HOW GB WINS- Pre Season Expectation vs. What has Occured

[Bretsky]

Many of us gave the formula for success this year. It seemed to center on the following points and it would be interesting to break them down. I'm putting them in no particular order.

1. Improved Special Teams Play

2. Improved OL play resulting in being able to run the ball

3. A Dominating Defense

4. The ability of Brett Favre to "Manage" game as opposed to control them one way or the other


Breaking things down a bit, here are my thoughts; am interested in hearing others

#1- Up to this point we have accomplished this; our specials are better

#2- We have not accomplished this yet; we show flashes but consistently we have failed here. Unless we play a soft Run D I don't think this changes much this year

#3- Many felt top 5 defense. We are not one yet. I think we are a very solid defense. I do not think we are close to being dominant yet. To me, the difference between being good and dominant is making huge plays/turnovers/game changing plays.

#4- It's amazing how wrong we were on this one. Favre is now back there to win games instead of manage them.

Due to a lack of running game and our defense not being dominating yet, the credit or blame will go back to Brett Favre. He'll have some great games and he'll have a couple stinkers, but the offense looks to be on his shoulders a heck of a lot more than anybody (including myself) thought it would have to be.

We either need #2 or #3 to consistently improve, or we need #4 to continue with his MVP like play this season.

[RashanGary]

Good thread. The ST's, Bigby and JJ are esspecially good suprises. We were all wrong :) Except Packnut, he's always right :)

[Tarlam!]

Atari is REALLY a key win...

[Packers4Ever]

Will Brett still be calling plays or has

that been scrapped? I felt he would be

best choice, given his 16 years of playing

and "seeing everything." Or is he then

carrying too much weight?

[Bretsky]

Will Brett still be calling plays or has

that been scrapped? I felt he would be

best choice, given his 16 years of playing

and "seeing everything." Or is he then

carrying too much weight?


MM calls the plays; but Brett seems to have full freedom to audbile in and out of every play called in.

[Rastak]

Will Brett still be calling plays or has

that been scrapped? I felt he would be

best choice, given his 16 years of playing

and "seeing everything." Or is he then

carrying too much weight?


I don't he's called the plays ever in his entire career.


Way back in the day that was common though.

[superfan]

Agree on all counts. The OL run blocking has been very disappointing - I thought they would improve this year and help mask inferiority at the RB position, but so far they seem to have regressed.

A couple other things I was watching for early in the year:

1. Brandon Jackson to step in and take the feature back role. That definitely has not happened.

2. TE play. I expected absolutely nothing out of that position, and have been pleasantly surprised.

Considering there are a number of negative or incomplete grades for these key indicators (and no impact from our 1st round draft pick), the 4-0 start is pretty amazing. It really has been all Favre and some fortunate breaks in the Eagles game.

Need to find a way to keep that fast start from becoming 4-2.

[HarveyWallbangers]

I wouldn't say it's been all Favre. The defense has played pretty well. The special teams have played pretty well. The receivers and pass blocking have been pretty good.

[Bretsky]

I wouldn't say it's been all Favre. The defense has played pretty well. The special teams have played pretty well. The receivers and pass blocking have been pretty good.

Well, he's definitely not the Dilfer like manager some thought he'd need be be. We need a lot more.

[b bulldog]

I beg to differ on the D's play. We have been very average in terms of D. IMO, brett and the WR corp are the main reasons we have been successful to this point with kudos also going to the Oline for their pass blocking and special teams. The D has been a disappointment imo at this point.

[Rastak]

I beg to differ on the D's play. We have been very average in terms of D. IMO, brett and the WR corp are the main reasons we have been successful to this point with kudos also going to the Oline for their pass blocking and special teams. The D has been a disappointment imo at this point.


Packers are #12 in scoring defense...(yards never tells the whole story).

[MJZiggy]

Stats don't tell the whole story. I just like that usually, when it counts, the D can get a stop. Not always, but most times.

