Packers, Finley leaning towards long-term deal, agent says

[Brandon494]

Geezus, Finley wasn't sitting down in a zone. He took three steps, whatever, and made his cut. He looked like he was running pretty fast to me - not "throttling down." Rodgers wasn't throwing with a blindfold on - he still could have thrown a better ball, even if Finley wasn't running the perfect pattern. Pass and catch, it's not that hard.

Exactly! Some people just can't help but complain about Finley. Even what Finley said about the play wasnt a big deal but then people want to take shots at him because he didn't take blame for running the wrong route? It wasnt a timing route and he was wide open when Rodgers released the ball. Rodgers wasn't on that game and plain overthrew Finley.

[smuggler]

Or maybe they were both at fault.

[Smeefers]

So when are the Finely and Hawk comparisons going to start popping up?

[Brandon494]

Or maybe they were both at fault.

Oh for sure, Id say 70% Rodgers and 30% Finley.

[denverYooper]

And I'm sure this isn't the first time that has happened between Rodgers and one of his receivers. Finley dropped passes but it looks like every receiver goes thru times like this. Jones and Nelson had a bad case of the drops in 2010. If this continues in 2012 for Finley then we have a problem.

So when are the Finely and Hawk comparisons going to start popping up?

Dunno... who was available when we drafted Fin?

[HarveyWallbangers]

I have no clue. All I have are two stat comments from McGinn in recent articles:

7 in 117 before 2011.
0 in 25 in 2010.

Therefore, 7 in 92 before 2010.

I'm wondering because I remember him struggling as a rookie. He didn't have many balls thrown his way, but I remember him dropping a lot of them that he did. If he had 3 drops in 12 targets, for example, then his 2009 season was better than you are giving him credit for. I tend to think of him as a guy who was overwhelmed as a rookie, didn't have a lot of drops in 2009 and 2010, but had a miserable year for drops in 2011. Still doesn't take away from the fact that he's important to the offense because he provides mismatches.

Similar to Greg Jennings vs. Jordy Nelson. Jordy could have better stats, but Jennings is the better player. Until defenses roll their coverages away from Jennings and towards Nelson, I'm going to think of Jennings as the most important WR in our system.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Or maybe they were both at fault.

Bingo!

[Patler]

Exactly! Some people just can't help but complain about Finley. Even what Finley said about the play wasnt a big deal but then people want to take shots at him because he didn't take blame for running the wrong route? It wasnt a timing route and he was wide open when Rodgers released the ball. Rodgers wasn't on that game and plain overthrew Finley.

Perhaps you should explain that to his position coach and head coach, who clearly seemed to lay the biggest share of blame on the route he ran and not on the throw.

[pbmax]

I feel that way too. Is Rodgers such a robot he can't recalculate a receiver bumped slightly off a route or making a two-step error? This wasn't a back shoulder throw, it was a slant...

This is the downside of the adjustments QBs and receivers make that are not in the playbook, or are options depending on the coverage/defense. It works great when both are on the same page (see back shoulder throws) but when they are off, it makes a simple play look bad. Even McCarthy said Finley wasn't the first receiver to run 3 steps and cut on that route, the unspoken intention of which is to probably to the open zone faster and more directly. And he admitted that adjustment has worked for others before. Not saying that Finley was correct, but clearly something about that route begs it to be cut short.

The culprit in this case, I would be willing to bet, is Rodgers internal clock. While the Packers did a good job on the initial Giants pass rush, Rodgers did not have a clean pocket for long in that game and he took to bailing quicker than normal. And he bailed not just when there were free rushers, but when lineman got close even with blockers around.

If his head had given him permission to wait for a half second, he would have thrown a different ball. As it was, they should have, as a group, dumped the mini adjustments and just run the play cold. I think that Finley has more trouble with those in route adjustments (and is less predictable) and that is a large reason why half of the passes to Finley looked either off target or got to him while he was in an awkward position.

[Upnorth]

Looking at only the giants game Arod shares some of the blame for some of the drops. However most drops in most of the games were on Finley predominantly.

