February 18, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Uncategorized
1) Introduction: James Jones is another example of a Packers wide receiver increasing the team’s overall toughness. Jones missed more than two games with a knee injury, then returned and played hurt for the next month. He also played through a broken rib late in the season. Jones risked further injury during a contract year, which says a lot about his character and toughness.
Packers WR James Jones
2) Profile:
James Jones
- Age: 29
- Born: 3/31/1984 in San Jose, CA
- Height: 6’1″
- Weight: 208
- College: San Jose St.
- Rookie Year: 2007
- NFL Experience: 7 years
Career Stats and more
3) Expectations coming into the season: I’m not sure anyone expected Jones to catch 14 touchdowns like he did in 2012, but they were expecting him to continue being a reliable target in the passing game.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: An 11-catch, 178-yard game in week 2 against Washington tops Jones’ list of highlights. Catching an 83-yard touchdown against Detroit is also up there. Injuries and the loss of Aaron Rodgers caused Jones’ production to dip in the middle of the season. He also dropped a couple of tough, but catchable, passes against the 49ers in the playoffs.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Jones averaged almost 2.5 more yards per catch in 2013 than he did during his breakout campaign of 2012. He seemed to be having more success getting downfield before he was slowed by the knee injury (he struggled to get separation the remainder of the season). When he was healthy, Jones was exactly what the Packers needed him to be: a tough, fundamentally strong, dependable receiver.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Jones’ performance against the 49ers is a game he’ll want to forget. He failed to come down with the ball on three separate occasions when he had a chance to make a big play. Each catch wold have been a difficult one, but it’s those types of plays that need to be made in the playoffs.
Season Report Card:
(B) Level of expectations met during the season
(B) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(D-) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: B-
February 16, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Adam - ALLGBP.com, Adam Czech, Packers, Surviving Sunday
Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football
New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter announced this week that he will retire after the 2014 season. I’m not a Yankees fan and I usually root against the Bronx Bombers in the playoffs, but I always liked and respected Jeter.
Jeter was really good. He came across as a nice guy. He never got into legal trouble. He chased around beautiful women. And he projected an aura of coolness without coming across as overly arrogant. There really wasn’t anything to dislike about the guy.
As a Packers fan, what’s the closest comparison to Jeter in the NFL? What player caused the Packers a lot of grief over the years, but you still liked, respected, and even found yourself cheering for if he wasn’t playing the Packers?
Here are mine:
Barry Sanders
I don’t think you can call yourself a football fan if you didn’t enjoy watching Sanders. Yes, he had all the fancy footwork and juke and jive moves, but he would also put his head down and crash forward. An amazing spectacle on the field and a class act off of it.
Adrian Peterson
It’s absolutely terrorizing to watch Peterson manhandle the Packers defense. He’s a total mismatch for the light-hitting and reactionary Dom Capers D. But man, everything about Peterson just screams football. He’s the perfect package of grace, grit, explosiveness, elusiveness, resiliency and toughness.
Charles “Peanut” Tillman
It’s maddening to watch Tillman punch the ball out and force fumbles against the Packers. It’s a thing of beauty when he does it to other teams. Tillman has forced 40 fumbles in his 10-year career, including a mind-boggling 10 in 2012.
Larry Allen
This one is kind of obscure, but I always respected the Cowboys offensive line during their glory years and Allen was an absolute monster paving the way for Emmitt Smith. Allen could bench 705 pounds, squat 905 and became a hall-of-famer in 2013. He’s not the first player that comes to mind when thinking about players that gave the Packers trouble, but he deserves to be on the list.
Let me know who makes your list in the comments section.
Packers news, notes and links
- The Packers shuffled around a few members of their coaching staff this week and added a few new faces. Are the moves meaningful change? Or something that isn’t that big of a deal, but we need to talk about it since we’re in the downtime of the offseason? My money is on the latter. John Rehor covers the topic over at PackersTalk.com.
- This report says the Packers will be spenders in free agency. A couple thoughts on that: 1) I’ll believe it when I see it; 2) How much will the Packers have left to spend if they re-sign a number of their own free agents? 3) The report says the Packers want to get lighter on the defensive line. I wrote about the Packers being too fat up front back in December; 4) The author of the report loses a lot of credibility when the refers to B.J. Raji as a “standout defensive lineman.”
