Al Harris is the man!!

[NYPacker]

Packers CB Harris: 'Everyone around the league believes we are contenders' - Mark Kass, for Sporting News - NFL - Sporting News

It's a brief Q and A that KFL did with Harris. Some interesting points:

A) Harris never thought about retiring after sustaining the injury. He specifically said that he wanted "prove the doubters" wrong from the very beginning.

B) He doesn't say which game he predicts to back, but that he'll have a spectacular if not good season.

C) He credits a lot of his success to former assistant coach Lionel Washington.

D) My favorite one: He says that everyone in the league thinks the Packers are contenders for the superbowl.

 

[KiDcUdI]

Hes going to hit the PUP IMO which is going to hurt us early. We really have to win our games early in the year. The Eagles could beat us up if we end up only with proven players like Woodson and Williams. Who knows where Lee is on his injury recovery and on skill level. He hasnt played CB since college with all his other injuries. Underwood showed ,e nothing last year except a penalty and Ive never liked Bush, Blackmon, or Bell at CB.

 

[dtracy7]

I think we will be surprised by Lee and Underwood this year.

 

[PackersRS]

I think we will be surprised by Lee and Underwood this year.

I second that!

But right now, I have to say it's more hope than fact...

 

[ivo610]

I still have a hard time getting over him getting owned by plax, I know its pointless to hold a grudge over something like that but for watever reason I havent really warmed up to him as a player since then. I have met him several times and he has been somewhat engaging and warm, I thought he was a great guy.

 

[NYPacker]

I still have a hard time getting over him getting owned by plax, I know its pointless to hold a grudge over something like that but for watever reason I havent really warmed up to him as a player since then. I have met him several times and he has been somewhat engaging and warm, I thought he was a great guy.

I wouldn't discourage Al Harris' abilities after getting beat by Plax. Terrence Newman, Sheldon Brown and Asante Samuel were all "owned" by Plaxico back when he played in the league.

 

[PackersRS]

I still have a hard time getting over him getting owned by plax, I know its pointless to hold a grudge over something like that but for watever reason I havent really warmed up to him as a player since then. I have met him several times and he has been somewhat engaging and warm, I thought he was a great guy.

Yeah. That game was terrible. When he wasn't beat, he was being penalized.
But nobody stepped up on that game.

I don't expect Harris to be one of the best in the league. I expect him to allow Woodson to be.

 

[NYPacker]

Yeah. That game was terrible. When he wasn't beat, he was being penalized.
But nobody stepped up on that game.

I don't expect Harris to be one of the best in the league. I expect him to allow Woodson to be.

The funny thing is, Woodson has never been our No. 1 CB. Meaning, it was Harris who would always line up against the other teams' best receiver. I never understood why the coaches did that. Maybe someone can shed some light on why Capers or formerly Sanders made that happen.

 

[PackersRS]

The funny thing is, Woodson has never been our No. 1 CB. Meaning, it was Harris who would always line up against the other teams' best receiver. I never understood why the coaches did that. Maybe someone can shed some light on why Capers or formerly Sanders made that happen.

Sanders, because he was a clueless DC, that could only work if his DL was able to generate enough pressure on their own.

Capers, because he uses Woodson in a multitude of positions. He lets him roam free, and make plays. And for that, he can't be assigned to a single man.

BTW, I've been reading some other team's blogs, and I've read a Steelers fan talking about rookies. He said that defensive rookies on the Steelers cannot make an impact, because LeBeau's scheme is too complex for a player to be able to fully grasp it in one season only.

Well, Capers' scheme is very similar to LeBeau's. And it was pretty clear that once some starters weren't able to play last year, Capers went on a vanilla mode. Maybe he was forced to. I know it didn't work, but his reasoning was that it would be sheer crazy to ask for guys to do something they just didn't know how.

That logic, of course, falls to the ground when you look at Capers' retrospective as a DC. But every situation is different.

No, it doesn't explain why CM3 was covering Vernon Davis, the 49ers best receiver, man on man. No, it doesn't explain why Kurt Warner, and Brett Favre had all day to throw, and weren't even bothered by the pass rush.

But there is one game that we had all the starters, that the team was used to the scheme, that we played against an "elite" QB (#8 in QB rating last year) and an elite O (#2 last year), a team that was coming from consecutive wins, where it's O dominated, and that we completely shut them down. Against the Cowboys, were Harris, Kampman and Bigby were all healthy, and it was in the middle of the season, the D was absolutely fantastic.

 

[dansz15]

I don't expect Harris to be one of the best in the league. I expect him to allow Woodson to be.

Probably the truest post on Harris yet. He knows what he has to do and does it. Class guy too.

I think Lee and Underwood have alot of potential. Underwood was supposed to be a phenomenal CB coming out of HS, but was deep on the chart at OSU because superstars were above him. At Cinci, he quietly had great 2 years to learn the develop. I think he can become one of the better players for the Packers. As for Lee, he was excellent in college and I expect the same. I think he will surprise all of us once he actually takes the field.

