You Might Have Missed It, But the Off-Season Began 2 Weeks Ago

February 8 the NFL off-season officially began when players could be placed on waivers. The next day the teams began to sign players whose 2015 contracts have expired, but being Packer Backers this is the time of year we all take a Packers theme cruise with Ted Thompson until April.

However, this year before we all disembarked there actually was a transaction and when I say a transaction I mean it literally.



Ryan Williams When He Was a Miami Hurricane

Despite signing QB Ryan Williams on Jan. 1 and nine of the 11 practice squad players (LB Carl Bradford, DT William Campbell, TE Mitchell Henry, WR Jamel Johnson, DT Christian Ringo, OL Matt Rotheram, T Jeremy Vujnovich, WR Ed Williams, DE B.J. McBryde) on Jan. 18 to reserve/futures contracts Ted Thompson re-signed DT Letroy Guion to a 3-year contract worth $11.25 million on Feb. 12.

Scapegoating and Rearranging Chairs

McCarthy Making It Clear As Mother's Milk or Did He

The Packers are run by notable recluse Ted Thompson, so the off-season has a different meaning for Packer Backers than it has for the other 31 fan bases. You have to make up your own stories most of the time because personnel moves are few and far between, so when actual news is made out of the black hole that is the Packers front office you need to jump on it.

One of the things that has happened besides Aaron Rodgers and T.J. Lang having minor surgery and Randall Cobb admitting he had a punctured lung for some mysterious reason or malfeasance by the NFL was the so-called restructuring of the coaching staff.

I already talked about phase 1 when tight ends coach Jerry Fontenot and running back coach Sam Gash were fired and replaced with former Cleveland Browns tight ends coach Brian Angelicho and former Rams running back coach Ben Sirmans.

M*A*S*H Report Packer Style

Randall Cobb Non-Catch Injury

People seem to want me to comment on Randall Cobb admitting he had a punctured lung and is now doing well and Aaron Rodgers doing well after his minor knee surgery, despite the fact I felt there wasn't much to say about those non-stories.
The story would have been if Cobb died or had his lung removed or the doctors had repaired the wrong knee or amputated Rodgers' leg. But for both of them to say things are fine seemed to me that it didn't require any in-depth analysis since I already mentioned a few posts ago about Rodgers having knee surgery and mentioned at the time Cobb was injured I thought he had a punctured lung, despite the official word being a chest injury. You don't spit up blood with a chest injury.

The New Face of the NFL Has Gold Feet of Clay

I've had time to think about Super Bowl 50 and how it ended. Cam Newton, literally the Golden Boy NFL MVP, not only was shown that he could be beat, sorry Falcons, but it also showed that he, like almost every other player these days, is playing only for himself in a game that stresses team more than any other professional sport.

During the season Newton was reveling in the attention he got each week as the Panthers won game after game leading up to talk of the perfect season. He could do no wrong and couldn't wait to stand before the press after each game and answer what would be the same questions week in and week out. He would flash that $Million smile and "his ego grew three times each day" if that was possible for a man who came in with an ego the size of the Super Bowl audience world wide.

However the week leading up the to the big game Newton grew tired of answering questions every day (kind of foreshadowed something didn't it) and made the comment, "It's confusing. How can I reword questions I've been asked so many times? Goooooolly, it's not like the questions have changed since I saw you 24 hours ago. I had an unbelievable sleep and yet I'm up here again. It's cool. I sound like a broken record."