Whatever the reason the passing game was just one big cluster F___ last season, injuries, receivers had difficulty getting off press coverage at LOS, no suddenness, separation on cuts, dropped balls, WRs & AR appearing to read different things, AR missing guys when they were open. MM seems confident that he has the answers to get us back to the level we are accustomed to, I guess that we have to have faith that this will happen.
PFT references a JSOline article about how "fierce" the competition will be at WR for the Packers this year. In that article, it doesn't say "Adams will be fighting for his NFL life" (my paraphrase). It says after Nelson and Cobb, "all receivers" will be fighting for their NFL lives - big difference there. So Florio is pulling that way out of context.
We all like Nelson - right? And we wish EVERY GB receiver would be like Nelson - right? If that were the case we had better find some patience. Nelson broke out in his FOURTH year. That means guys like Abby, Janis, and Adams have another ho-hum year to go to be like Nelson. Yet we all want them to be super stars - like Nelson - NOW - instead of waiting like we had to do with Nelson.
Enough of the history lesson. What gives me some hope this year are 3 things.
1) The chances of the OL, WR, and RB groups sustaining injuries all at the same time like they did last year are remote. And even if some of that happens this year, we have better depth - both from an ability and experience standpoint.
2) The one offensive group that did not have much injury issues - that I knoiw of anyway, was the TE group. And even though RR could catch passes he could not get the extra yards to go with them. As it was his 58 catches was the most, probably by necessity, on the Packer team. Now we have someone with the speed to do something with the ball once he gets it, we should be able to finally scare other teams from that position.
3) As some of you mentioned - speed. I think that without injuries we had enough of it last year. But when they hit they slowed the skill position guys and that was that. If Nelson is back to full speed, we have 3 burners. But overt speed isn't everything. Getting the playbook down, employing technique, and getting experience with the starter (AR) are key. But if everyone stays healthy we can eliminate speed as a concern. In the 6th game against SD, the last drive at the end of the game, Janis drew the penalty on the CB. It would have been a TD if the CB had not held. He drew another against Detroit. Janis maybe isn't the best practice player, but on game day he gets the job done. And not every route has to be a go route. Janis first TD in a Packer uniform came in the preseason of his rookie year on a crossing route against the Rams. That and the KC preseason game ensured he would be on the Packer roster - or the Pack would lose him.
DT Alex Karras had the rep as a poor practice player. In today's NFL this all-pro would have never seen the field in a regular season game. Time for MM to get over his Janis bad practice mantra.
That is a lot more than I thought I had time for. Back to work. .
And even with that cluster-phuck of an offense, they still went 10-6 and nearly made it to the NFC championship game. This year might be a wonderful opportunity to get to the next level of awesome.
I guess we just disagree. I think Janis found some success against the Cards because they had no film on him and weren't sure what to expect from him. Even with that his production was modest outside of two bomb passes. If he had gone in during the season I think defenses would have caught on quickly and he would have been less effective than Adams. He's not a polished receiver yet and that's not unusual for a WR in his 2nd year WR...it's not street ball. It's a precision system.
Agree, GD. Not only that but by in large the Cardinals were playing their #3 or #4 corner on Janis! most plays.
Look, my position on the guy is well documented. He has been extremely raw and gotten by on tremendous physical attributes. He needs to learn the nuances of becoming a legit NFL WR (route running, beating press coverage, etc.) and to my lights there is no better role model than Jordy Nelson in that regard. If he hasn't spent time in the offseason working with a WR tutor then that's a huge waste.
The other unknown is whether he just has the smarts to function in a read-and-react offense especially one as predicated on that as GB runs. It's one thing to know the playbook, it's another thing to make adjustments on the fly in concert with your quarterback and how the defense is playing you.
Grave Digger posted:I think also when a CB knows you're limited by an injury it gives them confidence to come up and challenge you with no fear. DA is a bigger WR and is more physical than smaller guys, but if an aggressive CB is all over you then it throws off the whole route and timing regardless of your style of play. That's what teams were doing to GB all year, no fear about challenging them at the line. A healthy Davante will be played different by CBs and if not then it will allow for more opportunities.
This is dead on. I usually don't blame injuries on poor performance but I really think that he had a really bad ankle (much worse than we thought). And CB's know this and they will challenge them at the line and no one can get open. I am more inclined to think that he is more of the WR that shows flashes of what he could be than the one we saw last year.
said it during the season, DA could only make cuts on one ankle. soon as a CB knows that he's gonna cut off all those angles and force you to use the ankle you don't want to. my belief is DA will be just fine.
Janis! Beat Patrick Peterson for the ball on the Hail Mary.
Everyone knows Janis! Can play. There's more to getting on the field from a coaching perspective than just playing on GameDay.
Charles Woodson sucked at practicing. Yet, he is/was a Hall of Fame player on GameDay.
Janis! May very well be a "gamer". It's the coaches job to recognize every players strengths & weaknesses & put them in the best position to succeed.
Duhvante is going to torch secondaries this season. Oh....and wait till they get a load of Cook in the seam.
Defensive Coordinators are $#hitting their pants & it's only Cinco DE Mayo.
I have a strange feeling we'll see 7 WRs on the opening day roster, sans injury, with four of them playing heavily on Special Teams: Janis, Abbrederis, Montgomery and Davis. W/ two suspensions that opens up a couple of spots early.
I agree, though Janis needs to get his act together if he wants to prolong his career. I recently rewatched the AZ playoff game and we left four points off the board early when he didn't break off his route in the corner of the end zone the way AR thought he would. I have a feeling he's either lazy or not smart enough and determined the way Jordy and Cobb are to work to get on the same page...
