Fear The Chorizo

Vikings oline gives them no chance against teams with really good defensive fronts. The saints dont have that, which is why they had what appeared to be a much better gameplan on offense last week. Cook getting shut down makes them look like they did against the packers a few monday nights ago. Vikes defense has been fine today, sucks for them their offense gave them no prayer and got them wore down

Yeah this is going downhill fast for vikings fans...which is fine for me as a packer fan living near minneapolis

This is spot on. The Packers finally said "Enough's enough" on Favre's waffling, and who could blame them? That crap was getting incredibly old. Fabre is/was a legend, and did deserve special treatment. What he was doing, though, was basically holding the team hostage every year. It probably could have been less messy, but that crap was all Favre. I think the other thing that prompted the change was watching tape of that nfc championship game in the cold against the giants and realizing that if gb even had an average performance by their qb they would have won by two scores and gone to the super bowl. Favre had three terrible games his last year in GB...the nfc title game, the cowboys game where he got hurt and rodgers almost led them back, and that cold road loss to a bad bears team in chicago. They knew what they had in rodgers, and it was too good to keep him on the sideline

This is spot on. The Packers finally said "Enough's enough" on Favre's waffling, and who could blame them? That crap was getting incredibly old. Fabre is/was a legend, and did deserve special treatment. What he was doing, though, was basically holding the team hostage every year. It probably could have been less messy, but that crap was all Favre. I think the other thing that prompted the change was watching tape of that nfc championship game in the cold against the giants and realizing that if gb even had an average performance by their qb they would have won by two scores and gone to the super bowl. Favre had three terrible games his last year in GB...the nfc title game, the cowboys game where he got hurt and rodgers almost led them back, and that cold road loss to a bad bears team in chicago. They knew what they had in rodgers, and it was too good to keep him on the sideline

Not all trades involving sending a polished turd the brewers don't want anymore to a team for their polished turd you think could be hiding a diamond has to result in the brewers unearthing a diamond for Stearns to be a good GM. Sometimes those moves are as simple as balancing out your own 40 man roster, which Jesus most certainly didnt deserve to remain a part of based on performance since about mid july 2018 and the fact he had no more options.

Not all trades involving sending a polished turd the brewers don't want anymore to a team for their polished turd you think could be hiding a diamond has to result in the brewers unearthing a diamond for Stearns to be a good GM. Sometimes those moves are as simple as balancing out your own 40 man roster, which Jesus most certainly didnt deserve to remain a part of based on performance since about mid july 2018 and the fact he had no more options.

People realize that if Gyorko was healthy last season, he most likely gets a contract much closer to what Moose got this offseason, right? Dude made $13m last season.

People realize that if Gyorko was healthy last season, he most likely gets a contract much closer to what Moose got this offseason, right? Dude made $13m last season.

Line continuing to climb in GB's favor, which means gamblers are sidong with the Pack...dont get me started on who refs seem to be in cahoots with during recent packer/seahawks games...

Line continuing to climb in GB's favor, which means gamblers are sidong with the Pack...dont get me started on who refs seem to be in cahoots with during recent packer/seahawks games...

Gyorko's 2019 was pretty much over before it started due to back, calf, and wrist injuries suffered during the early part of the season. He was dealt from STL to the Dodgers while he was still on the DL. He then really was used as a pinch hitter/spot starter for the Dodgers after coming off the DL - which didn't go too well and frankly didn't matter much to them because there was little/no chance he would have wound up on their postseason roster. Basically, throw away his 2019 stats because it was a lost year for him. His 2018 wasn't fantastic overall, but he OPS'd over 0.900 against lefties. His 2017 saw him OPS nearly 1.000 against lefties. He does offer positional flexibility across the infield, too. IF he's healthy, this is the type of move people look back on in around 5-6 months and say, "Oh yeah, I can see why Stearns picked him up".

I think the GB defensive front is going to dominate this game - it won't be as obvious as that Monday night game against the Vikings because Wilson will be able to make a few plays outside the pocket scrambling compared to Cousins. But I think going with a 4 man line of the Smiths, Clark, and Gary on passing downs is going to be a problem for Seattle's banged up Oline.

I'm just biding time for Donaldson to sign somewhere, anywhere, so the 3B trade market can take off...I expect a flurry of moves across MLB once that happens, because there are some huge market clubs that will look to upgrade at 3B and/or SS if they don't land Donaldson. The Brewers will bring someone else in to be their primary 3b option.

