Spot On Greg Jennings

I never thought I would agree with anything former Packer Greg Jennings has spouted off since leaving the Packers after the 2012 season. But hell has evidently frozen over (but not in Southern Illinois where we are going through a heat wave) because he has agreed with me on a topic (I guess its true a broken clock is right twice a day, so I will wait for the second time he agrees with me) and I will always give credit where credit is due.

Freaking Out

Jordy Nelson "tweeked" his other knee and everyone is laughing it off except me. The national press and the local press breathed a sign of relief when Nelson announced that"It's not the ACL. No one needs to freak out."

Bits and Pieces

EX-Packers:

 

The firing of former Packer Offensive Coordinator Joe Philbin has brought a renaissance to the Dolphins offense turning a 1-3 start to a two-game winning streak under the interim coach. However, the Renaissance turned into the Dark Ages after the thumping by the Patriots on Thursday night.

 

However, the new found offensive excellence hasn't trickled down to former Packers' No. 1 receiver Greg Jennings. Under Philbin the 10-year veteran had caught 7 passes 54 yards (7.7 average) with no touchdowns. Since then he caught 1 pass for 13 yards in the first game - a 38-10 win over the Titans - and then doubled that production to 2 catches for 37 yards (23 long) in the 44-26 win over the hapless Texans. Against the Patriots Jennings was shutout.

 

Greg Jennings tries to tell Ryan Tannehill he's still on the team

He still hasn't caught his first touchdown pass of the season and his per catch average is the second lowest in his career at 10.4. His lowest came in 2012 - his last as a Packer - when he was injured and averaged 10.2 yards a catch. He missed the second game and games 5 through 12 and started only 5 of the other 8 games.

The Time to Retool Your Roster is Now

Let the Lady Packerbackers make the call-Steve Weatherford
 instead of Tim Masthay?

The final cuts were not unexpected although I missed on four (running back Rajion Neal was cut instead of Alonzo Harris; defensive end Christian Ringo instead of defensive tackle Bruce Gaston; inside linebacker Carl Bradford instead of outside linebacker Nick Perry and safety Jean Fanor instead of Chris Banjo).

 

Now let's look at the best free agents now available and who Packers General Manager Ted Thompson might be interested in or should be interested in. The Giants cut punter Steve Weatherford in a cost-cutting move and I think he should be signed immediately before someone else gets him.

 

Tim Masthay is in his second year of struggles and Weatherford's stats last year were better than Masthay's. You just can't have an erratic punter or place kicker. Being patient with Mason Crosby when he lost it three years ago worked, but it hurt in between. Masthay lost it the second half of last season and is still in his "slump". A good punter is now available and I vote for signing him.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF GREG JENNINGS

Former Packers No. 1 receiver Greg Jennings is currently hitting the road trying to find a new team after the hated Minnesota Vikings (who take pride in signing Packer castoffs) cut him loose after just two years of a five-year $47.5 million contract he signed when the Packers elected to let him go after seven mostly stellar seasons.

Jennings is making the best of being rejected for the second time in three years and being fired does do something to your psyche as you search for reasons for being unwanted or worst gotten rid of. You go one of two ways. You could sink to the depths of despair and hide yourself in your room either drinking or drugging yourself to get rid of the pain or worse. Or you could lash out at the cretins you dumped you from being stupid (I know that's what cretin means, but it bears to be repeated) and not seeing how great you still are. Greg Jennings chose the latter when he left the Packers, but curiously he didn't when the Vikings dumped him for a faster, more firm young thing. I wonder why.

I was a big Greg Jennings fan. I thought he was great from the slot and looked forward to his 75-yard touchdown catches on his patented slant. However, his final season with the Packers that play never happened even before he was sidelined with various injuries. He seemed to have lost a step, but for whatever the reason he wasn't the dominate player he had been from 2007 to 2011 when he overtook Donald Driver as the No. 1 receiver.



Jennings on top

 His fall from dominance started at the end of 2011 when he suffered a knee injury and missed the final three games of the regular season. That was also the season that Jordy Nelson emerged as the go-to receiver for Aaron Rodgers. Jennings then began the 2012 season on the injured list with a groin injury that knocks him out of the games five through eight and then develops an abdomen injury that knocks him out of game nine followed by a hernia that kept out of game 11.