UpandIn

Yeah...perhaps he'll find out it's too much BS and it's not what it was back when he talked about his goal of becoming a HC. But he has explicitly stated his dream is to become a HC. And with the VERY high profile jobs he's passed on, it'd have to be a pretty big change in his mindset. The thing I do like about Leonhard, he's UW through and through. You don't have to worry about him leaving for other programs or jobs...even if there is one that I particularly wish he'd have left for!

Yeah...that's...annoying. But it's also not really a revenue generating sport. College athletics are the serfs vs the lords. Basketball, Football=Lords. Every other sport=Serfs. And if you know of other programs that generate revenue...it's because they're unique. Like UConn Women's BB or...Iowa Wrestling or whoever. I know B1G ADs were upset that programs were coming in that didn't have Wrestling programs. This used to be a big deal and an actual requirement. Not they changed it so you can have 2 sports that the rest of the B1G doesn't offer, but...whatever. Wisconsin was one of those schools. Well...stop whining if you don't even have a Baseball program.

People need to stop telling people what they're allowed to talk about on here. This is probably the...5th or 6th time you've said this about a perfectly reasonable topic. The average BA with RISP=.253 The leave average BA=.243 So...the Brewers were just as bad relative to the rest of the league with RISP as they were in BA. It most definitely WAS a problem. I don't think anyone's saying that was "THE" problem. There were multiple problems with this Brewers team. Their inability to add on runs or get runners from 2nd/3rd in with less than 2 outs, that was chief among them, PARTICULARLY the last month of the season. And obviously BA goes up with RISP. Teams play their IFs in, the pressure is on the pitchers, they're more likely to not be able to shift(tough to play a 3B or SS a couple steps to the left of 2nd with a man on 3rd).

People need to stop telling people what they're allowed to talk about on here. This is probably the...5th or 6th time you've said this about a perfectly reasonable topic. The average BA with RISP=.253 The leave average BA=.243 So...the Brewers were just as bad relative to the rest of the league with RISP as they were in BA. It most definitely WAS a problem. I don't think anyone's saying that was "THE" problem. There were multiple problems with this Brewers team. Their inability to add on runs or get runners from 2nd/3rd in with less than 2 outs, that was chief among them, PARTICULARLY the last month of the season. And obviously BA goes up with RISP. Teams play their IFs in, the pressure is on the pitchers, they're more likely to not be able to shift(tough to play a 3B or SS a couple steps to the left of 2nd with a man on 3rd).

A-They are until I go back and read them after a couple cups(pots) of coffee once I get to work and I see the way I wrote! B-I hope you're wrong about Jones. If he's putting all that weight back on already, it does not bode well for his future. You could never give this guy a big deal. We've seen the downside with Bakh and he has done pretty much everything right...as far as I know and can tell. I'm also a little skeptical it's that. They usually need a good reason to be able to do this as the NFL and the NFLPA is involved, you get to choose how much you're going to pay the player. So they can cut his salary down to basically PS levels if it's something stupid or totally the players fault or...hopefully if he's legitimately sick, they'd pay him his full salary. So they can't just say, "Caleb got fat again, throw him on the NRI and send him to adult fat camp with Mekhi Becton for a month." Right? Or maybe they can, who knows. Still be better than a lot of other scenarios.

If he does, I would really prefer they use the contents of said Piggy Bank to retain a couple of our own young stars. If only the Brewers current farm system lined up with 2 more years of team control for Burnes and Woodruff. There was a...Fangraphs article I read(I believe) that placed a Burnes extension in the 5/120 range and Woodruff in the 5/100 range. Both seem a bit low, but with revenues going up across MLB, I think they could afford one of those. Adames...I've seen Baez comps, but Baez had an MVP runner up and 2 6+ WAR seasons...and was a FREE AGENT. So I'd put him more in the 6/90 price range. Especially with SO many talented young SS and a saturated SS market. I'd make those offers in that order, see how it goes and it if doesn't work, if there isn't mutual interest, I'd Josh Hader them. Let people know you're taking offers, but not actively shopping, hope you get a Hader like deal...but commensurate with two aces and a ~5 WAR SS....which is what I'd value him at given his age and trajectory.

