Studs and Duds - Week 17 New Year's Day!

[Pugger]

They may have to make this move. Jones is a steady player. He's been playing OLB in a 3-4 forever. He knows the job and understands Capers concepts. Dom flat out needs a player at that spot that he can trust. Walden and Zomb have shown that they can't be trusted.

The downside of Jones game is pretty simple. He has lots of trouble with big, physical T's. Jones big setback in his career was the play-off game at AZ. Levi Brown stoned Jones and beat him up. After a short time, Jones went into his shell and did a pretty decent imitation of the invisible man. Kevin has to watch him and keep his motor going all game (something KG is an expert at).

It's an emergency move, but WTH, we are in an emergency situation.

Jones ain't the only player of ours that has problems with big physical Ts.

[KYPack]

Jones ain't the only player of ours that has problems with big physical Ts.

Agreed, Pug.

I'd answer both of you in this post to save keystrokes.

I agree with Packer coaches in not messing with Levi Brown. He's basically a stiff. Speed rushers give him fits and beat him to death. As a rookie, Jones basic MO was to speed rush. Brown countered Jones by crushing him on his wide attempts and punishing his ass. It worked like a champ. Jones should have countered with some inside stuff, but he just didn't have the chops in those days.

Hopefully he's added some clubs in his bag.

[Gunakor]

Kevin Greene's gotta be thinking "They gotta give me something to work with". Since giving up a bunch to get CMIII, TT has gone bargain basement at the position. This draft it may be time to invest a higher pick in a bookend.

I was fairly vocal in my displeasure when Randall Cobb was taken in the 2011 draft, specifically because I knew we needed another pass rusher opposite Matthews and Justin Houston was sitting there practically giftwrapped with Ted's name on the label. Yet, in hindsight, Cobb has certainly proven worthy of the selection. And while last year's Super Bowl featured the top 2 defenses in the NFL, this year's Super Bowl will potentially feature the 2 worst defenses in the league. So obviously the conventional wisdom that defense wins championships doesn't apply this season - which means the decision to draft Cobb over Houston was clearly the right one, at least for this season anyway. Pass rush be damned, we put over 500 points on the board this season. And we're 15-1, #1 seed in the NFC bracket. Patriots fans are having this same conversation while holding the #1 seed in the AFC bracket.

This has me thinking. Is this year simply a statistical anomaly, or an indication of the future? Good defense has always trumped good offense, and the words "Offense Wins Games, Defense Wins Championships" is or should be painted on the walls of every locker room in America. Going forward in this sport, will they now say "Offense Wins Games, Offense Wins Championships" and stress the importance of 4.5 yards per carry or 9 yards per pass attempt over the importance getting the defense off the field on third downs? If so, I'd rather we spent our first and second round picks on running backs and tight ends and offensive linemen than on pass rushers or cover corners. If the new name of the game is simply outscoring everybody, then lets make certain nobody can outscore us.

[Bretsky]

Bretsky's bikini Google news alert must have failed him since he has yet to comment but that scene looks like Jersey to me, it might just be Zombo though.

who cares about the dude; she is hot

[pbmax]

I was fairly vocal in my displeasure when Randall Cobb was taken in the 2011 draft, specifically because I knew we needed another pass rusher opposite Matthews and Justin Houston was sitting there practically giftwrapped with Ted's name on the label. Yet, in hindsight, Cobb has certainly proven worthy of the selection. And while last year's Super Bowl featured the top 2 defenses in the NFL, this year's Super Bowl will potentially feature the 2 worst defenses in the league. So obviously the conventional wisdom that defense wins championships doesn't apply this season - which means the decision to draft Cobb over Houston was clearly the right one, at least for this season anyway. Pass rush be damned, we put over 500 points on the board this season. And we're 15-1, #1 seed in the NFC bracket. Patriots fans are having this same conversation while holding the #1 seed in the AFC bracket.

This has me thinking. Is this year simply a statistical anomaly, or an indication of the future? Good defense has always trumped good offense, and the words "Offense Wins Games, Defense Wins Championships" is or should be painted on the walls of every locker room in America. Going forward in this sport, will they now say "Offense Wins Games, Offense Wins Championships" and stress the importance of 4.5 yards per carry or 9 yards per pass attempt over the importance getting the defense off the field on third downs? If so, I'd rather we spent our first and second round picks on running backs and tight ends and offensive linemen than on pass rushers or cover corners. If the new name of the game is simply outscoring everybody, then lets make certain nobody can outscore us.

Its not that defense no longer wins championships, it is just that its very hard to win a championship with one hand tied behind your back. Among all the Super Bowl champions of the past decade, only the Ravens could be accused of winning it almost entirely on defense.

More common is that the differential between what your offense can do and what the defense allows is the best indicator. And there are a number of ways to accomplish that.

[pbmax]

... This has me thinking. Is this year simply a statistical anomaly, or an indication of the future? Good defense has always trumped good offense, and the words "Offense Wins Games, Defense Wins Championships" is or should be painted on the walls of every locker room in America. Going forward in this sport, will they now say "Offense Wins Games, Offense Wins Championships" and stress the importance of 4.5 yards per carry or 9 yards per pass attempt over the importance getting the defense off the field on third downs? If so, I'd rather we spent our first and second round picks on running backs and tight ends and offensive linemen than on pass rushers or cover corners. If the new name of the game is simply outscoring everybody, then lets make certain nobody can outscore us.

