Great, Now the Packers Stink, Too

Too cheap to buy Sunday Ticket, and too lazy to walk to the nearby (Packer fan-friendly) watering hole, I followed Sunday's Packers-Lions game on the radio and the good ol' internet.

Even that felt like a gigantic waste of time.

No one's seriously considering jumping on another bandwagon here, but there are all sorts of problems with a Packers team that -- while I knew was flawed -- should not be 1-2 for a third straight season.

Not with a schedule that included the putrid Jets and banged-up Lions. This should have been a gimme for Aaron Rodgers and this high-octane offense.

Instead, the Lions' defense outscored the Packers, 9-7.

Green Bay sacked Matthew Stafford twice, strip-sacked him once (hi, Julius Peppers!), and picked him off twice. The Packers were plus-two in take/give.

And lost by 12.

Rodgers just isn't sharp. Now, let's lay this out there. Rodgers not being sharp is still better than 60 percent of the quarterbacks in the NFL.

But he isn't Aaron Rodgers.

The fourth down throw to Jordy Nelson is a good example. Nelson catches a touchdown if it's well-thrown. Instead, he had no chance and the Packers never got the ball back.

Why didn't they get the ball back? Because the defense was gassed. It was too bad, really, because they played their asses off. But Detroit held the ball for over 38 minutes, and the defense couldn't get the two more stops it needed to get because Rodgers was incompetent on this day.

In July, head coach Mike McCarthy spoke of his desire to see the Packers run 75 offensive plays per game.

So far, his cries for pace have fallen way short. Through three games, Green Bay is averaging 59 offensive plays per game, with a high of 68 against the Jets in Week 2. The offense was on the field for 51 plays in Sunday's game, which is only two dozen short of McCarthy's desired number.

To put it all in perspective, the Packers need to average around 80 plays per game over the last 13 games in order to reach a season average of 75 per game.

I'll bet against that.

To make matters worse, McCarthy has appeared dull and unimaginative with his play-calling. Not really any screen passes to the running backs, which seem to be a solid elixir to a pass rush like Detroit's. No formation or route creativity. Remember when they used Randall Cobb as a running back? Where did that go?

(If they're afraid of him getting hurt, it's all the more reason to let him go elsewhere as a free agent.)

And if the quarterback doesn't sharpen up, this could be a rough season for the Packers. I'm not sounding the alarms, but that was a totally winnable game Sunday, and yet Green Bay somehow never led it. Worse, Green Bay never seriously threatened to lead it.

Packers Offer More Questions Than Answers

Well, that was three hours of my life that I'll never get back.

Could have spent quality time with the family. Instead, settled in front of the TV to watch the Packers do, well, that.

I'm left with more questions than answers out of a 36-16 loss to Seattle. Surely, many Packer fans are, too. The difference? I'll actually ask them.

You had six months to prepare for this, and the game plan was to cut the field in half offensively?

I'm not saying Aaron Rodgers should have thrown at Richard Sherman all night. That's preposterous, but so is not even looking at him most of the time. Rodgers is one of the best. No single defensive player should be allowed to have such an impact on the game by simply stepping on the field. Rodgers and head coach/principal play caller Mike McCarthy allowed the Seahawks to turn this into a ten-man game. Didn't even throw up an attempt to make it 11-on-11.

Surely, no team will look at this and think the Packers had a good idea.

McCarthy said this week he had some unscouted looks he was excited to see. What/Where were they?

Seattle looked a step ahead of the Packers in all facets of the game. If McCarthy rolled out any of these unscouted looks, the Seahawks were on to it.

McCarthy also wanted to run 75 plays per game. Only came up 18 short Thursday. Why such a slow pace?

Don't fret. Rodgers said the pace was slowed because Seattle has a great defense. So apparently the Packers only want to play with pace when they play a bad defense.

When will the Packers employ an offensive line that actually blocks people?

It's been a few years now, and this team is still soft up front on both sides of the ball (more on that in a bit). Watch replays of run plays from Thursday night. When Seattle ran the ball, the Seahawks' line moved the point of attack back at least a yard almost every time. When Green Bay ran the ball, the point of attack was usually in the backfield before the running back of choice had a chance to do anything with the football. Eddie Lacy earned each of the 34 yards he ran for, because he had little help up front.

Why is it okay for Rodgers to dress down the only lineman who was playing well when he wasn't playing well himself?

Rodgers wasn't sharp. Left a few plays on the field and led an offense that played scared all night until the game was in hand for the opponent. So when he had to burn the team's final timeout of the first half because rookie center Corey Linsley didn't snap the ball when he wanted, he yelled at the kid.

Keep in mind that Linsley was about the only member of the offensive line who was pulling his weight, and he was doing so as a rookie pressed into starting duty by -- you guessed it -- an injury.

When a Packers beat writer -- Jason Wilde of ESPN Wisconsin -- indicated he didn't like the look of Rodgers doing that, people yelled at him. Of course they did. Rodgers is untouchable, what with that impressive 0-6 record against San Francisco and Seattle since the start of the 2012 season and a 7-11 record as an underdog.

Clean your own house, QB1, and quit making yourself look like an ass on the field. It's unbecoming of you.

Will this team ever out-physical a quality opponent again?

I'm starting to wonder about this regime. Ted Thompson has done some great things, but as recently as last January, he bristled at the mere suggestion his team was soft.

Unfortunately, given a myriad of chances to show it isn't soft Thursday, the Packers failed to do so every time. I drank the Kool-Aid on this offensive line, hyped as one of the best McCarthy has seen here. But it's the same crew with the same problems. They get pushed around by good teams, and all that does is set the table for overall failure.

The 1978 Buffalo Bills allowed 3,228 yards rushing. That's the single-season record. Works out to just over 201 yards per game. Seattle hit for 207 Thursday, and the Packers haven't tried to tackle Adrian Peterson yet. The run defense showed zero improvement off last year, when it was miserable.

Not a good start at all.

Bruce Irvin 'Going to Pray' for Corey Linsley

In case you're wondering, Packers fans, they do have the internet in Seattle.

And the Super Bowl champion Seahawks use the internet. They read things, and they can comprehend what they read.

How do I know? Because they're fully aware the Packers plan to start a rookie center Thursday night in the NFL season opener at CenturyLink Field.

"I'm going to pray for him," (linebacker Bruce) Irvin said Tuesday of Linsley, a fifth-round draft pick out of Ohio State. "It's going to be a long night, man. We've got to just take advantage of it."

... "All the weaknesses that (Linsley) shows us, we've got to expose it," Irvin said. "Hopefully, 'Bane (nose tackle Brandon Mebane) going to do what I know he's going to do to him. So, we've just got to be ready."

Prayers? How nice of Irvin.

Listen: I'm sure some will look at this as bulletin-board material. But it's only bulletin-board material if the Packers win. For that to happen, it'll take more than Linsley having a great game.

For now, it's the champ saying what the champ wants to say. Winning has its privileges. Seattle won it all last year, and now its players have free reign to do the Diamond Dallas Page self high-five bit.

Of course, in the NFL, success can be quite fleeting, even for teams that appear to be built for long-term winning. I just don't see Seattle being one of those teams that goes away.

(And if they do, it won't be quietly. The Seahawks don't do anything quietly.)

I have no issue with Irvin's comments, even if they were a bit eyeroll-inducing. The Packers -- and only the Packers -- can shut him and his teammates up. Just don't bet on that happening. 

2013 NFL Predictions

Federal law requires that all sports blogging types submit NFL season predictions, despite the fact that the NFL becomes more difficult to predict every season.

Look around the eight divisions. There might be some races that "look" like slam dunks, and there are actually a couple that appear to be real-life slam dunks. However, keep a few things in mind:

• In a normal season, there is a playoff turnover of around five teams. In fact, last year broke a 16-year run of there being at least five new teams in the NFL playoffs.
• Every other year since 2007, there has been a six-team turnover in the playoffs. This is the "other" year, so the pattern says there will be six new teams in the tournament.

