How Green Bay can make the playoffs

IndiPack

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"How the Packers can make the playoffs"
D. Orlando Ledbetter, 7/9/06, Atlanta Journal Constitution:

"With Carolina, Seattle and Tampa Bay attracting early attention as the top teams in the NFC, Green Bay needs a few things to happen for them to become relevant again — the return of Brett Favre was central to any title aspirations. An injury-plagued 4-12 season led to the departure of Mike Sherman and the hiring of Mike McCarthy.

"I'm glad for Mike (McCarthy) that Brett is coming back," NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci said. "They signed Charles Woodson. They lost some players, but anytime that you've got No. 4 taking snaps you're going to have a chance."

Here's a look at 10 things that must go right for the Green Bay Packers to reach the playoffs.

1. The return of Favre

While there's a perception that Brett Favre is an old gunslinger who's seen his best days, his stats don't suggest that there has been a major dropoff. He had a 92.4 quarterback rating, threw for more than 4,000 yards, 30 touchdowns and 17 interceptions last season. While signed through 2010, Favre may have a couple of top notch seasons left.

2. Rally around new regime

The transition from Sherman to McCarthy, a first-year head coach, must go smoothly. Early signs were not good as several veterans skipped some of the "voluntary" offseason workouts.

3. Return of running game

The Packers don't need Favre throwing 40 times a game and must have balance. Running back Ahman Green had five straight 1,000-yard seasons before missing most of last season with torn right thigh tendon.

4. Hammerin' Hawk

Former Ohio State star A.J. Hawk, the fifth pick in the draft, must step in and be a force. The defense has been lacking an enforcer.

5. Pay Al Harris some cash

Cornerback Al Harris is under contract but there are rumblings about a holdout. The Pack should go ahead and pay him some more cash and stabilize the locker room. This may help morale and stop players like Mike McKenzie and Javon Walker from demanding trades out Green Bay.

6. Put Bears in hibernation

When Lovie Smith was named Chicago's coach he put a priority on beating the rival Packers. The Bears are 3-1 verses the Packers under Smith in one of the league's best rivalries. The Packers open and close the season against the Bears.

7. Revampled O-line

Tackles Mark Tauscher and Chad Clifton are proven, but Favre could be working behind a revamped and young interior offensive line. Second-round pick Daryn Colledge (Boise State) and third-round pick Aaron Spitz (Louisville) may start at the guard spots. The Packers must also replace center Mike Flanagan, who followed Sherman to Houston. Scott Wells, a seventh-round pick in 2004 from Tennessee, and Chris White, who was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2005 from Southern Mississippi, will battle for the starting center spot.

8. Farewell to Longwell

Losing steady place-kicker Ryan Longwell to Minnesota may come back to haunt the Packers. Longwell made 81.58 percent of his field goals in nine seasons in Green Bay, including 59 percent from 50 yards or more. Billy Cundiff will have to beat out Dave Rayner for the job.

9. Secondary improvement

The Packers signed cornerback Woodson and safety Marquand Manuel during free agency. They are expected to combine with Harris and safety Nick Collins to form a solid secondary. Safety Mark Roman and Ahmad "Batman" Carroll figure to lose their starting jobs. Some in the Cheesehead nation are tired Carroll's showboating and numerous penalties.

10. Receiving corps

With Javon Walker traded, Donald Driver is the only proven commodity. The Packers signed Marc Boerigter and Rod Gardner. They are hoping Robert Ferguson, who has shown flashes, can stay healthy and become more physical when fighting for the ball."

The good news is Favre only threw 17 interceptions last year, and also that we have another Spitz to help Jason out. Things're lookin' up.
 
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lol nice ending Indi.

I think the recieving crops needs to be higher on the list, that will be a major factor in terms of how well balanced of an attack the Pack have. I hope/pray Ferggy puts it all together sometime in the next couple of months, because we need someone to step up BIG TIME. Jennings is too young, and to label him the #2 WR now will lead to huge dissapointments.

Paying Harris is a pro/con debate.
- Pro: Harris is happy
- Con: Set another terribly precedent
I am not sure there is a win here for TT. But he has got to solve this problem, and send a message that Packers aren't going to be stepped on by players.

I think there should be mention of the D overachieving to some degree like it did last year. The D was avg at best, and looked so good because of the poor O. If Sanders can't get them to play similarly to how Bates did, the season will be long.
 

Lare

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Hate to be pessimistic, but the only way I see the Packers making it to the playoffs this year is to see if Mike Tice has any extra tickets.

