Let the Games Begin

The start of the season is now upon us with the hated Seattle Seahawks coming to Lambeau Field for the doubleheader game on FOX on Sunday.

In the latest NFL Power Rankings on NFL.com the Seahawks are rated No. 1 and the Packers No. 4. I guess that is about right with the Seahawks ahead of the Packers, but I think the pickers aren’t thinking enough about the Packers defense being a liability and the Packers should be a bit lower.

One Last Thought

I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but Ty Montgomery has not been given a running back number. It was said that in order for him to play running back this season he had be given a number in the 20’s, 30’s or 40’s. However, he still has #88 and I wonder what that means.

New Teams for Old Packers

It took a while, but the career of former Packer Backer favorite (until he got beat for the winning TD in overtime of the 2014 “Great Collapse”) isn’t over after Tramon Williams signed a 1-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals.

FAKE NEWS - Packers Edition

            “There certainly are some indications that the Packers might be a little more aggressive in free agency this year,” Ian Rapoport said on NFL Network. “From what I am told, I would think the Packers are going to try to get some free agents this year, along with trying to re-sign Jared Cook.”

            If anyone, and I mean anyone, including the "Tedders" and "Ask Vic", who drink so much Ted Thompson Kool-Aid their tongues are a permanent purple (think about that Tedders as you wear your green and gold proudly, but underneath it all you are, yuk, purple as you pledge your allegiance to a man blindly like shorn sheep) think The Ted is going to change his stripes now you are sadly mistaken.

"Hail Rodgers"

I took last week off because I was busy at work and I really didn't know what to think about the Packers after dismantling the Lions in the 6h must-win in as many weeks. I felt the Lions were only downslide even though the Packers had failed to win the same game last year at Lambeau Field against the Vikings with the North title on the line.

That failure stuck in my mind heading into the game against the Giants as did the other two times Eli Manning faced the Packers at Lambeau in the playoffs and beat Brett Favre the first time and Aaron Rodgers the second.

However, this is a different Packers team facing an older and not better Eli with Aaron Rodgers at the top of his game and the Aaron Rodgers who was mired in a slump when he faced the Vikings last year.

I Don't Know What To Think

Today General Manager Ted Thompson put Eddie Lacy on injured reserve with his ankle injury and brought up rookie Don Jackson. Two days ago All-World quarterback Aaron Rodgers drinking scotch in order to straighten out his slump that has extended to 17 games dating back to the bye week of last season and ignoring the 2016 preseason because he only played 16 snaps in the four games.

 

Tonight the Packers (3-2) play the absolutely terrible Bears (1-5) at Lambeau Field to wind up a 4-game homestand. The Bears are led by Brian Hoyer, who will face LaDarius Gunter, who has been beaten badly lately, and Demetri Goodson, who was just activated for the first time this season last week, as the starting cornerbacks with Sam Shields (IR), Damarious Randall (groin) and Quinten Rollins (groin) out with injuries.

 

With Rodgers not taking his slump and the Packers' offensive slump seriously and with no experienced running backs on the roster with Chiefs 4th-string Knile Davis the new starting running back and Jackson his backup I don't know what to think about tonight's game.

 

Running Game Grounded And Other Cluster...ks

The Packers running game was down to one semi-healthy back Eddie Lacy, a two-year fullback Aaron Ripkowski with two career professional carries ( 2-17-0TD) and a two-year wide receiver Ty Montgomery with five career professional carries (5-15-0TD) coming into the Cowboys game.

 

Against the Boys the wounded Lacy carried 17 times for 65 yards, Ripkowski carried 1 time for no yards and Montgomery 3 times for 6 yards. Lacy should have sat out the game with an ankle injury, but since General Manager Ted Thompson did absolutely nothing to bolster the running back position he had to play and it backfired big time with Lacy joining James Starks on the inactive list for several weeks after hurting that ankle more.

 

It was learned this week that Starks had knee surgery last week and we were NOT told and will miss at least 4 weeks. It was also learned that Lacy had more than a sprained ankle and should not have played against the Cowboys and he is now seeking a second opinion and could miss an extended period of time.

 

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.

Almost Perfect

The game against the Raiders at Lambeau Field was almost a perfect outing. If you take away a play here or there and the injury to second string quarterback Brett Hundley the Packers played well both offensively and defensively.

 

First and utmost Brett Hundley is the real deal. When he gets healthy, if he does, (remember Ty Montgomery had an ankle injury and never recovered after the second hurting), will demand a pretty penny next year when Thompson trades him. He has to. Unless Hundley is going to push Aaron Rodgers out as the starter like Rodgers did it wouldn't be fair to have him sit. Favre was closer to retirement (hahahaha) than Rodgers is.

