With the roster of 53 now set, there were a few surprises among those making the cut for this year’s Green Bay Packers. In a bit of shameless self-promotion Packers Weekly was off on only a couple players – the inclusion of CB Pat Lee over Josh Gordy and the exclusion of WR’s Chastin West and Tori Gurley. Lee makes it on the basis of a monster final preseason game against Kansas City as does Rookie S M.D. Jennings, who gets the extra roster spot over West and Gurley. KC helped the Packers cause immensely by playing their #1 unit the entire game, giving MM a real good idea of who to keep. The Packers have the absolute luxury of knowing who their top unit is, and have no need or desire to expose anything too soon, especially to injury. KC coach Todd Haley, he of the perpetual scowl, has some tough questions to answer back home, starting with why? A full game? And your top unit couldn’t beat guys who are now looking for work from Green Bay? And you were a playoff team a year ago? Really? We also aced the inclusion of UDFA’s LB’s Vic So’oto and Jamari Lattimore, both of whom had terrific camps and played their way not only onto the roster but just may become Sam Shields 2.0 this year. Watching them develop, especially the hell-bent-for-leather playing style of So’oto is going to be fun this year. With OLB Frank Zombo out So’oto will see the field sooner than later. Write this down now… watch him make the most of his opportunity when it comes calling. He may be the answer and perfect complement opposite a certain long haired stud OLB who also has a high motor and high sack count annually.
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| Jamari Lattimore (l) and Vic So'oto join the Packers 'Backers |
But all this belabors a point. The Packers have so much depth the players they are releasing are good enough to win and win now. For those just outside the big club (West, Chastin, QB Graham Harrell, WR Diondre Borel, C Sampson Genus (we LOVE this guy’s name!), OL Rey Dominguez, RB Brandon Saine and CB Brandian Ross) the talent level at some positions is so great that longshot doesn’t begin to define it. While 3 WR’s on the PS looks askew bear in mind Donald Driver’s age, Jordy Nelson’s upcoming contract and the return of James Jones and his hands. These are insurance policies against what could go wrong as is keeping 5 TE’s in case there isn’t a big enough bank to keep Jermichael Finley in town. GM Ted Thompson’s vision for the future is clear and that future is now and next year. As we said – a luxury position.
How exactly does the rest of the NFC North shape up? Can and will the Bears repeat? Are the Lions on the climb? Are the Vikings in decline? We’ll go deeper and look at each team.
GREEN BAY PACKERS –
Lost in the haze of the Super Bowl win and the stench of the CBA lockout is the fact that Packers did not win their division and simply were the hottest team on the planet for 2 months after losing to a very talented New England team. Last year Packers got it all together at just the right time. This year there will be no sneaking up on anyone. Every Sunday will be someone else’s Super Bowl as the Packers are now the current yardstick against which all other teams are and will be measured. And don’t expect a soft schedule either. There are precious few softies this year, so MM will be pushing his troops a bit harder this year if they are to have any chance at repeating. But also lost is one very telling statistic – at no time during their 2010/11 campaign did the Packers trail any game by more than a touchdown. Go ahead and check, we’ll wait… and now that you’ve found that to be the case it is a remarkable bit of consistency or annoyance that Green Bay was ‘only’ 10 – 6 last year. It says they were in every ball game. It also says they were sloppy in too many. Can they be better in 2011? In one word – absolutely. And, they will be. The Packers are noticeably better heading into week 1 on both sides of the ball than they were last year.
