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#Post#: 39186--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 22, 2011, 10:26 am
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Three Packer players fined last week !
!!!!
#Post#: 39801--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 25, 2011, 6:59 pm
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Green Bay - The temptation was overwhelming. Tramon Williams
couldn't help himself. He wanted to make a rookie pay - on the
first play from scrimmage.
His defense in zone, Williams bit. And bit hard.
"It was a double move," the Green Bay Packers cornerback said.
"It's one of those plays that'll wake you up. You want to get
that first pick off the rookie quarterback."
No pick here. Rookie Christian Ponder hit a wide-open Michael
Jenkins for 72 yards. For Green Bay's secondary, this was the
fifth pass play of 40 yards or more. The Packers recouped and
recovered. They won, 33-27. But these first seven games have
been a slog for Green Bay's pass defense to say the least.
Injury has fed ineffectiveness. This isn't the same group that
befuddled Michael Vick, Matt Ryan, Jay Cutler and Ben
Roethlisberger in suffocating succession en route to a Super
Bowl win. All five of the Packers' top defensive backs have been
victimized to some degree.
Nick Collins' season ended in Week 2 with a neck injury. Morgan
Burnett has played the last two games with a bulging black club
on his broken right hand. A shoulder injury suffered in the
opener has dumbed down Williams' tenacity. Nickel corner Sam
Shields missed Sunday with a concussion. And Charles Woodson?
He's been battling through foot and knee pain, wear and tear
from 14 NFL seasons.
So the yards continue to pile up. Pedestrian quarterbacks, at
times, continue to be disguised as Pro Bowlers. Green Bay is
giving up 289 passing yards per game, second-worst in the NFL.
To compensate, the Packers are forcing turnovers. Their 13
interceptions rank first in the league.
So one week from now - when work resumes after the bye -
regaining some semblance of normalcy in the secondary is
paramount.
"The first half of the season here, we've gone through our share
of mixing and matching from one week to the next," defensive
coordinator Dom Capers said. "So hopefully we can get everybody
healthy and working together and get off to a good start once we
get back and go to San Diego."
There's reason for optimism.
Shields was cleared and will return for Green Bay's next game in
San Diego Nov. 6. After his two picks on Ponder, it's safe to
say Woodson won't be holding a cane any time soon. Maybe most
important, Capers sees positive signs in Williams. Most of the
season, the coach has been forced to camouflage the hurting
corner with zone coverage. Often, Williams has lined up 10-12
yards off the ball.
Against the Vikings, he welcomed contact. In the third quarter,
Williams lassoed Adrian Peterson to the turf for a 1-yard loss.
The healthier Williams gets, the more flexible Green Bay's
defense is.
Inside the visitor's locker room Sunday, Williams ducked his
head and smiled. After that first-play mistake, he was back in
his element - man-to-man coverage.
"Pretty much the whole game," Williams said. "Pretty much the
whole game, we played man. We did a good job. We stuck tight to
receivers and that's why we were able to get our hands on a lot
of balls."
Through a mash-up of scrambles and bullets on the run, Ponder
did not disappoint in his starting debut. The Vikings, for once,
have long-term hope under center. But Ponder also only completed
41% of his passes. In addition to Woodson's two picks, the
defense totaled six pass breakups.
One player who didn't get his hands - or, um, hand - on a ball
was Burnett. Again, he played with a cast over the right hand he
broke in practice two weeks ago. He isn't sure if he'll need to
keep wearing it after the bye week. Over the bye week, the free
safety will keep a brace on his hand and ice it.
Away from trainers, he's on his own. Burnett hasn't bumped his
hand into any doors or walls.
"Oh, nooo, nooo," said a frightful Burnett. "That would be
terrible. I've been real cautious with it. I haven't bumped it
or anything. That would be painful."
Burnett says his game hasn't changed at all with the club on.
Since whiffing on a tackle in the first quarter against St.
Louis, he has been serviceable if not the game-changer he was in
September. Burnett hasn't been exposed in coverage, yet he also
hasn't broken up any passes or caught an interception with the
club on.
Somehow, none of these injuries have cost the Packers. They're
7-0. All those yards - in this bottom-line league - are
irrelevant so far. As Williams, Burnett, Shields and Woodson
heal, however, one player is done for good. And he could be
found on the sideline at the Metrodome.
Sporting a black neck brace that he'll have removed Friday, Nick
Collins was back. He's staying optimistic. Collins is still
aiming to return next season. Until decision day arrives, he's
helping out behind the scenes. Collins aspires to be a coach
someday, so this is a start.
After reminding everyone - again - that "there's only one Nick
Collins," Burnett said his job is simple. Be accountable, stay
in position. He's gaining a comfort level with Charlie Peprah.
