Zero2Cool
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From JSOnline.com
Posted: July 12, 2006
After finishing with their worst record since 1991, the Green Bay Packers are feeling the pressure to dramatically improve as the new season begins, to prove that they are better than a 4-12 last-place finish suggests.
On paper, they don't look much different than last year's team. Maybe they can rebound and be competitive again. Maybe they can't.
One thing for sure: Here are 20 things they don't need.
1. Brett Favre's streak ends. Mr. Durability faces his toughest opponent in the first game. The Chicago Bears have put a bounty on No. 4. In last year's game at Soldier Field, Favre was hit more than a half-dozen times, sacked twice, intercepted twice, forced to fumble three times. "Oh man, he took a lot of good hits," Bears safety Mike Brown said. "He's going to be sore tomorrow, I guarantee you. But he'll start again next week." The Bears hope to finish him off when the teams meet in Lambeau Field Sept. 10. Without Favre, the Packers will be lucky to win three games.
2. Al Harris holds out. The Packers veteran safety did not attend any of the team's organized workouts because he is unhappy with his contract, and he has indicated he also will be a training camp no-show. It will be considerably easier for the Packers to win with Harris than without him. This could be a distraction that a team on a turn-around mission doesn't need.
3. Ted Thompson keeps 12 draft picks. Last year he kept 11. If the trend continues, the Packers will become a team comprised of first- or second-year players, and it doesn't help Favre. Once Favre was surrounded with experienced teammates and he could make risky throws. Now, his margin of error has regressed to zero if these young players don't improve.
4. Brad Childress out-coaches Mike McCarthy. The Packers wanted to talk to Childress about the head coaching job, but he skipped an interview in Green Bay to high-tail to Minnesota and take the Vikings' offer. He figured the future looked much better with the Vikings than with the Packers. If the Vikings handle the Packers this season like they did last year, Childress will know he made the right decision.
5. A slow start. This could start the head-scratching among the players and threaten McCarthy's ability to convince them his way works. The schedule is no help, opening with the Bears and the rebuilt New Orleans Saints at home and going on the road against the Lions and Eagles. While Green Bay could be an improved team, many questions and potential pitfalls remain in its path.
6. Ahman Green's comeback fails. Coming back from a serious leg injury, the team's workhorse running back could be on his last legs. If this is the case, the Packers really have no one to pick up the slack. They got pretty decent production out of free agent Samkon Gado last year, but they'll be lucky to get another, while Najeh Davenport tries his best to stay healthy.
7. Only one big-time receiver. If the team can't develop another wide receiver, Donald Driver will have to carry the load again. Driver has great body control and can make the acrobatic catch, but he's not a dangerous deep threat. And without complementary receivers, this is an offense that is going to have trouble scoring points.
8. Offensive line fails to jell. This was the case last season as the team couldn't find replacements for departed guards Mike Wahle and Marco Rivera. Both free agent Adrian Klemm and draftee Will Whitticker turned out to be flops. Now rookies Daryn Colledge and Jason Spitz enter training camp as the Packers' starting guards and with them, plus a new center, comes the infamous look-out block. "Look out, Brett, here they come!"
9. Inexperienced coaching shows. Not only is McCarthy a first-time head coach, but his coordinators, Jeff Jagodzinski on offense and Bob Sanders on defense are sitting in those chairs for the first time in their NFL careers.
10. Bubba Franks is maxed out. Entering his seventh year at Green Bay, the veteran tight end is coming off his worst season as a pro. More and more, Franks looks like a guy who had one dream year (2002 with 54 receptions and seven touchdowns) and is running out of gas.
11. Charles Woodson doesn't live up to expectations. The former Oakland Raiders cornerback suffered a season-ending broken right leg in the sixth game last year. Do you really think Al Davis would let a No. 1 draft choice go if he thought he could still play?
12. Favre self-destructs again. Quarterbacks in the West Coast offense should be throwing for high percentages and he didn't with a career-high 29 interceptions. Now the future Hall of Famer, who will turn 37 in October, must prove he can handle the job, show that he still has the magic in his arm.
13. Another career-ending injury. Injuries are part of football, but when rookie Terrence Murphy returned a kickoff against Carolina in the fourth game of the season he was nailed by a slamming helmet-to-helmet hit from the Panthers' Thomas Davis. Murphy suffered a spinal-cord injury and might never play again.
14. Woes on the road. This is a team that had a horrible time winning on the road, where the Packers won but one game. Included in the seven defeats was a late-season trip to Baltimore where the Packers were humiliated by the Ravens, 48-3, for all the nation to see on "Monday Night Football." This year's schedule includes trips to Detroit, Philadelphia, Miami, Buffalo, Minnesota, Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago.
15. Wanted: a place-kicker. How long will it take the Packers to find a capable replacement for departed Ryan Longwell, the team's all-time leading scorer? How in the world could they let Longwell go to the Vikings?
16. Darren Sharper celebrates. The former Packer will shimmy-shake after intercepting a Favre pass. It was Sharper who said he was surrounded by better players at Minnesota. "One thing I always notice is that when you play with scrubs, you look like a scrub," he said. "When you play with good players, you look like a good player, too."
17. Desperate for help. God help the Packers if they lose so many players to injuries again. Things got so desperate for bodies last December they called up a Florida bartender. Ryan Flinn, a free-agent punter, was signed off the street.
18. Pro Bowl no shows. The Pro Bowl is a good indication what opposing players and coaches - along with fans - think of your talent. For the first time in 12 years, not one Packer was chosen in 2005. To make matters worse, former Packers Sharper and Mike Wahle were selected as well as Matt Hasselbeck and Josh Bidwell.
19. 12th man shows up. It happened in Cincinnati last October. As Favre hurried the team at the line of scrimmage as the Packers were driving, the officials blew the whistle. Before Favre knew it, a drunken fan ran up and snatched the ball from his raised hand. On the next play, Favre was sacked for a 2-yard loss and with no time outs he chose to fake a spike and attempt a last-second TD play. The Packers lost, 21-14.
20. Packers lose nail-biters. At some point the Packers are going to have to learn how to win close games. Judging from the 2005 season, where they out-gained opponents in 12 of their 16 games, the Packers should be very worried about that. Moral victories should not even be considered. It's all about victories and losses, and 4-12 was exactly what they deserved.
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