Look at the ages of the listed prospects on that list - that's what's exciting to me and also a pretty good reason why they are perceived to have a weak system. Their last top 15 overall draft pick from just 3 drafts ago (Hiura) has already played half a season in the majors and figures to be a middle of the order bat for years to come. Most of the prospects on this list haven't played enough to really establish what their ceiling might be as a MLBer, or are still too young to know for certain. Had the Brewers' likely Opening Day 2B (Hiura) and SS (Urias) been eligible for this list, their system ranking is probably in the top half of MLB - but because of timing and the fact the Brewers seem to be adept at pushing prospects and young players who are ready to contribute at the MLB level through the system rapidly (See Hiura, Burnes and Peralta in 2018, Woodruff and Hader in 2017, even Arcia back in 2016), they tend to suppress their own system's rankings by not having these guys spend a ton of time dominating in AA-AAA and blowing up prospect tracking blogs before breaking into the bigs. Yes, their system could use a few impact prospects - but that could easily still happen with the players they already have taking a big step in development. I'd rather see the low ranking with this group of players whose average age is at or below the legal drinking limit than a low ranking headlined by a bunch of 24-26 year old AAA'ers who hit a bunch of homers in hitter-friendly parks.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least if this was part 1 of a 2 part Cards plan to try and acquire Arenado - either this offseason or possibly at this year's deadline should the Rockies decide to deal him assuming they aren't in contention. Martinez was essentially a spare part bat who will be a good DH - will be nice not seeing his gyrations in the batters box 17-19 games a year against the Brewers, though!

This would make me mad to no end. It is crappy that the Cardinals have a chance to acquire two elite pieces two years in a row via trade. And the Cubs are crying poor. How are they going to take on that contract? The Cubs angle on it, from what I read from some of their blogs is incredibly unrealistic. It involves trading Bryant (probably to the Nats for Kieboom and some pitching prospects), trading Contreras, Heyward and prospects for Arenado (Rockies save like $160 million still) and then also trading at least 1 if not both of Chatwood and Quintana to net out the money. I don’t even know if that makes the Cubs better. Other than they get long term certainty with a star player at 3B where they only have that for 2 years with Bryant. That just all takes so much to come together I don’t see it. No way that all happens, and even if it does they wind up being a decidedly worse team with even more roster holes than before. I'd actually cross my fingers this sequence does happen, because Arenado cant pitch and doesnt he still have an opt out in a couple years if he wants to take it? The cards is a much more realistic scenario, unfortunately - they have some good pieces to trade and can take on that salary right now.

If they release him then why would a team like Milwaukee hoping to contend want to waste a 40 man roster spot on a damaged goods pitcher? They stuck with him for two full seasons following his injury and paid him 6 millionish dollars over that span to give them nothing in terms of mlb production. The brewers as an organization have moved on from Nelson after doing everything within reason to stick with him hoping he'd return to anything close to his 2017 form. Who knows, maybe his 2017 would have been his statistical outlier season had he stayed healthy, and he would have been the marginal #5 starter he was his first two years in the mlb rotation.

I can see Russell Wilson rushing for like 90 yards and throwing three deep TDs to Lockett/Metcalf. Hopefully, they can contain him as I think they'll get a good pass rush. Seattle's Oline is a mess, so Wilson will need to be running for his life to buy enough time for deep passes. With the Packers' D, the deep middle seems to be the weak spot - particularly when a play breaks down and TEs/RBs have time to get behind the linebacker level. I think the Packers can get home rushing 4 and have a hybrid safety playing at the LB level as a spy on Wilson so the rest of the secondary can stay in coverage. The Seahawks' current running game may not be good enough to even get Green Bay out of a hybrid nickel package that deploys an extra safety as a spy when they don't have 3-4 WRs on the field. Wouldn't surprise me to see the Seahawks go back in the Beast Mode time machine with more read option stuff to try and bust a big run - that's probably the only way for Lynch to avoid backside contain tackling him 1 yard upfield at this stage in his career. There will be plays Wilson gets loose and runs for a 1st down or two, and that's fine - the killer ones are if he breaks contain and buys time for a huge pass play after a busted or overextended coverage. That said, under you scenario the Packers will win 24-21, which I'm still good with!

Generally agreed, and the Brewers have developed and will continue developing starters to their staff. Woodruff, Suter, Nelson until he unfortunately got injured - I still hold out hope that at least one of Burnes or Peralta will primarily be an effective starter for them. To me the strength of the Brewers' system over the past couple years has been how they've added a bunch of pitching depth - developing pitching is a numbers game more than anything else, and Stearns' group seems to have a focus on that after taking over a system that was basically devoid of pitching talent just 4 seasons ago. Plus, they've been competitive 3 of the 4 seasons Stearns has been GM operating how he has been going. I'm all for continuing that trend.