Is this really that important? He's going to be here the next 6 years. So when building, his role on the team needs to be taken into consideration. The Brewers have like...28M on the books for 2024 and Yelich is 22M of that. So yeah, they'll have to build AROUND Yelich as they're not benching a productive hitter with 6 years left at 22M per(then 10 years of 2.3M per). Also...JJ Hardy was an All Star SS who played VERY good defense and hit for power. I wouldn't say he or Yeli are "not significant." And I still haven't given up on Yelich at least returning to 2020 type production with his BABIP normalized over a full season...and likely some more hits due to teams not being able to play 3 IFers from 2nd-1B. But either way, if Yelich is the same as he's been the last two years, can't get the back right, he's still...objectively speaking, a player we're building our roster around...unless we throw Adames(plus ~30M) into a trade with a team like the Dodgers so they'll just take him off our hands...and I don't see that happening.

https://packerswire.usatoday.com/2022/10/04/aaron-rodgers-says-he-could-target-christian-watson-more-in-the-future/ In other good news, Rodgers seems to be taking notice of Watson and some of the opportunities missed. Just need the rookie to keep plugging along, keep getting the ball in his hands on jet sweeps or shovel passes and hopefully we can start pushing the ball downfield with the 6'5 freak of nature. If "all" he does as a pure WRer is provide the deep threat MVS did as a rookie, he changes this offense while also adding another component in the run game. So hopefully we're moving in that direction. As I've said, I think this season will be on #12. To prove he can make it work with the younger WRers and build some chemistry with them earlier on. He's certainly doing that with Doubs.

I believe this is the type of game...normally at least, the whole London thing could throw things off, but going up against a back like Barkley, I could see the Packers playing with energy and trying to make a point and making a concerted effort to shut Barkley down. He reminds me of a Barry Sanders/Adrian Peterson hybrid...but not as elusive as Barry(though faster) and not as physical a runner as AP, but he's also a slasher. But with 5 of their top 7 WRers either on IR or banged up and questionable for this game...with former boy wonder, Todd Marinovich converted to WRer in David Stills V getting the ball from David Mills most likely with Daniel Jones and Tyrod Taylor both injured, the passing game doesn't figure to be much of a threat even without Jaire. This is a good opportunity for the defense to go out there and really just clamp down the Giants. Kinda strange to call it a statement game, but even with two elite run blocking tackles in Andrew Thomas and Evan Neal, this should be a game where Campbell, Walker and the safeties really step up. Hopefully guys who have had slow starts like DeVondre Campbell, Dean Lowry, TJ Slaton, Savage and Amos

This is really troubling. A-They don't put players on the NFI list for Covid at this point(minimum of 4 weeks now). B-If it's not Covid...you start to wonder if it's something serious. There are a lot of heart issues post Covid and Covid treatments. I don't care which, I just don't want this to become Alice in Wonderland. Aside from Heart issues, being an elite athlete doesn't very bad, horrible, unlucky things can happen to you(like undiagnosed heart conditions, see JJ Watt, Reggie Lewis and sadly dozens more professional athletes who's names we're not as well acquainted with as we should be. So hopefully it's C-Just an injury from training or playing Basketball or some other stupid, reckless incident that's not serious enough to get covered but is serious enough to keep him out for a month. Hopefully he...turned an ankle or some stupid Matt Wise salad like incident(best case scenario). Still, I was only about 10% serious...and Zach Tom could also play TE in bigger packages. The most I think about it, I definitely want to see a healthy Caleb Jones next to Bakhtiari/Jenkins/Myers/Runyan/Nijman With Watson, Lazard, Doubs at WRer and Aaron Jones in the backfield. If Sisyphus was the size of Caleb Jones, that rock would have gotten up and over that Mountain(or Hill...not important). Point is, he's raw, but he moves people right in front of him. Watson may be as good of a run blocker as Lazard just physically(though not as smart(see the Doubs TD vs Tampa). But they can still overpower DBs. And then Aaron Jones is an elite receiving RB. But if you can get Watson going, they D would have to honor his speed(I'm thinking Tampa Bay specifically). Now it's 2 WRers and a RB vs 2 RBs and 2 DBs and Rodgers should have plenty of time to let the play develop. Plus...I don't know that the big fella doesn't have hands like OBJ. Maybe he blocks and releases? Man I'm bored. I hate waking up hours before my alarm goes off...and you fellow Brewerfan.net members, you have to suffer my BRILLIANCE flawless arguments, guaranteed to score in such cases! None of this will ever happen, I just hope the big man is healthy. And I hope he keeps himself in shape. That extra 30 pounds was the reason he was not a star at Indiana or a day 1/2 draft pick. So whatever the issue is, lets hope he can get back on the field and be ready to play in the shortest period possible.

