Bretsky
04-01-2012, 02:05 PM
Pass Offense--- A
It's hard to complain about anything with the passing offense. Rodgers probably gave us the best season we've ever witnessed by a GB quarterback and one that will be hard to duplicate. He broke the passer rating record and the next best rating by Brees was almost 12 points behind him. The receivers were superior on paper to any group in the NFL with 38 TD's, and Rodgers threw for over 4600 yards....despite a total of 45 dropped passes. Even Matt Flynn to Win (Mad's nickname) set a team record for most yards in a game with 480. Jordy Nelson, who clearly benefitted from what was in general good health of Greg Jennings, and Jermichael Finley, clearly took his game to another level last year with 15TD'. Randall Cobb showed some promise, and the future of this unit remains very brght.
Rushing Offense---C
Clearly this team used the pass to set up the run, and for the most part the purpose of running is to throw the other team off balance once in a while. They ran just over 39% of the plays, down from 42% the year before. They ranked at Number 27 in rushing yards and 26th in yards per carry. No Running Back had a 100 Yard Game. With their potent passing offense, it's seems that less focus is being put on the rushing attack and this is a team that will excel because of the mass amount of weapons it posesses in its receiving core.
Passing Defense-- D-
Let's get this out there right away. Without the turnovers this defense was devoid of the necessary talent to be an average NFL Unit. The lack of personnell able to rush the passer caused Dom Capers to blitz more than any other team in the NFL besides New Orleans, and the results were that they yielded 4796 passing yards. They were also 32nd in the average gain per pass allowed. Simply put, they lacked enough playmakers to field a competitive team. The Packers really missed Nick Collins at the safety position and Cullen Jenkins anytime GB needed a second person to put pressure on a QB. A Packerrate Favorite, Clay Matthews, only had 6 sacks the entire season because teams we allowed solely to focus in him with little concern for the rest of the team getting to the QB. Desmond Bishop shows flashes of pass rush ability but he cannot be your #2 option. The Packers ranked 26th in the NFL on Third Down Defense. This unit was an epic failure.
Rushing Defense-- D
In the last 14 games, Green Bay averaged giving up 122 yards per game and 4.83 yards per carry. The Packers were hurt by moves they were forced to make with the loss of Cullen Jenkins. They often shifted Raji out wide and left Pickett in the middle. Mike Neal, who TT must have been counting on to help on the DL, offered us nothing whatsoever. He was hurt too much and looked less than a J.A.G. the little that he played. For the most part none of the moves were effective. Teams could focus on Raji and neurtralized him and Pickett was not as effective. Bottom line was this DL just didn't have enough talent to hold up. They were a terrible defense on 1st down giving up an average of 6.82yds per carry, they gave up eleven runs of more than 20 yards, and missed 140 tackles.
Special Teams-- B+
As much as one could criticize TT for ignoring the defensive needs along the line, you have to give him huge credit for restocking the special teams over the past couple years. The mass improvement of these units last year are mainly due to the play of Randall Cobb, Tim Mashay, and Mason MONEY Crosby. Cobb ranked second in kickoff return average and seventh in punt return average at 11.3yds. He was huge in the NO game after Kuhn picked him up, and he opened up the route of MN with a 80 yard punt return. This was Mason Money Crosby's best season. Dude is gold and KUDOS to TT for locking him up. He also illustrated his strong leg on kickoffs and this helped us often win the field position game early on. Mashay's net punting average was greatly improved to 38.6 yards. I recall just a few years ago we'd have taken an average of 38 yards per punt. Jerrett (Red's favorite player) Bush remains solid as a gunner, and newbies like Ryan Taylor showed promise and helped improve the special teams as well. The Punt coverage team, which rated in the bottom quarter of the NFL, missed way too many tackles and brought this grade down.
Coaching---B+
To be fair, most of us expected teams who played deep into the playoffs to be hurt least by the lockout and teams with a boatload of changes to be hurt most. With that being said, MM is the mastermind behind a well oiled machine that we'd clearly be referring to as the Greatest Show on Turf...if only we played indoors on turf. MM joined the Denver Broncos of 98 to be the only coach to come out 13-0 after winning a Super Bowl. The Packers showed nice discipline by tying for first in the fewest penalties, and after winning it all seemed to leave their egos at the door for the most part. His face paced system of substituations and playcalling led them to be the most potent offense in the NFL. On the offensive side of the ball, there was not much to complain about. PR favorite whipping boy, James Campen, did a fine job getting this unit ready to play multiple games with Clifton and we have seen some nice development from players like Bulago, Marshmellow Newhouse, and TJ Lang since their rookie season. I stand alone in yelling out loud that Campen is a fine coach. The offensive coaches get a clear A.
