Packerholic

It’s the Wednesday before the bye week and you wouldn’t expect much news regarding the Packers. Surprisingly there are a couple stories worth bringing up.

First we’ll begin with some good news. Early this morning Coach McCarthy became a father once again when his wife (Jessica) gave birth to his new baby girl, Gabrielle Kathleen. Congratulations to the McCarthy’s. It’s always good to hear a positive story after all the negative stories involving a certain player that used to wear #4.

Speaking of that Favre finally gave his side of the story. Obviously he denied the whole thing. Well that isn’t a suprise since he would be an idiot to say he did even if it is the truth. According to Favre, Millen actually called him to talk about hunting. He then asked Favre to give him some tips on the Packers. Favre also claims that the reports of him calling Tony Romo were also false since Romo actually called him. If these two reports are true it will definently take a load off the Favre hating. The problem is that Favre has pretty much no credibility anymore after this offseason. I hope he is telling the truth but at this point I have no idea if he is. I doubt we will ever find out the truth behind what really happened. Even if Favre wasn’t guilty of the latest accusations I sill need time to forgive him for what happened this offseason (he was at least partially responsible for what happened). Hopefully Favre can just learn to shut up for once and just play out the rest of the season. If he doesn’t ruffle anymore feathers, and these rumors are never confirmed I believe most Packer fans will eventually forgive him. I know I will but I need some time and that means that Favre needs to stop his vengeful ways.

Finally it appears that if things go as planned the Packers should come out of the bye pretty healthy. McCarthy is giving the team the week off but is forcing the injured players to get their normal rehab treatments. Al Harris was also medically cleared to resume playing. I personally think that during the Titans game we should play him as the #3 in order to get him back into playing shape. Tramon showed in the last game that he is a very good #2 so why not bring Al Harris back slowly. As long as there aren’t any setbacks I believe we will see all our players back (obviously not the IR players). Players like AJ Hawk, Aaron Rodgers, and Charles Woodson will also be able to fully heal from their injuries so they should be able to play at an even higher level.

If the loss last week wasn’t enough bad news, news this afternoon might be even worse. Reports are saying that Al Harris might have a ruptured spleen which will essentially put him out this entire season and even possibly part of next season. This is not good news. Spleen injuries are always dangerous and players barely return to the same form as before the injury (Chris Simms for example). Hopefully for Al Harris’ and our sake that the initial tests are wrong.

If Al Harris does miss the entire season the Packers could be in a lot of trouble. Tramon Williams will become the number two. I think Tramon Williams is a good cornerback but I don’t think he is ready to be a starter yet. Teams will probably pick on him until he shows he is ready to be the starter. Tramon Williams will really have to step up this season.

What I am really worried about is the 3-5 cornerback positions. Obviously everyone will have to move up one spot on the depth chart and it makes me really nervous having either Will Blackmon, Jarrett Bush, or Pat Lee as the third cornerback. Will Blackmon and Pat Lee have both shown playmaking ability but neither are consistent enough to be our #3 cornerback.

Hopefully the Packers will either pick up or trade from another cornerback since I think our season could be in deep trouble otherwise. There really isn’t a whole lot as far as free agents are concerned. Ty Law is the only notable cornerback and he has shown his age in the past so I don’t know how effective he will be if Thompson would even sign him in the first place. Otherwise I hope Thompson shows his magic once again and has another Ryan Grant trade up his sleeve.

Let’s just hope these inital reports are wrong for Al Harris and the Packers sake. If Al Harris is out for the season we are going to just have to hope that Tramon Williams and the other youngsters are able to step up or this could be a very long season for both Al Harris and the Green Bay Packers.