Sunday Night Is Football Night at Lambeau Field

The team that takes the field Sunday night against the Bears is a team we haven’t seen since ever. The offensive skill starters hardly played in the preseason, which is no surprise because Coach Mike McCarthy does that every year since Jordy Nelson was hurt in the second preseason game three years ago and pretty much before that, but it's worse now.

The Packers are notorious slow starters at the beginning of the season and I think that is a direct cause of this practice. So come Sunday night Aaron Rodgers will be under center Corey Linsley. Justin McCray is the new right guard replacing Jahri Evans. Lane Taylor missed most of the preseason and returns at left guard. David Bakhtiari is back at left tackle and Bryan Bulaga returns at right tackle after missing the last eight games of the season on injured reserve for the third time in his 8-year career and second because of knee surgery. The first was a hip fracture.

Position Evaluation: Offensive Line

The offensive line of 2017 was a mess, but a predictable mess because the offensive line has been Ted Thompson’s red-headed stepchild since he became Head Honcho in 2005 and released All-Pro right guard Marco Rivera and left guard Mike Wahle right off the bat to sabotage Mike Sherman and it worked as the Packers fell from 10-6-0 and 13 straight years of .500 or better teams and four straight playoff appearances to 4-12-0 and the beginning of two straight non-playoff teams.

The Great, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Great

Aaron Rodgers:

What can you say about a player who almost single-handedly put this team on his shoulders, including Sunday with a 9-play, 75-yard drive in 62 seconds to beat the Cowboys in Dallas.

Rodgers: “I just focused on my breathing on the sidelines and try to calm myself and remind the guys about some little things. The first play of that 2-minute was a conversation we had coming out of halftime actually about the leverage and coverage style in that 55, 2-man coverage and what kind of route we thought we could get in that situation.”

The most amazing thing about the drive was it wasn’t supposed to be for the win, but only for the tie to send it into overtime.

Rodgers: “I was thinking touchdown. We had time. We had a time out. The key to a good 2-minute drive is the 1st play. You have to get some positive yards. We had a good concept front side and kind of alert backside, which actually set up the entire final sequence, hit Davante on a back shoulder to start the whole drive. That ultimately sets up the winning pass, because he’s playing high shoulder first play we go back shoulder. He’s playing lower shoulder on the last play. We go over the top with a high throw.”

Dodged a Bullet

T. J. Lang added to injury list

The Packer injury train keeps chugging along with three new players getting on boards. Right guard T. J. Lang went down on the last drive on the second quarter when he was rolled on a screen pass. Nose tackle B.J. Raji hurt his groin in the second quarter when his foot got caught in the grass and tried to play in the third quarter, but the pain was too much. These two injuries seem to be not serious and the coaching staff has to make the decision whether its worth the risk to play them against the Chargers with the bye week coming up.

The Definition of Madness

It seems that right tackle Bryan Bulaga is slated to return to the trenches this weekend against the Rams and while in normal circumstances I would rejoice I have reservations about his return at this time.

 

Bryan Bulaga continues to get back up after being knocked down

I've always gone by the credo of when you feel good wait a week before you return to normal activities when it comes to returning from sports injuries. Normally Coach Mike McCarthy has always be cautious about rushing players back on the field.

Post-Game Instant Analysis: The second pre-season game at the Steelers

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY

 

The Good:

The first string offense (minus David Bakhtiari at left tackle) looked very good taking the ball 80 yards in 10 plays on the opening drive of the game to a score. The good elements of the drive were not only good passing by Aaron Rodgers, but excellent running by Eddie Lacy, including a touchdown run from the seven. Then surprise, surprise James Starks converts the two-point conversion on the ground for only the second time since 2009.

The Bad:

Aaron Rodgers about to be sacked for a Safety

Don Barclay at left tackle was a disaster. He gave up a sack in the end zone for a safety and gave up another sack as well as many shaky runs in between with the first string. Barclay stayed in the game with the second string until there was 1:40 left in the third quarter and wasn't any better until his final series against the third stringers.

I DECIDED TO ACCEPT THE MISSION TO GO ON A FOOL'S ERRAND

You will find a 100 different mock drafts with this or that scenario leading to the 30th pick in the first round. When it comes to the other 31 teams, or maybe the other 30, since the Raiders seem to defy logic a lot of time, most of them are very logical and end up picking someone at a need position.

 

But in the case of the Packers it's a fool's errand to predict what General Manager Ted Thompson is going to do, so the art of predicting is a very imprecise. But I will try anyway because...I'm the smartest guy in the room and...whoops, you heard that. I didn't realize I was thinking out loud. Be that as it may let's continue.

 

First let's look back to see what Thompson has done over the past 10 drafts. He has the reputation (through his own words prior to each draft) of drafting the best athlete available (BAA) regardless of position, but does he deserve it? Let's see.

 

Ted Thompson in the War Room

 

2005: 1-24 (QB Aaron Rodgers) - Needs: guard, safety, defensive end, strong side linebacker and running back. However, Brett Favre was nearing the end and the only quarterbacks on the roster were future Hall of Famers (tongue deep in both cheeks) J. T. Sullivan and Craig Nall, so when Rodgers had dropped from No. 1 overall to be available at 24 a future replacement for Favre became the biggest need. NEED.