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Now that our preseason is half over and the direction of the team has come more into focus, I thought I would toss in my two cents worth as far as what I think. After we lost to the Chargers a lot of people I talked to thought that we were going to be in for a long season. I have since talked to many of them after Saturday’s win over Atlanta and they are sticking to their mantra.
I saw a lot of positive things after the Charger’s game. Two things of note that most people didn’t pick up on: 1) San Diego blitzed hard and often right out of the gate against our untested offensive line. This is something that is not usually done in the preseason because teams do respect each other and the injuries. Evidently Marty didn’t get the memo. I am not surprised our line had a problem with a 3-4 defense as well as the blitzes. Anyone who thought we were going to suck after seeing that needs to have their head examined. The Packers did not prepare for the Chargers as is customary in preseason. Therefore being that we only see a 3-4 defense 1-2 times a season isn’t a shock they didn’t do well. I think Marty blitzed a lot on purpose to take Favre out of the game (not to hurt him, but to make him non-effective which he was). That part was a good learning experience for our young line. 2) The second Charger TD was their 1st string line, QB and 2nd RB against our 2nd string defense. I thought we did pretty good against those odds. A lot of people thought we were going to get blown out. 7-0 was the real score in the case anyone was counting. It should have been 7-7 but Jennings dropped the 4th down pass. That would have been starters vs. starters. Not too bad if you ask me.
Positives: Barnett can play, no question about it. Hodge looked good and Hawk did also later in the game. Hawk looked lost in the first half. Neither of them pass defended very well, but hey they are rookies. Looking at the performance of our other LB’s, the starters are Barnett, Hawk and Hodge. Our Defensive line played very well. They got up field quick and outside of a few mistakes, they played reasonably well against the run. We have some good depth at CB and although I am sorry Underwood went down for the year, I think Culver can do the job. Our WR’s played fairly well. Jennings is the real deal. Even though he dropped a few, he looked like Donald Driver II to me and he is supposed to be faster then Driver. Hell, even Ferguson looked good. Gardner and Boerighter (sp?), looks like one of them is out. If I had to guess I would say Boerighter, after both games he didn’t get much playing time. Penalties were manageable and didn’t cost us like they did last year.
Negatives: They played tentatively. They were thinking to much and not reacting. I believe many players said this and it was evident. Hawk looked like a rookie most of the game. Woodson looked like an average CB and Harris looked old.
Atlanta:
Is it just me or is Michael Vick Overrated? You did notice that once the Packers got pressure on him, he got yanked out of the game. I am thinking someone was thinking injury so that’s why he didn’t play much. It could also be that he can’t throw worth a crap either. Having a gun for an arm doesn’t make you a good QB. Schaub could start for a lot of NFL teams so IMO with him in there it was starters vs. starters. The defense stepped up and played very well, even the 2nd and 3rd stringers. What I saw from Atlanta is that they don’t have any depth on their team. It looked like to me that after the first TD drive that they thought they were going to steam roll over us so they put it on cruise control. Our offense clicked and Davenport, even though he didn’t get a lot of yards, he got them all on his own. He kept his feet moving and pushed the pile many times. It seemed like the team was out there to play and play hard. If that is the kind of motivation McCarthy is providing then I think he is doing a hell of a job. I am impressed with Wells. I think he has stepped up so far, I hope he keeps it up. Spitz is also turning some heads. He appears to be having a good preseason. He is a lock to start. He has played both guard spots and showed he is versatile. The last guard spot could go to Moll after his good performance. Supposedly Colledge has an attitude problem. It looks like instead of playing musical chairs with the o-line that McCarthy is building cohesiveness in the line. If 4 of the 5 who are going to start are already obvious, then it is possible that we will have our line set by the next preseason game. Last year if you remember right, our line wasn’t set until the first regular season game. I like how well they played in this game. Jennings, he is on the roster, no doubt. It appears Boerighter is the odd man out. Ferguson looked awesome. To bad we haven’t seen that all these years. Did anyone else notice that Favre hasn’t thrown an interceptions in the two games? Did anyone else notice that our formations look like the old school west coast? We are running slants and check downs again. Something else you may or may not know, Sherman never let Favre call an audible. I have seen Favre call 3 in 3 quarters so far in the preseason. Two of them slants and the other a running play. I think Favre is going to be at home in this offense I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to the Pro Bowl. Defensively, Hawk looked like a Pro. Woodson still looked average and Harris looked very good. Can you say Collins in the pro bowl???? He can flat out play, he is Leroy Butler II but with speed! Carol even looked fairly good. Once again, I thought our d-line played well.
