The Ugly, The Bad ...and the Good?

The ugly...

Coach Mike McCarthy concedes the Packers are in trouble: "Six losses puts your a-- against the wall, and that's where we are right now."

Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer

Pure jeenyous.

The Ugly:  The NFC North overall.  The Vikings won today, but wow, with that offensive line, I don't know if they have more than a couple more wins in them it is that bad.  The Lions are the Lions and I think at best that is a 9-7 team, maybe an 8-8 team.   One thing that does help both teams... one of them will automatically be 7-4 after Thanksgiving since they play eachother.   Having 7 wins going into December might be enough for the winner of that Vikings/Lions game to barely limp to a division title.

The Bad:  The Packers Defense.  I've seen some bad defensive teams in the 38 years I've been watching the Packers, but what is unfolding right now is leading me to believe that this potentially could be the worst defense I have ever seen.  Not only do they give up a ton of yards and points, they don't force any turnovers either.  The 2011 defense gave up an incredible number of yards, but they forced turnovers and made game winning plays.  This defense 5 years later is just as bad in terms of the yards, but they do absolutely nothing in terms of turning the ball over.   It is a special kind of bad.

The Good:  I won't dignify anyone on the team with this moniker tonight.  They don't deserve it, nobody does.  

The Good:

Our rookie LT  who needs 2 years in the weight room is a better guard than our backup guard.

I don't have to listen to TT ball washers talk about how awesome it is that we sign more UDFA's than anyone else anymore.   It's obvious we are lacking talent so please STFU already.

The Bad:

Rollins is another wasted high round defensive pick.  Hot garbage.  I thought he was going to be a player, yikes.

The Ugly:

Micah Hyde having a roster spot indicates nontalent on the roster or piss poor evaluation of talent.  Either way, what the ****?!?!

The Unforgivable:

If TT buzzed his hair he would look like Mike Pence.

This team is a bit rubbish mates.

The Ugly: Jeff Janis' ST play. Our CB's. Our receivers dropping balls that hit their hands. Goodson's injury.

The Bad: Having people on the field who either have never played or have rarely played. Micah Hyde's forward tackling. Rollins looking like he wasn't well. Capers having the Safeties on the line while our CBs were getting trounced by the Washington receivers deep routes. Hundley's rocket passes. Joe Thomas getting faked out of his shorts. Cook's fumble and muffed TD pass.

The Good: Aaron Rodgers had a good game.  Cobb extended a few drives. Montgomery can play. Starks did alright, too.

- Joe Whitt, way to have your back ups ready to play

- Morgan Burnett - Stealing Money

- Gunter - Why are you on a NFL Roster

- Mike Daniels - another 15 yard penalty

+ Turned off the game to watch 'The Searchers', one the best, if not the best, John Wayne movies

The good:
Once again, a lot of individual players having good performances that amount to nothing in the end. Spriggs was probably the nicest surprise.

The bad:
Anything and everyone that has any connection to our current defense. To say that we have been decimated by injury would be an understatement. And we have guys playing hurt who have no business being on the field, but they are put out there to trot around the best they can simply because there's nobody else available. 
Our veterans, especially our 'stars', are woefully under-producing, and show no leadership at all. Why Burnett, HHCD, Peppers, or Matthews weren't so far up in Jones' face, chewing his ass good after that horrendous penalty is beyond me. 
Ditto for the coaches for not immediately sitting his ass on the bench. Worst penalty by a Packer since Charles Martin. 
With that said, I remain convinced that they are capable of playing much better football that the chit show we are currently being subjected to. I get young, inexperienced players with marginal talent are not going to be All-Star, but not being able to defend ANYTHING I don't.
I also don't understand how players can regress so bad after one year. Last year, we were excited about Rollins and Randall, and was even clamoring for Gunter and Elliott to get some playing time. Clay was having a good season at ILB,  our DBs were getting INTs; even Hyde used to be a ballhawk and playmaker. This year...they're totally lost and can't even find their bearings. We are at -6 on turnover differential because we can't produce a fumble or INT.
A few weeks back, Joe Thomas was playing very well. The last couple of weeks, he's been Brad Jones-bad. How does this happen? 

