What Have We Learned After the First Two Games

1. Aaron Rodgers is the Packers MVP.

2. Aaron Rodgers is one tough son of a bitch.

3. If Aaron Rodgers goes down for good the Packers don’t have a second string quarterback for the second straight season. TT/BG should have signed a veteran quarterback after what happened last year.

4. If Aaron Rodgers goes down the Packers won’t win another game.

5. Mike McCarthy’s offensve scheme makes it harder to be Aaron Rodgers.

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.

The Cuts Are In (At Least Mine Are)

Here’s my prediction for the roster cutdown (just to show how good I am I’m also a picker (not like Mike and Frank of American Pickers) for the paper I work for on the high school games in our region and I went 13-6 last week leaving me tied for second to last out of eight pickers), so give my picks the grain of salt they deserve since I have found the Packers management doesn’t listen to me.

Position Evaluation: Linebackers

The linebackers for the Packers are average at best. Former All-World Pass Rusher Clay Matthews is a shadow of his former self and in my opinion should be cut. He is entering the final year of a 5-year, $66,000,000 contract. He began his career with 50 sacks in his first 5 seasons earning Pro Bowl berths in his first four seasons, but missing his fifth when he fell to 7.5 sacks playing with a broken thumb.

The 1st year after the signing of the contract, which was justified at the time, Matthews spend half the season at outside linebacker and the last half at inside linebacker and rebounded with 11 sacks returning to the Pro Bowl.

In his 1st 6 seasons Matthews had 61 sacks, but the last 3 seasons have been below par. In 2015 he was named to the Pro Bowl, but that was on reputation alone because he only had 6.5 sacks. In 2016 he appeared in just 12 games with 9 starts because of hamstring and a more serious shoulder injury finishing with 5 sacks. Last season he was a situational player with 7.5 sacks sitting out half the downs and key moments in the game when he would normally be playing.

Watching him play last season was pitiful. He no longer had his burst to the quarterback and routinely missed the quarterback when he got there. It’s time to move on.

13 Steps Forward, 5 Steps Back And John Fox

The win over da Bears proved 2 things the Packers are better than da Bears and Mike McCarthy is better than John Fox. Beyond that everything else that came out of the game is pure speculation.

The Packers offense, despite the offensive line shuffling once again, and the loss of Ty Montgomery, Jamaal Williams and Davante Adams, continued to produce. Aaron Rodgers was great with 4 touchdown passes and no interceptions, despite having his 300-yard game streak broken, and the game plan allowed him to be sacked only twice.

Take Heed You Ted Thompson Supporters

The Packers predictably laid an egg before a national audience Sunday night against the Atlanta Falcons giving the general population a good look at the Green Bay Packers roster that the local kiss ass media doesn’t seem to see.

After the win over the punchless Seahawks the Packers jumped from No. 3 in the NFL Power Rankings to No. 1 (a spot I thought was a bit inflated because I felt the Seahawks weren’t that formidable of an opponent to justify a No. 1 ranking).

The Key to the Atlanta Falcons Game

The Packers will open the new Mercedes-Benz Stadiurm Sunday with a lot on the line for the second week of the season. The key to this game is the Packers defense and not whether Aaron Rodgers and the Packers offense can play a full game in sync.

I expect the Packers offense to play well, if David Bakhtiari plays. If he doesn’t and Adam Pankey has to start or Lane Taylor shifts over and Lucas Patrick starts at left guard or something else because General Manager Ted Thompson has left the Packers without a viable backup at left tackle then Rodgers and the offense will be in trouble.

However, that stupid injury on a celebration is not the real issue this week. The Falcons have a high powered offense with a decent offensive line and a bonafided star in Julio Jones unlike the Seahawks who had a wreck of an offensive line that Packers front seven dominated.

My Thoughts on the final 53 plus 10

Breaking down the 2017 Green Bay Packers the best I can say is the Packers will not contend for a Super Bowl for the seventh straight year.

The Packers have two legitimate All-Pros in quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Jordy Nelson. They three more possible Pro Bowlers in left tackle David Bakhtiari, tight end Martellus Bennet and free safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with maybe defensive lineman Mike Daniels (in Dom Capers’ two-man line there is not much for a lineman to do that take up space).

I Must Have Been Watching a Different Game

The win over the Philadelphia Eagles was nice and some of the young guys played well as did a few of the older bubble players, but putting aside the glowing reports from the “Kiss Ass” local media and the “Homer” TV and radio network casters I saw some troubling things to worry about.

First and foremost shoddy tackling by the starters. Clay Matthews missing a sack he used to make in his sleep that led to a long TD completion was very troubling. The Claymaker hasn’t been the Claymaker for several seasons and that play makes me feel queasy.

Next Man Up Once Again

The hallmark of the 2016-17 Green Bay Packers has been next man up all season. On defense the cornerback and inside linebacker positions has been hit very hard with injuries and on offense it has been running back and wide receiver. And once again injuries have raised its ugly head with the loss of Jordy Nelson for the Cowboys game for sure and the season possibly.

The loss of Nelson could hurt more than the loss of Randall Cobb for the last 2 games of the regular season did. When Cobb went down with an ankle injury undrafted rookie free agent Geronimo Allison stepped in and did a great job with 4 catches out of 7 thrown for 66 yards against the Vikings and 4 catches out of 6 thrown for 91 yards and a TD against the Lions.

Last week against the Giants despite Nelson going down early Allison was only thrown the ball twice catching 1 for 8 yards. It didn't seem to matter that Nelson was on the sidelines last week with Davante Adams and Randall Cobb not missing a beat catching 13 of 19 passes for 241 yards and 4 TDs.

