat line of his at home the last few weeks I have put up is unbelievable. What is even crazier is that he has 28 TDs to just 3 INTs this season, and if you look at them I believe two came from WRs spilling the ball on the catch, while the third was on Adams stopping his run right as Rodgers threw the ball. A shame about those three, because he otherwise could well be on 28 TDs and 0 INTs, but I'm still sticking with my comment that no QB has ever played better than he has the last few years, 2011 and this season especially. QBR is far from the be-all-and-end-all of course, but to put things in perspective he is on 120.1, while the next three closest are Ben, Romo and Peyton on 107.3, 107.2, and 107.1 respectively.

2. Eddie Lacy was frustrating as nothing else early in the year - we didn't know quite how to use him in an open, passing game and we had gotten so used to shotgun from having a dodgy offensive line that we even tried him running out of that, which was an absolute failure. Now though, he is fully integrated into it and looks like he might well become a far bigger all around threat than he was last year as a bellcow back. It's amazing just how effective he is in the passing game and on screens (something we have sorely missed since Ahman Green's heyday ended close to a decade back). This is crucial not only because it allows Rodgers to go short and still pick up yards more easily (two big runs after the catch for TDs in the last two games) but also because it scares off defences from coming too heavy on the blitz too often, because Lacy just bulldozes over DBs in the open field and while not a Jamaal Charles for pace he certainly gets to full speed very quickly. Like Rodgers, he has likely sat for around one full game out of the last four home games and has still had 438 yards from scrimmage - and that's obviously not even counting the Saints game where he had 182 yards from scrimmage.

3. That offensive line is really beginning to look like easily the best Rodgers has ever had, and as I said last week, at 23 (Bakhtiari), 23 (Linsley), 25 (Bulaga), 26 (Lang) and 28 (Sitton) years of age with one birthday in March and no others until the summer, it is genuinely exciting to think what level they might be able to get to if kept together and with some luck with injuries (Bulaga especially). They might even be able to be the best we have had since Clifton/Wahle/Flanaga/Rivera/Tauscher line that would have clearly been the best in the league at the time... if not for the Chiefs having one of the very best of all time. The Eagles have been doing a great job all season of stopping the run, and also of getting sacks (I think they had 8 against the Panthers, another half dozen or so QB hits, and another half dozen or so times they forced Cam to force the ball out of there) - even after last night, they are still second in the league for sacks with 33! Last night, Rodgers got sacked once. He got pressured maybe 3 or 4 more times (and made off with one or two nice scrambles from them), and he had all the time in the world on several occasions to just stand around and wait for someone to get open. Their pass blocking is really becoming a serious strength which I think most of us have noticed, but they are also beginning to make steady improvements run blocking... Lacy's runs yesterday were for 1, 0, 3, 10, 6, 5, 0, 1 (TD run), 6, 5 and finally 37. Of course it also helps that he is running out of singleback, I-form and 2 TE sets, but the line also deserves credit. Love this bunch to bits - they're fast becoming my favourite 'group' in the whole roster.

4. Jordy Nelson catches a 50+ yard pass in the first quarter, and nobody so much as bats an eyelid - Packers fan or otherwise. Jordy Nelson drops another late in the game, and we're all sure it's a sign of the apocalypse... that is how good this guy now is. Meanwhile Cobb continues to quietly continue to put up huge numbers - he is now on 54 catches for 779 yards and 10 TDs, with 447 yards and three 100 yards games in the last four (the other being 71 vs. Chicago). Adams has slowed a bit it seems, apparently some talk of the 'rookie wall' has gone around with him, but with those two we are fine, not to mention Lacy's contribution and some decent play from the TEs. Quarless has been one of my favourite 'no name' guys on the team since he was a rookie and made two very important first down catches last night as well as shoving Lacy over the line for his TD reception. He's only 6/10 for talent, maybe a little less, but he's smart, a real team player and full of effort.

5. Our run defence continues to be average-at-best, allowing 4.4 yards per carry against Sproles/McCoy who have been struggling a bit this year. That said, if we can keep scoring the way we are and forcing turnovers I would not be too worried about it in the scheme of things (though is still needs a lot of work, and I still can't believe we didn't sign Jolly or Pickett back the moment Raji went down). Let's put it this way: which would you prefer, this season's run defence or last season's pass defence? Still, given the quality of McCoy/Sproles, 4.4 per carry isn't exactly a disaster, just something to continue to work on.

