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2008 - Green Bay Packers

Rd Sel # Player              Position School

2 36 Jordy Nelson WR Kansas State - Playing well for a rookie

2 56 Brian Brohm QB Louisville - Horrible performance in pre-season, 3rd string QB.

2 60 Patrick Lee CB Auburn - On IR

3 91 Jermichael Finley TE Texas - Has been the #3 tight end and cannot get on the field.

4 102 Jeremy Thompson DE Wake Forest - Shown some energy but has been hurt

4 135 Josh Sitton T Central Florida - Gotten some playing time as fill-in, project

5 150 Breno Giacomini T Louisville - Project player

7 209 Matt Flynn QB Louisiana State - Played decently in pre-season

7 217 Brett Swain WR San Diego State - Practice squad

2007 - Green Bay Packers

Rd Sel # Player              Position School

1 16 Justin Harrell DT Tennessee - No surprise, has been injured a lot

2 63 Brandon Jackson RB Nebraska - Has played well in spurts, fumble liability

3 78 James Jones WR San Jose State - Played well early as a rookie, has slumped this year

3 89 Aaron Rouse SAF Virginia Tech - Has filled in for injuries, often out of position

4 119 Allen Barbre G Missouri Southern State - Still a project

5 157 David Clowney WR Virginia Tech - Gone

6 191 Korey Hall FB Boise State - Has played well enough

6 192 Desmond Bishop LB California - Made some big plays vs Houston, doesn’t look like a starter

6 193 Mason Crosby K Colorado - Has been very solid

7 228 DeShawn Wynn RB Florida - Was cut, but re-signed because of injuries

7 243 Clark Harris TE Rutgers - Gone

2006 - Green Bay Packers

Rd Sel # Player Position School

1 5 A.J. Hawk OLB Ohio State - Hasn’t been the impact player expected, but a solid linebacker

2 47 Daryn Colledge G Boise State - Cannot sustain blocks, gets beat by power and speed

2 52 Greg Jennings WR Western Michigan - Looks like a star, gets lost in some games

3 67 Abdul Hodge LB Iowa - Gone

3 75 Jason Spitz G Louisville - Plays okay in fill-in roles, not a starter

4 104 Cory Rodgers WR Texas Christian - Gone

4 115 Will Blackmon CB Boston College - Pick play ability on special teams, goes sideways too often

5 148 Ingle Martin QB Furman - Gone

5 165 Tony Moll G Nevada-Reno - Backup player

6 183 Johnny Jolly DT Texas A&M - Good enough, especially considering where he was picked

6 185 Tyrone Culver DB Fresno State - Gone

7 253 Dave Tollefson DE Northwest Missouri State - Gone

2005 - Green Bay Packers

Rd Sel # Player                           Position School

1 24 Aaron Rodgers QB California - Looks like a solid QB

2 51 Nick Collins FS Bethune-Cookman - Out of position way too often

2 58 Terrence Murphy WR Texas A&M - Out of NFL: Injury

4 115 Marviel Underwood DB San Diego State - Gone

4 125 Brady Poppinga LB Brigham Young - Decent vs run, can’t cover

5 143 Junius Coston C North Carolina A&T - Gone

5 167 Mike Hawkins DB Oklahoma - Gone

6 180 Mike Montgomery DT Texas A&M - Playing okay as a fill-in

6 195 Craig Bragg WR UCLA - Gone

7 245 Kurt Campbell CB Albany State (NY) - Gone

7 246 Will Whitticker G Michigan State - Gone

…the Packers should have won today.  They had too many turnovers and the defense ran out of steam late, but the Packers were right there.  I guess the Titans are a little better than we thought (but definitely can be beaten) and the Packers still aren’t there.

As many expected, the Packers decided to activate defensive tackle Justin Harrell.  The 2nd year player has been on the PUP list with a back injury but the need for depth and big bodies on the line has pushed the team to take a chance on the 2nd year player.  To make space for him on the active roster, the Packers released DE Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila.  ‘KGB’ has been less and less effective in recent years as age, injuries and one-dimensional play has slowed him down.  The 31 year old Gbaja-Biamila has seen limited playing time, despite the loss of starting end Cullen Jenkins for the season.  So far he has 9 tackles and 1/2 sack.  Harrell on the other hand, has been a disapointment since being drafted in the first round before last season.  The young man has tons of physical talent, but was hurt through most of his college career and has carried that tradition into the NFL.  Harrell missed a great part of his rookie season and was ineffective late with minimal playing time.  He is looking at his first serious shot to make an impact on the team going into week 9.  He will likely not see the field much tomorrow, but could help a struggling defensive line rotation stay fresh and attempt to stop the rushing attack of the Titans.

The Packers have seen all they need to see from their new starting quarterback.  And going into the weekend, they decided to pull the trigger and make a deal that will keep Rodgers in Green Bay for the better part of his career.  Rodgers signed the deal Friday morning that makes him among the highest paid quarterbacks in the league.  The new contract will put Rodger’s yearly salary above all quarterbacks but Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Matt Ryan and Tony Romo.  Romo’s deal beats Rodgers’ by about $5m total.

