Going into this game the 2 big things people were worried about was Allen Barbre at RT and our 3rd string currently acting 2nd string QB Brian Brohm.

Just like I said the 2 previous games I have seen nothing about Barbre that has me concerned he can’t do the job. I’m still not concerned about the RT spot.

As stated above Brohm is not all that far off pace from where Rodgers was in his 2nd season. Leave the guy alone for cry-in-out-loud. Besides he is our 3rd stringer and Flynn should be back off injury soon enough, and for Pete sake Rodgers is the QB not Flynn or Brohm anyway so let’s chill out about our 2nd and 3rd string QBs. With the fact that Rodgers played all 16 games last season and is getting BETTER protection from his line this season let’s just for once not worry about Rodgers getting injured.

I have to admit tho as the optimist that I am, I was shocked to see how well Rodgers threw that deep ball last night. I previously his deep was good but did not think his deep ball was that good. He shocked the shit out of me.

Iccy and Rock -

I have no problem admitting I am wrong. All I care about is the Pack winning, which is what my threads always say. It is much easier for you to pidgeon-hole, stereotype and judge people than actually read what their saying. Go back and read my threads. My common message this whole offseason has been 9-7 and the playoffs or bust.

If that happens I will gladly eat my words about my concerns with current management, praise MMARTT and be happy watching playoff games being wrong. Unlike you guys who always need to be right I am fine being wrong and winning. I’d rather be wrong and go 12-4 than be right and 6-10.

I still disagree with TT about not loading up in ’07 with favre, that will never change, but that doesn’t mean I want the Packers to lose because I disagree with a decision TT made in the past.

I post on this stupid blog as a hobby due to my great love of the green and gold but my true passion is seeing the Packers win. 2 years ago that’s all anyone cared about.

And today that’s still all I care about.

To me McCarthy and Thompson deserve to be fired if we don’t go to the playoffs this year having had 4+ years to build their team and if we go they all earned the right to keep their jobs. That is the bottom line.

Matt Hayton Says: “I have no problem admitting I am wrong. All I care about is the Pack winning, which is what my threads always say. It is much easier for you to pidgeon-hole, stereotype and judge people than actually read what their saying.”

Whatever, Matt. Without doing a statistical analysis of past threads, I’d submit that 75% of what you post is anti-TT rhetoric. Witness last season’s brilliant assessment that TT is one of the worst GM’s in the league or your recent theoretical study of moves he could / should have made and what WOULD have resulted. Now you understand where I’m coming from…

Watching the playback of the game and realized that Arizona played all their starters with Leinhart to start the second half against our second team / those trying to make the team. So he moved the ball well but the defensive starters for the Packers were out of the game. It’s kinda fun listening to the Arizona commentators – man, to open the second half they are all about Leinhart and they don’t even mention that the ball is moving well against our second team. I also noticed the Packers did keep Raji on the field to get him more playing time.

I saw some things I didn’t like in the play calling but overall the performance in the first half was effective. I DO like the fact that if the Defense lets a big play go that they also seem to have the ability to recover from it now – not so last year. Seems all phases of the game have come together nicely.

I’m optimistic as long as we can keep from the “big play” happening too many times.

“#12 was sharp as a tack”– I hear you, Mark, just not sure that is strong enough praise for the performance last night. I mean, even some of the more mundane passes looked like they were placed with a laser sight. I need to see this level of performance against a team we know is good (agree with you totally about the difficulty in assessing how good these opposing D’s are) late in the season, but it is hard to argue what he did last night is a fluke when you put it in context of his overall number’s this preseason.

Again, we need to see it when the real fur is flying, but it’s becoming clear to me we’ve got something here with Rodgers. I think it’s legitimate to worry about a sophomore slump type of thing, or a regression, but this kid sure looks a long way from anything like that happening. My only remaining question mark is durability as far as Rodgers is concerned.

Agree again that in the joy of watching that first half demolition last night, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that there are still things to work on. Like we had some penalties on those early drives that could have led to stalls, it’s just easy to forget about when the O is so good that it scores a touchdown anyway. Hopefully that’s another problem from last year we can get corrected.

One 4-12 year got Sherman fired, as HC at that point, past successes be damned. I seem to remember we had a few injuries that season as well.

The whole point is that you weigh success over a period of time. I wasn’t calling for TT’s head after his first year as GM when we went 4-12 and that wouldn’t have been fair. I also don’t think it was fair that Sherman got fired from HC after that one season, but that’s the way it goes. I didn’t lose any sleep over it.

All I’m doing is applying the same logic to the current management and HC. As it stands now, we have one decent season to the both of them and I feel they have had plenty of time. If our regular season this year resembles anything like we looked last night, I’ll say they’ve made some good moves and away we go.

Also, didn’t see what you did to cheer about in the D last year, especially after approximately mid-season.

