Posted: Sept. 26, 2006
Cliff Christl
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Green Bay - In case any of you missed it, Javon Walker caught three passes for 130 yards and scored the two touchdowns that allowed Denver to beat Bill Belichick's New England Patriots Sunday night. A week earlier, it was a reception by Walker that set up Denver's winning field goal in an overtime victory over Kansas City.
The big plays covered 24, 32 and 83 yards. The 24-yarder against the Chiefs came against Ty Law, a Pro Bowl cornerback last year. The 83-yarder against the Patriots came against double coverage.
Three weeks into the season, the Broncos appear to be one of several teams with a legitimate shot at winning the Super Bowl and Walker has emerged as their biggest playmaker.
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Those who feel it necessary to blame Mike Sherman for all that ails the Green Bay Packers shouldn't lose sight of that.
It was Sherman who traded up to select Walker with the 20th selection in the 2002 draft. It was Walker's emergence as a playmaker late in 2003 that gave the Packers a real chance at winning their first Super Bowl in six years.
It was the receiving combination of Walker and Donald Driver - they combined for 173 catches, more than 2,500 yards and 21 touchdowns - that allowed Brett Favre to finish with a 30-17 touchdown-to-interception ratio and the Packers to win another division title in 2004, despite a defensive collapse that led to the team's lowest ranking in 21 years.
It was under current general manager Ted Thompson's watch that Walker first threatened a holdout over his contract and then became so disenchanted with the organization, in addition to a personal clash with Favre, that he demanded to be traded and threatened to become a cancer within the locker room if he wasn't.
Of all the players the Packers have lost through free agency or been forced to trade in recent years, Walker was the one who left the biggest hole and probably would have had the biggest impact had he stayed.
In a league where quarterbacks and playmakers matter most, Walker was the only young playmaker on the Packers' roster.
Had he not been lost for the season with a knee injury in last year's opener, he might have made enough plays to win enough of the eight games that the Packers lost by a touchdown or less to keep them in playoff contention.
This year, how much more explosive might the Packers be if they had a receiving corps of Walker, Driver and rookie Greg Jennings? How much would their mere presence in a three wide receiver set open up the running game? How much better would Favre be?
Thompson traded Walker for a second-round draft pick. He parlayed that choice into five picks. Those players turned out to be Daryn Colledge, Will Blackmon, Ingle Martin, Johnny Jolly and Tyrone Culver.
Does anybody believe that it will ever turn out to be an even exchange?
The intent here isn't to blame only Thompson for the current state of the Packers. Or to even second-guess him for the trade. The circumstances involving the Walker mess might have been largely unavoidable and, in the end, trading him might have been the Packers' only recourse.
Nor is the intent here to absolve Sherman of his role in the Packers' decline since the start of last season. His obsession with trying to find the one or two players who might have put the Packers over the top and allowed them to win another Super Bowl while Favre was still in his prime backfired. By trading too many picks during the three years that he ran the draft, Sherman was at least partly responsible for the erosion of the Packers' infrastructure. And as a result, they are not only short on playmakers, but also solid starters.
But Thompson's at fault, too.
He chose to let Mike Wahle, Marco Rivera, Darren Sharper and Ryan Longwell go.
Think about it. How much better would the Packers look on paper with Walker, Wahle and Sharper? Then again, they might only have been good enough to tread water - another two, three years of 10-6 finishes and early exits from the playoffs - before the bottom fell out.
Maybe Thompson's approach will hasten the Packers' rebuilding efforts. After all, it was inevitable after going 13 years without a losing season that the organization would have to rebuild at some point. That's just how the system works in the NFL.
So why not sooner than later?
In truth, neither Thompson nor Sherman is more to blame than the other. Considering he never drafted higher than 20th, Sherman did well with his three first-round picks: Walker, Nick Barnett and Ahmad Carroll. That's a better track record than Ron Wolf ever had over a three-year period with his first-round selections.
It was Sherman who drafted perhaps the Packers' two best defensive players: Aaron Kampman and Barnett. If Walker hadn't been traded, he'd probably be the Packers' best offensive player.
But, you say, Sherman's picks from the second round on down were a disaster?
That's true to an extent.
Besides Kampman, only Scott Wells is starting. Corey Williams is a solid reserve.
But let's go back to Denver and New England, two teams with two of the most respected GM-head coaches in the game: Mike Shanahan and Belichick.
Do you know how many players on Denver's roster Sunday night were taken in rounds two through seven from 2002-'04 drafts? Two and only one starter, running back Tatum Bell. Another, Clinton Portis, was traded for Denver's standout corner Champ Bailey.
You know how many from those drafts played for New England in that game? Five, four of them from the 2003 draft. But only three started: Safety Eugene Wilson, center Dan Koppen and cornerback Asante Samuel. One other, Deion Branch, was recently traded for a first-round draft pick.
True, Belichick and Shanahan drafted better than Sherman over that three-year span, but not by much. And they each had a top 20 pick in that period.
So if you feel compelled to play the blame game at least spread the blame around.