I definitely agree on this. Wiemer has too many moving parts and too much swing and miss to count on him as a rookie. I could see him jumping out to a hot start like Hiura and then having to adjust, but I think it's more likely he just struggles to hit for average as a rookie. If they could swing a trade for a big bat at 3B/1B or even just an everyday DH, then I'd be more inclined to roll the dice with Wiemer, but as it stands, you're already likely counting on 3 rookies to contribute(Frelick, Mitchell, Ruiz) unless you make a trade. That's a lot. I also hate the idea of getting rid of Hiura and if they do so, I really hope they at least get back someone who has similar skill and talent. This is a guy who hit ~300 with a .940 OPS as a rookie hitting 38 HRs(19AAA, 19 MLB). I know that'll be 4 years old, but he made a LOT of adjustments this past year. So if you're just getting the proverbial bag of balls for him, then the risk/reward to bringing him back definitely skews toward keeping him. Of course it's pretty clear the Brewers are not high on him.

That would make sense. And it's good to hear the coaches are at least considering moving Yosh to RT rather than just hoping things get better(which they certainly could). There's also a lot of information to kinda sift through, but I did just read or skim an article about athletes who push their recovery and try coming back in 6 months or less and how that can cause long term issues in literally 100% of the high level athletes. Amari Rodgers was back practicing 5 months later for whatever that's worth. Whatever they do and whatever struggles we're currently dealing with, this team has Bakhtiari back, it has Jenkins back, it has it's entire offense healthy sans Watkins who is a veteran and knows the system. So while I want to see this team playing much better right now, they're 3-1 while looking AWFUL on offense...and I think with Aaron Rodgers and a good, deep OL, there are a lot of reasons to think we're going to see the poor play improve a great deal. That said, I don't think these results are "meaningless" just because we won.

I'm not actually calling him a bust at this point obviously, but he's not clearly not ready to play. He's not only not in consideration for playing time, he's not the backup. And we know how bad the starters and the backup look(Hanson) have looked. And they like to give a guy time if they can, but they're not THIS hesitant to play rookies. Just about every year they'll do it. Myers, Runyan, Jenkins and then going back further, Bakh, Linsley. Again, obviously I'm not giving up on Rhyan being a good guard after 4 weeks, but if he's as far behind as it's been suggested, that's not good. The 3rd round, you should be getting a OG who's ready to play.

It was my understanding they added him to the 40 man because he had an opt-out clause, but then needed the 40 man spot for some BP help(and because he wasn't hitting). I don't remember if it was Mejia, Topa, Cousins or whoever...there's no lack of fringe relievers we had either coming back from injury or needed in Milwaukee from time to time, but basically...they just didn't think he was worth the 40 man spot given how he struggled badly in AAA and the Brewers, while not flush with top end catching talent, they did have 3-4 AAA worthy catching prospects and Reetz just wasn't hitting well at that level.

It was my understanding they added him to the 40 man because he had an opt-out clause, but then needed the 40 man spot for some BP help(and because he wasn't hitting). I don't remember if it was Mejia, Topa, Cousins or whoever...there's no lack of fringe relievers we had either coming back from injury or needed in Milwaukee from time to time, but basically...they just didn't think he was worth the 40 man spot given how he struggled badly in AAA and the Brewers, while not flush with top end catching talent, they did have 3-4 AAA worthy catching prospects and Reetz just wasn't hitting well at that level.

