Why does TT keep this team on the BRINK of being great?

[gbpackfan]

This isn't a TT bash thread, really. It's more about his style of building a team. Can't he see the obvious flaws in the 2010 Packers?

KR / PR - Jordy is medicore at best. Other than that, there is no good option here.

CB - Sam Shields is a nice story but let's get real. The nickel CB plays a ton and he is going to get beat all over the field. A more experienced CB is needed and everyone knew Al's knee wasn't going to be ready week 1.

OLB - Poppinga and Zombo are your back-up OLD, enough said. Both of them have the same move, run straight into the OT and see if you can push him into the QB. 99.9% of the time it doesn't work. And with Matthews and Jones being hurt, this is a NEED.


I hope he makes a move here and a move there tomorrow, but I don't know how much can actually get done now.

Don't get me wrong, I think TT has built a good solid team. But he never seems to give the Packers that little push that they need. He seems perfectly satisfied to go 10-6 and just make it into the playoffs. Like that is enough for him.

Anyone else feel this way?

[get louder at lambeau]

I agree. I think he should just stop fucking around make our team invincible right now- because I want him to, and because it's JUST that easy!

[Gunakor]

Re: Why does TT keep this team on the BRINK of being great?

He seems perfectly satisfied to go 10-6 and just make it into the playoffs. Like that is enough for him.

Anyone else feel this way?

Not at all. But at the same time I don't think anything more than getting into the playoffs is or should be expected of a GM. GM's don't wear pads, catch footballs, or jump on fumbles.

If your team makes the playoffs, it has a chance at the Super Bowl. That's all the GM is responsible for. Giving the team a chance to win. Winning, by itself, is the responsibility of the players and coaches.

Thompson has put together a team that not only has a chance to win it all this season, but should by all rights legitimately have that opportunity every season for many years to come. Now it's up to the guys in the huddle.

[Lurker64]

I'm never going to endorse a football team I cheer for going "all-in" because no matter how good you are, odds are you're not going to win the championship (and finishing 2nd, 3rd, or 4th isn't really that great). If you bet a significant margin (say in terms of future draft picks) on winning the championship, and it doesn't work out then you've screwed up your team down the line.

Better to have a good chance every year and hope to get hot at the right time than to try to simply outclass everybody else on paper two out of every ten years.

Remember, as poor as Zombo and Poppinga looked in the preseason, when the real games start they're not going to be playing; Matthews and Jones are. You hold guys out during the preseason for minor injuries, because preseason games don't matter. If one of those guys gets hurt and will miss serious time, then we might be in trouble but every team has issues like that, players they just can't afford to get hurt (Just imagine the Colts if Peyton Manning breaks his leg). If one of those guys gets hurt, well... that's just bad luck. You can't build a team of 53 alll-pros.

In terms of the secondary, things might be dicey initially, but remember that we should get Al Harris and Atari Bigby back and into week 6. I'd much rather have those guys at the end of the season, and into the playoffs than at the beginning. If you think our secondary is weak, take a look at the Cowboys... they only have 3 CBs on their roster...

[gbpackfan]

"I agree. I think he should just stop fucking around make our team invincible right now- because I want him to, and because it's JUST that easy!"


Well whatever man. If you wanna be a smart ass about, go ahead. Like i said before, Im not bashing the man. But he does have his flaws. Why don't we have a decent punter? Why dont we have a decent returner? He's had plenty of time to fill these positions. And it can be JUST that easy. But you have to go out and GET what you want. A team this good is just a piece or two away. It would be nice to see TT go out and get the final couple pieces of the puzzle. That's all.

[Lurker64]

Relax. There's no reason to totally embrace the negativity until this team faces adversity. Right now we're undefeated. For all we know, nobody on this team will get injured, everybody will play great, and we'll go 19-0 and win the superbowl by 70 points.

If you get too up in arms about how you're frustrated that the GM is screwing up, you're going to feel really silly when that happens. You don't want to feel silly when we win the superbowl, you want to feel great.

Either things will break well for this team this year, or they won't. The good thing about the team that Thompson has built, is that if things don't break well for us this year, we should be better next year. Our window for the championship is just now opening. If you're a team whose window is in danger of imminently closing, you should feel a lot more angst than if you're a young and talented team with good contract situations... which we are.

[gbpackfan]

Im not up in arms, I think this team is going to be good. Don't get me wrong now, I just don't think this team has what it takes to be special. There are some big holes that need / needed to be filled. They haven't been.

