A Fan's Heart, Divided Against Itself

[pbmax]

Name the player, who when mentioned or remembered, provides the highest elation AND the biggest disappointment for you. We are looking for the absolute value of emotion as a sum, most elation plus most disappointment.

Could be over a play or a career, a career cut short or a player moving on to another team.

And I don't think Favre can be the answer for most, though what do I know. He played too long for there to be a singular disappointment that rivals the 96 Super Bowl win for me.



My answer is Allen Rossum. Not only was he a dynamic return guy, he also played dime DB versus the Rams in the playoff blowout. While the game was close (not nearly long enough), he was doing a fine job or previously unstoppable Marshall Faulk. It was not his first go at dime, but he really held his own there. I loved that the guy who Wolf or Thompson might have found too small was succeeding as a Smurf defending DB.

I loved the maneuver by the DC, Ed Donatell I believe, and I loved the results PLUS he was fantastic as a return guy.

Losing him to FA was not immediately a catastrophic disappointment, but it has become a bigger one as the franchise has struggled to replace him for going on 2 decades.

[Upnorth]

How can this not be Favre????? The times are almost inumerable, but I will say the greatest disappointment was the 2009 Season, followed by one of his greatest moments of elation which was his final play of 2009 season. HOw about 2007 ot vrs denver and 2007 ot vrs NYG? Heaven and Hell.

[hoosier]

The first name that comes to mind is Bryce Paup, who was an absolute terror off the edge. I couldn't believe Wolf let him go. The GB defense wasn't the same after he left. Even when it got really, really good in 1996, it still missed the intensity that his pass rush brought. Wayne Simmons brought a different kind of intensity but his was much more combustible.

[gbgary]

How can this not be Favre????? The times are almost inumerable, but I will say the greatest disappointment was the 2009 Season, followed by one of his greatest moments of elation which was his final play of 2009 season. HOw about 2007 ot vrs denver and 2007 ot vrs NYG? Heaven and Hell.

this...but i'll try to think of someone other than bf.

thinking...don't hold your breath :wait:

[Anti-Polar Bear]

Jon Ryan.

I personally witnessed Ryan punt in person, and his punts were so beautiful, I'd fuck 'em if I could.

Btw, Rossum also played some offense for the Pack, thanks to none other than Mike Sherman.

[Patler]

Several come to mind for different reason:

Ted Hendricks - He might have had the single most dominating season that I have seen from a Packers defensive player. When he was acquired, it seemed like a one year deal because of his pending USFL contract. When the league folded, there was a feeling of elation, thinking maybe Hendricks could be on GB for a while, and GB might resurrect itself. When he left, it wasn't just losing him, the feeling was that GB was becoming irrelevant in the NFL. It was more than just losing the player.

Tim Lewis and Sterling Sharp - both were phenomenal players, and their careers ended so abruptly and unexpectedly. Losing Sharp was losing a special combination, Favre and Sharp. I had expectations that they would challenge some of the greatest combinations ever. Lewis was just being mentioned as being maybe the best cover corner in the league, and then it was done.

James Lofton - such a bright spot on the team. So exciting to watch, when there wasn't always a lot to be excited about. So disappointed in the circumstances of his departure.

Eddie Lee Ivery - so great in college. So exciting for him to come to GB, because that was the time when a running game could carry a team. He looked so good and was chewing up the Bears when he hurt his knee. Back in those days, a knee injury meant he would never be the same, but he came back and looked like he could be the same. But it didn't last because he had another major injury. Knee injuries often ended careers in those days. Ivory still had a career, but I always wondered how good he could have been. He had looked like he could be a very special talent, not just a good running back.

[HarveyWallbangers]

ELATION

James Lofton. He was the only true star player the Packers had for many years when I first started watching the NFL.

1989

DISAPPOINTMENT

Tim Lewis. Just started playing at All-Pro level when his career was cut short by injury.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Several come to mind for different reason:

Ted Hendricks - He might have had the single most dominating season that I have seen from a Packers defensive player. When he was acquired, it seemed like a one year deal because of his pending USFL contract. When the league folded, there was a feeling of elation, thinking maybe Hendricks could be on GB for a while, and GB might resurrect itself. When he left, it wasn't just losing him, the feeling was that GB was becoming irrelevant in the NFL. It was more than just losing the player.

