Surviving Sunday: Packers news,notes and links for the football deprived

Welcome to Surviving Sunday,my weekly column during the offseason that summarizes the Packers news of the week,mixed in with my own thoughts and opinions. Toward the end of the post,after I’ve brought you up to speed on everything that went down with the Packers during the week,I mix in some non-Packers links and thoughts that are sometimes silly,sometimes serious,but hopefully,always interesting.

We’re a week into the CheeseheadTV and AllGreenBayPackers.com marriage. So far,nobody has had to spend a night on the couch after a big fight. We’re also sharing household chores and listening to each other — two keys to any sucessful marriage.

I had the honor of kicking things off with this post about key players the Packers will face in 2015. From there,you saw great pieces like this one from Thomas Hobbes on trading Brett Hundley and this one from Jay Hodgson on the Packers and playcalling.

And remember,this is the boring (reeeeeeeallllly boring) part of the offseason. As the season approaches and things get more interesting on Lombardi Ave.,the CheeseheadTV and AllGBP.com marriage will start cranking even more high-quality material.

Let’s get to the news of the week:

Packers news,notes and links

  • The Packers three-day minicamp consisted of one full-squad practice,a team-building activity (sporting clays) and a day where veterans were excused early. For a team that wants to get off to a faster start this season,and a coach who has lamented the reduction in the number of opportunities he has to work with his squad in the offseason,you’d think the Packers would want to make more of their time in minicamp. Then again,the odds of suffering a needless injury are greatly reduced when you send the veterans home early one day and spend another day shooting discs out of the sky (assuming Dick Cheney doesn’t show up).
  • Ty Dunne is heading home to work in Buffalo and cover the Bills. I’m going to miss the outstanding work he did on the Packers’ beat these last several years. I’m also going to miss his podcasts with Bob McGinn. Farewell,Ty. Thanks for all the coverage and best of luck trying to stay awake covering those Bill games in December when the team is 5-10. 
  • Besides Aaron Rodgers,Matt Barlow at Acme Packing Company wonders which Packers player will be the most critical to the team’s success in 2015. I’ve got a darkhorse candidate for you: B.J. Raji. If Raji can come close to returning to his 2010 form and solidify the defense up the middle,great things will happen for this team. Darkhorse candidate runner-up: David Bakhtiari. He’s had a solid first two seaons. If he stays healthy and improves again in 2015,the Packers offensive line will once again be in great shape.
  • Who the hell is LaDarius Gunter? Sounds like he’s got a shot to be the next solid Packers’ find in undrafted free agency. We shall see…
  • When the Packers sweep the Vikings this season,McCarthy should bring a ping-pong paddle to midfield for the post-game handshake with Mike Zimmer.

Non-Packers links and other nonsense

  • All of us at CheeseheadTV send our throughts and sympathy to the victims and families of the Charleston shooting. It’s long past time to put an end to this B.S.,America.
  • My previous sentence applies to the rest of the world,too. I’m in the middle of reading “One of Us,” which goes into detail about a shooter who murdered 77 people in Norway. Just awful,awful stuff.
  • On the lighter side,Mastodon has a new music video out featuring cats that appear to be completely whacked out on hallucinogens.
  • After the St. Louis Cardinals hacking allegations from this week,seeing Bill Belichick in a Cardinals jersey is just too funny.