packedhouse01 said:
I love this team. I love their coaching and I lover their effort. I don't know that I've ever seen a team grow so quickly and improve so much and believe it or not with limited talent.
I think the keys to getting better are these:
1) If we stay with our present defensive package we have to get better play from our linebackers. I know people may not agree with this, but I think too many big plays happen against us because our linebacker don't fill the hole. I also think they're young enough that they can get better.
2) We need some quality corner backups that can build into starters.
Woodson and Harris' years are numbered. And of course if an injury happens there, we're screwed.
3) The top priority in the post season has to be to fix up the offensive guard spots. If we can find two starters, or one at the minimum, the run game in combination with the passing game might be unstoppable.
4) Favre must come back. As much as I believe in Aaron Rogers, when Favre plays like he did most of this season he just makes that team so so much better.
5) The last thing is the defensive schemes. Maybe it's just allowing the team to grow together, when the defensive line wore down we were just an average defense and you can't beat good teams with an average defense. That means you have to have a Spagnola type D coordinator who can think on his feet and can make the proper adjustments. I don't dislike Bob Sanders, but I think the problems on defense were as much his fault as it was the injuries. (just my opinion)
Packed:
1) Did Hawk have a sophomore slump? He's young and with some improvement, he'd be absolutely sick back there. Poppinga looked like he was improving towards the end of the season. And Barnett had his best season ever and should compete for a Pro Bowl spot next year. We may already have the talent, maybe just another year together will do it?
2) Expect TT to draft 2 CBs. There was talk on the forum of moving Woodson to Safety. Imagine our starting safeties as Woodson and Bigby and our depth as Rouse and Collins. That sounds pretty solid to me. Harris had 2 bad games and unfortunately one was a Playoff game. He'll recover. He's a workout warrior with a chip on his shoulder. The trick is what to do on the other side. I'm sure TT & MM will be discussing this and hopefully they'll have a good solution for us in the offseason.
3) No argument here. Our OL is pretty good at protecting our QBs. I think one man who needs some credit is Edgar Bennett. He's taken rookies and first year RBs and turned them into pretty dang good blockers. Bennett doesn't want to see his old friend take hits. But yes, our Guards are our weakness on the OL and it showed against the Giants. Grant had nothing to work with. He was repeatedly getting hit at or behind the line of scrimmage. I'm no RB, but I imagine if you don't get that burst, you can't strut your stuff and Grant wasn't getting enough footsteps to get that burst.
4) He'll be back.
5) 2 things here:
a) a scheme "improvement" - you have to blitz when the front four can't hit the QB. You cannot give the top tier QBs time or else they'll kill you. Expect to play the top tier QBs again in the Playoffs.
b) Kampman wants to play every down, but MM can't let him. KGB should be alternating snaps on both Kampman's and Jenkins' side. Let's not let him play 94% of snaps again, even though he wants to. And we absolutely NEED Williams back. Give him a fat check. It will pay dividends later.
op:Vote defensive smash-mouth player, perhaps 2. Definitely need a safety with better hands then Collins and a pass rusher with some big time mean! Beyond that a guard that can adequately run block.