Aaron Rodgers has shown he 1) CAN win a close one 2) CAN rally his team from behind 3) CAN win a BIG one and 4) CAN replace a legend. Rodgers numbers in the last 2 regular season and playoff games were in the stratosphere ridiculous. His only barometer will be himself. And he is still improving. Last year’s ugliness revolved around a running game that was all but nonexistent and cobbled together from 2nd and 3rd stringers, rookies, a fullback and some PS pickups. Not so this year. The running game is as good as it has ever been and Ryan Grant, back from injury, leads a suddenly very potent attack. 2nd year man James Starks, the unheralded 6th rounder from last year will play a prominent role as will this year’s 3rd rounder Alex Green. FB John Kuhn has been rewarded with a long term deal and MM gassing the 3 FB system entirely as Korey Hall was allowed to skate and Quinn Johnson was traded to Tennessee. The Pack will also roll out 10 WR’s and TE’s – five at each position – that ensures as the snow flies in Green bay so does the football. While Greg Jennings has become almost automatic and Donald Driver is starting to show some wear, the Super Bowl eruption from Jordy Nelson along with explosively exciting rookie Randall Cobb make the Packers deep game scary. Add in James Jones and the 3 WR’s kept on the PS to Finley, Andrew Quarless and the sure handed rookie TE D.J. Williams and an aerial assault the likes of which has never been seen in Titletown is ready to launch bombs all over the NFL landscape. On the line LT Chad Clifton’s balky knee may slow him considerably. Rookie 1st round pick Derrick Sherrod has played like, well, a rookie and had the unmistakable look of a deer in the headlights as he struggles to shorten the learning curve. In time, he’ll be fine, but the left side of the line, with T.J. Lang replacing Daryn Colledge will be the determinant in how far the Packers can go. TT also showed some great vision by locking up RG Josh Sitton, a future Pro Bowler for 6 more years and Scott Wells and RT Bryan Bulaga give the line stability.
The Defensive line could prove troublesome. B. J. Raji will be counted on heavily to reproduce his fabulous year from a season ago. The loss of Cullen Jenkins saw nothing in the draft, but 2nd year IR returnee Mike Neal can make up the difference. This comes with the sobering tag of “IF he can stay healthy”. The Pack’s LB’s are the best in the division and among the best in the biz. The starting 4 – CM3, A.J. Hawk, Desmond Bishop and Eric Walden are joined by a lot of new faces eager to have an impact. Brad Jones is back from injury and Frank Zombo has opened a door for Walden and the 3 rookies – D.J. Smith, a holy terror who has blown up all in his path, Jamari Lattimore, who makes up for his lack of LB size at 230 lbs. with speed and smarts and the potential high impact rookie OLB Vic So’oto, and 263 lb. package of raw energy. So’oto has wowed everyone from Dom Capers to LB Coach Kevin Green and he just might start the year on the bench but he will make a push at the starter’s job before too long. The DB’s return, and Pat Lee’s monster preseason game against the Chiefs saved him for this year. Newcomer CB Davon House also grabbed a spot and with Charles Woodson, Tramon Williams and Sam Shields the Packers look to be deeper than the Eagles and their noisy nouveau riche splurge on CB’s.
Across the board the Packers are better on paper this year than last year. But the games aren’t played on paper, and when the Lombardi Trophy sits on your mantle every week is a big game. It’s a long season. Getting there is tougher. Repeating will be even harder.
PREDICTION – 11 – 5/ 1st PLACE and (AT LEAST) A Return to the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME (We Never Speculate Further)
DETROIT LIONS –
The Motor City has cause to celebrate and will give cheese heads headaches once again. The Matt Millen debacle is completely over and GM Martin Mayhew and Coach Jim Schwartz have the kitties ready to roar. Detroit is far from a complete team but they are even farther from being the complete mess they used to be as well. The Lions have the bona fides in the skill positions starting with QB Matthew Stafford, WR Calvin Johnson, TE Brandon Pettigrew, RB Jahvid Best, DL Ndamokong Suh and rookie Nick Fairley and FS Louis Delmas. The loss of rookie RB Mykel Leshoure is going to hurt. The Lions have been stockpiling draft picks and have finally begun to hit them, especially with a beast for many years to come in Suh. Fairley’s preseason foot injury has slowed him and his work ethic will be pushed and tested by the testy Suh. With Kyle VanDenBosch the Lions have the makings of one of the best defensive lines in football. But if the Lions ore to have any hope it will fall to WR’s Nate Burleson and rookie Titus Young to take the load of the immensely talented Johnson. The Lions biggest weaknesses are in its offensive line and the ability to protect Stafford and a rather pedestrian running game, and also in its secondary. The CB position has yet to be addressed long term and the Lions face an uphill climb when trying to run down the Packers. They did it last year in a hideous 7 -3 win, but a score like that is most unlikely to repeat. It will be black and blue among the Packers and the Lions again as the Lions make a push and finish second in the division, and if it falls just right they have a shot at the playoffs. We’re still talking one and done, but hey – Rome wasn’t built in a day. Neither are the Lions. But they are a fun team to watch and are definitely on the rise.PREDICTION – 9 -7/ 2nd PLACE NFC North/ WILD CARD PLAYOFF TEAM
