Lame
This article points out that CB may be a weak spot this year if the injury bug strikes again.
Disagree completely. Watch out for Valentine, and lighting a fire under Stokes is NECESSARY.
I don't think "a fire" needs to be lit under Stokes. Not like he's been loafing or underperforming. The guy just needs to stay healthy and let his ability take over.
You may be right, but so far he hasn't earned that fifth year.
First year was strong but kinda went into a sophomore slump
Eric Stokes went to Madison w/ Christian Watson but their hamstring issues were completely different. For Stokes, everything stemmed from his surgically repaired foot and the hamstring/calf/leg not being strong enough.
— Wes Hodkiewicz (@WesHod) May 29, 2024
Rebuilt his body this offseason. Big reason he feels as…
@Chongo posted:Eric Stokes went to Madison w/ Christian Watson but their hamstring issues were completely different.
They paid a visit to this dude's lab in Madtown.
Bryan Heiderscheit got a $4 M grant from NFL in 2021 to study hamstring issues in Ootball players. Nice to see the Packers getting his insight / treatments for these players.
https://ortho.wisc.edu/research/labs/heiderscheit/
The UW Neuromuscular Biomechanics Laboratory conducts research on the biomechanics and neuromuscular coordination of human movement, with applications in orthopedics and rehabilitation. Our experimental facilities include capabilities to record three dimensional kinematics, kinetics, and dynamic images during movement.
Computer simulations are used to characterize musculotendon dynamics, estimate internal loadings, and test principles guiding movement control. The overall goal of the research is to establish a scientific basis for the clinical treatment and prevention of impairments that limit locomotor performance.
From Bill Huber at SI
https://www.si.com/nfl/packers...nfident-01hz3hgahv1c
“My foot wasn’t as strong as it needed to be, so that’s why it put more pressure on my hamstring, my calf and all that stuff,” Stokes said.
“It’s crazy how everything’s connected in your body and all this stuff. If one area’s weak, the other parts of your body are going to try to take control or put more workload on it. So, that’s pretty much what’s been going on. My hamstring was taking so much workload that it just kept messing up.”
Stokes spent the offseason “attacking my legs” in hopes of restarting a career that began with such promise.
“I feel like I’m faster than I was before,” Stokes said.
Also personal experience...was having chronic knee pain...I assumed I would need some sort of surgery or physical intervention. Doc took XRays, MRI's, said just to go to PT, which I did. Issue was actually not with my knee but with a strength deficiency in my glute muscle, likely because over time how I get up from a chair or the couch or whatever strengthened one glute over the other to the point it was imbalanced. PT worked on the weaker side, took 6 months of consistent work on my own, but eventually my knee pain went away.
Point is, the "muscles/tendons/ligaments surrounding it are causing a problem," is way more real than people may realize. Sometimes surgical intervention is necessary, but often it is not. You just have to get with the right practitioner.
Long-winded way of saying, don't discount the stuff Stokes and Watson did in the off-season as "well we are hoping for the best." Two years ago, I needed a cane to walk. I am now jogging 5 times a week pain-free. Science can be powerful shit!
Had a similar experience with my shoulder. Slight tear in the cuff and it led to an overactive trap. Basically anytime i tried to use my delt the trap would just take over. Several months of PT using tiny weights and developing a mind connection with the delt to fire it instead of the trap and my shoulder pain went away.
It is so ironic we are talking about this topic. I just came back from an Ortho appointment for me knee. The previous doc I went to wanted to cut my knee open for what he swore was a full minicus tear. I didn't want surgery at my age so I got a second opinion.
The second doc said my knee is old (yep I know that) and he doesn't want surgery he wants me to strengthen up my leg muscles first in therapy and to go back to the gym to work on my thigh and calf muscles. He said sometimes as we get older making sure those muscles stay strong might be the biggest key to stability.