The Talking Heads Kept Talking About The Packers

It seems after the first week of the exhibition season out of 868 rushing attempts in 16 games by over a hundred rushers 4 were the most talked on NFL.com and ProFootballTalk. Get that just .005% of those carries got everybody talking and if you haven't figured it out yet it was the first four rushes of a game on Friday. Was that enough of a hint to identify what player got everybody's tongues a wagging?

Offense Wasn't Bad in First Game

The Packers opened the season with a 17-11 win over the Super Bowl contending Cleveland Browns and many will say it was a good start for many reasons.

 

I will agree in this respect. It is surely (and don't call me Shirley) better to win than lose, but there were several disturbing trends, which don't bode well for the upcoming season.

 

First, I didn't like Aaron Rodgers sitting this one out. The Packer offense was dysfunctional last year and Rodgers had a terrible season by his high standards. Everyone on the offense needs to play every game and Rodgers was the only offensive starter that wasn't injured that didn't play.

 

Deja Vu Every Year

There are some certainties in the world you can depend upon. Death (I'll vouch for that one), Taxes (I'll vouch for that one, too) and Packer injuries (Hell, I will write about that one). Heading into Sunday's Hall of Game against the Colts the best laid plans of mice and Mike McCarthy have been derailed by flurry of second week injuries.

 

The first thing that came out of the Bill Belichick Injury Report this week was the declaration by the Trust in Ted press corps that "There’s no sign that the latest training-camp injuries are serious." Now how in the HELL can they say that with any certainty?

 

The L-Files

The Mini-Camp Picture That Started It All

Coach Mike McCarthy's first proclamation after he and Larry Fitzgerald single-handily ended the Packers season was Eddie Lacy was fat and that won't be tolerated next season. McCarthy added he needs to lose 30 pounds before the OTA's.

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.

Two Areas of Concern Heading Into The Playoffs

'Mr. Rodgers'

Besides Aaron Rodgers looking more like Mr. Rogers and Eddie Lacy like Eddie "The Eagle" the most disappointing areas of the 2015 Packers offense are the offensive line and the wide receivers.

A Tale of Two Players

The Season of Our Discontent

This season of our discontent can best be reflected by the play of two key players on the offense, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and running back Eddie Lacy.

Aaron Rodgers Confident in the Pocket Against the Seahawks

Something is wrong with Rodgers and it's not Olivia Munn or a shoulder injury. Mentally he is screwed up. He was candid about being scared at the end of the Panther game explaining why he missed seeing a wide open Randall Cobb in the endzone (that may have been the last time Cobb was open this season).

Back to the Future for the Packer Offense

Back to the Future-Mike McCarthy Calling the Plays

For whatever reason Head Coach Mike McCarthy taking back the play calling duties regenerized the lethargic Packers offense to its second best performance of the season with only 448 total yards gained against the Chiefs in week three topping it.

 

From what I saw there was four things going on that brought about this offensive explosion. First, the Packers were facing a Cowboys defense that has trouble stopping the run giving up an average of 104.6 yards a game coming in. I only mention this because it is true. Beyond the cold hard statistics the Packers this season haven't been known to take advantage of weaknesses and Sunday they did.

Which Packer Team Will Show Up?

The win over the Detroit Lions in the Miracle in Motown proved just one thing. You never know which Packers team will show up. Will it be the team that played the first 30 minutes of the Lions game or will it be the team that played the second 30 minutes.

 

The 2015 Packers are definitely a flawed team. The offense, of all things, is the problem right now. The line is beat up and even when it was healthy, or relatively healthy, it wasn't opening holes after the first three games. Eddie Lacy is up-and-down. The receivers don't get open and when they do they drop the pass. Aaron Rodgers has not been himself since the first three games missing and overthrowing open receivers when they do get free.

 

Rodgers Has To Be Healthy

Rocky Mountain High

Can't Catch a Break

Ted Thompson must have pissed off the big man (and I don't mean Bill Belichick) because every time one of Thompson's famous "next man ups" steps forward he get hurt.

James Starks comes up lame

After Eddie Lacy forgot how to run James Starks stepped into the breach two weeks ago and gained 112 yards against the Chargers. He comes back from the bye week off and suddenly he has a hip injury. He is listed as questionable.

Damarious Randall makes the play of the year to save the Chargers game and he suddenly comes up with an ankle injury and is listed as questionable.