GET OFF YOUR ASS, TT

The NFL Trading Deadline is today at 3 p.m. Packers time and there is one casualty of the other 31 teams trying to help themselves (while Packers General Manager Ted Thompson has spent the last 4 days holed up in his ivory tower office with his “finger up his ass” (a phrase my father used) in solid belief his “Do Nothing” way is the only way to lead the Packers to the Super Bowl) that the Packers could use to save their season while they wait for the indispensible man to return from injury.

The New England Patriots traded backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the San Francisco 49ers for a 2018 2nd round draft pick. As a result of the trade veteran quarterback Brian Hoyer was released. I feel he is perfect for the Packers for many reasons even Ted “Beavis” Thompson and Mike “Butt-Head” McCarthy could agree with.

Post-Game Analysis: The Defense - Backfield in Motion

The play of the secondary has been much better than I would have guessed, but in a different way. With the loss of Tramon Williams and Davon House to free agency there is a big hole to fill on the left side at cornerback and it seems it just might have been filled, but not by the person everyone would have thought, except for me, of course.

On the Island:

The game started with Casey Hayward manning Williams' spot and Sam Shields on the right side. Neither had any stats, but did a decent job of keeping Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo in check holding them to 2-of-4 with one long pass by Garoppolo for 16 on the left side.

Quinten Rollins

2015 #2 (62) draft pick Quinten Rollins took over for Hayward and undrafted free agent rookie LaDarius Gunter replaced Shields. These two have been the talk of the camp leading up to the game and Rollins has been the talk of the town afterwards.

Post-Game Analysis: The Big Picture

My first impression of the Packers-Patriots pre-season game was same old, same old. A big deal was made of Coach Mike McCarthy not calling the offensive plays and it was evident because for the first time since he became head coach we got to see his face during a game instead of just his eyes and the hat as he hid behind the play sheet to make sure no one could read his lips as he called the plays.

 

Mike McCarthy and his Beard

I never understood why he was so worried about it because without reading his lips I predicted almost every play he called in the second halves of game for the past five or six years, at least. It was no mystery to anyone with half a brain (Rush Limbaugh) that the Packer offense would go into slumber mode and would be punting more often than make first downs and adding to their advantage.

 

It seems McCarthy got used to having his lower face covered and decided to grow a beard to obscure his mouth. Maybe the refs won't notice and ignore him when he calls for a replay. Oops, I forgot. He asked for a replay and won on a first-down or fourth-down issue. Let's hope that doesn't fall back to the same old, some old, and he wins more than he loses or throws the red flag on the strangest of calls.

 

However, I regress on an old, but satisfying rant, so let's get back to Tom Clements and his inaugural play calling duties. The first drive was a great example of the acorn not falling far from the tree. Like has been the situation over the past two seasons the Packer offense bogs down in the red zone. My thoughts on the problem has been the lack of a play-making tight end is, at least, part of the problem, but the major problem being uninspired play calling.

 

Brett Favre had Mark Chmura and Bubba Franks as prime end zone targets and Aaron Rodgers had the much maligned Jermichael Finley, but Andrew Quarless and Richard Rodgers are no Chmura, Franks and Finley (to steal a phrase from former Vice Presidential candidate Lloyd Bentsen). Quarless and Rodgers haven't progressed as much as I would like him to.