""TED THOMPSON SIGNED WHO ""

[Bretsky]

http://www.620wtmj.com/sports/billmichaels/87245987.html

Interesting blog; way anti homer. I can't say I agree with it anymore.

But it would be fair to point out that two years ago this is how I felt about Ted Thompson. We were so devoid of talent in year one he had to take a couple swings in free agency and he did. But after that for the most part he's taken a check swing, or decided not to swing hard if at all in free agency.

I've listened to several of the media outlets in Green Bay while I stayed up there recently. They had a neat Packer roundtable in a half hour show. Others have the same tone.

I don't agree with the tone of the above article yet and I know most in here will bash it to shreads and point out logical reasons why many of his points are not sound.....such as.........does anybody even want to consider Julius Peppers for remotely near what he was paid ????

On the other hand, it's fair to note that there are several members of the media who would embrace the above article.

When TT wins a Super Bowl with his style he will prove them wrong........that's what I think will eventually occur with the foundation he's building

or

Maybe I'm wrong and he never wins a title.....and the tone is more accurate than I believe it to be.

Now let the article bashing begin

[Zool]

Worse than the articles is the same cookie cutter idiotic statements in the comments section below the article. I guess anyone with a keyboard, an opinion and internet access is now an expert at building a pro football franchise.

[Lurker64]

It's a bad FA class, and we're a talented team. Really, the only thing that would be reasonable for us to do is to dig through the refuse to try to find a bargain or a diamond. There's no reason to give Thompson crap for signing an obscure player. Maybe he'll work out and maybe he won't, but we didn't have to get much to get him and he'll definitely add more to our return game than if we sat on our hands.

The real action in this FA period will be the pushing and shoving with RFAs anyway, and that might in earnest in a week or two. Remember, free agency doesn't end until after the draft, and how many guys who have been signed by anybody at this point would have improved this team markedly?

[packrulz]

Bill Michaels is a moron, Pickett and Woodson were FA's. Ron Wolf used to get arena players, TT is just turning over every stone scouting for FA's. Dillon might turn out to be a hell of a punt returner.

[sheepshead]

Worse than the articles is the same cookie cutter idiotic statements in the comments section below the article. I guess anyone with a keyboard, an opinion and internet access is now an expert at building a pro football franchise.

Now?

[Bretsky]

Bill Michaels is a moron, Pickett and Woodson were FA's. Ron Wolf used to get arena players, TT is just turning over every stone scouting for FA's. Dillon might turn out to be a hell of a punt returner.

It's silly to criticize anybody for anything after one week.

Playing devil's advocate.......we had horrible horrible talent when TT signed Woodson, and Pickett.

The writers often throw darts at TT because now that we have our base, they want him to sign a free agent or two to put us over the top. They take pot shots for his aversion to free agence but what I noted is their engrained view. And it's not just Michaels from the media who thinks like this.

[Bretsky]

Packer Insider just did a preview of the best UFA's out there. It truly was a sad bunch after the top four or five players. Right now it looks like a bunch of what we already have, Mark Tauscher, and some RB's that can probably help us some.

Come on TT, just sign Tauscher already

[swede]

TT makes the job of sports journalists pretty hard with his slow motion management style. A Magic 8 Ball interview generates more interesting quotes than Teddy does. I think this explains the hostility.

I like listening to Unit most of the time, but to suggest that TT is terrified of free agency is carelessly misrepresentational.

(Perhaps I meant to say misrepresentationalistic.)

Do you remember the Seinfeld episode when George finesses the purchase of a highly sought after suit that looked great but "whooshed" when he walked? TT doesn't want to spend YOUR Packer money on sexy free agents that end up "whooshing" when they play.

[Scott Campbell]

I approve of Ted's methodology, but his way will only be "right" if he bets on the right players.


Bill Michaels is an idiot for trying to make a big deal out of signing some bottom of the roster chum. It's a non event.

[Joemailman]

In comparing the Bears approach to the Packers approach, Michaels misses the obvious difference: The Bears needed to be active in free agency because they don't have picks in the first 2 rounds of the draft. The reason they don't is because they traded those picks for guys who were going to get them "over the top". Well, Cutler threw 26 INT's, and Gaines Adams, even before his death, had never been an impact player. The "over the top" approach seldom puts a team in the Super Bowl. Even after Ron Wolf traded for Favre and signed Reggie White, it took the Packers several years to get to the Super Bowl. Michaels made a tired old argument that I suppose people will keep making until the Packers win the Super Bowl. And I suspect that will happen before the Bears get there.

[vince]

I would say that this is a dumb, ill-informed article, but Michaels has taken pro-Thompson positions in the past too. This is nothing more than a calculated attempt to stir the pot and produce clicks and readers when there isn't anything compelling to report.

