Homefield Disadvantage

Greg C.

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Is there anybody out there who still thinks the Packers have a homefield advantage? Opposing teams sure don't. What happened?

It all goes back to that playoff loss to the Falcons in January 2003. My sister was at that game. She said that at the beginning, the crowd was just as fired up as ever. Then they got strangely silent, watching their team get whipped. At halftime, she heard boos, and at first she wondered why the crowd would be booing the Falcons. Then she realized they were booing the PACKERS. She had never heard that before.

Fast forward to the next official home game, the season opener against the Vikings in the "new" Lambeau Field. Once again, the Packers got their butts handed to them at home by a team that was no better than they were. Another landmark home loss, the next month, was the come-from-ahead loss to the Chiefs. That was the final humiliation.

For three seasons now, Lambeau Field has not been a safe place for the Packers to play. They come out tight and they do not feed off the energy of the crowd. If the crowd starts to get edgy, the team gets tighter. But what really makes it bad is that when the crowd gets fired up, that makes them tighter too. It's like they don't feel worthy of the Packer tradition. That's one of the reasons why I think there should be a coaching change. This team has gotten into a bad frame of mind. I would love to see a new coach come in and make it a top priority to take back Lambeau Field.
 

wpr

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Good point Greg. I remember when Ditka was hired by the Bears. The players attitudes all changed over nite.
I would prefer to wait until after the season is over to make a change.
And if Brett is truly all about winning then I think he will hang around if they bring in the right HC. Even if it means learing a new system.
 

Zero2Cool

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I think of how people say its not the coach's fault, but it points my thoughts to the Bengals and how much of a disaster that team was until Marvin Lewis came about. I could be wrong here but didnt Marvin Lewis and his new coaching staff turn the Bengals around or were they on the up and up already?
 

Chamuko

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Every coach "Paints" the team with his own colors, Ditka is a winner and energic and energetic kind of guy not worried about screaming and demanding the best, the great Vince was also energetic, full of energy, allwayns wanting to win, to score points, to beat the other team and to have each and every one of his men to beat his individual oponents on every play, he will DEMAND something from his players, he will make them understand who was in charge and what everymans duty was.

Now we have a Softy guy who never gets fired up, unless a phone rings in the middle of his press conference, who seems to try to tie every game instead of desperatelly willing to win it, someone who politely asks his players to do somenthing instead of letting them know who is in charge and what is asked from every men, someone who will judge his assistant coaches bassed more on the base of friendship than in the base of performance, bassically we have a very nice fellow as HC, he will make a great father, father in law, friend or co-worked but he is not a winning coach, I will say he has no NFL Coach Caliber Soul.

So we have a home disadvantage and this is the main reason why I want Shermy out he is making hes players act like him, we need a strong coach who is not worried to get in Bretts or anyother players face and tell him what he is doing wrong, also someone who will show his fellings when things go ok and will be there to great his players, someone who can show emotions on the field and not only in the press conference room.

We need a LEADER for this team, we need a WINNER for this team, we need a coach that looks, acts and respondes as THE BOSS.
 

wpr

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Chamuko said:
Now we have a Softy guy who never gets fired up, unless a phone rings in the middle of his press conference,

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :thumbsup:

:rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

well said.
 
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Greg C.

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To his credit, Mike Sherman kept the Lambeau advantage going strong for his first three seasons. Then it just vanished into thin air on that one January evening in 2003--with a little help from Michael Vick. The Packers were banged up coming into that game, and were not as good as their 12-4 record suggested, but still, the way they lost was what made it so bad. And in the next two years, even when the team was healthy and still pretty good, they never got that Lambeau mojo back.

Zero: When Marvin Lewis took over the Bengals, they were a disaster. He made them better immediately. But of course a lot of coaches can take a bad team and turn it into a mediocre team. Now he needs to turn them into an elite team, which is much more difficult. He definitely seems to have them headed in the right direction. On Sunday they went toe-to-toe with the best team in the league, and they were in the game right till the end.
 