Tim Lewis and Sterling Sharp - both were phenomenal players, and their careers ended so abruptly and unexpectedly. Losing Sharp was losing a special combination, Favre and Sharp. I had expectations that they would challenge some of the greatest combinations ever. Lewis was just being mentioned as being maybe the best cover corner in the league, and then it was done.

James Lofton - such a bright spot on the team. So exciting to watch, when there wasn't always a lot to be excited about. So disappointed in the circumstances of his departure.

Eddie Lee Ivery - so great in college. So exciting for him to come to GB, because that was the time when a running game could carry a team. He looked so good and was chewing up the Bears when he hurt his knee. Back in those days, a knee injury meant he would never be the same, but he came back and looked like he could be the same. But it didn't last because he had another major injury. Knee injuries often ended careers in those days. Ivory still had a career, but I always wondered how good he could have been.

Funny. I was typing mine up as you were posting this.

[Patler]

Funny. I was typing mine up as you were posting this.

Losing those two were punches to the gut. For those of us who were fans then, both had impacts, probably heightened by our fears that the Packers would never matter again.

[denverYooper]

Sterling Sharpe
Nick Collins

Both forced to retire in their prime

[Patler]

How did I not mention Nick Collins along with Lewis and Sharp. He was special in 2010 after a steady climb, and made a key play in the Super Bowl. He should have had so many years left. It was easy to think about the possibility of a HoF career.

Maybe Collins impact was less than the others because he wasn't all the Packers had at the time.

[Anti-Polar Bear]

The player who really broke my heart was J-Mike.

Match up nightmare. Great route runner. Brash. Everything Dick Rodgers ain't.

Goddamn I miss J-Mike!

[Smidgeon]

Nick Collins and Finley's knee injury.

Both were on their way to superstar status. Then career enders (although Finley's was a slow burn).

[Cheesehead Craig]

Gilbert Brown. My goodness that man was a stud when he wasn't the size of a cargo van. Too bad he couldn't keep his weight under control.

Who didn't love the "Gravedigger" celebration?

[Patler]

I hated to see Finley's career end, more so because of what I still hoped he might accomplish. But my rational mind told me he was never going to be the true superstar that he possibly could have been. Too many inconsistencies/quirks in his game, but he was still young, so there was still hope.

A disappointing loss for me, not a devastating one. For me, certainly not like losing Collins, for example.

[Maxie the Taxi]

I could name any number of players from the Glory Years team. Guys who were regarded as bigger than life and then slowly left or faded away. Jim Taylor lead the "betrayal" exiting to New Orleans. Herb Adderley left for the Cowboys!

Bart Starr was typical of the faders. It was sad seeing him hang on in his last year, getting pummeled and intercepted, surviving on pure guts, mainly just out of loyalty to the team.

As a fan, you went from rooting for the best football team on earth to being embarrassed by a team of has beens.

Then in 1971 the only bright spot on the team showed up. He was a powerful rookie running back from Ohio State named John Brockington. He gained over a thousand yards, was Rookie of the Year and was named an All-Pro. Finally it looked like we had some hope. "The Pack Was Back!" We all bought into the elation. We were high as kites.

Happily, Brockington and MacArthur Lane lead us to the playoffs in '72. But it was all down hill from there. Brockington lost his mojo and disappeared off the map a couple years later. Devine's dog got killed and the rest is history.

Disappointment? More like severe depression that lasted decades.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I'd have to 2nd Ted Hendricks. He became such a legend, so quickly, and then he was gone and agonizingly good on another team.

Tim Harris was a mini Ted Hendricks redux.


And now of course Josh Sitton. The long flowing hair. The bitching about coach Mac. Will we ever see another like Josh again?

[Bossman641]

Nick Collins

I still remember the shock and outrage when TT picked him. He grew from a guy who would be in position but almost never make the play to an outright ball hawk. I'll never forget his INT in week 17 against the Bears to clinch the playoff berth, or pick 6 against Pitt. Roughly 6 months later, his career was over on a freak play all because Jonathan Stewart hurdled Hawk. I truly believe Collins would have been remembered up there with Ed Reed and Polamalu.

