HiAndTight

I know this is probably in the Bucks thread, but the most important player in franchise history CHOOSING to stick around through his 20's and play for the Bucks when most other superstars his age in small markets have opted to leave....is worthy of it's own thread(IMO). Christmas came early in Milwaukee!

1-MVS was a COMPLETE player yesterday and you could see his confidence growing. It was spilling over in all aspects of the game. His blocking was better, he was catching the ball with his hands, he was setting up his routes. If this is MVS gaining confidence, that's an enormous boost for this offense. 2-Defense was solid. I thought there were some pretty questionable holding calls. 3-I'd rather see Martin out their as your #1 MLB'er and then maybe Barnes. I don't see anything from Kirksey. Maybe he's banged up, but he looks a lot slower than he did in Cleveland and he's letting the OL get on him. Martin...while he may not always take the best route, he brings a ton of energy and his timing is outstanding. The blitz was perfectly timed and he's often playing on the other side of the LOS and is the most physical backer...but he didn't seem to get as much PT as I think he should. Maybe he's not right because from my point of view, he's the best MLB'er we've got by far. 4-Agreed on Scott. AS I said earlier, the whole secondary was really hitting and tackling well. Greene was my defensive breakout candidate(a guy named Tonyan was my offensive choice...maybe you've heard of him . But he can't stay on the field and Scott is a good-sized safety who can run and hit. 5- Are you talking about that...wing-back position? HB is usually just used interchangeably with RB in today's NFL. The primary ball carrier. I assume you're talking about the Tyler Ervin, Tayvon Austin role. Sorta Melvin Gordon's role as a RS Freshmen at Wisconsin. I strongly advocated trading for John Ross and putting him in that role. Cordarrelle Patterson is absolutely the PERFECT fit for that role in this offense(and a FA). The offense just changes too much when Ervin goes down and Patterson is much more dangerous with the ball in his hand and an outstanding receiver....for that role. But I'm guessing that's a position they invest a bit more in next year as it's such a huge part of our offense. If you have someone who can really stress the defense there...and in a perfect world, return some kicks, that basically another starter and you can't treat that as a specialist. It opens up the passing game, you freeze the LB'ers in a way that using Lazard just doesn't. Maybe Austin CAN be that guy moving forward. He's versatile, he's a very good punt returner. But I really think John Ross will be cheap and is a little thicker and a little more explosive at this point. Patterson, again, the perfect man for that role, but while he'll be cheap, he'll still likely get 3-4 million. Not sure if they want to spend that. 6-The DL....man, I'd given up on Lowry, but he played his best game of the year. Clark is just dominant and Keke is a hustle guy who just keeps adding to his pass-rushing repertoire and is holding up in the run game. THAT was a very good game by that DL. I'm not sure what's going on with Rush. I would have bet my house that I saw him debut a couple of weeks ago and even remember thinking he was playing the run really well...but it shows he played no snaps vs the Bears or yet this year.

I'll agree with this point as well. Through the first ~10 games of the season, it felt like we were using the old Dom Capers "defend a good QB, don't blitz" mantra. Over the past few games they've definitely been blitzing waaaaaay more and that has yielded much better results. I still think the larger point regarding talent level vs. production is very real. They've got a couple of holes on the line, and work-in-progress at MLB. Everywhere else, the talent level is good yet the defense yields poor results. That is undeniably scheme and coaching. I feel like the perception of Capers is a bit skewed due to the terrible secondary talent we had his last few years in GB. He was aggressive and came up with some very nice blitzes when we had guys like Woodson, Harris, Shields, Collins and company in the secondary. But when you have guys like Gunter as your number 1 CB, you really need to play coverage. And when you've got Rodgers, the bend but don't break ideology makes a lot more sense. When you have 3-4 good CB's and a few more who are serviceable. Hell, Jackson, Sullivan, Holloman and Redmond was a lot better than what he was working with toward the end.

