Offensive Talent

[Patriotplayer90]

The TE point is a good one. 10 targets, 6 catches, 72 yards, 1 TD.

He's a slow, plodding TE with good hands. He's a taller Richard Rodgers at this point. If that's undoubtedly the 2nd best target , it's not good.

 

[Dantés]

We need a dynamic slot talent. Dunno if Geronimo is going to cut it.

I definitely agree with this. I think Allison is the perfect bridge guy, as the receiving corps is young overall, but I would love to add a player who is a threat with the ball in his hands. Samuel and Brown were two favorites of mine in the draft process.

 

[Dantés]

He's a slow, plodding TE with good hands. He's a taller Richard Rodgers at this point. If that's undoubtedly the 2nd best target , it's not good.

Did someone call him the undoubted 2nd best target?

 

[greengold]

Once the OL starts clicking, this offense will look WAY better. That was a horrible way for them to start, but, we still got the W. The running game had very few opportunities to succeed without holes to run through. LOVED seeing Jamaal Williams posterize Ha-Ha in pass protection.

It is going to be a work in progress. What I am encouraged by is nearly every player is back over the last two years. The only thing new is the system and some technique stuff from the new coaching staff. Given the circumstances, I'll take it.

 

[OldSchool101]

This is somewhat of a reiteration of the above points.

We had rust combined with a new Offense. We all knew this would happen. It just so happens the Bears Defense induced the effect to the second power. Their D is that good... and from what I can see, they should be in that top 1-5 range again.

What’s nice is we bought ourselves another week to gel and we put one of our arguably top 5 toughest games in the “W”column in the meantime.

While we do have room to improve in the Offensive talent arena, we have enough talent right now today to create mismatches for an average Defense. We do need to become more cohesive in this new system, but that’s going to take 3-4 weeks minimum. In the meantime, it would serve us well to stay above .500
I believe we can make the playoffs and get into the 26-28 pts/GM by seasons end.

Next year we should retool the Offense to balance the talent level better.

 

[greengold]

I definitely agree with this. I think Allison is the perfect bridge guy, as the receiving corps is young overall, but I would love to add a player who is a threat with the ball in his hands. Samuel and Brown were two favorites of mine in the draft process.

I don't think the results have anything to do with who was working slot. Very few successes in the passing game all around. Our OL outside of Bakhtiari blew an insane number of assignments. Rodgers was 18-30 for 200 yds? Nothing was working well, but, our talent got 10 points on the board. This is just going to take time. Aaron Rodgers, himself, was so far off target on a good number of throws.

Allison is fine in the slot, as will be Shepherd once he returns. I think all of our WRs are pretty good after the catch. Good play comes from playing.

 

[Dantés]

I don't think the results have anything to do with who was working slot. Very few successes in the passing game all around. Our OL outside of Bakhtiari blew an insane number of assignments. Rodgers was 18-30 for 200 yds? Nothing was working well, but, our talent got 10 points on the board. This is just going to take time. Aaron Rodgers, himself, was so far off target on a good number of throws.

Allison is fine in the slot, as will be Shepherd once he returns. I think all of our WRs are pretty good after the catch. Good play comes from playing.

I'm not basing that on last night's game. Obviously, given what I said about the draft process, this is an opinion I've had for a while. The Packers' WR corps does not have a player who is especially dangerous after the catch. The starters are all fine in that regard, but there is a skill set that the unit as a whole lacks.

Allison is fine in the slot, but I would say he's just that-- fine. Ideally, he could be replaced in the future with a player who adds a different element to the offense. Shepherd is a rookie UDFA who hasn't taken a real NFL snap yet. I see no basis for saying he "will be fine."

 

[greengold]

He's a slow, plodding TE with good hands. He's a taller Richard Rodgers at this point. If that's undoubtedly the 2nd best target , it's not good.

Not a dig on you at all, but who really cares who is the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.... Jesus. They are all pretty much great targets. Super happy to see Graham get such a significant TD reception. Good for him.

 

[OldSchool101]

He's a slow, plodding TE with good hands. He's a taller Richard Rodgers at this point. If that's undoubtedly the 2nd best target , it's not good.

