Aaron Rodgers

I do not think that this is a must win at all. If you have been realistic about the team and

expect a 10-6 record like I do, it is the natural progression of records. I have them splitting

with the Bears and the Lions anyway as part of this 10-6 mark as I am sure many of you do. It just so happens that the ones away where i have them losing happens to fall at the early season time.

When looking at the early schedule, most people thought it would be quite difficult compared to later in the season. Thats why it does not matter going 0-3 in the NFC either as the losses are going to happen for everybody. Just happens earlier for the Pack.

For what its worth, i have them losing to Bears, Lions, Seahawks, Eagles, Saints and one more surprise loss - either Panthers, Pats,  or Bills.

Anyway that is my take. The only thing that I feel will change this prediction is injuries or if somehow the team loses confidence because of this early play. It never has in the past though so i would not expect them to be down too long, although it would not surprise me at all for them to be 4-4 at the bye. 

Like I said, just the way the schedule falls.

 

 

The way they're playing I don't think anyone will disagree with you, right now.

However, my expectations were much larger than 10-6. Especially if the defense keeps playing like they did on Sunday.

I'm really unhappy with the 1-2 start. It's inexcusable with the talent level on this team vs.the competition.

Fan tackled by Brad Jones. Laughing at the irony. Still picked up 8 yards. 

I agree everyone needs to relax, but I also think it starts with Rodgers.  He's been flaking out since the season started near as I can tell.  He's set a standard where it's out of norm if he's off kilter. 

 

If he acts out on it by chastising rookies on the field, pointing fingers at the running game. and questioning the scheme it's going to reverberate through the fan base.  He's old enough and smart enough to know that and should have the maturity and foresight to cut all of it off before it ever starts. 

 

I'll give him major points for knowing what the problem was and cooling the temperature today .  I'd guess his demeanor shows he and MM had a conversation about moving forward and he felt better after it.  

I think a lot of this goes towards MM for not realizing his team wasn't ready to play fast if that was his vision of the offense.  Tretter had a full year advantage over Linsley with the mental part of the game and  even that was stretching what should have been expected of the offense.  

 

When Rodgers talks about adjustments I think he means it's batsh!t crazy to attempt a no huddle, fast tempo offense out of the gates with Linsley at center, Richard Rodgers playing at TE, Lacy as an early 2nd year RB and Davonte Adams as the 4th WR.  That doesn't work and it's no surprise it doesn't work. 

 

How the heck Richard Rodgers was in over Kuhn in the second half of a critical division game when the ball was inside our own 1 yard line and we were playing catch up  was baffling to me.  I wasn't sure Kuhn was going to make the roster this year but if ever there's a reason for him to be in the game that was it! That's essentially a goal line situation. At the very least the defense has to respect that MM has a propensity for giving Kuhn a dive play in seemingly every short yardage critical situation over the last four years.  Might even have made a certain LB hesitate long enough for Lacy to get through the hole. 

 

Richard Rodgers has exactly 0 catches this year. If I'm the defense that's the biggest tell that the play is going to be a run.  There's literally nothing that suggests even thinking they'll throw the ball to Rodgers.  He's an afterthought and the defense has every reason to crash down and either smother Lacy or know Rodgers has the habit of holding the ball long enough for them to have a shot at a safety.      

 

It's hard enough for a first year players to adjust to the speed of professional football.  Nearly every player that ever passed through the NFL talks about how the game slowed down for them during the second and third seasons.  Rookies are  typically overthinking,  undersized, and mistake prone.  Knowing all that MM attempts to push the pace of the game to the peak of NFL capabilities  against more experienced defensive fronts.  Seems like a recipe for disaster.  

 

Maybe Rodgers zeroes in on Jordy because the offense is a jittery mess and with everything else running through his mind he figures his best bet is his best WR.  That goes towards the accuracy issues as well.  His mind isn't on time with his throws.  It's a short clock and even 0.5 seconds scanning for a blitz up the middle causes chaos.    That also explains why 12 is snapping at  the young players.  He's stressed the eff out trying to keep the circus in the rings let alone make plays.

