Going a New Direction and Building for the Future

[tromadz]

I'm not sure where this "complete lack of respect for Favre" thing is coming from. It must be the fact that Thompson keeps saying over and over that he wants Favre back.

its because TT hasnt gone to mississippi to talk to him in person. theyve only talked in person and on the phone multiple times. But thats disrespectful to not go to favres house. I mean, TT is only working with his new head coach hiring coaches and coordinators, and figuring out who he is going to let go, re-sign, draft, and other decisions He has ton of time to go down to mississippi for a BBQ and persuade #4 to come back and honor his contract.

 

[IPBprez]

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There are so many things that have been wrong in the last year, it is difficult to decide. Most of the other posters have hit on many of the reasons. I will probably repeat some of the same things already listed:

What is this a David Letterman Forum Board?

1. The extension of Sherman's contract for 2 years only to disregard it a few months later. This is $6M dollars out the window. It also was an act that showed that TT definitely doesn't have a good grip on what he wants.

First up - this is idiocy, in of itself - Coaches salaries don't count against the Cap - so why bring it up at all - the fans pay for the Coaches when they buy Packers paraphenalia at the Pro Shop, etc.

2. Firing Sherman. you do not throw away a coach that has a winning record after only 1 bad season. The Packer Organization needs to learn from the Steelers and the Broncos.

Then why fire Ray Rhodes? He never went 4-12, correct? To quote - Steelers actually came very close to firing Mr. Chin/Cowah - and the Steeler fans were even more adamant about the losing seasons than you cheeseheads have shown me so far!

3. Replacing Sherman with a HC and assistants that have no record of winning or performance. I don't want our GM doing such blatent gambling with our team. If his gamble is wrong, he walks off into the sunset with lots of money, and, we are left with a team and franchise in shambles.

Isn't this exactly what the Eagles did when they hired Andy Reid? How many SuperBowls has he won? He, at least, has been to one, while Sherman never got past the first round, ever - probably won't, either!

4. The complete lack of respect for Favre in his press conferences, and, through his actions. As a Packer fan, as a WI native, I take that very personally. Favre has brought in millions & millions of dollars of revenue, and, put GB in the spotlight for too long to EVER be treated like that. I don't know if I can ever forgive him for that.

Favre is not a God - nor should he ever be treated like one. Gilbert Brown made sure we were in two SuperBowls, just as much as Favre did - yet, look at how the Packers Org has treated him. I get real tired of hypocrisy....real fast. Favre gets treated like what he is (currently, a mediocre QB, at best - especially with that INT record) ... Truth is, no QB out there has ever been "the whole team" and Favre isn't going to start a new revolution, either. He made plenty of mistakes and actually cost us, at least two, possibly three, games this season - all by himself. You can all knock off the idolitry... If you're going to be an acolyte - be a PACKERS acolyte - try it, you might like it.

5. Total disregard for the fans. TT has had very little interaction with the fans & through the media. Harlan may be his boss, but, the fans are the foundation behind Harlan. And, a few hours after hearing thousands of fans chant "one more year", he deliberately minimizes Favre to the fans. Such total arrogance in a Packer GM is very unappealing.

Truth be known, Bob Harlan had very little interaction, either - have any of you ever tried to get a meeting with the guy? Say, day after a game? The GM's are extremely busy every day of their careers - that comment has absolutely no concept...

6. Not TRYING to sign Wahle or Rivera or Sharper. I understand that there are times when players need to be released due to contract or money issues. However, it is totally inexcusable to not even try to keep our players BEFORE they hit the market. By letting them receive these offers, TT is then allowed to use the high offers as his excuse. This is a total lack of respect for the players as well. It sends a message to current and future players, "WE DON'T CARE IF WE LOSE YOU. BYE-BYE".

This comment is called DECOY CONVERSATION - because it is... (Sherman was the root of that evil)
Wahle was going to get (what?) 11 mil... and Rivera had already tested the waters. Sharper wasn't wrth the cash he was already getting - and all of you know it. He didn't shake the planet Earth, up in Minneapolis!

7. Replacing injured players with NFL Europe talent. Again, I felt that TT was using this season as a prolonged preseason to test players. Again, I say, let TT do his gambling on someone else's team.

Like No. 6 - this is again aimed at the wrong person, as the cause - Mike Sherman put the Packers in the wrong position financially - repeat after me - say, Joe Johnson, Joe Johnson!

8. Not replacing the pro-bowl talent players lost to FA with quality draft picks or FA's. This again was a total lack of regard for the players, the Packer fans, Sherman, and, Favre.

The Packers were at a crossroads in talent - either keep getting 'older' players all the time, like Carolina tried to do in the beginning, or get some fresh meat on the table for a change - the Packers were getting old-er... and we needed the new energy - plus it helped us get some much needed cash in the bank - would you rather be stuck in the mud like SanFran?

9. Not believing in the draft. This can only be for 1 or 2 reasons: 1. TT is a coward that is afraid of signing a known player to a high dollar contract; or, 2. TT is an ego-maniac that has a dream of building an entire team with his own finds. Either of these possibilities are very scary qualities in a GM.

