It ain't always gonna be this easy.
Packers WRs feast on steak before the game and then feast on Cardinals in the first half. They are solid. Even if technically Ruvel should have taken a knee, what the heck... let him score if he can. I'm not even sure why the first string played beyond the second quarter.
Charles Woodson is one smart football player. He's LeRoy Butler smart. All three of his plays came when he was lined up in the slot. J. Finley is good, and gives the offense a whole new dimension. Just what the Packers' opponents needed.
They look great, but it's going to be different once the regular season starts. Here comes the ugly reality of the Bears with Jay Cutler.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Three New Starters On Offensive Line
Scott Wells is out. Jason Spitz is in at center.
Allen Barbre gets the nod over Breno Giocomini at right tackle replacing Mark Tauscher
Josh Sitton will play right guard where Spitz played last year
Scott Wells, for the moment is a highly paid cheezed off back up, but the Packers did something that indicates that they may not be looking to trade him for anything but perhaps a lower paid younger back up center. They released their only other experienced back up center, free agent Duke Preston. It would be surprising not to see Wells back on the field if a guard or center is dinged up and not playing near their full capacity.
Centers don't just snap and block. In today's NFL they call out blocking assignments before and during the snap count. Not only must linemen listen to the QB for the snap count, listen for audibles changing the play, they must also listen to the center. The center is traditionally a tough leader of the offensive line unit. One thinks of the friendship Frank Winters had with Brett Favre.
So it's ok for Scott Wells to tersely respond to Greg Bedard's questions about be dethroned from his starting job. Scott Wells is a good center, but his is ranked behind the Bears Olin Kreutz and at least up to this year, behind the Vikings Matt Birk. Now that Birk has left as a UFA to play for the Ravens and some guy named John Sullivan will start for the Vikings, Wells had the opportunity to move up a notch. And he still does.
The statistical chances that an interior lineman will miss time with injury this year are probably at 40%. Sitton had the job sewn up last year was injured. Wells can already play right guard and will hopefully get some work at left guard. If Chad Clifton were to go down with an injury, the Packers would likely slide Colledge over to LT rather than playing Tony Moll there - if Moll makes the team over project Jamon Meredith.
Offensive linemen play with pulled, bruised, and even torn muscles. As linemen wear down, there play suffers. You can see it late in the season when an OL is gased. They can hang in there for spells but the big runs decrease and the protections don't react as quickly to blitzes and these things add up. Potentially, having four servicable interior linemen and the ablity to survive without Chad Clifton for at least a game or two gives the Packers something they have been lacking for since the days of Flannagan, Rivera, Wahl... and yup Scott Wells who did back up at guard center in 2004.
Scott Wells' biggest deficit is his size. He gives up an 1.5 inches in height and 6 pounds to Spitz, but he real size gain comes when you compare Wells to Sitton who is the same height as Spitz but Sitton is 15 pounds heavier than Wells. This can make a difference when trying to block a fast and strong 320 Pat Williams or a 360 Grady Jackson-type. On the other hand, it's a game of leverage and "pad level" on the interior line, so height is always an advantage, but speed and strenght are.
What makes this a challenge for Wells to accept is that his predecessors, Mike Flanagan and Frank Winters never lost their jobs. But this did happen to Mike Wahl a failure at LT, who became a key blocker in the Mike Sherman / Ahman Green power-gap offense at LG. As we learned from that experience, good help on the OL can be hard to find. Hopefully, Scott Wells will be on the roster and active for game one. When his check for that game clears, it should help him focus his anger and be ready to play.
Also, it is important to remember that Mike McCarthy has tried to start Barbre and J. Colston before and they flopped and were quickly yanked. So we could see this new line up a few games and then another switch in games 2-5 based on performance.
I think Wells will play this year, but if he doesn't, it's one less year of beating on his body. The odds are more than double he will be needed next year. Hopefully, Packer fans will give Scott Wells some encouragement. It's not like the sixth man in basketball. Not starting is not good, but sometimes it's better than playing with a bunch of stumble bums that are going to roll up your knee and put and early end to your career.
Allen Barbre gets the nod over Breno Giocomini at right tackle replacing Mark Tauscher
Josh Sitton will play right guard where Spitz played last year
Scott Wells, for the moment is a highly paid cheezed off back up, but the Packers did something that indicates that they may not be looking to trade him for anything but perhaps a lower paid younger back up center. They released their only other experienced back up center, free agent Duke Preston. It would be surprising not to see Wells back on the field if a guard or center is dinged up and not playing near their full capacity.
