Packerholic

Another loss and the Packers are officially out of the playoffs. Like we were going to make it anyway. Another depressing loss that I honestly don’t really want to talk about. This team has no energy whatsoever and appeared to want to lose today. Well the good thing is that we will most likely have a top ten pick (we have the #7 pick right now) and we will also have an extra second rounder thanks to the Favre trade (if the Jets continue to play like they did today they will be headed home shortly after the Packers since it seems like they will be one and done in the playoffs).

So why did we lose today? This was a team loss. If anyone blames the loss on Rodgers they are sadly mistaken. While his late interception ended the game that is not the only reason we lost today. Before that injury he also played pretty well in my opinion. Even if Rodgers ended up leading the team down the field for another lead, as long as there was time on the clock the special teams and defense would ahve once again blown the game and we still would have lost the game.

The one good thing about our defense stinking it up once again is that Bob Sanders will be receiving his pink slip at the end of the season. He can also take all his assistants with him except for Lionel Washington. If Bob Sanders is not fired at the end of the season I think Mike McCarthy should be shown the door as well (that is how much Bob Sanders needs to be fired). The defense deffinently has some holes but there is no question whatsoever that Bob Sanders is not helping things. His scheme is predictable, he can’t even teach basic fundamentals like tackling, and his playcalling is downright terrible. I don’t know how many games this defense has blown in the last minutes of the game, but it has gotten way out of hand. I will be shocked if this defense can actually stop a team with the game on the line.

Along with the defensive struggles I have to say that McCarthy needs to give up playcalling since I don’t think you could find a much worse playcaller. McCarthy almost always seems to be able to find the worst possible play. I want to know why we call three runs and can’t even gain a yard. I also want to know why Brandon Jackson wasn’t given a chance. Brandon Jackson almost always makes a play when he gets his hands on the ball and yet he still doesn’t get any playing time. I have no idea why.

So what positives can be drawn from this game:

1. James Jones showed why he can be a very good receiver in this league if he actually stays healthy. I think James Jones will have a breakout season next year if he can actually stay healthy next season.
2. I thought Aaron Rodgers was having a pretty good game before the late game interception. I think the late game interceptions will be eliminated once Rodgers has more experience and doesn’t have the pressure of the whole team on his shoulders.
3. The Packers actually blitzed this week. I almost forgot what a blitz was since we never blitz. Our linebackers also showed that they can be sucessful if the defense actually gives them a chance to make a play. I think our linebackers could make a complete 180 next season if Sanders is fired and a defensive coordinator is brought in that will actually utilize the blitz and actually have some creative plays.
4. While Jeremy Kapinos didn’t get a lot of punts this week, he punted well once again. I think he could possibly have a future with the team. Obviously this is too early to make a decision but I like what I am seeing out of Kapinos. Hopefully he can continue to punt well the rest of the season.
5. As I mentioned earlier, Bob Sanders and Mike Stock’s jobs with the Packers are nearing their end. I personally wish we could fire both tomorrow but we will probably wait till the end of the season. Hopefully the Packers can find a good defensive coordinator that will actually run a defense that isn’t considered the most predictable in the league.
6. Changes have to be made this offseason. If the Packers made it to 500 there would have been less pressure to make needed changes. Thompson and McCarthy don’t really have any choice anymore. They need to fix the problems on both lines or this team won’t be any better next season.
7. Also as I mentioned earlier the Packers will have a top ten pick. The Packers now might be able to finally get either a dominant offensive lineman or defensive lineman. This team wasn’t going to make the playoffs anyway so in the long term it was actually best for the Packers to lose today’s game. People probably don’t want to hear this but losing next week would also be good for the future and there is also the added benefit that the Bears might then be able to win the division instead of the Vikings. Even if beating the Lions hurts the Packers draft pick, the Packers need to win that game since if we lose it, it will destory this team and this will be the worst Packers offseason in history.

Since the Packers season is finally over, tomorrow I will be addressing what I want this holiday season in order to turn the Packers around onto the right track again.

While this game really doesn’t mean anything to either team (unless a miracle happens and the Packers can win out while the Bears and Vikings lose out). While the game doesn’t mean a whole lot there is still things to look for in this game.

At this point some fans probably want to lose out (except to the Lions since no one wants to be the only team to lose to the Lions) in order to get a better draft pick and also encourage some moves to be made this offseason (some pink slips need to be handed out). Others want to win out and build momentum into next season. At this point I can see the validity in both statements and I honestly find myself somewhere in the middle. At this point in the season I really wouldn’t mind either choice. Even though I wish we weren’t in this position at least the outcome of every game can be seen in a positive way either towards getting a better pick or building momentum.

Since this game really doesn’t matter I am not really going to break down what the Packers need to win the game. Instead I am going to address what I want to see in the game. So here is what I want to see out of today’s game.

1. I don’t want to see anymore injuries. The injuries this season have been ridiculous. Hopefully our team can stay healthy the rest of the season so no other players will have to work back into playing shape next training camp due to an injury. Players playing with injuries also better not re aggravate injuries either.

