In this discussion, just about everyone has been very optimistic or very pessimistic...I find myself somewhere in the middle, what I call 'cautious optimism'
To the 'negatives'...sometimes I think of myself as negative, then after reading some of the completely anti-packer stuff on this board, i dont consider myself THAT negative...there's reason to look up, thompson started to 'chop out the dead wood'...Darren Sharper is GONE, Mark Roman will not start, Hannibal Naivies will not start--those are three players who have cost the packers a lot, missed tackles, blown coverages, they haven't exactly been helping the situation. Our defense won't have the dissheveled look anymore, we won't blitz 65% of the time anymore like Slowik had us do, we won't let backs catch balls in the flat and run for 30 yards. Jim Bates is an established def. coordinator, say what you will about the quality of the players, our defense will be more focused and mechanically sound than last season. We've made improvements, Ray Thompson will help out the run tremendously, Earl Little, Arturo Freeman, Collins, Underwood, whoever starts--could they do worse than Sharper or Roman, seriously...
to the 'positives'...I praised Jim Bates above, but I think too much faith is being put behind this guy to turn dirt into gold. People hang on this guy's every word..."ohh well he likes our defensive line depth, our defense is going to rule!" The starting four...KGB will sack the QB and give running backs a free pass, Grady Jackson could be a great run stuffer, could be double teamed because of the ineffectiveness of the rest of the d-line (who else starts at DT?), or big Grady could get hurt and we are SCREWED; I don't feel I'm jumping to any extremes, if we lose grady we're in DEEP (poop)! Aaron Kampman plays his heart out, has shown improvement, but I don't see him progressing that much further, which means this line is going to have trouble causing chaos in the backfield.
Behind our starting four...Donnell Washington, James Lee, R-Kal Truluk, Mike Montgomery, Cullen Jenkins, Corey Williams, guys who could be good, but haven't proven anything in the NFL yet. Cleditus Hunt? Nobody knows where this man is...
Secondary...I praised our safety signings above, but these guys were marginal starters, did a good job, but did not set the world on fire, we also have two rookies--two rookies from SMALL PROGRAMS. Cornerbacks...Al Harris and (whoever wins the battle for #2), the fact of the matter is we're going to get passed on a lot if our defensive line allows the other team time to throw. I just hope whoever starts opposite #31 matures and plays the position very well.
And the other arguement is Jim Bates and the talent he had in Miami, sure he made great players out of the defense in Miami, but they also had talent, will Bates do the same and make our rag-tag bunch into a great defense? I don't know...I'd be more comfortable if we would've spent high picks on them, guys like Dan Cody or Justin Tuck or Channing Crowder, Babineaux, etc. But instead, people are hyping up late round picks...Mike Montgomery is going to be "a star defensive end", Mike Hawkins has "an amazing life story, blazing speed, and will be a good cornerback for us", Kurt Campbell, i never heard where he went to school but "he's big and a tweener LB-Safety, so he'll be good", now come on, just because we ignored our needs early and drafted to fill those needs late doesnt mean we are well off in terms of defensive prospects...I know you guys are trying to put a good face on this but all we drafted are longshot prospects that may or may not pan out
And as for the divisional competition, I'm glad to see some of you guys hyping up the team for another divisional run (hell i'd rather see that than the excessive negativity) but the three other teams made progress also, and I would not be surprised to see the Packers not win the division, do I think that I'm a negative person, no--because I want my team to win and that's all that matters, I think a lot of people on here are hoping for a Packers' slip up in '05 just for the 'told ya so' factor.
To both sides: way too much energy is being exerted on...June 22nd towards a football season that doesnt start until sometime in september, camp doesnt even start for a month. everyone needs to take a step back, observe, read up on newspaper articles about the team. Whether you're sneeringly over negative, or enthusiastically over-positive, just tone it down. Me? honestly I think our defense will improve, not by leaps and bounds, but I think we will be middle of the pack, and won't get lit up for 30+ points a bunch of times this season. A lot can happen during training camp and the preseason, just wait to see what happens.