Bad Bob strikes again: Pack needs to be like Donkeys

I get Bob's point, that TT needs to add some veterans/FA's, but I wish he would present a something more even-handed.  

 

For example, Peyton Manning covers up a LOT of the OL deficiencies for the Broncos. Matt Flynn, Seneca Wallace, and Scott Tolzien can't do that.

 

He cites FAs that the Broncos brought in. One of them is Michael Huff.  The same Huff that the Ravens that Bob loves so much as a model brought in as a FA and completely stunk, so they released him mid-season.  Instead, they ended up relying on DRAFT CHOICES at their starting FA spots.  Oops.

Yah, I think TT has forgottn more about football than Bobby will ever know. Bobby's job is to find a story and tell it. Well done, Bobby, but IMO TT has been so wildly succesful that I don't think he should change a thing. Until a team wins the Super Bowl every year for the next 4 years you won't convince me that a single team holds THE formula. There are just so many thngs that go into winning the big game, including LUCK. No, not Andrew.

Well, the Bronco's had the foresight not to have Peyton Manning hurt for half the season, that is a model to follow. 

 

I can only assume we need AJ Hawk to take steroids, get caught, then come back after a four game suspension as well. 

The Broncos might have had a catastrophe on their hands when Ryan Clady, their franchise left tackle, suffered a season-ending foot injury in Week 2.

 

Magazu, however, had the luxury of plugging in longtime backup Chris Clark, 28, and the offense continued on with its record-breaking season.

 

So what if Clark were to go down? Three days after the Clady injury, Elway added a cheap security blanket in swing tackle Winston Justice, 29, who has 46 starts.

 

Here's what I remember about WJ:

 

How many times did CMIII get to Vick in that video?

 

That's right, zero.

 

This guy shoulda starred in Blindside.

 

It's no coincidence that Justice and Newhouse wear the same jersey number...

Perhaps McGinn doesn't remember the Mike Sherman GM tenure.  Sherman filled up the roster with veterans.  He did not want to waste time with rookies who did not know anything.  Green Bay ended up very tight against the cap and ultimately had no young players to replace the older ones.

 

I prefer TT's method to what McGinn seems to be proposing.

Exactly what was going through my mind reading the latest hit piece. McGinn's a smart guy, and lauded as arguably the best NFL beat writer in the nation; how this fact could be omitted from his story is really quite remarkable.

 

lauded as arguably the best NFL beat writer in the nation

 

That's a slight step-up from being the world's tallest midget so he's got that going for him.

McGinn once was a very thorough writer and a decent read - he deserved that reputation and praise. That said, it happens to the best of them, but the game (and his analysis of it) has passed him by. He can't apply his 80' & 90's perspective to today's game, just like Wolf admitted he couldn't GM in today's NFL.

 

 

BM would be ripping the Packers' average age for being too high if they had vets up the wazoo. 

 

"One league scout said it was like playing Baywood Home for Seniors when they took the field against the Packers this year."

I'll do Bob the favor of not even visiting the JSO website or reading his blather.

Thankfully he's not the GM of the GBP.

to be fair, bob said that the Packers should blend the two extremes. I don't think anyone argues with that. We say that here.

And, just before the Rodgers injury, McGinn proclaimed this team was built so sound  that it could go 11-5 should Rodgers get hurt.

 

My problem with McGinn is that his writing is akin to that of a weather vane...gauge which way the wind is blowing with fan sentimentality and/or whoever is currently successful in the NFL (Broncos, in this case) and write articles blasting the Packers for not doing it that way.

 

Orlando Wolf is right...if the Packers took the Bronco approach and ended up exiting in the wildcard round like they did, he'd be writing how this is a young man's game, and how could the Packers possibly be expected to compete with the elite teams with such an old roster? His M.O. is very predictable.

This.

 

If the team is good enough to go 6-3 without AR, they were 5-2 at the time.....the method that assembled the team must be pretty darn good.

I don't much care how TT gets his job done.  He's done pretty damn well doing it his way.  I do think we absolutely need to upgrade several positions, safety to me is priority #1.  I would contend that there are 4 solid upgrades available in the FA market, and I have not been shy in stating that I think this is your Woodson like move in FA.  However, if TT gets the next Erik Reid AND HIS PRODUCTION in the draft, awesome.  All I know is I think they have to upgrade several positions this off season, and it doesn't matter how they do it, but it needs to happen in some way.  

it really is compelling journalism to examine the two superbowl teams and say "we should be more like that."

The Packers should be more like that team that won the Super bowl 45.

