From the Rockford Register Star:
Keeping 53 could be Pack’s problem
GREEN BAY, Wis. — General managers in the NFL always say they agonize over trimming their roster to 53 players. The most difficult part for Green Bay’s Ted Thompson might be that he has to keep that many.
He’ll explain today why he kept so and so, and how bad he feels about letting so and so go. Then watch him scour the waiver wire and see who’s cut around the league, because some other team’s leftovers will look like sumptuous morsels to him.
The Packers do not look like they possess 53 NFL-caliber players. There’s a partial explanation — they might begin the season as the youngest team in the league, hence their talent level might reflect that.
It certainly did during the entire preseason, including Friday’s 35-21 thumping at home against equally woeful Tennessee.
You can only look as bad as the Packers have if you’re either 1) that bad, or 2) play conservatively on purpose. The latter, of course, is not the case. New head coaches, like Green Bay’s Mike McCarthy, want to see progress.
McCarthy did witness some early encouragement Friday, and it was important. The first-team offense was only on the field for 20 seconds. But that was long enough for Brett Favre to connect with wide-open rookie Greg Jennings for 89 yards, then for Ahman Green to run three yards for a touchdown on the ensuing snap.
The busiest Packer was punter Jon Ryan. That’s because backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers directed Green Bay to all of three first downs on his first eight possessions. Again, either the Packers backups are that inept or they were totally vanilla by design.
Or a mix of both, to be fair.
The Packers tried to run again. And failed. They never established a ground game all preseason, and there’s no obvious backup to Green. It will be Najeh Davenport or Samkon Gado by default instead of accomplishment.
The defensive starters struggled against everyone — aside from holding the Titans to 20 yards on their first drive. Even in Green Bay’s 38-10 win over Atlanta, the Falcons’ first-stringers produced all the points early on.
There’s no one area Packers fans can feel comfortable about heading into the Sept. 10 home season-opener against Chicago. Granted, Green Bay’s first-team offense will feel hopeful after its short but sweet success Friday. That’s the best thing that came out of the entire exhibition schedule.
Other bright spots? How about spot? Jennings as a receiver looks as valuable to Green Bay as rookie punt returner Devin Hester does to the Bears.
As poorly as Green Bay’s offense and defense have looked, special teams have been close-your-eyes-you-don’t-want-to-see-this bad — not counting Ryan’s punting.
The following numbers are not misprints — Ryan’s punts traveled 53, 51, 60, 69, 51, 48, 47 and 49 yards Friday. And they were returned 22, 14, 24, 24, 27, 41, 18 and, somehow, minus-1.
Green Bay, by comparison, had six yards total on four punt returns to the Titans’ 165 yards on eight chances.
Not only didn’t Green Bay go anywhere on punt returns, rookies Cory Rodgers and Carlton Brewster each fumbled a punt.
There’s just so much work that appears to need doing, and not nearly enough time — or proven talent — to get it done.
But, hey, it’s preseason and it really doesn’t mean much. Packers fans have no choice but to think like that.
There’s potential to better last year’s 4-12 record. There’s little hope for playoffs. The best scenario would be that they end the season on the upswing, so that there’s reason for optimism going into 2007.
At least they’re not an old team with no future. That’s the advantage of youth, which the Packers have. They could be good someday, whenever that is.
The journey to improvement just might be a bit painful in the present. Prepare yourself for another 4-12 season, and be tickled with anything better than that.
Reed Schreck is the NFL writer for the Rockford Register Star. He can be reached at 815-987-1381 or [email protected].