What is the Pack's biggest issue?

[Fred's Slacks]

I feel like short term, our biggest problem is the DLine. With Jenkins gone, I fear we don't have the talent to be a legit championship team. But I also feel that, when healthy, they have the talent to be there. Hopefully this will give us an opportunity to build the depth needed to overcome these injuries in the future.

I actually voted for MM. I think that right now, the team discipline has been the biggest issue. If the offensive line cut out the fundamental errors and the penalties, this team would probably be 4-1 right now and have much fewer injuries.

[Gunakor]

TED (INFAMY) THOMPSON

Ted "The Rebuilder" Thompson

lol rebuilding year after 13-3 nfccg year....thus "infamy"

Brett couldn't come back. Either that or Aaron had to go. Either way, something had to change. Don't make me go through the reasons again. This wasn't going to be the same team as '07.

Besides, don't you think it's pretty cool that TT and BF had the Packers going 13-3 and in the NFC Championship game WHILE rebuilding? You don't think this is the beginning of the rebuilding, do you? Fuck no. It started by getting rid of Whale and Rivera and drafting Aaron Rodgers. It continued by getting rid of Robert Ferguson and drafting Greg Jennings. How about cutting Ahmad Carroll and signing Charles Woodson? Letting Ahman Green walk in FA, drafting Brandon Jackson and signing Ryan Grant? Out with Cletidus Hunt, in with Ryan Pickett. Drafting James Jones and Jordy Nelson to give Rodgers a more lethal group of recievers than Favre ever had. There's been rebuilding going on for quite some time now, and we were just lucky enough to finish 13-3 and go to an NFC Championship game even before we were done. Make no mistake about it though, we weren't done and still aren't.

[TennesseePackerBacker]

This thread is missing the Packers BIGGEST ISSUE, INJURIES. However, since that is not a choice I went with the revolving door we call an offensive line. Drives can not be sustained because of weak play in that area.

[red]

i went with TT, not just for roster creation, but because the buck stops with him

its almost like an "all of the above" type of answer

but i wouldn't blame the qb play

[texaspackerbacker]

I was shocked to find that I was apparently the first one to vote for the secondary being the problem. It just seems so obvious to me that injuries to Harris, Bigby, and Rouse, along with Woodson and maybe Collins playing slightly hurt are the main reason for problems.

We have had too many long gains, running and passing that are directly attributable to the secondary--remember the long run by Felix Jones where Peprah messed up? Williams has generally been excellent and Blackmon OK, but both had big bad penalties on pass plays against Atlanta.

IMO, the offense is coming around; The D Line is doing its job fairly decently, considering talent level; The Bates/Sanders scheme is exactly what this or any team needs--bend-don't-break, NOT a bunch of blitzing that does more harm than good; And the play calling, well, as they get more confidence in Rodgers, as well as getting the running game up to speed, that will be OK,

[Pugger]

I voted for D line. If we can't pressure the QB or stop the run it won't matter WHAT we do on offense. You can't give up 8 yards on first down and expect to win, period.

[Harlan Huckleby]

I was shocked to find that I was apparently the first one to vote for the secondary being the problem. It just seems so obvious to me that injuries to Harris, Bigby, and Rouse, along with Woodson and maybe Collins playing slightly hurt are the main reason for problems. ,

Williams is better than Harris. It hurts having Bigby and Rouse injured at the same time, but both could be back to 100% after the bye. Collins looks fine, Peprah is OK. Harris will back at some point. I don't see any huge problem in the secondary now, and they are strong for the season.

[bobblehead]

I went with defensive line. They put little or no pressure on the quarterback. In addition, they could not stop running plays.

This put added pressure on the linebackers to make the plays.

One statistic I found alarming during the game was the Falcons were averaging over 8 yards a play on first down! How can you stop their offense when you give up an average of 8 yards a play on first down?