- According to a survey of NFL mock drafts conducted by the fine folks over at CheeseheadTV, the Packers will take Nortre Dame nose tackle Louis Nix in the first round. Nix is 6-foot-3, 340 pounds so he doesn’t exactly fit the narrative of the Packers getting leaner and more athletic up front. He also tore his meniscus last season.
- Mike McCarthy’s comments on Michael Sam — the Missouri prospect who revealed he was gay this week — are yet another reason why I’m proud to have McCarthy coaching my favorite team.
- Aaron Nagler (formerly of CheeseheadTV and now at Bleacher Report) and Matt Miller (BR’s NFL draft guru) have a new podcast called #Football that I highly recommend.
- This news on Darren Sharper is disturbing. We think we really know these guys….
Non-Packers links and other nonsense
- From a police report in the town where I grew up: “Woman stated she was woken up by being hit in the face with a burrito and that the male subject broke her computer. Officers learned that both subjects were highly intoxicated. The man said he would pay for a new computer. Both subjects said they were going to watch a Christmas movie and that everything was OK.”
- The Wells report on the Richie Ingonito/Jonathan Martin/Miami Dolphins situation is mind-boggling. My high school and college buddies and I rip on each other a lot, and sometimes the language can get colorful and lines crossed, but it’s nothing like this. Racism, homophobia, threats of violence, general douche-baggery. Ugh. It’s all in there.
- Packers guard T.J. Lang asks us to not lump in all NFL players with what’s happening in Miami.
- And the brown medal goes to…
- Chipotle, a big giant corporation, is attacking American farmers for being…big giant corporations. I don’t know what’s more ridiculous: the fact that Chipotle thinks we’re stupid enough to buy into its nonsense or the fact that, well, a lot of people are stupid enough to buy into this nonsense. Since you’re reading ALLGBP.com, I know you’re not stupid. If you appreciate American farmers, stop supporting Chipotle. Eat at an actual local restaurant, not one that pretends to be.
February 13, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Authors
1) Introduction: When looking for defensive linemen for the 3-4 defense, tradition dictates you are looking for two types of players: a stout nose tackle who can command double teams with his raw power and two big and tall defensive ends who can maintain the edge for the linebackers and occasionally rush the passer. Mike Daniels is neither. Daniels was a surprise pick in the 2012 NFL draft as he essentially had no position, he was probably too short and light for a 4-3 defensive line, let alone a 3-4 defensive line which emphasizes size and strength to make up for losing a man. Where does Mike Daniels actually belong and can he contribute for the Packers despite not fitting the stereotypical 3-4 defensive linemen?
2) Profile:
Mike Daniels
- Age: 24
- Born: 5/5/1989 in Stratford, NJ
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: 300
- College: Iowa
- Rookie Year: 2012
- NFL Experience: 2
Career Stats and more
3) Expectations coming into the season: Low. Daniels had a pretty nondescript rookie season highlighted by a fumble returned for a touchdown against the Lions at home, but otherwise only played 280 snaps the entire season but did manage to record 2 sacks and 7 quarterback hurries but was only on the field in obvious passing situations as he only recorded 8 tackles. Going into 2013, it was expected that Daniels would continue to get used to the 3-4 defense, probably be used a similar capacity as he was used in his rookie season, namely in the nickel package as a down defensive tackle in obvious passing downs and perhaps become part of the rotation in the base 3-4 defense as a defensive end.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Daniel’s biggest game came against the Philadelphia Eagles in week 10, where he recorded a sack, 2 quarterback hits and a hurry against the quick paced Eagles offense. Daniel’s lowlights both involve the Minnesota Vikings and All-World running back Adrian Peterson, who embarrassed Daniels (and the rest of the defensive front 7 in all honesty), especially in week 11 when he rushed for 146 yards.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Significant. According to ProFootballFocus, Daniels was the 5th ranked 3-4 defense end in the NFL last year behind the likes of JJ Watt, Calais Campbell, Kyle Williams, Cameron Jordan and Sheldon Richardson (however this is a little bit of a misnomer since neither Watt nor Daniels did most of their damage as a 3-4 DE but rather as a 4-3 DT in the 2 down linemen nickel package). Daniels was by far the Packers most productive defensive player, recording an astonishing 8 sacks, 6 QB hits and 27 hurries. While Daniels forte is still pass rushing, Daniels held his own against the run and had the highest grade on run defense on the entire team.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Daniels played 36 snaps (about half of the defensive snaps) and was maybe the strongest performer against the 49ers in the wildcard game, getting 1 sack and 1 quarterback hurry on Colin Kaepernick. Daniels also recorded 2 tackles and generally held his own throughout the game.