Zero2Cool

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Greg C. said:
To his credit, Mike Sherman kept the Lambeau advantage going strong for his first three seasons.

lets add to it and say 'his first three seasons using Wolf's players' and end it there :p
 
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wpr said:
I would prefer to wait until after the season is over to make a change.

Great, more posters are leaning twoards the FIRE SHERMAN bandwagon. Why have they lost their mojo so to speak? I don't know. But I do know one thing, if they had it once before, they sure as hell can have it once again. Hopefully next season, Lambeau starts to become a place for Pack wins only.
 

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all about da packers said:
wpr said:
I would prefer to wait until after the season is over to make a change.

Great, more posters are leaning twoards the FIRE SHERMAN bandwagon. Why have they lost their mojo so to speak? I don't know. But I do know one thing, if they had it once before, they sure as hell can have it once again. Hopefully next season, Lambeau starts to become a place for Pack wins only.
Actually I haven't commited to keep the coach nor to fire the coach. there are pros that I am in favor of on both sides of the issue. I just don't want any more mid season distractions that what we currently have.
For years there have been play calling issues that have been driving me to distraction. By the same token Sherossley as some call him/them has had a fairly decent record. He certainly does need to step it up in big games but using the playoff won loss record theory Bud Grant would have been fired after losing the 1st 2 Super Bowls. Kansas City Royals fired Whitey Herzog for not winning the big games. He then took StL to 3 World Series. KC made it to just one. So you just never know.
This is a injury riddled team that is right in the middle of a rebuilding year.
They are suppose to lose games this year. If for no other reason this is why I perfer to wait to see how the whole season plays out before I make up my mind.
 

P@ck66

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wpr...

If you can't see the "ineptitude" of SherRossley over the last 5 1/2 years...then i'm afraid you'll never see it....

and there's a WORLD of difference between Mike Sherman and Bud Grant....(hell Sherman couldn't even GET a team to the big game....big difference)

All about the PAckers...

The Packers may get their mojo back at Lambeau...but only AFTER SherRossley is gone...not before!
 

wpr

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P@ck66 said:
wpr...

If you can't see the "ineptitude" of SherRossley over the last 5 1/2 years...then i'm afraid you'll never see it....

and there's a WORLD of difference between Mike Sherman and Bud Grant....(hell Sherman couldn't even GET a team to the big game....big difference)

P@ck I knew I could count on you to comment on the Grant-Sherman comparison. (Bata Bing!)

Quite frankly while Sherman has had some solid teams I don't think the starting 22 on these Packer teams were as good as the starting 22 for the Vikings during the 70's. So whether or not Sherman made it to the SB is a moot point at best.
As I mentioned I have indeed been frustrated by many of the calls that have been made during the games and said that I think the coaching staff lost the game. I have also been frustrated by the calls that Holmgren made while he was here as well. And he made it to two SBs. So it takes more than JUST the post season record to determine the skill level of a coach.
What I am saying is overall there are some good things AND bad things with this team. That starts w/ the President and goes right down to the grounds crew.
Firing Sherman mid season is not necessarily the best solution. UNLESS the only way to keep Favre on board for next year is to let him play a few weeks w/ his new head coach and let him decide before he gets to the off season that he likes what he sees. There is no gaurantee that he will. If they hire a def specialist like Bates to be HC, he will not be able to put his OC in place until after the season is over anyhow. So what we will end up w/ is a bigger mess than what we have now. That is hardly going to inspire Brett to come back for another year. They will also have to shore up the OL for Brett. Once again the players they need are not avail mid season.

Just looking at the roster as the season began I didn't expect the Packers to go 10-6. On opening day if you would have said they will lose all these players to injury and also tell me all the players that they were going to cut mid season, I would have said there was no way to even go 8-8. 6-10 would have been the best they could achieve. But for a few plays, they could be on course for that record. Is it the coaches fault or the players fault? A bit of both no doubt.

