Packers Nation Has Moved

Posted on February 9, 2008

I am sorry that I haven’t been able to post for a while. With college starting up I haven’t had a lot of time recently. Along with little time I have decided to move Packers Nation to a new domain which will be faster than the current domain. In order to reach the new site follow this link

http://www.myblogisonfire.com/packersnation/

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First Look at Packers Offseason

Posted on January 29, 2008

Since the season is now over it’s time to look at the offseason. With the First Look I am going to look at the positions that the Packers are going to upgrade this offseason. These needs are in order of how important I believe they are for next year to be successful.

Cornerback-Simply put the Packers really need a cornerback. The game against the Giants showed that the Packers don’t have a great of secondary as we thought we did. Al Harris and Charles Woodson are both playing great but as they get older their play is going to slip and for some players they slip quite quickly. The Packer can’t put themselves in a position that if Al Harris or Charles Woodson get hurt or their play drops off signifcantly the Packers would have no replacements for them. I believe Tramon Williams has potential to be a very good cornerback but he isn’t developed enough to play a prominent role next year. Will Blackmon would be a good cornerback if only he could stay healthy. This problem could be addressed in a couple ways. First is through free agency. There are several good corners in free agency including Asante Samuel and Marcus Trufant. Don’t expect Thompson to go this way though since these players will demand top money and we all know Thompson isn’t willing to spend that much money in free agency. The most likely option is to address the position early in the draft. At this point I believe cornerback is the position where our first round pick will go. You never know with Thompson though. I am far from a draft expert so I really couldn’t tell you much about the cornerback class in this years draft. All I know is that cornerback has to be addressed or the Packers season will be cut short again next year due to covering problems.
Guard-The Packers have had struggles on the offensive line ever since Whale and Rivera left. The Packers have struggled because they haven’t been able to get any consistent players at the guard position. While Colledge, Spitz, and Coston have shown sparks at times they are far from consistent. Coston is hurt too much, Spitz never makes any big plays but doesn’t make a ton of mistakes, and Colledge makes some great plays but then offsets it with some terrible plays. I believe Allen Barbre might be ready to start next year (the Packers are really high on him). The other guard spot needs to be filled though. The Packers need to get some consistency on the Offensive Line if they want the offense to take the next step. As far as addressing the guard spot it will pretty much come down to free agency since i have heard the draft is downright atrocious as far as the guard position. If Thompson is going to sign a bigger free agent I am guessing it will be at the guard position. Alan Faneca is easily the best guard in free agency but I doubt Thompson will sign him since he is getting pretty old and will demand a huge contract. I think the most likely canidates are one of the Colts guards (they are both free agents). Jake Scott and Ryan Lilja are both pretty young and probably won’t demand nearly as much money as Faneca. The Colts probably can’t keep both of them so the Packers have the opportunity to get one of the two. With some veteran leadership and some consistent play from the guard position the Packers offense will be downright dangerous.
Safety-Atari Bigby really stepped up toward the end of the year last year but I would still be cautious about him. He still struggles in coverage but hopefully he can improve that in the offseason. As far as the other safety spot I think we need an upgrade. Aaron Rouse might be able to fill this spot but I believe we should add another safety in order to be safe. I don’t think Nick Collins is a starting safety. While he doesn’t make a lot of big mistakes he rarely makes any plays. With the team in such a good position you start nickpicking and looking for small upgrades. I believe the safety spot can be upgraded. While there are some good safety prospects in free agency I expect Thompson to address the safety position in the draft.
Defensive End-You must be thinking that I am insane thinking we need more help on the defensive line. I believe we need help at DE though. The DE’s really struggled at getting pressure on the QB towards the end of the year. As far as the DE I am looking for it would essentially be a pass rushing DE that could develop their run defense. I think we really need another pass rusher. KGB isn’t getting any younger and he started to either get tired or for some other reason was neutralized towards the end of the season. Aaron Kampman also needs to get some more rest. Kampman plays way too much and that is why he got tired towards the end of the season. If we keep playing Kampman so much every year his career will be cut short. Plus if we get a good pass rushing DE we MIGHT be able to play KGB and the new player at DE while we play Jenkins and Kampman at DT (Kampman is a power pass rusher with his bull rush so he might be able to play DT). If we struggle getting pressure next year our secondary will be picked apart once again.
Tight End-While I think the Packers are set at the starter spot with Donald Lee I believe we could improve our second TE. Bubba Franks is really starting to age and has plenty of injury problems. I believe the Packers should pursue a TE that can really stretch the field. Donald Lee is a good possession TE but I want a tall and fast TE that can make big plays. This is more of a luxury that the Packers don’t need but It would add another dimension to the offense and make the passing game even harder to cover.
Tackle-This need is more for the future. The Packers are set at the tackle position for now but who knows how long that will last. Clifton’s knees have been in bad shape the last couple of years and who knows when they will totally give out. Clifton probably only has a couple more years in the league. Tauscher is also starting to get old and his play will probably start to slip in a year or two. I didn’t put the tackle position higher based on the fact that we have a couple players on the roster that could eventually fill those roles. Hopefully the Packers leave Colledge at tackle and start grooming him to take over for Clifton or Tauscher. The Packers also have Tony Moll who was hurt most of last year with a neck injury. I doubt both will turn out though so the packers should draft at least one more tackle.

