Thompson Gaffes Contribute To Down Year

[Patler]

If you have a down year at your job, do you still have a job the next year?

Where is the accountability? This is the NFL.. Not high school football. Good teams don't rebuild perpetually, which is what TT seems to be in favor of with the annual roster turnover of "just guys" replacing "just guys", and rookies replacing the third year guys.

People that earn millions of dollars and are vice presidents are held to a different standard than you or I. Pretty much any way you slice it, the team that Ted is paid to assemble failed miserably this year. After coming off such a great year the previous year, he should be feeling heat right now. That is not acceptable for his team to fail. I suspect they'll bounce back pretty well next year, but if they do not there isn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind that Ted Thompson is fired if they don't go at least 8-8, possibly even 9-7.

Imagine that you're paying hundreds of millions of dollars into a big project, and the project fails. You'd be a little peeved, to say the least.

By your standard, every corporate executive through out the world should be in danger of losing their job following the dismal economic performance of 2008. Should they all be fired just because their companies performed poorly in 2008? Should they all be feeling the heat? Or, should the Boards of Directors consider more than just the short term results and assess the overall performance of each executive and how much the 2008 results were due to factors for which they had no control or could not reasonably be expected to anticipate?

[gex]

He's fixed a roster that was broken from top to bottom and now a problem emerged on the defensive line and we want to draw huge conclusions without seeing where it goes. It's a good thing some of these people have unimportant, meaningless jobs because if some of these people were in charge of making important decisions I'm afraid this world would be a much more dangerous place.

Overturning a roster does not necessarily mean fixing it. Change for the sake of change is rarely a good thing. And replacing one "just a guy" with another, possibly younger but not necessarily "just a guy" isn't accomplishing much either.

Ted has done an alright job so far. Truth be told, he probably is starting to feel a little pressure. After all, Murphy didn't hire him, and the Packers had so much success during the Harlan, I'm sure he's feeling like he has some big shoes to fill, and isn't going to wait forever.

That's really disrespectful ^. Most of the people that are critical of TT are pretty smart, successful people. I'm sure Bretsky, RG, etc are very intelligent people, and have accomplished more than yourself.

Now that is spot on and something people should think about!

[rbaloha1]

As a TT supporter, TT needs to be blamed partly for the bad season.

First, TT was fortunate AR lasted the season. A veteran qb should have been signed.

Second, KGB's skills were declining with a $6 million price (another stupid Sherman contract). TT could have saved $6 million and secured a veteran qb and use a high draft pick for a pass rusher. Sorry Thompson and Hunter have not consistently flashed KGB pass rush abilities.

Third, cutting Ryan was a big mistake. Poor punting caused bad field position which contributed to loses.

Fourth, signing BP to a long term contract was a bad decision. The guy may not even be start next season. Should be groomed a pass rushing specialist and special teamer period.

Fifth, releasing Abdul Hodge. Maybe Hodge and Bishop on the field together have more impact than the overrated Hawk.

Despite these miscalculations the roster is still talent. Free agency, draft picks, new DC and maturing AR leads the Packers back to the playoff.

In TT we trust.

[Lurker64]

First, TT was fortunate AR lasted the season. A veteran qb should have been signed.

This was not a miscalculation. This was a calculated risk that panned out for Thompson. I'm not sure what there is to complain about. Other than possibly the Tampa game, what would having a journeyman veteran accomplished this year?

[cpk1994]

As a TT supporter, TT needs to be blamed partly for the bad season.

First, TT was fortunate AR lasted the season. A veteran qb should have been signed.

Second, KGB's skills were declining with a $6 million price (another stupid Sherman contract). TT could have saved $6 million and secured a veteran qb and use a high draft pick for a pass rusher. Sorry Thompson and Hunter have not consistently flashed KGB pass rush abilities.

Third, cutting Ryan was a big mistake. Poor punting caused bad field position which contributed to loses.

Fourth, signing BP to a long term contract was a bad decision. The guy may not even be start next season. Should be groomed a pass rushing specialist and special teamer period.

Fifth, releasing Abdul Hodge. Maybe Hodge and Bishop on the field together have more impact than the overrated Hawk.

Despite these miscalculations the roster is still talent. Free agency, draft picks, new DC and maturing AR leads the Packers back to the playoff.

In TT we trust.

I disagree about Hodge. Releasing a player who basically did nothing is not a mistake.

[Lurker64]

I disagree about Hodge. Releasing a player who basically did nothing is not a mistake.