[Harlan Huckleby]

Now I'm feeling all sentimental. There goes my mascara.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJwL-KHse-Y

[Upnorth]

On this board how about Cullen Jenkins? Many thought he was key to the d's fall from grace (along with Collins injury). And many thought he was a jag

Also Leroy Butler (who belongs in the hall of fame). Not only was he phenomenonal but his legacy still shines with every packers him touchdown.

[Cheesehead Craig]

Forgot about Wayne Simmons. He helped give that defense some edge. Still remember him leveling Jerry Rice when he tried a short crossing route and didn't even have the ball. All within 5 yards and legal.

[Joemailman]

James Lofton - Truly one of the great Packers, even though he played on mostly mediocre teams. After the Packers traded him, it took me at least a year before I could watch a game with Lofton in a different uniform.

Nick Collins - 3 straight Pro Bowls and just entering the prime of his career when it ended. Watching him break on a deep pass was awesome. And it all ended on such a freakish injury.

Brett Favre - Not his whole career, but 2007-2008. 2007 was a magical year until the loss to the Giants, followed by the spring and summer of 2008.

[HowardRoark]

The peak of my elation was that Thursday when the first Sports Illustrated arrived.

http://static1.thesportsterimages.com/cdn/864/563/90/cw/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Tony-Mandarich-suntimes.jpg

[texaspackerbacker]

The guy I thought of first was Travis Williams. Nobody but nobody I have ever seen had acceleration and breakaway speed like he had. The second name that came to mind, Ted "the Mad Stork" Hendricks was mentioned by several. Same with Eddie Lee Ivery - so good then going down with injury and Ditto that for Tim Lewis fit the criteria - elation then disappointment they were gone. I did read we got two 1st round picks for Hendricks - I had forgotten that part - so that lessens the loss a little bit. Also, Brockington who was so good and then faded so fast. Big Mike McCoy deserves mention too - good for a while/never quite up to expectations/then poof!

Disappointment to me meant high hopes and then massive flop - nobody was that more than Mandarich. Brent Fullwood and Kenneth Davis came pretty close, though, for me. Also, Rich Campbell and another QB way back when I was a kid, Randy Duncan who went off to Canada I think. More recently, Jamal Reynolds - who I (foolishly?) thought would be like Lawrence Taylor or something, and last but not least, B.J. Raji - who I thought was gonna be the second coming of Reggie White or something.

[pbmax]

Also Leroy Butler (who belongs in the hall of fame). Not only was he phenomenonal but his legacy still shines with every packers him touchdown.

LeRoy Butler's career ending with a broken scapula. That was a punch to the gut.

Much like Rossum, Butler as edge rusher (versus Dave Meggett in the Super Bowl) was a great change of pace. They didn't just blitz him, he came of the edge like he was a miniature LT. That was fun.

[Maxie the Taxi]

And who could forget that great white hope Duke Carlisle?

[Joemailman]

And who could forget that great white hope Duke Carlisle?

I have. Who was he?

[Maxie the Taxi]

Duke Carlisle - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Carlisle

Bart Starr's supposed successor.


The Green Bay Packers drafted Carlisle in the fifth round of the 1964 NFL Draft,[5] but he was cut in training camp.

[KYPack]

Great thread.

Wayne Simmons and Nick Collins came to mind, but other posters really nailed it on those two guys.

There are some other Holmy era players that also were great.

One is a tandem.

Doug Evans and Craig Newsome were two top flight hands and a top CB tandem for Fritz Shurmer back in the day.

Newsome was a classic cover corner who improved by leaps and bounds each game. Doug Evans was a solid cover guy who could hit like a linebacker.

The other brilliant player was OLB Brian Williams. Brian was very fast and he hit like a ton of bricks. The two solid corners with Williams were the foundation of a championship for seasons to come. With Lee Roy Butler running things from his safety position, this would have been an all-time great D.

then, in the blink of an eye it was all gone. Brian and Craig had their careers ended with crippling knee injuries. Evans went FA & only Lee Roy was left to hold things together.

P, Ted Hendricks signed with the World Football League, not the USFL, which was not formed yet.

Ah, what could have been.

[esoxx]

Sterling Sharpe. Few more seasons he's in the HOF and has a Super Bowl. Has neither.

[Guiness]

For me, it was Lee Roy Butler and Nick Collins - two guys who played the position I did in college, and I loved watching them both.