The list will continue tomorrow

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Andrew Brandt Leaving the Packers

Posted on January 28, 2008

Sad news for the Packers has recently surfaced. While not official reports are saying that Andrew Brandt is going to be leaving the Packers. For those of you who don’t know who Andrew Brandt is he is in charge of salary negotiations and making sure the team in under the salary cap. Losing Andrew Brandt is a hug loss for the Packers. Next to Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy I believe he was the third most responsible for the quick turnover of the Packers (not counting players). Andrew Brandt quickly got the Packers out of the cap hell that Sherman left the Packers in and the Packers now have over 20 million dollars to spend in this upcoming season. Reports are saying that Brandt is leaving because he didn’t get the President job which went to Mark Murphy. It is sad to see Brandt go and whichever team he ends up with will be extremely happy since they will be getting one of the best salary cap managers in the entire league. Hopefully Mark Murphy can find a suitable replacement for Andrew Brandt so the Packers can remain in a good cap situation.

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The Packers Season Ends

Posted on January 21, 2008

At this time everyone knows the Packers blew the NFC Championship Game and their season is now over. I know how much this loss hurts my fellow Packer fans so I won’t dwell on it much longer. The Packers lost the game because the had a bad game. Nothing seemed to go right for the Packers. The defense couldn’t stop Plaxico Burress. The Packers running game never got started. Finally the passing game fell apart in the second half. Every team has a couple bad games every year and the packers were unlucky that it happened in the playoffs. I still think the Packers are the better team but the Giants played a lot better than the packers did. I don’t know if this is just me but I hope the Giant the best to hopefully stop the Patriots 19-0 season.