Season Report Card:
(A) Level of expectations met during the season
(A) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(B+) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: A
February 9, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Adam - ALLGBP.com, Adam Czech, Packers, Surviving Sunday
Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football
The other day I was playing Front Office Football 7 when I realized that I’d fit right in as an NFL owner.
Front Office Football 7 (FOF 7) is a management simulation (I’ve written about similar games in this space before) that puts you in control of an NFL franchise. But instead of mashing buttons and controlling players on the field like you would in Madden on the PS4 or XBox1, you call all the shots behind the scenes. You’re sort of a hybrid version of Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy and Jerry Jones.
Want to take control of the Packers and see what happens if you ditch draft and develop and sign a bunch of free agents every offseason? Want to see if the Dallas Cowboys could actually make the playoffs with competent management? Want to take control of the Jacksonville Jaguars and see if you can remake their roster into a contender? It’s possible with FOF 7.
I like to use my brain more than my thumbs when playing sports games, and FOF 7 makes that possible. There are other football simulations on the market, but FOF 7 is the only career-based option. In FOF 7, your career lasts as long as you want it to (assuming you don’t get fired), putting you in control of the draft, free agency, hiring and firing of coaches, setting ticket prices, managing depth charts, designing gameplans and pretty much everything associated with running a football team.
It’s an incredibly immersive experience (I don’t call it a game, I call it an experience) and the perfect way to get through these next seven depressing months without Packers football. The FOF franchise has been around for a long time, but FOF 7 was just released a couple of months ago. It’s the first new version to come out since 2007, and the upgrades and improvements are instantly noticeable.
Anyway, the other day I was playing, and at the point in the offseason where you set ticket prices, I caught myself not caring whatsoever about my (pretend) fans. I just jacked those ticket prices sky high. I was coming off an appearance in the NFC Championship game and fan “loyalty” had increased substantially.
“Let’s see how loyal you fans really are,” I thought to myself. “Are you loyal enough to pay $10 more per ticket to sit in the nosebleed section?”
The game also allows you to ask for public funding to build a new stadium. If the proposal fails, you’re allowed to move the team somewhere else. Depending on how cold-hearted I feel in future game years, I might ask the voters of Green Bay to replace Lambeau Field with the Wisconsin version of the Jerry Dome, and if they deny me, I’ll take away their beloved Packers and relocate them to Los Angeles.
Yup, I’d fit right in as an NFL owner.
I’d definitely do better as an owner than I would as a general manager. Drafting is hard! I seem to have success drafting offensive lineman in early rounds, but I completely whiff on finding gems at other positions later in the draft. And not long after I jacked up ticket prices and made the NFC title game, both of my starting CBs and my second best WR decided to hold out for new contracts.
The worst is when one of your players goes down with an obscure injury or condition. I lost my starting left tackle for a few games once because he was dealing with tobacco withdrawal syndrome.
(Update: Turns out I wouldn’t be able to manage the salary cap if I were a real-life GM either. I just lost a future third-round draft pick because I was over the cap heading into training camp. I had to cut my punter so I wouldn’t lose another draft pick. Doh!)
Anyway, this is the third offseason that I’ll be doing a Surviving Sunday column to help you get through the NFL offseason. It probably takes about 5 minutes to read this column every Sunday, so that means you have to try and kill the other 10,075 minutes each week before Packers football starts again.
Front Office Football 7 will make that time fly by. Check it out.
