A Packer for Life.......

[Patler]

JSO is reprinting significant articles from the past. The one they reprinted today is interesting when reread in light of what happened in later years:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/193424881.html

Beyond that, there is a good lesson in it too about the (in)accuracy of writers' commentary when it comes to details. Just because a respected, "connected" journalist writes it, that doesn't mean he knows what he writes about. Silverstein wrote this about the salary cap impact of Favre's deal:

What the Packers have done with Favre's contract will eventually catch up to them from a salary cap standpoint. Though details of Favre's deal weren't available, it's inevitable that the team will take a big salary cap hit when the quarterback's career ends.

As details emerged, it became evident that was not the case, so long as Favre didn't retire after only a couple years. His contract was exceptional in not leading to the "inevitable" salary cap hit that Silverstein told us would occur.

Some fans take professional journalists' statements as truth, because, well, they are professionals paid to know about the subject they write on. They MUST know more than us, right?

[KYPack]

JSO is reprinting significant articles from the past. The one they reprinted today is interesting when reread in light of what happened in later years:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/193424881.html

Beyond that, there is a good lesson in it too about the (in)accuracy of writers' commentary when it comes to details. Just because a respected, "connected" journalist writes it, that doesn't mean he knows what he writes about. Silverstein wrote this about the salary cap impact of Favre's deal:



As details emerged, it became evident that was not the case, so long as Favre didn't retire after only a couple years. His contract was exceptional in not leading to the "inevitable" salary cap hit that Silverstein told us would occur.

Some fans take professional journalists' statements as truth, because, well, they are professionals paid to know about the subject they write on. They MUST know more than us, right?

This is a classic. Silverstein knew squat about the salary cap. Andrew Brandt and Shermy used to spoonfeed Silverstein salary cap info so TS could write his articles for the JSO. In turn, Silverstein would write glowing articles about what a brain Brandt was and what a great coach Sherm was.

The week before Shermy was fired, Silverstein wrote two articles about how keeping Mike S was probably a great idea. You saw more pro Andrew Brandt articles in a month than Russ Ball (the guy who replaced Brandt) has had done on him in his whole career.

Brandt was essentially a big leak to the media his whole career in GB. TT got that plugged in the great purge that saw Mark Murphy assume the president job and Brandt's mouth get shutwith his pink slip from the GBP.

Silverstein got little info from the front office and has had to turn to other sources to dig up his information. It's ironic, because now I pay much more attention to Silverstein columns. His main source on X's & O's is Leroy Butler. Leroy knows his stuff and Silverstein is a pretty good secretary.

[Patler]

This is a classic. Silverstein knew squat about the salary cap. Andrew Brandt and Shermy used to spoonfeed Silverstein salary cap info so TS could write his articles for the JSO. In turn, Silverstein would write glowing articles about what a brain Brandt was and what a great coach Sherm was.

The week before Shermy was fired, Silverstein wrote two articles about how keeping Mike S was probably a great idea. You saw more pro Andrew Brandt articles in a month than Russ Ball (the guy who replaced Brandt) has had done on him in his whole career.

Brandt was essentially a big leak to the media his whole career in GB. TT got that plugged in the great purge that saw Mark Murphy assume the president job and Brandt's mouth get shutwith his pink slip from the GBP.

Silverstein got little info from the front office and has had to turn to other sources to dig up his information. It's ironic, because now I pay much more attention to Silverstein columns. His main source on X's & O's is Leroy Butler. Leroy knows his stuff and Silverstein is a pretty good secretary.

I will wander a bit off-topic in my own thread to discuss the interesting subject KYP brings up, Andrew Brandt.:

They had us convinced while Brandt was there that he was something special and unique among salary-cap managers. I have to admit, when he left I was a little concerned. However, in retrospect, his uniqueness was being one of the first. While he was good, I don't think he was extraordinary.

Brandt did some very good things, including the Favre contract referred to in the article. However, he also managed other things poorly. Having both starting guards in precarious situations in the same year, was a mistake, with Rivera a free agent and Wahle with a roster bonus the Packers would never be able to pay. Sherman as general manager compounded the problem by not having a single reserve guard worth anything going into that off-season. Thus, they were faced with the very real possibility of losing both guards and not having a single replacement on the roster. The had a lot of little time bombs ticking away in their drawer of player contracts, and it took a few years to clear out the dead money issues.