That is our defensive philosophy....give up chunks on early downs, but hope a team makes a couple mistakes to create 3rd and long then stop them....but too often we don't even do that. Then we hope to use special teams to win field position...which we haven't been doing...and finally control the clock on offense and hope we put up more points...which we have'n't been doing.

[texaspackerbacker]

I was shocked to find that I was apparently the first one to vote for the secondary being the problem. It just seems so obvious to me that injuries to Harris, Bigby, and Rouse, along with Woodson and maybe Collins playing slightly hurt are the main reason for problems. ,

Williams is better than Harris. It hurts having Bigby and Rouse injured at the same time, but both could be back to 100% after the bye. Collins looks fine, Peprah is OK. Harris will back at some point. I don't see any huge problem in the secondary now, and they are strong for the season.

All true.

I thought we were talking about what brought about the calamity of three straight losses, though.

Things, indeed, should be much better as those guys get back.

[Carolina_Packer]

Gotta be the defensive line/linebackers. The line isn't getting the necessary pressure to make even a rookie QB flinch in the pocket, and the line is not taking on the OL enough to free up the linebackers to make plays behind them enough. Hawk is hurt but doing the best he can, Barnett looks like he's regressed and not being the big playmaker, and Poppinga/Chillar aren't doing enough either. You gotta beat your man off the ball, and you gotta have gap discipline in this defensive scheme. The secondary is very banged up, so we are playing some guys who would normally be situational in coverage instead of front line starters. The D has to be able to make some stops and get the ball back to the offense. If they keep getting man-handled up front with no pressure, we'll make the most the pedestrian QB look even better with all kinds of time to throw, and if we don't get more push up front and have the D-lineman take on more blocks, and wreak havoc, our linebackers are not going to be able to flow to the action, they'll be taken on by a lineman. That's the biggest problem. We'll see if the O-line can keep making it come together for the running game, stop commiting dumb penalties and give Rodgers more of a solid pocket, instead of having to move around so much on pass plays.

[retailguy]

Offensive line. Without a doubt. They need more time on the field for the offense. The DL is weak, however, limiting their time is the "best fix" we've got for this year.

[sheepshead]

How about this?

It's Ugly!

http://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/ol

[Patler]

MM - but not because of play calling, team discipline, etc. I think he may have to re-evaluate his training camp approach. The team has not been ready to play in most aspects.

If there was one major area, it could be fixed quickly and the team would not have lost three in a row. The defense is playing poorly, terrible against the run, no pressure from the D-line, the linebackers have not made game-significant plays, and there has been admitted miscommunication in the backfield leading to big plays. The O-line has not pass blocked well, both tackles have started poorly in both run and pass blocking, the RBs, FBs and line share the blame in the running game, the TEs and WRs have missed blocks that would have made big differences on specific plays. While the passing game (qb and receivers) has been fairly good, there has been a higher than expected number of dropped passes. Even special teams, which should be a strength, have shown poor play (preparation?) on coverage.

Throw in all the penalties, and you have a team that was not ready to start the season. Inadequate training camp buildup to the season, perhaps.

Add the uncontrollable factor of some key injuries and you have a 3 game skid.

Injuries happen. The rest can be fixed, but it may take a few weeks.

[DonHutson]

This thread is missing the Packers BIGGEST ISSUE, INJURIES. However, since that is not a choice I went with the revolving door we call an offensive line. Drives can not be sustained because of weak play in that area.

I would've voted for injuries as well. With that not an option I voted DL. With Jenkins out and KGB apparently washed up, I don't know where the pass rush will come from. Kampman can only do so much by himself.

Given the injuries and lack of pass rush, the secondary hasn't been that bad. Certainly nobody is making their job easier.

OL needs some work also, but most weeks we've scored enough to win. I've said it before, but I don't think Campen is much of an OL coach. I don't see any improvement from any of these high to mid round picks at all.

[mraynrand]

1) Injuries
2) Offensive line
3) Defensive philosophy (the same philosophy was OK last year, but it doesn't seem to be sustainable long term. Making things worse is that the Packers are saddled at this point without any playmakers in the front 7).