Now that I am done talking about the game I will hopefully cheer Packer fans up with what we have to look forward to next year. The Packers are the youngest team in the NFL and another year of experience will only help the team. With more practice and experience under their belts our young players will play better. Expect Greg Jennings to have even a better year next year and hopefully next year he will make the Pro Bowl. With another year of experience Ryan Grant should be a better running back. The Packers also have free agency and the draft to bolster the roster. The Packers only notable free agent is Corey Williams who at this point I don’t know if the Packers will resign or not (at this point I don’t think we will resign him). The Packers have a low draft pick in every round (around #30) but I have heard this draft is extremely deep so the Packers should be able to get good players at their draft spots. The Packers only really need help at the offensive line, a nickel and possibly a dime corner, a possibly some safety help. As far as Free Agency the Packers have between $20-30 million in cap space. Some of you might believe that even with all this money Thompson might not spend any of it. That is possible but I believe Thompson will bring in someone since he knows we are close to winning the Super Bowl.
Some of you will probably be worrying that the Packers will fall under the curse of the teams that lose the Championship game (teams that lose the championship game usually have a bad year the next year). I don’t think the Packers will fall under this spell unless one of the three happen. First Brett Favre retires. After this depressing loss, the potential on the team, and how much fun he had this year I think there is less than 1% chance that Brett retires. Second the packers will have to get a lot of injuries (most of the teams that failed the next year had a lot of injuries). The Packers obviously could have a lot of injuries but I think they are less likely since the Packers are such a young team. Young players are usually in better shape and are less prone to injuries. Finally the Packers veteran’s play would have to drop off significantly. This is the most questionable of the three things. If players like Driver, Favre, Woodson, Harris, Tauscher, and Clifton don’t experience significant drops in their performances next year I believe the Packers will be good again next year.

It is sad to see the Packer’s season end in such a depressing way. Packer fans should enjoy this season. Before the season most experts were expecting the Packers to be one of the worst teams in the league and last time I checked the Packers made the Conference Championship with the youngest team in the NFL. This year was a blast and Packer fans should enjoy it since it is hard to have such a magical season as the Packers had this year. While the Packers season has ended and we will have to wait many months for more football, we can be happy to know that the Packers have a bright future for next season.

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NFC Championship Game Preview

Posted on January 15, 2008

Obviously at this time everyone knows that the Packers are going to be hosting the New York Giants for the right to play in the Super Bowl. Starting at 5:30 Central on Sunday we will see who will be going to the Super Bowl. For those of you who think this game will be like the first game you will be disappointed since both teams are far better than they were during the first matchup. This article will be updated with my analysis of the game and links to every other interesting analysis I find on the internet. I will update this post every day this week as the Packers prepare for the first NFC Championship Game in Lambeau since 1996.

Keys to Winning the Game:

Just like last week the Packers need to play their game and not be sucked into the hype of the game. During this entire year when the Packers have played their game they have won. If the Packers can play there game on Sundy there is a great chance of winning the game. If the young players and Brett Favre don’t let the pressure of the game get to them they should be able to play the type of game necessary to win the game.
Stop the Giants running game. The Giants are a very good running team so stopping the run is very important if the Packers want to win the game. The Giants get a lot of yards on the ground so if the Packers can at least slow it down it should put a huge wrinkle in the Giants offense. This will put a lot of pressure on Eli Manning. I don’t think Manning will be able to handle the pressure since he hasn’t been in the league that long. The Giants have been successful lately because they have had a running game that has taken the pressure of Eli. If they can’t keep the pressure of Eli on Sunday I think the Giants better get ready for several turnovers due to Eli.
Stop the Giants Pass Rush. The Giants have one of the best D-Lines in the NFL and they get a lot of pressure on the QB. The Packers cannot allow this to happen. If they do the Packers offense will have a hard time moving the ball. If the Packers stop the pass rush like they did last week against the Seahawks (also one of the best in the league) Brett will have all day in the pocket and will totally obliterate the Giants injured secondary. If the Packers can control the line of scrimmage the packers should win the game.
Exploit the Giants Secondary. The Giants secondary is extremely banged up at this point in the season. As long as weather is permitting the Packers should be able to have a big day through the air. There is no way the Giants will be able to cover the Fab Five (for you non Packer fans the best 5 wide receiver set in the NFL) with all their injuries in the secondary. Brett should be able to have a huge game.
Finally the Packers can’t get too cocky. The Packers are the favorites in the game and should be. The Packers are more talented than the Giants. The Giants have a lot more injuries at this point in the season. The Packers are at home. I have heard Eli Manning is absolutely terrible in cold weather and the game forecast has the temperature under 10 degrees. Finally the Packers are on a roll. The Packers can’t underestimate the Giants though. The Giants are also on a roll and are very good on the road (the Packers are also good at home). If the Packers look past the Giants to the Super Bowl the Packers will be in trouble of committing mistakes and will have a good chance at losing the game. If the packers take the Giants game seriously I think the Packers will be really hard to beat.

