Packers 2022 Discussion Thread

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't think Twitter or anyone else knows why he hasn't been fired or even if he will be fired. There were a couple egregious blocking alignments that arguably alone would get a ST coord fired. But to play Devil's Advocate: What if Mo Drayton spent the whole season campaigning for better/dedicated personnel? What if he warned early on that their roster had severe limitations in regard to ST. The easy answer is that it's his job to make them at least mediocre. That's fine, not really my point. But we don't actually know anything about the inner workings of the team.

 

Isn't it also entirely possible he's already been told he's fired and it just hasn't been a public announcement? Don't you think if they're firing him they already have a candidate(s) in mind, perhaps one that is a lower profile and not likely to be poached elsewhere?

 

One thing I'm fairly sure of, whoever they hire, most people will hate it, just like they hated Joe Barry.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Publicly, there's a fine line to walk between trying to be respectful to an individual by waiting a bit for the pitchforks to get put away and waiting too long to make the obvious move official that leads to the pitchforks to start getting directed towards you - and that timing varies by just how bad the on-field results are in the case of a coordinator's role.

 

In this case, special teams were awful the entire season and appeared to get worse, not better, as the year went on. Posters here were calling for the in-season firing of Drayton by midseason along with team reporters asking about Drayton's job security and they were justified in doing so.

 

I hope Drayton would've been pleading for better personnel on his ST units - in a way that's probably why the Packers wound up using a bunch of starters on those units down the stretch as a last ditch effort to prevent that unit from costing them a playoff game. That didn't work, either.

 

If the person they hire comes from completely outside the organization, I'll be happy - because they honestly can do no worse than the internal ST hirings over the past few seasons.

 

Isn't it also entirely possible he's already been told he's fired and it just hasn't been a public announcement? Don't you think if they're firing him they already have a candidate(s) in mind, perhaps one that is a lower profile and not likely to be poached elsewhere?

 

Honestly, if that's the case then there's no point waiting to make it official/public. And if they have a candidate in mind, why risk losing that candidate by delaying this firing? I'd have no problem with them having a ST coordinator opening for awhile if they do have someone in mind who they currently can't hire if their team is still alive in the playoffs.

[PeaveyFury]

A new coordinator can't get interviewed & hired until the current one gets fired - and this is the perfect time to be actively interviewing replacement candidates,

 

Unless the guy you want is coaching on a team still playing football this weekend. Considering his Rams ties, wouldn't be shocked if he'd go to that well.

[tmwiese55]

I didn't think a midseason firing would happen but yea I remember during the year thinking if there was some retired or someone who's been off for a year or two with a big ST background that could have been brought in as a consultant and do some quality control and pointers. Who knows, maybe something like that was done and we have no idea on it though.

[Fear The Chorizo]

A new coordinator can't get interviewed & hired until the current one gets fired - and this is the perfect time to be actively interviewing replacement candidates,

 

Unless the guy you want is coaching on a team still playing football this weekend. Considering his Rams ties, wouldn't be shocked if he'd go to that well.

 

I stated in my post above that I'd have no problem having the position open for awhile to accommodate this sort of scenario if MLF indeed has someone in mind still coaching/assisting on a team alive in the playoffs - but there's zero reason to delay Drayton getting fired because of it, IMO.

[homer]

He's been on the coaching staff for a few years. It's possible they are trying to find another position and are seeing what shakes out with the Hackett hire or gave him an offer and are letting him mull it over. Just seems like firing him the day after the game would be to placate fans more than anything.

[Fear The Chorizo]

He's been on the coaching staff for a few years. It's possible they are trying to find another position and are seeing what shakes out with the Hackett hire or gave him an offer and are letting him mull it over. Just seems like firing him the day after the game would be to placate fans more than anything.

 

All of his NFL coaching experience has been with special teams. Based on how that's gone in GB since 2018 - particularly coverage and return units - over the past 3 seasons he's been in town, I want no part of Drayton taking a coaching role elsewhere on the staff.

 

Sure, an instant firing earlier this week right after coaching exit meetings would indeed have placated fans, but that doesn't mean doing so would've been unjustified or the wrong approach to immediately move forward as an organization, IMO.

[LouisEly]

A new coordinator can't get interviewed & hired until the current one gets fired - and this is the perfect time to be actively interviewing replacement candidates,

 

Unless the guy you want is coaching on a team still playing football this weekend. Considering his Rams ties, wouldn't be shocked if he'd go to that well.

That, and how much time have they had to evaluate other options and identify a few guys to target?

[PinaMadness]

Was there adequate special team personnel last season when it took 12 games to get out of negative punt return yardage?