We're at least a year (and half an offense) away from being a playoff caliber team.
 

bozz_2006

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Lare said:
Hate to be pessimistic, but the only way I see the Packers making it to the playoffs this year is to see if Mike Tice has any extra tickets.

at least we have some extra cash on hand to pay for them...
 

tromadz

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Lare said:
We're at least a year (and half an offense) away from being a playoff caliber team.

Why?

Cuz Favre is back?
Cuz we have a nice groups of Rbs?
Cuz the defense is the same(actually improved)?

Or maybe it is because the NFC is just so damn good it will be impossible to get into the playoffs (especially the greatness of the NFC North)?

Right.

I know the oline is still questionable, and there is a rookie coach,etc, but giving up on your team now is ridiculous....i feel ill.
 

porky88

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Lare said:
Hate to be pessimistic, but the only way I see the Packers making it to the playoffs this year is to see if Mike Tice has any extra tickets.

We're at least a year (and half an offense) away from being a playoff caliber team.

Comes down to Aaron Rodgers. If he's a solid pick, then we'll be in the playoffs in 2 years. If not then GB has a long wait.

In fact I'll be willing to say, Ted Thompson's job is attached to Aaron Rodgers.
 

NDPackerFan

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This is crazy....it's early July and now we have no chance of the playoffs. Maybe McCarthy will be the next best thing since happy hour at the local tavern. Maybe he'll be the Packers coach for the next 15 years or so a la Bill Cowher with the Steelers.

Anyway, my point is that it's way too early for this stuff. Enjoy the journey and the hype of what this season MIGHT be for the Green Bay Packers instead of an automatic repeat or worse of what happened last year.

Is that putting on Green and Gold glasses? Maybe it is. I guess that's the approach I'm going to take because no one knows for sure what's going to happen until it does and it feels a whole lot better looking at it this way.

Everyone's entitled to look at the upcoming season as they wish, just my two cents. :twocents:
 

rob836

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I would only say we aren't going to make the playoff if we didn't have Favre. I don't think T.T. job is attached to Aaron Rodgers.
 

NDPackerFan

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I think if the Packers really struggled again this year and was in a position to draft Brady Quinn, they'd do it.

I agree with you rob836, TT isn't 'attached' to Aaron Rodgers quite yet as far as job security goes in my opinion.
 

rob836

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Yep ND.... its not like Ron Wolf ever had a 1st round pick that didn't turn out to be a bad pick.
 

ohiopacker

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I hate to bring up bad stats - but Favre had 20 TDs and 29 INTs last yr . The stats you are talkin about ( 30 TDs and 17 INTs ) are from the 2004 season.


Now if Favre can have the 04 stats this yr , we will be in the playoffs . Ahman Green is a big factor , if he can put up good numbers and stay healthy , we will be dangerous .
 

packedhouse01

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The key to the playoffs is the offensive line. You saw what happened to Favre last year without good protection and receivers who couldn't remember to run the right route. However the offensive line is the key. My hope is that TT will still pick someone up. There is going to be a classy veteran someplace who is going to get released. We have to hop on that one. I like our receivers. Driver is a known commodity. So is Ferguson and if he doesn't shine, he will be gone. The young guys have talent. I like our running game if our line can block. Defensively, on paper we're a ton better. What will Woodson's attitude be.? Can Harris bite the bullet and wait for his time to get paid? How will the Barnett bar fiasco affect his play? The other key to the playoffs is the special teams. If they can find a kicker and can fill the guard spots on the "O" line, they can make the playoffs with this years schedule.
 

warhawk

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1) Stay healthy. The guys paid to put it in the endzone need to be on the field.

2) Favre and Green. Brett needs to have more patience and be confident the defense will keep them in the game.
Green could be huge in this scheme. A May report from the Packer camp indicated he was ahead of schedule but that they were going to target him coming back in training camp. Now that they have done exactly that many question his progress. I believe he will be fine and benefit greatly from this type of run offense.

3) Offensive line play improves and JJ's system gives us a respectable running game. Well's should thrive and getting a second round hand-picked Colledge to replace seventh round Whitt should be an upgrade without question. It's not like Bubba and Henderson can't block anybody.

4) Bring the TE's back into the game plan. Remember, Jago was a tight ends coach for much of his career and tried to get MS to utilize them more which did not happen. Now that he is the OC look for more use of the TE's in the passing game. Good news for Favre. He loves to move it around.

5) Harris/Woodson kick butt, Hawk and LB's greatly improve(the key to our defensive success), and Collins and Manuel click as a tandem. This defense has a chance to be one of the better one's in the league and if they perform as I hope to see them do we could be playoff bound.