According to NFL.com, the deal is worth $65 million over 6 years and comes with $20 million in guarantees.  The good part about the deal is the Packers got Aaron sigend in time to count the deal against the ‘08 cap (they had just a hair under $20 million to spare).

The deal is of course getting some criticism from fans and the media, mostly due to the struggles of Ryan Grant after getting his big payday.  While there is some merit to the failures of Grant this season, one can only wonder what his performance would be like had he attended training camp and if he didn’t regularly have offensive linemen thrown into him in the backfield.  In the end, you can’t compare this to Grant’s deal.  I think Grant was somewhat of a desperation move after the Packers thought of the possibility of not only being without one of their best offensive players of ‘07 in the post-Favre era, but also the idea of having Brandon Jackson fumbling his way through the starting job is not very appealing.

Congrats to Rodgers and the Packers.  So far, at least in some sense, you could say Rodgers has earned it by being a good teammate, being patient while Favre was doing his thing and performing well when given the chance.  Now it’s time for Rodgers to start paying the Packers back with some wins.

The Titans do two things really well; they run the ball and play lights out defense.  That seems like trouble for the Packers as the offense is somewhat limited and they absolutely cannot stop the run.

So what can the Packers do to go after the Titans?  Here’s some thoughts:

On Offense: The Titans play the ever popular cover 2 defense.  The biggest challenge when facing their defense is fighting off the defensive line.  The linemen have a single gap assignment and can really get up field fast.  Whatever openings are left by the linemen, the linebackers quickly fill up.  Because of this, running against the Titans is not easy.  However, because they are so agressive going upfield, they can miss on some delays and draws.  That’s assuming, of course, that Haynesworth doesn’t meet the running back at the handoff.  While they aren’t an overly fast line, they can be suseptible to some of the same attacks used on fast linemen.  You’ll see teams running against Tennesee being patient and looking for a defensive lineman to push far into the backfield and use the space they occupied as a running lane.  That’s a risky proposition, but can work if you have a quick and decisive back (which Grant has not been this year).  Regardless, this isn’t a team that is going to sit back and watch what you’re doing.  They are very aggressive and if you’re going to run, you have to try and take advantage of that.

Through the air, if you can get a pass off there is hope.  As with other cover 2 teams, there are holes deep over the middle and behind the corners by the sideline.  There’s no exception with the Titans.  They will also play man coverage, which would hopefully favor the Packers as they face it all week in practice.  The biggest problem for the Packers will be protecting Rodgers from the inside pass rush, as the Titans can really push people around in the middle.  Watching them play the Colts, the only time Manning was able to get any sort of advantage was on play action (or by simply throwing on running downs).  The Titans’ linebackers look very aggressive to stop the run.  On numerous plays (including the first Dallas Clark TD), the linebackers, all of them, froze or took a good couple steps toward the line to play the run.  Once they recovered and realized the play was a pass, enough time had gone by that Manning had open receivers over the middle behind the linebackers.  I’m not sure the Packers can do the same, especially without a great receiving weapon at tight end, but they will need to try.

On Defense:
The Packers really need to figure out how to stop the run.  Tennessee has a very good offensive line and Green Bay will not beat them rushing four linemen.  They’ll need to stack the box, maybe take after Indy and play four linebackers.  That tactic could work, as the Titans wide receivers are definitely overmatched by Green Bay’s secondary.  The tight end spot for the Titans is going to be key.  Both tight ends (Cumpler and Scaife) can get downfield and they both catch a lot of passes.  Green Bay will probably have to play Chillar on one guy and bring Collins up to cover another.  Any of the other linebackers will likely get abused in the passing game.  It’s definitely a good time to get some healthly defensive linemen back, as the Titans will abuse Green Bay at the line of scrimmage.  This could easily be another game like the one against Dallas, where at the line the Packers just looked undersized and overmatched.

Today, we’re going to get a battle of two teams we just don’t know what to make of.  The Colts have struggled out of the gate, thanks to a bad run defense, patchwork offensive line and an injured Peyton Manning.  Last week, the Colts blew out the regular pretenders in the Baltimore Ravens and everyone is convinced they are ready to take over the AFC.  I’m not so sure, but I still think they could win today.

The one good thing the Packers could have going for them today is their run defense may get a rest.  Joseph Addai is out and the Colts will probably have to be careful with Rhodes as they can’t risk another running back injury.  The Packers also have one of the better pass defenses in the league (not necessarily due to their terrible run defense).  They are 2nd best in the league in allowing only a 52.1% completion rate.  They are also 7th in the league with only allowing 178.8 passing yards per game.  I’m not willing to put that completely on the run defense either, as the Packers have allowed the 12th most pass attempts in the league.  The only thing working against these stats is that the Packers haven’t faced much in the way of passing offenses.  Obviously the Cowboys are top notch, but the Vikings, Lions, Bucs, Falcons and Seahawks don’t have much to offer in the passing attack.  They will definitely be tested today, especially the #2 and 3 corners who will have to take on Harrison or Wayne (whoever Woodson isn’t covering) and Anthony Gonzalez.

