Buy/Sell/Hold
Run offense: Sell. The OL isn't blocking it up well, but they were basically playing backups at 3 spots by the end of the game. Dillon is a power back who runs with not enough power, and he's being forced to run outside too much. The entire process is a mess.
Pass offense: Buy. Jordan Love is good. The vast majority of the time he makes the right read, shows great poise, and obviously has command of the offense. The OL pass pro has been decent, but that's more their forte vs. run blocking. The backups have acquitted themselves well enough so far, but they face a stiff test with DET. The receivers have been a mixed bag - about what you'd expect from rookies. Drops, missed adjustments on routes, and rookie mistakes are there... but so are the pure athletic feats and splash moments you'd rarely get from a Lazard or aging Cobb. I think this team could struggle mightily in the short term but could really be very good when/if they get healthy and the rookies get some seasoning.
Run defense: Hold. I think they were embarrassed after last week and played better. They weren't challenged like last week either, plus NO was down to playing depth/PS guys and Taysom Hill.
Pass defense: Buy. Rashan Gary was a game wrecker, and Carr's injury helped kick the door wide open to a comeback. On rewatch, the coverage was decent, even from Ballantine most of the time when matched up against a much better player in Olave. Safeties did about what we expected, but didn't lose the game.
Special teams: Hold. The Shaheed PR TD was Darren Rizzi's middle finger to Mark Murphy. It was also the result of bad lane discipline (C'MON Bisaccia) and a punt by Whelan that was both a little too short in distance and hang time. Anders Carlson has played well so far (knock on wood). Amari isn't on the team.
Lots of stupid penalties hurt the offense in the first half and constantly put them behind the sticks. They also hurt the special teams. The team played extremely sloppy in the first half and tightened up enough to make a game of it while NO crapped the bed with a backup QB and a fluky FG miss at the end.
This is basically a makeup for the ATL loss, but I'm on the fence as to whether this was a case of GB winning the game or NO losing it.
NO hadn't exactly beaten a murderer's row to get to 2-0 coming into the game, and their offense is not great without Kamara. I'm not sure what this says about GB, other than they played sloppy but stuck together and found a way to win. That's not nothing. It really was a mixed bag of a game and I think I'm still processing it.
Regardless its nice he's visiting from his old Kentucky home.
C.H.U.D.
Old is the keyword. He is kinda like Howard Stern. No longer edgy or cool because his routine was never updated. At least his better half, Nutz matured into a Al Bundy type of persona. He shows up and blesses us with his draft knowledge and gives fatherly advice on a Reese Bobby level. I had always hoped Skin would turn into a modern day Manson but he never met his potential. It’s still nice when he leaves the survival bunker to connect to the Internet.
More to agree with than disagree here.
The run blocking will probably look a lot better with Aaron Jones running. As it was, they were decent if the expectation isn't too high. Dillon looked good early in the game - faster than previously and stronger too. As the game went along, though, he backslid some. I really hope they bring both Wilson and Taylor up to the 53 even when Jones is back. First of all, a rotation is a really good idea - keeping Jones healthy, etc., and secondly, I'd rather see either of them running than Dillon most of the time. So I'd Hold rather than Sell on the run game.
The passing game is a strong Buy. Love, as good as he is, is only gonna get better. I saw him interviewed, and he nailed it, saying his accuracy needs to improve. Knowing that is definitely a giant step toward doing it. His stats, good as they were, would have been even better if he had gotten statistical credit for the pass interference penalties - which the Saints basically had to do to prevent long gains. And of course, he apparently wasn't to blame for the one and only pick in 3 games. And that's not even mentioning the plethora of dropped passes. And he scrambled and ran way more than decently - damn near Fields or Mahomes level. Reed actually had a bad game and he still was a hero. Wicks is gonna be way more than just decent. Heath didn't look good at all, but he really stood out in the preseason, and I think will in real games too. He and Toure are not bad for being the bottom of the group. Doubs, the sky's the limit for him, and I for one still have superstar hopes for Watson. And Musgrave, he's gonna maybe be the best TE the Packers have ever had.
Run D: I think I would still Sell. I've noticed a trend about Barry: many times his D is decent early in the game. Then the other team adjusts, and poor ol' Joe just can't counter-adjust. Did it get worse when Campbell went out? The results seemed to say that, but I hardly saw Campbell make a tackle, but McDuffie was all over the field, sadly often 5-10 yards down field. It made me mad at the time that when Kenny Clark got too fired up and slammed the RB, damn Barry took him out for way too long. I was beginning to wonder if he got kicked out and the commentators didn't notice.
Pass D: Buy. Gary seems to be back healthy, and he was a real force. Preston was a non-factor, Engabare needs to look for like he did in preseason, and I think Van Ness didn't even play - I didn't see him. All of them should step up too if teams concentrate more on Gary. And the DBs. Rudy Ford and Savage were all over the field, again often too far downfield on run plays, but decent playing like Safeties in pass D. I think Carrington Valentine shut down Thomas until he got hurt - playing a lot like Jaire. And as you said, Ballentine was decent too when he came in. Douglas needs to stay as an outside Corner. He's damn good there. Considering no Jaire, they were more than decent against a team with a couple of star quality WRs.
Special Teams: Yeah, I'd say Hold too. A little too much holding hahahaha sometimes. That long punt return it seemed to me was on the punter - a low line drive kick right to the guy for a running start. Otherwise, the Teams pretty much held their own.
A 46 yard miss isn't exactly fluky. And I'm fairly confident that with 1:02 and a timeout left, Love woulda got us close enough for our rookie kicker to win the game.
What could be more GOOD and NORMAL and AMERICAN than Packer Football?
Hey pot! I mean that in the kettle way. Nutz hasn’t evolved, he’s devolved into a suburban socialite. You could just say you missed me and skip all the drama, because on my many year journey away from here, I’ve learned a lot, and all that lot has only reinforced that the Skinbasket was right all along. I’m like that crazy bitch from the lord of the rings who doesn’t want the ring but then does and goes all bonkers and glows and turns it down but still has all the knowledge gleaned from wanting it. It’s complicated. You wouldn’t understand.
"You're all very smart, and I'm very dumb." - Partial
That's a big ..."Look who is fucking talking"!!!
To both of you.
You guys post more.
We're sick of making fun of Tex.
I don't hold Grudges. It's counterproductive.
And that's what we all will need to remember, at least about the offense. They're very young, and with the offensive line hurting, we need to be patient. They're going to screw up because they're so wet behind the ears and the O-line is getting hit with the I-Bug.
But the defense....that I have less patience for.
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
Weird, our preferences. Skin’s I’m fine with, but APB’s, not so much.
"The Devine era is actually worse than you remember if you go back and look at it."
KYPack
I'm okay with it, but that's different than enjoying it.
For clarity, I was annoyed with the attempt to deflect by characterizing his original post as just not drinking the blended Kookaide.
That paints everyone else as a crazy extremist and him as just having a run of the mill normal position and post. In reality, he was intentionally over the top in his counter position. Yes, it's is style. I can still point out the hypocrisy.
Last edited by sharpe1027; 09-28-2023 at 07:47 AM.