This offseason has surely been the longest of my life. After becoming the first team to win 15 games in a regular season but none in the playoffs, the Green Bay Packers and their fans are itching to get that bad taste out of their mouths. I know I am anyway. But first, here are my thoughts on the offseason.
I still can’t believe that Ted Thompson so blatantly addressed an area of need like he did this year. To make the first six draft picks defensive players and also dip in to free agency definitely signals that Thompson wants to win now. Aaron Rodgers is the best player in the NFL right now and Thompson obviously is no dummy, he doesn’t want to be like his mentor, Ron Wolf, and waste the best years of his star quarterback’s career and come away with only one championship.
The Packers’ defense over the last four years has an average rank of 15th in the league, which, by the way, even with a last place finish last year still is one better than their arch rival Chicago Bears. So if the Packers get back to their average in defense this year I think they will be in the Super Bowl.
I thought Anthony Hargrove was a good signing until I saw his rant about the bounty case. Guy is dummer than a box of rocks and unless he has a all-world training camp and final eight games he might be the last free agent of that magnitude Thompson ever signs.
Speaking of the Saints, talk about the evil empire. I think Shaggy should be their mascot. It wasn’t me. If there was no bounty program why aren’t the guys who ran it complaining about their punishments? This is just another sign of how poor De Smith is running the NFLPA. The players got burned by the CBA they signed last year and now Smith is trying to get out of it in court. Because of this idiot us fans have to hear about court cases more than football itself.
I thought the Packers might fly under the radar this year with all the hype about the Bears and Lions, but then I see CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco predict the Packers to go 14-2. Seems like everybody else is saying the Packers’ on the downslide. I think just the opposite, I think they have a chip on their shoulders after last year’s embarrassment.
Under the radar or not if Rodgers starts 16 games the Packers will be in the playoffs.
Finally, I have to weigh in on the latest Brett Favre story. All the followers of Packernet know me as one that was adamant that the Packers were in the right and that Favre was being a baby. While I still think he was a baby I want him back in Lambeau so bad I can taste it. To think that Favre won’t be coming back with Bart Starr and Jerry Kramer and Sterling Sharpe and William Henderson and LeRoy Butler and if only, Reggie White, is really sad.
Packer president Mark Murphy is in a tough spot here because he is the one who tried to buy Brett off instead of coming back. I would hope three grown men – Thompson, Murphy and Favre, could work this out for the greater good. Favre should be walking out every year for the second home game – the Packers’ alumni game – to wild cheers as his highlights play on the new scoreboards. I can’t wait for the day. The same guy I used to bitch about, and from my seats, bitch at, in the heat of battle, will get a standing ovation. I will be standing tall and proudly cheering one of the greatest Packers ever.
I am very optimistic about this season even though the Bears and Lions are damn good football teams. In fact, in my early run down of the schedule I had the Packers 13-3 with losses at Houston, Chicago and Detroit. If that is good enough to win the division so be it, if not it will good enough to get in the playoffs and the Packers of two years ago proved that is all you need.
The NFC North is going to be a real battle going in for the first time in a long time. Somebody is going to get left out. Not counting the Vikings, that is. Training camp starts next week and the first game is two weeks after that. Now we go!