CHICAGO BEARS –
Oh, those kooky Bears and their fans. They get all excited, win the division, have a chance to knock out and off their head coaches declared mortal enemy once and for all… and Jay Cutler walks off the stage. We’ll not pile on Cutler here, but Chicago got away with a larceny right up there with a Brinks job last year in stealing… WINNING… the NFC North. While it may sound like Green and Gold grapes Chicago benefited from some awful play (GB/ game 1) awful officiating (memo to Calvin Johnson: spike the ball AFTER the little guys in black stripes put their hands up) and survived their own offensive ineptitude to win the North outright. That plain just won’t happen this year. Too many teams have improved and the Bears have not, simple as that. The much maligned, and we daresay unfairly maligned Cutler has yet to prove he can win a game of any significance. Until he does he will be rendered as a punch line. No one questions his toughness. But with the game on the line in December, not September, even Bears fans hate the thought of their season coming down to Cutler and his ability to pull one out. With RB Matt Forte pouting over his contract, LB Lance Briggs wanting out and the Bears defense aging things are not all smiles in the Windy City. The loss of C Olin Kruetz to free agency sets the Bears OLine, and ultimately Cutler, back on their collective keisters. The Bears Offensive Line last year was, in a word, terrible. The worst in football and if a judge had intervened on Cutler’s behalf he could have awarded Jay a tidy amount based on non-support. Cutler has a big arm and bigger ego, but what he really needs is bigger and better players keeping him upright. Rookie T Gabe Carimi is good addition, but he’s still a rookie and the rest of the line is weak and porous. Beyond Carimi the Bears had an underwhelming draft and few in camp have yet to look to be game breakers. The Bears deep threat looks to be Johnny Knox. Yes, THAT Johnny Knox from the Who-He? line of wide receivers. Cutler’s equal in the ego is Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, who inexplicably jettisoned TE Greg Olsen as a pass catching TE doesn’t fit Martz’s system. Oh. The Bears’ strength is and always will be its defense, but that is an aging entity at this point. DE Julius Peppers is a stud, but behind him Brian Urlacher is a year older and a year slower, and the defensive backfield looks porous. Chicago will have a tough time matching last year’s run. They’ll still play tough as they always do, but will find themselves on the wrong end of the games they were winning last year more frequently this year.
PREDICITION – 8 – 8/ 3rd PLACE NFC NORTH (Out of Playoffs)
MINNESOTA VIKINGS
And then there are the Vikings, who will now have to pay the dowry for their shotgun marriage with Brett Favre. They mortgaged their future and went all in on a draw only to have their four flusher fall magnificently short, leaving precious little among the litter left behind by Hurricane Brett after his massive ego blew through town, leaving a path of destruction in his wake as he had in previous stops in New York and Green Bay, The Faustian-like sell-your-soul-to-the-devil deal the Vikings made with Favre has crippled them now and in the foreseeable future. Favre in Minnesota was never about Favre helping the Vikings win the BIG one; it was about Minnesota helping Favre stick it to Ted Thompson and the Packers. If Viking fans aren’t po’d at Favre, they should be, or at least at the powers that be that cut the cheese on this fiasco. Favre has now slipped quietly and mercifully under the radar and rookie Christian Ponder has the latest in aging QB’s under whom he can learn the craft with Donovan McNabb, who is eager to shake the stink off his bombing in DC. All World RB Adrian Peterson is a relief, but gone is Sydney Rice and the questions at WR on the Vikes are only exceeded by a line that was at times as porous as Chicago’s. Then Viking D loses Ray Edwards and has some very shaky DB’s, leaving the state of Minnesota in a state of confusion over the direction of its team. Oh, Minny will muster up a game here and there, but they will get thumped in their own conference, and the Lions in particular will enjoy bloodying the nose of the schoolyard bully. One other guy who make equally enjoy seeing the Purple Gang get roughed up is a certain grey haired GM in Green Bay who had the chutzpah to cut loose a legend and have to smile wanly when Favre won his 2 games in Minnesota in year 1. On the scoreboard that reads Ted Thompson 1 (Super Bowl Win), Brett Favre 2*(wins against the Packers in 09) and Minnesota fans 0 (Super Bowls or future).(*Useless, meaningless, self-indulgent stat)
PREDICITION – 7 – 11/ 4th PLACE NFC NORTH (Out of Playoffs)
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