Sports Illistrated Camp Report

[The_Dude]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/tim_layden/08/10/packers.postcard/index.html

For those you would like to see it. Nothing really earth shattering in the article

[HarveyWallbangers]

Good stuff.

[woodbuck27]

Bring on the Season.

Bring on the Team attitude and dump anybody who isn't up to the challenge of giving 100% every day till it ends.

We need a TEAM Attitude back !! Nothing less will satisfy me as a Packer fan.

FAITH - GO PACKERS in 2006 or BE THERE or BE GONE WITH YOU !

Gardner,Ferguson,Boerigter (all three of you - get it in gear) Coston,Whitticker,Davenport ( not really an attitude problem there, yet he could be cut all the same) and Martin on "O".

Charles Woodson on "D".

Anybody? How's Cullen Jenkins looking?

GO PACKERS ! FAITH and ATTITUDE !!

[BallHawk]

Good read. I like to hear that we're going to be spreading the ball around. It looks like we're going to be having a very balanced offense.

[red]

Good read. I like to hear that we're going to be spreading the ball around. It looks like we're going to be having a very balanced offense.

did everyone else notice that driver said he expects his numbers to go down and that more guys will catch 50-80 balls. but not once did he bitch that HIS stats would go down. talk about a guy knowing whats best for the team, unlike that other guy who refuses to do anything that would hinder his numbers.......

unless the price is right

[Tony Oday]

Driver already has his contract...

[red]

Driver already has his contract...

well fine

i guess you win, if you want to use facts

[woodbuck27]

Good read. I like to hear that we're going to be spreading the ball around. It looks like we're going to be having a very balanced offense.

did everyone else notice that driver said he expects his numbers to go down and that more guys will catch 50-80 balls. but not once did he bitch that HIS stats would go down. talk about a guy knowing whats best for the team, unlike that other guy who refuses to do anything that would hinder his numbers.......

unless the price is right

Terrell Owens, red?

[Tony Oday]

can anyone post the story I cant read it stupid work internet!!!!!!

Im just saying that hes got his contract for basically life so lets lock up barnett for a term then if he bitches tell Spitz that Barnett called him a wuss and watch a LB get destroyed

[Terry]

Nice read, The_Dude. Thanks!

[red]

Good read. I like to hear that we're going to be spreading the ball around. It looks like we're going to be having a very balanced offense.

did everyone else notice that driver said he expects his numbers to go down and that more guys will catch 50-80 balls. but not once did he bitch that HIS stats would go down. talk about a guy knowing whats best for the team, unlike that other guy who refuses to do anything that would hinder his numbers.......

unless the price is right

Terrell Owens, red?

nick barnett and his tackles

[red]

from cnnsi.com
by tim layden

Training-camp postcard: Packers


Green Bay | Aug. 9, 2006

In Green Bay, Wis., with the Packers. Training camp is technically at St. Norbert College (and has been for 48 years, the longest tenure in the NFL), because that's where the players sleep at night. But in reality the Packers, like many NFL teams, conduct the meat-and-potatoes of their training camp at their regular season training complex. In this case, that means Lambeau Field. (By the way, where the Packers are concerned, meat and potatoes means ground and mashed, on the training table cafeteria line; in true Midwestern style. "When in Rome,'' said Texas native and Packers GM Ted Thompson as he dug into a plate of hearty fare.)

However, as advertised, Packers indeed ride bicycles loaned by local kids for the short ride across the street from Lambeau to Clark Hinkle Field for practice. This alone lends a homey atmosphere to the proceedings, harkening back to simpler times or something like that. It's cute, put it that way.
Here's the Drill

1. First drill of the day. Packers offense lines up for half-speed work. A tanned, grey-haired guy in a red No. 4 jersey lines up behind center, takes a snap, rolls out and feigns throwing a pass. He looks like a young -- but not that young -- assistant coach. Brett Favre, of course, is no assistant coach. "It's almost surreal seeing him out there,'' says backup Aaron Rodgers. "I have to remind myself who I'm playing behind.''

You want to know how Favre looks? Hard to say based on one day. The Pack were in shells (no pads) for a two-hour morning practice under pleasant sunshine, giving their bodies a break. Favre threw some sharp ball and several picks. What does it mean to a 16-year-veteran who will be 37 in October and has started 221 NFL games? Probably not a whole lot.

Packers new head coach Mike McCarthy, who was Favre's quarterbacks coach in 1999, sees much the same player he had then. "I guess I'm going to say he's more mature,'' McCarthy said after practice, shrugging almost sheepishly. "`The arm? Maybe not quite as strong. But in ''99 I'd say he had one of the two strongest arms I've ever seen, along with John Elway. The lower body is in great shape. That was one of the first things I looked at.''