Roster Breakdown:

Quarterback-Advantage Packers. The Packers have a clear advantage on the Quarterback front. Brett Favre is a lot better than Eli Manning is. Brett Favre has had one of the best years of his career and has only had one bad this entire season (Dallas). For most of the year Brett has been unstoppable. The Packers passing game is second best in the league (behind New England of course). Meanwhile Eli Manning has put together several good games in a roll. He is on a roll but so is Brett. Eli Manning also has a history of playing poorly in the cold. Supposedly he has never played in a game under 24 degrees. That will definently change this weekend when the temperature is expected to be over 10 below with the wind chill. With the weather I don’t expect a great game out of Eli. Eli has been hot lately but he hasn’t faced a team like Green bay yet. His receivers will have a hard time getting open and Eli will have to make some plays himself instead of relying on his team. While i am not saying that he can’t, he has been known for choking under pressure in the past. Meanwhile brett is calm under pressure and will have the drive to pull out the victory since he will want another trip to the Super Bowl.

Running Back-Draw. Most people would probably give the Giants the advantage in the running game but I would disagree. While the Giants have Jacobs and Bradshaw, the Packers have Grant (second place in rushing the second half of the year only behind LT) and Brandon Jackson (has really improved his game the last couple of weeks). I would say that the Giants have better depth at the running back position while the Packers have the best overall running back in Grant. Grant has almost been unstoppable in the second half of the season (he barely played in the first half after being traded by the Giants). I wonder how much the Giants are regretting giving up one of the best running backs in the NFC for a measly 6th round pick. I guess the Giants had a lot of depth at the running back position but they obviously made a mistake of which running back to get rid of. With one team having the best overall running back while the other team has a better one-two combo I have to call this a draw.

Fullback-Advantage Packers. In this championship game if you’re not an informed fan you might not know a single fullback that will be playing in the game. The Packers have Korey Hall (a college linebacker turned fullback) and John Kuhn who have had a great year even though very few people know about them. The two fullback set the Packers use is extremely successful based on key blocks made by the fullbacks. Meanwhile the Giants have Madison Hedgecock. To tell you the truth I have never heard of Madison Hedgecock so I can’t really say how good he is. The Packers have the advantage though having two good fullbacks.

Wide Receivers-Advantage Packers. In my opinion the only team in the NFL that might have better receivers than the Packers are the Patriots (that is debatable in my opinion). The Packers have five great receivers and when the Packers go to the five wide receiver set it is impossible to stop (no one has done it yet). Donald Driver and Greg Jennings are the starters and you can barely find a better tandem. Driver is a great possession receiver who can break any catch into a big gain with his great after the catch ability. Jennings is a huge big play threat and is slowly becoming Brett’s go to guy. After Driver and Jennings there is James Jones (probably the second best rookie receiver this year), Koren Robinson (has quickly come back from his suspension and has really contributed to the team), and Ruvell Martin (a great possession receiver who is a threat in the end zone). Last week in the snow the Packers top three did so well that the Packers didn’t even have to use Ruvell and Koren. Don’t expect that this week since the Packers would be wise to use the 5 wide receiver set with the Giants banged up secondary. Meanwhile the Giants have three good receivers. Plaxico Burress is a great player when he can stay healthy. Anami Toomer has also had a good year and Steve Smith has really made an impact over the last couple of games. While the Giants receivers are good the Packers receivers are great and are hard if not impossible to stop.