Punk Larry – Why things work or fail is a task for engineers to determine; sales guys don’t know why things happen, but they promise 100% perfection in all applications and point fingers when a problem arises! Of course they don’t have the expertise to troubleshoot so they just make lots of noise until somebody else fixes their problem! Matt says I’ve unfairly stereotyped him so I’m laughingly taking it to a new level!

Wow! Is there any discussion of the Packers here or just a mutual disrespect society meeting? This is a discussion thread for the NFL football team, the Green Bay Packers. How great would it be if someone could log on here and read thoughtful insightful comments related to the Green Bay Packers football team, players and management and game action without sorting through all the “will I be right or wrong with my crystal ball prognostications” or “so-and-so is a fool because he/she believes such-and-such”.

It sure seems as if the posters here know some football and are obviously passionate fans of the Green Bay Packers, how about we all try to take this to a more productive level and acquire a little thicker skin if someone else’s views do not align perfectly with our own, although iccy’s comment on sales personnel sure rings true… LOL!?

OK, enough of the preaching even though it is Sunday morning…

The Pack sure looks to be in mid-season form, and this without the benefit of the family night scrimmage. I am inpressed with the push generated by our “new” OL. I watched Sitton in isolation many times in the latest game action and he is a vast improvement over Spitz at RG on run plays. Sometimes simply having one part of a complex unit improve can help all other parts perform better. In the run game, having a RG that can move people backwards makes the C and RT jobs much easier as well as providing a “bubble” for the FB to enter and gain momentum before engaging his block. Overall, much better push and good results in not having the “no gain” runs which contributed a great deal to Grants poor YPG last season.

If we can maintain consistency in our early down run game, the rest of the play-calling and overall success of our offense sure looks great with the weapons like our “best in the NFL WR’s” and emerging TE Finley. It really does all start “up front”.

PackerPete, I agree with Punk we often have to stick up for our Packers on this blog. Not that it’s too big of a deal lately as they are all in their pre-emptive stages of back peddeling and making excuses for all the noise they have been making. Good to see your analysis, that’s what I like to see and want to see more of in the coming weeks.

Iccy on salesman:

“they promise 100% “—and deliver or they get fired. Haven’t been fired yet so my success ratio IS 100%

For Punk: A finance guy never made anything happen.

JeffN:
“stick up for our Packers on this blog”—This defines the difference. You can look at a turd and justify it as “our Packers.” I can’t. When they’re weak, they’re weak.

You guys make it make sense however it works in your brain. I think the results speak for themselves, and expect results. Have said about a thousand times now that I don’t care who gets it done, just want it done.

JeffN,

“pre-emptive stages of back peddeling “–Seriously. You all or nothing guys put yourself in a box of your own creation. If people don’t all goosestep to the same cadence, they’re not a fan. It’s not an argument that somebody has to win. It’s wanting the best for your team, and desiring that we maximize opportunites. If you don’t get that, I’m sad for you, my street cred be damned, perhaps I’m not really a Packer fan, I post on so many any other blogs it’s hard to tell.

P-B,

I can’t side with JeffN on the “ignore” P-B directive because I just find you so darn amusing! I love the “goosestep” reference; if we’re the board Nazi’s I guess you see yourself as the dashing French Resistance Fighter.

In my movie version, the resistance fighter goes to a boarded-up warehouse and gives the secret knock, upon which he is admitted. The other resistance fighters look up expectantly in anticipation of wisdom; our hero begins hesitantly, works the crowd into a frenzy and belts out,

“You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That’s what it’s all about.”

You are all over the place with your observations, followed by qualifying statements, all in the name of “calling it like I see it”. This was my favorite of the weekend:

“it’s becoming clear to me we’ve got something here with Rodgers. I think it’s legitimate to worry about a sophomore slump type of thing, or a regression, but this kid sure looks a long way from anything like that happening.”

Your comedic style is reminicent of Steven Wright, dry and so simple that it’s hilarious, (ie – I spilled spot remover on my dog; now he’s gone)… It’s gold Jerry, it’s gold!

Whoops – there I go again with the Mutual Disrespect Society stuff! Back to Packer Football:

As I watch the preseason progress, my only real concern is lack of depth in the secondary. Rouse, Bigby, Peprah, Blackmon & P. Lee continue to be nicked up and unable to perform in pre-season games. How many DB’s will Ted keep and who’s on the outside when cuts are necessary? What do we have in Pat Lee? Will Atari be able to stay healthy and return to 2007 form?

Just finished watching the Bears. Very Ordinary. They could have signed Johnny Unitas and it wouldnt matter. They run the same HS offense. The defense showed absolutley nothing. An added bonus was that Orlando Pace couldnt block 5-11 Elvis Dumervil. This is almost too good to be true. Jay Cutler will be throwing his new team under the bus in short order. GO PACK GO!