He's still just entering his 3rd year coming from a Division II school, there was bound to be a huge learning curve. I don't know what kind of offense SVSU ran, but I guarantee the scheme nor the defenses he faced were anywhere close to as sophisticated as what he's seeing now. WRs in this scheme have to make a lot of adjustments on the fly and have to read defenses like a QB, so if you were barely even running the entire route tree in college then I guarantee the concept of reading defenses and adjusting routes based on coverage is probably hard to comprehend. D1 players have a little bit of a leg up because defensive schemes can be more sophisticated and thus require some brain usage, but even those players have a big learning curve. Year 3 will be a big test for Janis, if he is not making progress with the mental side then I think he is the odd man out.
If GB only keeps 2 QB's (with another one on the PS) and one FB, that leaves two spots versus last year for either OL and or WR depth.
Sign him up. I bet Donovan McNabb would've dreamed of having a WR like that. Call him the Wormburner Express.
RE: Janis
This is from the cool history on AR thread... and I think it may tell us a lot about where Janis was last year.
It's well-documented by now, of course, that Rodgers has a keen mind. Current and former teammates, coaches and scouts – even Rodgers, himself, in making sly allusions to his high SAT and Wonderlic test scores – they all say the quarterback is cerebral to the Nth degree. And those are NFL people that are outwitted.
So how did an intellectually advanced teenager, especially in his football sense, deal with other high school kids who just didn't understand what the future NFL MVP understood?
"Getting other players to be on the same page, yeah, that was tough for him," Souza says. "That was frustrating for Aaron."
Back then, Souza says – and to an extent still, if last season's gesticulations were any indication – Rodgers would "wear his feelings on his sleeve," slumping his shoulders, throwing up his arms, yelling at teammates or just brooding.
Now some may call AR a diva or whiny self-entitled twit for this type of behavior, but he is the QB and he is the one responsible for making the offense go. So you better be on the same page as him. Janis catching 2 hail mary passes on the same drive for 101 yards is likely not the result of film study or being on the same page as the QB.
In the ARI playoff game Janis's targets/catches came against Justin Bethel, Tony Jefferson, and Jerraud Powers.
Hungry5 posted:In the ARI playoff game Janis's targets/catches came against Justin Bethel, Tony Jefferson, and Jerraud Powers.
Not this one....
#21 is Patrick Peterson
Janis! brings so much to the table on special teams, I think his roster spot is set.
When can we start teh real hand-wringing thread about Capers?
Does Capers bring capers to the table?
I know that Boris, but it's a hail mary where his athleticism made the difference. And it is his athleticism that makes him an intriguing project at WR and valuable on ST. I was referring to when he was targeted during a set play and his ability to run a clean route is key.
He has a few more ingredients to add to the defense this year. Should be able to spice things up a bit.
El-Ka-Bong posted:Janis! brings so much to the table on special teams, I think his roster spot is set.
When can we start teh real hand-wringing thread about Capers?
I missed the memo that we were supposed to stop.
Capers holds this defense back. It would be better if GB hired a better DC. Plenty have been available the last couple years.
I really don't see this as even being a discussion beyond Abby vs. Davis had the former been drafted out of any other college in the country.
Capers will lead this D to a top 10 ranking in points as Clay Matthews wins DPOY. Mark it down El-Ka-Capers.
IL_Pack_Fan posted:I really don't see this as even being a discussion beyond Abby vs. Davis had the former been drafted out of any other college in the country.
Abby could develop in to a really good slot receiver IF he can stay healthy which to this point he has struggled to do. He's smart, quick, plays hard, runs crisp routes, etc. Davis will have to prove he's all of those things before he unseats Abby. That's a Tennessee fan talking who cares nothing for Badgers.
Jim Schwartz and Wade Phillips were both available in the past couple years and both would have been an upgrade.
Jim Schwartz isn't Packer People. He's an utter prick.
If TT had hired Wade Phillips two years ago you would have freaked out. Up until 2015 he was another overrated retread who magically became elite when he had Von Miller, Malik Jackson, Derek Wolfe, Demarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, Chris Harris, etc. Funny what happens when you have all that talent.
Jim ****ing schwartz???? I would have to go to Green Bay and slap the stupid out of all of them.
Jim Schwantz and Wade Phillips? Is this a Karnak question?
Grave Digger posted:If TT had hired Wade Phillips two years ago you would have freaked out. Up until 2015 he was another overrated retread who magically became elite when he had Von Miller, Malik Jackson, Derek Wolfe, Demarcus Ware, Aqib Talib, Chris Harris, etc. Funny what happens when you have all that talent.
That's total BS. Phillips' defenses in Houston in 2011 and 2012 ranked 2nd and 7th in yards and 4th and 9th in points. And before that his defense in San Diego was very good. He's been better than Dom for years and he would've been a great hire for the Packers.
If Wade Phillips had managed to take the talent Ted gave him and not wet the bed, I would have been cool with that.
Dom and Wade have both managed an average points ranking of 12th since 2009. Dom had a 7th and 2nd points ranking in '09 and '10 also. Wade has wet the bed plenty and wouldn't have been an upgrade. As I said, another retread who, like Dom, can do a lot with a lot of talent.
You make a good point GD, we couldn't have done better than Dom.
There are certainly better coordinators, but those guys aren't often available. If you're going to fire your DC, hire someone with a bright future not another old retread who will probably get the same results. Wade would not have been an upgrade, it would have been at best a lateral move.
Fangio was available for a hot minute. I don't know what his ambitions are, if he wants a HC gig and therefore would only be a temp hire. Was probably also enticing to him that CHI would be rebuilding the D and he would have a hand in shaping it. Otherwise, he would have been the guy I would point to.