In addition tight end Jared Cook continued to be productive catching 5 of 9 passes for 48 yards and running back Ty Montgomery doing good work out of the backfield catching 3 of 4 for 41 yards.

The key to last week was the inability of the defense to plan for Nelson being out and that won't be the case this week for the Cowboys. Last year with Nelson out the entire season Adams wasn't up to the task of being the No. 1 receiver after he had begun to show signs at the end of the 2014 season as being a legitimate go-to man.

The Current State of the Packers

The Packers have hit their rightful level I'm afraid. They have lost 3 in a row and 4 of their last five to fall under .500 (4-5) for the first time this late in the season since 2008.

 

While the offense hasn't been up to the lofty standards of the Aaron Rodgers era it has seemed to found some sort of productiveness averaging 27.25 point a game over the last 4 games after averaging 22.8 the first 5 games.

 

The ironic part of the offensive explosion is the Packers only score major points in 1 of the 4 quarters during a game - the 2nd quarter - where the Packers have scored 80 points compared to 60 in the 4th, 58 in the 1st and a measly 25 in 3rd quarter.

 

Bye Week: What They're Saying?

This week NFL.com has a list of the Top 10 Deep Threats, so let's take a look at where our favorite buzz cut Packer landed. 1. A.J. Green, (Bengals); 2. DeSean Jackson, (Redskins); 3. Odell Beckham, Jr. (Giants); 4. Allen Robinson (Jaguars); 5. Julio Jones (Falcons); 6. Antonio Brown (Steelers); 7. Alshon Jeffery (Bears); 8. Emmanuel Sanders (Broncos); 9. Amari Cooper (Raiders); 10. Will Fuller (Texans).

Week 2 - Musings And Predictions

It looks like starting cornerback Sam Shields will not be playing because of a concussion. Outside linebacker Jayrone Elliott (hamstring), cornerback Josh Hawkins (hamstring) and safety Chris Banjo (hamstring) did not participate in practice and may be inactive on Sunday night. The other two on the injury list wide receivers Trevor Davis (shoulder) and Jeff Janis (broken hand) were full participants.

 

The Vikings will be without starting defensive tackle Shariff Floyd (knee) and may be without starting right cornerback Xavier Rhodes (knee) and starting left tackle Matt Kalil (hip). Last week's hero inside linebacker Eric Kendricks has an ankle injury, but he was a full participant as was running back Adrian Peterson (ankle). Former Packer wide receiver Charles Johnson has a quad injury, but he was also a full participant.

 

With that out of the way now down to tacks. Even though Shaun Hill did a decent job at quarterback in the win over the Titans No. 1 draft pick Sam Bradford will start this week. The key to him or anyone is getting a rush on him, so if the pass rush is there the Packers should keep the game a low scoring affair.

They Blinked

It's a good thing the word about the NFL's PED investigation didn't come from Packers General Manager Ted Thompson because after listening to him talk and reading and rereading and reading again his statement we still wouldn't know what he said, but the word did come down before the Packers hosted the Raiders and three of the "Al Jazeera 4" blinked.

Who Blinks First?

Clay Matthews and Julius Peppers and the rest of the "Al Jazeera 4" as they are now known have been given an ultimatum by the NFL to either summit to an interview or face an indefinite suspension until they sit down and discuss whether they are guilty of taking performance enhancing drugs or PEDs as they are known.

 

 Side note: For those of you who live in Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis the name refers back to 1968 and the "Chicago 7", who were peace activists who were put on trial for inciting a riot during the Democratic Convention.

 

In a Donald J. Trump world and working in Wisconsin for that matter it's bad enough to be lumped in with Islamic terrorists or terrorist-sympathizing scum with the name Al Jazeera attached permanently to your picture. The only thing worse would be if your middle name is Hussein.

Potpourri

The Perry Plan

 

This is Nick Perry's Moment and Last Chance

There seems to be method to the madness of General Manager Ted Thompson re-signing former No. 1 pick Nick Perry, when a lot of people, including me, thought it was time to let the often injured and unpotentialized linebacker go, but Thompson evidently had other plans.

 

FROM THE SUBLIME TO THE RIDICULOUS, PART QUINCE

(click on your computer's SAP app to find out which PART this is)

SUBLIME

This Old Dog Beat The Young Pup

Super Bowl 50 featured "Superman", who all the pundits were calling the best quarterback in the game today - see what happens Aaron Rodgers when you give up that mantle - and "The Sheriff", who was called the worst quarterback to start a Super Bowl by FoxSports - who we know is the bastion of truth, justice and the American Way.

When the dust settled Peyton "The Sheriff" Manning was standing on the podium with the Lombardi Trophy while Cam "Superman" Newton was doing his best Marshawn Lynch and Bill Belichick impressions answering - and I say that while laughing out loud - questions before abruptly getting up and ending the post-game interviews in mid-question showing the real Cam Newton and not the fake modest Cam Newton who answered question after question after question even though it did get tedious and he said so during the week before the game.

Mojo is Back

The Smiles and Mojo Were Back

I didn't get a chance to see the Packers win over Washington until Monday because I was covering a women's college basketball game and didn't get over to the game until the score was 32-18 in the fourth quarter.

Aaron Rodgers addressed what had happened and who am I to say anything different, “This is huge for us, it really is. I talked a lot the last couple of weeks about being able to turn it on. A lot of you probably thought that this was lip service. But we just needed a game like this to get our mojo back. We got our confidence going. I said this week, it just takes one — one performance to get us going back in the right direction and believing we can make a run.”

Offensive mojo has been lacking since Week 3 of the season and team mojo has been lacking since coming back from the Bye Week. I finally watched the entire game and it seemed to me several things were going on.

Please Say It Isn't So

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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.