The Sky Is Falling

[Carolina_Packer]

From week 10 to week 15, they went from having the 9th rated run D to the 15th. in the past 6 games, they given up 767 rushing yards.

Goes to show how critical Jolly is to our D-line and it's success. You can't expect Harrell to help a lot as he's a first year guy, and many of them struggle, even if they are heralded (Harrell'ded?). We'll see how much he's learned going into next week and the playoffs because he will be in the rotation.

[b bulldog]

Injuries are a reason but don't tell the Bears and the rest of the NFL that. The Bears had 6 or 7 starters out of yesterdays game. Every team has injuries and as B noted, this may just show that we need everything to go our way to be able to compete at such a high level.

[RashanGary]

Losing Jolly was bigger than bulldog is willing to let on. He was a rock in there. This team is still good, but they are not as good as they were before they lost one of their top Dlineman. Chicago was severely weakened with injuries at the end of last year and they got it even worse this whole year. It happens, it's part of the game. The Packers havn't been hit bad enough to be dreadfull but it's bad enough to hurt. I think that stat is very telling. They went from strong to weak as a run defense. Williams just is not the run stopper that Jolly was and Harrell is too young. He's not good right now.

It was even obvious in the Carolina game. As soon as Jolly went out, they ran it down our throat and teams have been running it down our throat ever since. I don't think you, bulldog, have any idea how much Jolly meant to this defense. The Packers will probably fall short this year. They're deeper than a year or two ago but not deep enough yet IMO. Next year they should be able to sustain one injury with the development of Harrell. This year, they were not able to. They were not good enough. That's football when you have to rebuild a whole roster in 2 years. it's not going to be 53 deep. Same thing is happening with Indy and Freeney. They are hurt badly by his loss. I don't think they have a real shot. I think Jacksonville has the best shot, partly because they are the healthiest (esspecially on their Dline).

It's nothing to go cliff diving about. It will still be a fun playoffs and they should make it into the NFC Championship game at the minimum. That's a pretty good year. Nothing to whine about considering where we were two years ago and where the arrow is pointing (UP).

[b bulldog]

nick, show me one team that hasn't had meaningful injuries.........The friggin bears have lost Mike Brown, maybe the best S in the north, Vasher and Tillman have been hurt all year, Urlacher and Briggs have also been, the best DT in the game, Harris is playing on one leg and they lost his ruuning mate at DT before the season started, Anderson and Brown have also been dinged up. Joley was a loss but he is no wherenear the player Tommie Harris is, not close. This Packers team may need everyone 100% healthy to compete with the big 3 but that is not very realistic an every fan from every NFL city can say what it..... Have you ever heard the what if's that Bart Starr always said when he wa coaching??? You'd have love those. If your not alarmed by what you saw yesterday with what was on the line, you must have your head in the sand cause this is not the time of the year to start playing so poorly against the run and for the passrush to all but disappear from your front four.

[RashanGary]

Yes, and the teams that get the important injuries lose. That's football. Health matters. If you're a coach, you don't make excuses because that hurts your team and is a weak attitude. If you're a fan, you're allowed to be realistic. They are no longer strong in the run game because they only had two starting caliber DT's and one went down, weakening the run defense. It only gets worse from there because not stopping the run spreads through the whole defense and then into the offense because you can't get off the field and then into the ST's because you put yoruself in bad field position. It's not good.

I think you underestimate Jolly. Harris is a great pass rusher, but I believe Jolly is a better run stopper and in the scheme we play, that's what we really need from that position. It hurts a lot.

I guess I don't see your point in saying injuries don't matter. They do. They hurt the Packers, the same way they've hurt many other teams this year. The healthy ones usually have the best shot. Look at Indy last year. They were remarkably healthy. Baltimore, GB back in the day, Denver, NE, Jacksonville right now, Minnesota, ect. .. . Healthy teams always have the best shot. This might not be our year and the stats (along with common sense) seem to show that injuries matter. I just don't see why deny it. Do you have some sort of point you are trying to prove that the Packers wouldn't be better with Jolly because if that is your point, I don't think very many people here will agree iwth you and you'll keep going round and round all frustrated and angry like you are now.

[b bulldog]

The Pats lost Seymour for the first six games, then they lost Maroney for two or three games, thean they lost Watson for about three games, Harrison hasn't played in about 4 games, Rosie Colvin will be out for the duration of the seaon also.

