The Packer Pundit

It's Time to Lick our wounds and move on
Packer Pundit / Patrick Stuckey

After allowing myself a moment to calm down...
After allowing myself a chance to absorb last nights... drubbing...

I have come to the conclusion that this year's Packers are not Super Bowl bound but... are in fact much like the Clinton's marriage... A Work In Progress.

No Time to Panic
Well... not yet at least. Putting things in perspective... had Brett Favre not had one of 'those' games (we Packer fans know what I mean) last nights results could have been... should have been... a whole lot more palatable. We were driving nicely down field... Green had broke off a nice run (that's a positive) We had picked up a long 3rd down on a clutch grab by Donald Driver and the Bengals safety added a personal foul penalty to tack on more yardage. We were driving. But then Brett had a brain fart... the likes of which we've seen before... and the ball inexplicably fell out of his hands and bounced perfectly into a Bengals. Carson Palmer went up 7-0 before he even had to take the field.

When you're in a hole... quit digging
It's been my observation that when Brett Favre gets down early... he tends to over compensate instead of just relaxing... and letting the offense run its self. Remember the early years when Brett was rediculously wild for the first couple passes. Well one and a half decades later... he still gets flustered early. If he finds a rhythm... it's lights out for the other team... if he doesn't... it's just lights out. Having said all that... Brett made the early mistake... the next one was Drivers.

Murphy's Law
and the Snowball Effect
Brett hit Driver right in the hands... it was a Brett Favre bullet... I understand that... but it was a good 30 yards away from blast off... and Donald Driver... of all people... should know what to expect when receiving a Favre fastball. Let's just chalk this up to Murphy's Law. Unfortunately... Murphy doesn't play for the Packers so we can't cut his butt... nor should we cut Drivers. The defense did their best to hold Cincinnati to just a field goal but... 5 minutes into the game we're down 10-0... on the road and to a very good Division winner. Bad ju ju.

Next... the Packers go 3 and out and Ryan shanks one for 33 yards. Palmer goes through the ole! defense we were using and it's 17-0. Snowball time.

So what can we do Mr. Pundit Sir?
I'm glad you asked. The last couple years Brett would have one of 'those' games and Mike Sherman was his beotch and just stood by watching it all. My suggestion is to bench Brett... probably at 17-0... not after 24-0... and definitely before 31-0. My point is this... I've seen this movie... and it doesn't get any better... bench Brett and bring Aaron in.

I'm not suggesting Aaron is going to turn things around... but it's been painfully clear Brett sure wont. I actually think M&M had the scrotum to yank Favre... and if he needs any added advice... just remember WWtheTD.

What
Would
the
Tuna
Do?

Packer Cut Eight
The Packers cut eight players to get to the NFL roster limit of 75. They released fullback A.J. Cooper, long snapper Thomas Gafford, wide receivers Chad Lucas and Calvin Russell, defensive tackle Jerome Nichols, defensive end Montez Murphy, cornerback Jerron Wishom and quarterback Brian Wrobel. The Packers will play their final preseason game at 3 p.m. Friday at Lambeau Field. The team will have to announce its 53-man roster on Saturday.

Green Knocks The Rust Off
Running back Ahman Green's return to action Monday night didn't solve the Packers' struggles with their ground game, but afterwards Green wasn't concerned with his less-than-stellar statistics. Green had just 18 yards on eight carries in the first half, playing in his first game since rupturing a quadriceps tendon last October in Minnesota. Numbers aside, it was getting some game action that mattered most, and there were no setbacks with regards to his leg. "I feel good, definitely getting the rust knocked off, and that's all I wanted," said Green, who may not play much if at all on Friday against Tennessee. "It's another step forward in getting ready for Chicago."