I wouldn’t call him slow for his size though. He’s about average speed but still shows a good high point and athleticism for his size. He’s still shows good hands like you said and a good grip on the playbook.
Graham’s weakness is blocking. He has no business being in there as a lead blocker. He can be used as a decoy but he literally looked afraid of slowing down Khalil Mack. Graham threw his body at him in a feeble attempt to call it a block, but it looked pitiful for a pro.

He’s a solid red zone target and he can be effective in the seam to move the chains against the upper echelon D. We should stick to using him in that capacity as a general rule, against stellar D’s
Now that said, the Chicago Defense is likely one of
3-4 Defenses we’ll see all year that will make him look slow (more due to “them” being instinctive and playing fast). Chicago should be given credit where it’s due..they made Aaron Jones look slow. Richard Rodgers would’ve been a Turtle yesterday.

 

[mradtke66]

Our OL outside of Bakhtiari blew an insane number of assignments.

Did they blow assignments or did they get beat?

You don't want either, but sometimes the other guy is just better and he wins. Sometimes you play the 2019 who have enough guys in the front 7 to reliably beat 4/5s of most of the league's starting lines.

 

[Patriotplayer90]

Did someone call him the undoubted 2nd best target?

Who is his competition? Please don't say MVS...

Not a dig on you at all, but who really cares who is the 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.... Jesus. They are all pretty much great targets. Super happy to see Graham get such a significant TD reception. Good for him.

Your glass is overflowing.

 

[HardRightEdge]

He's a slow, plodding TE with good hands. He's a taller Richard Rodgers at this point. If that's undoubtedly the 2nd best target , it's not good.

I was referring to all 3 TEs combined. Not a Graham fan myself under this contract.

 

[Dantés]

Who is his competition? Please don't say MVS...

Your glass is overflowing.

This is the point-- we don't know yet. Of course it could be MVS. He had a promising rookie season and looked pretty good last night until having to leave the game.

 

[Firethorn1001]

Some people really are joyless. Hate to see what the boards would be like if they lost.

 

[Dantés]

I will also say this-- WR talent is the most overrated aspect of team building. Obviously they are important to a degree, and it's an advantage to have great WR's (just like it's an advantage to have great... anything). But they are solidly behind QB, DL, OL, and DB in terms of their relevance to success.

Look at recent SB success-- the most relevant WR's for the winners have been names like Julian Edelman, Nelson Agholor, Alshon Jeffery, Danny Amendola, Emmanuel Sanders, Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse, Anquan Boldin (the 32 year old version), Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham...

There are some good names in there to be sure! But no HOF guys, other than Boldin (who was an aged version of himself when the Ravens won their last SB). Not even an All-Pro. Davante Adams is better than every last one of them, and none of those teams' WR corps put the current Packers' group to shame.

Again, I'm all for receiver talent, but it's just not nearly as important as other aspects of team building. You don't need great ones to win.

 

[greengold]

Hmmm. I wonder about that... We've been incredibly fortunate with what Gutekunst has given us from my point of view. Look at the dudes he's added, and the quality of them in this offense. Just adding MVS, EQ and Kumerow last season was big, today. We didn't see it immediately last season, but we caught glimpses. The development all have shown coming into 2019 is impressive to me. Add Shepherd, who I think will turn a lot of heads this season, and we are blessed at WR. There are a ton of teams who aren't half as deep as we are now at the position from a talent aspect. I recall some lean seasons at WR, wanting more from the position.

My bigger point was these guys are all pretty damned good. Adams, Allison, MVS, Kumerow, Davis, Shepherd and Lazard. They all seem gifted pass catchers, good route runners, dedicated to their craft, and Aaron seems to trust every single one of them, unlike last season. Pretty sweet.

 

[AKCheese]

It’s very much like Steve Young said. This was essentially a preseason game (that counted) for Rodgers and the offense. I think they’ll be significantly better than they showed this week. Also a word of caution, our defense maybe be improved, maybe MUCH improved, but they also faced an evolving offense, they may not be AS dominant as they appeared last night.... ditto our punter who some people are alreadt putting on par with Ray Guy. Pick up another Division win next week and we’re off to a very good start. These Ws count just as much as Oct-Dec games when teams have “found their footing”. To me this win on the road against a tough rival was like a birdie on the first hole. Now we need a solid PAR at home VS the Vikings!!!

