Clueless

 

2015 was most frustrating for the fans because General Manager Ted Thompson's philosophy left the Packers roster short in talent at certain positions and unable to adjust to injuries in others and Head Coach Mike McCarthy seemed detached from reality the entire season.
 

Thompson's penny-pinching ways (has anybody heard me say that before) came home to roost this season in spades. And who would have thought the Packer roster was dependent upon one player when Jordy Nelson went down in the preseason?
 

To his credit Thompson got James Jones when he fell into his lap during the final cuts. I thought at the time it was somewhat of a desperate move because he was cut twice despite leading the Raiders last year and the Giants in the preseason in receiving.
 

However, during the first 6 games he was as good as Nelson, but over the last 12 games he turned out to be what the Raiders and Giants thought he was - washed up. While he still could catch anything near him he couldn't get separation and for some odd reason that malady spread through the wide receiving corps like a rash, especially to Randall Cobb.
 

The injuries to right tackle Bryan Bulaga and left tackle David Bakhtiari highlighted a major flaw in Thompson's philosophy. He has always short-sheeted the offensive line when it came to backups. He has never signed or developed a true backup tackle, either right or left, except for Don Barclay.
 

Before his knee injury last season Barclay had taken over for Bulaga when he went down with a knee injury in 2013 and started the last 14 games. He did a good job. But this year he was a shadow of himself being unable to pass block on either side.
 

He was adequate at right tackle when Bulaga was out in weeks 3 and ,4, but absolutely horrible when he played left tackle in the first Cardinals game. He was so bad McCarthy moved Josh Sitton to left tackle the next week against the Vikings.
 

J.C. Tretter turned out to a good acquisition as a 4th round draft pick in 2013. He was supposed to be the replacement for Evan Dietrick-Smith, but suffered a knee injury opening the door for Corey Linsley last year.
 

This year Tretter proved to be a solid player at center when Linsley was hurt and did a decent job at left tackle when the Sitton experiment didn't pan out. A little aside to that was not that Sitton did a bad job it was more that Lane Taylor was not up to the task at left guard.
 

Most of the time Thompson's offensive line backups over the years and  especially this year with Barclay, Taylor and Josh Walker have been cheap undrafted free agents. In addition, the two offensive linemen on the practice squad are also undrafted free agents, guard Matt Rotheram and tackle Jeremy Vujonvich.
 

I have been a broken record about signing veteran offensive linemen as backups. Rodgers would have loved to have had an Ernie McMillian (1975), Tootie Robbins (1992-93) or Bruce Wilkerson (the starting left tackle after injuries on the 1996 Super Bowl team) this year when he was being beaten to pulp.
 

To be fair Thompson does hit the mark on some undrafted free agents on this roster like  cornerbacks Sam Shields and LaDarius Gunter, linebacker Jayrone Elliott and defensive tackle Mike Pennel, but putting the health of your All-Pro quarterback on the shoulders of people nobody wanted borders on criminal liability.
 

McCarthy's weekly proclamation that we know what's wrong and will fix it before the next game got tired. We found out he had no idea what was wrong and never fixed the offense after week 3. McCarthy acted as if he was overwhelmed by the situation. McCarthy was a liability not an asset this season.

Injuries, Defense and Bakhtiari

One thing is for sure after last night's 38-28 win over the Chiefs is that Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' offense is good, very good. The Chiefs have a very stout defense and, despite, being rushed Rodgers was unstoppable.

 

However, the victory was marred by three things. 1. Injuries. 2. Late defensive effort. 3. David Bakhtiari.

 

Injuries:

 

Eddie Lacy was able to play and finish on a sprained ankle, but I thought it would have been best if he rested this game and let James Starks and Alonzo Harris handle the rushing duties. That gamble paid off, but I still feel it was too much of a gamble to take at this time of the season.

 

Eddie Lacy made it through the game without further injury

Davante Adams lasted just one play and now may be out for an extended period of time after re-aggravating his high ankle sprain. I also thought playing him was a risk and in this case it didn't pay off.

 

Final Thoughts on Sherman and Crosby

I'm still loving it (sorry McDonald's) - the win over the Packers new BEF (Best Enemy Forever) - and before I move on the Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of observations.

It pays to target "The Mouth That Roars". The unwanted one - old man James Jones - beat Richard Sherman for the first touchdown of the game. Later on the disputed offside-flinch play Sherman was called for a 52-yard interference play setting up a Mason Crosby field goal.

Richard Sherman doing what he does so well

The previous two games against the Seahawks were highlighted by stroking Sherman's immense ego by totally ignoring him in the season opener last season and, for some odd reason, never throwing at him after he injured his arm in the playoff collapse.

Thoughtful Thoughts: Bears Game

The perks of beating the Bears being interviewed by Erin 'I Love My Ass' Andrews

 

Contrary to what Ask Vic (Vic Ketchman) from Packers.com says we can enjoy the win, but still realistic that we were lucky to win. So I think I will analyze the game, instead of putting on Vic's rosy glasses and ignore the Packers have serious problems trying to live up to being one of the two Super Bowl teams at the end of the season.

 

Offensively, the Packers scored on five of its seven drives that didn't end the half or the game against the Bears. There was one throw-back series when the Packers defense made its second of three stops on eight drives that left the offense at the two-yard line. The calls were safe, but except for the first play weren't designed to make a first down. Coach Mike McCarthy doesn't take chances, but with punter Tim Masthay and the rest of our un-specials teams not being an asset I would say punting from the end zone is taking a chance.

The Offense Has Been Anything But Offensive

While Dom Caper's defense has been iffy at best and the Mike McCarthy/Ron Zook special teams completely un-special the Tom Clements/Edgar Bennet offense have provided the only shinning moments in a somewhat dismal pre-season.

 

Which Aaron Rodgers will play? I don't know either

QUARTERBACKS: Like I said in an earlier post I can't really say how Aaron Rodgers is playing after playing just 18 minutes and 15 seconds in the first two pre-season games and sitting out the final two. He took 46 snaps (plus one 2-pt. conversion), throwing 24 passes (completing 15), one run (for 8 yards) and suffering 3 sacks (including one for a safety). He finished with a quarterback rating of 84.4 a good 21.6 points below his career average. He also suffered a bruise to his throwing arm on the safety three weeks ago.

Can the Packers Defense and Special Teams Turn It Around?

Well the clock is ticking as I write this Friday morning (2 DAYS, 3 HOURS, 41 MIN, 25 SEC) to the opening kickoff of the 2015 season. The memory of the Packers last game still haunts me and despite Brandon Bostick being 1,921,04 miles away on the Cardinals practice squad I have a lot of doubts about two of the three units.

Watch the return of Clueless at noon on Sunday

NO-DEFENSE: The last time the first-string defense played it was dismantled by four future Hall of Famers (tongue in cheek) Sam Bradford, Mark Sanchez, Matt Barkley and Tim Tebow (who isn't even in the league anymore).