Similar to 1983 to 1985, rules changes prompted an outburst of offense and its no fluke that many of the passing records challenged this year were set in 1983-85.

Defenses will adjust and the offense will retract a bit in the next few years. But offense will never retract to the 70s when football scoring was as rare as it is in soccer.

[Guiness]

Just realized Mike Neale isn't mentioned anywhere in here, neither is he in the boxscore or the inactive list. I actually checked the transactions to see if he made it onto the IR, but don't see him there either!

Did he play Sunday?

[Tarlam!]

Did he play Sunday?

He definitely played against Chicago, he was not on the inactive lists against Detroit, but his bio on Packers.com has no registered tackles.

[Upnorth]

So our hoped for savior is pretty much forgotten? Not a good thing. According to McGinn he subbed in on 13 snaps. I hope it is to let his injury heal more and keep him fresh for the playoffs.

[Patler]

So our hoped for savior is pretty much forgotten? Not a good thing. According to McGinn he subbed in on 13 snaps. I hope it is to let his injury heal more and keep him fresh for the playoffs.

A couple weeks ago the coaches said he would play less and Wynn would play more because Wynn was playing more effectively than Neal. Neal played a fair number of snaps in several games without registering a stat. He has since showed up a coupe times on the stat line, but basically he isn't doing much when he gets in.

[Upnorth]

The keep him fresh statement was ment as sarcasm for a guy who is getting less and less snaps every week. I was hoping he could be this years Walden or Poppinga, teh guy who comes in and suddenly the defence pulls its head out of its ass.

Guess I need to work on the sarcasm again.

Typing teh above has made me think of a tangent. In both 2009 and 2010 our d starts under preforming and needs a switch to get better. 2008 never had that aha! moment. Is there a problem with the Capers defence that we arent talking about?

Some one posted last year how Capers d's tend to be great the first season or two and then fall apart. Does he start loving his play makers too much and miss other deficencies? Does he believe in his guys too much when there are better players waiting?

[Smidgeon]

The keep him fresh statement was ment as sarcasm for a guy who is getting less and less snaps every week. I was hoping he could be this years Walden or Poppinga, teh guy who comes in and suddenly the defence pulls its head out of its ass.

Guess I need to work on the sarcasm again.

Typing teh above has made me think of a tangent. In both 2009 and 2010 our d starts under preforming and needs a switch to get better. 2008 never had that aha! moment. Is there a problem with the Capers defence that we arent talking about?

Some one posted last year how Capers d's tend to be great the first season or two and then fall apart. Does he start loving his play makers too much and miss other deficencies? Does he believe in his guys too much when there are better players waiting?

Does he miss Nick Collins?

[Smidgeon]

I was fairly vocal in my displeasure when Randall Cobb was taken in the 2011 draft, specifically because I knew we needed another pass rusher opposite Matthews and Justin Houston was sitting there practically giftwrapped with Ted's name on the label. Yet, in hindsight, Cobb has certainly proven worthy of the selection. And while last year's Super Bowl featured the top 2 defenses in the NFL, this year's Super Bowl will potentially feature the 2 worst defenses in the league. So obviously the conventional wisdom that defense wins championships doesn't apply this season - which means the decision to draft Cobb over Houston was clearly the right one, at least for this season anyway. Pass rush be damned, we put over 500 points on the board this season. And we're 15-1, #1 seed in the NFC bracket. Patriots fans are having this same conversation while holding the #1 seed in the AFC bracket.

This has me thinking. Is this year simply a statistical anomaly, or an indication of the future? Good defense has always trumped good offense, and the words "Offense Wins Games, Defense Wins Championships" is or should be painted on the walls of every locker room in America. Going forward in this sport, will they now say "Offense Wins Games, Offense Wins Championships" and stress the importance of 4.5 yards per carry or 9 yards per pass attempt over the importance getting the defense off the field on third downs? If so, I'd rather we spent our first and second round picks on running backs and tight ends and offensive linemen than on pass rushers or cover corners. If the new name of the game is simply outscoring everybody, then lets make certain nobody can outscore us.

Everybody's hailing Brees for breaking Marino's record. But how many QBs threw for over 5000 yards this year? When Marino made the record, wasn't he ridiculously far ahead of the rest of the QB field?

[Guiness]

Everybody's hailing Brees for breaking Marino's record. But how many QBs threw for over 5000 yards this year? When Marino made the record, wasn't he ridiculously far ahead of the rest of the QB field?

Yes, of course. The setting Marino accomplished it in was very different from today's NFL, not just for QB's - it's not as frequently mentioned, but just as important are the changes WR's have seen in the past few years. Changes to rules regarding the QB's has allowed them to stay healthy, but great QB's have been healthy for a 16 game season before.

The ban on helmet to helmet hits on defenseless receivers has changed the game. When Marino set the record, Ronnie Lott was out there, and going over the middle was taking your life in your hands. It's a lot different now, and it has opened up the passing game, giving them more field they can effectively use, more room to run away from the DB's.

[smuggler]

So'oto had a sack of Stafford wiped out by Walden's late hit. =(