Centers don't just snap and block. In today's NFL they call out blocking assignments before and during the snap count. Not only must linemen listen to the QB for the snap count, listen for audibles changing the play, they must also listen to the center. The center is traditionally a tough leader of the offensive line unit. One thinks of the friendship Frank Winters had with Brett Favre.
So it's ok for Scott Wells to tersely respond to Greg Bedard's questions about be dethroned from his starting job. Scott Wells is a good center, but his is ranked behind the Bears Olin Kreutz and at least up to this year, behind the Vikings Matt Birk. Now that Birk has left as a UFA to play for the Ravens and some guy named John Sullivan will start for the Vikings, Wells had the opportunity to move up a notch. And he still does.
The statistical chances that an interior lineman will miss time with injury this year are probably at 40%. Sitton had the job sewn up last year was injured. Wells can already play right guard and will hopefully get some work at left guard. If Chad Clifton were to go down with an injury, the Packers would likely slide Colledge over to LT rather than playing Tony Moll there - if Moll makes the team over project Jamon Meredith.
Offensive linemen play with pulled, bruised, and even torn muscles. As linemen wear down, there play suffers. You can see it late in the season when an OL is gased. They can hang in there for spells but the big runs decrease and the protections don't react as quickly to blitzes and these things add up. Potentially, having four servicable interior linemen and the ablity to survive without Chad Clifton for at least a game or two gives the Packers something they have been lacking for since the days of Flannagan, Rivera, Wahl... and yup Scott Wells who did back up at guard center in 2004.
Scott Wells' biggest deficit is his size. He gives up an 1.5 inches in height and 6 pounds to Spitz, but he real size gain comes when you compare Wells to Sitton who is the same height as Spitz but Sitton is 15 pounds heavier than Wells. This can make a difference when trying to block a fast and strong 320 Pat Williams or a 360 Grady Jackson-type. On the other hand, it's a game of leverage and "pad level" on the interior line, so height is always an advantage, but speed and strenght are.
What makes this a challenge for Wells to accept is that his predecessors, Mike Flanagan and Frank Winters never lost their jobs. But this did happen to Mike Wahl a failure at LT, who became a key blocker in the Mike Sherman / Ahman Green power-gap offense at LG. As we learned from that experience, good help on the OL can be hard to find. Hopefully, Scott Wells will be on the roster and active for game one. When his check for that game clears, it should help him focus his anger and be ready to play.
Also, it is important to remember that Mike McCarthy has tried to start Barbre and J. Colston before and they flopped and were quickly yanked. So we could see this new line up a few games and then another switch in games 2-5 based on performance.
I think Wells will play this year, but if he doesn't, it's one less year of beating on his body. The odds are more than double he will be needed next year. Hopefully, Packer fans will give Scott Wells some encouragement. It's not like the sixth man in basketball. Not starting is not good, but sometimes it's better than playing with a bunch of stumble bums that are going to roll up your knee and put and early end to your career.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Don Capers' Defense
This is a fan blog, and I've never made any pretensions that I really know anything about NFL coaching. What I attempt to do, is examine what's information is accessible and what we see and hear on the broadcasts and on video and share what I find with other fans who want to compare notes.
So passing judgement on something like McCarthy's defensive coaching purge is difficult for me. It's one of those areas, I think, where the proof is only in the pudding. So for what it is worth, I like what I heard and what I have read about Don Capers, Mike Trgovac, and the defensive staff. Last night Bill Michaels and Wayne Larravee gave the new crew a pretty good review.
It's no secret that last season early last season, I felt that Mike McCarthy came off as "smug & cocky" at times. He had it coming and he got it. I hope in the midst of his hirings he got in some R & R because NFL coaches need to stay at the top of their games.
It appears that Capers & crew have the defense pretty well disciplined. That's impressive in the first preseason game. Capers certainly has good credentials, but it was good to see that in practice (pun intended) last night.
So passing judgement on something like McCarthy's defensive coaching purge is difficult for me. It's one of those areas, I think, where the proof is only in the pudding. So for what it is worth, I like what I heard and what I have read about Don Capers, Mike Trgovac, and the defensive staff. Last night Bill Michaels and Wayne Larravee gave the new crew a pretty good review.
It's no secret that last season early last season, I felt that Mike McCarthy came off as "smug & cocky" at times. He had it coming and he got it. I hope in the midst of his hirings he got in some R & R because NFL coaches need to stay at the top of their games.
It appears that Capers & crew have the defense pretty well disciplined. That's impressive in the first preseason game. Capers certainly has good credentials, but it was good to see that in practice (pun intended) last night.
