Brutal homecoming for Rodgers

Playing behind a makeshift offensive line in front of his home crowd, Aaron Rodgers looked every bit the young inexperienced quarterback he is. It wasn’t all Rodgers fault, although he held the ball too long on three of his four sacks and seemed uncertain where to go with the ball at other times, his receivers are having a hard time catching the ball this year. For the second straight game Donald Driver dropped a perfectly thrown ball that hit him right in the hands, this one had six points written all over it. Not to be outdone, tight end Donald Lee dropped a perfectly thrown pass in the end zone after a Charles Woodson interception set up the Packers at the 49ers’ seven. Two plays that could have changed the game.

For the second straight week the Packers running games was a non-factor and on the other side of the ball the defense played well for a quarter but the second the backups come in the flood gates opened for the 49ers. The secondary and defensive line have to be areas of concern due to lack of depth, but nothing like the problems the offensive line faces. If head coach Mike McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson can’t shore up that unit or find the right combination, it will be a long season for the Packers. I mean really, where is Jason Spitz going to start next week? Running back? Tight end? This is getting ridiculous. Darren Colledge couldn’t block my grandmother.

If the Packers wanted a wake-up call, they got it. The offensive line is horrible, the backup quarterbacks suck and the receivers can’t catch. Seems like the Packers miss Greg Jennings and Ryan Grant more and more each week. Getting those two back will help, but without an offensive line, it won’t be enough.

It is only preseason and by no means is it time to panic. Two more games to work out the kinks. Back to the drawing board after a lesson learned. This is what preseason is for, and judging from the tone of McCarthy’s voice last night, this all-around poor performance will be addressed. However, the Packers will be playing their third game in 13 games on Friday, so unlike most third preseason games, I don’t see this one as being the usual dress rehearsal for the regular season. Any nicked up starters will likely sit out again. I do expect Rodgers to play into the third quarter, however. That is if he isn’t maimed in the first half.

More to come…

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 17th, 2008 at 7:38 am and is filed under Al Davis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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  • Jon

    TRIP wrote: “One thing I like about the Favre trade is that TT and MM have to really prove they are the genuises they think they are.”

    I agree. And pretty soon we’ll see not just how dumb they are, but how dumb Al and SleazyD are, too.

  • http://www.packernet.com admin

    Jon, answer me one question. Who is your favorite National Football League team?

  • CheesyD

    SleazyD?

    Moronic?

    Dumb?

    You’re calling me all these names and you say I’m the one who’s “pithed off”?

    I’ll say it again, Jon. You never fail to disappoint!

    ROFLMAO!!

  • http://www.packernet.com admin
  • Jon

    Admin,

    Who is your favorite team? The Vikings or the Bears?

  • Dan

    Someone like O’Sullivan lights up our solid defense and we struggle against the 25th ranked defense.

    This has to get fixed right away. We’ve played against terrible defenses (25th and 27th in 2007). We have to play top tier defenses like the Bucs and Colts early in the season. We can’t afford a full season with a line and backs that repeatedly miss blocks. I fully expect the Packers to bounce back. Preseason or not, if Rodgers gets knocked out it would take a miracle for the Packers to make the playoffs.

    Pull the starting QB and then play with your line. Didn’t we learn anything from throwing underperforming rookies into the line in 2005? We can’t afford to go through injuries like we did in 2005.

  • matt

    Call me crazy if warranted, but Flynn reminds me of Brady.

  • TRIP

    He is just like Brady, in the sense that he was barely drafted. LOL, that’s about it!

  • AllAboutThePack

    I believe no matter what happens this year, since BF is gone, Jon just will never be happy – that’s why I’m wondernig if he isn’t one of those Viqueen or Bears infiltrators… :) He’s just here to stir the pot… Al? Did you hire Mr. Bias to be one sided and bitter to keep the threads flying? LOL…

    Anyway, I’ve decided to hold no stock in the preseason at this point, but everytime I see names of starters on the injury list it makes me really nervous. There’s a whole lotta season left.

  • http://Orlando Mark

    AATP it’s my opinion that Jon cares just as much as you about the Pack. And, he can’t understand how you can support TT in getting rid of our best chance to win. I didn’t get it either ’till I realized that you and Al and a lot of fans blame him for our playoff losses and were only too happy to push him out. It’s old news. The NFL isn’t an opinion poll. If TT was too cheap, or pridefull or stupid to get this right he should go back to player personnel. Meantime we have some good players and a good coach and if we don’t do as well as we should maybe we can bring back Andrw Brandt as GM.

  • AllAboutThePack

    Whoa there Mark, I do NOT support TT nor do I support all of the choices made by management – I DO however, support the Packers Team. I think Mr. McCarthy is a hell of a guy to put up with a lot the crap that TT and BF caused and I think he’s a hell of a coach. Too bad he’s associated with TT since TT hired him. Same goes for AR, he’ll be a hell of a QB but his association makes him the turd in the punchbowl for all the BF lovers.