When you read all the predictions from so-called experts, count the number of "new" teams they put in the playoffs. If it is fewer than four teams turning over from last year to this year, ignore the prediction completely. As MMQB pointed out, more than half the playoff field (61 of 120 teams) has turned over in the last decade.

That's where this becomes difficult. If you aren't picking four teams to turn over, you probably aren't going to be right. But it's often very difficult to find the teams that will miss out to make room.

With all that in mind, here we go on another season of incorrect NFL predictions.

NFC EAST
1. Dallas
2. NY Giants
3. Washington
4. Philadelphia

Romo. Romo. Romo. Romo. Romo. I'm putting my chips to the middle, betting on Tony Romo. Help me. Don't be shocked if Philly jumps Washington. I think Chip Kelly is going to do some things there.

NFC NORTH
1. Green Bay
2. Detroit
3. Minnesota
4. Chicago

The Packers are probably the best team in this division, but they better stay healthy. Especially You-Know-Who. Detroit is a darkhorse. Reggie Bush makes an impact. I don't trust Minnesota's quarterback or secondary.

NFC SOUTH
1. New Orleans
2. Carolina*
3. Atlanta
4. Tampa Bay

I think Sean Payton and Drew Brees pick up the pieces and have a big year. This isn't a knock on Atlanta, but I think they're old in some key spots and I still think Matt Ryan is a tad overrated.

NFC WEST
1. San Francisco
2. Seattle*
3. St. Louis
4. Arizona

Seattle edges St. Louis for a Wild Card spot, but if the Seahawks don't get healthy at wide receiver, this result could flip. San Fran is still the top dog with the best coach (ugh) in the division.

AFC EAST
1. New England
2. Miami
3. NY Jets
4. Buffalo

Closer than you might think, but the Patriots have too many weapons at this point. Jets edge the Bills in the most compelling third place race in AFC East history.

AFC NORTH
1. Cincinnati
2. Cleveland*
3. Baltimore
4. Pittsburgh

What? Yes. Bengals are ready to assume the perch. Browns will shock the world, while the Ravens suffered too many offseason departures to be a playoff team again. Don't fret. They'll be back shortly.

AFC SOUTH
1. Houston
2. Indianapolis
3. Tennessee
4. Jacksonville

Ugly. Houston could clinch this in Week 11. Colts can't repeat last year's magic.

AFC WEST
1. Denver
2. Kansas City*
3. San Diego
4. Oakland

Easiest division to pick, which means this will be horribly wrong somehow. Kansas City was remarkably unlucky last year, and Andy Reid will make sure that doesn't repeat itself.

PLAYOFFS
NFC
1. New Orleans
2. San Francisco
3. Dallas
4. Green Bay
5. Carolina
6. Seattle

WILD CARD
Seattle over Dallas
Carolina over Green Bay
DIVISIONAL
New Orleans over Carolina
San Francisco over Seattle
CHAMPIONSHIP
New Orleans over San Francisco

AFC
1. Houston
2. Denver
3. Cincinnati
4. New England
5. Kansas City
6. Cleveland

WILD CARD
Cincinnati over Cleveland
New England over Kansas City
DIVISIONAL
Cincinnati over Denver
Houston over New England
CHAMPIONSHIP
Houston over Cincinnati

SUPER BOWL
New Orleans over Houston

Greg Jennings Showing Sensitive Side

The Star Tribune's Dan Wiederer has a great feature on new Vikings and former Packers wide receiver Greg Jennings in Thursday's editions.

Jennings has taken some veiled shots at the Packers -- most notably quarterback Aaron Rodgers -- since leaving Green Bay. He's talked of his desire to be a true No. 1 receiver, something that wasn't going to happen in Green Bay, where the offense is designed to spread the ball around.

In Thursday's story, the veil is removed. And in doing so, Jennings shows some sensitivity.

It's funny, because people -- including your humble correspondent -- have ribbed Rodgers for his well-known sensitivity. He's not the only elite athlete to do this, but Rodgers seems to feed off even the slightest of slights.

If Rodgers feeds off some of the stuff he admits to, I can only imagine what he can do with Jennings' comments. Let's cue up Wiederer here.

Jennings isn’t sure enough outsiders remember that during Rodgers’ first year as a starter in 2008, he was the quarterback’s top target, catching 80 passes for 1,292 yards with nine TDs. Or that he continued to aid Rodgers’ ascension with more than 2,300 receiving yards and 16 scores over the following two seasons.

“I was kind of that comfort blanket so to speak,” Jennings said. “But this is a quarterback-driven league, so people forget about the guys around the quarterback.”

Jennings wanted his abilities appreciated. So in his final months with the Packers, he started thinking more about what was next.

“Maybe,” he said, “I need to go back to my college days where the quarterback wasn’t just viewed as oh-so-great and still prove that I can be successful.”

If Jennings hadn’t tired of Rodgers specifically, he certainly had his fill of the environment in Green Bay, wondering if the ubiquitous Rodgers lovefest had created a narrative that de-emphasized the strength of the group.

Throughout this offseason, Jennings has subtly jabbed Rodgers, rarely calling him by name and referring to him instead as “12” or “the guy they have now.”

“A lot of times when you have a guy who creates that spotlight for himself and establishes that and takes a lot of that, it becomes so-and-so and the team,” he said. “It should always be the team.”

Asked in a later conversation to clarify those sentiments, Jennings expanded.

“For me, I’m such a team person, I’m going to defer to my teammates,” he said. “I’m going to defer to the team, to the team, to the team. And I think when you reach a point where you’re not deferring any longer, it’s no longer really about the team.”

Jennings paused and looked around.

“Don’t get me wrong, ‘12’ is a great person. But when you hear all positives, all positives, all positives all the time, it’s hard for you to sit down when one of your teammates says ‘Man, come on, you’ve got to hold yourself accountable for this.’ It’s hard for someone to see that now because all they’ve heard is I’m doing it the right way, I’m perfect. In actuality, we all have flaws.”

Lots to chew on here. We'll start on top.

First part of his jives with his interview on KFAN with Paul Allen shortly after signing with Minnesota. Jennings talked there about wanting to prove he can be a No. 1 receiver, but he wasn't going to get that chance in Green Bay. Not only do the Packers not really employ a No. 1 receiver, the offense is designed to make everyone look like a No. 1 receiver, at least on occasion.

Then we get a little more interesting.

In this excerpt, Jennings basically calls Rodgers a glory hog. It was the same thing people said about Favre, oddly enough. Favre got all the accolades and attention in Green Bay, too. Actually, if you look around, Tom Brady gets most of the attention in New England, Peyton Manning in Denver, and the same is true for Drew Brees in New Orleans.

Good thing Jennings didn't play for Seattle. He probably would have walked out in November, what with all the love Russell Wilson was getting.

Jennings is a hell of a player, and while this interview is going to tick off some Packers fans (and maybe some Packers, too), Jennings is an honest dude who is going to put everything he has into making his new team -- and Christian Ponder -- better. Unfortunately, part of the price of being honest is something like this, where you show more about yourself than maybe you intended.

People rip and tweak Rodgers for being sensitive. But Rodgers has nothing on Jennings, who comes across in this story as caring way too much about the perception of him as a football player. The fact the quarterback gets a ton of the credit for a team's success is nothing new in the NFL. And Jennings hasn't at all escaped it by signing with the Vikings.

Ponder has a ton of pressure on him this season. I firmly believe that, for Minnesota to return to the playoffs, Ponder has to have a very good and consistent season. Adrian Peterson is the best player in the NFL, but he can't do all of this by himself. Ponder and Jennings are charged with improving Minnesota's biggest offensive weakness: the passing game.

And if that passing game improves, who is going to get the credit?

Ponder.

I wonder how that will make Jennings feel.

Actually, thanks to Wiederer's work, I already have a good idea what the answer is. Of course, we won't find out until Jennings (or Ponder, I guess) leaves the Vikings.

