Who will score the touchdowns this year?

[K-town]

I know the "Who are the playmakers" thread covers some of this.

As old Uncle Cliff was fond of pointing out, who will score the touchdowns?

Ahman Green is gone. Bubba Franks has one more touchdown than I do in the past 2 years (hint - I don't play in the NFL. Never have).
Jennings has shown some YAC ability (before the high ankle sprain). Morency = unknown.
Not trying to be a nay-sayer, or sarcastic, or contentious (at least, not any more than usual).
Just wondering, who scores for the Pack this year? (ON THE FIELD).
Who is our red-zone go-to guy.
Who punches it in from the 1-yard-line on third down (remember the awful ending to last year's Monday night Philly game?)
Inquiring minds want to know. Your opinions valued. Probably.

[Patler]

Jones could be a redzone type guy. He is supposed to be good in a crowd, with good hands and size.

Its hard to be critical of Franks when he seldom played in the redzone, and when he did he was kept in to block. I wish I had kept the article at the end of the season that summarized his red zone plays. He was rarely in.

As far as punchng it in on the ground, they will have no one, but zone running teams aren't really designed for short yardage situations, which is my biggest complaint about them. They are not good picking up "3rd and 1" first downs either.

My biggest hope is that Clowney can give them a legitimate long strike option, which could open up Jennings for bigger YAC plays and possible TDs too.

[Packnut]

TD's

Jones could be a redzone type guy. He is supposed to be good in a crowd, with good hands and size.

Its hard to be critical of Franks when he seldom played in the redzone, and when he did he was kept in to block. I wish I had kept the article at the end of the season that summarized his red zone plays. He was rarely in.

As far as punchng it in on the ground, they will have no one, but zone running teams aren't really designed for short yardage situations, which is my biggest complaint about them. They are not good picking up "3rd and 1" first downs either.

My biggest hope is that Clowney can give them a legitimate long strike option, which could open up Jennings for bigger YAC plays and possible TDs too.

Yep, Jones could be some help in the RZ. He has the build for it. I know I saw a few fades in the end zone to him last season at SJS. I would hope that the coaches give Clowney 3 or 4 basic routes to focus on and not confuse him with the whole playbook. "Go deep son" should be all he hears.

Franks just had to many drops to expect anything out of him. IF he rebounds, I consider it a bonus but counting on him does'nt make sense.

The run game is the wild card in all this and until we see it on the field, everything is just opinion.......

[Joemailman]

Jones could be a redzone type guy. He is supposed to be good in a crowd, with good hands and size.

Its hard to be critical of Franks when he seldom played in the redzone, and when he did he was kept in to block. I wish I had kept the article at the end of the season that summarized his red zone plays. He was rarely in.

As far as punchng it in on the ground, they will have no one, but zone running teams aren't really designed for short yardage situations, which is my biggest complaint about them. They are not good picking up "3rd and 1" first downs either.

My biggest hope is that Clowney can give them a legitimate long strike option, which could open up Jennings for bigger YAC plays and possible TDs too.

In an interview shortly after he was named OC, Philbin said there will be times in short yardage/goalline situations where the Packers will use "power-gap" blocking instead of zone blocking.

[Packnut]

Blocking

"Power gap blocking". Does'nt that just make ya tingly all over??????

[Patler]

Jones could be a redzone type guy. He is supposed to be good in a crowd, with good hands and size.

Its hard to be critical of Franks when he seldom played in the redzone, and when he did he was kept in to block. I wish I had kept the article at the end of the season that summarized his red zone plays. He was rarely in.

As far as punchng it in on the ground, they will have no one, but zone running teams aren't really designed for short yardage situations, which is my biggest complaint about them. They are not good picking up "3rd and 1" first downs either.

My biggest hope is that Clowney can give them a legitimate long strike option, which could open up Jennings for bigger YAC plays and possible TDs too.

