CheezWizHed

Other observations: Cooper is a player. He just looks different out there. Reed disappeared after the bye. He was averaging 69 yd/gm before the bye and 27 yds/game after; including 6 against the Vikings, 0 against Detroit, and 23 against Chicago. We spent a lot of money and draft picks on our pass rush for it to be this bad. Gary just isn't going to be that stud pass rusher. No one else looks like it either. Time for a FA I guess. Bullard looks lost at safety. Not bad at nickel, but surprisingly bad at safety. The OL was a sieve in pass block mode. I tend to believe this was mainly bad communication at picking up blitzes. We need more plays where TE/RB are the primary target. I don't know if our reads are deep to shallow so that Love never gets there or what... but we have great success when he does target TEs and RBs. We just don't do that much. I think MLF made the right calls on 4th down, even though the one conversion didn't work (that was a terrible play call though on 4th). The other 4th down was a pretty long conversion, and the FG made more sense there. Our defense should've seen the last play to Ham coming... He was WIDE open the first time they called it. MN made it hard on themselves, but that should've been easy money.

Love is a good quarterback, but this season has shown that he has a long way to go to be a great one. His situational awareness is terrible. The Vikings getting the FG at the end of the 1st half (despite the horrible offsides flag) is mainly on his shoulders. 1:30 to go in the half, 3rd and 5, and you throw a 30-yard bomb to a double covered WR that wasn't at all open. He makes these decisions SO often. His strength - deep shots - is also his weakness. He goes to it far too often. And kills drives by doubling up on low percentage plays back-to-back. The Vikings defense shows exactly where Love struggles. Early in the game, they pressure, play man, and close to the LOS. Love can't seem to identify the blitz or at least change the coverage to protect himself. Nor does he change routes to give himself a quick out? Brady had some good comments about how the checkdown sometimes needs to be your first read. I don't think Love gets this at all. Late in the game, they drop into a prevent defense and Love is able to find room to make completions. There he moves the ball and finds WR open.... because the defense is giving it to them. He can't seem to "create" the plays based on a strong defense. I'll say the second half points he scored against the Vikings are a paper tiger. If you can only score when their D is in prevent, then that doesn't say much for you as a QB. Love has a lot of great physical qualities as a QB, but he needs to become MUCH smarter at QB to really be a SB champion.

I really hope this isn't true. JA has been frustrating these past two years, but he is still a great CB. I figured last year was a bad case of the Joe Barrys, but if he still has attitude problems while playing on this team with a new DC that puts him in good places to succeed... well goodbye. He can go play with De'vondre Campbell.

Beating the Vikings will give them a great psychological advantage come the playoffs. And this week the Packers are both my first and second (whoever plays the Vikings) favorite teams.

I don't care about seed... Let's beat MN now! Beyond my perfectly rational hatred of all things purple, there is an element of beating a good team. We have a good and talented team - as much talent as anyone. But we still need to learn the art of winning. That is especially true of Love... The team needs to know how to make clutch plays, when to take a shot and when to check down, how to adjust to someone beating them 1on1, etc... Love is improving, but that 3-and-out by taking multiple big shots after the fumble yesterday was an indicator of poor judgment when ball control and clock-killing should've been the focus. (He did the smart thing when he had a shot later for Watson, but took the easy 1st down with Kraft underneath).

And we get the shut-out to top it also.

Nice. An Oladapo sighting.

Nice to have a closer in football.

MLF/Love continues to burn timeouts because we can't get plays run on time (well that one was earlier).

Nice catch Reed. Now who else can I complain about?

I'd guess if it was close, that he'd be out there. I'm reminded how bad Troy and Joe are as announcers...

That was inZayne! (there you can complain about my puns)

I'm surprised at how Reed just disappeared in the passing game these last 8-10 games... (except those handoff "passes). And remember when we worried about missing FGs? Goodness McManus has been good.

The new 20 year old fad?

I'm in now. We started late and just caught up. I love having a Tivo (yes they still exist).... and my antenna is working fine. 😉

I'm curious why you say this? I'm guessing Mike Williams isn't a fan... From my arm-chair view of watching his career, he has made the same path as Favre; Good buddies when he was the same age as the OL, WR, TEs he played with, but more distant when he because 10-15 years older than them. But the main difference between Favre and Rodgers was that Favre was more that the gun-slinger mentality is "easier" to play with where Rodgers demands much more. My impression is more that people appreciate Rodgers for his skill as a QB and less so as a player or person. He seems rather high maintenance as a person, IMO.

AJG's evolution on defense is just as impressive. Mainly because it unlocks time for him to spend raining 3s. Having both of these guys available to play to the strength needed is awesome. Hopefully we continue developing these draft and develop guys because they really are key to getting another championship.

Pauling was a good "gotta have it" WR because he was good at getting open on shorter routes. But wasn't much of a long threat (at least not when I was watching) and seemed to be injured pretty often. Hurst to lose him, but yes... I'll take Trech and Anthony for higher upside.

Thoughts on where Wohler lands in the draft? Seems like a pretty natural football player and leader, but not sure about his physical capabilities. Seems like he might be an Evan Williams type player.

Yeah, I hate the all-white uniforms (the Packer's version too). Granted... it was still better than the purple. 😏

There’s only 1 remaining scenario where the Packers can win the NFC North - Acme Packing Company That’s right, the singular path for the Packers winning the NFC North is as follows: The Packers must win out The Lions and Vikings must go winless in Weeks 16 and 17 The Lions and Vikings must tie in Week 18

After all, why bother with a thorough physical exam unless the team wants to know exactly what they’re working with and whether their reputed pitching development program will get the best out of his arm. This seems like a silly argument. If you are getting someone in a trade (especially a big trade for Williams), you want to make sure they are healthy. Period. Doesn't matter if you plan to trade him or not. The worst thing you could do is trade for damaged goods and have your next trade partner find it and decline a trade.

True. I can't say that...

You can't fully shut him down. Of course he needs to be practicing (when healthy).... he should also get some game time the last couple of games to prevent being rusty. The last thing you want is a healthy, but out of game-shape Jaire starting in the playoffs. There is a balance in there to keep him healthy, but ready to play.

Or most places he has been?