Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived
Surviving Sundays with no Packers football
Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers said this week that the current group of Packers receivers could be the deepest he’s had.
Remember before the 2006 season when Brett Favre said that teat team was the most talented he’s been a part of and we all chuckled? We thought it was just Favre being Favre, talking out of his you know what and maybe even having a little fun with his buddies from the Super Bowl teams of the 1990s.
Well, after a year of seasoning, the Packers went to the NFC championship game. Favre saw something in that group a lot of us overlooked and that talent eventually emerged. We can debate whether Favre’s statement was accurate when it came out of his mouth, but it ended up being a lot more accurate than we thought it would be.
Now Rodgers is heaping praise on a receiving group that features two rookies, a guy coming off a broken leg, no proven tight end and Jarrett Boykin, who appeared dead in the water last season before doing a 180 and coming up big when the Packers needed him.
Is Rodgers going overboard with his proclamation of this group’s depth? Not necessarily.
Favre qualified his praise of the 2006 team by saying it was also the most unproven and inexperienced team he’s been a part of. Most people conveniently overlooked that part of the quote.
The key phrase in Rodgers’ recent praise for his receivers is “could be.”
If Rodgers would have continued talking on the subject, he would have continued by saying his receivers “could be” his deepest if:
- Randall Cobb returns to his old self.
- Jarrett Boykin takes another step.
- Davante Adams is the real deal and fills James Jones’ shoes.
- Jared Abbrederius proves he’s the fifth-round steal a lot of people think he was.
- Jordy is Jordy.
- A tight end emerges as a red-zone threat.
- Someone we’ve never heard of plays well.
Rodgers probably didn’t feel the need to expand on the “could be” portion of his praise because he’s confident that if his collar bone stays in one piece, a lot of those “ifs” will disappear and “could be” will turn into reality.
Packers News, Notes and Links
- Several Packers have taken up yoga this offseason. If it’ll help end the annual plague of injuries, I’m all for it. I did yoga for a while. It’s a good workout. I felt bad for the poor person who got stuck behind me when it was time for the downward dog pose.
- Thanks to Colt Lyerla and Jermichael Finley monopolizing offseason tight end news, third-round pick Richard Rogers has flown under the radar. He’s starting to pick up steam, however, and even got a pat on the back from Aaron Rodgers this week. I have no idea what’s going to happen for the Packers at tight end, but if I had to guess, Rogers might end up contributing as a sure-handed red-zone threat.
- Any time ESPN Wisconsin’s Jason Wilde sits down for a chat with Aaron Rodgers, it’s a must-read. This week’s conversation was no exception. Wilde has a knack for getting Rodgers to talk about non-football topics in an interesting and engaging way.
- Ian Hanley power-ranked the Packers inside linebackers at Packerstalk.com. He’s got A.J. Hawk No. 1, but if someone like Jamari Lattimore wanted to swoop in, it wouldn’t take much to knock Hawk down the list.
- Brett Favre spoke again this week. Honestly, I didn’t even read a transcript of what he said, but if you want to, you can do so here. Talking about retiring Favre’s number as a Packers has gotten annoying. Just do it, already.
- ALLGBP.com’s Jason Perone looks at what the Packers might have up their sleeve for land they’re acquiring around Lambeau Field. Unfortunately, rumors that the land will be used to build ALLGBP.com a new headquarters are untrue. Too bad, Jersey Al is a job creator and could have done great things for the area economy.
Non Packers links and other Nonsense
- My thoughts on Bowe Bergdahl last week got a bunch of you all wound up in the comments section. That’s fine, but stop with the “stick to football” nonsense. I started “Surviving Sunday” on Feb. 26, 2012, so I could kill time during the offseason and try to cram as much Packers info into a single post as I could. I also created it so I could mix in some non-Packers and non-football discussion because there’s only so much you can beat offseason NFL/Packers topics into the ground. Most of us around here understand that sports, culture and current events often intersect. We’re also capable of having discussions that go beyond who is going to be the Packers third safety or sixth offensive lineman. But if all you want to talk is football, that’s fine. The football and non-football parts of “Surviving Sunday” are clearly labeled. Don’t bother interrupting the discussion with annoying “stick to football” comments.
- If I really wanted to aggravate you people further, I’d follow up the above rant with my opinion on the gay marriage issue currently going back and forth in Wisconsin. But maybe I’ll save that for next week 🙂
- This father’s day guide to youth sports from Mike Tanier is essential reading. I pray every day that my eight-month-old son never shows interest in playing hockey, soccer or wrestling.
- If you haven’t seen this throw from Yoenis Cespedes yet, click here and change that.
- I forgot to link to this last week, but the list of demands from the NFL on cities that host the Super Bowl is absurd. Isn’t it enough that taxpayers pay to build stadiums for their hometown team?
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