I'd lay that right on the DC's feet. Edit-Though despite my issues with Pettine, this defense DOES look like it's coming together. They were caught in man on a few of those screens as well with the LB'er assigned to the back getting caught up in the wash(usually Kirksey). Soft man can be beaten by screens, but man coverage where you're sending someone from the other side can hurt you worse. That said, the way the Packers were rallying to the FB, the way they were firing off the LOS, the way the OLB'ers were doing a pretty good job of holding the edge and allowing pursuit to get there. The defense is DEFINITELY trending in the right direction. But this game, they were giving up some passing yards and that's gonna happen sometimes when you face Stafford and a guy like Marvin Jones who's a really good WR'er. There were a LOT of contested balls thrown and Stafford just finds ways to get that ball out when he's under pressure. The DL as was mentioned played great. Kirksey is slow to react and doesn't seem certain of himself out there. I think that's gotta be chalked up as a miss. Really miss Raven Greene, but he just can't stay healthy. But we do have too many good players. Clark is an elite DT. Z Smith is an elite Edge. Preston CAN be...but he's been used all over and this looks like a lost year for him. Gary though is coming on and fast. MLB's is weak, but then CB, Alexander is as good as you can get right now, King's a ball hawk and aggressive. Savage is starting to fly around and make plays while Amos has started to assert himself a bit more. Sullivan getting benched for the holding calls was questionable to me. Those were pretty tough calls, but we've got so much depth. And Will Redmond. He's really an unsung hero for this team. Not a physical safety, but he can play there and he can line up in the slot. This defense...TO ME, looks like it could use a real Safety/LB'er hybrid for sub-packages, a more reliable MLB'er(that could be Martin IMO) and then just a better 3 tech. Keke is turning into a really good 5, Clark's a dominant NT...Lowry's played better at the other end and I think Rush will help. Again, Capers was brought up, but I think this defense would be easily a top 10 unit with him. He did need the right players for his system, he wasn't great at adjusting his scheme to his talent, but the talent on the team fits his scheme perfectly. That Titans game is going to be a HUGE measuring stick for the Packers. It MIGHT be to clinch the #1 seed in the NFC and I would assume Rush would get quite a few snaps in that game. We'll see how far the D and Pettine have come in two weeks.

Yep, that 3rd round compensatory selection will be nice. With any hope, the Packers can move enough money around to franchise Jones and then deal him off for something better than a 3rd. If you offer the franchise, you back yourself into a corner if he signs. Then you have a short period of time to negotiate. If anything, I could see them utilizing the transition tag this year. Gives them the right to match or to work out a trade. I'm curious to see what he'll get on the open market. I wouldn't be surprised to see him test the market and then come back to GB if he finds the market underwhelming. Kamara, Cook, and C-Mac have reset the market and...IMO all got overpaid. I think Jones is going to be really hard-pressed to get anything close to Kamara or Cook...but we'll see. I 've repeatedly said I think the NFL and NFLPA will work together to adjust the cap for next year. Thus far they've only set the minimum, not the cap. Perhaps the NFL uses some of their "leverage" here to get that 17th game and the NFL PA gets a higher cap so their vets don't have to take huge discounts. I also think the extended PS is here to stay and the shorter IR. This pandemic has forced the league to come up with some really good ideas to address roster issues. As for a replacement for Jones...in the event he does leave, I assume the Packers use a fairly high pick on a RB. I get that they have Dillon, but they need a more versatile back. I was kinda surprised they passed on Gibson when they grabbed Dillon since he would seem to be almost a perfect fit given his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, though I get he was more of a receiver than a RB at Memphis. They could go back to Memphis and pick up Kenneth Gainwell in the 2nd or 3rd(I'd guess he goes mid 3rd since he didn't play this year, so maybe they move up with all the picks they'll have.. He might have more upside than Gibson does and fits everything the Packers need out of their top RB. I could even see them grabbing Etienne if he was available at the end of the first. He's an ideal fit in this system with the patience and quickness to run the outside zone, he's tough in blitz pickup and he's an excellent receiver. This looks like a very deep RB class to me, but not one that's very top-heavy, so we'll see. It's hard to guess what Jones is going to get without knowing what they'll do with the cap.

The issues with the cap make it far more likely that he signs a multi-year extension rather than any type of one year deal. The franchise tag would be ~10-11 million. They could get his cap hit down to 4-5 if they signed him to a multi-year deal.

Seattle, TB, NO, LAR...even SF if they managed to get in. I feel pretty confident it'd take more than just a turnover or two for teams like the Giants or Cards to beat us. Or even the Vikings again. That game was pretty fluky. But I think we're trending in the right direction and if we get HFA, I feel that much better.

I hope we see both of them. I'd assume we would. Rush being in shape could be a potential game-changer for the Packers D. He's obviously not real splashy, but he's a big man who eats up blockers. WE don't need much more than that. He's a more physically imposing version of Howard Green. The way Martin is coming on and Keke and Clark is a constant in there. This defense might be rounding into shape. I really wish Raven Greene, my defensive darkhorse, could stay healthy, but...that is what it is. As for Austin, that guy still has elite speed and he just puts pressure on a defense. Getting him involved in some motion, maybe give him the ball on a couple of jet sweeps early on and you freeze the backers then when you run that outside zone or obviously any play action.

Why is Portis a jerk?

I'm not saying we shouldn't be able to handle them...but remember how depleted the Vikings secondary was when they beat us? I'm just saying playing a division rival on the road and that is breaking tendencies with a new HC...and a QB who's capable of getting hot could make this a tougher game than it should be. We SHOULD beat them like we did earlier this year. But we should have beaten the Vikings as well. With the tiebreaker vs the Saints, but 1 game behind, we can't afford to blow any games. We likely need to win out.