Tight Ends-Advantage Packers. If Jeremy Shockey wasn’t on IR this would have been a draw but since he is I have to give the advantage to the Packers. Donald Lee has had a breakout year and almost had a Pro Bowl type season. Donald lee can be a huge threat over the middle and to make things worse for the Giants he had a huge game against them in the first matchup. The Packers also have Bubba Franks while not at his Pro Bowl level is still a very good TE. Bubba is great at blocking and makes the crucial catches that extend drives. Meanwhile the Giants have Kevin Boss who has played well since Shockey was hurt. The Packers have the advantage though since they have two good TEs and also have more experience at the position.

Offensive Line-Draw. The offensive line battle is hard to judge. First of all I don’t know much about the Giants O-Line. Second the Packers line plays inconsistently. As far as the Packers line, it has been very good the entire year at pass blocking. The problem comes when you look at the running game. Some games the O-Line can’t open up any holes while in other games they open up such big holes there is no way the running back won’t gain a lot of yards. Which run blocking team will show up at the game. I would guess the good run blocking team based on the fact that the last couple of games they have blocked well for the running game. There is a chance they could return to their old ways though. Another thing to worry about is how they will handle the Giants pass rush. I think they will do a good job since last week everyone thought the Seahawks pass rush would dominate and they didn’t even record a sack if I remember correctly. As far as the Giants O-Line as I have already said I don’t know much about it. They obviously are good at run blocking since the Giants are one of the best run blocking teams in the league. Obviously the Giants must be worse at pass blocking since Eli has been sacked almost twice as much as Brett (27 times vs. 15).

Defensive Line-Slight Advantage Giants. I give a slight advantage to the Giants mostly because the packers have had a lot of injuries on the D-Line. If it weren’t for these injuries I would consider the matchup a draw. The Packers lost a lot when they lost Johnny Jolly and Colin Cole to injuries. The Packers had some of the best DTs in the league and now the Packers have some depth problems at DT. Ryan Pickett is a force to be reckoned with. He doesn’t get the credit for what he does but he is easily in the top tier of DTs in the league. Corey Williams has also stepped up significantly after the injuries to Jolly and Cole. As far as DE the packers have quite a bit of depth. Aaron Kampman is one of the best D-Lineman in the NFL and is for the second year in a row a Pro Bowler. KGB is a great pass rusher. Cullen Jenkins has been average for most of the year but he also was slowed down by injuries. Last week Jenkins was a force after having a week of rest. As far as the Giants you can’t deny that they have a great D-Line. Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora are probably the best DE tandem in the league. The Giants also have Justin Tuck who is a great DE to come off the bench. At DT the Giants have Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins. I would give the advantage to the Packers at the DT position. Overall since the Giants D-Line is healthier I would give the Giants the advantage.

Linebackers-Advantage Packers. Overall both teams have very good linebackers but the Packers are overall better in my opinion. Nick Barnett has had a great year and was ripped off in the Pro bowl voting. He has been a force in stopping the run. AJ Hawk has also had a good year. Along with Nick Barnett they create a great tandem to take down running backs. AJ Hawk is also good in coverage. Finally Brady Poppinga rounds out that linebackers. Poppinga makes some big plays in the running game and that is it since he only plays on expected running plays. As far as the Giants they have Antonio Pierce who is a very good linebacker. The Giants also have Kawika Mitchell and Reggie Torber.

Cornerbacks-Huge Advantage Packers. There are two reasons why the Packers are better at cornerback. First the Packers secondary is a lot healthier. The whole Packers secondary is healthy. Meanwhile the Giants secondary is banged up. Kevin Dockery is already listed as out for the game. Their top three cornerbacks (Sam Madison, Aaron Ross, and R.W. McQuarters) are going to play but will not be at 100%. This is obviously an advantage for the Packers. Second the Packers secondary is better overall than the Giants in the first place. In my opinion the Packers have the best cornerback tandem in the league in Charles Woodson and Al Harris. Woodson and Harris were dominant in the game against the Seahawks and the Giants will have a really hard time getting off the line of scrimmage with their physical play at the line. In my opinion this is easily the biggest miss match in the game.