[SomewhereInTime]

I don't think Twitter or anyone else knows why he hasn't been fired or even if he will be fired. There were a couple egregious blocking alignments that arguably alone would get a ST coord fired. But to play Devil's Advocate: What if Mo Drayton spent the whole season campaigning for better/dedicated personnel? What if he warned early on that their roster had severe limitations in regard to ST. The easy answer is that it's his job to make them at least mediocre. That's fine, not really my point. But we don't actually know anything about the inner workings of the team.

 

Isn't it also entirely possible he's already been told he's fired and it just hasn't been a public announcement? Don't you think if they're firing him they already have a candidate(s) in mind, perhaps one that is a lower profile and not likely to be poached elsewhere?

 

One thing I'm fairly sure of, whoever they hire, most people will hate it, just like they hated Joe Barry.

 

I agree, this is why when a part of a football team becomes this terrible, this becomes more of a head coaching issue than just blaming things on one coordinator. They went all-in, had talent up and down the roster, star QB, and lose in the divisional round mainly because punt and field goal team, while all special teams units struggled all year.

 

And it wasn't just bad like bottom third or bottom 5 in the league. This might be the worst overall unit top to bottom in a decade in the NFL. I honestly think a loss like this should be the end of the head coach's job. Especially with back to back years of horrible playoff choke jobs.

[SomewhereInTime]

I guess I don't see the problem. It's upsetting to the fans but what does it matter if they do it immediately after the game or two weeks/months later? Only way I see it being an issue is if there's someone else they want to hire and they get snapped up. Maybe they want someone on one of the remaining team? I dunno. Just don't see it as a big deal unless he's still coach next year.

 

Exactly. The Packers lost to the Bucs on Jan. 24, 2021, and didn't announce they were moving on from Mike Pettine at DC until late in the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 29. I remember plenty of teeth-gnashing when he wasn't fired immediately the Monday after the game. That ended up turning out OK.

 

Did you know the defense ended up ranking exactly the same this year in points and yards allowed as they did last year?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I guess I don't see the problem. It's upsetting to the fans but what does it matter if they do it immediately after the game or two weeks/months later? Only way I see it being an issue is if there's someone else they want to hire and they get snapped up. Maybe they want someone on one of the remaining team? I dunno. Just don't see it as a big deal unless he's still coach next year.

 

Exactly. The Packers lost to the Bucs on Jan. 24, 2021, and didn't announce they were moving on from Mike Pettine at DC until late in the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 29. I remember plenty of teeth-gnashing when he wasn't fired immediately the Monday after the game. That ended up turning out OK.

 

Did you know the defense ended up ranking exactly the same this year in points and yards allowed as they did last year?

 

Yep. But do you think anyone saw this year's defense and thought that it wasn't better than last year's? Sometimes the numbers don't actually tell the whole story.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Was there adequate special team personnel last season when it took 12 games to get out of negative punt return yardage?

 

No. There hasn't been good personnel for about 15 years because they don't care about the ST unit. They load the roaster with developmental OL and TEs. They also had some awful injuries over that time period which forces some ST players off ST.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't think Twitter or anyone else knows why he hasn't been fired or even if he will be fired. There were a couple egregious blocking alignments that arguably alone would get a ST coord fired. But to play Devil's Advocate: What if Mo Drayton spent the whole season campaigning for better/dedicated personnel? What if he warned early on that their roster had severe limitations in regard to ST. The easy answer is that it's his job to make them at least mediocre. That's fine, not really my point. But we don't actually know anything about the inner workings of the team.

 

Isn't it also entirely possible he's already been told he's fired and it just hasn't been a public announcement? Don't you think if they're firing him they already have a candidate(s) in mind, perhaps one that is a lower profile and not likely to be poached elsewhere?

 

One thing I'm fairly sure of, whoever they hire, most people will hate it, just like they hated Joe Barry.

 

I agree, this is why when a part of a football team becomes this terrible, this becomes more of a head coaching issue than just blaming things on one coordinator. They went all-in, had talent up and down the roster, star QB, and lose in the divisional round mainly because punt and field goal team, while all special teams units struggled all year.

 

And it wasn't just bad like bottom third or bottom 5 in the league. This might be the worst overall unit top to bottom in a decade in the NFL. I honestly think a loss like this should be the end of the head coach's job. Especially with back to back years of horrible playoff choke jobs.

 

I mean he's just not going to be fired so that's out. And the only choke thus far was really this season. '19 they were big time dogs, '20 was basically a 50/50 game that they lost on the last drive, and this year, yeah, they choked.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Yep. But do you think anyone saw this year's defense and thought that it wasn't better than last year's? Sometimes the numbers don't actually tell the whole story.