Actually at this point I really don't care if they win another game. (Sacrilegious isn't it?)
If they finish in the bottom 5 teams, they will pick up "another" 1st round draft pick sort of.
1st of all they get an impact player in the 1st round who can start unless they draft Tony Mandrich's son or something. The 5th pick in the 2nd round, skill wise, is not that much different that the 24th pick in the 1st round. So in a way they have 2 1st round picks. The 3rd-7th picks are also close in skills to the bottom of the prior round as well.
I would trade a 7th round player for a 1st round caliber player every day of the week.
As I mentioned back before the season began, I anticipate next year to be a rebuilding season as well. So I am willing to sit and wait this year. I refuse to get all worked up over what ever happens out there on the field this year.
 
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Greg C.

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Just for the record, I was not advocating firing Sherman in mid-season. I think he should've been fired last winter. At the end of this season, Thompson will have another decision to make, but unfortunately, the waters have been muddied by all these injuries. I expect Thompson to keep Sherman around for another year, and more if the team bounces back.
 

P@ck66

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Hire Mooch...

Favre likes Mooch...(wouldn't have to learn a "new" offense)...

and Bates could take care of the defense...

The Lions were doomed with Cement-Head Millen at GM...and Harrington and Garcia at QB anyway....
 

wpr

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P@ck66 said:
Hire Mooch...

Favre likes Mooch...(wouldn't have to learn a "new" offense)...

and Bates could take care of the defense...

The Lions were doomed with Cement-Head Millen at GM...and Harrington and Garcia at QB anyway....

P@ck that is a suggestion that I can accept. I admire your passion and willingness to stand up and speak your mind when so many others disagree. There is just one small detail you over looked. As of today Mariucci is still the HC of the Lions. Or at least they have him listed as HC on their website.
http://www.detroitlions.com/section_display.cfm?section_id=137&top=1&level=3

So until he becomes available I won't even consider it and I wouldn't fire Sherman.

Oh, there is another small problem. I hate to even bother mentioning it. That is, if Bates gets an offer from another team to be their HC, at year's end he's gone. By signing only the one year deal he could be gone any way.
So as of right now your ideas are an 0-2.
 

P@ck66

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Those are good points WPR...

(#1 of course you can't sign him unless he gets canned from the Lions..and there are rumors to this effect....Blockhead Millen is going to pound that team into the dirt even further..)

(#2 Bates signing with another team....that is why the Packers have to be pro-active and sweet talk Bates into staying....I always felt that the Packers upper management has been too slow to react to what's available and too happy with the status quo...(ie..SherRossley)..and look at what that has gotten us...Why didn't they try to even contact Charlie Weiss when he was available two years ago? They seem to wait until every coach is snapped up by every other team and sign the leftovers...ie...Sherman...who wasn't burning up the league with job offers when the Packers took him..)
 

wpr

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Fair enuf P@ck.
(You almost dissapointed me when I saw that you made some other replies yesterday and didn't reply to my post.)

The only point I want to make at this time is about Bates. Even if they sweet talk him and he signs a 5 yr deal, if another team offers him a HC position I don't think GB can hold on to him.
I have never seen a NFL coaches contract but I am fairly sure it is standard wording to give the coach an out if he is bettering himself by going to another team. The reasin I say that is there are too many asst coaches that move up w/ other teams year after year not to have something like that in the contract. Surely there would be a Papa Halas out there saying no every single time and then what decent coach would want to work for that kind of an owner where thay have on a very limited chance of advancement?
And no matter how proactive GB is I think Bates would be smart to get some feelers out there to see what the HC situation is w/ other teams before he commits to the DC position again. While I am at it, how will Bates feel if they can Sherm and bring in another HC w/out offering it to him 1st? I'll bet Bates feels that he is HC material.
 

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