Safeties-Draw. I would call the safety battle a draw. As far as the Packers safeties they are hit and miss at times. Atari Bigby can play downright dominant (see the Seattle game) where he strikes fear into everyone on the field with his hard hits. He is prone to making some mistakes in coverage though. Nick Collins has never played poorly but he lacks the ability to make explosive plays. So the Packers safeties are inconsistent overall. As far as the Giants, Gibril Wilson and James Butler are probably more consistent but don’t can’t reach the heights that Bigby and Collins can reach on a good game.

Kicker-Advantage Packers. I believe Mason Crosby has had a better season this year that Lawrence Tynes has had. Crosby lead either the NFC or NFL (I can’t remember which) in points scored this year. Lawrence Tynes is also a good kicker as well.

Punter-Advantage Giants. I give the Giants the advantage to the Giants because Jeff Feagles is a great punter and is a great directional punter. Jon Ryan is also a good punter with a great leg but has some problems with placement of punts. Ryan has been known in the past to outkick the coverage team but that has decreased the longer he has been with the team. With Feagles experience and directional kicking I would have to give him the advantage.

Kick and Punt Returning/Coverage-Draw. As far as coverage teams I am not familiar with how good the Giants are so I won’t address them. The Packers coverage unit is pretty good. As far as returning I believe there is pretty much a draw. For the Packers Will Blackmon (who will probably play) is an explosive punt returner while Koren Robinson is dangerous as a kick returner. As far as the Giants return teams I have seen some nice returns by the Giants this season.
My Prediction:

Packers 28 Giants 20

Packers will go to the Super Bowl to face off against the New England Patriots (even though I would love to see the Chargers beat the Patriots they won’t). I believe we will see a rematch of Super Bowl 31 (For those of you who don’t know the Packers won that matchup and hopefully the results will be the same).

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Packers Advance to NFC Championship Game

Posted on January 13, 2008

One day later and I still can’t believe what happened yesterday. The Packers were down 14 and had absolutely no momentum. Some Packers fans thought the season was over (I was starting to get worried). Then all of a sudden the Packers came back by scoring 6 straight TDs. SIX STRAIGHT TOUCHDOWNS. That never happens. Obviously the Packers came back and in the end easily won the game. The Packers are now just one game away from making the Super Bowl. I still can’t believe that the Packers are only on game away. Well enough with my ranting lets get to the review of the game. Since no Packers really had a bad game I really can’t point out anyone who had a bad game. So I will just focus on the positives.

Ryan Grant had a terrible start to the game with his two fumbles. Mike McCarthy thought about benching Grant for a couple of series but decided to put him back in. That was a great decision. After the two fumbles, Grant had the best game of his career with over 200 yards rushing and 3 TDs. Grant’s game shows a lot about how good of player he is. Most players would think back to the two fumbles and that would have affected their game. Grant totally forgot about the fumbles and had a great game. At the beginning of the game Grant was by far the worst player of the game but quickly became one of the stars of the game.

I am so impressed with the play of the offensive line. All last week I worried about how they would pick up Seattle’s blitzes. Well there was no need to worry. Yesterday was probably the O-Lines best game of the entire year. The Seahawks blitzed but to no avail ( I guess they did get to Brett about two times in the entire game). As I mentioned one of the keys to winning the game was to stop the Seahawks blitz and the Packers did a good job at it. Besides just picking up the blitz the Packers destroyed the Seahawks in the running game. If the O-Line can continue to play as well as they did yesterday the Packers have a great chance of winning the Super Bowl.

The Packers receivers and tight ends had another great game. Jennings led the team like he has the whole season. Driver, Jones, David Martin, and Bubba Franks also made big plays that helped extend drives. The Packers receivers did so well that the Packers didn’t need to rely on the five wide receiver set (Ruvell and Koren didn’t have a catch). Hopefully the Packers receivers can continue to play well.

