Whatever Happened to No. 26 Ty Montgomery?

"Not Me"

This week Ty Montgomery was placed on injured reserve for a wrist injury and not the broken ribs he had been suffering from ending the season for the former No. 3 draft pick. He began the season as the No. 1 running back after being an emergency replacement for Eddie Lacy and James Starks when General Manager Ted Thompson left the position unprepared for injuries. Does that sound familiar? But I digress with a very old and very repetitive complaint of mine.

After last season it was assumed that Montgomery was going to have to change his number since he finished the season as a running back and it was announced almost immediately he was going to be the starting running back this season because of NFL rule 5, Section 3, Article 3c which states running backs must wear numerals between 20 and 49 while wide receivers and tight ends must wear between 80 and 89 and 10 to 19.

Then on January 26th in his year end press conference Head Coach Mike McCarthy said this, "He's a running back. He wants to change his number." By saying that he stated directly that it was a decision by Montgomery and had nothing to do with the NFL rule. I wonder why he thought he needed to say that? Later it was revealed his new number would be 26.

No Respect, No Respect

Aaron Jones, remember that name, he might be a trivia question one day. He is the modern day version of the great standup comedian Rodney Dangerfield and the second coming of Jeff Janis because he doesn’t get any respect from Head Coach Mike McCarthy, Offensive Coordinator Edger Bennett (yes, he is the OC) and Running Back Coach Ben Sirmans.

Despite being voted the NFL “Offensive Rookie of the Week” after rushing for a season-high 125 yards on 19 carries for an average of 6.6 yards a carry and scoring a touchdown while also catching one pass for 9 yards, the Packers seems to be pushing Ty Montgomery back from 5 broken ribs just 17 days ago to return this week and reclaim his starting job against the Vikings.

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.

Geronimooooooooooooooo!!!!! And Other Stuff

The incredible finish to Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals had me up on my feet yelling, “he’s got it, he’s got it, he’s got it" when Geronimo Allison caught that ball against the left sideline. It reminded me of Brett Favre’s 82-yard TD to Greg Jennings to beat the Broncos on Monday Night Football in 2007. I was at “The Cellar” that night also like I was yesterday because it seems where I live was the only place in the USA that didn’t have the game as the doubleheader game.

G-Mo, as Aaron Rodgers calls him, was the hero. He was suspended for the first game for performance enhancing drugs. He dropped a pass in the fourth quarter, but when Jordy Nelson and Davante Adams and Martellus Bennett were being covered Geronimo Allison stepped up big time catching 6 of 8 balls thrown his way for 122 yards.

The Offense Was Another Matter

The offense was “terrible” according to Aaron Rodgers in the first half last week and the second half “got a little bit going”. I agree with that for the most part.

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.

"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.

It All Comes Down To Character

The 2016 NFL regular season ends Sunday January 1, 2017 with a battle between the Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions, two of the oldest NFL franchises, with the NFC North Division title on the line and possibly a playoff berth also on the line on Sunday Night Football.

The scenario is this. If the Packers win or tie the Packers win the North and hosts the New York Giants next week on Wildcard Weekend. If the Packers lose at Ford Field the Packers end up with a 9-7 record and would need help of the Giants to make the playoffs.

The Giants play the Washington Redskins on the road at 3:25 p.m. and that game has major implications. If the Giants win both the Packers and the Lions make the playoffs with only the seed yet to be determined.

Second Verse Same As The First

Second verse....well maybe fourth verse is more like it...same as the first after the Packers eked out a 30-27 win over da' Bears thanks to Aaron Rodgers and Jordy Nelson and, for that matter, Mason Crosby to keep the Packers not only in playoff contention with their 4th straight win, but also Masters Of Their Own Fate.

After the Washington Redskins lost to the Panthers Monday night the Packers are NOW the sixth and last playoff team ahead of the Bucs, Redskins and the Vikings and just 1 game behind the Lions in the race for the 4th seed and the North title.

This week the Packers (8-6) host the Vikings (7-7), who beat them 17-14 in week 2 while the Lions (9-5) play at the Cowboys (12-2), the Bucs (8-6) host the Saints (6-8) and the Redskins (7-6-1) are at da' Bears (3-11).

The Giants (10-4) are the top wild card leaving the Packers with only the North title and 4th seed to win or the 6th seed to hang onto left to them.

Hoping on a Ghost

After I found the offensive line free agents not worth a look I will turn to the skill (sorry linemen, but that is what they call them) positions to see if an upgrade is out there.

The Real Ghost Jordy Nelson

Wide Receivers: Not a single starter had a good season, including the Ghost of Seasons Past Jordy Nelson.

With Nelson missing the entire season Randall Cobb was the leading receiver (79-829-6TD), but he averaged only 10.3 yards a catch. James Jones was a season saver averaging 17.8 yards a catch with 8 TDs (50-890), but he hit the wall and unless he is signed to a veteran's minimum he shouldn't be asked back.