They HAVE had some old Wisconsin OL working with this group. Some of the guys who exemplified the toughness you want out of a Badgers OL. Costigan who....well, he was probably too tough for his own good and should NOT have played about 6 days after having a piece of his knee taken out, but it it DOES take 3-4 years, I think they're in a lot of trouble. But I still do think they right this ship and they end up winning at least 5 of their next 7 and...as I said, I could see them winning the next 7. Engram will get full control of the offense(you'd assume) and despite the players not being happy about the firing of Chryst, hopefully they'll rally around Leonhard.

Outstanding. Also a little bit of an indictment on Sean Rhyan. Doesn't sound like he's even in consideration for that RG spot. He looked like a bulldozer and someone who could compete for a job coming out. Hopefully the curse of Montravius Adams ends with Sean Rhyan...but not a promising start.

Yeah...they've lost to the Dolphins and Bills. Arguably two of the top 5 teams the first month(at least before the Tua thing with Miami) and they're playing without not only Stanley they've lost 3 more LTs, they've lost 3 started OLBers, they've got RBs coming back from injury...and they're still one of the best offenses in the NFL. Yeah, I see them ahead of the Packers right now. We've eecked past the Buccs in a game that, again, was VERY similar to that 49ers game(offense just disappeared after one play didn't go their way, the Jones fumble). Vs the 49ers it was the Lewis injury. The Rams were up 31-10 vs the Falcons and a fluke sequence of events with a late blocked punt for a TD, then an immediate fumble, plus a safety on the last play made the score appear closer than the game was, but if you want to replace them with the 49ers...fine. The point is less about the rest of the NFL and more about how WE'RE playing...and as I said, there are a lot of reasons to hope for and expect growth, but they just don't look good right now. It's nice they can play poorly and go 3-1, but it's going to fall on Rodgers to get this offense playing together as a unit, to spread the ball around and to use the weapon they traded 2 2nd round picks for to at least force teams to play off a bit more. Again, it's really not about other teams, it's about the Packers and they look very mediocre on offense. Again, the defense I think will be fine...the big spots, they seem to do a better job of rallying to the ball and they've got talent everywhere. If they have Jaire vs NE, I think they could have matched up a whole lot better, but that offense is just ugly right now.

Myers looks like an All-Pro Center at times, capable of things Linsley...or really any Center I've seen(on the Packers) just isn't capable of. But he has whiffed quite a few times. And I just don't get what's up with Jenkins. Is it that he's actually physically unable at this point? That would seem a little hard to believe(especially as Bakh makes it look so easy at LT). Or is he just rusty? Or maybe he was never as good of a RT as we thought, but as I said, just really good FOR a Guard that moved out to RT and then LT to cover for injuries. But Nijman had really just started to look really good and really comfortable. He was locking up pass rushers and doing a really good job getting to the 2nd level in the run game. I've heard the rumors that he hasn't looked great at RT, but how much time has he been given? How hard can it really be? Seems like it's just a question of reps and getting used to being on the other side. I still think they'll get better even if they keep the OL as it is, but it feels like a real waste to have Yosh on the bench and Newman on the field. I'm fairly confident Stenavich is a step(or 5) ahead of us and has a handle on this. Also, lets steal some Patriots ideas. You've got a 6'9 370 OT who can lineup and just move bodies in the run game. Throw Jones in there, Tonyan and then Lazard and Watson and force the opposing D match up. You still have 4 legit receiving options, BUT you also have great size and run blocking at WRer and a TE who can run block and catch the ball. With all these teams now running the same offense, it's up to MLF to start and come up with some new ideas(or just steal some).