[Fritz]

Joe, I don't know if you meant it to be so, but this is some funny shizz:

"Gaines Adams, even before his death, had never been an impact player."

[RashanGary]

TT makes the job of sports journalists pretty hard with his slow motion management style. A Magic 8 Ball interview generates more interesting quotes than Teddy does. I think this explains the hostility.
.

Interesting point, one not brought up very often.



As to the story, there is a make believe impression that teams run around waiving the magic free agent wand, and poof, they're over the top.

The problem is, it rarely, if ever, happens. Teams, the good ones, are built from the ground up. Free agency is a part of all teams, including the Packers, but less is usually more when it comes to this area of building a team if history has anything to say about it.

Clay Matthews, Greg Jennings, Aaron Rodgers, Nick Collins. . .

These are difference makers, all found in the draft, all looking to be Packers for several years. Ted's proven he can add these difference makers consistently through the draft. There may even be a few more that emerge from past drafts that haven't fully developed.


What these articles and opinions like these fail to address is that the Packers are accumulating both playmakers and good football players. They're not only accumulating them, but they're keeping them and paying them. Over time, that money continues to be spent and there is no wall in sight for us running out of room to keep signing them. What we have now is just the base and it's really good. Going forward, it's going to be everythign we have, plus more and more playmakers, more and more good players.

Saying, "he's sitting on the money" or, "they're not adding playmakers" is just ridiculous. Where the Packers have gone over the last 4 years is one of the biggest turnarounds in the NFL. Where they look to be going is one of the brightest in the NFL. Sitting around saying the Packers haven't won a SB is no more legit than the idiot pundits bashing Brees for not winning a SB. It was obviously going the right way, it just hadn't happened yet. Using the, "it hasn't happened yet" argument to support an entire page of garbage adn make believe is ridiculous. It's just not sound evidence. It has to be accompanied by other stronger evidence to really be taken seriously, and with what TEd has done and is doing, everything pionts the other way. That's my beef with this opinion. It takes one piece of evidence, ignores everythign else and bam, it's supposed to be taken seriously.

[RashanGary]

How does Ted Thompsons approach compare to recent SB winners?
How does Ted Thomspons approach compare to recent mulit-SB winners?
Is Ted finding playmakers?
Is the team plateauing, or could it be continuing to rise?
Is Ted signing veteran players or most go to stay young?


This article is so incomplete, I don't think anyone can take it seriously. I take that piece of evidence, "Packers not winning a SB yet" and compare it to Rodgers not having a winning season after his first season in the NFL. . . Funny how that evidence that was being used as stand alone proof suddenly vanishes. If you build an arguement out of straw and straw alone, that is what will happen.

Now, if you take some sticks, maybe find good overhang that provides shelter and maybe use that straw as a bed, yeah, you mgiht be able to survive the night. Be a resourcefull thinker. Look outside the one building material you have and use several to make on big picture idea. When people do that, they tend to be pro Thompson. They tend not to sound so stupid.

[retailguy]

TT makes the job of sports journalists pretty hard with his slow motion management style. A Magic 8 Ball interview generates more interesting quotes than Teddy does. I think this explains the hostility.
.

Interesting point, one not brought up very often.

WHAT? I bring this up all the time. I talk about Ted's lack of skills for his role, besides personnel all the time.

I'll be the first to tell you that even I don't agree with everything in that article, but all I've read here is the typical, grab one sentence and use that the bash the whole article type of bullshit analysis that you guys always do. Cynicism is easy, real thoughtful probing analysis isn't.

He has some inflammatory junk in there, which is undeserved, but some of that article is damn fair.

Ted's free pass with the media is over. They are damn tired of getting misled and bullshitted all the time. These articles are going to appear with increased frequency, most likely. That's not good for the Packers. Not at all. That's one area where Ron Wolf was a far better "total" GM than Ted is. He got that. He gave the media enough information to maintain relationships. Ted doesn't. He laughs right at them.

If he acquires talent sufficient to win a Super Bowl, and does, he can probably continue to stick his fingers in the media's eye, but if he doesn't?... Well, I'd suspect that this vitriole will continue until the media has sufficiently tarred and feathered him, and run him out of town. Really, when it gets right down to it, isn't that "stance" with the media pretty stupid?

The really sad part is that Ted is a great evaluator of talent. His relationship with the media doesn't have to be this way. Not at all. The media should be in a position right now where they love him. You got the occasional negative article about Wolf, but far more of them backed some crazy decision he made. Today, every crazy decision is on full display. It's backwards.

Justin, when you finish bowing at the feet of the master, could you find ONE thing in that article that is reasonable and well thought out? I'd really like to see what you come up with.