Packers notes and thoughts
- The Packers won’t be bringing back assistant special teams coach Chad Morton. So the Packers have signed a free agent fullback and canned a special teams assistant this offseason. Talk about an organizational shake-up.
- Tickets for Packers games are going up in price…again. Raising ticket prices always comes with a public relations hit, but until people stop buying them, Packers ticket prices won’t be coming down any time soon.
- Nick Collins wants to play again and John Rehor has a few thoughts over at Packerstalk.com. Hasn’t Collins said all along that he wants to play? I don’t think this is a new revelation, but I could be wrong. If Collins is somehow cleared to play, I don’t think it will be by the Packers. Jason Wilde also landed an interview with Collins.
- As long as you’re at Packerstalk.com, check out all of the available podcasts. New podcasts from various members of the Packers online community are going up on a regular basis. It’s the best way to stay up to date on the Packers during the offseason. The entire crew over there just put up an offseason megashow and it’s a must-listen for any Packers fan.
- Jermichael Finley says he’s ready to play, either for the Packers or another team. I’m really curious to see how many offers Finley gets on the open market? My hunch is he’ll sign a one-year deal somewhere, hope to remain healthy and productive, then cash in during free agency in 2015.
- It’s mock draft season. Yay. Can you see how excited I am? Doug Farrar at SI.com has the Packers taking Oklahoma St. cornerback Justin Gilbert with the 21st overall pick. Personally, I think the Packers would select Louisville free safety Calvin Pryor before they took Gilbert, but if Thompson sees more long-term value in Gilbert, he won’t hesitate to take him.
Non-Packers news, notes and other nonsense
- The makers of Out of the Park Baseball announced that they are working on a football game for 2015. FOF 7 will finally have some competition and I can’t want to see what the Out of the Park developers come up with for a football game.
- This quote from Hunter S. Thompson sums up how I feel about the NFL offseason, and is yet another reason to read Surviving Sunday and play Front Office Football 7.
- I got my car stuck in a snowbank for 3 hours on Monday morning. But Monday was still a great day because it was announced that this tour is coming to First Ave in May.
- Here’s how a record corn crop makes for a better Super Bowl Sunday.
- Cookie dough is my favorite food. I also enjoy Oreos. Cookie dough Oreos may be the death of me.
- Be sure to read Jeff Pearlman’s in-depth story about the 1984 U.S. Olympic hockey team — the team that had to try and follow the Miracle on Ice from 1980.
February 7, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Uncategorized
Packers DE Josh Boyd
1) Introduction: Could Josh Boyd be the next Mike Daniels? I don’t think Boyd will ever be the pass-rusher that Daniels is developing into, but he could be another late-round contributor on the defensive line if he builds on a promising finish to his rookie season.
2) Profile:
Josh Boyd
- Age: 24
- Born: 8/3/1989 in Philadelphia, MS
- Height: 6’3″
- Weight: 310
- College: Mississippi St.
- Rookie Year: 2013
- NFL Experience: 1 year
Career Stats and more
3) Expectations coming into the season: There were rumblings that Boyd might not even make the team early, so expectations were low. I would’ve been shocked to see a fifth-round pick get the axe so early. Next year is the big one for Boyd. Expectations will be higher and we’ll find out if he can play or not.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Boyd stuck around and hardly played until the final quarter of the season. Once he made it on the field, he played better than B.J. Raji. The game seemed too fast for Boyd in the preseason, and that obviously led to him rarely getting any opportunities until after Johnny Jolly went down.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Boyd looked fairly nimble for a 300-plus pound guy. Now someone needs to teach him how to use his girth to his advantage and fight more with his hands. I’m not saying that Boyd replaced what Jolly brought to the team, but he at least showed that he can be disruptive like Jolly was. Oh, and Boyd got more playing time at the end of the season than prized first-rounder Datone Jones. That says good things about Boyd’s future, and not so good things about Jones’ future.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Boyd swallowed up Frank Gore behind the line on one running play. He wasn’t quick enough to play any type of role in containing Collin Kaepernick, but against the slower-footed Gore, Boyd was able to fill space and do his job.
