Plenty of unknowns going into the season

The Green Bay Packers looked good in their last preseason performance, and Thursday’s game against the Titans means something only if you are Brian Brohm or Matt Flynn. So what you have seen the last three games is pretty much the best view of what this year’s team will be. Or is it?

While I think the preseason is indeed important, I think it is hard for people like myself to separate the individual performances from the team performance like coaches can. They can see a good play by a player on a play that gives up a touchdown and vice versa. Most of us just watch the marquee players and their challengers. I think the preseason is necessary, but three games is enough. Most teams play only scrubs the fourth game and with the exception of a few positions, the roster is pretty much set.

The problem is, we have not seen anything of running back Ryan Grant and very little, if anything, of players like Greg Jennings, Al Harris, Charles Woodson, A.J. Hawk, KGB and Ryan Pickett. The question is are the Packers being conservative or are the Packers facing a possible injury riddled season?

The one that worries me the most is Ryan Pickett. He is the heart and soul of that defensive line and without him they are not the same. At most he will only have one week of practice if he returns to practice in the next day or so. Not good.

Backup quarterback is also another major concern. Thursday might shed a little more light on that subject, but I am already on the record of saying neither of these two guys are worthy of backing up Aaron Rodgers. Daunte Culpepper is looking better and better every day.

More to come…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 10:58 pm 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.

  • http://n/a Packerpete

    I see way too many similarities between Grant this season and Dorsey Levens when he held out, was nicked in camp and then went out for the season in early season action. Lack of committment and action in camp usually bodes poorly for a successful season.

    Pickett likewise, I am waaaayyy concerned about the DT position as a whole, or as a hole… things are so thin you can see right through it, thats my story and Im stickin to it…

    IMO, the 3 – 4 should have been explored a LOT when Hodge, Bishop showed they belonged in the same conversation as Barnett, Hawk, Poppinga and Chillar….

    Safety is anything but safe, I like Rouses big play capabilities, but assignment surety and tackling sureness is lacking from one or all of the contenders… where is Leroy Butler when you need him, or his younger clone…

    Backup QB is indeed a disaster waiting to happen. GBP mgt should take a huge hit for thier offseason handling of this position. It reminds me of the guard situation in teddys first year… can you say Crash -Boom-Bang!

    WR looks strong, OT is steady, CB hanging in there, LB strong, TE pretty thin and not so good, OG just ????????, C undersized and coaching hot and cold, why is Schottenheimer on this staff??? Philbin is a good OL coach, but I dont see him as much of an OC, McCarthy has a figurehead in the position so he can playcall and run the O, one more brain would actually help methinks. Time for Sanders to put up or shut up and get canned, the talent is there (except for maybe DT) so the D better peerform to a very high level THIS SEASON.

  • Reid

    I am going to keep telling myself that it’s all a posture to get ready for the opening game. This game is VITALLY important to this season. If we lose, that means we lose at home to the 2nd best team in our division (behind us, of course). A loss would put us in a deep hole to start the year. We cannot afford to lose this game.

    That said, the GBP is being extremely careful about playing guys in positions that lack depth. How in the hell does Pickett pull a hamstring? Was he running pass routes? C’mon, we are conserving these guys for the opener because we absolutely must win.

    The Vikes will have no idea who we are playing or what we are playing. We need to have them thoroughly confused and step on their necks early and often.

    The sky is not falling.

  • http://Orlando Mark

    Reid, I agree. The Dline was huge for us last year. Keeping blockers off our LB’s and pressuring the passers without risking the blitz. We’re worse this year but can make up for that with a ball controll offense. We have the passing game to back them off but we have to run the ball and we can. No excuses, we have great special teams and home field. The ball bounced our way last year and I don’t think that was an accident, I think it was good positive coaching. The players kept their heads up and took advantage of opportunities.

  • Larry

    Wouldn’t you just know it! Three good “FOOTBALL” posts and here comes Jon with a psycho analysis of Al. Jon, Brett has left the building…………

  • JeffN

    No big surprise that there are unknowns going into the season. This is how it is every year. Although maybe more unknowns this year than what we are used to. I still feel a lot better with a huge amount of unknowns with Mc Carthy than I did going into a season with only a few unknowns when Sherman was at the helm.