Donald Driver Doesn't Sound Retired, Because He's a Packer and Packers Don't Retire

Former Packers receiver Donald Driver hosted his annual charity softball game in Appleton Sunday.

Packer fans love this guy because -- in large part -- he was almost always smiling and almost always good to the Packers' rabid supporters. He retired after last season, ending his career without playing for any other NFL team.

Sunday, Driver had the sound of a guy who really didn't want to retire, which should sound eerily familiar to Packers fans.

“Teams have called and asked would I want to come out (of retirement) and I said, ‘No, I love the green and gold,’” said Driver, who had yet to file his retirement papers as of two weeks ago.

“If the Packers called and asked, ‘Drive, come back to training camp,’ I’ll be back in training camp, but until then, I’ll just be sitting at home and just watching football.”

While the fact that Driver won't completely put his career to bed is somewhat unsettling, only five years removed from the ultimate training camp drama, at least he appears to get it.

Yeah, you can read into his comments a bit. Yeah, you can argue he's saying he only retired because he couldn't play for the Packers.

But give Driver credit. He isn't trying to play for anyone else. Quite the opposite, actually.

Packers Mount Rushmore; Can We Name Eight Guys?

The summer often leads to TV networks and websites finding ways to kill time while also creating interest.

ProFootballTalk has done a great job of both with its ongoing Mount Rushmore bit. The premise: Name four figures from each franchise to fill a Mount Rushmore for each NFL team.

It's fun, because it calls on fans to look back on their favorite team's history. Recognizing and respecting key figures from the past is a good thing for even the most boorish of fans.

Over the weekend, PFT announced the candidates for the Green Bay Packers' version of Mount Rushmore. There may not be a more difficult vote than this one. Here is the list:

Herb Adderly
Brett Favre
Forrest Gregg
Paul Hornung
Don Hutson
Curly Lambeau
Vince Lombardi
Ray Nitschke
Aaron Rodgers
Bart Starr
Jim Taylor
Reggie White

What, no Brent Fullwood?

Lambeau and Lombardi seem like locks, no? I mean, how do you turn away the patriarch of one of the league's greatest and most legendary franchises, and the coach who made the team relevant again in the 60s?

So that leaves two spots.

Nitschke was an iconic defensive player in the Lombardi years, and White helped resurrect the franchise in the 1990s when he signed as a free agent.

But what about the offense? You have Hornung and Taylor on the list from the 60s, and you have Starr, the ringleader of that offense. Does he get the nod over Favre, who (despite the crap he put this team through) has to be ahead of Rodgers?

I voted for White and Starr, but voting for Nitschke and Favre makes sense, too.

What are your thoughts, Cheeseheads?

NFL Draft Horribly Overhyped, Still Interesting

I used to be a junkie.

Well, for the NFL Draft. Couldn't get enough of names scrolling across a TV screen for two straight days. Trade drama, curveballs, Mel Kiper. It was all great theater.

Things aren't the same. Three months of draft hype on ESPN and sports radio and the internet have robbed the event of much of its intrigue. I get it, because the NFL sells and the NFL wins, but it becomes a bit much, and I think it takes away from the bit.

I used to take it all in. Wrote a lot of words about college prospects and spent plenty of cash on the draft guides and online stuff.

I've stopped. The hype is just too much, and I don't know that I can count the number of times that guys listed in draft guides as third round picks ended up going in the top 20, or vice versa. There was a year where a guy listed as a potential first-round pick in the draft guide I bought ended up going undrafted, and I'm pretty sure he never made a roster out of training camp.

Not only that, but as I got more and more into hockey, the draft prep became much less of a priority.

This year is no different. The NHL playoffs start next week, and the draft begins Thursday night.

(That's another thing. I think the new format of the draft has hurt my interest. Part of it is the fact that evenings are family time, and my wife and kid have less than zero interest in watching the first round of the draft. Oh, and I'm a morning guy, so I don't feel like staying up late to watch it all unfold. It isn't that intriguing.)

The draft this year could be interesting. There isn't really a consensus No. 1 pick, like there was last year with Andrew Luck, and like there's been in the past with players like Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, and Reggie Bush. Oh, wait.

There also isn't really the potential for a story like Aaron Rodgers to unfold, where a guy sits in the green room for entirely too long before getting picked. Even if Rodgers didn't turn himself into one of the best players in the NFL, the 2005 draft would have been a hell of a story.

Because the Packers and Vikings chose to not suck last year, both pick in the latter stages of the first round, barring unlikely trades.

(I don't see either team moving up, though if there is a market for those late first-round picks Thursday, one or both could move down or out of the first round. Ted Thompson in Green Bay and Rick Spielman of the Vikings seem similar, in that they would rather have more picks than fewer. Thompson even talked about that last week, likening it to a baseball player getting more swings for a better chance at hits.)

Looking through a draft guide and some awesome notes from the great Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (I linked to the linebackers rankings, but you can check everything out from that page if you look in the left-hand column -- remember there is a pay wall once you hit 20 articles for a month), I've gotten a bit of a clue who the highly-coveted players are. It strikes as a depth draft and not a star draft, as last year was with Luck and RGIII going with the first two picks.

The Vikings have two first-round picks. Many are looking at Minnesota as a likely destination for Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te'o. The Vikings have a hole at middle linebacker -- they've actually had a hole there for a few years now -- and could use a starter-type player there. Te'o is a good fit for 4-3 defenses, so there could be something to the steam.



Despite the Greg Jennings signing, the Vikings should also be looking for a top-tier wide receiver in the first round.

While Tavon Austin -- who would make a great replacement for Percy Harvin -- is likely to be off the board, guys like Keenan Allen (Cal), Cordarrelle Patterson (Tennessee), and Robert Woods (USC) could be intriguing choices. From the college football I watch, I really like Patterson, who is featured in these highlights.



A scout in McGinn's notes says Patterson is "not very smart," but they seem to like his athleticism. He projects as a better downfield threat than Jennings, and it would be a great addition for the Vikings when you throw in Jarius Wright as the slot guy.

The Packers pick late in the first round, and while a trade is always a possibility, let's pretend they are using the pick. Honestly, with Jennings gone, it's arguable the Packers could take Patterson if he falls to them, but it's more likely they go defense or offensive line with that first selection. Cheesehead TV does a good job outlining some potential candidates. I want to zero in on one, and that's Florida International safety Jonathan Cyprien.



Dude can play the run and pass, and has plenty of size and speed for his position. I really hate to use hockey terminology, but the Packers simply have to be a harder team to play against. A guy like Cyprien would help immensely. Florida's Matt Elam would be a nice consolation prize.

I wouldn't mind seeing the Packers upgrade on the defensive line, but I think safety is a huge spot for them right now and really want to see Thompson get a top-notch starting safety out of this draft if he can.

Random Rabble: Packers End Vikings Season

It probably went a week longer than even the biggest Vikings diehard could honestly have predicted, and it was relevant a good month-plus longer than expected, but the Minnesota Vikings saw their season end Saturday in Green Bay.

It probably didn't help much that Christian Ponder didn't play for Minnesota. I'm guessing that Bill Musgrave's inexplicable decision to have Joe Webb stand in the pocket and try to throw the ball didn't do the team any favors, either.

Also, give credit where it is due. The Packers were more physical, tougher at both lines of scrimmage, and showed why they were the better team for the preponderance of the season.

While we're dishing out credit, let's give some to the Vikings. First off, Leslie Frazier earned himself a contract extension (hopefully) with a seven-win improvement this season. Also, Adrian Peterson should be the NFL MVP after a 2,000-plus yard season that ended just nine yards short of the all-time single-season record. Ponder led this team to the playoffs with an outstanding performance against Green Bay (120.2 rating in that game was a career high for the QB).

Oh, and when the chips were down Saturday, and it was clear Ponder's elbow/arm injury was not going to permit him to throw the ball, Frazier and trainer Eric Sugarman made the kind of adult decision that Mike Shanahan -- perception-wise a much better NFL coach than Frazier -- failed to make with Robert Griffin III on Sunday.

