net
Cheesehead
The Press-Gazette again is eating the highly-touted Journal-Sentinel's lunch again today(10/5). They have way more good info. Go to Packernews.com
Here's one story with the beat writers which sums up the Packers situation...the other stories include the liklihood that Flanagan is done with a knee injury, not the hernia the J-S is reporting..
--------
The observations of Gannett Wiscnsin Newspapers writers after Monday’s 32-29 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Ferguson hasn’t walked his talk
In training camp, Robert Ferguson said he considered himself a starting-caliber receiver who was on the same level as starters Donald Driver and Javon Walker.
Three weeks into his stint as a starter following Walker’s season-ending knee injury, Ferguson probably is the only one who believes that.
Ferguson hasn’t been the playmaker Driver or Walker have been. Since being thrust into a starting role in Week 2, he has had games with four catches, four catches and three catches. Though he has two touchdowns in the span, he has failed to show any signs of being a big-play receiver. His longest reception is 37 yards.
In Monday’s loss, he allowed Panthers cornerback Ken Lucas to intercept a pass Ferguson should have caught.
Ferguson has argued he only should be expected to put up big numbers if he was put in the same position as Walker. But that claim doesn’t stand up because Driver had 84 catches for 1,208 yards and nine touchdowns last year in essentially the same role Ferguson has now.
The bottom line is this: Ferguson isn’t in the same class as Driver or Walker.
— Rob Demovsky, PackersNews.com
End of the line for Flanagan?
It looks like one of the Packers’ most amazing individual stories over the last decade is in jeopardy of coming to an end.
Center Mike Flanagan is having problems again with the balky knee that cost him most of last season. He went to Philadelphia on Tuesday to get it examined by a specialist. Not good.
It looks like the career-threatening injury of Flanagan’s rookie season— a broken leg and subsequent nerve damage — finally might be taking him out. The damage was devastating: Over two years, he had six surgeries, including one to relieve a nerve impingement that caused numbness in a big toe. It’s a minor miracle he went on to any NFL career, let alone a successful one as the Packers’ starting center since 2001.
It’s testament in part to Flanagan’s natural athletic talent —don’t let his slightly pudgy physique fool you. Flanagan was an excellent athlete who as recently as 2002 started seven games at left tackle. But that rookie injury altered his gait, and the stresses of that change are ruining his legs. Perhaps he’ll be able to play through this latest problem. But a guy can beat long odds only so many times.
— Pete Dougherty, PackersNews.com
Too much for Favre to conquer
If someone told you before the season that after four games the Green Bay Packers would have a significantly better defense and Brett Favre would be tied for second in the NFL with nine touchdown passes, you would have thought the Packers would be sitting at the top of the world, or at least the top of the NFC North.
Instead, the Packers seem a lot closer to getting the No. 1 pick.
There are numerous reasons for Green Bay’s struggles this season. Yes, some of the blame goes to the players, the coaches and the front office. But it’s not the Packers’ fault that their best playmaker, receiver Javon Walker, is out for the season. That injury was the first of many to afflict the team in the first four weeks.
While a healthy Packers team likely wouldn’t have been a Super Bowl contender, there isn’t a quarterback in the NFL who can remain effective when his offensive line is decimated, his best receiver is out for the season, his tight end is hobbled and his running back is no longer what he once was.
At 35, Brett Favre can do a lot of things, but he can’t carry an injured team into the playoffs.
— Dylan B. Tomlinson, Post-Crescent of Appleton
Here's one story with the beat writers which sums up the Packers situation...the other stories include the liklihood that Flanagan is done with a knee injury, not the hernia the J-S is reporting..
--------
The observations of Gannett Wiscnsin Newspapers writers after Monday’s 32-29 loss to the Carolina Panthers.
Ferguson hasn’t walked his talk
In training camp, Robert Ferguson said he considered himself a starting-caliber receiver who was on the same level as starters Donald Driver and Javon Walker.
Three weeks into his stint as a starter following Walker’s season-ending knee injury, Ferguson probably is the only one who believes that.
Ferguson hasn’t been the playmaker Driver or Walker have been. Since being thrust into a starting role in Week 2, he has had games with four catches, four catches and three catches. Though he has two touchdowns in the span, he has failed to show any signs of being a big-play receiver. His longest reception is 37 yards.
In Monday’s loss, he allowed Panthers cornerback Ken Lucas to intercept a pass Ferguson should have caught.
Ferguson has argued he only should be expected to put up big numbers if he was put in the same position as Walker. But that claim doesn’t stand up because Driver had 84 catches for 1,208 yards and nine touchdowns last year in essentially the same role Ferguson has now.
The bottom line is this: Ferguson isn’t in the same class as Driver or Walker.
— Rob Demovsky, PackersNews.com
End of the line for Flanagan?
It looks like one of the Packers’ most amazing individual stories over the last decade is in jeopardy of coming to an end.
Center Mike Flanagan is having problems again with the balky knee that cost him most of last season. He went to Philadelphia on Tuesday to get it examined by a specialist. Not good.
It looks like the career-threatening injury of Flanagan’s rookie season— a broken leg and subsequent nerve damage — finally might be taking him out. The damage was devastating: Over two years, he had six surgeries, including one to relieve a nerve impingement that caused numbness in a big toe. It’s a minor miracle he went on to any NFL career, let alone a successful one as the Packers’ starting center since 2001.
It’s testament in part to Flanagan’s natural athletic talent —don’t let his slightly pudgy physique fool you. Flanagan was an excellent athlete who as recently as 2002 started seven games at left tackle. But that rookie injury altered his gait, and the stresses of that change are ruining his legs. Perhaps he’ll be able to play through this latest problem. But a guy can beat long odds only so many times.
— Pete Dougherty, PackersNews.com
Too much for Favre to conquer
If someone told you before the season that after four games the Green Bay Packers would have a significantly better defense and Brett Favre would be tied for second in the NFL with nine touchdown passes, you would have thought the Packers would be sitting at the top of the world, or at least the top of the NFC North.
Instead, the Packers seem a lot closer to getting the No. 1 pick.
There are numerous reasons for Green Bay’s struggles this season. Yes, some of the blame goes to the players, the coaches and the front office. But it’s not the Packers’ fault that their best playmaker, receiver Javon Walker, is out for the season. That injury was the first of many to afflict the team in the first four weeks.
While a healthy Packers team likely wouldn’t have been a Super Bowl contender, there isn’t a quarterback in the NFL who can remain effective when his offensive line is decimated, his best receiver is out for the season, his tight end is hobbled and his running back is no longer what he once was.
At 35, Brett Favre can do a lot of things, but he can’t carry an injured team into the playoffs.
— Dylan B. Tomlinson, Post-Crescent of Appleton