  • Michael Legat

    Please don’t feed the trolls, Larry.

  • Dan

    The Viqueens ranked dead last in pass defense last year. As long as it’s not some freakish weather, we should roll over them.

    I agree with others, our d-line is a major concern.

    Even if our d-line struggles, I think our special teams will be the difference in the game.

  • Mel e Mel

    Matt Flynn should be the backup end of story. I live in SEC country and saw a lot of Louisville and LSU. Brian Brohm is a scrub, this is a guy who lived off the Middle Tennesee States of the world. Matt Flynn is not pretty but he is effective.
    All the talk about uncertainty should be reflected back to last year opening day beating the Eagles without scoring an offensive touchdown and an experienced QB like McNabb. Now we face Tavaris Jackson. Adrian Peterson is the Offense of the Vikes. Tavaris should give at least one game changing turnover. Also 0 running game opening day of last year. The Vikes will have to play us honestly.

  • Oconomowockid

    I have not been impressed with the pre-season. I don’t think we have shown consistency in many parts of our game. The D-line and O-line are major concerns. I also think we should have played Rodgers more in pre-season. He has limited real game experience and needed more snaps before the season begins.

    Only the season will tell, so no excuses, lets win!!

  • Reid

    “Mom, bring me down another chicken burrito!” – Jon, from his home in his mother’s basement.

  • Michael Legat
  • Reid

    And really original too.

  • JeffN

    The backup defense played awesome last night against the Titans starters. When your backup defense is playing the other teams first team defense and you keep it to a 1 score game you are doing pretty awesome! The only major concern I have is the amount of injuries they have on the offense and defesive line but none of those seem to be serious.

    Rodgers is going to be the star of the team this year. He is a stud!

  • Roy Jamison

    Let’s face it, these preseason games are a farce. You could play one or two or them, but it just shakes the can and mixes the marbles. The NFL needs to cut at least two of these idiot games, because they produce nothing. The best idea was when they had the cheese league where teams could line up and play one another in practice to witness rookie matchups. That is more valuable, plus they don’t pass the tin cup for people to pay good money to watch a very poor brand of “NFL” football. If you want that, go to an Arena league game which is much more exciting.

  • Oconomowockid

    If our defense has been playing pretty awesome, I must be watching different games. Our D line has been gashed a a regular basis. Injuries may be an issue but was are supposed to be deep in quality back-ups, so this shouldn’t be a problem.

    We will know if Aaron is a stud or not at the end of the season. It is all about wins and losses.

  • JeffN

    If you were watching the game last night you would have noticed our 2nd string defense played against the Titans starters for most of the game and kept it to a 1 score game. That’s pretty good for a 2nd team defense which is what I said. Our backup defense played pretty awesome.

  • Oconomowockid

    If you watched the whole pre-season we have had a huge problem stopping the run. It is a problem no matter how you look at it. We will be able to tell how big a problem this is after the first couple of regular season games. If is as bad as the pre-season we better have Aaron scoring a lot of touchdowns.

  • http://www.packernet.com admin

    I agree that stopping the run appears to be a huge problem. Ryan Pickett’s return will help that. But I’m worried about the lack of progress from Colin Cole and Johnny Jolly. I thought Jolly was going to take over. Let’s hope one of those guys step up when the bullets start to fly.

  • CheesyD

    I fully expect Adrian Peterson to rack up 200 yards on opening night. The run defense just hasn’t been there for the Packers. I think we’ll have to win that one in a shootout.

  • Jeff

    If AP runs for 200 yards, I think we’re smoked. Yeah, the Vikes were last against the pass last year, but I think that has at least something to do with the fact that nobody could run against them. Teams had to pass a lot. Rodgers can prove a lot to me in week one if he performs.

    On the present roster moves – why drop Hodge who has looked so good at times and keep guys like Bush and Peprah? I really doubt they’d get picked up anywhere with the performances they’ve turned in here. Let them stay in shape, and we’ll call ‘em if we need ‘em.

    Why boot Ryan? OK, he wasn’t the best punter in the NFL when it came to net yards, and the Bear game was a disaster. At least he was a threat to do something on a fake, and he had one of the best gross yardages in Packer history. What am I missing?