Season Report Card:
(C-) Level of expectations met during the season
(D) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(C) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: D+
February 6, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Uncategorized
Packers DE Jerel Worthy
1) Introduction: Jerel Worthy made it back from a late-season ACL injury suffered in 2012. He didn’t do anything upon returning, but simply making it back onto the field so soon was more than most people expected.
2) Profile:
Jerel Worthy
- Age: 23
- Born: 4/28/1990 in Huber Heights, OH
- Height: 6’2″
- Weight: 308
- College: Michigan St.
- Rookie Year: 2012
- NFL Experience: 2 years
Career Stats and more
3) Expectations coming into the season: Get healthy. I don’t think anybody expected Worthy to play a snap, but he made it all the way back and saw some game action.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Walking onto the field to play against the Vikings in week 12 — less than a year removed from a major ACL injury — is a very impressive highlight. We’ll find out next season if Worthy’s highlights go beyond returning from a serious injury.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: It’s tough to contribute when you’re injured. If Worthy is to have a successful NFL career, it will probably come as a Mike Daniels type of player — someone who is explosive enough to rush the passer from the inside but might be a little undersized to anchor gaps in the run defense.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Worthy only played two snaps in the postseason.
Season Report Card:
(Incomplete) Level of expectations met during the season
(Incomplete) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(Incomplete) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: Incomplete (kudos to Worthy for working to return so soon, but there isn’t enough there to give him a proper grade)
February 6, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Uncategorized
Packers DE Datone Jones
1) Introduction: Rookie defensive linemen rarely light up the league during their first season. There was hope that Datone Jones could be an exception to that rule.
2) Profile:
Datone Jones
- Age: 23
- Born: 7/24/1990 in Los Angeles, CA
- Height: 6’4″
- Weight: 283
- College: UCLA
- Rookie Year: 2013
- NFL Experience: 1 year
Career Stats and more
3) Expectations coming into the season: Give the base defensive line some much-needed pass rush. Jones got after the quarterback here and there, but rarely from base formation and not on a consistent basis.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Jones notched three sacks and registered five tackles over a two-game stretch against the Bears and Eagle. Before that outburst, Jones didn’t have any sacks and only managed one measly tackle. Jones also rarely played late in the season.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Jones would show flashes of pass-rushing ability here and there. He’s also fast enough to make plays downfield if a runner reaches the open field. Jones needs to spend the offseason studying game film of teammate Mike Daniels to learn how to better use leverage and to always play angry.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: As the season wore on, Jones’ playing time was decreased (never a good sign). Fellow rookie Josh Boyd was actually getting more playing time in the end. Jones managed to flush Collin Kaepernick out of the pocket on one of the 13 snaps Jones played in the playoff loss.
Season Report Card:
(D) Level of expectations met during the season
(D) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(D) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: D
February 5, 2014 /
Adam Czech
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Uncategorized
1) Introduction: It was another underachieving season for the big and athletic Wilson. After a good rookie season in 2010, Wilson hasn’t been able to take the next step.
Packers DE C.J. Wilson
2) Profile:
C.J. Wilson
- Age: 24
- Born: 3/30/1987 in Bellhaven, NC
- Height: 6’3″
- Weight: 305
- College: East Carolina
- Rookie Year: 2010
- NFL Experience: 4 years
Career Stats and more
3) Expectations coming into the season: Get back to the promise of his rookie season. The piano-playing Wilson looked like a big run-stopper who was quick enough to get after the quarterback during the Packers Super Bowl season. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to follow it up.
4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Wilson has missed significant time each of the last two seasons and only played in eight games in 2013. He also went from playing 355 snaps last season to just 123 this season. Wilson made the most of his 27 snaps against the Vikings in week 12. But after hurrying Christian Ponder a few times and having some success corralling Adrian Peterson, he left with an injury.
5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: He was another body to throw in on the defensive line. Unfortunately, there’s not much more to say than that. I don’t think Wilson is done in Green Bay — he’s big enough and quick enough to be effective and the Packers d-line is up in the air for 2014 — but he’s going to have to start producing.
6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: In 19 snaps, I don’t remember Wilson doing much of anything.
Season Report Card:
(D-) Level of expectations met during the season
(D) Contributions to team’s overall success.
(D-) Contributions to team during the playoffs
Overall Grade: D-
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