They told Ponder to put on a hoody and watch the game. It significantly hurt the team's chance to win, but it did show that Ponder's health and well-being were more important.

(And they had the good sense to recognize that the injury severely hampered Ponder's ability to throw, something that meant it was stupid to have him play. If only Shanahan knew such logic.)

The Vikings did right in that decision, and the team played hard to try to stay in it with Green Bay. But Webb is suited for the option, not straight-drop passing. The Vikings probably asked him to do too much of the latter and not enough of the former, and Webb just couldn't hold up.

It highlights the need for Minnesota to acquire an NFL quarterback to back up Ponder, instead of having a gimmicky one-trick pony in Webb there.

For Green Bay, it was hardly a virtuoso performance. However, the Packers were good when they had to be, and the defense got the job done. They have some zone-read plays on tape now to look at and figure out how to defend it better. That's important, because San Francisco will run it plenty with Colin Kaepernick, and the Packers didn't do a great job of slowing Webb down when he ran.

Aaron Rodgers hit ten different receivers, didn't make any glaring mistakes, and knows his team has to get better in San Francisco. I expect QB1 to be ready, because he always finds weird ways to get pumped up, and San Francisco offers a homecoming against a team that passed on him in the draft in 2005.

He'll be pumped up for this, and his teammates will follow.

Christian Ponder Running Out Of Time

A few things I will say are absolutely true with no arguments:

• Adrian Peterson is the best player in the NFL. If the Vikings had two more wins, he'd be a serious candidate for MVP, and he probably should be anyway. Unfortunately, we have a somewhat warped idea of what an MVP is, and the MVP can't come off a 6-6 team that is probably on its way to 7-9 more than on its way to the playoffs.
• Aaron Rodgers' numbers aren't as good as they were last season, but that's an unreasonable expectation, and it doesn't mean Rodgers isn't playing at an MVP level. Despite banged-up receivers and an offensive line that lacks depth and high-end talent, Rodgers leads the NFL in quarterback rating, is still near the top in completion percentage, and is every bit the reason this team is 6-1 in its last seven games.
• Christian Ponder sucks.
• He's also not getting much help as he tries to attain his goal of not being terrible.

What isn't as certain, but is something I believe pretty strongly, is that Ponder is running out of chances to prove he is the guy Minnesota thought it was getting.

He was dead-on awful Sunday, hitting just five passes for 36 yards before a couple of stat-padding series against a prevent defense. All five completions came on a touchdown drive for the Vikings that got them on the board in the first quarter. That was it.

After a 48-yard scamper by Peterson in the third quarter -- a run that followed Mason Crosby's out-of-bounds kickoff -- the Vikings were in scoring position. Ponder rolled out right on second down, and threw across his body for Kyle Rudolph in the back of the end zone. Safety Morgan Burnett made sure the ball never got there, intercepting it to give Green Bay life in a game it was about to go down 21-10 in.

From there, it was all Green Bay, with both Ponder picks eventually setting up Crosby field goals (actual made field goals!). James Starks added a touchdown run (!) in a 23-14 win.

At 6-6, the Vikings are pretty much screwed when it comes to the playoffs, thanks to a remaining schedule that includes the Bears and Packers at home, and Houston and St. Louis on the road.

Can Peterson run Minnesota into the playoffs? In other words, can he do enough to keep Ponder's dumb mistakes from killing the team?

The answer Sunday was a negative one. Peterson went off for 210 yards, but Ponder's inaccuracy and inefficiency sunk the team.

Packers defensive tackle Ryan Pickett summed it up pretty well.

"They should run him until he can't even breathe," defensive end Ryan Pickett said. "I don't understand why they wouldn't. I ain't seen nobody stop him. No one.

"If I had him, I probably would be tempted to not even pass."

... "An average running back today would have had 50, 60 yards," said Pickett. " 'AP' had 200. It wasn't like we were getting beat up. He would just make people miss."

He's right. Vikings offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave should be taking the air out of the ball completely. If it isn't a safe play-action pass to Rudolph, it probably shouldn't even be attempted at this rate. Just let Peterson get his 200-plus yards and hope it's enough.

Hell, the Vikings were so bad Sunday -- outside of Peterson -- that they got whipped in time of possession by a team that never makes a truly concerted effort to hold on to the ball. It's hard not to feel badly for Peterson, seemingly a good guy who just plays the game at a level higher than anyone else can reach. And he blew out his knee last December.

Fear not, Vikings fans. Ponder has the answer. He wants to hang out on the ranch.

 Ponder told FOXSports.com that he has never spoken with Brett Favre, who had officially retired — for real this time — several months before the Minnesota Vikings used a 2011 first-round pick on the former Florida State standout. Ponder, though, said he has recently chatted with “people in the (Vikings) organization about maybe going and hanging out with him for a couple of days.”

“We’re going to bring that up and try to take advantage of that,” Ponder said Thursday.

Well, Ponder already knows how to make brain-dead throws into coverage. Maybe Favre can teach him the good stuff.

Packers Slaughtered on National TV

Before Sunday night's Packers-Giants debacling, I sent a tweet imploring my favorite football team to not get embarrassed on national television.

Truth be told, it's been years since Green Bay was handed a defeat like what we saw Sunday when the lights are turned on for national television. It was a thrashing so sound and so complete that it made last January's 37-20 playoff shellacking look like a nail-biter. 38-10 doesn't tell the whole story, because the big blue foot was off the gas for most of the second half and the entire fourth quarter.

Eli Manning threw virtually wherever he wanted and whenever he wanted. The Giants ran roughshod, gaining nearly 150 yards and -- again -- doing what they wanted, when they wanted.

Green Bay was completely dominated at the line scrimmage both offensively and defensively. The offensive line was nothing short of offen-sieve. Marshall Newhouse clearly needed help at left tackle, and head coach Mike McCarthy never gave it to him.

McCarthy morphed into Mike Martz on this night, constantly refusing to max-protect and failing to recognize the awful game his left tackle was having. Three-yard passes on third-and-loooong became the norm, because the Packers took either a sack or a stupid penalty on the way to third down, then had no chance of setting up a longer play because of the job being done by the line in front of Aaron Rodgers.

Defensively, I'm not going to say the Packers quit, because as evidenced by the 59-yard screen pass to Ahmad Bradshaw on the third play of the game, the Packers never started playing defense in this game. Hard to quit something you never start doing in the first place.

No pass rush, no coverage (made worse by the lack of pass rush, because the secondary would even get exposed on plays it covered well), no tackling, no gumption. Nothing.

It was a terrible performance for Green Bay. Naturally, McCarthy said afterward he would have to look at the film before getting too in-depth into what went wrong.

I don't know why anyone would want to subject themselves to that. Burn the film and get back on track against the Vikings. Think too much about this, and Adrian will run for 275 on Sunday.

Packers Apparently Paranoid As Well As Not Very Good Right Now

I think it's safe to say frustration is setting in for the Green Bay Packers.

I don't think that's necessarily a good thing, but only time will tell for certain.

Sometimes, the news reports on NFL teams on Wednesdays can be a little scarce. Teams typically give Tuesdays off to the players, with Wednesday being the first day of practice ahead of a Sunday game.

This time around, the Packers managed to -- sort of -- make news on an off day.

Green Bay has the most penalty yards in the league with 390 and the fourth-most penalties with 40 in five games.

After correcting this issue a year ago, it's back, and this is not a distinction the Packers really want to accompany their 2-3 record.

... "It's definitely on us as players," one Packer said Monday. "But I think the refs are out to get us this year."

Oh, boy.

It's just one quote from a player who didn't want to be identified.

But it's a sign of frustration.

Yes, a number of close calls have gone the way of Green Bay's opponents over the last three weeks. There were three bad ones in the Seattle loss, most notably the play at the end of the game. There were three more in the New Orleans game: Darren Sproles' fumble that everyone talked about, but also the trap by Jimmy Graham that was inexplicably ruled a catch and upheld after a Mike McCarthy challenge, and the obvious push-off by Marques Colston before a first-quarter touchdown catch.

