Leaner Franks is Cookin

[RashanGary]

Green Bay - Bubba Franks is never going to be Antonio Gates, Todd Heap or Dallas Clark. Never was. Never will be.

All they're really after in 2007 is a return of old dependable Bubba. And maybe, just maybe, that Bubba is back.

"I talked to him a little bit before practice today," Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said Tuesday. "He's excited. Looking more like himself."

The Packers, as well as scouts for some other teams, still say Green Bay can get by for another year if Franks is able to bounce back from his horrible season in '06 and a poor, injury-riddled one in '05.

If Franks had reported Thursday with a hang-dog look and a woe-is-me attitude, there would have been little reason for the Packers to keep his $1.4 million base salary around any longer. They might have just eaten the remaining unamortized portion of his signing bonus, handed the job to Donald Lee and kept two youngsters to back up.

The Franks that checked in looks sleeker than he has been in recent seasons, and for good reason.

"I'm moving great, better than I've ever moved," Franks said. "Because I changed my diet. I focused more on speed than physicalness."

Toward that end, Franks started eating five times a day in an effort to build his metabolism and reduce his body fat. Franks didn't have an exact reading but knows his reading is 2% to 3% lower than ever before.

He also reported at 260 pounds, five less than in most seasons.

In the Larry Beightol-coached power-gap scheme, Franks often was asked to block the defensive end by himself at the point of attack.

When Mike McCarthy installed the zone scheme last year, Franks' role changed. He wasn't asked to go nose-to-nose with the giants nearly as much.

Thus, Philbin indicated that Franks had made the right choice in the focus of his workouts, sacrificing maybe a little bulk strength to gain a little more get up and go.

Franks has lived a nightmare for two years. All things negative that could possibly have been said or written about a former Pro Bowl football player have been said and written about him.

With body recharged and mind clear, Franks is going about reclaiming his career.

[Zool]

Re: Leaner Franks is Cookin

I focused more on speed than physicalness."

I thought it was physicosity?

[MadScientist]

But did he do anything to actually figure out how to catch the ball and hold on to it?

[MJZiggy]

Realizing you're just messing, it's physicality.

[RashanGary]

We have good

WR
WR
QB
OT
OT
OG
OG
OC
CB
CB
FS
OLB
OLB
MLB
DE
DT
DT
DE
DT depth
DE depth
LB depth
A good backup OL
A good backup QB

and people want to say our whole season is screwed because of

SS
TE
FB
RB

and we're not even sure that all of these things are problems



Compared to 2005 when we had

Good:

QB
OT
OT
CB
LB
DE
DE
DT
DT
FS

and the rest junk as well as having NO depth anywhere.



I just can't believe how heavily people latch on to the 4 lowest rated starting positions when they should be weighing in everything.

[packers11]

and the rest junk

Are you saying Carroll was junk???
He just needed another year

[Green Bud Packer]

Franks seems healthy, mentally and physically for the first time in a couple of years.Bubba needs to regain his red zone prowess to take presure off of the red zone running game. I still think Mac will find two t.e.s amongst the group who will help the pack win ball games.

[The Leaper]

Sounds like Franks realizes his fat contract and fat ass were mutually exclusive...and realized a fat contract is better than a fat ass.

[GBRulz]

I just can't believe how heavily people latch on to the 4 lowest rated starting positions when they should be weighing in everything.

RB, TE and FB.... all part of a horrible red-zone offense from last year. What have we done to address the problem? if anything, there is an even bigger question mark since Green left.

I can certainly see why people "latch" on to the lowest rated positions. It's a huge concern that many of us have and with good reason.

[Packnut]

Offense

I just can't believe how heavily people latch on to the 4 lowest rated starting positions when they should be weighing in everything.

RB, TE and FB.... all part of a horrible red-zone offense from last year. What have we done to address the problem? if anything, there is an even bigger question mark since Green left.

I can certainly see why people "latch" on to the lowest rated positions. It's a huge concern that many of us have and with good reason.

Some people have no concept of what makes a WC offense work. TE and FB are CRITCAL to it's success. But hey, everyone can't be as smart as we are!

[RashanGary]

I thought it was the FB, TE and incredibly weak interior line. I know they showed promise but they were rookies and they were laughed at by at least one ohter team and probably more.

I believe that the Oline was the bigger problem than the TE's, WR's and Rb's last year. Favre has made due with very little and still had good passing numbers. He's proven to never make do with a bad offensive line. That should be fixed.

Again, I go back ot the overall look of the team, which includes an improved Oline, improved WR's and maybe an imroved TE corp and I see better things to come. Combine that with improved defense and improved ST's and you have a much improved team. Damn it regular season, get here so I don't have to keep going through this

[Merlin]

We have a "Good Backup QB"? Did we sign someone?

[Merlin]

FB - Interesting that our "Starter" is sitting out with an injury and Henderson is gone. Seems to me that keeping Henderson around would have been a good idea. Ah, but what the hell do I know. I mean he only ever did his job when called upon to do so. We certainly don't need players like that now do we? I mean we gave Miree a season to start and he played like crap. We sat Henderson and most of you have written him off as over the hill or doesn't fit the ZBS. But really folks, do you have any clips of the guy not doing his job? Oh that's right, we are on a 5 year rebuilding plan. We are going to start a rookie who never played FB in college.

[The Shadow]

Let's also resign Fuzzy Thurston to back up the guards.
Let the past go; holding on to the old days never works.

[Merlin]

Yeah you are right, Henderson was so past his prime. You got that video of him sucking ass yet? I didn't think so. You don't let players who produce go. He had gas left in the tank and he did his job.

I hope you aren't in charge of anything, given your logic it's always better to have no one then someone who does the job.