On the Defensive Side, not a lot worked. Dom Capers has one of the better coaching minds in the NFL, and the Packers have several highly regarded assistants. They were all embarrassed. Loss of Nick Collins was devastating. Loss of Cullen Jenkins hurt. With that being said, they were dealt about the worst hand in the NFL poker game and it was impossible to create a winning hand when they were dealt with too much junk.
Personnell Moves----C
This is a hard one. TT beefed the offense up to be the best in the NFL and the Defense sat as the worst. To me the end result is his last twelve months of work were very average. Once again he neglected adding any valuable pieces in free agency. And bottom line is he failed with Cullen Jenkins. He did not fail because we lost him........but it certainly appears that the way we lost him left concerns. If you believe the only information we have, it appears TT made little effort to reach out to Jenkins before free agency, and there was little communication about coming back to GB with offers. Jenkins seems to have wanted more than the Eagles signed him for, but if we are being honest that deal was not that expensive and it might have been a good idea for Cullen to have come back and gave us the shot to match. But we didn't seem to have that positive relationship where he felt like he should do it. The loss of Jenkins left this DL devoid of talent and left us with a gaping hole of pass rushing ability coming from a DL. TT also never addressed the lack of talent opposite Clay Matthews and as a result Dom had nothing to work with The Lack of pass rush was evident in their defensive rankings, their failure on 3rd down coverstions, and in their loss to the Giants. Regarding the draft, for the most part what the draft added was special teams help. It takes several years to judge a draft, but short term we got help from our 2nd round pick on and our 7th round pick. I do feel many of these guys will be good players, but on the defensive side of the ball TT did nothing to help this team in free agency or the draft. 2012 Must be Different.
COMMENTS....INSULTS.....DISAGREEMENTS............. ...FEEL FREE TO SHARE !!!
Bretsky
It's hard to complain about anything with the passing offense. Rodgers probably gave us the best season we've ever witnessed by a GB quarterback and one that will be hard to duplicate. He broke the passer rating record and the next best rating by Brees was almost 12 points behind him. The receivers were superior on paper to any group in the NFL with 38 TD's, and Rodgers threw for over 4600 yards....despite a total of 45 dropped passes. Even Matt Flynn to Win (Mad's nickname) set a team record for most yards in a game with 480. Jordy Nelson, who clearly benefitted from what was in general good health of Greg Jennings, and Jermichael Finley, clearly took his game to another level last year with 15TD'. Randall Cobb showed some promise, and the future of this unit remains very brght.
Rushing Offense---C
Clearly this team used the pass to set up the run, and for the most part the purpose of running is to throw the other team off balance once in a while. They ran just over 39% of the plays, down from 42% the year before. They ranked at Number 27 in rushing yards and 26th in yards per carry. No Running Back had a 100 Yard Game. With their potent passing offense, it's seems that less focus is being put on the rushing attack and this is a team that will excel because of the mass amount of weapons it posesses in its receiving core.
Passing Defense-- D-
Let's get this out there right away. Without the turnovers this defense was devoid of the necessary talent to be an average NFL Unit. The lack of personnell able to rush the passer caused Dom Capers to blitz more than any other team in the NFL besides New Orleans, and the results were that they yielded 4796 passing yards. They were also 32nd in the average gain per pass allowed. Simply put, they lacked enough playmakers to field a competitive team. The Packers really missed Nick Collins at the safety position and Cullen Jenkins anytime GB needed a second person to put pressure on a QB. A Packerrate Favorite, Clay Matthews, only had 6 sacks the entire season because teams we allowed solely to focus in him with little concern for the rest of the team getting to the QB. Desmond Bishop shows flashes of pass rush ability but he cannot be your #2 option. The Packers ranked 26th in the NFL on Third Down Defense. This unit was an epic failure.
