CheezWizHed

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.

I cheer for the Mets to win the WS just so I can assume the Brewers were the second-best team in the playoffs. 😉 My summary thoughts on the thread. Losing sucks. 31 teams end the year by losing (either in the playoffs or out). I do think the team is positioned well for the future by still having a deep farm system and having so many young players be main contributors. Per the record prediction thread, the Brewers outplayed everyone's expectations(except @homer's 162 win prediction). I, like many people, thought they would hover around 500 after losing their 2 best pitchers. The Brewers right now compare to the Packers team by having good coaches and young ascending players in the right positions. Then compare that to the Bucks, who have been patching holes on the team and coaching staff since they won the championship. I have better feelings for the future of those two teams winning a championship before another Giannis led one.

The Tom is with me, And I am one with the Tom. Packers QB coach gave Jordan Love a zero grade for decision-making on bomb to Jayden Reed vs. Rams (usatoday.com)

I have no idea what Myers has to do with Shredded Wheat, but ok. 😉 Freddie was steady and available all year, but more mediocre performance than what we hoped for.

Smith only peaked at 8 sacks with Washington and wasn't very highly regarded (many thought we overpaid). Not sure when or how he had his hand on the ground vs stand up or it if was something else that helped him improve, but he certainly looks more comfortable as an OLB than this year. Perhaps it is just age catching up with him. Gary was a DE in college, but pretty much had zero technique drilled into him. He spent many, many hours getting used to pass rush from standing once drafted. So muscle memory can be hard to overcome. I'll have to watch closer to see if anyone does rush from a standing position. I don't recall anyone doing that, but maybe they are swapping back and forth?

FYI, I moved these two comments as I think you wanted the general Packer thread for general defense discussion... The problem I have with turnovers is that you can't just "create" them all the time. You have to rely on the other team making a mistake or at least giving an opportunity (i.e. carrying the ball loose, throwing a 50/50 ball, etc.). I'd say pressuring the QB is the #1 priority of a defense. That is something you can control and/or create as necessary.

The biggest impact of the change (either direction) is whether the OLB/DE rushes from a 2 pt or 3 pt stance (typically). Julius Peppers talked about the adjustment of rushing from a standing position instead of his hand on the ground. Looks like Gary, Smith, and LVN are struggling with doing the opposite. Smith makes sense... I don't see him as an DE. Gary should be talented enough to go either way. But I thought LVN would actually be better this way. But none of them have much of an impact this year. Seem like Engabare is the only one that is thriving in it so far.

I find it funny that Allen Lazard (the one that was benched w/o Rodgers last year) almost has as many yards as Wilson. Rodgers just can't get to know other WRs very well.

Well, I did define it as the 8-12 yard range; especially on 3rd down. I realize I'm responding with emotion over data (and as an engineer, I appreciate the data). Can you show it on 3rd down only? My gut feeling was that we weren't moving the sticks... we just took a LOT of shots down the field. But again... an emotional response to seeing Stafford throw those side-line outs over and over again. The MN was completely different as they were in prevent D for a long time, so most of what was available was the intermediate routes. But maybe that is what Love was responding too also against LA... what was available.

After game 5 and having Love back to full strength, this is probably a game that is good as any to find out who we are... I tend to think our D will come together more as the season progresses, just like last year's offense. But I didn't expect this year's offense to start off this far back either. OL - a pretty decent job overall - some blitz pickup issues between them and RBs (more on that in a moment) but overall above average. RBs - A strong, but not overpowering job by both Jacobs and Wilson WRs - Reed shows up each and every week. Wicks is taking the Davante clone thing too far --- even to the point of the dropsies in second year. Hopefully he figures it out like D, but it isn't great now. Really could've used Doubs out there... TEs - Kraft is going to be a fan favorite if he isn't already. The Swiss army knife of the offense. DL - Woof. Every single short yardage situation was given up. Enagbare is the only DE making any pass rush noise. Clark only stood out by being upfield when the RB was already downfield. LBs - Cooper makes this group SO much better. He is going to be fun to watch this year. Walker was his usual up and down, but seems to be improving in this defense. Still probably better if Cooper is the MLB and let Walker just play. Safeties - Really big turnaround from last year. McKinney is single handedly saving this defense. Williams has a great first start. Bullard all over the place. Those two will be fun to watch. CB - Solid game w/o Jaire. Didn't have too many challenges in coverage, but did enough. Interesting to have Nixon on the boundary, but he did OK. K - He made it! QB - Saved Love for last. He was lauded for the long Reed throw because it was an excellent throw.... that he never should've made. That should've been and easy pick if the safety was paying attention. Awesome throw and catch, but he got lucky. I'm beginning to wonder if Love is reading defenses to pickup blitzes or not? We certainly are not making the right adjustments when people blitz. No receiver adjustments for hot reads, no QB getting the ball out quick, OL protection issues... just something wrong here Where is Love's intermediate game? Seems like we are throwing the ball very short or very long; very little in the middle. So many 3rd and longish (8-12) plays resulted in a bomb 40 yards down field.

Ok, time to get some consistency going. Love looked rusty in the first 1.5 games he played, then looked to put it together in the second half. Time to have a complete game. Need Gary and P-Smith to bring it also. Hopefully, we will have both Jaire and Valentine back at CB. Sounds like Cooper and Wyatt will be out. I wonder if Wooden will get some snaps? Maybe Brooks has himself a game?

What is the over/under on Rivers making it through the whole season?