To add to it, the Packers aren't playing as well as they are capable, and everyone from McCarthy on down is well aware of it. Even Aaron Rodgers isn't terribly sharp, missing on throws he wasn't missing on last year, and making decisions uncharacteristic of him.

It doesn't get any easier in Houston Sunday night. But the answer isn't to point a finger at the officials. I'm the first guy to rag on them, but I would like to think I'm smart enough to not accuse them of some sort of bias.

The quote stinks of paranoia, but is likely the simple result of frustration. This team isn't used to not playing well, and these first five weeks really haven't been up to anyone's standard in that organization. If this frustration is used to fuel the team, it can be a good thing. But if all it does is get guys playing over the line where they commit more penalties, it's obviously not going to be helpful.

Seattle Screw: The Aftermath

With the Packers holding on to a 12-7 lead late in Monday's eventual "loss" to Seattle, I texted a friend/co-worker, a Vikings fan who was enamored with the way Green Bay clawed back and took the lead.

Livid at two horrific calls against the Packers in a Seattle drive, and already practically foaming at the mouth after the shenanigans at the Metrodome Sunday*, I had seen enough.

(* - If you missed it -- and I'm not sure how you could have -- the replacement officials in the 49ers-Vikings game allowed San Francisco two timeouts over and above the three each team is allocated in a half. This happened because 49ers coach and raging lunatic Jim Harbaugh called a timeout after a play to stop the clock, then persuaded the overmatched, clueless referee to let him challenge that the Vikings fumbled on the play. When said clueless referee ruled -- incorrectly -- that the Vikings fumbled, he gave San Francisco the ball and gave back the timeout. On Minnesota's next possession, the same scenario played out, only the call was upheld and the 49ers were actually charged the timeout.)

I told my buddy that I was done watching NFL games until the real officials were allowed to return. At the time, the Packers led 12-7, but had just seen an interception nullified for a bad roughing the passer call, and then an atrocious pass interference penalty called on the Packers got Seattle out of what should have been second and 25.

It was as if I was foreseeing the future.

Just a few minutes later, one of the worst calls in NFL history took a win away from the Packers and handed it to Seattle.

(Wasn't the worst. It's Week 3, and these are unqualified replacement officials.)

That seals it.

I decided there would be no more live NFL football for me, until the league figures out that it's damaging its product in ways money can't take care of. What a coincidence that has happened, with word coming Wednesday that the real officials will likely return this weekend.

The NFL has embraced things that are good for business, like fantasy football, because they aren't things that are harmful to the integrity of the product.

The NFL then suspended a bunch of Saints players and coaches for their roles in the bounty scandal, largely under the guise of protecting the integrity of the product.

However, it's clear that the league has forgotten the importance of "The Shield," as Commissioner Roger Goodell describes it.

The replacement officials damaged the integrity of the sport in ways that the Saints players couldn't dream of, even with the most blatant bounty.

It's positively insulting that the NFL hadn't moved to make a deal with the Referees Association until this week, and only because of what happened in the Green Bay game Monday.

The league has been asking -- practically begging -- for a team to get screwed or a star player to get seriously injured by an uncalled illegal hit, ever since allowing replacement officials to work games that count.

So far, we've avoided (mostly) players getting maimed by illegal hits, though the headshot on Raiders receiver Darrius Heyward-Bay on Sunday was pretty egregious.

Monday, though, was pretty bad.

The end of the game was bad enough. But it never should have come to that. After Green Bay scored to take a 12-7 lead, Russell Wilson was intercepted along the Green Bay sideline on a tipped ball. As Wilson threw, he was hit low by Green Bay linebacker Erik Walden, who was called for roughing the passer. So, now, you can't hit the quarterback when he has the ball.

Later in the drive, on a first-and-25, Sam Shields ran a better route than Sidney Rice did, causing Rice to grab and pull at Shields to prevent an interception. Shields was called for pass interference, so instead of second-and-25, Seattle had a first down in Green Bay territory.

It's water under the bridge now, but still highly irritating. We all knew it was coming. A team was going to see a win taken away by these clowns, and it happened to be my favorite team.

Hopefully, the Packers can use this as further motivation to go on a run. The defense has played exceptionally well recently. The offense made some nice adjustments to slow down Seattle's pass rush Monday after eight first-half sacks, and those moves are ones Mike McCarthy has to remember. The best way to ruin this season is to abandon the run, open the Packers up to pass pressure, and get Aaron Rodgers killed.

Cedric Benson isn't explosive, but he's a chain-mover. As long as the Packers are keeping him going in the offense, they should be just fine. 1-2 sucks, but it's not anything that can't be rallied from.

(Oh, and Seattle's going to be pretty good, too. They can rush the quarterback, have a big and physical secondary, and Marshawn Lynch is really good. I'm still not sold on San Francisco -- look at the Minnesota game, which the Vikings controlled from the start -- and I think Seattle is a real threat in that division.)

Random Rabble: September 17

Hockey is coming. UMD's season opens 25 days from now. It's inching closer. The WCHA Preseason Media Poll is due out on Sept. 26, and I'll have a full preview before that date that includes my predictions that are sure to be incorrect.

Meanwhile, the NFC North is all 1-1 after Sunday's action. Somehow, the Vikings managed to get virtually no pressure from their defensive line against a team starting a guard who couldn't snap at center. The secondary picked up zero interceptions against a quarterback who threw three in his first start. Minnesota has two picks in its last 13 games.

It's not good enough, and it's too bad, because Christian Ponder has a chance to be good.

Even though he didn't have a completion over 20 yards Sunday, Ponder is pretty solid so far this season. He hasn't thrown deep much, but he throws a good and catchable deep ball. The return of Jerome Simpson from his suspension after this week should help the offense.

Perhaps that will open things for the running game, too, because the Vikings didn't have a rush over eight yards in Sunday's game.

The Packers beat the Bears Thursday, thanks to a relentless defensive effort. Clay Matthews had 3 1/2 of the team's seven sacks of Jay Cutler. Tramon Williams had two of the four interceptions.

Aaron Rodgers isn't sharp yet, but that's not a bad thing. The Packers will be just fine if the defense plays anything close to how it did on Thursday. They were physical, they were fast, and the front seven overpowered and outsmarted the Bears' offensive line.

Much to like there, and once Rodgers gets closer to his MVP form, there's no reason to think Green Bay can't go on a long run.


Are you paying attention to baseball? The Brewers are closing fast on that second National League wild card. It's been an impressive run, reminiscent of St. Louis charging after the wild card last year.

How did that turn out? Oh, yeah ...

2012 NFL Predictions Sure To Be Bad

I posted these on Twitter earlier in the week, but I figured I'd expand on it. I'm not big on making week-by-week predictions on the blog anymore, but you can follow me for the occasional pick and plenty of bad jokes and snark.

Here are my division picks, with some commentary.

NFC EAST
1. NY Giants
2. Philadelphia
3. Dallas
4. Washington

The Giants are still the best. The Eagles are not far behind, and I think without the ridiculous hype surrounding them, they will improve. Dallas showed me something Wednesday, but Tony Romo hasn't really put it together since the 2007 season when they had TO, and even that team flamed out when it counted the most. Love RG3, but I don't think he makes Washington a contender right away.

NFC NORTH
1. Green Bay
2. Chicago
3. Detroit
4. Minnesota

Sorry, everyone, but the Packers still have to be considered the division favorites. An improved defense makes them a more complete team, but unless Cedric Benson works miracles in the backfield, they won't approach 15-1. Chicago needs to show the secondary it will take to slow down the Packers and Lions. The Lions have to keep their heads straight and play defense. Minnesota is better, and could make a run for third place if Detroit falters. But the Vikings aren't nearly as talented as their division brethren right now.