The ugly:
In the last 2 weeks alone, ARod has been out-played by the likes of Marcus Mariotta and Kirk Cousins. Not necessarily all his fault, but our offensive production can't keep up with our opponents. 
Don "Turnstile" Barclay has turned into a total pussy. Over the last 2 years, he's shown he can't play tackle and now guard. He might sneak a respectable game in on occasion, but if he's up against anybody with the least little bit of talent, he turns into a blocking sled. They should've left him in DC, and asked for an address to ship his locker contents to. 
The defense continues to play at a historical level--historically bad, that is. Did you all catch the graphic last night of opponent's passer rating vs our DBs? And broke some kind of franchise record dating back to the 1950's for defensive suckage. And there's not a fix coming...

What did jones do? I turned the game off before the start of the 4th quarter or early in the 4th I think 

The good....the pack won't be embarrassed on Thanksgiving this year.

The bad....I'll need the Sunday Ticket next year cause there won't be near as many network prime time games.

The ugly.....at this pace a London game is in sight.

Pikes Peak posted:

The good....the pack won't be embarrassed on Thanksgiving this year.

The bad....I'll need the Sunday Ticket next year cause there won't be near as many network prime time games.

The ugly.....at this pace a London game is in sight.

I was just going to rant that not playing prime time games was part of the good. They're extremely hard to win on the road. And if the Packers are on national television I lose money on NFL Sunday Ticket.

The bad is there's still flex scheduling if they return to being good.

The ugly....this year all the woes can't be blamed on injuries. They aren't very good.

Jody posted:

- Joe Whitt, way to have your back ups ready to play

- Gunter - Why are you on a NFL Roster

 

He's a press man corner playing on a team that can only play zone with their current players.

Hey, offense, how abouts you guys warm up before the game instead of using the typical first 3 drives of 3nOuts to do that?  Thanks Barclay for getting hurt so the better player could play.  You'd think the coaches would know that beforehand but...
With Jake and Blake out it won't happen but jesus christ please cut ****ing Bradford and replace him with a real player as soon as possible.  He has no clue, knocked on his ass each time he was blocked, played scared.
With the D in complete triage it's gonna be ugly.  At least the O showed signs of life but they'll hafta score over 40 a game with that D.

When columnists are reverting back to the Truman and Eisenhower administrations to describe how bad the the Packers defense is in historical terms........that's bad.

The ugly......I live in Redskins country (with a fair amount of Dallas Cowboy fans) and I'm in the office. Now I know how spawning salmon feel as they run a gauntlet of brown bears.

The good.....I've got a jar of corn liquor and a carton of eggnog when I get off for the holidays on Tuesday.

While the O had a few good drives and Starks, Cook and AR had OK games it certainly cannot be described as a well oiled machine.  It currently is the least of the packers problems but it is a work in progress.  

YooperPackfan posted:

What did jones do? I turned the game off before the start of the 4th quarter or early in the 4th I think 

He stood over a Redskin lineman and must have been taunting him. He did an exaggerated step over his helmet and touched his facemask with his cleat as he stepped over him. The official was right next to him. Ridiculous for him to be doing something like that at this point and that point in the game.

Most definitely part of the UGLY.

I don't get some of the coverage schemes. Dix is in the middle of the field & sprints to the boundary on the snap, leaving the middle of the field open, we have a LBer covering Garcon 40 yards down the field, etc. If Dom was trying to "fool" Cousins, it never worked, they were ahead of the defense all night. 

I don't know.  They are really banged up, what team would play well with such an infirm bag of donuts.  I mean we are relying on a guy who comes in on nickel that wasn't even dressing for the first 6 games.  At some point, its going to cave.  The CB is first, the LB's next then OL...its a banged up unit that was maybe due for a bad year.  This appears to be the reality check year for the pack.

There is some garbage cleaning, janis, and if davis is not returning kicks, bye.  barclay, some of the garbage needs to go, but we can do this next year.  hopefully let's keep 12 upright, get a bunch of young guys some playing time (already happening) and pick high for once.