Mel, the Bears may not be great but from what I saw Cutler is an improvement over Orton. Their running game is good and their special teams are superior. Their coach has found ways to beat us with inferior talent before and it would be a mistake to take them lightly. Of course, I expect us to win if we realize how hard and important the opener will be.

Cutler absolutly is an improvement over Orton at least from a talent perspective. How much have other parts of their team declined from last season? I just have a feeling once we add it all up the Bears won’t be all that good this season.

I’ve also read Cutler got in the face of one of his WRs in practice and in a bad way. I’ve also heard his teammates in Denver didn’t like him when he was there. I just wonder how much he takes the Bears backwards in the locker room.

Iccy,

As far as Rodgers, I should have said that I thought it WAS legitimate to be concerned about the possibility of a sophomore slump, wasn’t meaning to indicate that I am still concerned about it. Such are the limitations of posting on the internet—I usually just type away and hit send without reviewing for poor grammar, context, etc. Sometimes what I screw up what I am trying to say, sorry.

My take on Rodgers is that he has all the physical tools you could ask for, is obviously well versed in the system and has benefitted from having time to grow into the role, is surrounded by weapons and has the brains and attitude necessary to become an elite QB. He needs to demonstrate the ability to perform like that in a big game situation and I’m not ready to make a reservation for him in Canton just yet, but really my only remaining question about him is his ability to stay healthy, and and only time will answer that one.

BTW, this is nothing different than how I’ve felt before. I’ve always felt there was no way to pass on Rodgers, and to this point he has done everything we’ve asked of him and more. If he can continue to develop and does become our version of Steve Young, a HOF’er following a HOF’er, no one will be happier than I.

p_b, why is now any different than next year or five years from now in that all QBs get nicked up and get hurt? Why do you seem more concerned about him playing through it than any other of the elite 31? They all get hurt and the injury is brought to them, they don’t bring it upon themselves. The difference is that some have a higher pain threshold than others (like BF) and it truly depends on the kind of injury they sustain. Also, the OL is stronger, now, than in quite some time. You’ve got to relax, man, accept the fact that nobody is going to break BFs streak and its not a one-man team. We are strong enough to win games with him on the bench.

I’m looking forward to a Bears-beat-down in week 1. Thursday night’s game will be a nice appetizer as the 3 preseason games have been. Don’t even care if we win or loose the last preseason game. In regards to the Bears beating us with inferior talent, we will get that monkey off our back week 1.

I know this is all preaseason but I look at it from the perspective of we are playing well doing things right and I see the makings of a Colt’s type offense from 3-5 years ago.

Cutler is a fine QB but if you dont protect him (LT past his prime Orlando Pace) and give him no weapons nothing really changes. Get up 10 pts on the Bears and they are helpless.

JeffN, one of the things I always got upset about in the 70s and 80s was the lack of the killer instinct. We just wouldn’t grind people into the turf when we had the chance. Hence, we lost a lot of games we should not have against teams we should have beat. REGGIE brought that 60s mentality back. This team seems, so far, to have the necessary aggressiveness and its on both sides of the line. Plus its coming from all positions. I’m sure we will come out of the tunnel against TEN just like we have all Pre and continue the attitude with the Bearse.

There is a strong possibility Rodgers could be in the celebrity spot light depending on his performance this season. I think he as a really good head on his shoulders and could handle it as well as anybody. The Packers organization is one of the most well run organizations in the NFL. I can pretty much guarentee you that they have already been preparing Rodgers for this behind the scenes.

“P_b is worried about the physical, I worry more about the mental.”

It’s not that I don’t worry about the mental, it just doesn’t seem applicable with Rodgers. He went through a trying test last summer and passed with flying colors. He seems focused and driven, puts in EXTRA work, what a concept.

I completely agree with you that the temptations that come with the fame and the money can turn guys into a headcase, just haven’t seen any inkling of that from AR so far. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen though, I guess.

I forgot to mention that I don’t see Hester as an answer for a top flight receiver. Olson is a good TE, Forte is a good back, but how many years has it been since the Bears had a good wr set?

1995 Bears, I looked it up. Erik Kramer threw for 3800 yards, Jeff Graham had 1300 yards receiving and Conway over a thousand, plus Rashaam Salaam (remember him?) rushed for a 1000 yards in his rookie year before his NFL career went up in a puff of marijuana smoke.

Who’s?????????

Sorry, DA, I was referring to the Bears all time leading passer, Sid Luckman. The man played from 1939 to 1950 and still is their all time passing leader with 14686 yards and TD leader with 137. I find it hilarious no one has broken these records in 59 years.

This was all in response to Punk’s initial question about when was the last time the Bears had a decent receiving corps.