Poor tackling
Thompson didn't want to comment on how any individuals performed in the blowout loss at Cincinnati Monday night, but he did note one particular defensive deficiency - tackling. "As a group, we didn't tackle very well, especially poor tackling in third-down situations," he said. "We fell off some tackles." The Packers allowed the Bengals to convert nine of 14 third downs (64 percent), including nine of 12 in the first three quarters. Thompson said he didn't know if the players were tired from the long week of practice or if the long nine-day layoff between games played a factor in the team's disappointing performance. "Late in the game, when it kind of got out of control, especially after the little suspension of play, I thought we were still playing hard, but we were bouncing off of ball carriers," Thompson said. "Give those guys credit, they were running the ball pretty hard, but we've got to tackle better than that. Absolutely."

Special teams mostly solid
Kicker Dave Rayner and punt returner Greg Jennings were two bright spots for the Packers on special teams. Rayner hit his lone field goal attempt, from 30 yards, and had two strong kickoffs. To open the second half, Rayner's kickoff went 2 yards deep into the end zone. His next attempt came down at the 2-yard line and was well covered, stopping the Bengals inside the 20. Rayner's last kickoff, after a weather delay, was his worst, coming down at the 9-yard line.

Jennings had a 27-yard punt return around right end in the third quarter, giving the Packers a first down at the Cincinnati 39, but the offense wasn't able to capitalize. "I would say he's not a surprise anymore," Head Coach Mike McCarthy said of Jennings, who also caught three passes for 40 yards. "That's the way he played since he showed up in the spring. He's a very smooth football player. He's a guy that makes plays every game." The Packers had planned to use Charles Woodson on punt returns, but the defense did not force a punt in the first half. Jennings, a rookie second-round draft pick, called for a fair catch on his first punt return in the third quarter.

Punter Jon Ryan was inconsistent but recovered from a poor first punt to have a solid night overall, averaging 44.8 yards on four punts. His first effort was a low 33-yarder made even less effective when long snapper Rob Davis was called for holding. Ryan rebounded with a high hanging punt that went for just 35 yards but pinned the Bengals on their own 10-yard line in the second quarter, and he hit punts of 51 and 60 yards on his last two attempts. After the returns, both of those went for a net of 46 yards.

Kicker Brought In To Compete With Rayner
On Tuesday, the Packers claimed E.J. Cochrane off waivers from Philadelphia. Cochrane, a 5-foot-11, 204-pound rookie from Montana State, originally signed as a non-drafted free agent with Atlanta in February, then signed with the Eagles in April and was waived on Saturday. "We've been following him at school and also this training camp," Thompson said in his news conference Tuesday afternoon. "We thought he was having a really good training camp and thought he was a guy we'd want to take a look at. So we have a few days here to see what's what."

Return home for Hawk
An Ohio native and Ohio State alum, linebacker A.J. Hawk was back in his home state for the first time as a professional football player. Hawk was mostly a presence in the run game, finishing third on the team with four total tackles (two solo). Three of them came on the Bengals' opening drive of the second half.

Hawk said one of the adjustments from college to the pros was playing preseason games, which are easier to forget about. "We're definitely not going to sit here and dwell on this," Hawk said. "We're going to take the positives we can because we have a quick turnaround for the game Friday and make sure we get everything cleaned up."

Ups and downs
Fighting for a roster spot after missing several training camp practices with a balky knee, second-year cornerback Mike Hawkins appeared to show the necessary speed to maintain one-on-one coverage. On two plays in the first half, Hawkins stuck right with Antonio Chatman and T.J. Houshmandzadeh on sideline deep routes, leading to two of Carson Palmer's five incompletions. The two plays were just three snaps apart, and Hawkins appeared tired after the second one and looked to the sideline to be replaced, but stayed in the game. "I was winded, but those are times you have to fight through those things," he said. "That sometimes separates the rookies from the veterans. The veterans learn how to stay in there and get through it. I'm still going and still learning, I can't do anything but get better as long as I keep working hard."

Weather delay
With 9:09 left in the fourth quarter, the game was suspended due to lightning with the Packers facing first-and-goal from the Bengals' 3. The game resumed 40 minutes later, and the Packers needed three plays to score on a 2-yard TD run by Gado. Coincidentally, three years ago to the day the Packers had a weather delay in a preseason game against the Tennessee Titans at Lambeau Field. That delay lasted 21/2 hours.