NFC SOUTH
1. New Orleans
2. Carolina
3. Atlanta
4. Tampa Bay

Bounty scandal or not, the Saints are the best team in this division. Definite Super Bowl threat. Carolina's defense is a huge key for the Panthers. The pieces exist on offense. Atlanta is highly overrated by many. There's just no reason to trust Mike Smith or Matt Ryan at this point. If Josh Freeman puts things together, Tampa Bay could surprise with new coach Greg Schiano, who did an amazing job as a college coach at Rutgers.

NFC WEST
1. St. Louis
2. San Francisco
3. Seattle
4. Arizona

It's a hunch, pure and simple. Jeff Fisher, an improved secondary, and a healthy Sam Bradford should mean good things for the Rams, despite an insane roster turnover. San Francisco takes a step back because Alex Smith is still Alex Smith. The 49ers weren't evaluating Peyton Manning for no reason. Seattle has a rookie at quarterback in Russell Wilson. I love Wilson, but his targets are shaky, as is the defense. Arizona won't be any good until the quarterback problem is dealt with.

NFC SEEDS
1. NY Giants
2. Green Bay
3. New Orleans
4. St. Louis
5. Chicago
6. Philadelphia

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Green Bay over NY Giants

AFC EAST
1. New England
2. Buffalo
3. NY Jets
4. Miami

While the Patriots still don't have a good defense, it's good enough. It isn't as good as Buffalo's, and that's why the Bills pass the Jets in the standings. The Jets just have too much drama and not enough skill talent around Mark Sanchez. As anyone who gets HBO can attest, the Dolphins just don't look to be any good.

AFC NORTH
1. Baltimore
2. Pittsburgh
3. Cincinnati
4. Cleveland

The Ravens are running a no-huddle, which means Joe Flacco better be good. I like his chances. Pittsburgh wants to run the ball, and the Steelers are counting on a healthy Rashard Mendenhall, something that might be too much to ask for at this point. The Bengals will slide back a bit, and the Browns will move forward, making for a really, really interesting Battle of Ohio for third place. Oh, wait.

AFC SOUTH
1. Houston
2. Tennessee
3. Indianapolis
4. Jacksonville

I expect the Texans to roll through this division, with only a small challenge from the Titans. Tennessee needs Jake Locker to be ready, but luckily he can give the rock to Chris Johnson. The Colts will surprise, but don't have enough horses -- no pun intended -- to contend for a playoff spot. Jacksonville is in flux, with a running back who held out and a quarterback who looked completely overwhelmed last year.

AFC WEST
1. Denver
2. San Diego
3. Kansas City
4. Oakland

All four were close last year, and I think the top three will be this time around. Was a tough pick, but I went with the team that has the best quarterback. So yeah, I'm banking on Peyton Manning being healthier than some allege he is. The Chargers will be improved and could sneak into the playoffs. We remember how bad Romeo Crennel's teams looked in Cleveland, right? Well, I don't see it getting much better in Kansas City just because he's a nicer guy than Todd Haley. Oh, and as much as I've grown to really like the Raiders, this isn't going to go well in the short term.

AFC SEEDS
1. Baltimore
2. New England
3. Houston
4. Denver
5. Buffalo
6. Pittsburgh

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP: Baltimore over Houston

Mounting Packers Injuries Show Importance of Depth, Other Things

Thursday was an ugly night for the Green Bay Packers, in more ways than one. A 21-13 loss is relatively inconsequential at this stage in the game. Doesn't matter. The way Green Bay got there, though, wasn't good, and neither has been the start of camp in terms of the team's health.

The Packers turned the ball over like crazy in San Diego, with reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers fumbling and throwing an interception in his short turn under center. If that wasn't enough, they lost starting middle linebacker Desmond Bishop in the first quarter, and it could be a season-ender.

Bishop, the Green Bay Packers’ leading tackler last season and one of its heart-and-soul players from his inside linebacker position, had had his right leg bent awkwardly beneath him while trying to tackle Chargers running back Ronnie Brown, and while it appeared the initial concern should be for Bishop’s knee, it was actually his hamstring that worried McKenzie.

And when McKenzie examined Bishop’s hamstring upon returning to Green Bay, his worst fears were realized: A tear that could very well end Bishop’s 2012 season before it starts.

“Unfortunately, the hamstring injury was what we feared,” Packers coach Mike McCarthy said matter-of-factly after practice Saturday night. “Surgery is imminent, and Desmond’s season is in jeopardy. Once we have the surgery, we’ll have a better idea on his status for this season.”

Bishop also suffered a knee sprain on the play, “but the hamstring is what’s going to keep him out,” McCarthy said.

The Bishop loss would be a tough one, as it could be argued he's the Packers' best linebacker, even ahead of that Clay Matthews chap. Bishop is a run-stuffer who can also get things done in pass coverage, and he's developed into a leader on the defensive side of the ball.

The Packers don't have a ton of depth at the position, with DJ Smith likely taking over for Bishop. The dropoff in ability is cavernous, and it makes me wonder if Ted Thompson isn't done signing veterans during camp.

Wait. Isn't done? Thompson signed a veteran during training camp?

After taking heat a couple different times over his team not being blessed with much depth at running back, Thompson reacted quickly to news that James Starks would be "week to week" with turf toe. Sunday, the Packers announced a one-year, no-risk deal with running back Cedric Benson.

Benson, who turns 30 in December, spent the last four seasons in Cincinnati, registering 1,000-yard seasons each of the past three years. His best season for the Bengals was in 2009, when in 13 games he rushed for 1,251 yards and six touchdowns on 301 carries (4.2-yard average). 

That should solve the problem at running back. Once Starks returns, the Packers will be no worse off than they were when they had Starks with Ryan Grant. In fact, they might be better off, depending on what kind of shape Benson is in, and how motivated he is after three straight 1,000-yard seasons left him with no suitors once his Bengals deal was up last spring.

The offensive line is banged up, with journeyman turnstile Herb Taylor starting at left tackle in Thursday's loss. The position hasn't been addressed yet, but still might be before camp is over.

This early on, having so many guys banged up is not a good thing. It challenges a team's depth in ways that it really shouldn't be challenged this early in the season.

More than that, this should make abundantly clear the need for some good fortune -- ol' fashioned luck -- in the journey toward an NFL championship.

No one can predict when an injury is going to happen. Something like what felled Bishop on Thursday could happen to any defensive player at any time. Hell, it could happen to an offensive player, too. There is nothing that could be done to prevent it, outside of throwing the player in a bubble until the games count.

Sure, the Packers won Super Bowl XLV in a season where they seemed to have enough guys hurt to fill a separate starting lineup (it was only 15 guys on IR, with two more serious injuries suffered during the Super Bowl). But it's not a recipe for success.

If the Packers of 2012 are to have a shot at a second title in three years, they'd better hope for improved fortune in the injury department. Otherwise, the door might be more open in the NFC North than anyone thinks it is right now.

That would be good news for the Bears, Lions, and even Vikings, but not so much for the Cheeseheads.

Packers Have Skill Position Logjam

One of the things I really enjoy about the summer is the immense amount of information and speculation out there ahead of football season.

With hockey on hiatus, I actually have time to consume a ton of the available information.

The Packers stunk defensively last season.

Such is probably an understatement, since Green Bay had the worst defense in the NFL, despite a 15-1 regular season.

The Giants exposed that already-exposed weakness in the playoffs, running over, under, around, and through the Packers at Lambeau Field.

(Note: The Giants have more playoff wins at Lambeau Field (two) than the Packers do (one) in the time since Mike McCarthy took over as head coach in Green Bay.)

While there will be a ton of talk about the work being done to improve the defense during training camp, the Packers have an embarrassment of riches on the other side of the ball.

In fact, it stands to reason the Packers could keep seven wide receivers on the main roster once training camp finishes up. Yes, I said seven receivers.

To do so, other positions may have to sacrifice their depth. There is a piece by Zach Kruse on the excellent Cheesehead TV site discussing the decision McCarthy and GM Ted Thompson will have to make once camp breaks.