Defense just can not make a play. 2 plays last night could have swung the game; 1) If the ball that Peppers batted in the air had been located 2) If Joe Thomas was a split second quicker in getting to the ball that bounced up off a Redskin on the sideline, we would have had 2 Turn overs. All game I kept thinking that we were going to need to force a TO to win......it just does not happen.

Ugly.....How about Daniels getting another 3rd down converting penalty when they finally had a stop? I don't think it was blatant or anything, but it was a penalty according to the letter of the law which is both missed and called on a regular basis. Trying to win and keep up when these types of things keep happening in addition to the bad defense even if the offense is playing well, is impossible.

CHEEZE posted:

YooperPackfan posted:

What did jones do? I turned the game off before the start of the 4th quarter or early in the 4th I think 

He stood over a Redskin lineman and must have been taunting him. He did an exaggerated step over his helmet and touched his facemask with his cleat as he stepped over him. The official was right next to him. Ridiculous for him to be doing something like that at this point and that point in the game.

Most definitely part of the UGLY.

What a total waste of pick he's been thus far 

All I know is Dom Capers better not be the DC of this team next year.  Absolutely terrible.  It's embarrassing. 

The D is playing a lot of guys that aren't full time starters either by skill or by inexperience.  

Why does "Joe Thomas look bad"?  Because he's a 3rd ILB/rover that makes plays while the other two starting ILB's do their job.  Problem is we were out of starting ILB's the last two weeks so he's been forced to start.  Add a topping of Sam Bradford and I don't know how you wouldn't struggle.

"Why do  Rollins and Gunter look so bad"?  Because one isn't ready to start, may still be injured and should probably be limited to the slot and the other isn't fast enough.  Problem is Shields and Randall are both out so they've been forced to start.  When half of your secondary is (Brice Gunter Goodson) first and second year UDFA's not named Tramon or Sam, you're going to get torched.  It's the NFL.

As for the rest of the D - now we can't stop the run, no pass rush even with CM - I don't know what to tell you.  I hate using injuries as an excuse but as another poster pointed out last week, show me another defense that has as many starters in street clothes as we do yet are still playing even average.  If Capers is putting these guys in bad situations that are doomed to fail then yes it is time for him to go.

kinda hate to say this about anyone, but it wasn't until a preseason game sideline interview this year that I heard Datone interviewed for the first time...   was amazed at how dimly his bulb appears to be lit.  that's the kind of mind you pick with a 1st rounder?  I mean, it'd be one thing if he could play, but that's just not the case.

In TT we trusted

On the blight side, I mean bright side...they finally got Cook involved and he looks like a guy that can definitely make a difference in this offense.  He had some mental lapses that hopefully are attributed to rust but what would the offense look like last night without the plays he made.  His feet aren't particularly quick but his legs are so long that he has good speed even when he looks like he's slow.  Did I see RR put a move on a guy and make him miss a tackle last night or did I doze off in the second half?

AR was finally hitting some receivers in stride and made some nice plays with his feet.  But every drive still felt like a grind against the grain.  No rhyme or reason to the offense but I credit them for scratching out some success after having such a rough time of it the first half of the season.

I think the problem with Rollins is he just isn't very good. He was benched due to performance prior to Shields and Randall going down. 

Richard Rodgers has been Kellen Winslow in comparison speaking of wasted 2nd round picks. 

9 plays. 9 yards. 3 punts.

Rollins had a decent rookie year and it's premature to write him off as a bad pick. 

Pikes Peak posted:

While the O had a few good drives and Starks, Cook and AR had OK games it certainly cannot be described as a well oiled machine.  It currently is the least of the packers problems but it is a work in progress.  

That's like saying the syphilis isn't so bad because your testicles just got crushed by a roundhouse kick. 

The Good

Packers have a real easy schedule.

michiganjoe posted:

Rollins had a decent rookie year and it's premature to write him off as a bad pick. 

I hope you're correct. He's played very poorly this year though. He got benched after the Jacksonville game due to performance and injuries in the secondary were not a factor then.