It wasn't specifically aimed at Wedig...just as complaints about the poor secondary play wouldn't be aimed at Woehler(despite him...probably being the highest rated DB recruit we've gotten in a long while). I shouldn't have mentioned individual players, just the larger point that...this offensive line, the staple of Badgers Football, it hasn't been good in a while. He certainly hasn't been dominant. NOTHING else is going to work...IMO, if you can't fix that. If you can't fix the OL, you can't run the ball obviously. You then are behind the sticks and you can't pass the ball. I just laid out Illinois possessions and there were numerous possessions in which they got short fields due to turnovers...either on down or picks or whatever. A lack of offense. 2 rushing yards. Wisconsin can't win when they're not rushing for at LEAST ~125 yards and 4 YPC. Then...as everyone knows that impacts the defense. 3 and out, 3 and out, even without the short fields, you're going to wear down. It's always been assumed we'd have that OL to lean on...and we haven't. If you've got a good OL in Football at literally any level, you have a chance. When you don't have great skill players, you've got no chance.

Didn't the athletic Department just bail UW out of a ~20M dollar hole during Covid? What hell would you liked raised? The whole university benefits from program and this money isn't coming from tax payers... You're dealing with a program that's part of a conference that signed a billion dollar a year TV deal and adds a great deal to the University when it's successful.

Who says he's not where he's supposed to be though? Nobody knows where a WRer is supposed to be on a lot of routes. Sometimes it's obvious. Like on 9 routes where Watson blows past guys off the LOS and Rodgers...being the QB he is, knows his matchups. If you're not going to go back to Watson because of one drop...if that's caused you to lose patience...well, then like I said, he's effectively Cordarrelle Patterson without getting the touches out of the backfield. This has been a pretty noticeable flaw with Rodgers for a while. He's harrd on rookies. Watson is getting open. Nobody on this team has has his ability to beat his man like Watson. The longer he has to dwell on that 1st play of his rookie season, the worse it is for is confidence. You absolutely NEED Watson for this offense to realize it's potential. That's an area I'm not worried about. They don't tackle in the pre-season and they almost always get better as the season goes on...but Savage has been missing WAAY too many tackles and they tend to really to the ball. I don't think that'll beat them with all the depth we've got in the front 7. Particularly as Walker gets more seasoning. They've given Clark a lot more freedom...which has led to him getting out of his gaps, but his play has more than made up for it. They've gotten stops when they need to...as so long as they keep their secondary healthy, I think the run D will be fine. Buffalo, Philly, Baltimore, Rams, Dallas when Dak comes back. But I'm not really comparing the Packers to the rest of the league. That's a bit of a fools errand a month into the season. Just an update on OUR team as it currently stands. Well...again, the difference between this team and the last couple years, this team is starting off playing at a fraction of their talent level. So they should certainly improve and get...MUCH better, it's still a process of actually doing that. Watching rookies like Watson, Doubs, Enagbare, Walker, Wyatt...maybe Tom, all players who have a lot of room to grow, obviously the other positions and players I mentioned. But we also need a lot more from our core players. Namely Rodgers...and then our OTs(which I'm not blaming, just pointing out, they SHOULD continue to improve as they settle in and feel more comfortable. I get that, but the point isn't just that they're winning close. Rodgers has not played up to his standards, and it is HIS job to get the rookies contributing...and not just on jet sweeps. This offense is too limited. I'm pretty confident we'll win our next couple games, but you're looking for growth, not just getting by coming off 3 straight 13 win seasons. I'm not saying the sky is falling, I'm saying they just haven't looked good so far...and they haven't. They have more room to improve than most teams. Special teams has been good and our defense has been good when they've needed them, but...you expect more out of a Packers team all in vs...Bailey Zappe. They have a chance to get rolling the next few weeks when they play the New York teams and WFT. Two of whom have bad defenses. It'd be a good time to try and incorporate Watson and get this offense to start clicking.

All things being equal, Tampa is a team with a lot more holes this year than they've had in years past...and the Packers are a team as things currently stand, should only improve as the season goes on, their OL gels, their two stars returning from ACL's should round back into shape, and...in theory, the receiving group should get better as the season goes on. We're not a real threat with this offense as it stands, but again, all things being equal, the next time we play Tampa, our OL should be vastly improved and hopefully Jaire will be on the field.

