HarveysWBs

My brain is always going to turn Lodolo into: IYKYK

They almost always over-perform the projections, often by double-digits. Talent-wise, the team seems just about the same as last year (subtract Willy and Williams, add Woody and incremental improvements from some positional players), while the rest of the division might have improved just a skosh. Add that all up and I’ll say 90-72. I like the idea of error banding this thing, too, so +/- 5 wins wouldn’t shock me, though 85 wins or less would be a considerable letdown in my estimation. They have me conditioned to the idea that somehow, someway, they will get to 90 and make the playoffs, as they are a well-run organization. A rash of really bad injuries, though, would be a killer, as I fear the depth is a bit more questionable (especially the pitching side) than we’ve seen in a while. If I was putting money on a win total, though, 90 would still be my pick.

Sophia Minnaert just reported that Sal “added 25 pounds of muscle” in the offseason, and this coming in a game where he has already popped a two-run dinger. Reportage like that is reputable and incontrovertible, so we can put the controversy to rest. Sal is one gigantic walking muscle, and will now set the club record for dingers. Contact your bookies immediately.

Does anybody in sports media do any actual journalism these days, or do they just engage in obsequious water carrying and then fire off some tired narratives on X/Bluesky before calling it a day? What a joke.

Is the Packers fan base some kind of modern retelling of the Sisyphus myth? How many times does the team have to be used as headline fodder or agent negotiation tactics or both before everyone accepts the simplest explanation as the true one: the front office, which has maintained a remarkably consistent philosophy for over thirty years, is loath to spend big on wide receivers, and definitely won’t do it in free agency. Full stop. Yet, time and again, the fan discourse (and to be clear, I don’t necessarily mean around here, since I think the level of discussion is a bit more sophisticated here) gets funneled into agonizingly predictable channels: another off season, another round of angst and recriminations about whether there are enough weapons, more media speculation “tying” the team to x y or z wide receivers who could be available, ones who might want a new deal, or guys who probably want out of their current situation. I don’t care that Schneider and Gutey are best buddies, we were never in on Metcalf. I don’t care that Adams was our guy and he apparently didn’t have any hard feelings about his exit, we were never seriously considering bringing him back. I don’t care that Kupp overlapped with MLF in Los Angeles, we are not going to sign him, and I’d be shocked if the brass have spent more than ten minutes even workshopping the idea. Oh, and we’re not drafting a receiver in the first round, either. This organization has shown you what they are and how they think for the entire span of my life as a fan. I for one have internalized the lesson. I’m not upset by the decision, it is simply a fact, almost a state of nature. What does kind of bug me is not trying to make a killer defense by doing what it takes to bring in surefire disruptors up front or on the edge. I figured we’d more or less run the offense back, but I really hoped we’d lean into trying to be elite on the other side of the ball. Oh well, I suppose its still a long way to training camp.

Guess we know what 25 lbs of muscle will do for you now. 🤣

Seems the Chiefs have more room to complain about the officiating so far, which is a flip of the prevailing narrative. I’m not crying for them, of course, but I think on some level, the NFL would be quite happy to have this narrative behind them and are relieved with how this is turning out.

My goodness this is atrocious football. Makes me feel about thirty percent better about Love.

So lame

And it couldn’t happen to a better fan base. The fact that somewhere, that cretin that berated that female Packers fan for three straight hours now gets to be happy is sickening. Gag me…

Yeah, he’s a core special teamer filling in on D due to injury whose career highlight before today was that he ran flat out into Nixon while leading with the helmet. I’m not losing any sleep about letting him go, and next year he will be forgotten.

So, for those of us scoring at home, the Eagles are allowed to wrestle the ball away in a scrum in the Wildcard round, but Washington cannot do likewise in the NFC Championship game. Everybody clear on the rules? No? Good.

Also pretty wild that, with fumbles being largely luck-dependent on the recovery end, Philly has been so insanely hot recovering those in this postseason. And, yeah, Nixon got his fumble back, but even taking that out, to get two absolute back-breakers in a single half like this is pretty nuts.

I don’t believe in officiating conspiracies in the NFL. You could not keep that a secret in this day and age, and it would be insanity for one of the most successful sports leagues in world history to tolerate those kinds of shenanigans. That being said, two teams in your playoffs getting the benefit of seemingly every big call/no-call situation is a really bad look. And those teams ending up in the Super Bowl is just feeding the widespread speculation. You can’t get it 100% right, and camera quality will only get better and make it more of a no-win for the refs. But the NFL needs to be better than this, especially in the postseason.

Mark Andrews just had a brutal night. Feel for the guy.

Big Mac’s demise in Dallas is utterly predictable—this was always how it was going to end. Jerry would get distracted by the shiny bauble (Deion) and not look in the mirror for his team’s struggles. Now, if Mac goes to Chicago, that would be equally interesting and sad. First of all, as a Packers fan, it would not intimidate me too greatly, particularly if he insists on calling plays, since I think his system is outdated and he has a definite ceiling at this point in his career. I think he’s a solid culture guy, for the most part, so in that sense, he might do some good for the Bears who are an organization that can’t get out of their own way. But he won’t be the GM, he won’t fix their janky hierarchy, and I don’t think he’ll get them to the promised land. He can win ten or eleven games if things go right, but he’ll be walking into a division that looks to be a knife fight for at least a few years and he’ll have a lot of work cut out for him. Mainly, though, I’m tired of seeing guys I really liked and rooted for end up with hated rivals. I know the league doesn’t care about this anymore like the fans do, but it tarnishes his memory for me if he dons the navy blue and orange. I expect he’ll see Chicago as the best situation as an offensive guy, but I hope he doesn’t do it. He should go to New Orleans…or New York (ha).

It’s like I’m watching yesterday’s game, only with the opposite emotion.

Forget you, Minnesota. Forget. You.

WR room needs an infusion at the top, for sure. But I’ll second the idea that if I had to pick a guy to extend who is in the room right now, it’s probably Wicks for me, considering health and future ceiling. I think Wicks becoming 80% of Davante Adams would not shock me. Maybe he never figures out his hands, maybe he’ll never have Adams’ alien-like feel for the game. But nobody else on the roster creates separation like he does. He’s the best route runner on the team by far, and he’s up there with anybody else in the league in that regard. He just has to learn to catch. Have him do catch drills and jugs machine all offseason long, offer him a deal while his value is rock bottom, and let’s profit (I know nobody does this in football, his agent would be fired for malpractice, but I’d offer this if I thought there was any way it would get accepted). But they need an alpha in there. 2025 is go time, and there’s no more excuses anymore. You don’t get Jacobs and McKinney together at once anytime you want it. It. Is. Time.

Thus my second sentence. Not sure I’d agree. This division was historically tough this year. And the 2023 team had its share of struggles against the cupcakes.

Improved by both yards and points, but struggled against a murderers row of elite defenses. People will interpret according to their fashion.

I don’t know, football player got dinged making a football play. He has rare toughness and tenacity, and that’s a tone-setting mentality. I don’t want him to change a thing.

Love didn’t have to keep that run. I have to believe he has a hot read to get out of that run—he’s done just that already in this game.

Watch this thing come down to McManus’ miss. How on brand would that be…