2. Give the young players some time to show what they got. I don’t mean playing them the majority of the game but I would like to at least see what we could get out of some of the young players. For example I would like to see Brandon Jackson get some more opportunities these next couple of weeks. He has shown that he could be a good running back but the coaching staff for some reason is not giving him a chance to show what he can do. The problem is many of our young players are currently hurt so we won’t get to see as many of the young players as I would like.

3. Hopefully Aaron Rodgers has a good game. I am personally sick and tired of everyone blaming this season on Rodgers. He hasn’t been perfect this season but last time I checked Favre wasn’t either. Rodgers was obviously going to have some growing pains since there has never been a QB that hasn’t had some growing pains their first season. I just wish people would get off Rodgers back since he is no more responsible for the teams losing than any other starter. This is a team game after all and even if we had Favre I don’t think we would be much better at this time.

4. I want AJ Hawk to have a great game. AJ Hawk hasn’t had a great season but I am sick of everyone saying that he is a bust and such a horrible player. AJ Hawk has not had a good season but neither have any of the other LBs. This makes me think that the linebacker’s problems are at least partially because of coaching and the poor play of the defensive line. Combine that with the fact that Hawk has been playing with injuries the whole season and I think people are overreacting. Hawk hasn’t shown that he has been worth the #5 pick yet but I think with an offseason to get healthy and a defensive coordinator that actually knows how to utilize him properly; he could be a very good linebacker.

5. Hopefully Jeremy Kapinos continues to punt well. After a bad first punt last week, Kapinos had a very good game. While it is obviously too early to say for sure but if he plays well the rest of the season, I could see a future for him with the Packers. I would obviously still draft a punter (late round) and let the two compete since I don’t want to be stuck in a situation like the last couple of years where we have no competition at the punter position.

6. Mike McCarthy to actually open up the playbook. I don’t know why McCarthy has done nothing creative this year on offense. Where have the five wide receiver sets gone? I can see McCarthy wanting to take it easy on Rodgers for his first season but I think he has made a huge mistake. Rodgers can handle the whole playbook so I don’t know why McCarthy isn’t using it all. I think this is ridiculous since McCarthy has actually set Rodgers up to fail instead of suceed because for some reason he doesn’t want to call any of the plays that were successful last season.

7. I hope the defense continues to play bad enough that Bob Sanders loses his job. Yeah I know it’s bad that I have to root against the Packers (to a degree) but it is for the best. Bob Sanders needs to go. He is not a good defensive coordinator and the sooner he is gone the better. He doesn’t utilize any of our talent and even worse he can’t seem to even teach fundamentals since it seems like 90% of our defensive can’t tackle to save their lives. I fear that if the defensive plays well the next three weeks, Bob Sanders will be able to save his job (and I will be furious). Bob Sanders has absolutely no creativity in his defensive. I even remember reading once that a coach on another team said that the Packers defensive is the easiest defense in the entire league to gameplan around. When your defense is predictable it isn’t going to be sucessful. I want a defensive coordinator that can actually teach fundamentals and actually has some creativity in his scheme and playcalling.

Good news regarding injuries. Aaron Rodgers and AJ Hawk are both going to play today. I think both are huge for the game. First having Aaron Rodgers at least gives a shot through the air. His arm strength might not be 100% but I would still take him over Matt Flynn. The Falcons will now at least have to respect the pass and that should give the running game a chance for success. Second AJ Hawk’s return is huge since we need all the help we can get against the running game since we haven’t stopped anyone yet and the Falcons are one of the best running teams in the league.

There is some bad news though even though it isn’t surprising. Charlie Peprah will be getting his first start today since Bigby and Rouse are both inactive for the game. While I don’t think Charlie Peprah is a bad safety I don’t think he is anything more than an average safety. Thankfully the Falcons aren’t the best passing team at this point in the season. Bigby better get back soon since the Packers need him especially with all our latest injuries on defense.

For those of you are interested here are the Packers inactives for today’s game:

• Brian Brohm
• Atari Bigby
• Kregg Lumpkin
• Al Harris
• Korey Hall
• Aaron Rouse
• Jason Hunter
• Breno Giacomini

Before I begin I would like to apologize for not posting the last two days. With college starting up again the last two days have been really hectic so I wasn’t able to post anything. Since school has started up again I probably won’t be able to post quite as often but there should be at least one update every day. At least a lot hasn’t happened over the last two days.

The only real update I have for you is an update on the inury situation. I don’t know if it is just me but I find the injury updates very encouraging. It appears that AJ Hawk actually has a good shot at playing against the Vikings. He is finally practicing again and McCarthy said yesterday he will play if the team doctors clear him. This is really good news since Hawk will help tremendously against the Vikings since he should help contain Adrian Peterson. It also appears that KGB should be able to play which is a good thing since we could definently use some pass rush. It even appears that Scott Wells could even play. It doesn’t seem likely but he hasn’t been ruled out yet. Actually the only player that is for sure out for the game is Josh Sitton.