I mentioned this in another thread but Bob is right, TT needs to expand his approach to include free agency.  Times are different than they were 5 years ago when aging veterans were getting ridiculous contracts.  Those veterans now are geting moderate short term deals.  Broncos got DCR, Welker, Knighton, Vasquez and Phillips last off season and only Vasquez' deal runs past 2015 (and he's an all-pro guard).  I'm not saying TT needs to splurge in free agency but the Broncos represent a team that has used free agency in the right way: add stop gap players to positions of weaknesses.  

 

Broncos have dealt with significant injuries too and still are able to thrive (Moore, Miller, Vickerson, Wolfe, Clady and Harris).  That's what a veteran presence on the field does.  

That's one of the key points in the article (it's only saving grace); that when you're hit with injuries and guys have to jump in and start, you're going with a rookie learning on the job vs. an experienced vet.  Not applicable across the board but a point nonetheless.

He can't be serious with this article.

 

P.S. I admit I didn't click the link

 

Brock Osweiler

& Zac Dysert

 

If either of these QB's had to run the Broncos for a 7 game stretch, they wouldn't even be sniffing the Super Bowl let alone playing in it

Yeah but they signed veteran free agents.

Hey bobby.

 

The Pack was decimated at three positions (besides losing the league MVP for half a year.)

 

Down to our 5th string T. Hayward never plays and eventually we lose our best cover Shields. Then at OLB Datrone Jones is in???????????

 

Like to see any other team just lose by 3 to the 9ers with the sheit we had to play at those 3 postions.

I think the Packers could have beaten a Matthewsless Chargers and a Patriots team that was running on fumes.  Playoffs are all about matchups and unfortunately the NFC is not filled with cupcakes like the AFC.

FTFY

McGinn is right, the Packers have too many holes to fill with just their picks and the defense is predicated on Vets. Don't go nuts, but the Broncos got quite a bit of value out of FA with moderate/modest and even short-term deals.

If the Broncos lose Sunday. And Peyton decides to retire. The Broncos are going to be average at best for a lot of years and before long the fans in Denver won't have fond memories of the Elway free agent fantasy tour. That's the risk involved.

Draft and develop and be competitive each year knowing up front you're light on experience and probably a bit thin in depth or blow your wad right now for a shot at the ring knowing your staring at some dark years and potential cap hell whether you win or lose

Or the Broncs could win and Manning comes back for perhaps another win, Elway is exec of the year.  All would be well in Donkey land.

 (Edit: Meant for Chilijon's post)

 

 

And hopefully the Whiners will find themselves in cap hell without ever getting there.  At least since the Montana/ Walsh era.

So who have the Broncos "blown their wad" on that will throw them into cap hell?  

SEA and DEN can reign supreme all they want as long as SF doesn't get a whiff of another Lombardi.  I can live with that.  Happily.

The Whiners, not the Broncos.

Decker, Moreno, Shaun Phillips and Rodgers Cromartie are FA this year. Demayrius Thomas, Julius Thomas and Jacob Tamme become FA's next year. They don't have the $$$ to sign those guys with Peyton under contract through 2016. They will probably cut Champ Bailey 5 minutes after the SB Sunday. That will free up $10 million they'll badly need.

 

They have $75 million in cap $$$ slated towards the offense in 2014. Their window closes as soon as 2014 ends. 

The broncs have $58 million in manning's contract through 2016

They spent their resources on veterans over youth and it made sense given the window that manning has. Plus they didn't have to pay dumervil...

 

But those vets aren't getting any better and they are there in the first place because denver whiffed in trying to draft those positions.

 

So, now they have vets that can and will produce in the short term, but are still descending players. And if there were suitable replacements for them, they wouldn't have been signed in the first place.

 

From where denver is sitting, a shorter -term strategy probably makes sense.

The vikes thought it made sense and so did the eagles dream team and any number of teams that load up; fulling understanding the consequences. They aren't developing youth; those snaps are going to vets and that's ok

 

GB is in a different spot in terms of their window, and so they have behaved differently than other teams. As they should.

 

Lots of ways to skin the cat and if it works yer a genius, and if not you're a viking

 

I'm starting to think Denver knows a fax machine works if you want it to. 

 

A random Bob chat from 2011, interesting read in 2014

if yer bored...

 

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/138441944.html

 

 

Chillijon:

If the Broncos lose Sunday. And Peyton decides to retire. The Broncos are going to be average at best for a lot of years and before long the fans in Denver won't have fond memories of the Elway free agent fantasy tour. That's the risk involved.

But, the above is not nearly about differences in GM style as it is about the fact that when a team loses a HoF QB it's going to seriously impact things.

 

Right?

 

What if Rodgers decided to retire?  Of course he won't, but my point is what if the Packers were minus the same basic thing you refer to?

Don't see that as anything more than Bob parroting what appears to be the consensus view among fans and media members that TT needs to become a bit more involved in FA. I don't care how he does it, but several poor personnel decisions on his part have left  holes that need to be filled.

they aren't.  I think that is the point