The only negative I can find with the game was putting Favre in starting the 3rd quarter. Maybe McCarthy was testing the o-line, who knows.
Overall Obversations:
If the o-line gels (which it appears to be doing), we will have a much improved offense. It already looks improved and there are a few more rookies than last year.
Aaron Rodgers looks better, 100% better than last year. Hopefully McCarthy had something to do with this. Because last year, he couldn’t have started for any college team let alone an NFL one.
AJ Hawk gets better every game.
Greg Jennings is the #3 receiver, Ferguson is the #2. If Ferguson can stay healthy and keep up his play, look out.
Defense overall looks better then last year. Worried about the other safety though. We may have to pick up a free agent to backup Manual.
We definitely overpaid Woodson by what I have seen so far. For 10M I expect 10 picks and him giving up no TD’s, we will see.
Special Teams are horrible. Although I like Rayner kicking the ball in the end zone, what good is it if you give them 30+ yards and the return? Punters-Sander-Gone. Ryan has a stronger leg and although he doesn’t have the hang time, he is the better punter.
Losing Henderson for 3-6 weeks hurts this team a lot. He is a great player and leader. I know Leach is younger and supposedly blocks better, but you can’t teach the intangibles that Henderson has.
Favre appears to be “leading†more then he ever has in his career. He also appears to be having more fun then ever as well. His play has been respectable and he hasn’t made those mental mistakes as predicted. That is a good combination to have in your future HOF QB.
I saw a lot of positive things after the Charger’s game. Two things of note that most people didn’t pick up on: 1) San Diego blitzed hard and often right out of the gate against our untested offensive line. This is something that is not usually done in the preseason because teams do respect each other and the injuries. Evidently Marty didn’t get the memo. I am not surprised our line had a problem with a 3-4 defense as well as the blitzes. Anyone who thought we were going to suck after seeing that needs to have their head examined. The Packers did not prepare for the Chargers as is customary in preseason. Therefore being that we only see a 3-4 defense 1-2 times a season isn’t a shock they didn’t do well. I think Marty blitzed a lot on purpose to take Favre out of the game (not to hurt him, but to make him non-effective which he was). That part was a good learning experience for our young line. 2) The second Charger TD was their 1st string line, QB and 2nd RB against our 2nd string defense. I thought we did pretty good against those odds. A lot of people thought we were going to get blown out. 7-0 was the real score in the case anyone was counting. It should have been 7-7 but Jennings dropped the 4th down pass. That would have been starters vs. starters. Not too bad if you ask me.
Positives: Barnett can play, no question about it. Hodge looked good and Hawk did also later in the game. Hawk looked lost in the first half. Neither of them pass defended very well, but hey they are rookies. Looking at the performance of our other LB’s, the starters are Barnett, Hawk and Hodge. Our Defensive line played very well. They got up field quick and outside of a few mistakes, they played reasonably well against the run. We have some good depth at CB and although I am sorry Underwood went down for the year, I think Culver can do the job. Our WR’s played fairly well. Jennings is the real deal. Even though he dropped a few, he looked like Donald Driver II to me and he is supposed to be faster then Driver. Hell, even Ferguson looked good. Gardner and Boerighter (sp?), looks like one of them is out. If I had to guess I would say Boerighter, after both games he didn’t get much playing time. Penalties were manageable and didn’t cost us like they did last year.