The Cowboys lost their starting NG in week one, Newman missed two or three games due to injury and really hasn't been 100% all season, they've lost their starting C for some games, TO will miss two or three games and so on.

The Colts lost the best passrusher in the game in Freeney, they lost Harrison for close to half the season, they lost Anthoney McFarland for the year,Rob Morris and about two DB's for the year. The Boys have been the healthiest of these three teams.

The Redskins have lost Jason Campbell, Sean Taylor, Rocky McIntosh and Santana Moss has been hurt along with Clinton Portis. They have also lost a few Dlineman.

[b bulldog]

The two best teams in football have probably had more injuries than anyone. The Colts have lost a ton and they at worst are the seond best team in the league.

[RashanGary]

Yes, they are better teams. Is there any reason to be all angry and repetetive about it. I don't hear too many people here talking about the Packers being better than the Pats or Colts. We think we have a shot against the Cowboys and look forward to the playoffs because "any given Sunday". That is called being a normal fan. Why is that such an issue?

[Packers4Glory]

Re: The Sky Is Falling

A first round loss in the playoffs and this season is still a success.

ummm NOOOOOOOOO

I couldn't disagree more. finishing 13-3 or 12-4 w/ a bye and a home playoff game, losing that game would be a huge failure. This team is very good and should pose a serious threat for being the NFC team to get beat by the Pats...losing that first game would be extremely disappointing because the NFC sucks outside of the Pack and Cowboys.

[b bulldog]

I not angry about anything except the constant whinning about Jolley like he is #92. One thing I hate, is excuses, that's all. We have overachieved and that is great.

[RashanGary]

I not angry about anything except the constant whinning about Jolley like he is #92. One thing I hate, is excuses, that's all. We have overachieved and that is great.

Are you saying you don't think this team is a legit playoff team? I'll bet the Packers put up a nice performance in the playoffs and show they belong. Will they win one, two? I don't know, but I think they belong in the playoffs and in that case they didn't over achieve, they earned their way in.

As far as Jolly goes, he did make a big difference. He was a big part of the reason this team was a top 10 run stopping team. Losing him is a big part of the reason they are now bottom 10. The great teams can overcome a loss to their starting DT. The ones who are in year two of a massive rebuilding have a slightly tougher time. We're not great, but we are a good playoff team that wasn't deep enough to keep going full speed with a loss to the Dline. I don't know why that is such a big issue. If I was playing the game or coaching it I wouldn't make excuses, but as an outsider looking in, I can't help but call it as I see it.

[gbgary]

The kind of offense the Packers have, where they are at their best by spreading things out and throwing most of the time, I suspect is not what M3 had in mind. He's done a good job of adjusting his offense to fit the reality of the situation. I suspect he and TT are going to take a close look at the OL in the off-season, and try to figure out what changes need to be made for the Packers to be a consistent running team.

in the first half of the season they were at their best with the 4 and 5 wide-out offense...but not recently. now teams are blitzing when they see this and the result hasn't been pretty. the disturbing thing is that MM hasn't adjusted to this reality. it continued yesterday with the lasting memory of urlacher running down the field with yet another pass thrown right to him.

[Packers4Ever]

I think M3 does a good job of acknowledging a poor performance when it happens without dwelling on it. He'll have them ready to play next week and in the playoffs. You don't go 12-3 if you don't have the ability to bounce back after a loss.

You're right, JM, and he also always mentions
he'll take full responsibility for making
necessary changes.
Sometimes making choices means you're damned
if you do and damned if you don't !

[HarveyWallbangers]

The positive from this game for me: in all likelihood, this game was meaningless to us. However, the Bears winning gives them a worst draft position. The Bears victory also made it about twice as likely the Vikings don't make the playoffs. If the Cowboys were playing for something this weekend, they'd probably have 2/3 chance of winning. Now, the Redskins probably have 2/3 chance of winning. For me, that's a good thing.

[FritzDontBlitz]

How many other teams have had a bunch of injuries cripple their interior line. Yes, other teams have had injuries, but how many other teams have suffered multiple injuries at the same position? If a player goes down at two seperate positions, you plug in their backups and you shouldn't expect a huge dropoff in production. You lose two players at the same position and the dropoff when you plug in a 3rd stringer is usually tremendous. And if a 4th stringer has to step in? Well, you get my point....