Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Dez Bryant Is A Pill The Packers Need To Swallow


I loved Golden Richards, Bob “The Bullet” Hayes, Lance “Bambi” Alworth. I hated with a passion and still hate “Cocaine” Michael Irvin and Terrell (I will never call him TO because he likes it) Owens. And I never liked Dez Bryant. OBTW I hated and still hate Deion Sanders, even though he has nothing to do with this article except he is a former Cowboy I despise even more now that he is a talking head. That said the other talking heads I don’t despise are buzzing about the Packers maybe signing Bryant and I might agree it might be a good move.

I’m still hating the cutting of Jordy Nelson for many reasons. No. 1: He and Aaron Rodgers have great chemistry. No. 2: Cutting him was another slap in Rodgers’ face when he was feeling unloved after not being told his quarterback coach Alex Van Pelt was going to be fired. No. 3: The reasons stated by the local kiss-ass media are Jordy has lost a step or 3 and he is coming off his worst uninjured season.

No. 1 and 2 are what they are. Water under the bridge. No 3 is the kicker and not Mason Crosby or JK Scott. Last year had nothing to do with Nelson’s speed and production. It had all to do with the play of Ted Thompson’s hand picked heir apparent to Aaron Rodgers Brett Hundley. The failures of Hundley are legion. Trading up to get Hundley was a waste of a 5th and 7th round pick. No much of a waste you might say, but in the Ted “one of the best talent evaluators that have ever done this” Thompson Era every lower draft pick was crucial because since the Super Bowl he filled his roster with cheap drafted and undrafted players and he blew it on many of his top draft picks and hardly ever (until he began to feel the heat of his policies) signed any veteran players.

Hundley was the 3rd quarterback behind Scott Tolzien his rookie season and was the top backup the last 2 seasons. He started off great his rookie year in the preseason, but since then he has not progressed at best and regressed at worse. His rookie season he had a 129.6 quarterback rating during the preseason with 7 TDs and 1 interception while completing 69.2 percent of his passes. His second season he injured his ankle in his 1st preseason game and never played again until the second half of the season. BTW: he had a 101.5 rating completing 5-of-7 before he was hurt.

Now we come to last year with Brett Hundley the top backup going into the season. This is where the myth of Mike McCarthy being the best quarterback guru the NFL has ever seen is busted in half, quarters, and micro minis when Hundley was forced into service and fell completely on his face. Back in 2012 Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal wrote, He's considered an architect of the quarterback position, the modern-day standard.” Well, another example of the local kiss-ass media spouting the company line.

So I think all of Jordy Nelson’s lack of production was because of Hundley. 1st: he hardly ever threw to him. And 2nd: When he did he usually threw in the flat and expected Jordy to make yardage from the line of scrimmage, instead of hitting him down the field in stride. Now that Jordy is an Oakland Raider we’ll see if he is washed up or not. Also one of the speediest wide receivers on the team Jeff Janis left for the Browns and we’ll see if he blossoms under somebody else’s tutelage.

So with Davante Adams (2014 #2-53) and Randall Cobb (2011 #2-64) back as the only wide receivers with any experience left on the roster someone has to step up.

The Packers used 3 wide outs mostly with Adams and Nelson on the outside and Cobb in the slot, so the old Quarterback Guru himself must find another outside man from Geronimo Allison (2016 undrafted), Trevor Davis (2016 #5-163), Michael Clark (2017 undrafted), Colby Pearson (2017 Bears undrafted), Jake Kumerow (2015 Bengals undrafted) and De’Angelo Yancey (2017 #5-175) returning and the drafting of J’Mon Moore (#4-133), Marquez Valdes-Scantling (#5-174) and Equanimeous St. Brown (#6-207).

The Hundley Effect: Last year Allison took a step back with 23 catches for 253 yards (11.0) and 0 TDs in 15 games with 2 starts. His rookie season he played in 10 games with 2 starts with 12 catches for 202 yards (16.8) and 2 TDs. (Also Janis dropped from 11 catches for 93 yards and a TD to 2 catches for 12 yards).

Also last year Davis had 5 catches for 70 yards and Clark, who the local kiss-ass media touted as the next James Lofton, Sterling Sharp, Donald Driver, had 4 catches for 41 yards (where was that evaluation coming from other than Ted “one of the best talent evaluators that have ever done this” Thompson’s ass the local media was kissing all the time). Yancey, Pearson and Kumerow spent last year on the practice squad.

Moore is coming off 2 straight 1,000-yard seasons at Missouri (62-1,012-(16.8)-8TD and 65-1,082-(16.6)-10TD); Valdes-Scantling is coming off his best season at South Florida (53-879-(16.6)-6TD; and St. Brown is coming off a downer season at Notre Dame dropping from 58-961-(16.6)-9TDs to 33-515-(15.6)-4TD. He was a junior last year.

The Packers have 9 receivers behind Adams and injury-prone Cobb battling for that 3rd spot. Of the 9 Davis has 27 games of experience (8-94-1TD, Allison 25 games (35-455-2TD) and Clark 2 games (4-41-0TD). Kumerow has 0 games over 3 seasons with the Bengals, Patriots and Packers and Yancey 0 games.

So this is where I see Dez Bryant and his tantrums and childish behavior could be the missing piece. Bryant is near the end, but signing him on a 1 year incentive laden contract could be a boon. Ted “one of the best talent evaluators that have ever done this” Thompson could have had Randy Moss for a song in 2008 and he passed for character issues. I wanted to sign Moss at the time and was ridiculed for wanting him (remember Brett Favre wanted him, too) and he went on to have a NFL record season with the Patriots. I never liked Moss either, but sometimes you have to bring in a talented guy for the betterment of the team, so matter how much of a butthole he is.

I wish to hell Brian Gutekunst would make a decision on his own instead of consulting Ted “one of the best talent evaluators that have ever done this” Thompson (Remember “Gute” said this at the draft, “For me, just to be able to have a guy in the building that’s done what he’s done as a general manager, to lean on him and say, ‘Hey, this is what I’m thinking. How would you do this? What would you think about this?’). Thompson would not sign Bryant, so if the Packers pass on him then we know “Gute” is just a child on training wheels with a serious case of hero worship and Ted Thompson is still in control, despite the bullshit that has been put out about Thompson being put out to pasture from the local kiss-ass media.

Moss Déjà vu: Bryant wants to show the Cowboys he still has it, so the Packers could benefit from that attitude. I also think a chance to play with Aaron Rodgers would be the incentive for Bryant to sign with the Packers as would have Moss playing with Favre. So I would sign him before the Patriots do.

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