In an interview shortly after he was named OC, Philbin said there will be times in short yardage/goalline situations where the Packers will use "power-gap" blocking instead of zone blocking.

That's fine to try and run it, but the problem is you want guys built like Kevin Barry for those short yardage situations, and for his zone blocking emphasis MM will have filled the roster with guys built like Darren Colledge. You can't expect it to be as effective when the O-linemen are overmatched by 40 pounds each! Thats my complaint about zone emphasizing teams. They don't have the players for short yardage situations.

[Joemailman]

Patler,

First of all, we still have Kevin Barry for those situations. Also, the Packers current OL isn't much smaller than it was when Sherman was here. Both Wahle and Flanagan were noted more for their mobility than for their brute strength. Colledge is about the same size as Wahle was, and Wells is only about 5 pounds lighter than Flanagan. It is only at RG (Spitz instead of Rivera) where the Packers clearly aren't as stout as they were before. Perhaps the biggest question will be at fullback, where the Packers would have to find someone who can do what William Henderson once did.

[packinpatland]

Its hard to be critical of Franks when he seldom played in the redzone, and when he did he was kept in to block. I wish I had kept the article at the end of the season that summarized his red zone plays. He was rarely in.


That may have been true of last year, but didn't he score alot in previous years, catching those little tosses in the end zone?

[Joemailman]

You are correct. I remember a number of times sitting at Lambeau where the Packers were inside the 5 yard line and saying, "It's Bubba Time." The Packers need to get back to that, with Bubba or someone else.

[packinpatland]

You are correct. I remember a number of times sitting at Lambeau where the Packers were inside the 5 yard line and saying, "It's Bubba Time." The Packers need to get back to that, with Bubba or someone else.

I'm sure TT is scratching his head thinking the same thing.

[Patler]

Patler,

First of all, we still have Kevin Barry for those situations. Also, the Packers current OL isn't much smaller than it was when Sherman was here. Both Wahle and Flanagan were noted more for their mobility than for their brute strength. Colledge is about the same size as Wahle was, and Wells is only about 5 pounds lighter than Flanagan. It is only at RG (Spitz instead of Rivera) where the Packers clearly aren't as stout as they were before. Perhaps the biggest question will be at fullback, where the Packers would have to find someone who can do what William Henderson once did.

I doubt Barry will still be there this year. He doesn't strike me as the type to make repested cut blocks, picking himself up off the ground play after play.

Some "unofficial" reports said Colledge had gotten as low as 280 by the end of the season. Personally, I think Well's size is vastly inflated on the roster info. Look at him next to the others sometime.

The Packers have openly said they will have smaller linemen. At the end of the season they even said they would like Clifton to lose 10 pounds.

[BooHoo]

Yes, this is an interesting question. We had problems last year scoring in the Red Zone. Did we pick up a player to help us score?

[RashanGary]

I agree Patler, but I think they can definitly be better than last year. Rookie O-lineman have always seemed to struggle with strength. I think our guys can play pretty well if they really worked on their strength in the off season. They might not be as dominate as some road-grader types but they can be a lot better than the pushovers that manned the middle of the line last year even if it's the same guys *only stronger*

[Farley Face]

I agree Patler, but I think they can definitly be better than last year. Rookie O-lineman have always seemed to struggle with strength. I think our guys can play pretty well if they really worked on their strength in the off season. They might not be as dominate as some road-grader types but they can be a lot better than the pushovers that manned the middle of the line last year even if it's the same guys *only stronger*

I'm anticipating the packers.com story about how Colledge, Spitz, Moll, et al. have spent the offseason slaving away in the weight room. Maybe a little early in the year yet. Guess we still have a week or two of how our NFL Europa designees are lighting it up.

[retailguy]

You are correct. I remember a number of times sitting at Lambeau where the Packers were inside the 5 yard line and saying, "It's Bubba Time." The Packers need to get back to that, with Bubba or someone else.

I'm sure TT is scratching his head thinking the same thing.

I'm not sure he's doing that at all.