2. Speaking of Rodgers, there was a lot of premature "bust'' buzz a year ago, after Rodgers was drafted with the 24th overall pick in the 2005 draft. Nobody is dropping the B word anymore. Rodgers made the most of his first-team reps while Favre was deciding whether to return or retire and actually picked up McCarthy's system -- and in particular the terminology -- more quickly than Favre. "I was almost a translator for Brett for a while,'' says Rodgers.

Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski has, according to McCarthy, occasionally tossed out the expression "A.F.,'' as in "After Favre.'' The way Rodgers is looking, A.F. doesn't look as daunting as it did a year ago.


3. The Packers invested $37.5 million over six years in linebacker A.J. Hawk from Ohio State, the fifth player taken in the 2006 draft, which makes him the most-watched rookie in training camp.

Two things about Hawk: One, he's got the long blonde hair flowing out of the bottom of his helmet. I remember meeting Hawk when he was a sophomore at Ohio State. Back then he had a jarhead crewcut to match his square jaw and battle-scarred nose. In his junior year, he and his fellow starting linebackers at OSU switched the long hair in homage to the late Pat Tillman, the former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals player who was killed in action in Afghanistan. Tillman wore his hair long throughout college and in the pros. "We all really admired the way he played and conducted his life,'' Hawk told me after the workout. I mentioned to Hawk that I had done a long piece on Tillman at Arizona State in 1997.

"He was different, huh?'' Hawk said.

Words can't describe how different.

The other thing about Hawk: He doesn't look big. He's listed at 6-1, 245 pounds. I'll give him the 245, but he's not much over six feet tall. But Hawk can fly to the ball ("That's the plan,'' he said, smiling). And McCarthy envisions him as strong enough to be effective on the edge as a pass-rusher. Green Bay talk radio stations are calling for Hawk to start blowing people up in practice, but that seems premature. Opening day is a month away. Give it time.

4. When I come back in my next life, I want Donald Driver's physique. Trust me, you do, too. The Packers' wideout and preeminent playmaker is a chiseled 6-0, 194 pounds and his body fat must be around two percent. All necessary, says Driver, who has caught 170 balls for more than 2400 yards in the last two seasons. "I don't have the kind of body that can get real big,'' says Driver. (Indeed, he has narrow shoulders and hips). "So I have to be as strong as possible.''

In McCarthy's West Coast system, Driver doesn't expect to catch any more passes than he has in the last two years. He might, in fact, catch fewer. "With McCarthy's offense, I expect the ball to get spread around,'' says Driver.

Driver might get significant help this year from an unexpected source: Rookie Greg Jennings, the team's second-round draft pick from Western Michigan. Currently nursing a hip flexor injury, Jennings has been one of the stars of training camp.

5. Crowd moment: Thirty minutes into the practice, the Pack QB's line up at the 20 yard line and try to throw a deep ball into a yellow plastic trash can placed at the back left corner of the end zone. Short dropback, long throw with touch. Very difficult. In 12 days of spring training, nobody had put a ball in the barrel. Until Wednesday morning, when Favre dropped in a rainbow and drew the loudest roar of the day from the crowd.

Some guys have magic in their fingers.

Factoid

Prior to last year's disastrous 4-12 season, the Packers had gone 13 years without a losing season. Bob Harlan, the team's chairman and CEO, pointed out that the team record for non-losing seasons is 14, from 1934 to '47. Vince Lombardi wasn't around long enough to beat it.
Fantasy Note

As Driver noted, McCarthy's system will ideally result in several receivers getting 50-80 catches and none getting more than 80.
Camp Confidential

Packers six-year veteran left tackle Chad Clifton, despite establishing himself as one of the best in the league at his position, is best known to the wider public as the guy who was blindsided by Warren Sapp after an interception in November 2002. Cilfton suffered pelvic injuries that ended his season and required a full offseason's rehab.

While sitting down over lunch at the Pack's training table, Clifton told me that he and Sapp talked about the incident only once. "The next year we played Tampa Bay down in Tampa and during a timeout, Warren walked over to me and said, 'I'm glad you were able to get back out here,' That was plenty for me. Through that whole time, I never had any animosity toward Warren. You assume the risk every time you step on the field. People get hit like that every game. Unfortunately I got injured.''

It's worth noting that Clifton has not missed a game since.

[woodbuck27]

Good read. I like to hear that we're going to be spreading the ball around. It looks like we're going to be having a very balanced offense.

did everyone else notice that driver said he expects his numbers to go down and that more guys will catch 50-80 balls. but not once did he bitch that HIS stats would go down. talk about a guy knowing whats best for the team, unlike that other guy who refuses to do anything that would hinder his numbers.......

unless the price is right

Terrell Owens, red?

nick barnett and his tackles

Got ya!