Playoffs 2024

@fightphoe93 posted:

I came into this season thinking this was 1994 or 2009, sort of “The year before the year” for the Packers.  I still feel that way.  

Maybe the one thing different is that in 1994 and 2009 we had QBs who made huge improvements in the 2nd half of those seasons.  Love has played better in the 2nd half of this year, but I don’t feel like he’s made the jump to “elite” like Rodgers and Favre did.  Just to clarify, I know the Pack didn’t win the Super Bowl in ‘95 but I felt that squad and the QB did enter the NFL’s elite after ‘94 season concluded.

There’s still time for Love to make that jump, but these last 2 weeks haven’t been a good sign he’s going to make that happen.

I think that's the overall issue. They just don't have enough impact players. Cliff Christl used to write columns about the color grading schemes (summarized below). Basically, you need enough blues or reds to make plays in big games to win them and you need to avoid having greens or lower lose you games. The Packers may have fewer greens or lower playing than any team in football. They also don't have a HOF level player on their roster that are true impact players. In 1996, they had White, Favre, and Butler. In 2010, they had Woodson, Rodgers, CM3, and Nick Collins (and probably 3 WRs better than anyone currently on their roster).

It fits with what the Pro Bowl selections will look like. It may just be McKinney and Jacobs. Maybe Tom, Cooper, or Kraft get in, but it's not like they are going to be 7-8 guys.

Blues are the superstars/elite difference makers and future Hall of Famers.  McKinney is near that level this year, but he has not made as much impact the last quarter of the season.

Reds have the talent to be blues but show some inconsistency or are young but are still borderline Pro Bowlers. They can be blues in some games and may get their with more experience.

Purples are guys you can win with but don't really win games for you. You don't lose games because of them.

Greens are just guys, you can hide them if you have to play them, but they can get you beat if they are exposed.

Oranges and yellows are guys you need to replace or have as backups (oranges). You lose games if you have to play them too much and you can't really hide them.

Honestly, how many blues do the Packers really have? I'd say one, with another 2 guys at Red +.

Blues (1) - McKinney (-)

Reds (10) - Jacobs (+), Cooper (+), McManus (+), Love, Watson, Jenkins, Tom, Kraft, Nixon, Alexander (-)

Purples (15) - Reed, Doubs, Wicks, Q. Walker, Phelan, Bullard, Gary (but paid to be a red), Bullard, Clark, Wyatt, R. Walker, Valetine, Cox, Enagbare.

Greens or worse. Rhyan (+), Myers, Van Ness, McDuffie,

McKinney, but a "blue" safety isn't as valuable as an edge rusher, LT, or QB. Even then, I don't think he's a future Hall of Famer, so he's more of a Blue -. He's not as good as Nick Collins because he lacks elite speed, and he's not Leroy Butler.

The Red + guys are Jacobs, Cooper, and McManus. Jacobs is great, but he's not quite D. Henry, S. Barkley, or a healthy CMC. Cooper is going to be a blue very soon, if not already. McManus might be the best kicker I've seen them have - including Jacke, Longwell, and Crosby.

They have a bunch of solid "red" guys - Love, Watson, Jenkins, Tom, Kraft, Alexander if he's ever healthy, and Nixon as a returner.

They may have more purple starters compared to as few orange/yellow starters  as anyone in the league - Reed, Doubs, Wicks, Q. Walker, Phelan, Bullard, Gary (but paid to be a red), Clark, Wyatt, R. Walker, Valentine, Cox, Enagbare.

Greens among the key guys would be McDuffie, Myers, Rhyan, and Van Ness. That's pretty damning when your 2nd year 13th overall pick is someone you need to replace, but it is what it is. He may even be a yellow and the worst player they have that gets regular snaps.

I don’t necessarily agree with all the individual rankings but I sure do with the primary point. Packers just don’t have many players who can tilt the field decisively, as Ron Wolf used to say. Love certainly showed flashes during his late season run last year but not this season. Jacobs is a horse but not a game breaker. Etc etc.

Packers will likely finish the regular season 3 gams better than last year, and again be the 7th seed. Weird.

That’s a lot of words, I’ll give the Readers Digest version….too many JAGS.

@ilcuqui posted:

I don’t necessarily agree with all the individual rankings but I sure do with the primary point. Packers just don’t have many players who can tilt the field decisively, as Ron Wolf used to say. Love certainly showed flashes during his late season run last year but not this season. Jacobs is a horse but not a game breaker. Etc etc.