As far as defense Atari Bigby was the star of the game. Atari Bigby forced one fumble and at least four bone jarring hits. You could tell the Seahawks receivers starting droping passes towards the end of the game and I believe it was at least in part because they were fearing get hit by Bigby. The D-Line also had a good game. Ryan Pickett and Corey Williams got a ton of pressure up the middle which disrupted the run game as well as the pass game. Cullen Jenkins probably had his best game of the season. As far as the linebackers they didn’t make any huge plays but made some nice plays to stop some running plays. The cornerbacks had an amazing game. Al Harris and Charles Woodson were so physical with the Seahawks receivers that it was hard for them to even get open. Tramon Williams also had a good game and showed that he has the potential to be a starting CB with some more experience.

Finally the special teams didn’t play well but that was mostly because they didn’t have to. Jon Ryan didn’t even have to punt the ball until the fourth quarter and probably wouldn’t have even had to punt the ball if the Packers didn’t just run the clock out at the end of the game. Mason Crosby also didn’t have to do anything except kickoff off and kick extra points. Finally the coverage teams did well and the return teams were average.

Now that the Packers are in the conference championship we can look towards the next game. At this point we don’t know who the Packers will play. Obviously if the Cowboys win the Packers are headed to Dallas. If the Giants win that Packers will host another home game. Personally I would prefer playing the Giants since I would love to see another snow game but I think the Packers crowd really helped the Packers yesterday. While I would prefer the Giants I am not afraid of playing the Cowboys. At this point I believe the Packers are better than the Cowboys. THey have more momentum, and they have less injuries. Plus the loss earlier in the season was at least in part due to KGB and Woodson not playing. The Cowboys will not nearly be able to throw the ball as easily with Woodson on the field. If the Packers play their game they will be able to beat both teams. Well starting at 3:30 central we will see who the Packers will play and hopefully beat next Sunday in order to advance to the Super Bowl.

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Seahawks at Packers Game Preview

Posted on January 8, 2008

This Saturday the Packers begin their run at the Super Bowl and they will face up against the Seahawks. I believe the Packers are the better team by quite a bit and should win the game as long as three things occur.

The Packers need to play their game. What I mean by playing their game is that Brett Favre should throw a lot of short passes and have the receivers gain yards through YAC (we are the best team in YAC in the entire league by the way). The Packers defense doesn’t need to shut down the Seahawks offense but they need to slow it down. When the packers play their game they can’t lose. As a matter of fact the Packers have only lost one game when they played their game (the loss was due to point two). The Packers can’t come out of the gate like they did against the Cowboys and expect to win. The team is not set up to be a big play team. Our big plays come out of our receivers making defenders miss. The Packers haven’t been great with the deep ball this season and I don’t expect things to change. If the Packers play their game they have a great chance at winning the game.
The Packers need to limit the turnovers. The Packers haven’t lost a single game this year where they had no or one turnover in the game. When the Packers commit turnovers they lose, it’s just that simple. This year that Packers have done a good job limiting the turnovers and that is one of the reasons the Packers have played so well this season. If Brett stays calm he should be able to stop his stupid INTs he gets from time to time. If the Packers win the turnover battle the Packers have a great chance of winning the game.
The Packers need to be able to slow down the Seahawks blitzes. The Seahawks showed against the Redskins that they are a great blitzing team. They were in the backfield the whole game which disrupted both the passing and running game of the Redskins. The Packers cannot let this happen. I am a little worried about this since Coston is out for the year and Daryn Colledge will be playing. Colledge is so darn inconsistent though. Some games he plays great and other games he can’t block anyone. If Colledge struggles the Packers offense might be in for a long day. If he plays well the Packers offense should have a good day. The best way we will be able to stop the Seahawk’s blitzes is to beat them. I think our fab five should do a good job with this. If Brett can get the pass off before the blitzers get to him our receivers should be in for a big game in regards to YAC since the Seahawks will have less players in coverage. If the Packers can stop the Seahawks blitzes the Packers should have no problem scoring a lot against the Seahawks.

