Just A Note of Caution.....

[HarveyWallbangers]

The bottom line to this game: we have to shut down the run. If we do that, we have a good shot at winning it.

[mmmdk]

The away team has won 10 times out of 37 in the NFC Championship game since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger; that 27% road wins. In the 10 lastest NFC Championship games, the away team has won 4 out of 10 times which is 40% road wins. Green Bay did it in that very span - winning at San Francisco.

[MJZiggy]

Just to make a point, it wasn't TT that found Grant. A few guys in the Packers' scouting department saw him on some film and decided they liked him. They went to TT and told him abot Grant and TT liked what he saw, but he prefered Derrick Ward. As we all know, the Giants wouldn't part with Derrick Ward and TT pulled the trigger on Grant.

However, TT was behind drafting James Jones. It's great that we've got talented scouts all around in this orginization. TT's has one of the best knacks for finding talent of any GM in the league, IMO.

I just watched the press conference with TT when we got him (looking for something else and can't find it--think I'm gonna be quoting a lot of Packers tonight) and what he said was that before they traded for Grant, they talked to Carlyle Holiday (who played at ND with him) and Frank Walker before they went ahead and made the trade. I don't know if that means anything or not, but it seems to me that if they wanted someone else first they might not have done that.

[Harlan Huckleby]

There's all sorts of scenarios to spin:

1) The Silver Fox asked for the back he didn't want, then "settled" for the one he really coveted, Ryan Grant, at a low price.

2) The Packers were really in a tight spot - DeShawn Wynn had barerly been able to play all preseason, Action Jackson was spotty at best, and Concrete Shoes Herron had just been placed on IR. Thompson couldn't get the back he wanted, Ward, so he grabbed the best available player, castoff Ryan Grant, for a low draft pick.

[Harlan Huckleby]

before they traded for Grant, they talked to Carlyle Holiday (who played at ND with him) and Frank Walker before they went ahead and made the trade. I don't know if that means anything or not, but it seems to me that if they wanted someone else first they might not have done that.

I don't think this means a whole lot. If he was considering any player, he would do his homework.

[MJZiggy]

btw, someone said that Grant was gonna be cut, but he said that they told him the day before he was traded that he had made the roster. No waiver issues, he just wasn't going anywhere.

[RashanGary]

My memory of the Grant trade was that the Packers staff had tabbed both Ryan Grant and Derrick Ward as players they liked. Maybe they valued Ward more, I wouldn't doubt if they did. Ward is a good back. Grant has that Tyrone Davis (low value unless it's a zone) runner look to him. Ward could run anywhere in any scheme. Maybe Grant could too, but he's not as nifty as scouts seem to like them.

Regardless, the Packers scouts (lead by TT) had two RB's out of 5 picked out from the Giants and they ended up with one. Ward might have turned out just as well if he didn't get injured. Hindsight, I think either would have been a good trade and who was valued more matters not. What matters most is that the Packers hit on a gem by doing their homework and having a keen eye for talent as well as a little luck.

I guess I don't see the point unless you are trying to call the Packers success dumb luck. It takes a lot of dumb luck to build a team from 4-12 to the SB, right? I really don't buy that theory if that is what you are suggesting HH. A little luck? Sure, but it's funny how often TT gets lucky. Seems like just about everything he does looks lucky in hindsight. At some point you have to attribute it to balancing risk vs reward in a way that brings more reward than risk and that's not to say he doens't do anything because the likely SB team he assembled is evedince that he does enough to get more reward than 30 other teams.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I guess I don't see the point unless you are trying to call the Packers success dumb luck. It takes a lot of dumb luck to build a team from 4-12 to the SB, right? I really don't buy that theory if that is what you are suggesting HH. A little luck? Sure, but it's funny how often TT gets lucky.

I don't really know exactly what to make of the situation, too many unknowns. It seems likely that the Packers got lucky with Grant, rather than having spotted a diamond in the rough. I think the Packers were planning on using Jackson and then Wynn for the starter, I suspect Grant was projected to be a backup.