I know Im not the only one that feels great about Jordy Nelson and Brandon Jackson as our return men.

Don't confuse this thread as a "sky is falling" speech. It's not. Just some thoughts.

[sharpe1027]

With all due respect, I feel that you are oversimplifying the situation.

There are 32 teams, most of them are worse off than the Packers, yet every single one of them is going for the same goal. There is not a single team without some weak areas, yet if it was "Just that easy" why is that the case? They all compete for the same players and the same goal. Is it JUST that easy? No.

You are free to your opinion, but it will likely be a string of disappointments for you if you don't put things into perspective. Ron Wolf only won one superbowl in eight years.

I, for one, am very excited about this year and hope they win it all; however, I don't want to get rid of TT to bring in some other bozo just because the don't win it all. The odds are that anyone they bring in to replace him will be worse. Let's hope the just win the Superbowl so this whole discussion is pointless!!

Go Pack!

[Lurker64]

At the risk of oversimplifying, Why has Ted Thompson left us on the brink of being great? Because that's the GM's job: to bring his team to the brink of greatness. No general manager can make a team great. You can assemble a roster of the greatest players to ever play the sport in their primes, and that team won't necessarily great. Players (and to a lesser extent Coaches) are what makes the team great.

Every player on the team wants just as badly as Thompson (and possibly more) to win every game they play, and to achieve greatness.

You may think that Sam Shields isn't ready and that Jarret Bush sucks.. but Sam Shields wants to be ready and Jarret Bush wants to play well. It's their responsibility to do those things, not yours, not mine, and not Ted Thompson's. TT and MM believe that they have assembled a team of players who are capable of achieving greatness, perhaps even players who are likely to collectively achieve greatness. Will they? That gets decided in the weight room, in the film room, in the locker room, and on the field. I don't know, you don't know, and TT doesn't know.

In my personal opinion, any time a general manager has put together a team that has an honest to goodness chance of being the best in their sport, they've done their job. Could they have done it more or better? Sure, but most everything can be done more thoroughly or more exactly. You can't go through life expecting people to do the best job at something that can possibly be done.

[bobblehead]

Re: Why does TT keep this team on the BRINK of being great?

This isn't a TT bash thread, really. It's more about his style of building a team. Can't he see the obvious flaws in the 2010 Packers?

KR / PR - Jordy is medicore at best. Other than that, there is no good option here.

CB - Sam Shields is a nice story but let's get real. The nickel CB plays a ton and he is going to get beat all over the field. A more experienced CB is needed and everyone knew Al's knee wasn't going to be ready week 1.

OLB - Poppinga and Zombo are your back-up OLD, enough said. Both of them have the same move, run straight into the OT and see if you can push him into the QB. 99.9% of the time it doesn't work. And with Matthews and Jones being hurt, this is a NEED.


I hope he makes a move here and a move there tomorrow, but I don't know how much can actually get done now.

Don't get me wrong, I think TT has built a good solid team. But he never seems to give the Packers that little push that they need. He seems perfectly satisfied to go 10-6 and just make it into the playoffs. Like that is enough for him.

Anyone else feel this way?

KR/PR- WE had a very good one who didn't recover from his injury. Its not easy to be 3 deep with great talent at every position.
OLB- Again, Poppinga and Zombo are pretty good for BACKUPS. If you want backups who can get to the QB, I want a 9" cock!
CB- Underwood is hurt again which sets us back. Of every gripe on TT, this is the most humerous. When Harris comes back we likely have the best 5 DB's of any nickel package in the league....but you want to be 7 deep so someone gets to sit when Al does come back. I know, Revis is dying to come to GB to be the nickel right?

Your expectations are unrealistic (which was get louders point). TT has done a very good job. The team is on the brink of greatness. Sure we need a break or two and to stay healthy. Masthay looks like an NFL punter. Jones and Mathews look like legit OLB. I admit though, returner is kinda goofy right now, but that is about blocking and reliably catching the ball....we will have the latter in place by sunday (we don't turn the ball over, we won't start now).

Strangely, the only legitimate gripe on this team is the return coverage teams which you aren't concerned about....I don't really get it.

[RashanGary]

I'll admit, I see us getting closer and closer and now I'm feeling this impulsive urge to get that one or two players to get over the top.


But. . . . I also know, that over time, if you keep making the right decisions, it will add up. The way Ted is doing it is going to give us many chances at a SB ring (similar to the way Indy does it). Some teams that do it well in that format win a SB. Some teams that do it well in that format win a couple SB's.