There are five locks at receiver already. Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson have Pro Bowl ability. Randall Cobb had a very good rookie season, and certainly deserves more playing time in his sophomore season. James Jones is a well-established player who -- I thought -- was more reliable last season than he had been previously. Veteran Donald Driver brings his mirror ball trophy back to Wisconsin, and a restructured contract virtually guarantees his presence on the final roster.

As Kruse points out, there are two players from last year's practice squad who will each get a long look this summer. Diondre Borel was a quarterback at Utah State, but he has developed into a strong candidate to make the Packers as a receiver.

The other guy to watch is Tori Gurley. He's bigger than Borel, and he's a more polished receiver. Both players turned down chances to leave the Packers while on the practice squad last year, and one has to assume their loyalty is going to pay off, probably sooner rather than later.

But as Kruse says, numbers at other positions have to be sacrificed to keep these two. The Packers kept five receivers -- the five aforementioned incumbents -- last season. To add two more -- duh -- means two other players have to go. Kruse does a good job going over the list, and the first obvious cut is at tight end, where the Packers kept five last season.

Andrew Quarless blew his knee out covering a kickoff in the regular season game against the Giants last season -- a play that, by the way, never should have happened* -- and could miss the entire 2012 season. Best case, he starts the season on the PUP list, and that opens up a spot on the roster for at least the first six weeks.

(* - Sorry. I'm still bitter that Quarless blew out his knee on a play where the Giants kick returner signaled for a fair catch and then starting running. When I hear about the NFL locking out its officials and going with replacements, plays like this make me wonder how bad it could be. Is a basic understanding of the rules too much to ask?)

The other option would probably be on defense, but it's hard to justify an additional cut on a side of the ball where competition for playing time and spots needs to be at its highest. With how bad this unit was last season, the team can't afford to have anyone resting and assuming anything.

Thompson's reputation is to keep the best players available to him. He doesn't like setting caps -- he took some heat for keeping two quarterbacks more than once, and he did keep five tight ends last season, which was a bit out of the ordinary -- and he will keep the players he feels have earned spots on the roster. There's no reason to think that he will keep seven receivers because he thinks he has to show Gurley and Borel some loyalty. He may only keep one of the two, depending on their performance during camp.

But I'm certain that he will not keep five receivers because he doesn't think his team can have more than that. If seven deserve it, Thompson will keep them.

(Can't rule out a trade, either. Especially if it involves Jones, who I think is the best candidate to be moved. That would open up a spot.)

Since the Packers were 15-1 last season and had a well-oiled offensive machine for most of the season, you'd assume there aren't a lot of interesting talkers going into camp. But there are, with the receiver logjam joined by the running back situation and the entire defense.

McCarthy doesn't get a lot of full-contact workouts, but they should be interesting when they happen. How many tackling fundamentals can be crammed into that limited time?

But I'll also be watching the receivers. Gurley and Borel are intriguing talents. Can they force their way on the team somehow? We'll see.

Mike McCarthy Recognizes Obvious Problems With Packers

The Green Bay Packers did not tackle well last season, on their way to a divisional round playoff loss to the New York Giants.

I don't think I'm breaking new ground here.

The Packers struggled all season with fundamentals surrounding tackling, catching, and protecting the ball. Aaron Rodgers didn't throw a lot of interceptions, and he completed nearly 70 percent of his throws, but he was betrayed by receivers who were passing around some sort of Stone Hands virus at various points during the season.

The Packers aren't making a lot of changes at receiver -- outside of perhaps jettisoning Donald Driver at some point in favor of giving youngster Randall Cobb more playing time -- so Rodgers is stuck with the same crew this fall.

Head coach Mike McCarthy knows ball security and tackling were a major problem, as he chronicled in a recent appearance on Sirius NFL Radio (via ESPN Milwaukee).

The game of football, in my view, will always come down to fundamentals. You only have so much time, so how are you going to break that time up? Really, the two biggest things we’re going to spend more time on is tackling and handling the football. You have a regular season schedule that you play, and the postseason is obviously the most important because you’re fighting all year to get into that post-season. We were the best team in football throughout the regular season. But you have to play your best football at the end of the year. Our issues were fundamental. We had some of that recurring throughout the year. I’m talking more about the tackling.

In the Giants’ playoff game we did not handle the football very well at all, as poor as we’ve played in that area in quite some time. Those are the things that I really focus on. We did a lot of positive things on defense, as far as taking the football away. We’ve talked about the pass rush. We’ve talked about the pass coverage. Those are things that the coaching staff has looked in the mirror – how did we utilize the players last year, how can we better utilize them this year? We have players here who are currently here that have to get better through the offseason programs. I am confident they will do that. I don’t like the attitude that we drafted six new rookies and all of sudden everything is fixed. That is not the case. That’s false expectations putting on these rookies. We need to improve from within. That has been our strength every single year. That will be no different this year. And this rookie class needs to come in and compete and contribute to our success.

None of this is going to make headlines nationally. We know it's true. It's why I repeatedly scoffed at the notion that the Kansas City loss provided some sort of blueprint to beat the Packers. The blueprint was there all season.

The defense wasn't very good. When they forced turnovers, they looked like gangbusters, but there were too many explosive plays and long drives permitted for anyone to think it was championship caliber. The Chiefs protected the ball against Green Bay well, and were justly rewarded.

Receivers dropped too many passes, and that came back to bite the team. When the Packers needed to sustain offense against the Giants, no one was sharp. Blame the time off McCarthy gave Rodgers in Week 17 if you want. I have, and I continue to think it was a factor in how he played against the Giants.

But the dropsies were a problem at times during the regular season, and they were definitely a problem against the Giants.

I'm concerned about this defense, but do like the changes Ted Thompson has made. There should be some great competition for starting jobs and playing time during training camp. Of course, the limited number of contact practices teams can conduct might make it tough for McCarthy to drive home the fundamentals -- especially tackling -- the way he might want to.

Saints Player Punishments Released

The NFL had already dropped the hammer on the New Orleans Saints for a bounty scandal that came out in early March. Head coach Sean Payton is suspended until after the Super Bowl, and then-defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is out indefinitely.

Wednesday, four players who were prominently involved in the program were suspended by the league. The full press release is below.

The Packers signed defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove as a free agent after the scandal broke, so it's to be assumed the organization knew a suspension was coming. They might be surprised at the length, but the team should have already prepared to not have Hargrove at the outset of the regular season.

Four players - Scott Fujita, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith, and Jonathan Vilma - were notified today that they have been suspended without pay for conduct detrimental to the NFL as a result of their leadership roles in the New Orleans Saints' pay-for-performance/bounty program that endangered player safety over three seasons from 2009-2011. Participation by players in any such program is prohibited by the NFL Constitution and Bylaws, the standard NFL Player Contract, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The specific discipline was determined by Commissioner Roger Goodell after a thorough review of extensive evidence corroborated by multiple independent sources. Under Article 46 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement and the standard NFL Player Contract, a player is subject to discipline by the commissioner for conduct detrimental to the integrity of and public confidence in the NFL. The discipline imposed today for such detrimental conduct is as follows:

n Scott Fujita (now with the Cleveland Browns) is suspended without pay for the first three games of the 2012 regular season. The record established that Fujita, a linebacker, pledged a significant amount of money to the prohibited pay-for-performance/bounty pool during the 2009 NFL Playoffs when he played for the Saints. The pool to which he pledged paid large cash rewards for "cart-offs" and "knockouts," plays during which an opposing player was injured.

n Defensive lineman Anthony Hargrove (now with the Green Bay Packers) is suspended without pay for the first eight games of the 2012 regular season. Hargrove actively participated in the program while a member of the Saints. Hargrove submitted a signed declaration to the league that established not only the existence of the program at the Saints, but also that he knew about and participated in it. The evidence showed that Hargrove told at least one player on another team that Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was a target of a large bounty during the NFC Championship Game in January of 2010. Hargrove also actively obstructed the league's 2010 investigation into the program by being untruthful to investigators.

n Will Smith of the Saints is suspended without pay for the first four games of the 2012 regular season. Smith, a defensive end, assisted Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams in establishing and funding the program during a period in which he was a captain and leader of the defensive unit. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Smith pledged significant sums to the program pool for "cart-offs" and "knockouts" of opposing players.

n Linebacker Jonathan Vilma of the Saints is suspended without pay for the 2012 NFL season, effective immediately per league policy for season-long suspensions. The investigation concluded that while a captain of the defensive unit Vilma assisted Coach Williams in establishing and funding the program. Multiple independent sources also confirmed that Vilma offered a specific bounty -- $10,000 in cash - to any player who knocked Arizona quarterback Kurt Warner out of the 2009 Divisional Playoff Game and later pledged the same amount to anyone who knocked Minnesota quarterback Brett Favre out of the 2009 NFC Championship Game the following week (played on January 24, 2010). Vilma is eligible to be reinstated after the Super Bowl in 2013.

