Bishop to Miss Extended Time Perhaps the Entire Season

Hamstring injury, knee ok. Rupture of the muscle. Damnit

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...d-to-miss-extended-time-with-hamstring-issue/

Is Mike Singletary still available? lol

Don't worry guys, I just emailed my resume and salary requirements to TT!

The one positive that I could see coming from this is that DJ Smith will get his time to shine. If he can play at a high level for an extended period of time, the coaches won't be able to bench him even when Bishop returns. Then Hawk will be sent to the bench and it will be Smith and Bishop on the inside just like we've all always wanted.

The good news is that nothing has come from the Packers yet. Until the Packers give official word, I'm not going to get excited.

If Bishop is hurt, AJ Hawk should be obligated to give his hamstring to him.

Not another Injury Filled season....

That may just mean another SB win.

If AJ plays in Bishop's spot and DJ is in his spot this may actually not be that bad. I love what Bishop does with the run defense but I think he was really bad at pass coverage. Just too damn bulky and slow against the running backs and tight ends. DJ can move with those guys.

My concern is who backs up DJ in case he gets hurt. This is a major hit to LB depth.

This is exactly what I'm thinking. I think he will be fine but I'm still not 100% sold on Williams yet, he's made some good plays this year but has also been out of position a few times as well. And the guys behind him don't really bring me much hope if they were having to step in during a multi week injury if something happened to Williams I hope we get more info on the severity of the injury and whether or not he has to go on IR.

There is no good news here. Bishop is THE physical presence in the back 8. If Hawk does not step up his game, this will be his last season in Green Bay.

Williams who?

Well Bishop will have surgery and it seems a return later in the season is the best hope right now.

Bah Dj Smith, find myself mixing the two Dj's more than I'd like to admit

Doesn't seem so.

http://www.thephinsider.com/2012/8/...-nflpa-approval-of-new-injured-reserve-policy

Look on the bright side, they have young talent that can fill in. Losing your best tackler on the 32nd ranked defense is not saying much, so it really isn't a loss. Bears losing Peppers or the Lions losing Suh is a much bigger hit than Packers losing Bishop. Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal.

I guess if that makes you feel better... There's really no two ways about it, losing Bishop hurts. I would have MUCH rather lost Hawk. I've wanted Bishop and Smith to be our MLB's for a while now. (I personally think that in situations like this Hawk should have to donate his hamstring to Bishop).

But Bishop led the team in tackles, and he missed 3 games to boot! He was prob one of our most sure tacklers, which after last year, we need at least one guy who can tackle. He was a good pash rusher, played the run very well, was pretty good in coverage, and was a physical, bust you in the mouth kind of guy. Any time you lose someone like that, it hurts. There will be a drop off at the MLB position. Is what it is. Bishop said that he sees a lot of himself in D.J. Smith... let's hope he's right.

Let's also hope that the surgery goes well and we can get him back late this season...

And lets hope that Houses' injury turns out okay and we can have him back healthy for the opener...

And since we're wishing for stuff... let's hope that the freaking injuries STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are there any veteran ILBs that could be brought in for cheap like Benson? Off the top of my head I can think of EJ Henderson and James Farrior. Anyone else out there worth looking at in the free agent world?

I disagree "…it really isn't a loss." He was their best tackler and was definitely the physical presence in the back 7, 8, or 9 as HardRightEdge posted. According to McGinn's season ending grades, Bishop not only led the team in tackles in spite of the time he missed, he had 36 more tackles than any teammate. He tied in most tackles for loss with 6.5, and he was their most effective blitzer with one pressure every 6.85 rushes. In a season of missed tackles he missed only 10 (about 6%). McGinn gave him the second highest grade of the defenders after Matthews, a B+. Even beyond the stats what the Packers will miss most IMO is his intensity, love of contact and leadership-by-example. He was not great in coverage (and shouldn't have had to be if Hawk would have been able to pick up the slack there). No, he isn't Peppers or Suh but doesn't have to be for his absence to be a loss. The best tackler on a team of great tacklers may not be missed but I don't understand the logic of saying the best tackler on a team in desperate need of tacklers won't be missed.

I wouldn't look for an acquisition at ILB. Before the season, they moved a couple of vets inside so as the roster stands now behind Hawk and Smith are: Jamari Lattimore, Robert Francois, rookie Terrell Manning, and Brad Jones (listed in my order of preference). (EDIT: Just read that Jones has been moved back to OLB.) Remember Francois played 2.5 games last year for Hawk inside. He intercepted 2 passes and forced a fumble. Even so, I have a feeling Lattimore has more potential and may get a shot if another ILB goes down. Of course anytime a starter goes down, depth is affected. But the Packers still have talented depth behind the starters at ILB, even though it is inexperienced depth. For example, contrast that to the situation at LT.

I agree don't "worry about it" because there's nothing we can do about it, but I don't think diminishing it makes sense either.

We lost Bishop and Hawk in the Turkey Day game last year. I thought Francois and Smith filled in adequately for a while. In the long run you would have to be concerned. In 2010 half of our LB corps went down during the season and we seemed to get better on defense after that. Figure that out.

Those are the two ILB's I was also thinking of. I guess I would prefer Farrior if he has anything left in the tank given that he has played in a 3-4 system.

Its always a big deal when you lose your leading tackler from the year before. However, I think Smith will be the new leading tackler this year and fill-in nicely.

Losing Bishop hurts a lot.
If someone doesn't believe losing one guy can make a big difference, they forgot about what happened when we lost Collins last year.