My suggestion to Packers General Manager Ted Thompson to
sign quarterback Brian Hoyer fell upon predictably deaf ears. Thompson is an
arrogant man, who only follows his own advice and even, in my opinion, turns
down any advice he gets from the Packers fans across the nation just because he
didn’t think of it and he feels the “Great Unwashed” are ignorant at best and
are against him at worst.
So instead of solidifying the quarterback position after the
Packers went from having the best quarterback in the league to one of the worst
quarterback rooms in the NFL with half a season left he kept the status quo reaffirming his own genius.
Bill Belichik, who has been head coach and basically the
general manager of the New England Patriots since 2000 has been to 7 Super
Bowls during that span and won 5 making the Patriots a bonafied dynasty.
On the other hand, Ted Thompson has been general manager of
the Packers since 2005 and has led the team from Title Town, USA to 1 Super
Bowl making the Packers a bonafied disappointment and a team that never lived
up to its potential led by 2 of the best quarterbacks in the history of the
league.
Speaking of Belichik he took my advice and signed Hoyer.
Anyone surprised at that? I’m not. The cream rises to the top and the turds (I
mean curds) sink to the bottom.
So with 6:57 remaining in the first quarter of the Vikings
game, which would have been around 12:30 p.m. October 15, 2017 the
Packers have been led by 2015 No. 5 draft pick Brett Hundley and not the 1 man
the Packers couldn’t afford to lose Aaron Rodgers.
To put it in perspective when Rodgers was under center the
Packers were 4-1 averaging 27.4 points a game and with Hundley the Packers are
0-2 averaging 14 points a game, despite having the 2-time Offensive Rookie of
the Week Aaron Jones in the backfield. A stark difference.
So with the season tittering of the edge of the proverbial precipice
Ted Thompson, the man who is worshipped by the “In Ted We Trust” crowd, Ask
Vic, and has a permanent hickey on his ass reapplied hourly by Larry “The Rock”
McCarren has gone to work to save the season with these following actions.
His first move was on October 16 and that was to sign
practice squad quarterback Joe Callahan to the active roster after putting
cornerback Quinten Rollins on injured reserve. Result: Brett Hundley is the
starting quarterback.
His next move was on October 17 to sign quarterback Jerod
Evans to the practice squad. Evans spent 3 days with the Eagles at their rookie
mini-camp and he got hurt and was cut. Evans is a major project and won’t be
ready for prime time this year or next. So nobody signed him to their team or to their practice squad until Ted Thompson called and wondered if he would sign for
minimum wage. Thompson always finds the cheapest solution possible and for some
odd mentally ill reason never seems to solve current problems and is always
signing players for the next season.
His next move was on October 20 when he placed Aaron Rodgers
on injured reserve allowing him to return at the earliest with 3 games left in
the season, but with Hundley, Callahan and Evans comprising the quarterback
room there won’t be a season left to save by that time.
The last move before the next game was to sign undrafted
free agent safety Jermaine Whitehead from the practice squad to replace
Rollins.
Week 1 recap: Lose Aaron Rodgers and sign Jerod Evans to
practice squad. Lose Quinten Rollins and elevate Jermaine Whitehead from
practice squad. Incest is best in Green
Bay .
His next move after
the Packers lost to the Saints at Lambeau Field, 26-17, a very winnable game by
anyone else than Hundley was on October 24 when he re-signed wide receiver Max
McCaffrey to the practice squad to replace Whitehead. With Jordy Nelson,
Davante Adams, Randall Cobb, Geronimo Allison, Trevor Davis and Jeff Janis all
healthy on the 53-man squad and Michael Clark and DeAngelo Yancey already on
the practice squad the one position the Packers needed shoring up was at wide
receiver. NOT!!!!!! I would ask what was Thompson thinking, but no one knows
and will never know.
However he wasn’t through that day and he finally took a
step to shore up 1 of the more critical units of the team that has been
devastated injuries. Did he sign another tackle or guard? Of course not, he
released guard/center/tackle Don Barclay from injured reserve, where he could
have stayed on for the rest of the season. Barclay then joined Pro Bowl guard
T.J. Lang on the Lions. Another curious move by the “master”.
Thompson slept well the rest of the week knowing he had
signed a practice squad quarterback and a practice squad wide receiver while
elevating a practice squad quarterback and a practice squad safety and releasing an offensive lineman.
