Click Clack

[Patler]

$100 says Bishop is starting over Hawk day 1.

Nah, I'm just joshing ya.

How about in week 17?

[Gunakor]

AJ Hawk has been a disappointment. That doesn't mean he is a bad football player, but he has been nothing special, and I had hoped that he would be. I doubt he will be a Packer beyond the end of his current contract. The Packers will draft players more suitable to be middle linebackers for a 3-4 defense, they will not be willing to pay big money to Hawk when his contract expires, and he will sign elsewhere, but not for a huge contract.

The Packers could be a lot worse off than having Hawk, but he is paid too much for what he is. It is almost impossible for a player's current team to re-sign him to a more reasonable second contract after having signed him to a big rookie contract. The player usually ends up going elsewhere for the more realistic second contract that reflects his true NFL value. That is likely what will happen with Hawk.

We'll see. He may still be a special player. Maybe a change in assignment is just what he needs. Best to leave this argument until January/February.

On the other hand, we have seen him play extensively at two different positions already, with little difference. As Dom Capers said about the transition to 3-4, good football players are good football players in whatever system you put them in. In other words, the system rarely makes the player. I don't expect Hawk to be anymore special in this defense than he was in the previous scheme. He will be OK, and they could do a lot worse, but I don't expect any sudden transformation.

For the first two years, all we heard was that Hawk was playing the wrong position, he needed to be in the middle. Then, we saw him in the middle, and he certainly was not special. I know he had his injury problems, but I think that was more significant early in the year than it was later in the year. I see no reason for a sudden change playing in the middle of a 3-4.

Change in assignment, not change in position, is what I was referring to. Something tells me that Dom Capers isn't going to be using Hawk the same way Sanders did at either position. I mean, I'm sure Dom feels as underwhelmed by Hawks performance the past 2 seasons as we feel, don't you think? I'm almost certain they'll work to find a more effective way to use him. Maybe a change in assignment is all he needs. So we'll revisit this in January.

[Patler]

Change in assignment, not change in position, is what I was referring to. Something tells me that Dom Capers isn't going to be using Hawk the same way Sanders did at either position. I mean, I'm sure Dom feels as underwhelmed by Hawks performance the past 2 seasons as we feel, don't you think? I'm almost certain they'll work to find a more effective way to use him. Maybe a change in assignment is all he needs. So we'll revisit this in January.

A change of assignment came with the change of position last year. Sure maybe it will help this year, but I'm not expecting the change to help Hawk anymore than I am expecting the change to hurt Woodson. Besides, it's more fun talking about it now, when we don't know, than in January when we will. What fun will that be?

[cpk1994]

Change in assignment, not change in position, is what I was referring to. Something tells me that Dom Capers isn't going to be using Hawk the same way Sanders did at either position. I mean, I'm sure Dom feels as underwhelmed by Hawks performance the past 2 seasons as we feel, don't you think? I'm almost certain they'll work to find a more effective way to use him. Maybe a change in assignment is all he needs. So we'll revisit this in January.

A change of assignment came with the change of position last year. Sure maybe it will help this year, but I'm not expecting the change to help Hawk anymore than I am expecting the change to hurt Woodson. Besides, it's more fun talking about it now, when we don't know, than in January when we will. What fun will that be?

BUt the change in assgnment came from the same guy he disappointed with in the first assignment. I have every reason to believe Dom Capers, who is far superior to Bob Sanders(a fire hydrant would be superior to Sanders) will fins a effective use for Hawk.

[Rastak]

Change in assignment, not change in position, is what I was referring to. Something tells me that Dom Capers isn't going to be using Hawk the same way Sanders did at either position. I mean, I'm sure Dom feels as underwhelmed by Hawks performance the past 2 seasons as we feel, don't you think? I'm almost certain they'll work to find a more effective way to use him. Maybe a change in assignment is all he needs. So we'll revisit this in January.

A change of assignment came with the change of position last year. Sure maybe it will help this year, but I'm not expecting the change to help Hawk anymore than I am expecting the change to hurt Woodson. Besides, it's more fun talking about it now, when we don't know, than in January when we will. What fun will that be?

BUt the change in assgnment came from the same guy he disappointed with in the first assignment. I have every reason to believe Dom Capers, who is far superior to Bob Sanders(a fire hydrant would be superior to Sanders) will fins a effective use for Hawk.

Not sure I understand where you are coming from here. The system is what determines a guys assignment and responisbility, not a coaches skill. Either a guy can do what is asked or he can't.

[pbmax]

Hawk had one game that he seemed to be a different player in the middle compared on the weakside and different than Barnett (the first start for Barnett). But his play got more and more tentative. The same thing happened in his rookie campaign. My fear is that his suffers enough nagging injuries where it affects his play, like what happened last season with his chest/arm.

If coaching assignments was the trouble (like the failure in New Orleans) then perhaps the new coaches help. Except in AJ's case, he has the same guy (Moss).

[Noodle]

Yeah, PB, he Hawk looked great in the first start against the Bears. But then, meh. I wonder if teams got tape on him and figured out how to exploit his weaknesses. He sure never approached that first Bears game performance again.

[ND72]

It is amazing how bad LB's look with a bad DL in front of them. For the most part, Hawk has played behind Cullen Jenkins, and in Sanders scheme, Hawk's responsibility was to force the corner back to the middle of the field where the MLB was the primary person in the defense.

[pbmax]

It is amazing how bad LB's look with a bad DL in front of them. For the most part, Hawk has played behind Cullen Jenkins, and in Sanders scheme, Hawk's responsibility was to force the corner back to the middle of the field where the MLB was the primary person in the defense.

Yep, unlike Fritz's scheme that was designed to funnel everything to Brian Williams at Hawk's spot, Bates/Sanders funnels to the MLB.

I just hope that flash of Hawk in the Bear's game is his real game and will show up now that he is the Buck.