John Ryan - token Canuck on the team. It was ridiculous to let him go, moreso since the Pack is on their 4th punter since he left and he's still playing well. And I miss his running skills!

[Cheesehead Craig]

Forgot about Wayne Simmons. He helped give that defense some edge. Still remember him leveling Jerry Rice when he tried a short crossing route and didn't even have the ball. All within 5 yards and legal.

It's not that play, but it's a good one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbcj0dg5AE

[run pMc]

Besides Brett Favre, the first name that came to mind was Eddie Lee Ivery. Sterling Sharpe career was cut too short.

With Favre you never knew what you were gonna get -- it could be a TD to Kitrick Taylor, or a halfassed sack to Strahan.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Sterling's injury was so strange. He was barely hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC0YdP3lW_M

[RashanGary]

Sharpe, Favre, Collins

[Noodle]

Some great names already, but let me add Javon Walker.

I thought he and Favre would be unstoppable, especially given some of his sick catches in the Monday Night game after Big Irv's death. It all ended in such a disappointment: pro bowl year followed by contract holdout, then an ACL blowout in his first game of the season after the holdout, then IR, then gone.

Oh, what might have been.

[LEWCWA]

My guy was John Jefferson, When they got him, I thought GB would be unstoppable......well JJ wasn't very good anymore!

[MadScientist]

Jeff Janis. All kinds of measurables, teases us with over 100 yards on a single drive, then fails to really learn how to run his routes and is relegated to a one handed ST player. Thought he might be the next Driver, but more like the next Jarrett Bush.

[Freak Out]

Damn....some more heartbreaking stuff. Sharpe was such a badass and just getting better...then boom. Rossum....wasn't that a front office fuck up? Didn't they try and get him a matching offer or something but they fucked it up somehow?

[Bub]

How about Chuck Cecil? I was sorry to see his career cut short. He was fun to watch.

This is my once a every-other-year post. I'll go back into my cave now. See you in 2018

[Guiness]

Sterling's injury was so strange. He was barely hit.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dC0YdP3lW_M

I don't think I've ever seen that, how much more innocent could that have looked? I expected a bone crushing helmet to helmet, that was a half-hearted blocking attempt and nothing else.

[Patler]

I don't think I've ever seen that, how much more innocent could that have looked? I expected a bone crushing helmet to helmet, that was a half-hearted blocking attempt and nothing else.

I think Sharpe was found to have an abnormal condition in his neck. He wasn't really injured on the play, it just gave him a scary warning about what could happen. He had excessive looseness between vertebrate, or something like that.

[pbmax]

I think Sharpe was found to have an abnormal condition in his neck. He wasn't really injured on the play, it just gave him a scary warning about what could happen. He had excessive looseness between vertebrate, or something like that.

And it was looseness where they do not like to do fusion. It was one of the top two vertebrae. If something goes wrong, you are in even more trouble than some other cervical injuries.

[Fritz]

Here's an odd one: Mark D'Onofrio, Penn State linebacker, drafted in the 2nd round in '92. I thought he was going to be the next big Green Bay middle linebacker, and a building block for Ron Wolf's first draft. (By the way, Levon Kirkland was taken a few picks later in the same round.) In those days all you could get were a few pre-draft newspaper articles with brief summaries, but I had seen D'Onofrion on television, and he was one of those Penn State linebackers.

Then he got hurt, maybe in training camp, or was it in like his second game, and he never played again.

Others already mentioned: Ted Hendricks, who was truly a one-man wrecking crew. John Brockington, who was Earl Campbell before Earl Campbell (well, not quite a strong, but the same idea), but then got hurt. And Eddie Lee Ivery.

[George Cumby]

It's not that play, but it's a good one.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqbcj0dg5AE

One of my all time faves.

[Carolina_Packer]

This one is laugh out loud funny, and also pretty amazing. What sheer power!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBIvU4z0GQ8

[gbgary]

This one is laugh out loud funny, and also pretty amazing. What sheer power!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBIvU4z0GQ8

he tossed larry allen the same way.

[gbgary]

I don't think I've ever seen that, how much more innocent could that have looked? I expected a bone crushing helmet to helmet, that was a half-hearted blocking attempt and nothing else.

ya know...i seem to remember him coming back into the/a game and it happening again but not as severe. maybe this was the second incident. after the second time he retired. no?