What are you talking about? For a Cincinnati Bengals team that clearly needed help at linebacker (and everywhere else on the defense), Abdul Hodge managed to accumulate all of 3 tackles (1 solo) in six games during 2008 season. Cutting him was obviously a mistake, I mean ... look at how highly touted he was coming out!

[sharpe1027]

I disagree about Hodge. Releasing a player who did absolutely nothing is not a mistake.

Fixed.

TT deserves blame for the poor play. He also deserves credit for getting within one game of the superbowl.

On one hand TT is widely criticized for being too conservative and not taking chances. On the other hand TT is criticized for taking a chance. People will find facts and arguments to support their personal opinions especially with such a complex issue.

TT is not a good speaker and his speaking style and overall demeanor make many people uncomfortable. Does that slant people's perception of him? I think so. Look at Ron Wolfe. He was a pretty charismatic guy that was much easier to like. He also struggled early, but was given a fair shot. We should do the same for TT.

The draft-down criticism seems to miss the point. Too often the argument centers around the picks that fail. The analysis should simply be how many of the picks worked out. If a team has only three (high) picks and gets 2 starters from those picks (66%), that team is still worse off than another team that has 10 picks and gets 4 starters (40%).

Another common mistake is that people will pick the best one or two players selected between the trade down positions. OMG, if we had not drafted down we could have had player XYZ!!! Never mind that most of the other players between the picks sucked. Everyone is a draft expert looking back in hindsight, but realistically you cannot judge a draft by looking at the successful picks of other teams and ignoring all the failures.

[SkinBasket]

Fifth, releasing Abdul Hodge. Maybe Hodge and Bishop on the field together have more impact than the overrated Hawk.

There's times when you read stuff like this and shake your head. Then there's times when you gotta believe there's a brain tumor involved. This is one of the later.

[Patler]

TT was supposed to cut KGB before the season when he had not yet even turned 31 years old at the start of the season, because in 2007:
-he had his best year since 2004?
-he was 1st on the team in "pressures" per snap?
-he was 2nd on the team in sacks, 17th in the NFL, a half sack behind Tuck?
-he was second on the team in total knockdowns?
-he was second on the team in hurries?
-he had had what was expected to be a minor procedure to clean-up his knee?

Based on all those things, TT was supposed to know that KGB's performance would fall of a cliff, from very good in 2007 to nothing at all in 2008?

I suppose he should have known enough not to lose any money in the stock market either?

TT is responsible for all the player movements, I agree, but some things that don't work out are not necessarily a mistake. How angry would fans have been if KGB rehabbed a couple more weeks, signed with another team, then duplicated his 2007 performance? Based on his performance in 2007, unless medical reports were very negative, I can't fault TT a whole lot for taking a chance on KGB coming around part way into the 2008 season.










. His skills were declining

[Patler]

Fourth, signing BP to a long term contract was a bad decision. The guy may not even be start next season. Should be groomed a pass rushing specialist and special teamer period.

They can release him and avoid much of the money in the contract.
They paid him $3 million more this year than they would have under his original contract, and for that the secured another 4 years in which they have the option to keep him at fixed prices, or cut him to avoid the costs. Any year they decide he is not worth what they will have to pay him that year, they can release him with very little cap impact because most of the money came out of the 2008 salary cap..

[cpk1994]

I disagree about Hodge. Releasing a player who basically did nothing is not a mistake.

What are you talking about? For a Cincinnati Bengals team that clearly needed help at linebacker (and everywhere else on the defense), Abdul Hodge managed to accumulate all of 3 tackles (1 solo) in six games during 2008 season. Cutting him was obviously a mistake, I mean ... look at how highly touted he was coming out!

Good point. I forgot how some Packer fans were already carving out his bust in Canton after the scrimmage game his rookie year.

[Guiness]

Re: Thompson Gaffes Contribute To Down Year

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090110/PKR07/90110030/1058/PKR01

Some interesting points.

Grasping at straws a bit, though. I can't believe Tracy White would have resulted in an additional W.

I dunno - this is actually one of the points that I can buy into (a bit).

ST really seemed to fall apart when this guy left. And we really got hurt by some bad field position situations late in the season.

[cheesner]

1) I'm not 100% confident that he recognizes the value of a superstar quarterback. If I were the general manager(thank god I'm not, right? ), as soon as I realized a guy was not spectacular at that position, I would move on (either trade, cut, whatever, in an attempt to get value from that player while still searching for that special player).

This is the single dumbest thing I have ever heard., What is your problem with Rodgers? This moronic statement is why I say "Thank GOd you are not the Packers GM". The Packers would never have stability becuase if the QB is not spectacular after one year, you would get rid of them". They would have a new QBN every year.