    And in reponse to this statement: “I didn’t get it either ’till I realized that you and Al and a lot of fans blame him for our playoff losses”

    When you say “you and Al” I assume you’re saying I’ve said something in the past blaming BF – never happened. It was a team loss, not a BF loss. In fact, I hope BF has a great year and sticks it to TT (in a small way). But at the same time I hope AR does a great job and helps our current team rock and roll into the playoffs – I won’t play the odds on that one unfortunately. Somewhere in the back of mind I’m also running the “what if’s” just as Jon does, but reality is a real pain in the ars so I’ve – and I say this very loosely – accepted where we are today and hope for the very best for our team and BF. Might not have been that way had he gone to the Viqueens.

  • Bad Steve

    It’s just preseason,I see this team going out and siging a veteran QB. You’ve read my post and what I think.On another note, injuries in this div. during a season Anything is possible.

  • http://Orlando Mark

    AATP, my mistake, sorry.

  • Jon

    AllAbout wrote: “I believe no matter what happens this year, since BF is gone, Jon just will never be happy – that’s why I’m wondernig if he isn’t one of those Viqueen or Bears infiltrators”.

    Jon writes: “I believe no matter what happens this year, since BF is gone, Al and the tedophiles will always be happy – that’s why I’m wondernig if they aren’t one of those Viqueen or Bears infiltrators.”

  • IC Cyclone Fan

    The Sky is Falling! The Sky is Falling! It’s Ted Thompson’s fault and this would never have happened if Brett Favre was still our QB, of that you can be certain! The Sky is Falling!

    I’ve loved the Packers thru Bart Starr, Scott Hunter, John Hadl, Lynn Dickey, David Whitehurst and Randy Wright; while Brett Favre may be my favorite of all-time, my fanship is for the Packers Organization. Playing the “what if” game is silly and pointless; the team will survive and prosper both this season and in future seasons. I can’t think of another executive I’d rather have running the Packers, save possibly Parcells, and he stays nowhere for very long. Hey, didn’t Parcells dump Phil Simms, a HOF Super Bowl winner, coming off a Championship game, in favor of an unknown quantity named Jeff Hostetler? How’d that work out? I can see the future and it’s very bright! In Ted I trust (and I’m not comparing him to the Almighty, but I do think very highly of his personnel picking prowess)! :)

  • http://rickrushart.com Dirk

    I’m not sure if BF could have helped that display last Saturday. Maybe if he played DB or LB? Still, McCarthy would have had to start him. Rodgers is inexperienced and I’m sure TT’s looking to bring in a veteran QB as we speak. It’ll take time but I have faith in the green and gold. Check out this painting of BF.

  • CheesyD

    I doubt we’ll see a vet QB come in, unless to be 3rd QB.

  • Oconomowockid

    We need a veteran QB. Everyone can keep living in the fantasy world that we have much better players than we do at QB, but the truth is we don’t. Rodgers is doing fine, the rest of the bunch have potential, but limited ability to help us this year. Thompson’s ego may force us to keep three untested rookie quarterbacks. I hope for the best but fear for the team if Rodgers would go down. The way our line is playing I fear for all the quarterbacks health.

  • Larry

    I don’t think they’re are any vet QBs out there worth anything or they’d be in camp already. I’ll trust TT and MacK on that (or whomever is in charge of personnel now). I further think the “Rookies” are going to do just fine. I’m an optimist and think that other than Lombardi/Lombardi and Wolf/Holmgren this is the best combination we’ve ever had and so far I’ve yet to be proven wrong.

  • Oconomowockid

    We will run with rookie QB’s because of Thompson’s ego and his desire to put no pressure on Aaron. We are extremely weak at quarterback. To supposedly be a playoff caliber team and have no quarterback on your roster with starting experience is a very poor position to be in. Ted and Macko will prove their worth this year. If we are not back in the playoffs and winning the division easily this season it will be viewed a setback.

  • Larry

    Ego, Ego, Ego, thats nuts. Ego never kept a job or a pay check. A lot of you people look at this team like you do the single “owner” teams; its not! Ego has never been a factor here, but solid business decisions (yes, even the right $ to spend on free agents) have been. This place, like no other in the NFL, is run like a traditional Business and thats led to the success we’ve all enjoyed over the years. Thats why we’re still all here. Judging by our collective comments, I don’t think any of could be fans of any other franchise in the NFL.

  • Pete

    Alright, enough is enough,., PACKER FANS!! we have to remeber that the whole QB issue in GB is not and was not Arod’s descission. We are Packer Fans ! Whom ever takes the snaps must be supported if we expect this club to sucessful. If you people love Brett that much, Great, move to New York with him.,. Brett saved this franchise and personally I’m thankful for that. But MM and TT made a choise after once again for the 4th year in a row Brett said that he was going to retire,, what else the the orginization supposed to do?? Go after a back-up QB for Arod. His is our future now and with out our support he will fail.. SUPPORT HIM !!!!!!!

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