6) Poppy, Hodge, Blackmon, Rodgers, Woodson(yes, Woodson) help our Special teams move up the ladder and our kicking game holds it's own.

The playoffs is no mission impossible. We play a lot of teams that were far less competitive than we were last year even with all the injuries and offensive line problems we experienced.

It's not like were playing sixteen SB champs. Many of these teams have more problems than answers.
 

Bobby Roberts

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"With Carolina, Seattle and Tampa Bay attracting early attention as the top teams in the NFC,"

This first statement here shows that GB has plenty to make it to the playoffs. Just look at last season's results against these best 3 teams in the NFC.

Against TB GB lost by 1 point -- note that Longwell missed 4 points in that game. Against Carolina GB lost by 3 points. Against Seattle GB won by 16 points.

The Packers scored 12 more points against the best teams in the NFC during the worst season since 1992. This team was better than the 4-12 record from last season. The team has been improved in the offseason.

For all the negatives that everyone lists over and over again, most are forgetting about all of the problems on other teams. There isn't much separating the #1 team from the #32 team in the NFL anymore. We can quickly turn this around from 4-12 to 12-4 in one year. Jump on the fan-wagon and believe!

GO PACK GO!!!
 

porky88

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rob836 said:
I would only say we aren't going to make the playoff if we didn't have Favre. I don't think T.T. job is attached to Aaron Rodgers.

Disagree, QB is the most important position in football. It's become a QB's game. If Rodgers is solid like Carson Palmer was look how a team can be turned around. Snap of a finger. If Rodgers plays like Joey Harrington, look how it can hurt a team. TT's 1st big move as the Packers GM was taking Rodgers in round 1. If Rodgers doesn't play well, the entire team will probably struggle because of his mistakes and Thompson's job will be on the line. Then again if Rodgers pans out, he'll look like a genius.

As for Ron Wolf. Wolf never had to worry about getting a QB. He got Brett Favre and 14 years later he's one of the best ever. If Favre would of failed, who knows what would of happen. Does GB win a Super Bowl? I don't think so. So that's more of a what if. Missing on a 1st round QB can be huge. Cleveland is a mess. Houston is still a mess. Detroit is a mess. Baltimore was a mess. Cincy for all them years.
 

dhpackr

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1. Stay Healthy

2. Establish strong running attack. (big year for samkon)

3. Improved Defence. move KGB to pass Rushing downs only. solid play from DT Pickett in the middle of defensive line. move Barnett to Sam Lber. play hodge at MLber and Hawk on the weakside. let hawk and barnett run from side line to sideline and make plays. Hopefully, improved play at SS from Manuel. with Collins, Woodson, Harris, Carrol, in the defensive backfeild, the Packers will be able to create some turnovers.

4. improved special teams. deeper kickoffs, so opposing teams aren't starting out on t he 40yrd line all the time. some type of KO return threat.

5. A strong year for #4. D. Driver puts up a 1200 yrd season. jennigs has a huge rookie year and is a solid #2 w/800 yrds and 6 TD''s.
 

Obi1

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The answer folks, is simple.

Win more games than the other teams in the divisio0n and we're in!

Personally, I think we are a LOCK to get in but then...

You know me!

I believe the Packers will win EVERY game they play.
 

JbShell

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to me it is all about confidence. GB has to be anywhere from 3-1 to 2 and 2 in the first four games. 2004 and 2005 with 1-4 or 0-4 starts kill a team. Get some success early and it will catch on loose momentum and come out flat (trade mark Sherman team later years) and your done.
 

JbShell

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to me it is all about confidence. GB has to be anywhere from 3-1 to 2 and 2 in the first four games. 2004 and 2005 with 1-4 or 0-4 starts kill a team. Get some success early and it will catch on loose momentum and come out flat (trade mark Sherman team later years) and your done.
 

Drich318

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Basically: if the OL greatly improves the Packers will be in the playoffs for sure. If they play well, our running game will be fine with Green, Davenport, and Gado. Then if they do well, our pass blocking will be better which will give the future Hall of Famer Brett Favre plenty of time to fine his underrated WRs for big plays (Driver, Gardner, Ferguson, Jennings, Boerighter, etc.) will be alright this year. Our defense was okay last year, and now with the additions of Manuel, Pickett, Hawk, Hodge, Taylor, and Woodson, they will be teamed up with KGB, Kampman, Cole, Jenkins, Barnett, Harris, and Collins to form a very solid defense. Special teams is a question mark, but with all the young players added to the team, the return game could be explosive. Go Pack Go!!!!!!!!!
 

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