CheezWizHed

But were they actually ranked before/after the tourney? Seeding a tournament does take other factors in than just the top 25 ranking.

Man that game was WAY harder than it should've been! Talk about winning ugly.. Eric Wilson - Wow, where did that come from?? Is he better at MLB than SLB/WLB? Or did he just have himself a game? @BrewerFan, I think you need to find a happy middle between "cut him and put him on the PS!" and "Here is our new MLB!" 😂 But boy did he have a nice game. The defense was impressive. Certainly say a bigger blitz package than previously . I wonder of Hafley is actually finished installing the D yet? I read a while back that (in season) he was still ensuring they had the fundamentals down before adding more twists. Jaire still annoys me with his jawing. Especially when he wasn't in on the end of the play. Williams continues to impress at safety. Clark finally showed up today. Where has that version of him been? Slaton continues to move backwards far too easily. He has one job to just not give up ground and yet he seems like he plays on ice half the time. Much better game from Gary even though he only got one gimmie sack. Really pressured Stroud all day today. I'm stunned that Nixon has been solid at outside CB. But I blame him more than Ballentine for the muff. He didn't look like he called anyone off...certainly no body language that people normally do when yelling at players to disengage. Love is going to be interesting... he certainly has a bit more Favre in him than Rodgers. It will take some getting used to, but I hope he can tone it down a bit too. I don't expect a Rodgers-level INT avoidance, but just a few less of the boneheaded ones. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I felt that the game was going to come down to a GWFG with our new kicker. Not sure how I would've felt if Narveson was going out there....

Might as well add Kansas too and get Jordy out of retirement!

Interesting analysis on McManus: New Packers kicker Brandon McManus should be a big upgrade in this area (usatoday.com) Basically states that he his 81.4% career FG average is due mostly to 50+ accuracy. Whereas he hit 90.8% of FGs under 50 yards: 20-29: 94% 30-39: 93% 40-49: 86% 50+: 55%

Rodgers needs WRs that don't slip and run to where the ball was thrown instead of wide-open spaces! The Jets team has some weird Soap Opera drama going on this year. It's like watching an accident... I just can look away. Meanwhile in the NFC North...

I was obviously using bWAR.

He did get a lot of press for tying the MLB record of stolen HRs. If it is at all close, that might sway some votes.

Time to offer a conditional third for Wilson. He isn't a Rodger's guy...

Would be interesting to see how that compares with WAR. So at age 29, Willy will play his "peak" age season this year. At ages 24-26 were his best years (126, 121, 110 OPS+; 1.9, 4.2, 4.0 WAR). Obviously age 24 was limited ABs reducing his WAR and age 26 was heavier on defense). The last two years have been decent, but lower: 94, 118 OPS+, 3.0, 3.1 WAR. So do we really think he can get back to being a 4.0 WAR player? Or 120+ OPS+? This started with the comment of "his best days are behind him". I would say that is still true. Maybe he hits 3 WAR again and probably 2+ WAR regularly. But I can't see another 4 WAR season coming from him.

I fixed the link as it was just taking me to some weird page with a bunch of ads... Wisconsin did get a few votes for the top 25, but certainly frustrating how both BB and FB teams were regularly in the top 25 of polls and now we can't seem to touch either one. 😞 Seems like even in the past, we'd start off the 25 and work our way on... now that hasn't happened in a while.

We should really cut McKinney... dude hasn't had an interception in what... a whole game?? The decline has begun! I was actually complementing Gary for his impact on the game. Obviously, they were containing Murray in the game so all out pass rush wasn't going to happen. But even in the games against QBs that don't have those legs, the pass rush has been disappointing....

I will hold to my statement forever that Rodgers' resurgence in 2020-21 was due to the Love draft pick. People said it was "wasted" at the time, but it was worth Rodgers getting the chip on his shoulder alone. Love's performance now makes the pick double good. Honestly, I think this has less to do with his physical aging (I'm sure there are some impacts of course) and more to do with Rodgers' inability to mesh with a team 20 years younger than himself. It was clear the last couple years with the Packers... and he "played nice" in the offseason when first coming to the Jets. But I think it is pretty clear that he isn't aligned with his offense. Allan Lazard is his crutch. Favre mentioned his struggles meshing with the younger teammates when he was in mid 30s. But I think his personality fits better on a team to just go play. Rodgers has always been a prima donna personality. That might be overlooked when everyone is friends, but when you can't connect with your teammates, I can imagine that he is really hard to play for. As for the North, I think the Vikings are smoke and mirrors. Darnold is playing well in the system, but there are chinks in the armor. The defense is playing well, but likewise, I think people will find holes as they go on. I think the coaches have done a great job getting the team ready from game 1, but it just feels like the team that has peaked while everyone else is ramping up (Packers serious suck at being ready on game 1). For the Bears, Williams has unfortunately looked better than I hoped. I've not seen any game, so I'm not sure what to say about their level of play. The Lions looks like a repeat of last year and mirroring their coach. Highs and lows. Playmakers around a good, not great QB. Still the team to beat in the North, IMO. Packers are still putting it together. This feels like a repeat of the first half of last year (with better results). I was hoping that the offense would be more consistent by now. The defense is starting to come together. The turnovers are driving the D right now, but nothing overly dominant otherwise. And that kicker... we beat the Vikings if Narv makes the FGs...

