10 Questions for our Packer Team for this Season???

[BobDobbs]

Re: 10 Questions for our Packer Team for this Season???

"I'm more worried about C-Wood. I'm sure he can play with a broken toe, but the level of play concerns me. He's the guy that lost containment when Peterson broke that big run in the first half and he almost did it again in the 4th quarter when he just barely was able to change momentum enough to trip Peterson up by the laces. It was an acrobatic move by Chuck, but it wouldn't have been necessary if he hadn't been out juked by Peterson. I really think the toe came into play there because he should have been able to plant his foot and make the tackle, which would have stopped a first down in that long 4th quarter drive."

I'm not worried about Woodson, he's a big time gamer. He's not a big hype guy he just plays. He took a bad angle in the backfield on that thirty five yarder, but he got himself back in the play and slowed AP down so that Hawk could clean up the tackle. He made a bunch of tackles in run support and took on an OL on a screen play. I think he's superior in run support to Harris. The only real worry is that Wood throws his body in there so much that he is going to hurt himself.

[The Leaper]

I wouldn't throw out any plays...they all are part of the evaluation process, and the good ones should not be discounted any more than the bad.

Rodgers was extremely efficient on Monday night...and with the weapons he has on this offense, that is all he has to be for the team to be a legitimate playoff contender and possible title threat.

I'm sure we will see the bad Aaron at points during the year as well...but his composure in a tough spot Monday night was encouraging.

[MJZiggy]

Re: 10 Questions for our Packer Team for this Season???

(I met Al once and had two HUGE packer buddies meet him with reporter type cred and said he's a TO ass-clown with a big ego

I wouldn't worry too much. Most pro athletes have a little ass-clown in them. More than anything, it's pretty obvious that Al doesn't like reporters much. He's very skeptical of them--although he's relaxed over the last 2-3 years. The fact your friends had reporter type cred probably didn't make Al receive them to warmly.

Al's hobby is torturing reporters particularly new ones. It's one of the reasons I like him so much. Heaven help them if they ask a stupid question...

[SnakeLH2006]

Re: 10 Questions for our Packer Team for this Season???

1) Number one is Arod looked damn solid and confident. This guy will not lose games, but will win games as he gains experience. The one thing I noticed if you look at his stats was this....take away the long bomb to Jennings (regardless 18 completions for 178 yards means 17 for 121 for 6 yards a catch... I ain't ripping the young man, but that does not mean consistent 1st downs....aka meager points....yea he's young but that does not mean big points so dont' get it twisted that he was 18-22 when you dump it off mostly...that means meager points) Don't get your panties all moist JH cuz I ain't ripping him but Favre would go for first downs more often meaning TD's) Completions are great,but we need more 1st downs. Don't get me wrong, I'm not on Favre's nuts about this but big plays and TD's and first downs win games (Does Brett/Can Brett do this now maybe but that just shows his legendary status at 39..wow that is fucked up...just saying even the best..Brady, Manning are 31 and 32 are are sure for a decline s you can't just throw up random deep balls over 20 yards and hope for a big play unless ya got Randy. I support Arod just asking are we gonna get this all year?) Consistency?

I have lots of disagreements with that analysis or concern:

First - taking away the Jennings play, 17 for 121 is 7.1 yards per reception, not the 6 yards per catch that you said it is. There is a big difference between 6 and 7.1.

Second - Instead of taking away the longest, why not take away the shortest? The pass from the 1 yard line could gain no more than one yard. Take away that play and he had 17 completions for 177 yards, or 10.4 yards per reception, more than a first down and in the same ball park as Favre's stats his first few years.

Third - If you take away the longest and the shortest, you are left with 16 completions for 120 yards, or 7.5 yards per catch.

Fourth - Instead of ignoring either the longest or the shortest, why not include the completion to Driver in your analysis? After all, it was completed, and the penalty had little to do with the performance by Rodgers on the play. With that hypothetical he has 19 completions for 246 yards, or 12.9 yards per completion.

The real conclusion is that after just one game and only 22 attempts and 18 completions there is little to go on in determining tendencies and "averages". One play here or there alters the stats too significantly.

Yes, I took one for the team, lol. Good stuff though as I love a good statistical breakdown. Bottom line though was we don't need big plays so much as we need consistent "first down" plays aka 10 yard completions to score more points. I thought Arod did very well, as I wasn't ripping him, just offering an analysis of how we need to score more points. He'll get better.

[sepporepi]

If you are interested in his first down percentage you shouldn't look at average yards/attempt or yards/completion.

Might be better to look at the quartile for 10yards completions.

[packrulz]

I thought ARod played calm and confident, and M3 is confident enough in his defense to run the ball 3 times and punt with the game on the line, and won. To me, that says a lot when they're facing AP on the other side of the ball. I like the way they use Jenkins, moving him around from DT to DE, and I like bringing in the LB's to blitz because they're well stocked there. I like the fairly conservative offense and let the defense/special teams score some points, it will give ARod some time to blossom and not be expected to be like Favre. Here's a good article on Jenkins, this could be his breakout year, if he can stay healthy.


