since theres so many packers fan around here, I thought you might find this fun reading.
Packers can pack it in right now
Adam Schein / Special to FOXSports.com
It's time to meet the last-place Green Bay Packers.
Chew on that for a minute.
The last-place Green Bay Packers.
The Packers are not a playoff team.
This is a team, whether it admits it or not, that is in serious transition.
This is a team, whether it admits it or not, that had a horrible off-season.
The Packers won't be able to stop the run, pressure the opposing quarterback, turn the opposition's offense over, and have simply no defensive depth or margin for error.
Other than that, the defense should be OK.
The signature move made by new general manager Ted Thompson in the off-season was bringing in Jim Bates to coach this awful unit. A player or 10 might have helped. While the aggressive Bates is a heck of a coach, he's going to have to be Albert Einstein and Bill Belichick combined to have a major effect in year one on this defense.
The secondary has more holes than a piece of Wisconsin Swiss cheese. Ahmad Carroll had a very rude introduction to the NFL last year, consistently getting burned deep and committing frustrating penalties. He's had a rough preseason, and if it wasn't for the injury to Joey Thomas (not exactly a shut-down cover corner in his own right), Carroll could be on the pine. CB Al Harris needs some help from his teammates, and fast.
The safety position is an all-out disaster. Savvy veteran Darren Sharper was shown the door in the off-season, packed his bags and joined the rival Vikings. He told me last week he's already circled the Packers games on his calendar. The experienced Earl Little is smart, but very much long in the tooth. Nick Collins is trying to make the jump from Bethune-Cookman to the NFC North. Mark Roman has a bad hamstring and is, well, Mark Roman. Todd Franz has a separated shoulder and isn't going to be confused with Ronnie Lott.
While Nick Barnett is a playmaking linebacker, he can't play all three positions at once. Na'il Diggs' injury is a killer. The unit is filled with substitutes and journeymen.
Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila can get to the QB, but he needs some help from the inside.
The only help he'll get from the Packers' defensive tackles is in a pie-eating contest.
Cletidus Hunt has been hurt basically all preseason and has been a major disappointment since signing an inflated contract.
Grady Jackson can't keep himself on the field. He is generously listed at 345 pounds.
That's most likely because he threatened to eat a few members of the Packers' PR staff.
Jackson barely played last year because of his obese physique, had off-season knee surgery, had the nerve to complain he was underpaid, and can't practice.
The biggest part of the Packers poor off-season was letting two of Brett Favre's bodyguards go. Mike Wahle is a versatile, tough, and flat-out consistent guard in his prime. Marco Rivera's been a rock on the offensive line. They instantly improve the Panthers and Cowboys, respectively.
And to compound the problem, Thompson didn't bother to replace these great guards. He gave former New England reserve Adrian Klemm a multi-year deal. Klemm's been a one-man MASH unit in his NFL career and can't shine Wahle's shoes. Seventh-round pick William Whitticker (who?) has started at right guard in the first two preseason games. That tells you all you need to know about free-agent pickup/tomato can Matt O'Dwyer.
This can't help the running game.
Ahman Green is still a very talented back, but he puts the ball on the ground way too much and isn't happy there is no chance he's getting a big-buck contract extension from Green Bay in his contract year (not giving Green the money is a good move by Thompson).
Najeh Davenport is a bull, but battled injuries all of last year.
And the severely depleted offensive line can't help Brett Favre, who after 17 picks last year, is not the same quarterback he was while he was building his first ballot Hall of Fame career.
Those 17 interceptions don't include the four brutal ones he tossed at home in the gruesome loss to the Vikings in the playoffs last year.
I repeat — he's not the same quarterback.
Favre is going to be running for his life this year sans Wahle and Rivera. Favre feuded with emerging star wide receiver Javon Walker in the off-season when Walker was threatening to hold out. Productive tight end Bubba Franks just ended his holdout and signed a new contract While Robert Ferguson is gritty, Donald Driver is solid, and I liked Terrence Murphy in college, the question remains if Favre will have enough time to use his weapons.
And as a result he will force the issue. It seemed as if Favre went from heroic to reckless last season with some of his decisions on picks. It seemed as if Favre tried to carry the team more last year in an effort to help the Packers overcompensate for flaws elsewhere. And that's scary based on the current roster.
In a rare moment of confusion, the NFL placed the Packers on Monday Night Football three times. While former legendary media columnist Rudy Martzke told me the Packers equal a huge ratings spike in prime time, their season could easily be over by the time they visit Baltimore on MNF on December 19th.
Almost as confusing is the recent two-year contract extension Thompson gave Coach Mike Sherman.
Sherman lost a power struggle in the off-season when he was stripped of his GM duties.
Sure Sherman has a great regular winning percentage, but he's 2-4 in the postseason, including two blowout losses at home. Plus, he couldn't coach his way out of a paper bag in Philadelphia a few years ago well before Donovan McNabb hit Freddie Mitchell on the infamous 4th-and-26.
Wouldn't Thompson and the Pack be better served to wait until after 2005?
Why would Thompson hitch his wagon to the current coach?
What if the Packers go 7-9? 6-10?
But maybe this is consistent with the way the off-season went in Green Bay.
Forget the Minnesota Vikings.
In what might just be Favre's final season, the big question is simply this...
Can Green Bay hold off Chad Hutchinson and the Bears?
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