More Banjo - Packers vs Eagles

[SudsMcBucky]

MaLF is a head case, he can't get the team ready for big games. We've seen him fail, over and over and over.

Well, he can't get them ready for shitty games, either. WTF???

[mgordo]

Well, he can't get them ready for shitty games, either. WTF???

I don't think his QB is doing him any favors. Love doesn't have any vision. I'm not anti Love or anything compared to SkinBaskit but would you rather have Jordan Love or Drake Maye? I'd take Drake any day of the week.

[bobblehead]

During training camp and preseason games, I thought he adjusted quite well when moved to LT. I don't think he'll forget how to move his feet as a T has to.

Probably not, but he has lost 3 years of development by next camp since he was developing at a completely different position. It would be like having Love sit behind Rodgers but playing WR in camp. Its not nothing, but it should be so much more. I still think he could be a solid starting LT for us next year, but I also think they needed to make that move in camp when he stonewalled starters in summer games. They could have probably gotten a premium pick or a really good actual RG for Walker. I said so in the offseason, in camp and now its too late.

This team has done a really good job of fucking around with an OL that should be really effing good right now and look more like Walker/Jenkins/Barton/Rhyan/Tom with some added draft capital from trading Walker. As it stands they probably can no longer get Walker for a discount and have to hope Morgan can seamlessly move back to LT at the highest level.

edit: I meant Walker at LT not Morgan since we would have drafted Barton instead.

[bobblehead]

To me, again, this game showed that the offensive line is the biggest problem on this team. It's the starting point for Love's poor play, for the lack of run game, for the missed wide receivers, for everything but the drops.

So how do you fix that? Guter has signed Banks to a massive contract, and LeFleur has cross-trained Morgan at LT and Right guard, and Belton at right tackle and (again) right guard (if I am remembering correctly). Sean Rhyan has been at right guard and center. The one guy you could've moved to left guard - Jenkins - is now on IR.

So it would seem they're stuck with Banks at LG, unless someone's been cross-trained there that I don't know of.

So how do you go forward?

Obviously, Rasheed Walker is your left tackle, and you seem stuck with Banks at LG. Rhyan will now be the center, and Jacob Monk will be active on game days as the backup center and (right?) guard. But I would, depending on how Belton has developed, start him at right guard and bench Morgan. That guy gets pushed backward more than a nerd in a 90's movie. He's next year's left tackle, not this year's right guard. He's been awful. Zach Tom has not been great, either, especially in pass pro, but he's the best they've got there.

So swap out Belton at right guard for Morgan, and see what you've got there. If they continue to suck, is there someone who can play left guard? God. Rhyan? And move Tom to center, or play Monk at center? Banks has been god awful.

This team isn't going anywhere until The Flower fixes this offensive line mess. Banks seems a terrible signing - that's on Guter - but Tom has gone backward, Jenkins never gelled as a center, and Morgan is most certainly not a guard, and the last three I listed there are on The Flower for having an offensive line coach who's not getting the job done. Cripes,Carolina had replacements all over the line of scrimmage last week and still got it done.

On another note, Bo Melton's fourth down drop was huge - such an elemental mistake, letting the ball come into (and bounce off of) his chest. I don't excuse him because he's been playing corner. Guy's been a wide receiver for most all of his career, and that was a very very catchable ball.

And what of The Flower calling a run play that the other team absolutely knows is coming, and having nothing to audible to, as has been suggested by Jacobs? And how about not having guys even lined up correctly? That's coaching.

This is the highest level of heat LeFleur has faced since he started here. Rightfully so.

But Guter needs to be under the microscope, too. His Banks and Hobbs signings have stuck this team for a while, and both players have sucked.

And don't get me started on Melton. His skill set absolutely screams CB. They made the transition. I don't care if every gameday active at WR is a practice squad guy, if you want Melton on the team as a serviceable CB NEXT year (which was always my timeline for him to be a solid backup) then leave him the fuck alone.

[bobblehead]

1. Shotgun run on fourth. Its a tempo call but it caught no one unaware. It could have been called by Love or LaFleur. They've been doing it for a while but got caught going to the well one too many times.

2. The Packers love of playing a guy out of position to maximize flexibility and maintain some margin of safety in game day actives PLUS the love of left tackles as the target in the draft has left them high and dry. They are bereft of steady veterans (only Tom qualifies) and have a bunch of mix and match problems in the interior. No one is settled or comfortable in the new positions. Rhyan doesn't seem good enough at RG to count as a steady veteran. All the offseason questions plus the questions from last year have gone unanswered.

The one bright spot is that Rhyan wasn't a catastrophe at center. The hope or copium is that I THINK Belton can play. If he has a natural position he should start. But even that is fraught; can Tom steady Right Guard? can Belton be better than Morgan at RG?

This is a puzzle and we don't have the lid, we are missing some edge pieces and the puzzle is mostly a dark green landscape at night.

I thought they drafted Belton to be the RG of the future when they made the pick (since they announced Morgan would be the LT of the future basically)....but then they made every move along the OL that made zero sense. Thats probably on Gutes AND MiLF. I doubt they both had differing ideas and never discussed them.

[pbmax]

During training camp and preseason games, I thought he adjusted quite well when moved to LT. I don't think he'll forget how to move his feet as a T has to.