Injury update
Packers sitting out the game due to injury were safeties Marviel Underwood (knee) and Atari Bigby (hand), cornerbacks Will Blackmon (foot) and Patrick Dendy (ankle), fullback William Henderson (knee), offensive linemen Mookie Moore (shoulder), Josh Bourke (calf) and William Whitticker (hamstring), and defensive lineman Kenny Peterson (ankle). Former Packer Hannibal Navies, now a linebacker for the Bengals, also did not play. Packers tight end David Martin went to the locker room late in the first half with cramps but returned to the game.

Tough luck
For the second straight year, 2005 seventh-round draft choice Kurt Campbell was placed on injured reserve, ending his season, before the arrival of the first regular-season game. Campbell, a linebacker out of Albany, injured his shoulder covering a kickoff return Monday night in Cincinnati. Thompson didn't go into specifics about the injury, only saying it was severe enough to sideline him for the season. He had been in competition for a backup spot at weak-side linebacker and a role on special teams. Last year, Campbell tore an ACL in his knee during training camp and had done all his rehabilitation, only to be slowed in training camp this summer by a hamstring injury, forcing him to miss the first two preseason games.

Difficult job
Thompson makes no secret of the fact that his least favorite days as a general manager are when roster reductions are made. The Packers released eight players on Tuesday to get down to the NFL-mandated limit of 75. "Most of them are pretty young and they've done everything we've asked them," Thompson said. "Some of them didn't get as much playing time as we or they would have hoped, but that's just sort of the way those first three games worked out. Sometimes injuries were a factor and other things, but these guys did a good job, and it was a tough day." There's a possibility some of the released players could be brought back onto the practice squad next week, should they not be claimed by any other teams. For competitive reasons, Thompson declined to say whether he was considering any players for the practice squad. The final roster reduction is Saturday, when the Packers will have to be down to 53 players. Thompson says no roster decisions are easy, but of the 22 that have yet to be made, some promise to be especially difficult. "They're all tough, but the level of talent and ability and trying to weigh all those things in terms of where you are and where you need to be, those tougher decisions will come a little bit later," Thompson said.






Packers No sticker-shock with cuts
By JASON WILDE / madison.com

As a former player, you'll never hear Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson refer to cutting players as "easy." But the 10 roster moves he had to make to get down to the NFL-mandated 75-player roster limit Tuesday - after adding kicker E.J. Cochrane via waivers from the Philadelphia Eagles - were hardly surprising or difficult.

Fullback A.J. Cooper, long snapper Thomas Gafford, wide receivers Chad Lucas and Calvin Russell, defensive linemen Montez Murphy and Jerome Nichols, cornerback Jerron Wishom and quarterback Brian Wrobel were released, while safety Marviel Underwood and linebacker Kurt Campbell were placed on season-ending injured reserve. The tough cuts come Saturday after the preseason finale against Tennessee, when Thompson must make 22 moves to get down to the 53-player regular-season limit. MORE>>





After being burned by Bengals,
Woodson on hot seat
By Dylan B. Tomlinson / Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers

For the Green Bay Packers to have much success on defense this season, they're going to have to start seeing some return on the seven-year, $39 million investment they made in cornerback Charles Woodson. Woodson's signing was considered a huge coup for the Packers this offseason, but if Woodson has a few more performances like he did during Monday night's embarrassing 48-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, it's going to look like they got ripped off. Woodson was burned by Bengals receivers T.J. Housh-mandzadeh and Tab Perry for touchdowns on Monday night. At a press conference on Tuesday, Packers General Manager Ted Thompson did his best to dodge questions about Woodson's play. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to comment on individual players," Thompson said. "I haven't met with the coaches yet, and I don't know all of the different peculiarities of the calls, so I'll just leave that to the coaches to critique." MORE>>