Show us where he in particular has "played very poorly" this year.  Getting beat a couple times deep?  Happens to the best of them, especially when your safeties are already on the plane.  Early in the year Shields was still starting and Randall and Rollins were being rotated in regularly.  He showed more than enough as a rookie to suggest he will be a player.  But again, with all the injuries (and he may still be injured), he has been CB#1 since getting back on the field.  And being surrounded by undrafted FA's.  There is context.

Ha Ha has been a disappointment. Everyone thought he was primed for a big year with some big plays. It just has not happened. 

The Good: Passing offense came to life after miserable first three series. Here's a thought - start the game thinking you're down three scores.

The Bad: Special teams continue to be awful. Pretty amazing when you consider the positional breakdown of this roster.

The Ugly: 

1) You have a GM who's entire philosophy is to draft, develop, and resign his own for good deals. He's failing on all three of those. Meanwhile, 31 other GMs have figured out that you can also trade and use free agents to improve your team.

2) You have a  Head Coach who has stinks at the preparation portion of the game, the motivation portion of the game, and the strategic portion of the game. This team comes out flat game after game and plays predictable schemes. And everything he touches backfires. He calls timeouts on defense and routinely gets burned except for the one time a few games ago where it was goal to go and you should burn your defensive timeouts.

3) The Defensive Coordinator is a joke and has been for six years but apparently it's the players fault every time. Have you ever heard of a team giving up 515 total yards in those conditions? Just another contribution to the list of atrocious performances over the years.

4) The President/CEO is weak and looked like a deer in headlights when they showed him yesterday. What does this guy do beyond planning retirement parties for Favre?

This, is where the team is right now.

Hungry5 posted:

This, is where the team is right now.

That's so sad it's also highly comical at the same time.

DH13 posted:

Show us where he in particular has "played very poorly" this year.  Getting beat a couple times deep?  Happens to the best of them, especially when your safeties are already on the plane.  Early in the year Shields was still starting and Randall and Rollins were being rotated in regularly.  He showed more than enough as a rookie to suggest he will be a player.  But again, with all the injuries (and he may still be injured), he has been CB#1 since getting back on the field.  And being surrounded by undrafted FA's.  There is context.

Show you?

While Randall played well as the other starter against the Jaguars, Rollins was benched midway through the game in favor of Gunter, who also struggled.-ESPN

Quinten Rollins allowed two touchdowns on three targets while Kentrell Brice allowed two catches for 49 yards with 33 yards coming after the catch.-Washington Post

THUMBS DOWN

The Packers used Randall in the slot for much of camp, but inexplicably they went with Quinten Rollins there in the nickel package. It might have been because they wanted Randall on either Allen Robinson or Hurns, but it didn’t account for how tight ends Julius Thomas and Lewis were going to dominate. Rollins was no match for either player and struggled to cover receivers, too. On the Jaguars’ go-ahead touchdown in the second quarter, Rollins bit on an underneath route and let Hurns beat him for a 30-yard gain. Then two plays later, Thomas ran by him down the right sideline for a 22-yard touchdown. Rollins was pulled in the second half and in came LaDarius Gunter, who proceeded to give up a 38-yard completion to Hurns across the middle. Rollins came back to break up a deep ball in the end zone, but it was a rough day all around for the slot corners.-MJ-S.

Like all of you, I'd like to find the problem and they fix it but it's not just one thing obviously.  The number one thing though might be leadership.  McC and Capers should go, now. Start the rebuild process now and maybe have a contender again before Aaron retires.  

The other thing regarding leadership is Aaron.  He is playing really well at times but is struggling in leading the team. It seems obvious that he doesn't have the personal respect from the rest of the team. He may have respect in so far as his ability and how he makes plays but there's something about him that's losing respect.  

Hard to do and easy to say but I think they should bench him for a game.

The Good?

The Packers may very well be drafting in the top 5-7 in 2017 after going 4-12 or 5-11.

The Ugly?

After choosing that high draft choice, it's equally likely it'll be Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Dom Capers high fiving one another after they make the pick.