To my eyes and memory, it took a return to health of Walker and an injury to Banks to dislodge Morgan from LT.

[bobblehead]

I don't think his QB is doing him any favors. Love doesn't have any vision. I'm not anti Love or anything compared to SkinBaskit but would you rather have Jordan Love or Drake Maye? I'd take Drake any day of the week.

Sure I'll take the 3rd overall pick over the 20th most of the time at QB. But I could also ask would you rather have Love or Caleb Williams? Love has vision. He consistently hits 7+ catchers a game which means he is looking the field over. Cherry picking one of the top 2 young QBs to compare him to is sort of silly. Would you rather have Mayes or Mahomes?

[bobblehead]

To my eyes and memory, it took a return to health of Walker and an injury to Banks to dislodge Morgan from LT.

That doesn't change what they SHOULD have done which is leave your future LT at LT. Banks injury shouldn't have much bearing on Morgan since neither he nor Rhyan had played LG at all to my memory.

[pbmax]

I thought they drafted Belton to be the RG of the future when they made the pick (since they announced Morgan would be the LT of the future basically)....but then they made every move along the OL that made zero sense. Thats probably on Gutes AND MiLF. I doubt they both had differing ideas and never discussed them.

So did I, think I posted this somewhere. When I saw his height and weight on the draft sites he immediately made me think of Banks and I viewed each as a literal large upgrade inside. I imagined a pair of Guards young-ish, mobile enough and strong enough to stop quick twitch DTs on pass rush but not liabilities in the run game. I was a little surprised but it made sense given LaFleur insistence on a run game on par with the pass game.

It made a kind of historic sense too; Rivera and Wahle were a pair of Guards made up of a mauler and technician, a tackle and guard by trade. Same for Sitton and Lang.

When he debuted in camp on the 2nd line at tackle (right tackle I think) I was more than a little disappointed. I got it, they seemed to have Guard covered with Banks, Morgan, Rhyan and Monk and Tackle actually looked less deep especially after Walker came a cropper in camp. But I would have loved to see what he could do inside.

Its hard to be too disappointed in Bank's early time though, when he has been at tackle he seems good.

[pbmax]

The Banks injury and the continued variance in Rhyan's game scuttled that though. Walker can't play anywhere else. He couldn't have been traded at that point.

[bobblehead]

So did I, think I posted this somewhere. When I saw his height and weight on the draft sites he immediately made me think of Banks and I viewed each as a literal large upgrade inside. I imagined a pair of Guards young-ish, mobile enough and strong enough to stop quick twitch DTs on pass rush but not liabilities in the run game. I was a little surprised but it made sense given LaFleur insistence on a run game on par with the pass game.

It made a kind of historic sense too; Rivera and Wahle were a pair of Guards made up of a mauler and technician, a tackle and guard by trade. Same for Sitton and Lang.

When he debuted in camp on the 2nd line at tackle (right tackle I think) I was more than a little disappointed. I got it, they seemed to have Guard covered with Banks, Morgan, Rhyan and Monk and Tackle actually looked less deep especially after Walker came a cropper in camp. But I would have loved to see what he could do inside.

Its hard to be too disappointed in Bank's early time though, when he has been at tackle he seems good.

Add in the offseason talking about how we got pushed around by the large guards of the eagles and Lions. I honestly thought we were going copycat mold and would run some serious interior power plays.

[mgordo]

Sure I'll take the 3rd overall pick over the 20th most of the time at QB. But I could also ask would you rather have Love or Caleb Williams? Love has vision. He consistently hits 7+ catchers a game which means he is looking the field over. Cherry picking one of the top 2 young QBs to compare him to is sort of silly. Would you rather have Mayes or Mahomes?

All fair points and I agree. However, I want a QB who can process information faster and not continue to make boneheaded mistakes with the football. $55M is suppose to provide that or at least the thought that our QB should be able to raise the level of play of others.

[Fritz]

All fair points and I agree. However, I want a QB who can process information faster and not continue to make boneheaded mistakes with the football. $55M is suppose to provide that or at least the thought that our QB should be able to raise the level of play of others.

Totally off the topic (though I do agree that for $55 mill you should get a QB who can rise above certain difficulties and make others better), I was happy to see someone use the word "boneheaded." I haven't seen that in a while; it's a good old-fashioned word.

That got me thinking about how much language changes, how much meanings change. As a kid in the late 1960's, I remember reading about "Merle's boner," which was an infamous major league baseball baserunning mistake from, like, 1908.

But there's no way you can talk about "Merkle's boner" any more and keep a straight face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle%27s_Boner

[mgordo]

Totally off the topic (though I do agree that for $55 mill you should get a QB who can rise above certain difficulties and make others better), I was happy to see someone use the word "boneheaded." I haven't seen that in a while; it's a good old-fashioned word.

That got me thinking about how much language changes, how much meanings change. As a kid in the late 1960's, I remember reading about "Merle's boner," which was an infamous major league baseball baserunning mistake from, like, 1908.

But there's no way you can talk about "Merkle's boner" any more and keep a straight face.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merkle%27s_Boner

That was a good read. Thank you for that. I guess being a product of the 80s (born in 74) "boneheaded" will always be in my memory bank. I grew up playing baseball and played through high school. I'm sure my Dad used the term on me many times over the years.