Of course, that's different rhetoric from what some defensive
backs said through camp. They wanted to be in the conversation
with the best defenses in the league. They felt
underappreciated.
The case cannot be made right now. Check back in a month or two.
Slowly but surely, players are getting healthier.
"Everybody has their nicks and bruises," Burnett said. "It's
just part of it. You have to keep pushing to get the body right
and get back out there."
#Post#: 39802--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 25, 2011, 7:03 pm
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Green done: Rookie Alex Green suffered a left knee injury on a
first-quarter kickoff and will require surgery, McCarthy said
Monday. Green will be placed on injured reserve and will miss
the rest of the season.
"Very unfortunate for Alex. He was really coming on; we were
looking for him to make an impact this year," said McCarthy.
#Post#: 39946--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 26, 2011, 2:51 pm
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Green Bay - Sometimes, the challenge isn't just to win.
It's maintaining a championship level of play even when the
opponent isn't.
The Packers take this bye week off not only with the comfort of
being 7-0 but also knowing they didn't lose a game they were
supposed to win.
In those seven victories, the Packers haven't always been able
to rely on their opponents to push them - not when four sit with
losing records. So, the team has turned inward and made life
tough with a meticulous and sometimes harsh grading system in
which there is no such thing as an A for excellence or a C for
average.
It's either pass or fail.
"We have a different grading system obviously than the people
outside of our meeting room," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.
"It's based on the performance of every individual. Based on the
level and the standard that we can play this game, we're playing
above average right now. And I think that's very exciting
because we feel strongly as a football team our best football is
in front of us. It's clearly evident when we go through the
grades and corrections."
The Packers' show-no-mercy grading system takes form soon after
the game, usually on Sundays. Position coaches break down game
film and grade every player on every play. The player is awarded
a positive or a negative mark on every snap.
A "plus" means the player did everything right; a "minus" means
they messed something up. Wrong technique, wrong gap, wrong
route - any of these can earn a player a strike.
The overall objective, the Packers say, is to be on the plus
side at least 80% of the time - and in some cases, as high as
90%.
"Anything less than 90, that's bad," defensive end Jarius Wynn
said.
Where the Packers distinguish themselves is the ruthless nature
of the grading. A Packer can earn a minus on a play even if the
outcome was good.
Drop the running back for a loss? It could be a negative.
"If you're out of your gap, yeah!" end Ryan Pickett said.
"They'll tell you, 'good job' - but you'll still get a minus.
Oh, yeah."
The touchdown tight end Jermichael Finley scored at Chicago in
Week 3 - despite running the wrong play - went through major
scrutiny in the grading process.
"I can't remember if he had a minus or not. He might have had
both," tight end Andrew Quarless said. "He scored, but it was a
miscommunication - and the quarterback is always right.
"They're real, extra critical. The grades are based on a number
of things. Technique. What did you accomplish? Your goal on the
play. Did you make the play? As little as a fourth-step backward
on a blocking play - that could be a minus."
The grades for receivers take it a step further with two marks:
one plus or minus for running the right route or following the
assignment; another plus or minus for the technique or the
finish.
"If I'm supposed to run a three-step slant, I get a plus for
running my assignment. I did my right thing," receiver Jordy
Nelson said. "Now, if I did a three-step slant, which is
correct, but he pushes me or I take a bad angle or have a bad
catch, I might get a minus."
It depends on the position coach, but touchdowns or big catches
often earn receivers a break and a favorable grade even if there
was an imperfection. But the mistake is still acknowledged.
It's been said that quarterbacks coach Tom Clements is a tough
grader of Aaron Rodgers, but many Packers say that's typical of
all the assistants.
So much for resting on Super Bowl accomplishments. But it was
that championship Feb. 6 that might have made the grading even
tougher on the 2011 Packers. A few veterans dispute this and say
the grading has been consistent during McCarthy's tenure.
But others swear it's gotten tougher.
"They're going to critique you more because you won," defensive
end C.J. Wilson said. "They grade you really hard because we
have a chance to be great."
"Whenever you have success, you raise the bar even that much
more, and I think that's what has been going on here," fullback
John Kuhn said. "Even though we might be doing well and getting
victories, we raise the bar and try to do even better."
Of course, the coach and player don't always see eye to eye. The
coach thinks a player should have been able to get lower,
stretch farther, wrap up better. The player wonders whether the
coach has forgotten how tough it is to bleed and sweat down
after down. And so, debates rage over grades.
"Sometimes you might make a good play in the backfield, but you
got reached. And you back-doored it," Pickett said. "You make a
tackle for a loss and they'll be like, 'Great job! Again!' But
. . . you got a minus on that play. Because you did
the wrong thing."