Sorry that reads wrong. I ment the passers targeted at Finley, not all drops.

[Patler]

I'm wondering because I remember him struggling as a rookie. He didn't have many balls thrown his way, but I remember him dropping a lot of them that he did. If he had 3 drops in 12 targets, for example, then his 2009 season was better than you are giving him credit for. I tend to think of him as a guy who was overwhelmed as a rookie, didn't have a lot of drops in 2009 and 2010, but had a miserable year for drops in 2011. Still doesn't take away from the fact that he's important to the offense because he provides mismatches.

I said nothing about 2009, because I have no stats for 2009.
In fact, I posed the two possible scenarios that it could be, because I simply do not know:

Again the Finley dichotomy:

Is he a TE with good hands who had a bad year in 2011; or
Is he a TE with marginal hands who had a hot streak in 2010 ???

Which will he be in 2012 and after?

I really do not know what to think about Finley anymore. I criticized him as a rookie for not acting like a professional. But in 2009 and while he played in 2010 I praised him regularly for having changed more over one off season (after 2008 season) both as a player and as an adult than any player I could remember. I frequently said I had the utmost respect for what he had done. Now this season I see less of the professional approach and more the immature attitude. Could be he is a person who does not react well during personal adversity.

I really hope they tag Finley, or work out a short term agreement like they did with Jones. Pay Finley well, but without a long term commitment and the higher guarantee that would likely have to go with it. Give him a chance to prove the direction he will go, but don't contract with him as if he has already proven it, because he hasn't. He has shown enough to wet our appetites about the possibilities, but not enough to ensure that it will be there regularly.

[Brandon494]

Perhaps you should explain that to his position coach and head coach, who clearly seemed to lay the biggest share of blame on the route he ran and not on the throw.

Maybe in your eyes and the writer but I don't remember seeing any quote stating that.

Perhaps you should explain to me how breaking out of his slant route in 3 steps instead of 5 caused Rodgers to overthrow a wide open Finley? The only thing Finley did was get open 2 steps quicker. Bottom line Rodgers should have made the throw and 9 times out of 10 does make it.

[Brandon494]

Also if you find me one post where you praise Finley and not some backed handed compliment I'll promise to never get on your case about him again. At least I can admit I don't like AJ Hawk.

[mraynrand]

Btw, don't do the math in your head or Hoosier will mock you. This site demands slide rule accuracy, and that's okay.
Peer pressure makes us grate.

Slide rule? Loser!

[mraynrand]

This is the downside of the adjustments QBs and receivers make that are not in the playbook, or are options depending on the coverage/defense. It works great when both are on the same page (see back shoulder throws) but when they are off, it makes a simple play look bad. Even McCarthy said Finley wasn't the first receiver to run 3 steps and cut on that route, the unspoken intention of which is to probably to the open zone faster and more directly. And he admitted that adjustment has worked for others before. Not saying that Finley was correct, but clearly something about that route begs it to be cut short.

The culprit in this case, I would be willing to bet, is Rodgers internal clock. While the Packers did a good job on the initial Giants pass rush, Rodgers did not have a clean pocket for long in that game and he took to bailing quicker than normal. And he bailed not just when there were free rushers, but when lineman got close even with blockers around.

If his head had given him permission to wait for a half second, he would have thrown a different ball. As it was, they should have, as a group, dumped the mini adjustments and just run the play cold. I think that Finley has more trouble with those in route adjustments (and is less predictable) and that is a large reason why half of the passes to Finley looked either off target or got to him while he was in an awkward position.

And yet, on the play where the ball was knocked out on what should have been an easy TD to Jennings, Rodgers should have trusted Jennings to get open against the single coverage and held the ball a split second too long. You listen to his long-winded explanation of it and you can kinda tell he's rationalizing. I don't lump all the blame on Rodgers - and not on Finley either - or Jennings. Just on some very key plays, that sync they had in last year's run was just a little off, and it was enough to ruin everything.