 

Season-end rankings are dumb because they rarely tell the whole story. The Packers championship team finished 10th in scoring because they were terrible for a large part of the year but by the end they were putting up 30s and 40s on everybody.

 

Truly tragic how good the defense looked against SF with some bodies back, too. I don't know what on Earth happened to the offense that night but they could have had a slightly better worst game of the season and still won. And I think they'd have won the NFC, but, that's not where we are.

[homer]

Was there adequate special team personnel last season when it took 12 games to get out of negative punt return yardage?

 

No. There hasn't been good personnel for about 15 years because they don't care about the ST unit. They load the roaster with developmental OL and TEs. They also had some awful injuries over that time period which forces some ST players off ST.

 

I honestly don't know if their personnel is that much worse. I do know that having your long snapper on punts block a guy one on one with no help behind him is not how all teams do it.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Well, think about it like this. Jarrett Bush was on the Packers for 9 years. Almost nobody liked that guy playing CB. He was a lightning rod. Year after year he made the team, 100% because he made a living playing ST.

 

Until a bunch of guys got hurt, Jeff Janis couldn't get on the field. But he kept making teams, again, because he was good at downing punts and forcing fair catches. The Packers haven't really retained players like that for quite some time. Their ST unit is pretty much entirely fielded by guys that are on the team for some other reason. Just because the roster is only so big, there's bound to be some players like that. But there ARE teams that hold a spot or two for players specifically because they're really good on ST.

 

Nick Bellore is a god-awful LB. His game tape from SF was embarrassing, so bad in fact that he started playing FB after that. But he keeps making Pro Bowls on ST and has stretched his career 12 years because of it. You can get players like that for $1m a year or less, but I can't recall the Packers ever really trying.

[adambr2]

There's a lot more flexibility to the practice squad and IR than there used to be, so you'd think it'd be easier than ever to keep guys employed solely for special teams prowess.

[CheeseheadInQC]

Well, think about it like this. Jarrett Bush was on the Packers for 9 years. Almost nobody liked that guy playing CB. He was a lightning rod. Year after year he made the team, 100% because he made a living playing ST.

 

Until a bunch of guys got hurt, Jeff Janis couldn't get on the field. But he kept making teams, again, because he was good at downing punts and forcing fair catches. The Packers haven't really retained players like that for quite some time. Their ST unit is pretty much entirely fielded by guys that are on the team for some other reason. Just because the roster is only so big, there's bound to be some players like that. But there ARE teams that hold a spot or two for players specifically because they're really good on ST.

 

Nick Bellore is a god-awful LB. His game tape from SF was embarrassing, so bad in fact that he started playing FB after that. But he keeps making Pro Bowls on ST and has stretched his career 12 years because of it. You can get players like that for $1m a year or less, but I can't recall the Packers ever really trying.

 

Janis was on the Packers in 2017, so it hasn't been that long. But I think not employing those proven vet special teamers the last few years is more of a problem than the roster construction issues you mentioned earlier. Carrying five tight ends is no different than carrying three tight ends and two fullbacks like they used to, and the developmental offensive linemen didn't occupy a space on the gameday roster (usually 7-8 active regardless of how many are on the roster) and the poster child for developmental offensive linemen ended up being pretty crucial this year.

[homer]

I don't think any of that explains the godawful protection on field goals.

[adambr2]

I don't think any of that explains the godawful protection on field goals.

 

Or having 10 guys on the last FG...there's plenty of coaching blame to place aside from the personnel.

[Fear The Chorizo]

Regardless of who the new special teams coach is, job #1 is getting a kicker in here that is as close to an automatic kickoff touchback machine so their return units don't have to do anything, like pretty much the rest of the league.

 

Crosby really hurt them on kickoffs this season with his diminishing leg strength

[PeaveyFury]

Regardless of who the new special teams coach is, job #1 is getting a kicker in here that is as close to an automatic kickoff touchback machine so their return units don't have to do anything, like pretty much the rest of the league.

 

Crosby really hurt them on kickoffs this season with his diminishing leg strength

 

I think this is a very fair point.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I don't know. I think job #1 is as basic as "when there are 6 rushers over here on this FG we don't block them with 4 guys."

[Joseph Zarr]

LaFleur seems like the type of HC who would embrace his hire, the man that he has repeatedly touted in Mo Drayton, and give him a 2nd chance at success. He did it with Mennenga originally. I will be entirely unsurprised if Mo Drayton returns. And, man, that would be beyond baffling.