Pickett, an 11-year veteran, shakes his head in awe of the tough
grading. "You can't argue it. 'Come on, Coach?' No. You let it
go," he said.
Defensive line coach Mike Trgovac isn't one for giving guys
anything in grading.
"I got a negative, and I did pretty good on one play," Wilson
said. "I had an assisted tackle, but because I didn't have my
hands right, I got a negative. But I like that in a coach
because he's trying to make me do better. He never lets off
you."
Center Scott Wells hasn't always accepted a tough grade from
line coach James Campen, but he speaks up only because he wants
to get better.
"That's how we're able to all get on the same page," Wells said.
"We're expected to execute as close to perfect as you can. We
know that perfection is difficult, but that's what we're
chasing.
"The expectations are high, as they should be. And they're high
from the players. The expectations are high from the top down."
McCarthy oversees all of the grading and pushes for consistency
throughout his staff as a way to get the players sharp.
"You can't let emotion play into it," McCarthy said. "It happens
sometimes. A guy plays 99 plays in a row at a high level, and
then he has one mistake and it's a critical mistake and, 'Oh,
it's a losing performance.' That's why we watch it together, and
everybody grades it. Then we go back to the team meetings, and
everybody presents their grades."
That might be the best attribute of this team after all - the
players generally welcome the high standards.
"It's hard to be perfect, but you want to be perfect every
single play. That's the only way you can get better," rookie
tackle Derek Sherrod said.
"It's tough when you have a team that does well; it's hard to
stay on the ball," guard Josh Sitton said. "But the coaches do a
good job of keeping things the same every week. The schedule is
the exact same. We're going to walk through X amount of plays
every week no matter who we're playing.
"They grade pretty tough every play. And I don't think we'd want
it any other way. Most of the time we're our toughest critics.
But when we need a little kick in the (expletive), they're
there."
#Post#: 40169--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 27, 2011, 6:50 pm
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Checking in on Flynn's progress
e-mail
print
By Tyler Dunne of the Journal Sentinel
Oct. 26, 2011 |(75) Comments
Green Bay -- The sweepstakes is underway, off to a sizzling
start in Indianapolis. “Suck for Luck” is all the
rage. Next April, some team will land Stanford quarterback
Andrew Luck. And USC’s Matt Barkley. And Oklahoma’s
Landry Jones. Let the losing commence!
But don’t forget about that guy behind Aaron Rodgers,
either.
Come March, backup quarterback Matt Flynn may finally get his
shot at starting somewhere. The looming free agent has spent
three years in possibly the best farm system a quarterback could
ask for. Until then, he waits.
“Matt’s doing well,” quarterbacks coach Tom
Clements said. “He’s in a good situation. I’m
sure he wants to play but he understands that Aaron is a great
player and ahead of him. But Matt has gotten better every year
that he’s been here. When gets his opportunities, he does
a very good job for us. He’s a very solid
quarterback.”
It’s only October, of course. But a year ago, several
teams (think: Carolina, Minnesota, Jacksonville, Tennessee,
Cincinnati, San Francisco) invested in young quarterbacks. The
market dwindled. For now, it's speculation. But check out the
standings. Indianapolis, Miami, Seattle, Washington and Denver
could be the only teams quarterback hunting. And in Denver, who
knows? Maybe Tim Tebow’s magic carpet ride never ends.
Not that Flynn should be worried. Rodgers’
from-another-planet level of play lately can only help his
cause. Flynn has gotten the same tutelage under the same people
with the same waiting period. That’ll carry weight. From
day one, the Packers refused to sign a veteran quarterback to
back up Rodgers.
Confidence in the former seventh-rounder has paid off. In his
last two preseasons, Flynn has thrown for 894 yards with four
touchdowns and three picks. Always difficult to judge. He's
playing against backups, with backups. Green Bay's second-string
line this past August collapsed often. Flynn's Patriots game
— not unlike Rodgers’ ’07 performance in
Dallas — was a truer litmus test. Green Bay lost, of
course, but the Packers’ inspired effort helped trigger a
Super Bowl run.
Flynn went 24 of 37 for 251 yards with three scores and a pick.
A far, far cry from his rookie spot duty in Tampa Bay.
The key to continued progression, Clements says, has been
preparation. Each week, all three Packers quarterbacks must
perfect specific types of throws they’ll need to make
against that opponent. And while he threw an interception in his
only appearance this season, Clements says Flynn has made
strides this season.
“As the backup quarterback, you have to prepare each week
as if you’re going to play because you’re one play
away from playing,” Clements said. “Matt does a good
job of that. He studies the plan and knows it.