Pass Blocking On Driver's TD
Got to hand it to Aaron Rodgers for being able to throw the ball with depth and accuracy on the highlight reel TD to Driver. Notice the 5 Browns at the LoS and the 3-man rush that matches Clifton and Colledge on the LE, presumably Wells and Spitz on the NT, and only Barbe (I think) on the RE. The RE almost goes over Barbe's right shoulder, but Rodgers steps up in the pocket and Barbe's foot work allows him to reestablish himself between the QB and the rusher. A TV announcer singled out Clifton's block, and that block did really take the LE out of the play, but the RT had the single match up and stood up well against a strong charge.
Let's not kid ourselves about Jay Cutler. He's a pretty good QB, but tonight Aaron Rodgers looked better. That pick where Cutler steps up under pressure, lobs one up across his body, and under throws Hester was the inverse of the Driver play. Culter's protection was softer, his receiver not as decisive, and his pass was terrible to the point it shouldn't have been thrown. To be fair, Cutler threw a bullet to TE Desmond Clark.
This one game doesn't mean too much, but since the Bears the defending NFC North Champs, it's worth a quick comparison between Cutler's two seasons with the Broncos and Rodgers 6-10 campaign last year. Give Cutler a QB rating of 87.0. Rodgers weighs in at 93.8. Give Cutler 22.5 TDs to 16 ints. Last year Rodgers threw 28 TDs to 13 ints. Make an adjustment for the Packers great WRs and you still probably give the edge to Rodgers and the Packers. Yet the two QBs are in the same league, literally and figuratively.
People trying to figure out who will win the Bears vs. Packers games this year will need to consider more than just the QB position. And all of that still goes out the window as it does in every Bears vs. Packers game.
Let's not kid ourselves about Jay Cutler. He's a pretty good QB, but tonight Aaron Rodgers looked better. That pick where Cutler steps up under pressure, lobs one up across his body, and under throws Hester was the inverse of the Driver play. Culter's protection was softer, his receiver not as decisive, and his pass was terrible to the point it shouldn't have been thrown. To be fair, Cutler threw a bullet to TE Desmond Clark.
This one game doesn't mean too much, but since the Bears the defending NFC North Champs, it's worth a quick comparison between Cutler's two seasons with the Broncos and Rodgers 6-10 campaign last year. Give Cutler a QB rating of 87.0. Rodgers weighs in at 93.8. Give Cutler 22.5 TDs to 16 ints. Last year Rodgers threw 28 TDs to 13 ints. Make an adjustment for the Packers great WRs and you still probably give the edge to Rodgers and the Packers. Yet the two QBs are in the same league, literally and figuratively.
People trying to figure out who will win the Bears vs. Packers games this year will need to consider more than just the QB position. And all of that still goes out the window as it does in every Bears vs. Packers game.
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Browns: Preseason One
Based on internet radio coverage:
First team wins
Second team wins
Third team wins
Driver leading the way is a nice way to start. Lot of good performances by non-starters like Bishop, Antonio Smith, RB Tyrell Sutton, James Jones, Matt Flynn... other running backs did well so the blocking must have been good.
74 offensive plays for the Packers. Wow... that was a fun way to start the preseason at Lambeau!
I'm in such a good mood I'm going to risk a kind public thought for old Brett. He's just a football junkie going cold turkey right now. He always gave us his best. I hope he starts his own 40 and over football league. Maybe play six games in the spring. Pick four tiny southern towns with great high school football traditions and put teams there. I'd watch that. Golf & Tennis have senior tours, so why not football?
First team wins
Second team wins
Third team wins
Driver leading the way is a nice way to start. Lot of good performances by non-starters like Bishop, Antonio Smith, RB Tyrell Sutton, James Jones, Matt Flynn... other running backs did well so the blocking must have been good.
74 offensive plays for the Packers. Wow... that was a fun way to start the preseason at Lambeau!
I'm in such a good mood I'm going to risk a kind public thought for old Brett. He's just a football junkie going cold turkey right now. He always gave us his best. I hope he starts his own 40 and over football league. Maybe play six games in the spring. Pick four tiny southern towns with great high school football traditions and put teams there. I'd watch that. Golf & Tennis have senior tours, so why not football?
Offense Starts Early
Driver is present and accounted for. Rodgers... Jennings... Grant... looks good. Larry McCarren paying compliments to the likes of Duke Preston is also sounding good. James Jones "freezing vodka with that move" according to Wayne L. T. Williams gets a pick. Got to love this. For this team this year a strong start does help set the right mood.
Let The Football Begin...
OK - I got through the offseason with only a few posts. That's a good offseason.
Favre's not a Viking. Vick's not a Packer. Promising start to the season.
Favre's not a Viking. Vick's not a Packer. Promising start to the season.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
