Do the Packers need to improve?

[sschind]

Seriously...a goal unstated is a goal unmet. I thought a reminder might be in order. It's not about winning the division. It's not about adhering to "the process", "contending", "making a run" or accumulating fantasy point.

The Packers could trade the entire 2015 draft for a motel plus a gas station to be named later and should still win this division against teams going sideways or backwards.

I wonder what the tone of these conversations would be if the Packers were in the NFC West, playing Seattle, a Palmer-led Arizona team, and the tough Rams defense twice per year. Not to mention the currently floundering 49ers with a QB this defense can't seen to contain while others have less of a problem in that regard.

Well, those are the kinds of teams you're likely to face in the playoffs, perhaps on the road. Something more than "the process" is needed.

So how come MM always says the first goal of the season is to win the division? Yes the ultimate goal is to win the SB but it comes in steps.

I think this team is good enough to win the SB this year so I guess the short answer would be no we don't NEED to improve but I think our chances of winning it would be better if we did improve. I think last years team was good enough to win the SB but that doesn't mean an improvement here or there would not have made it happen.

There are how many players on the team? 53 or something like that. More if you want to include the practice squad. If you replace the least talented/least valuable player on the team with someone better that is improvement. The goal of every team outside of game goals (winning it all etc) every year should be to improve. I don't care if you've won 4 SBs in a row there is always someone who you could replace to get better. I don't care if it is your last LB or DB or OL or your long snapper.

All that said replacing players with better ones is only one way to improve. Obviously replacing Brad Jones with Luke Kuechly would be an improvement. Heck lets face it replacing Jones with a tree stump would be an improvement. At least everyone would know where the tree stump was going to be and could compensate. Improvement also comes from guys getting better as well. Guys like Barrington or Datone Jones or Nick Perry or Guion or Raji or any of the 53. Just because we are not adding players left and right does not mean we are not going to improve as a team.

 

[XPack]

Sorry but I cannot ignore the great level of play this team has achieved over the past decade or so. To know going into the season the Super Bowl is a true possibility and not just a fan hoping and praying is truly a blessing I think many of the likes of the fan base are beginning to take for granted far too often. To be completely honest it would serve our fan base right to have a stretch of 4 or 5 years of truly being out of contention to maybe realize just how great times are and have been for some time in GB.

Vince Lombardi will cringe in his grave if he read that, tbh! Being in contention is not a blessing. With talent like what we have, it would be **** poor if we did not even achieve that. I know I'm being a bit harsh here, but "We are there on the top without actually winning much, and we need to perform worse just to appreciate what we have" is a very defeatist attitude imo. The fact that we are in a position to take contention for granted means we should set our targets higher.

Take the Bills as an example, they are infamous for having lost 4 in a row, not their claim to fame! And I certainly would hate to see that happen to us. This team is certainly capable of better than where we are at now.

 

[tynimiller]

Vince Lombardi will cringe in his grave if he read that, tbh! Being in contention is not a blessing. With talent like what we have, it would be **** poor if we did not even achieve that. I know I'm being a bit harsh here, but "We are there on the top without actually winning much, and we need to perform worse just to appreciate what we have" is a very defeatist attitude imo. The fact that we are in a position to take contention for granted means we should set our targets higher.

Take the Bills as an example, they are infamous for having lost 4 in a row, not their claim to fame! And I certainly would hate to see that happen to us. This team is certainly capable of better than where we are at now.

He'd be freaking estatic if he was here not rolling in his grave. To have a roster like GB has had the last decade or so would light up his eyes more than anything...because you know what, HE WOULD KNOW DARN WELL SB TALK ISN'T HYPE IT IS A REALISTIC DISCUSSION.

I am not saying hang your hat on the 2nd place trophies...what I'm saying is a bunch of you have lost sight of how tough it is to attain an SB, shoot even be in the discussion or contention of it is tough. NE and GB (SEA now too) have mastered the ability to hang around longer than teams have proven to be able to do....

......if it was easy like I stated over the last 20 years why are 12 freaking teams represented when it comes to SB titles? If we should expect more than what we have in that stretch (10%) than why have only 4 teams done that good? And better yet only 1 team NE has done better than us? If it truly is a fact that we should judge our success based solely on SB titles than honestly we are freaking better than I thought.

 

[mradtke66]

but he has trouble explaining it because he doesn’t understand the alignment, just ask mradtke66 among others.

Am I officially Internet Famous now?

 

[GreenBaySlacker]

we got lucky on the superbowl we got. And very unlucky on this last one we didnt get..... From here out its time to just take the rest!!!!

 

[Deleted member 6794]

Understand by no means am I suggesting we retool our entire defense and throw out the 4-3, but is it just me or isn't our current roster a much better fit for a lot of 4-3 alignments? Lots of big bodies, no ILB depth, but good OLBs. Peppers I would imagine would play with his hand back in the dirt on the other side of Daniels.

Just more thinking out loud than anything, I would just imagine if I looked at our personnel with a new coordinator and no idea how our defensive formations would look, I would think we were much better suited for the 4-3. I know they won't be doing anything exclusively, just curious as if they're going to mix in some different such looks.

The Packers' defensive lineman probably would be a better fit for a 4-3. But a scheme like that would limit Matthews' impact as a pass rusher. Mostly OLB don't rush the passer that much in a 4-3 (with Von Miller and Khalil Mack being the exception) and have to drop into coverage more often.

 

[mradtke66]

Understand by no means am I suggesting we retool our entire defense and throw out the 4-3, but is it just me or isn't our current roster a much better fit for a lot of 4-3 alignments? Lots of big bodies, no ILB depth, but good OLBs. Peppers I would imagine would play with his hand back in the dirt on the other side of Daniels.

Just more thinking out loud than anything, I would just imagine if I looked at our personnel with a new coordinator and no idea how our defensive formations would look, I would think we were much better suited for the 4-3. I know they won't be doing anything exclusively, just curious as if they're going to mix in some different such looks.

The biggest problem is we don't have the right pieces to run a 4-3 either.

In a 4-3, your Middle and Weak OLB = The 3-4 ILBs. So we still don't have the right guys.

In a 4-3, your technique Tackles = 3-4 ends. So we have lots of depth there (Daniels et al.)

In a 4-3, your NT = a 3-4 NT, so we have a couple guys who should do well enough (Raji and Guion).

In a 4-3, your ends are over-sized 3-4 OLBs ( or 3-4 OLB are under-sized 4-3 ends). We have two guys: Peppers and Perry.

And we have two guys without homes. Neal might project to strong-side DE, but I dunno. Matthews maybe at the strong-side OLB, but then his job description is basically reduced to "beat up the tight end" the entire game.

Obviously, I'm skipping over nickel, because lets face it: Our nickel front would look exactly the same. 2 of Neal, Perry, Peppers, Matthews at the outside spots. 2 of Datone, Raji, Guion, Daniels at the two inside spots.