@Chongo posted:Also personal experience...was having chronic knee pain...I assumed I would need some sort of surgery or physical intervention. Doc took XRays, MRI's, said just to go to PT, which I did. Issue was actually not with my knee but with a strength deficiency in my glute muscle, likely because over time how I get up from a chair or the couch or whatever strengthened one glute over the other to the point it was imbalanced. PT worked on the weaker side, took 6 months of consistent work on my own, but eventually my knee pain went away.
I had the same issue 25 years ago except my doctor sent me to physical therapist AFTER my surgery. My PT said I had a muscle imbalance and he fixed it. He never said that I didn’t need surgery, but I’m pretty sure I could have avoided it had I gone to PT beforehand.
Stokes currently has a PFF grade of 52.8, ranking 141st out of 177 CBs.
He is in year 4 of his injury-plagued Packer career and has not looked good since early in his rookie season. The team already declined his 5th-year option.
Stokes was really bad against the Rams second-string WRs on Sunday.
Valentine has not been great this season at 58.5 (and ranked 115th), but he is younger, will likely be here next season, and at least might turn into something.
Any reason once Jaire comes back that Valentine should not be the other boundary corner?
Not to me. Stafford was picking on him last Sunday.
Stokes slipped & fell on the TD pass late in the game. It happens. He hasn't been great but I've seen a lot worse in a Packer uniform.
@RochNyFan posted:Ahmad Carroll?
ding
I didn't think Stokes looked as bad as Nixon Sunday but that's not saying much. The talent at CB and LB seems to be a concern.
Was it Richard Sherman who had great things to say about Hafley? I think he's the DB whisperer. Give him time. Give the whole unit time to learn.
@RochNyFan posted:Ahmad Carroll?
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I haven’t heard Stokes name called much so far,which is a good thing. WRs make catches, it happens. Make tackles and limit the catches.
@lovepack posted:Was it Richard Sherman who had great things to say about Hafley? I think he's the DB whisperer. Give him time. Give the whole unit time to learn.
I've pretty much run out of patience with Hafley, which is likely not the thing to do. It's easy to forget we're only 5 games into the season.
However, when one can see the same tendencies in certain situations that we've all seen the last handful of years in those 5 games, it becomes much easier to bitch and be angry than it is to offer support and encouragement.
The Packers are playing good defense statistically, but that's not translating into on-field performance. They could be so much better if they had any kind of pass rush. That would help the LBs and CBs more than any other improvement.
In any case, I think it's time for Hafley to start delivering what he promised.
The defense isn't going to become a steel curtain unit in one week, but they can play better every week!
Timmy. I think the squirrel has gone to your head.
They need to figure out a way to bottle Tucker Kraft's mindset and inject it into the defense.
Is this the beginning of the end for Packers CB Eric Stokes? https://t.co/Zrjoc7WPrB pic.twitter.com/04bwhYhuQD
— The Packers Wire (@ThePackersWire) October 11, 2024
Piece that suggests his career with the Packers may be winding down.
@michiganjoe posted:Is this the beginning of the end for Packers CB Eric Stokes? https://t.co/Zrjoc7WPrB pic.twitter.com/04bwhYhuQD
— The Packers Wire (@ThePackersWire) October 11, 2024Piece that suggests his career with the Packers may be winding down.
That's not exactly an unknown. He hasn't come back from the injuries as well as everyone hoped. Right now, he's serviceable but he'll finish his career as a backup. I can see Gute resigning him to a backup position for minimal dollars, drafting another CB, and continuing to develop Valentine and others.
Isn’t that a banned hip drop tackle he’s making there?
Providing he wants to stay. I could see some team with desperate needs at CB offering him more than GB is willing to pay for him in a back up role.
@YooperPackfan posted:Isn’t that a banned hip drop tackle he’s making there?
I don't think so. The hip drop is when you grab a guy from the side, and swing and drop your hips into his lower leg or back of the legs to take him down. Stokes here is just dragging behind without trying to cut his legs out from under him.
Here it is being executed and not called: hip drop not penalized.
Explanation of what it is before it was banned: hip drop is lethal to lower legs
It's also interesting that in the second video, he talks about the hip drop being banned in rugby as well.