6. Clay Matthews moving around is really making the front seven look like a different unit altogether. Capers, like Lebeau, work off confusing offences and putting our most dangerous player anywhere across the 4 LBs (or even in a pseudo-DE spot) is making a tonne of difference. For anyone looking to dismiss this as "it was only the Bears, it was only Sanchez", Sanchez ripped Carolina to pieces last week and did solid against Houston the week before because he is in a simple system that fits him, and Cutler & co walked all over the Vikings in the first half yesterday. Sure they're not the Colts or Broncos by any means, but it's also not like they're the Raiders, Jags, Jets or Bucs - the Eagles I believe were second seeds in the whole NFC going into yesterdays game. Of course as I said in the betting thread, Capers is great at bullying the crap out of so-so QBs but struggles immensely against the top guys or an in-form duel-thread like Kaepernick - so we get to test that hurdle out in two weeks against the Patriots.

7a. For all the talk over Rodgers' form, Nelson and Cobb, Lacy getting going, Clay and the defence... let's look at something else. Now there's some number crunching coming up, but pay attention here because it's important! In 2010, turnovers were huge for us - sure, we had a much better run defence but our offensive line and running game were not nearly where they are this season so let's call that a wash. The two major factors were Rodgers' play late in the year and the turnovers. We now lead the league in give/take ratio with +14, a full 3 ahead of the Pats and Cardinals. We have the least giveaways (8) and are only one behind the Texans for the most takeaways (22). We have gone from a team that last year could not pick the ball off for love nor money to being third in the whole NFL with 14 so far (and only two off the leaders, SF) and are 8th for fumbles recovered. On offence, only 4 teams have given away less fumbles than our 4, and our 4 INTs tie for lowest in the league with SF (and one of our 4 was by Flynn in junk time). Compare that to last year, where he had a difference of -3 with 25 giveaways (16 INTs, 9 fumbles) and just 22 takeaways which we have already exceeded this year (11 picks, 11 fumbles). Last year, we scored the 4th least points off turnovers (just 50) compared to this year where we already have a league leading 88!

7b. Two huge parts of the credit for this have to go to Haha and Peppers who have been key parts of this success, and let's not forget Casey Hayward who missed almost all of last year and had to work his way back early this season after getting 6 INTs as a rookie, and who has 3 INTs, 1 fumble recovered with 162 return yards and 2 TD in the last five games. There's a reason people were talking about this guy taking over Charles Woodson's "rover" role in our defence (switching between slot/boundary/safery/coverage LB) as a rookie, and he's showing it again. Hyde is also doing pretty well for himself as of late... Lambeau Leaps all 'round!!

8. We have two tough teams to play - the Patriots and Lions, but both are in Lambeau. Otherwise our remaining games are the Falcons (in Lambeau) and the Bills, Bucs and Vikings (all away)... if the Cardinals falter basically, we have a really good shot at homefield through the playoffs, where we have been unstoppable the last few weeks. More to the point though, let's say we go 6-0 or 5-1 and the Cardinals do not falter, and we wind up with the #2 seed... If don't mean to undersell them, but I would rather go to Arizona than Detroit, SF, Seattle, NO or possibly even Philly or Dallas. I just genuinely think we are the very, very last team they want to face in the playoffs. They give up a lot of yards, but thrive on turnovers - the problem there is we don't turn the ball over and Rodgers' leads the all time TD:INT ratio by over 20% more than the guy in second (Brady, I believe) while Lacy has just 3 fumbles in about 475 touches in his NFL career. They also like to chuck in the odd deep ball and grind down the field to pick up enough points to slowly get ahead (a bit like Munster used to be in the rugby I guess), but Capers would know how to make mince meat of a Drew Stanton and they don't have enough in their running game to even nearly keep up with Rodgers down the field. I'm not saying it would be a gimme and I don't at all mean to sell them or the amazing job Arians (coach of the year by a country mile, by the way) short, but just purely in terms of matchups I think we match up better with them than just about anyone in the conference, and they match up worse with us than just about any potential playoff team in the conference.

9. Now on to perhaps the one negative - special teams. The punt return TD early was great, really set the tempo for the game and made the scoreline look hopeless for the Eagles nice and early, full credit to them there. Now some of this might come down to getting a bit complacent with a big lead but that still isn't acceptable and if I recall has made some games with big leads scary finishes for us down the years. A missed field goal for Crosby is poor, although to be fair 50 yards in extremely cold weather is tricky - but for him, I would still expect to get it. He is a weird one, I always have all the faith in the world for him to make a FG when we are behind or in a tight lead, but when up by over two scores, he worries me at times. And then the blocked punt, and TWO missed/blocked extra points? That's really, really not on. That's the stuff that can lose a ST coach his job and some of those fringe ST players their job in an instant, if it costs an important game.

skippymac6

nasty_crash wrote: »

i dont fear a Kap style offence anymore with matthews being moved into mlb! have really shaken up the defence in the last couple of weeks and i really hope its not a fluke! Like peppers and perry coming off the side and matthews up the middle - opposing QB just must see lads running from everywhere!!