 

[aaronqb]

Probably the truest post on Harris yet. He knows what he has to do and does it. Class guy too.

I think Lee and Underwood have alot of potential. Underwood was supposed to be a phenomenal CB coming out of HS, but was deep on the chart at OSU because superstars were above him. At Cinci, he quietly had great 2 years to learn the develop. I think he can become one of the better players for the Packers. As for Lee, he was excellent in college and I expect the same. I think he will surprise all of us once he actually takes the field.

Big if ... but barring significant injury, I think we are fine at CB. I believe Harris starts the year on the PUP list and joins the 53 sometime in late October. In the meantime, Woodson, Williams, Lee, and Underwood make a pretty strong set of CBs. One never knows how the negotiations with Williams will go though. I would like to see him sign a contract soon.

Harris has been solid for many years and I think he has another year or two left in him - but maybe at the nickel back when all is said and done.

 

[turbo69]

I still have a hard time getting over him getting owned by plax, I know its pointless to hold a grudge over something like that but for watever reason I havent really warmed up to him as a player since then. I have met him several times and he has been somewhat engaging and warm, I thought he was a great guy.

I like Al Harris but I keep thinking the same thing about that Giants game. Plaxico made him look like a slow rookie.

 

[FrankRizzo]

Big if ... but barring significant injury, I think we are fine at CB. I believe Harris starts the year on the PUP list.....

Here's where you're getting suckered by the company.

Look at this: For both Vikings games last year, we had a healthy Woodson, healthy Harris, healthy Tramon.. so our 1-2-3 guys were healthy. Bush was there, Underwood was there.

Now you're telling me that the same group of characters that were torched like the nighttime sky on the 4th of July, minus Harris but with Pat Lee is going to be a lot better than that **** we saw last year?

Remember, Charles Woodson is way overdue to be injured.

The Colts and Saints both had their starting CB's miss numerous games last year. These things happen.

Pat Lee and Underwood are both basically rookies as far as experience goes.

 

[PackersRS]

Here's where you're getting suckered by the company.

Look at this: For both Vikings games last year, we had a healthy Woodson, healthy Harris, healthy Tramon.. so our 1-2-3 guys were healthy. Bush was there, Underwood was there.

Now you're telling me that the same group of characters that were torched like the nighttime sky on the 4th of July, minus Harris but with Pat Lee is going to be a lot better than that **** we saw last year?

Remember, Charles Woodson is way overdue to be injured.

The Colts and Saints both had their starting CB's miss numerous games last year. These things happen.

Pat Lee and Underwood are both basically rookies as far as experience goes.

I think they will, because of the scheme factor. Like I said in another post, the backup CBs just didn't know the whole playbook. They weren't prepared.

 

[NYPacker]

Here's where you're getting suckered by the company.

Look at this: For both Vikings games last year, we had a healthy Woodson, healthy Harris, healthy Tramon.. so our 1-2-3 guys were healthy. Bush was there, Underwood was there.

Now you're telling me that the same group of characters that were torched like the nighttime sky on the 4th of July, minus Harris but with Pat Lee is going to be a lot better than that **** we saw last year?

Remember, Charles Woodson is way overdue to be injured.

The Colts and Saints both had their starting CB's miss numerous games last year. These things happen.

Pat Lee and Underwood are both basically rookies as far as experience goes.

Yes but there was a game where we had everyone healthy and they played lights out, even the backups. I think RS mentioned it before and it was the Dallas Cowboys game. That loss at Tampa completely changed this team around, especially the defense. However the injury bug caught up with many of our players. If they all stayed healthy, you don't know what might have happened.

 

[aaronqb]

Here's where you're getting suckered by the company.

Look at this: For both Vikings games last year, we had a healthy Woodson, healthy Harris, healthy Tramon.. so our 1-2-3 guys were healthy. Bush was there, Underwood was there.

Pat Lee and Underwood are both basically rookies as far as experience goes.

The same could have been said for Jermichael Finley prior to last season and look what he did in year 2. Many players make the biggest jump between their first and second years in the league, if the talent level is there. I don't believe Lee and Underwood will be superstars in the making, but I look for them to be solid contributors this year - and big upgrades over the turd pile we had last year with guys like Josh Bell, Jarrett Bush, and the rookie version of Underwood.

 

[3irty1]

The Vikings games are cloudy because it wasn't all the CB's. Linebackers couldn't drop into coverage, the Safety position got targeted all day long, and It was early in the season, so we were still learning the new Defense.

I'm not saying improvement is guaranteed overall, but anyone is better than Bush.

 

[SCpackerfan]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFU07INs6yI]YouTube - Al Harris: Road to Recovery Part 16 "Come check us out"[/ame]

the man is looking strong, cant wait to see him back on the field!

 

[aaronqb]

Love it! Harris has a work ethic second to none. If anyone can get on the field this year after such a bad injury, it is Al. With him in the fold healthy, we are loaded at CB.

Hard to believe the man is 35 years old.