Every team, including SB winning teams have weak depth spots on their team. The ones who win it tend to have a health, especially in the most important areas of their team.


This is one year where we have a chance to win the SB. Maybe it will line up, maybe it won't, but we have several years (this year and several more in the foreseeable future) to win it. Hopefully Shields becomes a natural player, Harris comes back and we get some healthy in the secondary. Hopefully Masthay good. Hopefully the coverage units get it figured out. None of it is proven that it's going to hurt us. It's not a bullet proof team, but it's a great year we have ahead of us. We are at the top of the league. We have a chance.

The question is, does making hte moves you want to make give us as much of a better chance to win today as it does hinder our ability to win tomorrow.

Ultimately, it's a GM's job to win a SB over the course of his tenure. It's not a one year job where the world ends after the season is over. Everything he does is to give his team the best shot to win a SB. Not this SB, although this SB is a part of the equation.

[vince]

Sam Shields is a very good test for young Joe Whitt. If he can coach him up to minimize mistakes and be a serviceable corner this year, that'll be a big feather in his cap.

[Patler]

Why does TT keep this team on the brink of being great?

Because that is his job, and he is quite good at it.

Actually becoming great can be a quirk of fate, unexpected play from several players, etc. Wolf did nothing more than bring the team to the brink of greatness, and for one season it was great, but for just one season. If you keep it on the brink of greatness, it might become great for a season or more.

[Brandon494]

Re: Why does TT keep this team on the BRINK of being great?

This isn't a TT bash thread, really. It's more about his style of building a team. Can't he see the obvious flaws in the 2010 Packers?

KR / PR - Jordy is medicore at best. Other than that, there is no good option here.

CB - Sam Shields is a nice story but let's get real. The nickel CB plays a ton and he is going to get beat all over the field. A more experienced CB is needed and everyone knew Al's knee wasn't going to be ready week 1.

OLB - Poppinga and Zombo are your back-up OLD, enough said. Both of them have the same move, run straight into the OT and see if you can push him into the QB. 99.9% of the time it doesn't work. And with Matthews and Jones being hurt, this is a NEED.


I hope he makes a move here and a move there tomorrow, but I don't know how much can actually get done now.

Don't get me wrong, I think TT has built a good solid team. But he never seems to give the Packers that little push that they need. He seems perfectly satisfied to go 10-6 and just make it into the playoffs. Like that is enough for him.

Anyone else feel this way?

No offense but it seems to me that you only follow Packer football and maybe don't know all that much about other teams. I don't understand why some fans act like we are the only team with flaws and that its so easy to correct these problems. I live in VA and everyone around here are die hard Redskin fans and you have no idea how lucky we are to have the team TT has build. The Skins tried to sign big name FAs each year to fill their flaws and that sure has worked out great for them.

Does TT have flaws? Of course, just like every other GM but he has put together a young team with good chemistry that includes the best young QB in the league....seriously what more can you ask for?

[Patler]

Why don't we have a decent punter? Why dont we have a decent returner? He's had plenty of time to fill these positions. And it can be JUST that easy. But you have to go out and GET what you want. A team this good is just a piece or two away. It would be nice to see TT go out and get the final couple pieces of the puzzle. That's all.

What makes you think it is so easy to get what you want as a GM? If it is that easy, why do so many teams stand at the verge of Super Bowls, but not get there? Every team is looking for something. Every team will do what it can to upgrade a weak position, within reason.

Let's talk about the punter, which you brought up. What was the "easy" way to "have a decent punter." If you want to criticize the release of Jon Ryan, in retrospect I can agree it was a mistake. But that was done in an attempt to get better. Isn't that exactly what you want him to do? Once that attempt to become better failed, what was the way to fix it that you believe is "JUST that easy"? There have been articles several times the last couple years listing the FA options, and it was never very impressive. It looks like the problem could be fixed now, time will tell.

A GM doesn't have his pick of all players. He has his pick from among those FAs that are willing to come to his team. Now he can do some things (mostly $) to convince a player to come, but his options are not unlimited. I agree that the return games have struggled, as much from blocking as from the man with the ball, but what is the way to fix it that s "JUST that easy"?

If the team never makes a deep playoff run, I think it is time to question. But the Packers have been in a state of transition due to the age of the roster 6 years ago, the change in QBs, etc. That should now begin to settle down, with apparent plans of succession where the team is now old, but there will always be holes to fill, because no team can have a starting-worthy backup at every position, nor a pro-bowl worthy player as every starter.