This is directly related to the whole "youngest team in the league" thing.  It's tough to get blue chip players, even tougher to draft all of them and have them reach blue in year 1 or 2.  This is another reason I think Gute needs to add a few more key X/JJ-like FAs at DL/DE, CB and or WR.  The current crop of youth needs to mature into better players and it's time to bolster that production with a few more high quality vets.  They'll have some cap to do that this offseason.  It is time.

It is frustrating that the Packers are 0 - 4 against the Lions and Vikings. But on a positive side good teams beat the teams they are supposed to beat.  And that is also this seasons Packers. They are a good team. Can they turn into a great team over the next few weeks, time will tell.   They did last season.

I was listening to Wilde and Tauscher. And a caller made a very, very interesting point and both of them agreed.

Had the the NFL not added a 7th playoff spot, the Packers would not have made the playoffs these past two years. Have you guys thought of that?

@DH13 posted:

This is directly related to the whole "youngest team in the league" thing.  It's tough to get blue chip players, even tougher to draft all of them and have them reach blue in year 1 or 2. 

And when you are drafting around 25th in rounds 1 and 2 for the past 8 to 10 years it is hard to draft blue chip players. And when 1 guy,(who is now gone) was eating up a substantial amount of cap space it was hard to afford blue chip free agents.

@R MaN posted:

Had the the NFL not added a 7th playoff spot, the Packers would not have made the playoffs these past two years. Have you guys thought of that?

The playoffs are better for the NFL if the Packers are in. Packers & Steelers are the 2 best traveling teams by a long shot.

The league knows.

Have you thought about, in the NFC you needed at least 11 and possibly 12 wins just to get in the playoffs this year??

I called 11 but didn't think 12 would be necessary, yet here we are.

@Boris posted:

The playoffs are better for the NFL if the Packers are in. Packers & Steelers are the 2 best traveling teams by a long shot.

The league knows.

Not playoff related, but apropro to @Boris’ post:

Just posted on SI.com:

According to a source, the Steelers are expected to play the Green Bay Packers in Ireland [in 2025]. Pittsburgh would operate as the home team, while Green Bay would view it as an away matchup.

@Boris posted:

The playoffs are better for the NFL if the Packers are in. Packers & Steelers are the 2 best traveling teams by a long shot.

The league knows.

Have you thought about, in the NFC you needed at least 11 and possibly 12 wins just to get in the playoffs this year??

I called 11 but didn't think 12 would be necessary, yet here we are.

Yes, the Pack and Steelers are great traveling teams but I would also submit they have fans, lots of fans in all citie, states and for that matter countries.  Just look at the membership of this site.  A lot of us don’t need to travel, the Pack will be coming to us.

@ilcuqui posted:

Not playoff related, but apropro to @Boris’ post:

Just posted on SI.com:

According to a source, the Steelers are expected to play the Green Bay Packers in Ireland [in 2025]. Pittsburgh would operate as the home team, while Green Bay would view it as an away matchup.

I think Green is going to go a lot better in Ireland than Black.

get your lucky 4 leaf clovers ready.

@ammo posted:

And when you are drafting around 25th in rounds 1 and 2 for the past 8 to 10 years it is hard to draft blue chip players. And when 1 guy,(who is now gone) was eating up a substantial amount of cap space it was hard to afford blue chip free agents.

Van Ness - 13th overall pick

Gary - 12th overall pick

Everyone else was in the 20s, except Jaire who was 18th overall.

It's called a setup. I wanted someone to spike it. You're welcome.

For what its worth: Lions receiver Amon Ra St. brown has over 100 receptions and ZERO drops.

@YATittle posted:

For what its worth: Lions receiver Amon Ra St. brown has over 100 receptions and ZERO drops.

Maybe on Facebook or some other social media that's accurate.  But according to Pro Football Reference, he has 4 this year. I'll go with the latter.

Maybe St. brown has zero drops but St. Brown has 4.

@ammo posted:

And when you are drafting around 25th in rounds 1 and 2 for the past 8 to 10 years it is hard to draft blue chip players. And when 1 guy,(who is now gone) was eating up a substantial amount of cap space it was hard to afford blue chip free agents.

But now Love is eating up a substantial amount of cap space.

I am happy GB has Love, but that's what you get when you don't take advantage of a rookie scale contract for your starting QB

@PackLandVA posted:

Maybe on Facebook or some other social media that's accurate.  But according to Pro Football Reference, he has 4 this year. I'll go with the latter.

