I think his initial statement held true for players and fans alike after such an emotional let down of a game and being minutes away from what looked like a sure trip to the SuperBowl. But once the smoke cleared and the pain of the loss was less, the good times and high moments from the season could be remembered and used for motivation of what everyone is predicting to be a special 2015.
I love when the Packers win, but win or loose, games like those as well as the memorable wins, will always remind us why we love watching each and every game so much.
On a side note, has your opinion of James Campen changed over the past season or two? With the deserved accolades the Packers OL has been receiving, has Campen gotten smarter lately?
Below is a link to the Demovsky article referenced in that blog. It talks a little more about Sitton's injury. I don't think there's anything surprising about Sitton's comments after the game or the hurt of that loss subsiding. The bigger issue IMO is the injury: I wonder if it will fully heal or if post season surgery would have been a better option? That's a moot point now so I just hope it heals completely.
http://espn.go.com/blog/green-bay-p...-josh-sitton-makes-his-peace-with-last-season
On a side note, has your opinion of James Campen changed over the past season or two? With the deserved accolades the Packers OL has been receiving, has Campen gotten smarter lately?
Last year was Campen's 8th as head offensive line coach. According to Football Outsiders offensive line stats:
In his 8 years, he has fielded lines that are better than average in run blocking 3 times: 5th in 2013, 8th in 2014, and 9th in 2009. His line ranked 16 th in 2011. His other lines ranked 19 (2008) 23 (2010) 25 (2012) and 26(2007).
So his average run blocking lines rank ~16th in the league over his tenure.
Pass blocking: 3 lines have been better than average: 1 (2007) 13(2014) and 14 (2008). His other lines 21(2010) 23(2011) 26(2013) 30 (2009) and 31 (2012) have been in the bottom 1/3 of the league.
Average pass blocking has been ranked ~ 20th during his tenure.
Last year his line was better than average in both run and pass blocking for the first time in his 8 years.
Taking a look at the OL´s performance in 2014 there is absolutely no way...
Pro Football Focus agrees with you on last year's line. I'm not sure how PFF arrives at it's results. But "the way" of FO is the methodology of DVOA. Like all stats, they're not perfect. But DVOA seems to me to be akin to OBP replacing BA and wOBA replacing OBP. None of them are perfect, but the refinements likely represent a player's abilities better than older methods. So I pay a lot of attention to FO's take on things. And I think it's interesting that there are teams, like the Patriots, who consistently are good at offensive line play year after year with the usual changes in personnel that every team goes through. Either they are incredibly adept at drafting, or they have excellent coaching. Certainly both are important, but I'd take the excellent coaching over the luck of drafting any day. With the Patriots' head offensive line coach now retired after 15 years, we might get to see how important he may have been.
That holds the ball before passing longer than any QB in the league. Imo, that stat is impossible to dial up with a bad or mediocre OL.The average to below average line play has been masked by a HOF caliber QB running the show.
That holds the ball before passing longer than any QB in the league. Imo, that stat is impossible to dial up with a bad or mediocre OL.
Not really. Besides 3/4 of last year, anybody watching could see the line play was barely average to very poor for the past few years. His mobility and ability to slide away from pressure and still be so accurate was a huge factor during that time. I couldn't even count the times he wouldn't even get to his drop and have to move to avoid pressure. It was a regular sight.That holds the ball before passing longer than any QB in the league. Imo, that stat is impossible to dial up with a bad or mediocre OL.
But for much of last year they played exceptional in the pass blocking dept and made big strides in run blocking. I look for that to continue to improve as well.
Bakhtiari had a sophomore slump so now the hope is that it was just a slump and not the norm. If our tackles fail or we get injuries in the interior, we do have capable backups for each position who got some good experience during some of blowout wins (Bears, etc.).
Any improvement from Bakhtiari and the incumbent TEs in run blocking will be marginal at best. They are who they are.There's no denying the pass protection improved significantly during last season but the run blocking wasn't as good as I was hoping for. Especially Bakhtiari and the tight ends have to inprove there.