Better body, better results for Jenkins
Defensive lineman playing lighter, faster after focusing on health in offseason

By Tom Pelissero • tpelisse@greenbaypressgazette.com • September 11, 2008


This is the new Cullen Jenkins, or at least everyone hopes it is.

The Cullen Jenkins who understands the importance of taking care of his body.

The Cullen Jenkins who stays focused on his technique.

The Cullen Jenkins who can be as disruptive every week as he was in the Green Bay Packers’ season-opening win over Minnesota on Monday.

Everyone is quick to point out it was only one game. But it was the type of performance the Packers expected when they signed Jenkins to a four-year, $15.84 million deal in February 2007 — and rarely got last fall as Jenkins’ body failed him and his frustration mounted.

“It’s kind of hard to sit there and just keep complaining or whining about injuries,” Jenkins said this week, “because at the end of the season, when people look at the stats, there’s not an asterisk by it that says you were injured or playing hurt.”

That’s why he focused his offseason on improving his speed, quickness and flexibility. Why he’s dropped 10 pounds since the start of training camp and is keeping his weight in the prescribed area of 300 to 305. Why he recommitted himself in the weight room and spent a week in mid-July with a personal trainer so he could report to training camp in better shape.

It all paid off when he split 64 snaps between right end and defensive tackle on Monday — a total Jenkins admits would have affected his performance if he hadn’t dropped the extra weight — and earned the defensive game ball in a performance coach Mike McCarthy called “outstanding.”

Whether he was beating Pro Bowl left guard Steve Hutchinson with an inside speed move, staying at home on a play-action bootleg to force an incompletion or overpowering left tackle Marcus Johnson on a bull rush, Jenkins looked like a different player than he was most of last season.

“I thought he had a very good start,” defensive tackles coach Robert Nunn said. “We’ve just got to keep him healthy. That’s the thing that last year — he flashed some things in preseason but couldn’t maintain it because of his nagging injuries.”

He had all sorts of them: wrist and ribs in September, knee and ankle in October, the other knee in November. After recording three sacks in the preseason, he had only one in the regular season, a career low.

Jenkins nearly equaled that total on one of his four pressures in Monday’s game, but quarterback Tarvaris Jackson slipped out of his grasp.

“I don’t know if people are used to me coming off as fast as I come off,” said Jenkins, who moves inside to make room for Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila on most passing downs. “Last year, I didn’t feel this fast.”

Jenkins never has been handed anything in the NFL. Undrafted out of Central Michigan in 2003, he was cut by the Packers as a rookie and spent a summer in NFL Europe before becoming a contributor in 2004.

But it took a letdown on the heels of his big contract for Jenkins to realize he needed to work harder. He credits improved focus in the weight room for not only maintaining his strength, but his improved speed and quickness, too.

“The thing about Cullen this past year is that his effort’s been much more consistent,” strength and conditioning coach Rock Gullickson said. “He’s very gifted and he’s very talented. He is working hard to become better at the preparation phase.

“Cullen is quite a personality, and he’s one of those guys that, as he looks at the workout sometimes, he needs to be talked into it a little bit. … It’s been kind of a group effort here to get him more involved and get him working at a little higher level, but certainly, it’s his input that’s most important.”

Jenkins attended the entire offseason strength and conditioning program, then took his regimen to another level by hiring Atlanta-based trainer Eric Lucas to come to Michigan two weeks before training camp. Lucas designed a workout to help Jenkins become faster off the ball, mostly using bungee cords and other resistance equipment. Jenkins felt the results were evident on Monday.

“It was a few plays where I just felt real quick,” said Jenkins, who continues to get in full workouts with Gullickson twice a week after practice. “I was able to stay with the tight ends a lot and close gaps, or on some of the pass-rush plays, get good penetration.”

Can he keep it up?

That’s where the new Cullen Jenkins has something to prove.

“This thing’s a marathon and not a sprint,” Nunn said. “He’s got to continue to take care of his body — which he has. And then the other thing I would say is just staying focused on his technique. He tends to drift a little bit with that and lose focus a little bit on just the small things.

“If he does that, I think” — Nunn caught himself and paused — “like I said, I don’t want to (overstate it). It’s one game, but he’s definitely off to a good start.”

[Scott Campbell]

Man, did he pick a good time to get it back together.

[Iron Mike]

My first thoughts on the Rodgers comments...

even if we throw out the highest & lowest yardage plays and it comes to 16-20 for 120...so 6 YPA or 7.5 YPC. Let's say we go with the lower YPA stat. With an 80% completion rate that would suggest he could dink and dunk his way down the field with 6 yard completions.

Wow.......flashbacks to the description of the WCO during the early part of the Holmgren years. "The short pass replaces the running game."

Is it just me, or does anyone else here wish Driver would just go down after he's caught the six-yard pass over the middle, rather than risk injury and struggle for the extra yard or two once he's had three defenders draped all over him??