Looking at paddy power - 10/3 favourites to win the super bowl is a bit much! Plenty of issues still to be addressed before super bowl talk! But in Rodgers we trust!!

They were 7/1 before last night and with the Broncos and Seahawks losing at the time I put a few quid on them. 10/3 is a bit much though and I'd have them probably at 9/2 with the Broncos and Pats. That market is very volatile though.

While very impressed with Clay in there, I'd like to see them play a run orientated team like Chiefs, Cowboys etc and see how they fare against that sort of quality of opposition.

raze_them_all_

skippymac6 wrote: »

They were 7/1 before last night and with the Broncos and Seahawks losing at the time I put a few quid on them. 10/3 is a bit much though and I'd have them probably at 9/2 with the Broncos and Pats. That market is very volatile though.

While very impressed with Clay in there, I'd like to see them play a run orientated team like Chiefs, Cowboys etc and see how they fare against that sort of quality of opposition.

Stopping Mccoy is no small task

skippymac6

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Stopping Mccoy is no small task

Yeah but he hasn't been as productive as last year.

nasty_crash

skippymac6 wrote: »

Yeah but he hasn't been as productive as last year.

But a certain amount of that is that teams are targeting the run against the eagles - and also that he hasnt had the same form but teams expect mccoy to be all over the field and they are prepared to stop it! Im happy enough with the way we stopped the run sunday - but its gonna be very interesting over the next few weeks - Pats at home will be a huge game!

cosatron

I thought we were very good on sunday night but god the eagles secondary was muck and they have no O-Line and butt fumble is still butt fumble. Ill get giddy if we beat the pats in a tight game.

raze_them_all_

Woodson is decimating chiefs tonight.

Billy86

Should have never let him go - he would have been a huge, huge boost to our safeties last season and this year it would have been great to be able to ease him out and Haha in, even playing them both on 3rd and long type plays, and rotating him a bit with Burnett too. Even next year when he'll turn 39 mid-season he could have been a handy backup to have around because he's such a freak that he's playing like a guy 5-6 years younger. And the amount Haha (and Hyde) could have learned from him would have been incredible. Hopefully we can get him back as an assistant coach or something when he retires, because he's an extremely smart player as well as an intelligent one, was always a class motivator and leader, and knows how to make plays from reading and smart play - not just instinct and athleticism.

raze_them_all_

he was playing like a 26 ear old last night was ****ing everywhere

Billy86

Yeah, but these days he tends to be everywhere because he is anticipates and positions himself there first, rather than winning footraces. We got the best of both worlds there in his prime, but he is a good two (or more) steps slower than he was 5 or 6 years ago... and is still a monster!

For me, him and Ed Reed belong right near the very top of the 'greatest DBs of all time' discussions, with Polalamu and Bailey also there or thereabouts.

kennyb3

Billy86 wrote: »

Yeah, but these days he tends to be everywhere because he is anticipates and positions himself there first, rather than winning footraces. We got the best of both worlds there in his prime, but he is a good two (or more) steps slower than he was 5 or 6 years ago... and is still a monster!

For me, him and Ed Reed belong right near the very top of the 'greatest DBs of all time' discussions, with Polalamu and Bailey also there or thereabouts.

worth noting db's includes cornerbacks - you've listed only safeties which makes no sense.

Billy86

kennyb3 wrote: »

worth noting db's includes cornerbacks - you've listed only safeties which makes no sense.

Bailey and Woodson?

kennyb3

Billy86 wrote: »

Bailey and Woodson?

Sorry brain fart - late night last night

Am I tempting fate by asking what's the franchise or NFL record for most points in 3 consecutive games?

BoJack Horseman

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Am I tempting fate by asking what's the franchise or NFL record for most points in 3 consecutive games?

Well, that didn't happen!

They made quite a slog getting past the Vikings.

Roll on next week & the Superbowl rehearsal game at Lambeau!

BoJack Horseman

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Well, that didn't happen!

They made quite a slog getting past the Vikings.

Roll on next week & the Superbowl rehearsal game at Lambeau!

I thought I may have jinxed it!

It was perhaps the best result before the Pats game.

nasty_crash

absolutely brings us back down to earth with a hard fought victory - important that lacy was so effective last night as i think Pats will target the pass rush and lacy needs to have a big game!!
Not happy with the scoreline but we honestly looked like we had an extra gear that they didnt go up into - but happy with the win!