 

Perhaps in the future it's better to get the concepts down and then methodically ramp up the speed as the weeks progress.  It shouldn't be a shock to MM that he's playing with inexperience at several positions.  It's how the team is built, it's how the team has been, and it exposes how bad a job he did adjusting his game plans to the reality of the roster.

 

Scrap the no huddle for now. Slow the offense down, focus on blocking and focus on getting Lacy 25 carries up the middle vs the Bears.  Simple, in-front-of-your-face take the line football with a bull of a RB and a slower pace that lets the  young guys get their feet under them.         

I love Aaron Rodgers.  Per his show interview with Jason Wilde posted on JSOnline:

 

“You know what everybody is wondering,” Wilde said. “Is last year’s injury having any effect?”

Rodgers responded: ” Everybody’s wondering that?”

“Yeah," Wilde said. “Two things everybody’s wondering. They are wondering if your injury is an issue, and they are wondering if the Rory McIlroy effect is happening. You have a girlfriend now and apparently now that’s affecting your performance. I got those two things more than anything else after the game.”

Rodgers said: “Those are so idiotic, it’s not even worth responding to either one of those.”

Then again would any of us really blame him if had more on his mind that flinging a football?

 

 

I've seen the beginning of "Magic Mike." I would lack focus too.

 

Lots of good stuff tit, but I think this is the crux of the problem. Da utes just aint ready. What do we hear coaches say about rookies as their play improves? "The game is starting to slow down for him." 

 

I don't get why Bostick hasn't seen an offensive snap yet.

I completely agree about Bostick. How about him in 2 TE sets?

 

I don't get why no one's in motion to help get someone open. Who else doesn't use motion????? 

 

I don't get why there's no more quick slants. Almost nothing over the middle. 

 

I don't get why there's no more screens. WTF is wrong with screens?

 

I don't get why starks is the best back the first half and no touches in the second half.

 

 

 

From his radio show yesterday:

 

RODGERS on no-huddle: “Never been a big fan of motion.. When you motion (WRs) you can give advantages to the defense.”

 

RODGERS: Brett wasn’t a fan of motion. Obviously, Peyton Manning not a big fan of motion.”

 

 

Thanks Hungry. Glad you agree with the other aspects of my post.

 

Now I've never heard that, "When you motion (WRs) you can give advantages to the defense.”

Did AR give examples? And I have to watch a Broncos game I guess much as I don't want to.

 

The word on Bostick is that he hasn't practiced well and thus hasn't earned snaps.

Some of our position coaches don't know chit from shinola. See hawk, jones, guion, special teams, campen. Don't know the TE coach but Edgar Bennett was never a WR. Enough learning on the job.

I don't get your disdain for Edgar Bennett - he's probably the best position coach we have.  already hearing talk about him becoming an OC and/or HC.

 

Mike McCarthy never played QB - where does he get off telling AR how to play the position.

Very good point, Tdog.

 

Guess I'm lumping him in with the other suspects and shouldn't. 

The gist of his response was that today's defenses are way more sophisticated/advanced that what used to be gained through motion isn't nearly what it once was. It wasn't said, but it could also be an issue for a team that more often than not is snapping the ball as the clock expires.

Call me crazy, but don't the defending world champion Seahawks use motion by Percy Harvin quite a bit in their playbook?  Granted, their team has a more versatile skill set in that they can run a read-option off that, but I tend to think motion is ideal for trying to free up receivers or create mismatches.  I am surprised the Packers' brass doesn't think the same way, but they know a lot more about football than I do.

 

One of the things Seattle does well, and for **** sakes even the Vikings, is that they'll roll Percy And Corduroy through the backfield as a run option. This freezes the DE, OLB that can't crash down and opens up a hole a little longer than normal. If the DE or OLB crashes down anyways you can bet your ass Percy And Corduroy will be getting the ball sooner rather than later. 

 

Why GB doesn't even use Cobb as a decoy this way is beyond me. 

 

 

 

 

and whatever happened to rolling the pocket to one side or the other?  that's been useful in the past as well.

Whatever happened to the receivers running a pattern and the QB throws to the guy that is open.

       
       


Yes. How do you know so much about cocks?