With exception of possibly one, or two positions - TT did pretty well in the Draft, all considered. Nick Collins will be a Pro Bowler before you know it. Terence Murphy may yet come back and be strong. Will Whitticker did quite well at Tackle for a ROOKIE - it was Klemm and Wells on the other side, mostly, who left us challlenged on Offense.

10. Letting Bates get away, and, the way that he treated Jim Bates by giving him a "token" interview. This is another case of lack of respect.

TT decided to maintain the Packers approach to NFL football from the Offensive side of the ball - not the Defensive. Many teams make this decision as their main premise. It's not wrong - it just is.... Bates "could have stayed" - HE chose not to hang around.. Who's to say that wherever he ends up - he'll do any better at getting to the SuperBowl - I congratulate him NOW, if he's there next year - but, I highly doubt it.

11. Not being able to sell the Packers and the organization to Koren Robinson even though he offered him more money than the Vikings did. To me this is very frightening in light of the fact that Robinson was drafted by TT in Seattle. If he can't sell the Packers to a FA of Robinson's stature, how would he ever be able to convince someone of real stature to come to GB? Ah, there may lie the reason why TT doesn't like FA's. When he drafts someone, they are essentially forced to come to GB.

Where does this idolitry come from - and what were Koren Robinson's neighborhood stats this last year? I don't remember his name popping out in the Media every morning - Czabe hardly ever spoke about the guy - I'm not missin' him much - in the beginning of the 2005 Season, we all had high hopes, but (to me) the Sherman training camp ethic left much to be desired and it did NOT toughen up our players as it should have - that, all by itself, had as much to do with why the injury bug hit the Packers so hard this last year. THEY WEREN'T READY... AND REAL FOOTBALL PEOPLE COULD SEE THAT. Those Players, almost to man, were constantly winded going down the stretch of almost every game - it shouldn't have taken four to five games, before they finally got back up to regular season speed. THAT was one of Sherman's BIGGEST failures throughout his tenure at Lambeau - it will...follow him.

Finally, I love Harlan, but, lately, Bob Harlan hasn't had much respect for the Packers, Green Bay, or his players.

Oh, this smear was totally grand - he hasn't got a clue to who Bob Harlan really is - but most Packer fans can see it, every time they walk up to Lambeau - the true first wonder of Football - like the Taj Mahal. Yeah, sure... there's no respect for the Org when you look at it that way... Man, some people!
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"Who the hell is Ted Thompson?"--Mike Ditka, ESPN radio.

I actually like Mike Ditka, these days, that is --- but, back in the day? He was a punk and the Players respected him as much, while he coached. I guess TT should at least be thankful Mikey took time out to look in Green Bay's direction - many teams don't get that honor.... geeesh!

JMHO's!

 

[longtimefan]

Nice replies IB....

Something people seem to be forgetting is that while TT is the " boss" he has people under him and Harlan that he has to listen to and gather information from...

Sherman's extension IMO was just a way of letting him to just concentrate on coaching, and not have to worry bout what may or may not happen...Did Harlan have to give his okay to extend it and then to fire him?

Firing a coach with a winning record...I was always a supporter of him all along, but after the firing I did some thinking. What did he do? He needed some extreme luck to win the division 2 years in a row..Lost the Lambeau mystic there used to be...Lost 2 playoff games at home...Sure players loved him, and he was an awesome person...But he could not get the team over the hump...Plays were getting stale and seemed like he didn't try to make adjustments during games...Ask your self this...Was something broken, and if so did it need to be fixed...I say yes, it was broken for the reasons stated above..So it had to be fixed.

Hiring an "unknown"...Well it seemed to work for Ron Wolf when he hired Sherman, which according to some Sherman was a god...So why isn't MM catching a break for same reason? MM has more experience then Sherman did...

Lack of respect for Brett?? How and where? Harlan has said that during season TT sat with Brett and said we want and need you back, and even did this the day before the Seattle game...

This guy thinks that the Packers were going to spend money they did not have on Wahle, Marco and Sharper?D-Sharp was due to make about $8 million, do you honestly think he was worth that?? Wahle was due $11 million...Marco got a huge signing bonus...Where in the he!! was that money going to come from?
It was NOT TT's fault he was put in that spot...That was Sherman's...So what do you do, back load contracts to only run into this issue 2, 3 years later, or cut your losses now? And again TT has other people helping him on salary cap issues..John Jones and Andrew Brandt have a lot to say on the salaries I bet...

Injured players and not replacing them...Hmmm lets see...The team has no money to work with...They bring in the players they can afford ( and that again is Sherman's fault)...

Tell me how do you sign players with no money???

Draft was pretty good as IB mentioned, so refer to his post on it.

Bates being " let go" ...From what I saw Bates decided he wanted to leave...He probably could not work with a guy that took the job he wanted...But something is not sitting well..If he is such a good HC man, why did Miami not hire him?? There is more to that story then taking a cop out by saying TT did not want him...

Koren Robinson is quoted as saying he wanted to go back to Minny because they gave him a 2nd chance...No other reason then that...Sometimes money is not the only reason...

Chill out, let the season play out...My god draft and f.a hasn't started...I fully expect that no matter what TT does, people will say he was wrong..That includes if the team does better then this past year...

 

[Zero2Cool]

Brett is under contract. No one should have to fly down and talk him into coming back. It's his decision.

By that method that's over 50 flights he has to take otherwise he's diresectful to other players.