He really is. Even as a Dodger, I'm still hoping he figures it out. Really sucks to think how close we came to having a homegrown rotation with 3 potential TOR starters. Roll out Nelson, Burnes, and Woody with Hader, Williams, Rassmussen and a number of other young arms and the narrative about the Brewers' ability to develop pitching really starts to change. Either way, at the very least, with guys like Ashby and Small, the Brewers are certainly trending in the right direction. Now...they just need to get back to developing some bats.

I feel like we should be rooting for the Vikings so they still have something to play for against the Saints. Saints still have that big game vs the Chiefs remaining. Packers win H2H vs the Saints could be huge. I'm not very confident we win in NO in the playoffs, but very confident if Brees has to bring the Saints up to Lambeau. On a side note, I missed the Packers activating Stepaniak. Nice to see him back...and gives the Packers some depth on the interior.

Yeah, it looks like you have to know Houston's situation better. The trade machine actually says a trade for Middleton and Wilson for Harden works because of trade exception Houston has. http://www.espn.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=yy96t6en And Eric Nehm's response when I pointed this out to him: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ That makes sense. The NBA's CBA is so damn complicated, I would have been surprised if it accounted for ALL the potential complications. As far as I know, the Bucks are hard-capped. They can't even sign anyone to a minimum contract at this time unless they get some cap relief for Leuer.

I'm sure that is what the Rockets WANT...but they're almost certainly not getting that. Definitely not KD. I'm pretty torn on Kyrie, but the whole point was to get him and KD together.

I would assume the odds of this happening were infinitesimal. But it's something to discuss until the season starts.

I'm not sure that would work financially. I thought we couldn't add more than ~450K. That'd work if we weren't up against the hard cap, but we'd be a couple million short in this scenario...I believe. The Athletic had an article by Eric Nehm on how it could work: https://theathletic.com/2252262/2020/12/10/james-harden-bucks-trade-talk-can-it-be-done-and-would-it-work-on-the-court/ Basically the trade would only work if it includes Middleton and Lopez. Middleton, DDV, and Wilson is $610K short. Does it make any mention of any potential cap relief due to Leuer? It's behind a paywall and I'm trying to cut down on the 10+ subscriptions I have before adding any others. I thought that one was a given. Either way, even if that happened, I think this trade is too fantastical. You'd have to get Harden to accept a role in which he handled the ball about half as often as he did. I think it COULD work...especially if he played as he did earlier in his career with KD and Westbrook. I think he'd become a far more efficient shooter/scorer...and you could still compensate for his defensive deficiencies(which aren't as bad in the post-season). But that just changes the roster too much and would leave you open to pissing off Giannis and then having an unhappy Harden next year as Giannis leaves and no draft picks for the foreseeable future.

Agreed. There's obviously some uncertainty with Cain...but he had one "down" year in which he put up 3 WAR and then his other season with the Brewers he was 7th in MVP voting. I'm not exactly sure how we could get that same value without being locked in as long. Certainly, at this point, that's not an option(if people think the Indians will have trouble finding a team who wants Lindor's contract....). And at the time he was signed, most believed it was a good deal. So we've had him for two years thus far, he's put up 9.7 WAR and he was banged up in one of the two years. He also brings a lot of enthusiasm and leadership to the team...something I never placed much value on until the last couple years when we had it...and then when we were lacking last season and this team had no personality or energy.

This really seems like it'll be a 27-24 type game that the Packers have to sweat out. It never seems to be easy with the Lions, especially in Detroit.

I'm not sure that would work financially. I thought we couldn't add more than ~450K. That'd work if we weren't up against the hard cap, but we'd be a couple million short in this scenario...I believe.

Had no idea what that was until you posted it. Did not make me less of a fan!

Right...you'd have a hard time finding someone who genuinely disagreed with this I think. It's not like they broke a 100-year-old rule in order to get OSU in the title game. They're making this up as they go and Ohio State playing in the playoffs is good for the B10.

Dang... the dude's got a type. She SEEMS like she's kinda funny. But I liked Oliva Munn. I also don't know most of what these people say or do, but she also seemed kinda funny. Sarcastic and smart. But maybe that was more her characters than her. The show she did with Jeff Daniels, Newsroom, was a great show...IMO.

We've been spoiled. We had Gordon a Heisman runner-up, Clement played well early on, then Taylor. And I'll take Taylor over any UW back ever. So Berger's being compared to some guys a bit unfairly by some.

Make a Big 10 All-Star team from all the teams excluding Ohio State....put the All-Star team in Michigan uniforms...and have an Ohio State/Michigan Big 10 Championship Game. Is it sad I'm not sure who wins this hypothetical matchup?

But I would make Adam Stenavich the old "assistant HC" and give him a nice pay raise. The way this OL lost Bulaga, lost Linsley, has lost Wagner and Bahk, and Patrick and whoever...and they just keep doing their jobs and playing at a high level...gotta give him a lot of credit with that.