Packerholic

It’s midweek and there is some news coming out of Green Bay.

First is the news that Tracy White was cut and Danny Lansanah was promoted from the practice squad. I personally don’t really have any feelings either way about this move. Tracy White essentially made the roster purely due to his special teams play. While I don’t know this for sure but I have a feeling that his special teams play has dropped off this year since I haven’t heard his name yet this year on special teams. This is also supported by the fact that the special teams have been pretty poor this season.

As far as Danny Lansanah I think he could be a good player. This preseason he really came out of nowhere and really showed that he has potential for a career in the NFL. At least he will give us something out of the linebacker position other than special teams. With all our injuries this season he could see some playing time this season. There is also sepculation that this move was made because Hawk’s injury might be worse than expected. This could be a possibility but I am not going to put too much thought into it until we receive an injury update on Hawk. The more likely scenario in my opinion is either we wanted more depth at linebacker (Tracy White was never really a linebacker), or we wanted to keep him and we thought some other team was trying to pick him up.

The second news coming out of Green Bay is that Derrick Frost’s time in Green Bay could be pretty short. On Monday the team brought in four punters for a tryout. While none of them have been signed and probably won’t be signed this week, it does indicate that if Frost doesn’t step up this week his chances of remaining on the roster are pretty slim. While Frost has been bad (and deserves to be cut), I honestly didn’t think Ryan was the long term solution to the problem either. At this point I think the Packers need to find a decent punter for this season and then look to the draft for a punter. Mentioning a punter and the draft probably gives people terrible visions of the whole BJ Sander fiasco. I think the Packers need to use the draft though since the punters you find in free agency are nothing more than average to below average punters. If the Packers want a good punter they are going to need to get one in the draft. For our kicker we only had to spend a 6th rounder and in my opinion we already have one of the best kickers in the league. Hopefully a similar situation presents itself in next year’s draft in order to pick up a punter because we won’t get anything more than an average punter otherwise.

What are your thoughts on what is happening with the Packers? Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

Despite losing the football game you can’t be too upset with the Packers performance. The starters only played one series while the Titans played into the third quarter. Obviously the Titans were going to win. When the Titans starting receivers are facing our 7th and 8th CBs I wonder why they were able to move the ball. Since our backups had to face their starters you can pretty much only judge this game on individual performances. So here are the pros and cons as far as players performances go.

Pros

While only getting one play you can’t be disappointed with the Packers starting offense. If you only get one play and that play is a touchdown there is no way you can complain about the performance. Rodgers threw a perfect pass and Jennings made a nice catch. It didn’t hurt that the Titans defense totally blew the coverage though. The one thing I did wish was that Ryan Grant would get at least one run since he know has had zero runs this entire preseason. I hope he will be ready for next week.

Bishop, Hodge and White have all been great on defense. Thompson is going to have a very hard decision before him in the next two days. At this point all three players have played well enough to deserve a spot on the roster. With their performances I could possibly see the Packers keeping 7 linebackers even though it is too many linebackers in my opinion. I think the only way at this point we can let one of them go is if we get a good trade out of another team (preferably for a defensive tackle). I thought the linebackers would shine in this game and they sure have.

If Bishop, Hodge, and White’s performances weren’t enough we got some great performances out of Havner and Lansanah. Havner made two great special team plays. Lansanah made several nice plays on defense. At this point both have a very slim chance of making the roster. I don’t think Lansanah has a chance (hopefully he will make the practice squad) but I think Havner actually has a very slim chance. If Havner makes the roster it will be because the coaches think he is as good of special teams player as White is. The chances of that are pretty slim in my opinion.

Jon Ryan has had a great game. Ryan boomed punts and had great hangtime on all his punts. Jon Ryan also showed that he has pretty good running skills for a punter since he ran a bad snap 35 yards. Hopefully we won’t have to see that when the regular season begins. Hopefully Ryan can continue this consistency and learn how to punt in the winter.

I think Kregg Lumpkin earned a job on the roster with today’s performance. While he didn’t have any great plays he showed consistency. I also love that he refuses to go down. Usually it takes two to three players to take him down. You can’t not like a player that gives so much effort to gaining every last yard.

I thought Matt Flynn actually had a very good game. He struggled a little bit at the beginning of the game but he really picked it up later in the game. He ended up throwing two touchdowns and almost led the team to victory in the last two minutes. Flynn probably gained a lot of confidence from that drive and hopefully that confidence will help him this season since I think he won the top backup spot tonight.

Tramon Williams proved tonight why he is the number 3 cornerback. He had good coverage the whole game and made several nice plays on the ball.

Other surprises include Joe Porter (had some very nice breakups and has a chance of making the roster), Joey Haynos (had some nice catches and blocks), Michael Montgomery (he had a sack, some nice tackles, and got pressure on the quarterback), Jeremy Thompson (while he only had one tackle this was easily his best preseason game),

Cons

Our backup offensive line really needs some work. Especially the backup tackles. Breno Giacomini lost his chance to make the roster in my opinion. He really didn’t have much of a chance to make it in the first place but his performance tonight ruined that chance. I could see him making the practice squad though since he does and the size and phsycial ability to be a pretty good offensive lineman as long as he can learn the technique. Orrin Thompson also lost his job in my opinion due to tonight’s play.

Vernand Morency really blew it tonight in my opinion. He had the perfect opportunity to make the roster but he blew it in my opinion with his pretty poor performance. Herron and Lumpkin had a much better game in my opinion.

Brett Swain had a pretty poor game in my opinion. While he did have a touchdown reception he totally ruined that goodwill with the rest of the game. Swain dropped several passes and showed he is one of the worst punt returners I have ever seen. How in the world do you call a fair catch when no one is within 15 yards of you?

Scorpio Babers will not be making the team. He blew way too many coverages and he really didn’t have much chance to make the roster in the first place.

Other Observations

The Packers will probably be looking for a new long snapper since JJ Jansen was hurt in the game and it looks like he will be missing some time if not the whole season.

I thought Brian Brohm had his best game yet. He didn’t play great but I think that was at least partially due to the poor offensive line play. Brohm just needs to develop in my opinion. He also needs to work on holding onto the ball.

Pat Lee once again had an up and down game. He made some nice plays but also blew some coverages. At this point I don’t think he will be anything more than the fifth cornerback but I do see the potential to be a very good cornerback in this league.

I think Aaron Rouse really needs to replace Nick Collins as the starter. Nick Collins totally blew a coverage tonight. Some people think Aaron Rouse shouldn’t start yet due to mistakes in coverage. This preseason I have seen Nick Collins blow more coverages than Aaron Rouse has.

So who did you think had a good games and who had bad games? Who do you think won or lost a starting job with today’s performance? Also be sure to check back tomorrow when I have my final 53 man roster predictions.