By HR and RBI, I suppose this was his career year. But by OPS, OPS+, and WAR, this was his third best. But that doesn't really change the rest of your point. Maybe he puts up another 3.0 WAR season, but I'd guess he is mostly a 2+ WAR guy for the next few.

I've not followed Logan Henderson much. Why do people say he is a lock? His results and innings are pretty low for a starter. Youth is on his side, but I'm assuming there is more people are seeing? Patrick looks like he would be ready this year to be SP depth that shuttles between AAA and the MLB.

Not only was the officiating poor (right off the bat, there was an obvious pass interference they missed, the announcers were terrible too. I normally like Darryl Johnston, but wow was he bad today. The talked about various aspects of Reed's punt return and flags before someone must've alerted him to the fact that Reed fumbled... Complaints about flags that were legit flags... Just a bad day for him. And I agree with the others on Cooper and Williams. Really strong play from both. Very strong all-around game. Gary didn't make much of a pass rush, but impacted other parts of the game. Doubs had a nice come-back game. OL was strong, but AZ's pass rush is minimal too

I'm sure if they could've, they would. Every company the produces a product outsources or purchases something from someone else because you can't be good at everything. Make vs buy decisions are made all the time.

Oregon and Penn State are going to be hard even though they are at home. Nebraska, Northwestern, and Iowa are winnable, but on the road. Gotta finish strong with MN at home though. Getting 3-4 wins there is possible.

I think it comes from the thoughts that if there are a lot of players that can play a position that hit 800 OPS and you trot out someone at 700 OPS, it should be easy to upgrade the position. Once your roster is set, then it is just about playing the best players at their best positions. So it is more about the commentary about the GM's options for improving the team and not where the coach plays them.

Packers need to get on a roll now. Arizona's D has been poor against the run, so a strong ball control setting up the deep shots fits right into our offense. Need the D to step up and stop the run and keep Murray in the pocket.

Nice to see Locke looking a bit more comfortable. That mid-season practice game against Purdue was probably a nice way to get him some live practice. I'm surprised about our run D though. They certainly look different today as Monangai hasn't done anything today. But my goodness has Rutgers been their own worst enemy. They couldn't catch a cold today.

I was done with Rodgers when he pulled the "get the WRs ready for me in OTAs and I'll be back in TC" schtick. If you want the team to spend draft capitol on WRs, you need to work with them to get on the same page.

I think the hardest part is that we had AJJ last year... who is now A-Jax this year because we have another AJJ. AJ Green... I just call "Green" and it is simple (I actually forgot he went by "AJ" for his first name). And "Pale Ellis" is a groaner... Hopefully, he does reach the quality player Dale Ellis was, but I'll stick with Green.

It's an acknowledgement that we have a lot of good OFers to play and only 3 spots to do it. But I'd counter your thought on when he plays... I'd suspect he'd play early in the game at 3rd and then be replaced (or move to OF) late in the game for a defensive replacement. I suppose in a blow-out, he might move to third late...

I didn't say it was exclusive or there weren't exceptions to the rule. Nolan Ryan pitched a no-hitter at age 44. That doesn't mean I expect Civale to do that (or ANY pitcher for that matter). It's mere probability. If you put a statistical analysis of all players that played into their 30s, seeing a peak around 27 wouldn't be a shocker. Yelich's best two seasons were at 26 and 27. I have my doubts he can get back to a 7 WAR season again...😞

Typically yes. 27 is normally considered where players have peaked. Doesn't mean he won't be good or his production will drop off a cliff, but starts to become more likely he will have lower production than he has been and much less likely to be suddenly better. Honestly, it looks like his age 24-26 seasons were his peak: 1.9 bWAR in 1/3rd of a season, then 4.2 and 4.3 bWAR the next two full seasons. He's put up 3+bWAR the last two seasons, so what do you expect for the next 4? If you say 2+, you'll probably be happy. If you expect 4+ (and pay at that rate), you'll probably be greatly disappointed.