Focussed Thoughts From a Random Mind

The Packers were in Beast Mode on MNF

I got up Wednesday morning starving to death (still suffering from the after effects of food poisoning) and wanting to avoid making my picks for this week's prep football games for my newspaper, because I have dropped four back of the new leader after making a terrible mistake in last week's picks during my first day of food poisoning picking a team that had no hope of winning, so I was so bummed that I didn't even open Saturday's paper to see the scores.

 

But life goes on and today is the deadline for the picks, so I made a cup of coffee (which hasn't slaked my hunger) and made my picks and without thinking about it too much (which I do most of the time) put them in stone (clicked) and sent them off.

 

Quick Takes From Chi-Town

The quickest take from the win over the Bears was same old, same old. Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions and Jay Cutler threw an interception at a crucial time. Result: Packers 31, Bears 16, oops I mean 23 (more on that later).

 

The next quickest take is the win snapped a three-game opening game losing streak. If you've been reading I was worried about this game and being down 13-10 at the half didn't give me much confidence.

 

Now for some slower takes. Rodgers and the offense was rusty. Rodgers and the offensive line hadn't played together since the second pre-season game. I don't care what you pampered, over-paid prima donnas say pre-season games do mean something. Football is the ultimate team sport that depends on 11 men (so far) playing in rhythm to be successful. One game (as our Mr. Rodgers wants) is not enough to develop that rhythm and today's game proved that in spades. The second half was when Mr. Rodgers' Neighborhood started to click.

James Jones finds the endzone not once but twice

Speaking of rusty James Jones wasn't. The old rapport with Rodgers was there and it resulted in the first two of what I hope is many touchdowns. He caught all four balls thrown his way (two with spectacular catches) for 51 yards with a long of 34.

Post-Game Analysis: Special Report

Mason Crosby watches his successful field goal attempt

Special teams weren't so special against the Patriots although place kicker Mason Crosby did well. He made his only field goal attempt and his only 33-yard extra point. All of his kickoffs were short and returnable and I was worried. However, in the post-game interview Coach Mike McCarthy said he told Crosby to kick them short so they could work on kickoff coverage. So I give Crosby an A+.

 

I was going to talk about punter Tim Masthay next, but let's jump on the kickoff coverage. All five were returned for an average of 24.6 average with a long return of 35. His first one was returned 31 yards to the 26 and his next two were stopped at the 17 and the 13. The second half kickoff was returned 35 yards to the 37. His fifth on was returned 24 yards to the 27 and his last I give the kickoff coverage team a C+.

 

Now I'll get to Masthay. He punted three times for an average of 34.0 with two inside the 20. Throw the average out since he was punting near the 50. His first was from the Green Bay 47 and was downed at the 18. His next was from the Patriot 47 and was downed at the 15. His last was from the Green Bay 13 and it was downed at the Patriot 37. There were two fair catches and one went out of bonds. I give Masthay a A-. As far as punt return coverage I give an incomplete for no action.

MOCKINGJAY DRAFT

Everyone and their brother had mock drafts leading up to the big event, so I decided to do something a little different and conduct what I will call my Mockingjay Draft if I was general manager instead of Ted Thompson.

 

One caveat is once I change a pick everything after that changes - but, of course, all you Trekkers know about the ripple effect in the time line of changing something in the past, so we'll just forget that aspect of it - and I will chose from the remaining undrafted guys in each round if I change the pick.

 

Round 1-30: Thursday night I said I would have drafted defensive tackle Malcom Brown from Texas instead of free safety Damarious Randall. But upon further reflection I would take Clemson ILB Stephone Anthony, who went to the Saints with the next pick. Either pick would have been better than Randall, but I will go with need at that point.

 

Stephone Anthony

Mike Mayock said: "Anthony is a big inside linebacker; a prototype. I think his best football is ahead of him. He'll be a starting inside linebacker immediately. He blew it up at the combine. For a guy that big, he's highly athletic."

SECOND VERSE SAME AS THE FIRST

With only one returning player at inside linebacker and two defections to replace at cornerback General Manager Ted Thompson went heavy at safety with his first two draft picks.

 

After taking the top ranked safety Damarious Randall from Arizona State at No. 30 in the first round Thompson took another sip from the safety well by snagging fourth ranked Quinten Rollins from Miami of Ohio with the 62nd pick in the second round with the plan being to move both to cornerback.

 

Quentin Rollins

Both are similar in stature (5-11, 195) and in the NFL.com rankings Rollins was actually ranked six spots higher on the overall rankings list.

 

Rollins is an interesting prospect. He is almost a carbon copy of last year's No. 6 round draft pick cornerback Demetri Goodson from Baylor. Rollins has only one year of college football experience while Goodson had two after both started their collegiate careers as basketball players.

 

If everything goes to form Rollins might not see any action at corner like Goodson did last year. In fact, with both Randall and Rollins moving from safety to cornerback neither of Thompson's top two picks could have any impact at all next season.