If Brandt had been as good as they led us to believe, TT would not have been faced with the precarious salary-cap situation he had when he first came while simultaneously having a roster that was short of front-line talent and almost devoid of young talent. If Brandt had been as good as they led us to believe, he would've found another position with another team. I know he was "consulting" for the Eagles, but it seemed he spent most of his time writing articles telling us how fantastic he had been and how critical he was to the success of the Packers.

I much prefer a quiet, unassuming guy like Russ Ball, who just seems to get the job done. Yes, there are issues on the horizon because there are some very good players needing new contracts. However, the dead money carried by the Packers in recent years has been amazingly low, part because of wise player decisions and part because of well structured contracts facilitating wise player decisions.

[pbmax]

I agree Brandt is not as sharp as his rep, but I think having GM Sherman petrified of being the guy who squandered Favre's career was a pretty serious handicap.

KY's thought that Brandt talking to the media/agents outside of official Packer channels is as good an explanation about his departure as I have read. He wasn't quite a NYJets employee, but compared to Thompson he was a showboat.

[swede]

I agree Brandt is not as sharp as his rep, but I think having GM Sherman petrified of being the guy who squandered Favre's career was a pretty serious handicap.

I don't know if you remember Sherman's initial presser after being hired, but he was asked about rebuilding and his response seemed odd to me. He said, in so many words, that the Green Bay Packers would never be a rebuilding team. To me that seemed either naive or dishonest, although some of my friends thought it was just optimistic bravado.

In fact, his whole tenure seemed to be almost panicked in its efforts to rebuild quickly around the singular centerpiece of Brett Favre.

[Fritz]

I don't know if you remember Sherman's initial presser after being hired, but he was asked about rebuilding and his response seemed odd to me. He said, in so many words, that the Green Bay Packers would never be a rebuilding team. To me that seemed either naive or dishonest, although some of my friends thought it was just optimistic bravado.

In fact, his whole tenure seemed to be almost panicked in its efforts to rebuild quickly around the singular centerpiece of Brett Favre.

weirdly, shermy's teams drew the same criticism mm's often do - good offense, poor defense.

[smuggler]

It's ironic, because now I pay much more attention to Silverstein columns. His main source on X's & O's is Leroy Butler. Leroy knows his stuff and Silverstein is a pretty good secretary.

I'm pretty sure you're wrong about Brandt. I think his media forays while in GB were what allowed him to take his position with ESPN. That's why he left the Packers.

However, I agree wholeheartedly about the Butler effect with Silverstein.

[KYPack]

I'm pretty sure you're wrong about Brandt. I think his media forays while in GB were what allowed him to take his position with ESPN. That's why he left the Packers.

However, I agree wholeheartedly about the Butler effect with Silverstein.

That's not it at all. Brandt was basically fired from the Pack and replaced by Russ Ball. Ball reports to TT and is extremely private in his operation of managing the cap.

Brandt was relieved of his command for several reasons:

Altho he graduated from Georgetown law school, he was not licensed to practice law in Wis. He had to hire an outside law firm to do any and all legal work in conjunction with his job. The Packers learned this belatedly & that stuck in the craw of several on the EXec council.

His interaction with the media and associated self-promotion as mentioned in other posts.

The final nail in his Packer coffin was his attempted angling to be considered for the Packer Presidency in the job search that yielded Mark Murphy.

TT and the Exec Coucil conducted that search. Also the Packer org was restructured and TT made damn sure Brandt wasn't a part of the new org.

Brandt got the ESPN job after consulting and running the National Football Post web site for a few years.

I think Brandt is in the right job. The guy is brilliant. He is also a snake and tireless self-promoter, perfect for ESPN.

[woodbuck27]

All this Andrew Brandt 'insider stuff' is fascinating. I'm wondering where you fellas got that stuff?

What's the bad 'if any' on John Dorsey, Reggie McKenzie and John Schneider?