More will be added each day as we get closer to the Saturday game.

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Ted Thompson Gets a Five Year Extension

Posted on January 7, 2008

News out of Green Bay today is that Ted Thompson has recently agreed to a five year extension with the packers. This was a great move by the Packers. Ted Thompson has in three years turned a floundering team that seriously needed rebuilding into one of the best teams in the league that also happens to be the youngest team in the NFL. The Packers will be great for several more years. While Ted Thompson has received a lot of criticism he has moved on and created a great team that should only get better in the next couple of years. I wonder what TT can do with 5 more years with the Packers. While the news wasn’t surprising the timing kind of was since I had heard nothing of the Packers talking with TT on an extension. Expect a similar deal for Mike McCarthy soon or after the season.

Link to article on Packers.com

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New Feature Added to the Site

Posted on January 3, 2008

Packers Nation might not be updated a lot for the next week since I am working on building up the Packers Database. I just began creating the Packers Database and it is currently working but doesn’t have a ton of information yet. The Packers Database is a wiki database that is exclusively dedicated to the Packers.The website will expand every day and hopefully will be the biggest Packers Database online. If you would either like to help or check out the Packers Database you can either click on the button on the far right sidebar or just click here.

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Looking Towards the Playoffs

Posted on December 31, 2007

Now that the regular season is over and the packers have a bye I believe it is time to look at the playoffs. Yesterday the Packers got the date and time of their first playoff game. The Packers will play their divisional game on Saturday January 12th, 2007 at 3:30 pm. Now that we know when the Packers will play lets analyze who the Packers will play in that game.

This Saturday the Seahawks play the Redskins. Since the Seahawks are the highest seat playing next week, if they win they will travel to Green Bay. If they lose the Redskins will travel to Dallas and the Packers will play the winner of the Tampa Bay-New York game. While the Seahawks have the better record and homefield for the game I wouldn’t be surprised if the Redskins won. The Redskins are playing really well right now and I wouldn’t be surprised if they won the game. Personally I would like to see them win since I believe they have a good chance at beating the Cowboys in the next round.

This Sunday the Bucs play the Giants. If Seattle losses this game will decide who the Packers will play in their first game. The Packers could easily beat either team (I believe the Packers could beat any team in the NFL if they play their game) but they can’t underestimate them either. New York has struggled the last couple weeks except for this last week where they almost beat the Patriots. The Giants showed they can almost beat a team that is better than them so they could do the same to the Packers. As far as Tampa they haven’t got much press this year. I really don’t know a whole lot about their team. I know they once again have a great defense and their offense is more of a ball control offense. Of the two I probably would rather play the Bucs for the fact that the Giants can put together a really good game. Plus you can never underestimate the trouble that the Bucs have had coming to Lambeau in the cold.

If the Packers win their playoff game they will advance to the NFC Championship Game which will be played on January 20th, 2007 at either 6 or 7 pm (I don’t remember exactly). Obviously the Packers will play the winner of the Cowboys game. If the Cowboys win the game will be in Dallas but if Dallas loses the game will be played in Lambeau. I believe the Packers have a good chance of making it to the Championship game and winning it. The Cowboys have struggled the last couple of weeks and who knows how healthy TO will be for the game.

If the Packers win the Championship game they will obviously play in the Super Bowl in Arizona on February 3rd. I believe the Packers have as good of chance as anyone to make the Super Bowl and I believe they have a chance of winning the Super Bowl (even if they play the Patriots).

While the playoffs have just started I thought I would show the playoff scenarios the Packers may encounter. Hopefully everything goes right and we will be celebrating on February 3rd when the Packers bring the Lombardi trophy back to it’s rightful home.

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