With the Packers season now over the reaction to the loss and the drama will begin. While reaction is expected, because of the way the season ended expect over reaction from many Packers fans. What needs to not get lost in this is that the 49ers, who eliminated the Packers, are a better team. I hear about what we didn’t do every time there is a Packer loss versus what the opponent did. Not only were the Niners the favorite and at home, they are a better more healthy team. Does this mean the Packers are not capable of being a Super Bowl team in the future? Not at all but SOME moves will need to be made!
Let’s start first by reflecting on the year. The Packers won the division, won a playoff game and individually Casey Hayward introduced himself to the NFL, James Jones and Randall Cobb excelled in the absence of others and Aaron Rodgers is really good.
Now for the bad news. As you watch the Packers you see at a lot of little things that make it hard for them to either continue moving the chains or stop the opponent. They are a poor tackling team, especially at corner. Now is this a big deal, it is when teams scheme to get Tramon Williams as a primary run defender. They struggle on the edges of the defense. Not sure how to fix this because really this is a scheme issue not the players. Finally, the ILB play is average at best. Losing two of your top three ILB to injury won’t help this but the Packers have ILB’s that get blocked and are not very physical while also begin below average in coverage.
Offensively the people will tell you the Packer offensive line is no good. I disagree. Inside, once Evan Dietrich Smith was inserted at center and the Packers featured healthy guards with him, the Packer run game grew and became affective. The tackles are a different story, though there is some much uncertainty. Bryan Bulaga got hurt, eventually forcing the Packers to find Don Barclay. Barclay played well at times and is definitely part of the picture in the future. At left tackle, Marshall Newhouse is serviceable BUT is a player that might not fit the role as the primary blind slide blocker for Aaron Rodgers. To me the Packers primary issue offensively is the ineffectiveness of the “extra blocker” in the run game. Primarily with the Packers being a one back team, this is a tight end. Their starter Jermichael Finley is inconsistent and a terrible run blocker, so the Packers show there hand and go with Tom Crabtree or others when they want to run the ball. Basically, the Packers have a bunch of specialists at the position and this makes it impossible to get consistency at the position, a position that is critical to the success of the offense. I don’t believe the Packers have to be a team that runs the ball 35 times a game; it doesn’t fit what they do. They have to run the ball effectively and to do this they have to evaluate their personnel and scheme and fit it to the pass game.
So what do we do? With few “key” free agents the Packers have the nucleus to be good for a longtime and remember, they have been. Since 2000 the Packers are 138-74 with a Super Bowl championship in this time frame. The obvious free agent question mark surrounds Greg Jennings. While Jennings has been special, he did suffer from an injury plagued season and will start the 2013 season at the age of 30. Others who the Packers have to decide about would include Brad Jones and Erik Walden.
The Packers have a lot of questions going into the off season but unlike many NFL organizations the Packers, do not lack the stability within the organization at the top or at quarterback. With Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers in place, Packer fans should feel secure in a future that is competitive. The Packers will have to make tough choices on Donald Driver, Charles Woodson, Jermichael Finley, Jeff Saturday, AJ Hawk and others but they have many of the right pieces in place.
Next edition: WHAT I WOULD DO, CURRENT ROSTER ONLY!!
