2014 Green Bay Packers

Thanks Al Davis

As a whole the team is relatively healthy, unfortunately the best player at the most important position isn't. A hobbled AR was good enough to beat the Lions and Cowboys; whether he'll be good enough to get it done against a very good Seahawk defense remains to be seen. His ability to extend plays has been pretty severely compromised and fans shouldn't minimize the significance of the injury.

Excellent thread. I completely agree that with the win over the Cowboys the season has been a success.

Excellent post as well Chill. I agree with everything you wrote, but particularly about Jones & Hawk. 

It was depressing seeing the middle of the D look so pathetic, once again, in the opener in Seattle. I was surprised (but pleased) that Brad Jones was essentially benched after that game.

Nonetheless, the run D continued to underperform, and when a bad Saints team ran for nearly 200 yards in the game before the bye, I pretty much figured this was another year of wasting ARod's talent.

However, someone (MM, Dom, TT, who knows) made the decision over the bye to put Clay at ILB and also to get Barrington some more playing time.

It took some time, but when Kyle Rudolph (who was just coming back from a lower leg injury and was never fast to begin with) blew past Hawk on the first play of the game in Minneapolis, AJ's continued poor play finally became just too blatant to ignore.

I remain shocked that AJ Hawk was benched. I am not in the least shocked that our D immediately became better once he was no longer on the field, and I am looking forward to a much improved D giving the Pack a real chance to win tomorrow's big game.

I've picked on Hawk plenty, and deservedly so IMHO, but it's obvious that something is wrong with him. My guess is another groin injury, but whatever the case, he is s-l-o-w. I'd bet any of the DL could easily outrun him.

This upcoming offseason is the  one to finally let him go. It's been a long time coming, and the sooner it happens, the sooner the team improves.

Brad Jones is just...bad. As far as I know, he's not hampered by an injury old or new; I think his body has just broken down. He couldn't play at OLB, and did make the switch to inside, but was never better than mediocre there. He's really regressed over the last 2-3 years, and now plays as if he has no confidence in himself.

Hopefully, the Packers will get a discount double-check on bus tickets.

I'm not sure what the deal is with Boykin. Perhaps it's apparent to the coaches that Adams is head-and-shoulders above him in skills and development, and there's nothing really 'wrong' with him. It's hard to believe he would've regressed so much from last year, but he's sure not seeing the field this year.

I think these are the only players that could be considered a disappointment on this year's team. Otherwise, everybody else has improved with another year, and our rookies have made excellent contributions. Even our FA acquisitions have worked well, although Guion, in particular, took half the season to find his groove. But Peppers' play has exceeded expectations, IMO, and makes up for deficincies elsewhere.

It can be argued that some players (Perry, Neal, Datone; possibly even Matthews) haven't played up to expectations, but if nothing else, they are at least playing and contributing. Clay's role may nor allow for him to put up gaudy numbers of sacks/tackles, but his value to the team cannot be over-stated.