Fujita, Hargrove, and Smith may participate in all off-season activity, including preseason games, prior to the suspensions taking effect. Each player disciplined today is entitled to appeal the decision within three days. If an appeal is filed, Commissioner Goodell would hold a hearing at which the player may speak on his behalf and be represented by counsel.

"It is the obligation of everyone, including the players on the field, to ensure that rules designed to promote player safety, fair play, and the integrity of the game are adhered to and effectively and consistently enforced," Commissioner Goodell said. "Respect for the men that play the game starts with the way players conduct themselves with each other on the field."

The evidence conclusively demonstrated that from 2009-2011 Saints players of their own accord pledged significant amounts of their own money toward bounties, that players accepted payments for "cart-offs" and "knockouts" of injured opposing players, and that the payout amounts doubled and tripled for playoff games.

Commissioner Goodell concluded, as he did with the Saints' non-player employees, that it was appropriate to focus on those individuals who had a higher degree of responsibility and whose conduct warranted special attention. While a significant number of players participated in the pay-for-performance program, whether by contributing funds to the pool or collecting cash rewards, the players disciplined participated at a different and more significant level, Commissioner Goodell noted.

"In assessing player discipline," Commissioner Goodell said, "I focused on players who were in leadership positions at the Saints; contributed a particularly large sum of money toward the program; specifically contributed to a bounty on an opposing player; demonstrated a clear intent to participate in a program that potentially injured opposing players; sought rewards for doing so; and/or obstructed the 2010 investigation."

Each of the four players disciplined today met one or more of those criteria, Commissioner Goodell said.

The evidence supporting today's disciplinary decisions is based on extensive documentation and interviews with multiple sources. The information was developed by NFL Security, working with independent forensic analysts, and the disciplinary decisions are each based on evidence that has been independently corroborated by multiple sources. The facts supporting the discipline issued today are largely the same as the facts that Commissioner Goodell relied upon in March in assessing discipline on the club and several non-player employees. Those facts have been part of the public record for two months and have not been disputed by the team or the individuals involved.

"No bounty program can exist without active player participation," Commissioner Goodell said. "The evidence clearly showed that the players being held accountable today willingly and enthusiastically embraced the bounty program. Players put the vast majority of the money into this program and they share responsibility for playing by the rules and protecting each other within those rules."

The NFL Players Association received the confidential March 2 and March 21 reports on the Saints matter that were distributed to the clubs. In addition, members of the NFL staff, including the NFL Security investigators, met with NFLPA officials to review the results of their investigation. A number of current and former players, including each player disciplined today, were offered the opportunity to be interviewed with counsel present. One player (Hargrove) submitted a written statement in which he did not dispute the existence of the program, but no player agreed to be interviewed in person. In addition, the NFLPA publicly stated that it conducted its own investigation into this matter, but it has shared no information from that investigation with the NFL.

Commissioner Goodell also has advised the NFLPA of the names of all other players shown by the NFL's investigation to have participated in the Saints' pay-for-performance/bounty program but were not disciplined. The commissioner again invited the union to provide recommendations on how best to promote fair play, player safety and the elimination of bounties from the game at all levels. He said that identifying the other participants may assist the union in its stated desire to advance those goals.

Discipline for the Saints and club management was announced by the NFL on March 21. The Saints were fined $500,000 and forfeited two second-round draft choices (one in 2012 and one in 2013). In addition, suspensions without pay were issued to former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams (indefinitely), head coach Sean Payton (2012 NFL season), general manager Mickey Loomis (first eight regular-season games of 2012), and assistant head coach Joe Vitt (first six regular-season games of 2012).

2012 NFL Draft: Packers Bolster Defense

In the interest of fairness, equal time, and actually taking a few moments to write about the team that has made the playoffs over the last couple years, I figured I'd offer up a few draft thoughts on my favorite football team, the Packers.

As I mentioned earlier this week, the Packers were in a rather odd position. Even though Green Bay was 15-1 last season and didn't lose much in free agency, the general consensus going into the draft is that the Packers have some work to do, especially on defense.

General manager Ted Thompson apparently agrees with this assessment. In his time as GM, he has now made five trades to improve his team's draft position ("trade ups," in other words). Two of those trades happened Friday night.

Dissatisfied with his position at 27th in the second round, Thompson moved up four spots in a deal with the Philadelphia Eagles. He dealt the Packers' second-round pick and a fourth-rounder for the right to move up and take Michigan State defensive lineman Jerel Worthy. The big man should work as a defensive end in the Packers' 3-4 scheme, while first-round pick Nick Perry is slotted in opposite Clay Matthews at right outside linebacker. The goal with Worthy is to get a replacement of sorts for Cullen Jenkins, who was a key cog in the Packers' line during their Super Bowl XLV run. Jenkins left for Philadelphia after the lockout last summer, and he was not even remotely replaced. His loss rendered many guys, most notably Matthews and nose man BJ Raji, as much less effective than they were the previous season. Matthews' dropoff in production was also caused by a lack of a pass rush threat anywhere else in the front seven.

Thompson wasn't done. Seeing a lack of depth at cornerback, he dealt back into the second round, getting the 62nd pick from New England in exchange for the Packers' third-round selection and another Saturday pick. Thompson added to his secondary with Vanderbilt cornerback Casey Hayward. He doesn't have to make an immediate impact, but instead can work behind Tramon Williams and Charles Woodson. If he develops quickly, he provides the Packers with the security needed to potentially move Woodson to safety if that's a choice the organization wants to make.

(I'm not saying I'm in favor of it or not. As long as Woodson can play at a high level, I don't care what position he plays. I'll let the coaches make that call.)

Green Bay isn't done. This week's release of former All-Pro safety Nick Collins -- who suffered a serious neck injury in Week 2 last year and was apparently not going to be cleared to play by the Packers' medical staff -- creates a gaping hole in the middle of the secondary. Green Bay suffered greatly without Collins last year, as Charlie Peprah was torched on a seemingly regular basis. This isn't a good draft for safeties, so it's possible Thompson has something else in mind there.

Hopefully, the team doesn't plan to go into the season with the status quo. It was a scary good last season, and not in a good way. The other hope is that building more strength elsewhere on defense will help alleviate the issues at safety.

As we all know, a good pass rush can cover for a lot of deficiencies in the back. Similarly, having a strong secondary can help counter a poor pass rush. Of course, no matter what, you can only expect to cover receivers for so long before someone gets open.

The Packers still have some picks on Saturday, giving them a chance to add to a pretty solid special teams group (not the kicker and punter, instead I'm talking about adding depth for the return and coverage teams). Between that and the crop of undrafted free agents, it seems unlikely Thompson -- no matter how good he is at this job, and we know he's good -- is going to find a Week 1 starter. Can't be ruled out, but it would be foolish to count on it.

Last year's playoff disaster is still fresh in the minds of the Cheeseheads, but the way Thompson has started this draft should help calm their nerves a little bit.