This could be a great week to get Ryan Grant going, as the Colts have a terrible run defense themselves.  However, if the Colts put up early points (I could see them throwing 10 on us in the blink of an eye), it could force Aaron Rodgers to take over the bulk of the offense.  That could be bad, as Rodgers hasn’t shown he can handle times when the team has to pass.  If the Packers can score first or at least stop the Colts from getting early touchdowns, this could be a competitive game.  I’m still not sold on the Colts being an elite team after beating the Ravens, barely getting by the Vikings and being handed the miracle win over the Texans.  I think the Colts are more beatable this year than they have been in the last 5 seasons.  Hopefully the Packers will come in believing that.

As expected, the trading deadline came and went with no moves for the Packers.  In fact, the Roy Williams trade is really the only one in the NFL worth noting.

Somehow, the Packers got thrown in with the Tony Gonzales rumors… I don’t understand how that could possibly make sense.  The Packers could certainly benefit from an upgrade at tight end, but with Finley hopefully developing and Lee being a good enough starter, why give up a 2nd round pick (or multiple picks) for a guy now?  Plus, the offensive line and the entire defense have so many holes that it seems tight end is probably about the least of their problems (along with receiver and QB).

In other news, with week 6 coming and going, Justin Harrell is off the PUP list.  It sounds like the team is going to bring Harrell in for practices right away, so the team will have 3 weeks to decide whether to active the injury-prone tackle.  While the defensive line could really use some help, I just can’t get excited about Harrell.  He hasn’t shown he can stay healthy his entire college and pro career, so forgive me for not being too hopeful.

Yes, Aaron Rodgers looked great… but the team still showed no sign of improvement other than the ability to stick with the run.  The Packers actually surprised me, running 39 times (for only 113 yards, 2.9 avg).  So even though they finally kept running the ball, they really didn’t go anywhere.  They also did no better stopping the run, giving up 4.9 per carry.  They also have Ryan Pickett getting an MRI today on his tricept… we’ll hopefully get news on that shortly.

If you haven’t seen, ESPN.com lets fans vote on the job their coach is doing. Mike McCarthy received a 32% approval rating for week 5.  Not good, but well deserved.  The bad thing, is the logic many fans and reporters are using for the poor performance of the Packers.  Whenever I read articles about the team, the “F” word always comes up.  So many people seem to think that Brett would do a better job run blocking.  They feel he would stuff the middle of the line on defense or get penetration on the end.  Apparently Favre would do a far better job covering the tight end or stopping a running back from turning the corner.  Favre would also be able to punt more consistently and get flagged less often for holding.

Blame Mike for not putting a well prepared team on the field.  Blame Thompson for not filling the roster with quality depth on both lines.  Don’t expect that Favre would fix any of the problems we are seeing right now.

After 3 straight losses, many Packers fans may be saying “what’s wrong?”  This team almost made the Super Bowl last year.  I’m sure many people will blame Rodgers.  Well, more specifically, the fact that he is NOT Brett Favre.  If Favre came back, this was supposed to be a championship team, right?  Well, I don’t know about that.

This time last year, Favre had 1500 yards, 9 TDs, 4 INTs.  Rodgers?  He has 1270 yards, 9 TDs, 4 INTs.  The big difference is the run game has actually produced more yards per game which has allowed Rodgers to throw less.

So what is it?  Two things really.  Sloppy play and no run defense.

Let’s look at penalties:
Last year through 5 weeks - 37 penalties, 269 yards.
This year through 5 weeks - 44 penalties, 419 yards.
How can you expect a team to compete with that many mistakes?  Going into week 5, the Packers were 3rd last in the NFL in penalties, dead last in yards penalized.  I’m sure with 9 for 97 yards today that number will just go up.  They are giving away 84 yards per game so far.  That’s 84 extra yards that either the offense has to move the ball or that the opposing offense gets for free.  There’s no excuse for so many foolish mistakes.

As for the defense… teams are just running wild.  The Packers were giving up the 4th most rushing yards in the NFL coming into week 5.  The Falcons put up 176 yards on them.  I’m sure they will be moving down a few spots when the final stats come out for the week.  The team is obviously going to miss Cullen Jenkins and the trade of Corey Williams is looking worse and worse every week as the middle of the line is constantly pushed backwards.  Last year at this point, the Packers were giving up just over 100 yards a game rushing.  Part of that is they were scoring a lot, but even if you score you still have to stop the other team.  This year, teams are finding that they can give up scores to the Packers and not change their offensive gameplan.  The defense is just getting pushed around, the linebackers look slow and injuries are building up.

If the mental mistakes can get cut in half, the team might be able to be competitive.  That seems to be asking a lot, however.  The announcers this week said McCarthy ran a training camp style practice to go back to basics this week.  I think he might have to go with a Pop-Warner style practice this coming week.