Rushing Defense-- D
In the last 14 games, Green Bay averaged giving up 122 yards per game and 4.83 yards per carry. The Packers were hurt by moves they were forced to make with the loss of Cullen Jenkins. They often shifted Raji out wide and left Pickett in the middle. Mike Neal, who TT must have been counting on to help on the DL, offered us nothing whatsoever. He was hurt too much and looked less than a J.A.G. the little that he played. For the most part none of the moves were effective. Teams could focus on Raji and neurtralized him and Pickett was not as effective. Bottom line was this DL just didn't have enough talent to hold up. They were a terrible defense on 1st down giving up an average of 6.82yds per carry, they gave up eleven runs of more than 20 yards, and missed 140 tackles.
Special Teams-- B+
As much as one could criticize TT for ignoring the defensive needs along the line, you have to give him huge credit for restocking the special teams over the past couple years. The mass improvement of these units last year are mainly due to the play of Randall Cobb, Tim Mashay, and Mason MONEY Crosby. Cobb ranked second in kickoff return average and seventh in punt return average at 11.3yds. He was huge in the NO game after Kuhn picked him up, and he opened up the route of MN with a 80 yard punt return. This was Mason Money Crosby's best season. Dude is gold and KUDOS to TT for locking him up. He also illustrated his strong leg on kickoffs and this helped us often win the field position game early on. Mashay's net punting average was greatly improved to 38.6 yards. I recall just a few years ago we'd have taken an average of 38 yards per punt. Jerrett (Red's favorite player) Bush remains solid as a gunner, and newbies like Ryan Taylor showed promise and helped improve the special teams as well. The Punt coverage team, which rated in the bottom quarter of the NFL, missed way too many tackles and brought this grade down.
Coaching---B+
To be fair, most of us expected teams who played deep into the playoffs to be hurt least by the lockout and teams with a boatload of changes to be hurt most. With that being said, MM is the mastermind behind a well oiled machine that we'd clearly be referring to as the Greatest Show on Turf...if only we played indoors on turf. MM joined the Denver Broncos of 98 to be the only coach to come out 13-0 after winning a Super Bowl. The Packers showed nice discipline by tying for first in the fewest penalties, and after winning it all seemed to leave their egos at the door for the most part. His face paced system of substituations and playcalling led them to be the most potent offense in the NFL. On the offensive side of the ball, there was not much to complain about. PR favorite whipping boy, James Campen, did a fine job getting this unit ready to play multiple games with Clifton and we have seen some nice development from players like Bulago, Marshmellow Newhouse, and TJ Lang since their rookie season. I stand alone in yelling out loud that Campen is a fine coach. The offensive coaches get a clear A.
On the Defensive Side, not a lot worked. Dom Capers has one of the better coaching minds in the NFL, and the Packers have several highly regarded assistants. They were all embarrassed. Loss of Nick Collins was devastating. Loss of Cullen Jenkins hurt. With that being said, they were dealt about the worst hand in the NFL poker game and it was impossible to create a winning hand when they were dealt with too much junk.
Personnell Moves----C
This is a hard one. TT beefed the offense up to be the best in the NFL and the Defense sat as the worst. To me the end result is his last twelve months of work were very average. Once again he neglected adding any valuable pieces in free agency. And bottom line is he failed with Cullen Jenkins. He did not fail because we lost him........but it certainly appears that the way we lost him left concerns. If you believe the only information we have, it appears TT made little effort to reach out to Jenkins before free agency, and there was little communication about coming back to GB with offers. Jenkins seems to have wanted more than the Eagles signed him for, but if we are being honest that deal was not that expensive and it might have been a good idea for Cullen to have come back and gave us the shot to match. But we didn't seem to have that positive relationship where he felt like he should do it. The loss of Jenkins left this DL devoid of talent and left us with a gaping hole of pass rushing ability coming from a DL. TT also never addressed the lack of talent opposite Clay Matthews and as a result Dom had nothing to work with The Lack of pass rush was evident in their defensive rankings, their failure on 3rd down coverstions, and in their loss to the Giants. Regarding the draft, for the most part what the draft added was special teams help. It takes several years to judge a draft, but short term we got help from our 2nd round pick on and our 7th round pick. I do feel many of these guys will be good players, but on the defensive side of the ball TT did nothing to help this team in free agency or the draft. 2012 Must be Different.
COMMENTS....INSULTS.....DISAGREEMENTS............. ...FEEL FREE TO SHARE !!!
Bretsky