The bye week was a success in Thompson’s mind because when
Sunday ended the Packers hadn’t lost another game while the Lions and the Bears did. However, it wasn’t a total success because the Vikings won. Entering Week
9 the Vikings are 6-2-0, the Packers are 4-3-0, the Lions are 3-4-0 and the
Bears are 3-5-0. This week the Packers host Detroit
on Monday Night Football while the Vikings and the Bears are on their bye week.
This is a big game coming up and Thompson hit the ground
running after his 5-day slumber. On Halloween “Ted Terrific” woke up with the
trading deadline expiring at 3 p.m. He rummaged around his closet and found his
fiddle. He drove to the office and turned off his phone, propped his feet up on
his desk and tuned his fiddle while watching ESPN as he took a swig out of a
bottle of water and put in a CD of his favorite group Asleep at the Wheel..
Then the shoes began to drop as the other 31 worked on making
the playoffs this season. The 49ers solved their quarterback issues by trading
for Jimmy Garappolo; “plink”; the Bills solved their wide receiver issues by
trading for Kelvin Benjamin; “plunk”; the Jets solved their cornerback issues
by trading for Rashard Robinson: “plink”; the 49ers release quarterback Brian
Hoyer; “snore”; the Eagles add to their solid running game by trading for Jay
Ajayi; “zzzz”; the Seahawks solve their left tackle issue by trading for Duane
Brown; “zzzzzzzzzzzzz”; the Jaguars solve their defensive line issues by
trading for Marcell Dareus; “snooooorrrrreeee”.
Then 3 p.m. arrived and at 3:01 Ted Thompson woke up and
turned his phone back on before making his first and only move of the day by cutting
guard Darrell Green from the practice squad and re-signing fullback Joe
Kerridge to take his place. He then slapped himself on the back and went home
feeling satisfied with his day’s work.
Thompson came back the next day to open November with a
flourish by cutting defensive tackle Ricky Jean Francios because the Packers
have too many defensive linemen to go with too many offensive linemen. Thompson
hates linemen. They are too fat and dumb and want too much money when they make
the Pro Bowl or need a new contract, just ask Marco Rivera, Mike Wahle, Daryn Colledge, Josh Sitton and T.J. Lang.
As of right now the only speculation is that injured outside
linebacker/edge rusher Vince Biegel will replace Franciox on the 53 finally
trying to solve an actual issue that the Packers have been having with the lack
of a pass rush despite having the Claymaker on the team.
But the Whirling Dervish known as TT wasn’t through he
returned November 2nd to designate the worst offensive tackle on the team Jason
Spriggs to return from injured reserve. That move meant the Packers have only
one more designated to return to use for the rest of the season. There had to
be a better tackle out of a job than the former No. 2 draft pick using up of
the DTRs. Thompson just can’t admit he’s made mistake until he absolutely has
to at the last possible minute.
We now know what the Packers problems are at this moment in
time with Aaron Rodgers on injured reserve and we also know what is not a
problem. What is not a problem is the quarterback room. What are problems is
the Packers didn’t have enough wide receivers and fullbacks and had too many
offensive and defensive linemen.
Ted Thompson, the Man, the Myth, the Legend, did his job
since Aaron Rodgers went down. He gave Mike McCarthy quarterback Joe Callahan
and safety Jermaine Whitehead along with adding wide receiver Max McCaffrey,
fullback Joe Kerridge and quarterback Jerod Evans to the practice squad while
cutting 3 linemen, 2 offensive and 1 defensive.
It seems all the doom and gloom people like me seem to think
the Packers are going to suffer are all wet, (maybe from having Thompson
dropping water bombs from his ivory tower office window on us). The Packers are
just fine and all Mike McCarthy needed was two third stringers. Well, let’s
hope so, but I sincerely doubt it.
Finally the early picks are in about Week 9 and Mike Florio
from Pro Football Talk agrees with me:
Lions at Packers
MDS’s take: The Lions got very lucky this season as
the only team in the NFC North that hasn’t had chaos at the quarterback
position. If Aaron Rodgers were playing I’d pick the Packers, but with Brett
Hundley at the helm I’ll take Detroit to get a
rare road win in Green Bay
MDS’s pick: Lions 21, Packers 20.
Florio’s take: If the Packers had gotten Brian Hoyer,
maybe it would have gone differently. (It wouldn’t have.) Either way, Brett Hundley
falls to 0-2.
Florio’s pick: Lions 27, Packers 21.
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