IF the Packers head back out to SF for a rematch with the 49ers, I think their best shot would be to spread them out while running a sugar huddle to limit them subbing personnel and hope Rodgers plays out of his mind - even if the Packers are best suited to a balanced offensive approach, I don't like how they match up with the 49ers front 7 in standard personnel formations. The best way to stifle a talented pass rush is to keep them on the field after they get winded. I don't think the Packers necessarily have enough talent in the receiving corps to rely on it all game long, but going to a 4-wide, 1 back look where Jones could occasionally motion out wide would be interesting to see. In their first matchup the Packers' D performed pretty well until they were gassed, because GB's offense couldn't do anything to even stay on the field. Definitely would need to bring a different game plan to Levi stadium to avoid history repeating itself.

I'm going to be very interested watching Vikes/49ers. On top of the obvious reason for watching to see who the Packers might play in the NFC championship game if they beat Seattle, I think the Vikings' defense is pretty well equipped to force Garoppolo to make plays with receivers beyond Kittle and Juszczyk, their stud TE and fullback combo. I think Kendricks is the best pass coverage linebacker in the game, and having a really good safety in Harrison Smith behind him should limit the easy throw big plays San Francisco typically can rely on with plays desgined to go to these two players. It wouldn't surprise me to see the Vikings turn Garoppolo over a couple times and keep the game close. On the other hand, I can see San Fran's D-line just dominating the Vikings and making Cousins look like he did against the Packers a few monday nights ago - even with a reasonably healthy Cook in the backfield running the ball.

Yes - I recall that he was more Tom Waddle than Wes Welker - basically a reliable possession slot receiver in the NFL that served as target practice for linebackers and safeties that were bigger and faster than him.

Based on what? Definitely not the last 3 years of actual performance...A hope and a prayer that Nelson is actually a MLB pitcher that isn't terrible? Being reported that if he performs and his mutual option is picked up, it could become a 2 year, $13M deal. So if he's actually good enough to pitch in MLB his deal becomes more expensive and longer term than Anderson's, yes? If he's terrible it's basically the Dodgers handing him a $1M retirement parachute. I'll always root for Nelson - it's a damn shame his promising career cratered due to a flop slide back into 1B...but to expect anything really good from him at this point is beyond wishful thinking.

The biggest knock I had on McCarthy as Packers coach over the past few years was his insistence on using timeouts to try and get one more possession before the half with the offense despite the fact everyone knew the defense wasn't good at forcing 3 and outs. Also, some of his game management decisions with play calling seemed to lack a killer instinct when they were playing with a lead, particularly with the teams that had poor defenses. It seemed to be widely discussed that the Packers' offensive scheme was far too predictable after McCarthy and Rodgers settled into that quasi hurry up approach. I never knew why they strayed away from the first handful of McCarthy offenses, which emphasized using all kinds of position groupings to keep a defense guessing and avoid creating tendencies that could be game-planned for. Once Rodgers fell in love with trying to hardcount a defense offsides (no motioning receivers at the snap) and always looking to see if they could hurry up to the line and get a 12 man on the field penalty (little-no offensive personnel substitutions), that aspect of McCarthy's offense vanished. Also, I'm not sure what role his practice style had to do with it, but more often than not the McCarthy-led Packer teams were walking mash units with extremely lengthy injury reports by the middle of most seasons. Some of that is random, particularly with the collar bone injuries to Rodgers that cratered two pretty promising Packer seasons - but there were too many playoff runs where Rodgers either had a pile of practice squad players to throw to or the Packer secondary or linebacking corps was a handful of guys plucked off the scrap heaps because their depth chart was decimated from injuries. It stands out this season because the first year after McCarthy isn't involved with the team in forever happens to be one of their healthiest seasons as an organization in a very long time. Happy for him that he gets another opportunity - but it will be interesting to see how he handles the day-to-day pressures of that gig. Green Bay has a rabid fanbase, but I'd consider local media coverage to be fawning - not so in Big D after a tough stretch.

That all said, I have 0 faith GB could beat NO on the road this season. I feel its more a 5050 playing in GB at least. How Aaron Jones performs vs NO's Defense is what tips the Packers over NO. I see no way currently Rodgers can best Brees in a QB throwdown. One QB has confidence in more than 1WR and the other has trouble giving his WRs chances to make a play, seemingly its either a perfect throw or nobody will catch it. Based on Brees' performance yesterday, I'm pretty sure I'd take Rodgers - New Orleans has proven quite frequently in recent years that their high powered offense that scores at will just doesn't translate into the postseason.