Negatives: They played tentatively. They were thinking to much and not reacting. I believe many players said this and it was evident. Hawk looked like a rookie most of the game. Woodson looked like an average CB and Harris looked old.
Atlanta:
Is it just me or is Michael Vick Overrated? You did notice that once the Packers got pressure on him, he got yanked out of the game. I am thinking someone was thinking injury so that’s why he didn’t play much. It could also be that he can’t throw worth a crap either. Having a gun for an arm doesn’t make you a good QB. Schaub could start for a lot of NFL teams so IMO with him in there it was starters vs. starters. The defense stepped up and played very well, even the 2nd and 3rd stringers. What I saw from Atlanta is that they don’t have any depth on their team. It looked like to me that after the first TD drive that they thought they were going to steam roll over us so they put it on cruise control. Our offense clicked and Davenport, even though he didn’t get a lot of yards, he got them all on his own. He kept his feet moving and pushed the pile many times. It seemed like the team was out there to play and play hard. If that is the kind of motivation McCarthy is providing then I think he is doing a hell of a job. I am impressed with Wells. I think he has stepped up so far, I hope he keeps it up. Spitz is also turning some heads. He appears to be having a good preseason. He is a lock to start. He has played both guard spots and showed he is versatile. The last guard spot could go to Moll after his good performance. Supposedly Colledge has an attitude problem. It looks like instead of playing musical chairs with the o-line that McCarthy is building cohesiveness in the line. If 4 of the 5 who are going to start are already obvious, then it is possible that we will have our line set by the next preseason game. Last year if you remember right, our line wasn’t set until the first regular season game. I like how well they played in this game. Jennings, he is on the roster, no doubt. It appears Boerighter is the odd man out. Ferguson looked awesome. To bad we haven’t seen that all these years. Did anyone else notice that Favre hasn’t thrown an interceptions in the two games? Did anyone else notice that our formations look like the old school west coast? We are running slants and check downs again. Something else you may or may not know, Sherman never let Favre call an audible. I have seen Favre call 3 in 3 quarters so far in the preseason. Two of them slants and the other a running play. I think Favre is going to be at home in this offense I wouldn’t be surprised if he goes to the Pro Bowl. Defensively, Hawk looked like a Pro. Woodson still looked average and Harris looked very good. Can you say Collins in the pro bowl???? He can flat out play, he is Leroy Butler II but with speed! Carol even looked fairly good. Once again, I thought our d-line played well.
The only negative I can find with the game was putting Favre in starting the 3rd quarter. Maybe McCarthy was testing the o-line, who knows.
Overall Obversations:
If the o-line gels (which it appears to be doing), we will have a much improved offense. It already looks improved and there are a few more rookies than last year.
Aaron Rodgers looks better, 100% better than last year. Hopefully McCarthy had something to do with this. Because last year, he couldn’t have started for any college team let alone an NFL one.
AJ Hawk gets better every game.
Greg Jennings is the #3 receiver, Ferguson is the #2. If Ferguson can stay healthy and keep up his play, look out.
Defense overall looks better then last year. Worried about the other safety though. We may have to pick up a free agent to backup Manual.
We definitely overpaid Woodson by what I have seen so far. For 10M I expect 10 picks and him giving up no TD’s, we will see.
Special Teams are horrible. Although I like Rayner kicking the ball in the end zone, what good is it if you give them 30+ yards and the return? Punters-Sander-Gone. Ryan has a stronger leg and although he doesn’t have the hang time, he is the better punter.
Losing Henderson for 3-6 weeks hurts this team a lot. He is a great player and leader. I know Leach is younger and supposedly blocks better, but you can’t teach the intangibles that Henderson has.
Favre appears to be “leading†more then he ever has in his career. He also appears to be having more fun then ever as well. His play has been respectable and he hasn’t made those mental mistakes as predicted. That is a good combination to have in your future HOF QB.
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