Will Defense improve enough?

Injured/recovering?

Ted Thompson made his biggest mistake of his career by not resigning Matt Flynn and putting him on defense. All pro in his first season easy.

What Im saying is Alex didn't simply 'manage' games. He made throws, big throws in clutch situations on a daily basis. Our running game really struggled the second half of the season. Teams were not going to allow us to just run and chew up the clock. Alex had to make plays and he did for the most part. Whatever we need to do to win, Jimbaugh will adjust but Alex will never lead the league in passing yards, TD passes, etc. But that doesn't necessarily make him a just a 'game manager' at the QB position either. Like I said our offense isn't the norm in this new age NFL and its fantasy football numbers. Doesn't matter if Tom Brady was our QB, our offense wouldnt be any different. That's the truth. Jimbaugh is as much Bo Schembecler as he is Bill Walsh in his offensive beliefs. Running the ball is extremely important to his scheme as a whole. Play-action is a big part of his passing game. What we need from Alex is to improve his deep ball and just continue to develop in the WCO. Everything else will fall into place.

I think that if the defense just does halfway decent and the offence does the same the Packers have a great chance to win the Super Bowl

Uhhhhhhhhhhhh, no. No it is not.

Ummmm yes it is. Believe what you want but I've been watching Harbaugh's teams since he was at the University of San Deigo. Nothing has changed much from then and now. He will never be a pass first coach. That's one of the main reasons I believe Peyton Manning chose to stay in the AFC. He understood that.

That has nothing to do with it. Its a philosphy. And offensive identity. Its not about who the QB is. Like I said previous, Jimbaugh had the most coveted QB in recent memory and he never changed his gameplan or his ideals. Stanford was still a power-run team, who feaured the play-action to drive the ball down the field. He didnt say, "I have the best QB in college ball, let me put the ball in his hands and live and die with his arm". Not even.

The Colts offense was tailored for Manning. He had his hand in every moving part of that scheme. From play design to play-calling and game-planning. That has nothing to do with Jim Harbaugh though. He wasn't coaching the Colts last year so Im not seeing the reference. His offense doesn't revolve around one player. Good QB play is essential for ANY offense, that shouldn't be up for debate. What Im saying is a QB in Jimbaugh's offense wont ever really put numbers most associate with elite level QBs because his commitment to running the ball. Now if your debating whethr or not Brady could make more of his opportunties in the passing game than Alex Smith, I would say absolutely. Its Tom freaking Brady. But I still say his numbers wouldnt come close to the ones he's put up the last several years.

I beg to differ. Brady is much more talented than Smith. A lot of the throws Smith didn't make, a guy like Brady would have. I'm not saying Harbaugh would call the offense much differently, but the execution on the field on passing plays would certainly have been much different. Defenses would have played a little differently against them too.

Also, Brady isn't mobile, Jimbaugh's offense requires it. I still say Brady is a system back who is only as talked about as he is because he is in Big Beli's offense

Great point about the mobility. I wouldnt say Brady is a system QB because the system changed while in NE They implemented more spread concepts and changed their whole philosphy once they acquired Moss and Welker. I think Brady could thrive in a couple of different schemes, even the WCO. No two WCO are alike so you can cater to the QB but your dead on with Jimbaugh's prefrence for mobile QBs. Its essential really, in his words.

So 757 if the 49ers had Rodgers do you think Jimbaugh would still be a run first coach? Rodgers is pretty mobile,makes good decisions and is a better passer than Smith for sure. Seems he would be an excellent fit.

Draft Fail! granted, we had to fix some mechanical difficulties

To get this back on whether or not the packers defense will improve enough. lol I think that this quote right here is one of the biggest things that make this defense not pass the eye test as Boggs said. For me all I kept seeing last year was decent D on 1st and 2nd down, and then the opposing QB having all day on third down to find his 4th or 5th option and move the chains. The packers D last year had the 10th most plays ran against them, gave up the most Yards per play, gave up the 3rd most 1st downs, and fall below the mean NFL defense in nearly every defensive stat on http://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2011/opp.htm In order to have improved enough for me I think they need to really improve their 3rd down defense.

Interesting article about defenses today and what the heck they are supposed to do against all these great offenses:

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/43444/counters-to-nfl-passing-games-elusive

i shall check it out

Interesting. The article boils it down to there just isn't enough defensive talent around in order to match up with the leagues affection for higher scoring offenses.

That is an interesting article and it should be required reading for a certain poster who believes the running game is equally important as the passing game in today’s NFL.

I saw a brief discussion yesterday on NFL network. They were talking about Jets CB Revis possibly holding out (even though he’s got two years left on his contract). One commentator said it wouldn’t be that significant because the trend is for offenses to flood zones with 3 or even 4 receivers. The other mentioned that the Packers 2010 run to the title really emphasized how offenses exploit opponent’s fourth or fifth coverage guys so the number one cover corner isn’t as important as it previously was. I agree with the article and the premise advanced on NFL network but disagree with the conclusion of the NFL commentators. The greater the emphasis on the passing game, the more important the role of a shut down CB. It’s simple math. If you take away a team’s #1 cover guy, the #2 guy becomes #1, etc. and probably someone with little experience or PT jumps in as the #4 or #5 cover guy.

The good news for Packers fans is Thompson and McCarthy both understand the continued ascension of the passing game. Yes, the D fell down in that regard last season but Thompson was laser-light focused on fixing it. I also agree getting pressure on the passer is more and more important and that excellent pass rushers at the NFL level are rare commodities. That’s why the production of Perry, Worthy, Daniels, perhaps Hargrove for half a season, perhaps a UDFA like Moses will be very important this season. And on offense, look at how deep the Packers receiving corp (not just WRs) is.

Good trolls are so hard to come by these days, and TC is still a little ways off

My apologies. I meant Alex Green. I must be seeing too much of Ray Lewis on soundbites.

Name one QB in the league that isn't a system quarterback, please?

Apparently David Garrard