Thoughts on the Packers

Though not all of us here at The Mug Rack support the Green Bay Packers, they are my team of choice and I feel like I want to share my thoughts on how well they’ll be this year.

The only good sports writer for Onmilwaukee.com also put a list of 5 things to watch for at tonights game. I think three of his 5 things to watch for are dead on: The Back-up quarterbacks, the punters and Aaron Kampman’s switch in the three – four.  I also think that fans should watch is the secondary, and the packer backfield.

I’ve been waivering on two different schools of thought when it comes to the Packer’s quarterbacks. Last year I believed that it was time for Aaron Rodgers to be the starter and was against Favre’s actions. Aaron Rodger’s had a great year statiscially but the team did go 6-10 and I think there were moments went people thought “If Favre was in…” with 13 interceptions and 10 fumbles (though only 3 lost) there was room for improvement. But Rodgers has some legs and is pretty mobile. He ran 50+ times for over 200 yards. However, after the 2008 draft I was under the impression that you don’t draft Brian Brohm without making the QB position up for competition considering that a year earlier Brohm would have been a top 10 pick. Given that Brohm has yet to really step up as the player he was in college, I may want to give up on this school of thought. On the other hand: Matt Flynn. He can move. For a 7th round draft pick and one year starter at LSU he’s quite the player (he was the BCS MVP). Flynn may go down as the steal of the 2008 draft if he continues to improve at his current rate. I’m not about to say that the starting job in Green Bay is at all up for grabs, but I will say that if Aaron Rodgers go down to injury, Matt Flynn could be this year’s Matt Cassel.

 Punters/Kickers: At first I was impressed that Mason Crosby had the leg strength for a 60 yard field goal. Even though he missed it, it had the distance and dinnged off the bar. Then he missed another. I don’t feel worried yet. Ask me after another two games.

Concerning the secondary, I suppose I should be worried here either. The secondary is getting a bit older, Woodson and Al Harris are coming off their best years, but it’s still evident that they’ve lost a step and Atari Bigby is coming off an injury and the other players are young and lack. So far they picked off Derek Anderson once (on two passes) and Quinn twice. Will Blackmon was a standout so far notching 3 tackles, with a sack and an fumble recovery. Given the other talent in the NFC north, the Packers should be ok. With the rest of the defense they’ve performed well. Desmond Bishop stood out at Linebacker, and if he continues to, I think the Packers will have a star player on their hands.

I’m rather impress with the Packers running backs so far. I think they have a great tandem in Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson (Who may finally live up to expectations). He’s kind of a bruising running back while Jackson is the nimble back that can turn on the jets. Grant should have something to prove this season in my opinion. He only scored 4 touchdowns last year and only averaged 3.9 yards per carry though he got the ball over 300 times. I suspect with Jackson should steal some more of Grant’s carries so don’t look to him to get over 300 touches again, nor post 1200+ yards but I think each of them will have solid numbers with Grant getting more touchdowns and being a major goalline force while Jackson increases his yards and carries.