The Magnificent 2007 Packers

The central premise of this blog is that 2007 was a magnificent and marvelous season. The 2007 Packers weren't merely overachievers... they had the winning mix. They had Field Marshall Favre. The young defense exploded early. Then Greg Jennings. Then Special Teams. Then Ryan Grant and the O-line. And then Favre discovered Donald Lee. Look at how the 2007 Packers won games. It wasn't any particular dominant feature at play, they were just a darn good football team and a lucky one too.

Look at the NY Giants. Plexico helped beat the Packers in the NFC Championship. This year he literally shot himself in the leg! Is there a better metaphor for Packer fans? Some years you win and other years you shoot yourself in the foot... err leg.

This is was not an automatic dynasty. But this summer Bob McGinn of the quoted "an member of the Packer Football Department" talking about a 2-3 year Super Bowl window with Aaron Rodgers at QB. Mike Holmgren didn't even talk about a "Super Bowl window" in 1995. Holmgren forbade talking about it.

It seemed presumptuous. It seemed like this was a management that takes more their fair share of credit from a great season, while failing to recognize the cracks and relied on young players getting better. Young players in the NFL do not always improve. Instead someone in the "football department" went after Favre like he was the main reason the Packers lost to the Giants. That's just weird... just psycho... somebodies been working at the Bates Motel too long.

The cracks were a front seven that couldn't stop good ground games. The O-line couldn't reliably execute zone blocking and lost too many physical match-ups. There was no depth RB past Grant. The OTs and the CBs were veteran players with no proven back ups. Yet the 2007 Packers went 13-3 and hosted the NFC Championship game.

It's not like reserves haven't got on the field this season. Sitton and Moll on the OL... apparently Barbre is hopeless with assignments. All three TEs have played. But they were slow to play Brandon Jackson and now that he's had a few good games, reporters are asking why he didn't play more when Grant was hurting. Obviously, they blew it changing punters and then sticking with their mistake a game or two too long and it cost a win or two.

On the DL everyone has played in 2008 including rookie Jeremy Thompson. LBs Chiller and Bishop have played more than most back ups with some good affect from Chiller. Jolly and Harrell are brittle. Montgomery and Hunter are liabilities.

My point is that it's not WHICH Packers are on the field. They need quality, not quantity in the DL & LBs. There are no "red" guys drafted at DL, LB, or on the OL!!! Cullen Jenkins and AJ Hawk were the only two I could see getting to that level and it hasn't happened. This problem is not going to be completely fixed with a high draft pick or two. There must be a Free Agent worth signing at one of these positions in Spring 2009.

One of the weird things I don't get is how can Pat Lee and Charlie Peprah be hurt? I think they might be on a few special teams units, but they don't play really. Remember how Marvel Underwood and Blackmon were hurt every year for a few straight years? Do the Packers need a full time yoga coach for DBs? Do they need a "flexibility" metric at the combine?

Bright spots this season: Brandon Jackson, Tramon Williams, Nick Collins, Aaron Rodgers, and maybe Jordy Nelson have exceeded expectations, and the new LS hasn't screwed up yet. The secondary is the straight on defense. The WRs are still the best I've ever seen.

It's really hard to remove Favre from Rodgers. But watching the Bears, Lions, and Vikings try to find a real QB year after year, and seeing AR is better than that junk in his first year is a good surprise. Yes - he's being coached not to throw picks, so he does when under pressure. Whatever, I've seen him see some guys and throw some tracers. Plus the poor guy has to put up with McCarthy and that OL and act like he on the "MMTTMM Super Bowl Express". I'm kind of liking Rodgers for that. Maybe next year on 1st down at the 1 yard line he'll audible into play-action and throw the easy TD to win. I bet Favre did that more than once last year. I can't wait for Joe Philbin's tell-all book about these last two seasons.