 

[gbgary]

It’s very much like Steve Young said. This was essentially a preseason game (that counted) for Rodgers and the offense. I think they’ll be significantly better than they showed this week. Also a word of caution, our defense maybe be improved, maybe MUCH improved, but they also faced an evolving offense, they may not be AS dominant as they appeared last night.... ditto our punter who some people are alreadt putting on par with Ray Guy. Pick up another Division win next week and we’re off to a very good start. These Ws count just as much as Oct-Dec games when teams have “found their footing”. To me this win on the road against a tough rival was like a birdie on the first hole. Now we need a solid PAR at home VS the Vikings!!!

penalties killed the chi O last night nearly as much as the Packers D (3rd and 40). amos also new that formation/play where he got the int. had he not done so it may very well have been a td.

 

[OldSchool101]

penalties killed the chi O last night nearly as much as the Packers D (3rd and 40). amos also new that formation/play where he got the int. had he not done so it may very well have been a td.

While it does make sense Amos understands their O system and player personalities, The receiver couldn’t have caught that ball in his position. It was slightly overthrown but uncatchable worst case for us. I only know that because they replayed it like 4 times, then it made highlights reels.

 

[Mondio]

and until late in the game, penalties were the only reason the Bears had 3 points to begin with. The flag giveth, the flag taketh awayith

 

[PackerfaninCarolina]

Okay, it's pretty clear that the defense has been almost completely addressed by now. It's also clear that the offense has been neglected over the years in an attempt to do so.

I'll give credit where it's due-that Chicago defense is monstrous. But I watched LaFluer on a Tennessee team which was bottom 10 the previous year, lost it's top 2 receivers from the previous year, and there still isn't a visible difference in talent between the two.

The team clearly doesn't have a go-to RB. The TEs are slow as molasses and Graham is particularly becoming less useful. They have no receivers outside of Adams, particularly in the slot. It seems that we'll have an issue running the ball, which is not helped by the fact that there are no real receiving threats outside of Adams. MVS is good as a streak guy, but he's not a polished receiver and LaFluer nor Rodgers seem to be high on anyone else.

McCarthy deserves blame for many things, but it's clear that all of the offensive woes weren't on him. The talent just isn't there . Skill position talent acquisition must be the #1 priority this off-season, and I'm not even against trading for some help during the season, given how good the defense looks.

Lol you don't say ...

And people wonder why smart GMing would have been grabbing superstar players like Parris Campbell while they were available.

In Thompson's defense, he got senile and forgot the Pac12 where his draft picks were coming from was a lousy conference. Gute is a straight up offense killer who's responsible for it being devoid of high caliber playmakers.

 

[Mondio]

Lol you don't say ...

And people wonder why smart GMing would have been grabbing superstar players like Parris Campbell while they were available.

In Thompson's defense, he got senile and forgot the Pac12 where his draft picks were coming from was a lousy conference. Gute is a straight up offense killer who's responsible for it being devoid of high caliber playmakers.

Still can't believe he picked Kenny Clark, what a bum

 

[Patriotplayer90]

Hmmm. I wonder about that... We've been incredibly fortunate with what Gutekunst has given us from my point of view. Look at the dudes he's added, and the quality of them in this offense. Just adding MVS, EQ and Kumerow last season was big, today. We didn't see it immediately last season, but we caught glimpses. The development all have shown coming into 2019 is impressive to me. Add Shepherd, who I think will turn a lot of heads this season, and we are blessed at WR. There are a ton of teams who aren't half as deep as we are now at the position from a talent aspect. I recall some lean seasons at WR, wanting more from the position.

My bigger point was these guys are all pretty damned good. Adams, Allison, MVS, Kumerow, Davis, Shepherd and Lazard. They all seem gifted pass catchers, good route runners, dedicated to their craft, and Aaron seems to trust every single one of them, unlike last season. Pretty sweet.

We see this every year, with every team. They all look wonderful in preseason, disappear in the regular season. I wish that people would learn their lesson

 

[greengold]

What lesson? I don't feel tardy...

 

[OldSchool101]

We see this every year, with every team. They all look wonderful in preseason, disappear in the regular season.

It’s called “roster cut-downs”!

I’m just busting your chops.