Half a Decade of Mediocrity: The Mike Sherman Years

[Patler]

I have to admit, Shermy did put together a stellar offensive line, a horrible defensive line, a less than explosive receiver corps outside of the one year, a very solid running game especially if Green could play more than 2 plays in a row. The defensive line was his down fall along with his feeble efforts at replacing aging pieces in the secondary, finding a safety to go next to Sharper was a laughable experience as well. Linebacker? not real good either.

What do you mean by "put together"? Do you mean "acquired" as a GM or "coached up" (Sherman's term) as the head coach? As a GM, Sherman brought the Packers Scott Wells, and no backups worth a crap for the O-line.

[mraynrand]

I have to admit, Shermy did put together a stellar offensive line, a horrible defensive line, a less than explosive receiver corps outside of the one year, a very solid running game especially if Green could play more than 2 plays in a row. The defensive line was his down fall along with his feeble efforts at replacing aging pieces in the secondary, finding a safety to go next to Sharper was a laughable experience as well. Linebacker? not real good either.

What do you mean by "put together"? Do you mean "acquired" as a GM or "coached up" (Sherman's term) as the head coach? As a GM, Sherman brought the Packers Scott Wells, and no backups worth a crap for the O-line.

He did bring in 'Ole U71' (Barry) as a rookie FA. Not much else on the O line in the draft in 3 years as GM.

[MichiganPackerFan]

He did bring in 'Ole U71' (Barry) as a rookie FA. Not much else on the O line in the draft in 3 years as GM.

Did Barry disappear out of football when Sherman left the Packers? Did he even try out anywhere? Sherman seemed to prize a lot of players who couldn't make the roster elsewhere.

Edit: Removed excess quotes

[mraynrand]

I have to admit, Shermy did put together a stellar offensive line, a horrible defensive line, a less than explosive receiver corps outside of the one year, a very solid running game especially if Green could play more than 2 plays in a row. The defensive line was his down fall along with his feeble efforts at replacing aging pieces in the secondary, finding a safety to go next to Sharper was a laughable experience as well. Linebacker? not real good either.

What do you mean by "put together"? Do you mean "acquired" as a GM or "coached up" (Sherman's term) as the head coach? As a GM, Sherman brought the Packers Scott Wells, and no backups worth a crap for the O-line.

He did bring in 'Ole U71' (Barry) as a rookie FA. Not much else on the O line in the draft in 3 years as GM.

Did Barry disappear out of football when Sherman left the Packers? Did he even try out anywhere? Sherman seemed to prize a lot of players who couldn't make the roster elsewhere.

As Patler indicated, Barry wasn't even a good backup. He was U71 material and not much else. Still, that's not too shabby for a rookie FA.

[Patler]

He did bring in 'Ole U71' (Barry) as a rookie FA. Not much else on the O line in the draft in 3 years as GM.

Did Barry disappear out of football when Sherman left the Packers? Did he even try out anywhere? Sherman seemed to prize a lot of players who couldn't make the roster elsewhere.

Edit: Removed excess quotes

Barry didn't disappear when Sherman left the Packers, he followed him to Houston! Spent one year down there with a whole bunch of other former Packers, but Barry was on IR for Houstan following a preseason injury.

[MichiganPackerFan]

Sherman had his own group of players that he seemed to love, that no one else rated very high. Kind of reminds me of Quentin Tarentino's actors in his first few films, except QT got a lot more production out of them!

[mraynrand]

Sherman had his own group of players that he seemed to love, that no one else rated very high. Kind of reminds me of Quentin Tarentino's actors in his first few films, except QT got a lot more production out of them!

A big pile of shit, though bigger than a smaller pile of shit, is still, well, shit.

[Fritz]

I'll give him props for Aaron Kampman, though. And Javon Walker. And Nick Barnett. And Corey Williams was pretty good for what he did. And Najeh Davenport was okay. So was Scott Wells.

Three drafts, three very good players, and three jags. A couple bit players, too - Kenny Peterson, Craig Nall, and Hunter Hillenmeyer was okay for the Bears, but he doesn't count because Shermy cut him to keep an extra player at another positon.

And ol' Mother Hubbard thought her cupboards were bare!

[Pugger]

Oh God, I remember that horrible playoff game against Atlanta. My hubby and I were there. That year that team was absolutely devastated by injuries. BF had only practice squad WRs to throw to by half time.

[Noodle]

Keep in mind that, because of the team's success in those years, he usually had fairly crappy draft position. So maybe he felt he had to move up a bit and that the value of th lower round picks was not that great.

Except for one year, TT has not labored under that burden.

[Fritz]

Elegantly said, Noodle, but I still think the premise is flawed. Of his three best picks - Kampman, Barnett, Walker - the highest drafted was Walker at, I think, #20. He did trade up, for sure, for that one, but it was still in the second half of the round. And Barnett was picked at the end of round one, and Kampman of course in the fifth.

He saw Ron Wolf move up to nab Jamaal Reynolds at #10 - a lesson on how valuable a high pick may not be.

He may have felt there was pressure to move up, but that pressure was self-generated by a flawed premise. New England has been drafting near the ass end of the first round for a while now, and they're hanging in there and in fact often trade down.

[Deputy Nutz]

Well lets see, I do believe Wahle was a horrible left tackle, was moved to guard, Winters was retired, Flanigan stepped up at center, Clifton and Tauscher were inserted as cornerstones of the offensive line, Dotson was also retired. So I guess under Sherman the Packers had their best offensive line since the 1960s. I don't really know why I was questioned by Patler in the first place, but under Sherman the Packers had a really offensive line, who really wants to dispute that?

[rbaloha1]

Elegantly said, Noodle, but I still think the premise is flawed. Of his three best picks - Kampman, Barnett, Walker - the highest drafted was Walker at, I think, #20. He did trade up, for sure, for that one, but it was still in the second half of the round. And Barnett was picked at the end of round one, and Kampman of course in the fifth.

He saw Ron Wolf move up to nab Jamaal Reynolds at #10 - a lesson on how valuable a high pick may not be.

He may have felt there was pressure to move up, but that pressure was self-generated by a flawed premise. New England has been drafting near the ass end of the first round for a while now, and they're hanging in there and in fact often trade down.

True. The U71 was almost unstoppable. The o-line was a definite Sherman strength.

[pbmax]

I don't really know why I was questioned by Patler in the first place, but under Sherman the Packers had a really offensive line, who really wants to dispute that?

Its relatively simple. You first used the term, put together. If by "put together" you meant acquired, he was going to point out who acquired them.

If by "put together" you meant found the correct positions for the players and coached them up (or hired Beightol to do it) then he was going to agree with you. The point being, this achievement speaks to his coaching ability and not so much to his GM ability.

[pbmax]

True. The U71 was almost unstoppable. The o-line was a definite Sherman strength.

It was unstoppable for a year. It was effective for one more. It became stoppable by good teams after that. Everything gets countered eventually.