That's VERY possible. But we've gotta at least admit this team does NOT look like a real contender at the moment. There were two big questions heading into the year(3 if you include health, but that's been about as positive as things could get). 1-OL This OL is playing at a very...average level right now. Probably above average vs the run, but they're playing poor in the pass game and they're playing better, but not great in the run game. On this one, there is a LOT of room for optimism at least. Bakhtiari has just come back. I think he played best vs Tampa, but his pass blocking has been really solid. Jenkins on the other hand...he's struggled. He has not been the same player...which is fine, it's only been 3 games and I'm sure he's still rusty. There's also the possibility that he was less a PB caliber RT and he was elite FOR a Guard who moved to LT. He has been getting beaten by speed rushers are more often than you'd expect from him, but he's not getting deep enough in his pass sets. Bakhtiari just makes it look so easy. He just rides edge rushers out 10-12 yards deep and unless it's a broken play, Rodgers should have no trouble. On the other hand, the interior OL individually have played well at times, but as a unit, they're too inconsistent. Passing off blockers, getting movement. Josh Myers on one play can cross Vita Vea's face and move him 3-4 yards off the LOS...and then on other players he can miss pretty basic reach blocks. At this point...I never thought I'd say this, but Yosh Nijman has arguably been our best OL. The only one who's been close has been Bakh(returning from...well, we all know what he's coming back from). So that leaves us in a unique position and I hope the coaching staff will at least explore it. With Bakh back where we need him and Nijman having spent more than enough time at LT the past couple years, get Nijman work at RT. Our best 5 at this point is clearly Bakh/Jenkins/Myers/Runyan/Nijman. 2-WRer/Rodgers Rodgers talent isn't in doubt, but his lack of trust with these guys is. Doubs looks like he's well on track and...shocking as it may be, they're going back to him after mistakes. Watson however is going to be a VITAL and Rodgers seems to have absolutely zero faith in him. The old adage about going back to a guy after a drop so he doesn't have to sit with it. Well...4 games later and Rodgers is still not going to him. 25 of his 51 yards on the season came from Jordan Love in garbage time vs Minnesota. You at LEAST need to take some shots with him when he gets single high press coverage. Cobb has looked great, but you gonna rely on him all year? To look like 2015 Cobb? I think Tonyan is coming along, Lazard is developing, but Christian Watson needs to be more than a Tyler Ervin gadget player. Also, pretty clear Aaron Rodgers has zero faith in Amari Rodgers. He looks night and day different this year. Get him on the field and see what he can do. You can't possibly just be completely giving up on him after a rookie year? Especially given how much better he looks. Defensively, somes small issues, but nothing serious...yet. Preston Smith looks like MAYBE he's back on his even year production. We're getting gashed a bit at the LOS...we also just played a team that ran 6 OL(which we should absolutely be able to match personnel with, but Rasul is getting...kinda abused). Thank God we brought in Nixon. He's been outstanding. Ford's been great on STs and looked good vs the Pats. Jaire needs to stay healthy. Gary, Clark, Jaire, Stokes, Preston and I think in that order. We need those guys to play healthy. The good thing, literally all those problems are solvable. It's not like it requires bringing in an bunch of new talent and trying to get them up to speed. The OL should just get better simply by playing together and the WRers SHOULD in theory get better by...Rodgers throwing faith in Watson, Watson rewarding that faith, stretching the field and just continuing to build chemistry. I don't know if the Packers are one of the top 10 teams in the NFL at the moment, but at least they've got the pieces. Either way, for the top teams in the NFL, it should not be this hard. You should not be repeating last years mistakes, ie, a couple outstanding drives vs Tampa to start the game, then completely shutting down. Or going to OT vs Bailey Zappe and the Pats who are...NOT a very talented team. And they had a DC calling the plays.

They looked better than we did. They had 2 fumbles giving the Chiefs 20 yard fields. On the flip side, KC is a team much like the Packers. They lost their #1 WRer and they came out and put up 41 on the Tampa D that absolutely stifled the Packers in an eerily similar fashion to the 49ers last year. The only difference, the Packers STs didn't blow it.