Agree it's ultimately on Rodgers.  Agree he had a bad game.  But "Pussy" goes too far, IMO, and is inaccurate.  He's not seeing open receivers, locking onto Jordy too much, obviously not running the no-huddle the way it should be, not scrambling enough, missing throws, all kinds of problems. 

 

Whatever, probably it is a combination of a lot of things.  What it is obviously NOT, though, is playing "scared."  You don't hang onto the ball too long in the pocket with 300 pound wrecking balls crashing around you because you are "scared" or a " playing like a pussy."  Like the guy who knows said, that's ridiculous.  In the same boat as who he's banging being a reason.

 

 

Vu ja De ?

 

Knocked down, getting beat up in the national media...

 

  

 

 

Creating a mismatch can help tell the defense what you're doing.  If you look at the way play calling has progressed, we've gotten into more info being hidden on the potential play call.

 

It used to be you'd call a play and you'd line up and run it, people overcame this by watching tape and knowing your formations/tendencies.

 

Then we had motion so that you could have mismatches which changed the same play into your favor.

 

Now we have hand signals and route changes at the LOS pre-snap depending on defensive look.  The pre-snap formation will look the same but have a bunch of options on execution depending on the defense.  This is why the clock always goes down to almost zero before snap.

 

This is also why the read/option is so much in vogue because it allows you to change the play *after* the snap depending on what the defense actually does, not just what it is showing.

 

Take it to it's logical conclusion and it won't be long before we see Percy Harvin types who can also accurately throw the ball for another threat if the defense happens to sniff out the run option.  Of course, Cobb used to be a QB...

Regardless of the play call or the adjustments, Rodgers has to be smarter with the ball. Half of the sacks he has taken this year are because he held the ball too long. I don't think he's as keen on running as he used to be, probably because of the  injury, but running, forcing a pass or taking a sack shouldn't be his only options...throwing it away has to be included in his options. 

 

On a side note, I haven't seen many people criticize the receivers for not getting open. This is a big problem. It's not only about creating separation with a CB, but also reading the coverage and trying to find the holes between the zones. Remember when Anquan Boldin shredded GB last year in the season opener? That happened because he read our Zone coverage and was savvy enough to recognize the holes between the Safeties and ILBs. Jordy has been the only receiver that can shed a cover man and even he isn't doing it all the time. Cobb can't get open for sh*t, Adams is still too green to do much, and Boykin apparently has the yips and can't catch a cold. Those guys have to help Rodgers out. 

Brak

um, Rodgers won a superbowl already, who are you to tell him to be smarter with the ball.  You think he forgot how to be smart with the ball since then?

Favre did

** edit ** Favre was never really smart with the ball.  "No more rocket balls, okay?"

 

He needs to complete more passes. Especially for positive yards. Preferably more than 10 yards. Throwing for a TD would be awesome.

 

I wonder if he can do that?

 

Obviously he was at one time, he won a super bowl

ftfy

The problem is that the Packers have only two plays: "Blue 58" and "Green 19". 

And beef once banged a gal you wouldn't be embarrassed to be seen with.

Without reposting Hungry's Houston post, what a game that was. No one expected it, and I can't help to think (hope-let's be honest) that a similar turn around is on the horizon. This offense is too good. It's not personel, it's scheme, and history under this regime has showed us they will adjust, just hope it's sooner then later.

Stating the obvious, but I'd rather be bitching about the O instead of the D. I see a hell of a lot more upside there.

FWIW, Rodgers on the rebound

Is Rodgers dating Olivia Munn on the rebound?

 

After a learning curve, Favre with Holmgren was one of the top 5 QBs of all time. Favre without Holmgren was Jay Cutler. Without Holmgren Favre might not have been a Hall of Fame QB. Of course, if the early to mid 1990s Favre would have lived in an era with TMZ, cell phone cameras, etc. he probably gets suspended a few times.

 

For anything else MM has done, he clearly gets credit for helping develop Rodgers. Rodgers looked like a bust the first two preseasons he played. The thing that's hard to read right now is what the MM-Rodgers relationship is like. MM isn't going anywhere and neither is Rodgers. I wasn't concerned about this until the recent tweets from Luke Rodgers.

I don't see losing to the Panthers or Pats as any kind of surprise, even if the O pulls out of its funk. Maybe not even the Bills.