“It’s obviously harder to get ready as if you were
the starter because you don’t really see a light at the
end of that tunnel. You just have to assume that maybe
it’ll come sometime. He does a good job with it and when
he’s called upon, he’s ready to play…Some guys
are more diligent than others. Matt’s a diligent guy. I
can’t speak for other quarterbacks but we’re
#Post#: 40172--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 27, 2011, 6:57 pm
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It’s not how you start, but how you finish.
Let’s remember those words as we listen to the pundits
rave about the 7-0 Green Bay Packers, who are off to their best
start in 49 years.
The compliments are nice and the praise from near and far makes
Packers fans swell up with pride over their beloved team that
sits atop the pro football world.
But they don’t crown the team with the best first-half
record. In three months, when the snow is flying and the winter
winds are howling, no one will care who was looking spiffy in
late October.
This is not meant to diminish the Packers’ impressive
start. Any achievement that comes around once every half-century
or so cannot be easily dismissed.
The Packers have won a remarkable 13 consecutive games including
last season’s playoff run to the Super Bowl championship.
It’s been 10½ months since their last loss, and if you
include games in which Aaron Rodgers was healthy, the unbeaten
streak stretches almost an entire year.
Winning is extremely difficult in the NFL, yet the Packers are
making it look easy.
Rodgers has emerged as the best quarterback in the league, and
if he continues on his current career arc will threaten to
become the greatest in history.
The Packers are averaging 33 points per game and their explosive
offense is feared around the league.
With apologies to the New England Patriots, who haven’t
won a championship in seven years, the Packers have become the
NFL’s model franchise.
Yet for all the bouquets being tossed the Packers’ way,
history tells us nothing is guaranteed this season. The past is
littered with NFL teams, including defending champions, that
sprinted out of the starting gate but stumbled down the stretch.
The 2007 Patriots will be remembered most not for their 16-0
regular-season record, but for losing in the Super Bowl and
blowing the chance to be the first 19-0 team in NFL history.
That same year, the Indianapolis Colts were the reigning
champions, started 7-0 and seemed invincible, yet couldn’t
sustain their success and didn’t win a playoff game.
#Post#: 40352--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: Grizzlybear34
Date: October 28, 2011, 6:17 am
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That has been my thought also. Green Bay is clearly the top
team in the NFL - for now. They have to tighten up that defense
at some point or they will be on the losing end. Rodgers has
played extremely well, but he also has a suck game or two in him
per season. I don't recall a real hard shot on him yet either,
but it will come and then you can trot out the greatness that is
Matt Flynn.
But for the first two months on the season, the crown has to be
worn by Green Bay. But as other successful teams has shown, it
is a 5 month season and not 2.
#Post#: 40598--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: October 29, 2011, 6:09 pm
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True. All true.
#Post#: 40899--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: November 1, 2011, 11:15 am
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Posted by Gregg Rosenthal on November 1, 2011, 10:48 AM EDT
Getty Images
Packers tight end Jermichael Finley is hoping to get a contract
extension by the end of this season.
If that doesn’t happen, Finley is cool with the Packers
placing the franchise tag on him next February.
“If they do that, I’m down with that,” Finley
told Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. “I
ain’t going to be [ticked] off. I just love the game, and
I was just blessed to be making money. I’m just taking it
all in.”
Finley is saying all the right things in his contract year. More
importantly, he’s stayed healthy after missing most of
last season following knee surgery.
“You can’t ask for a better city just because
there’s nothing to do, for one thing,” Finley said.
“I’m going to be real with you, there’s less
trouble you can get into. It’s first class in everything
they do — contracts, around the building —
everything’s first class.”
His numbers (25 catches, 334 yards, four touchdowns)
aren’t quite as big as expected, but that’s largely
because the Packers have so many other weapons. <font
color=red>Plus he is drawing double-coverage.</font>It’s
also possible Finley hasn’t completely regained his
pre-surgery explosiveness.
The team has already signed guard Josh Sitton and wideout Jordy
Nelson long-term this season. Finley’s deal always figured
to be more complicated.
Retaining Finley at a big salary for 2012 via the franchise tag
makes a lot of sense for the Packers, especially since Finley
doesn’t have a problem with it.
#Post#: 40903--------------------------------------------------
Re: Green Bay sucks (4.12.11 - 9.10.15)
DIR By: packrat
Date: November 1, 2011, 11:35 am
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...The Packers have a much more difficult stretch to finish the
season if first-half records are considered. The first seven
opponents hold a 18-29 record with a .382 winning percentage,
and include four teams (Panthers, Broncos, Rams, Vikings) with
losing records. The final nine opponents have a 34-26 record
with a .567 winning percentage, and just one (Vikings) has a
losing record...
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