Its what Aikman said on TV last night.

@Boris posted:

A more relevant version would be

Is Patrick Mahomes playing on Sunday?

No? - Denver is the 7th seed

Yes? - Then consider all the other alternatives.

@Boris posted:

Last year the 49ers playoff game got scheduled the same time as my flight. (yes I rescheduled), this year I went with a Monday flight but it's the wildcard Monday (totally forgot about that stupidity). Anyway, if we get that Monday game I'm gonna be pissed.

You ain't winning for losing are you? 

@YATittle posted:

Its what Aikman said on TV last night.

What kind a flights does Troy Aikman usually take?  (Another setup for someone)

How many concussions has Aikman had?

How many times has he been blasted in the chin?

My take: last year was pleasantly unexpected; this year is a reality check; next year... ?

Last year we didn't expect Love and the team to make any noise after the first five games because they were so bad. How unexpected the playoffs turned out to be! This year, I think the team overall thought they could just show up and it was magically going to happen for them; "team on the rise" and everyone singing their praises and all that BS. Instead, they have been shown that unless you lay it all on the line every play, every drive, every quarter of every game, you're going to get beat by elite teams -- it is something all rising teams need to learn. It's what they do next year that is going to determine what happens to this team for then and the next five years after that.

In other words, GB is still only a year away -- maybe two -- provided they take this punch in the mouth to heart and work harder than they've ever worked before.

I just don’t think they have enough impact players.   Jacobs has been a nice addition and Kraft has taken a step forward but none of the receivers have done so.  

The regression of Kenny Clark and Rashaun Gary is also pretty eye opening, not to mention Jaire Alexander basically hasn’t played the entire season.  Cooper looks like he could become a real stud.

Jordan Love is playing good, but not great. The OL has been decent, but not dominant.  

Special teams have been solid and showing up the kicking position was a nice move.  

When you add all of those things up, it’s a B level team.  In other words, a fringe playoff team.  

@Tschmack posted:

I just don’t think they have enough impact players.   Jacobs has been a nice addition and Kraft has taken a step forward but none of the receivers have done so.  

The regression of Kenny Clark and Rashaun Gary is also pretty eye opening, not to mention Jaire Alexander basically hasn’t played the entire season.  Cooper looks like he could become a real stud.

Jordan Love is playing good, but not great. The OL has been decent, but not dominant.  

Special teams have been solid and showing up the kicking position was a nice move.  

When you add all of those things up, it’s a B level team.  In other words, a fringe playoff team.  

Receivers I believe are a product of the offense's design. Love isn't zeroing in on one guy like Rodgers did with Adams.

Need a pass rush every week. Not every 4th game!

OL needs a center. Myers was terrible at run blocking against the Queens

Special teams have been excellent since LGB

This is anecdotal so take it FWIW…I know his tutor from back in the UCLA days..she says he needed tutoring.

But, so did I.

@lovepack posted:

What kind a flights does Troy Aikman usually take?  (Another setup for someone)

I've waited a year. Too long for joke timing.

The answer is red eyes.

@Tschmack posted:

When you add all of those things up, it’s a B level team.  In other words, a fringe playoff team.  

Wow.....an 11 win and possibly 12 win team a "fringe playoff team"

The Falcons and the Seahawks are "fringe playoff teams"

Maybe it's just me, but I'm enjoying this Packer season. I urge you folks to do the same.

Football fans make strange bedfellows…Boris and Mike Tice

Mike Tice, 'enjoy the season'" refers to a phrase often associated with the former Minnesota Vikings coach, where he would encourage fans to appreciate the current season even if the team wasn't expected to win a championship, essentially saying "don't get too caught up in the negatives, just enjoy watching the team play.".

Me too Boris.

Vikings vs. Packers.

Apples 🍎 vs. Oranges 🍊

Made me laugh though 😁

@Packiderm posted:

OL needs a center. Myers was terrible at run blocking against the Queens

Gotta have an upgrade @ C.

Monk was supposedly the draft steal tagged to take his job.  But I haven't seen his name since TC.

I am enjoying the season.  But if you take a close look at the Packers wins and losses the 11 wins are against teams they should have beaten.  A number of those teams are flat out terrible.  They are tracking as a 6/7 seed so yeah, they are on the edge or fringe.

I still think they are on track the next year or two in their progression.   Just need to shore up a couple of areas and hope some of the young pups continue to get better.

The journey is the reward.  And whether that journey takes 1 year or 4 years, there is still the reward.