[b bulldog]

I agree, they are 12th in points allowed, 14th in rushing yards allowed and 22nd in passing yards allowed. Thses numbers are much closer to average than the numbers I thought they would put up on D. My guess and I'll look for the stats but I would guess that in terms of sacks we would be in the 16-18 range and our defensive penalties seem to be quite high. Larry McCarren" the D has been fair, not as good as I thought they would be, the D has another level to play at and in terms of Hawk, plays solid but he doesn't make you worry, he has done nothing eye popping. He should get better, Justin Harrell, one play the guy looks very strong, the next play, he gets totally dominated "

[b bulldog]

Just got this from TMJ in terms of what McCarren stated.

[b bulldog]

The numbers don't tell the whole story like how lucky we were that Minny's coach is such a crappy coach in that Pete sits the second half except for a few touches and the numerous overthrown balls to the open WR's. One more thing, the Bears O looking better than a highchool offense. One final point, have we even played an offense that is ranked in the top 10?

[Patler]

I beg to differ on the D's play. We have been very average in terms of D. IMO, brett and the WR corp are the main reasons we have been successful to this point with kudos also going to the Oline for their pass blocking and special teams. The D has been a disappointment imo at this point.


Packers are #12 in scoring defense...(yards never tells the whole story).

I am a bit disappointed in the defense, too. It's been "OK" and certainly hasn't hurt them, but hasn't taken control the way I hoped it might. Not a lot of big plays. Not many turnovers. Decent pressure, but sort of middle of the road in sacks. Too many penalties.

Last week was a time for the defense to wrap up an offense. Chicago is not a good offensive team. Regardless of field position, turnovers, etc. a commanding defense would have shut them down. Instead, the defense showed its weaknesses.

[b bulldog]

The eagles O is ranked 14th, Giants 16th, chargers 18th, vikings 20th, bears 30th. We've basicly played offenes that are average to below average. The skins O is ranked 12th.

[b bulldog]

The bears banged up D is much better than ours. Put that D with our O and you have a SB team. This is where points allowed gets murky. When your O sucks and can't ever get a drive with any regularity, it will grind your D down and eventually your D stats get hurt. Our O is probably really helped our D in that they can sustain drives and our O is ranked 6th in the league.

[HarveyWallbangers]

The defense has played well in 4 of 6 games now. They've played some good offenses. Ironically, I think they've played well against the good offenses they've faced and struggled more against the ordinary offense. Then again, the way Peterson ran and Griese threw today may be they aren't quite as anemic as I thought. Peterson, for sure, is ridiculously good.

[b bulldog]

Good point. They also seem to play much better in the second half.

[Deputy Nutz]

This team is grinding wins out and who really thought at this point the Packers would have five wins? At minimum the Packers go 5-5 over their next ten games then get a home playoff game. I would take that going into the season.

[4and12to12and4]

I expected us to be at least two games behind the Bears or Lions by now. I still can't believe we are 5-1, it's just not real. WE HAVE NO RUNNING GAME. NONE. AT ALL. It's awesome.

[LL2]

I expected us to be at least two games behind the Bears or Lions by now. I still can't believe we are 5-1, it's just not real. WE HAVE NO RUNNING GAME. NONE. AT ALL. It's awesome.

I couldn't agree more. Like Brett said in his post game news conference if they can fix some of the areas they have been lacking or need improvement in they could be a really good team. He said they could also just as easily be a 3-3 team at this point, but they have been grinding it out and finding ways to win.

They need to cut back on turnovers, create turnovers and get a running game going. Solve this and will be hard to beat.

[Packers4Ever]

Will Brett still be calling plays or has

that been scrapped? I felt he would be

best choice, given his 16 years of playing

and "seeing everything." Or is he then

carrying too much weight?


MM calls the plays; but Brett seems to have full freedom to audbile in and out of every play called in.


I knew Brett had some sort of hand in play calling - and I think
audibling in and out would be necessary for that particular play, but I really wondered about the rest of it, not too likely.

Thanks both of you guys, B and RAS :)