This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that you hate Rodgers.

The actions of TT contradict his statement. He did get rid of a non-superstar QB and went with a new guy. Even if partial thought AR wasn't a 'superstar' QB, he should at least acknowledge that TT didn't stick with a has-been but at least tried to improve the position.

If he doesn't think AR should play anymore, is one year really enough to tell? Favre himself wasn't very good the first few years. When he became a FA how many other offers did he get? NONE (to the best of my memory). Nobody wanted him and he had to resign with the Packers.

[woodbuck27]

Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 9:45 pm Post subject:

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"Gaffes" implies a blatant mistake or blunder. Something wrong at the time that a person should realize was wrong. A mistake that a right-thinking person would not make.

Yes that means you can get a definition from a dictionary Patler. . .but

'' Williams trade - clearly not wrong at the time it was made, when Harrell was healthy,[/b] KGB was healthy, etc. and all other players from 2007 were there and healthy. [b]Everyone felt the Packers had D-line surplus in 2007. ''

Harrell was healthy? Excuse me but. . .that Implies what Patler?

That Harrell was ever healthy? You talking about the same DT that I've seen do little to nothing? Ohh wait. You realloy imagine that Ted Thompson has it? Maybe Im wrong. Of course he doesn't have it and your an intelligent gent so again I'm reallt confused by you Patler.

The Harrlell pick has certainly looked bad on Ted Thompson. Is there really anyone on this forum that can argue otherwise? That's not the issue here. It's TT and managing us to success and that means Super Bowl contender at least.

Ted Thompson. This is a man that was suposed to be the drafting genious. Look at the results he has shown over the last three year as our teams first picks . Good grief.

I know its with a hope and a prayer when any College player moves into the NFL but I see 0-3 the last three seasons for TT's first pick in the three drafts. He trades down to save his ass IMO, again, to give him more time to give himself more time too procrastinate. Ted Thompson is lost. Well he wsn't brought in to be a Packer GM in my best observationn from the beginning.There was another agenda for poor Ted.

Of course I speculate. How very bold of me.

Always safe, and add always slow to get it done? Equals our GM. That is his personality and he can't or won't get over himself or grow. Ted Thompson shows no sign of learning on the job.

Translation. He's a bust. Next season will just about seal his future as a Packer GM. In terms of anything bove mediorocity he's like a piece of clothing too long out on the line. Really dried out!

We have a fella that carries around a quote of a statement that I made. I have always thanked him for that privately. That quote is: To the effect that through the 2013 season we will not see the Packers in a Super Bowl moreso win a Super Bowl. As long as we have to endure Ted Thompson's wanna be ways to be the Green Bay Packers GM. As Packer fans we won't see a lot of success.

Now the 'D' is getting old and where are we on 'O' in terms of depth at RB, TE and on the OL. We have a decent receiving core and DD aging. We have one legitimate young star player on 'O' and two possibly emerging players.

I'm so sure that I'm correct IIll sell my soul wherever if I'm werong. I will NOT be wrong in my prediction as it's too obviously correct bsded in common sense.

I mean how n much of an analyst does one have to be to see Ted Thompon can't and won't get it done. I might add that his choi9ce of HC was another wish and a prayer that looks bad now. Mike Mccarthy isn'ty a good game management coach.

Like Ted Thompson, HC Mike McCarthy reminds me of the Frozen Food section at your local food mart. Well again the redundency. Ted Thompson brought him in. YIKES!

'' KGB - lead the team in "pressures per snap" in 2007, second in sacks with 9.5, second in knockdowns, second in hurries. And it was a "gaffe" not to cut him coming out of training camp, without a further chance to recover? '' Patler

Now that one above Re: KGB Patler. So much again for loyalty. KGB always tried his best to contribute. How many Packer players over the past decade have given more. The reward. See ya KGB. How many other Vet's did we see moved out this past three seasons? Any GM can manage that and manage to hang onto CAP space or be a bean counter. But CAP space doesn't bring us talent and talent wins spots in the playoffs Patler.

I will now read thyat article. I hope that the writer nails Ted Thompsons hide. He has to go or he'll set our franchise back at least two decades or what wwe didn't enjoy in the pre Favre era.

[Lurker64]

I think this is partially an issue of chicken vs. egg. Eli Manning certainly wasn't a superstar until he won a superbowl last year, and he's been a superstar ever since (though recent performances may rocket him back to "goat" status.) Realistically, "superstar QB" is generally defined as "a QB who plays for a good team and plays well." When Cincinnati was good, briefly, you could certainly make the case for Carson Palmer being a superstar QB, but would anybody make that case now?