Building The 53 - 2015 Preseason Week 1 - Packers/Patriots Review

Going into the 2015 NFL preseason almost everything on offense is settled given that the Packers project to return every starter while almost everything on defense is equally unsettled given that the Packers need to replace at least one starter at both linebacker and cornerback.  Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson will keep a close eye on everything throughout training camp but I am sure there will be an extra focus on the defensive side of the ball given all the personnel changes.  With that in mind, here are a few of my thoughts on how the Packers/Patriots preseason game impacted The 53:

Player that hurt his stock most - Don Barclay: Going into the training camp, I thought Barclay was a borderline lock to make The 53 so I made him one of the nine Most Likelies*.  Barclay is still rehabbing a knee injury that cost him the entire 2014 NFL season and he looked rusty in his first preseason action.  Assuming that all the offensive lineman are healthy, the starters left to right project as follows: David Bakhtiari (LT), Josh Sitton (LG), Corey Linsley (C), T.J. Lang (RG), and Bryan Bulaga (RT).  For the first time in a long time, the Packers actually have some quality depth along the offensive line in Matt Rotheram (G), JC Tretter (C/G), Lane Taylor (G), Jeremy Vujnovich (T), and Josh Walker (G).  It seems crazy to say this but assuming that every offensive lineman is healthy and Thompson keeps eight offensive lineman on The 53 to open the season, Barclay's spot on The 53 could be in jeopardy given the emergence of all the other young pups.

Player that helped his stock most - LaDarius Gunter:  There is no doubt that Gunter turned some heads in practice given the he is the only defensive back with multiple interceptions of Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in training camp and he continued his impressive play in his first preseason game action when he picked off backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in the 3rd quarter. Despite the fact that Thompson used his first two picks in the 2015 NFL Draft on defensive backs when he drafted Damarious Randall (Arizona State) and Quinten Rollins (Miami University), it still looks like Gunter is going to make The 53 as an undrafted free agent.  Randall sat out against the Patriots with a groin injury but assuming all cornerbacks are healthy and the Packers leave Micah Hyde at safety, here is how the cornerback depth chart currently looks: Sam Shields, Casey Hayward, Rollins, Randall, Gunter, and Demetri Goodson.

Position to watch - Defensive Line: Letroy Guion and Mike Daniels, two of the three presumptive starters along the defensive line sat out the Patriots game due to injury.  That gave a number of backups the chance to show they belong.  Here is a breakdown of the snap counts for each of the defensive lineman against the Patriots: Datone Jones (30), Mike Pennel (30), Bruce Gaston (26), Khyri Thornton (20), Josh Boyd (12), B.J. Raji (11), Christian Ringo (10), and Lavon Hooks (6).  The fact that Pennel and Gaston got more snaps than Thornton is NOT a good sign for Thornton given that this training camp seems to be make-or-break for the former 3rd round pick of the 2014 NFL Draft after he spent the entire 2014 NFL season on injured reserve since there was little chance he would have made The 53 to open the 2014 NFL season.  Given that Jones (suspended for Week 1) and Guion (suspended through Week 3 pending his appeal) will (most likely) be suspended to start the 2015 NFL season, there look to be five spots available along the defensive line for other guys.  If I had to handicap the guys for those five spots, here is how I would hand them out as of today: Daniels, Boyd, Raji, Pennel, and Gaston.  That leaves Thornton and Ringo on the outside looking in at this point but thankfully they have the rest of training camp and three more preseason games to change Thompson's mind.

Final Note: I can't tell you how sick I am of hearing about Deflategate.  If Tom Brady was more forthright, the NFL would have turned the page.  Since that didn't happened, we've been forced to endure one of the most mind-numbing NFL stories in a long time.  If you are a Patriots fan then you think the NFL is out to get you and that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is out to retroactively re-punish the Patriots more for Spygate since many think Goodell let the Patriots off easy given how close he is with Patriots owner Robert Kraft.  If you are a fan of the other 31 NFL teams, you see a dysfunctional commissioner in Goodell that somehow botched what seemed to be a fairly straight forward process.  Ultimately I assume that Brady will NOT miss any games but the fact is that no one wins given how horribly this process has been handled by everyone.

Unless the Packers make any significant roster moves before their next preseason game on the road next Sunday against the Pittsburgh Steelers, check back next Monday for my review of how the Packers/Steelers preseason game impacts Building The 53.

The 53 - 2013 Pro Bowl Thoughts

The NFL is implementing some changes for the Pro Bowl this year in hopes of somehow keeping an irrelevant game relevant.  Instead of naming AFC and NFC teams, there were pools of players picked irrespective of conference.  From the pools of players picked, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders will select the teams that play in the Pro Bowl.  I am sure that ESPN loves the idea of having Rice and Sanders pick the teams because it will allow them to fill hours of airtime dissecting their meaningless draft decisions.

I hope this slight change in the Pro Bowl format serves as a bridge to a radical way to replace the Pro Bowl all together.  I like the idea of recognizing the best players in the NFL and I like idea of having captain choose teams but I hate the actual game itself so here is my plan for making the Pro Bowl relevant again.  Instead of using former NFL greats, make the two players that finish with the most votes the captains.  Since the NFL is apparently pushing to improve player safety, instead of picking teams for a joke of a game that the Pro Bowl has become, I say pick teams for an all-day skills competition.

Sure we can have a quarterback challenge and other quasi on the field competitions but I am much more interested in the off-the-field stuff.  I know each of the competitions will not get as good of television ratings as the Pro Bowl but I have solution to fill that void.  The easiest off-the-field competition is an eating content that involves all the offensive and defensive lineman.  Since we know the NFL loves to push any advertising it can, they can call it the BW3's Wing Eating Competition.  While we are getting branding in the mix, how about an EA Sports Madden video game competition?  As the Real World/Road Rules Challenge has shown us, adult spelling competitions always provide high comedy so let's add in the Dictionary.com Spelling Bee.  I am sure there are ten more that we could come up with but you get the point.

I am not an advertising genius but the NFL might even be able to make more money off the Pro Bowl Skills Competition presented by Miller Lite than the actual Pro Bowl game itself currently makes depending on how much the NFL charges the advertisers for each competition.  Leaving money aside for a moment, the NFL can use the downtime during the competitions to tell the back stories of the players involved in the Pro Bowl Skills Competition presented by Miller Lite, which will help them increase interest with women by making these freakish athletes seem more like regular human beings.  Unfortunately since this idea makes too much sense I am sure NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell will never let it see the light of day.

With my Pro Bowl Skills Competition presented by Miller Lite idea out of the way, let's take a look at the actual 2013 Pro Bowl from a Cheesehead sports perspective.  The Green Bay Packers were one of five NFL teams without a player selected to the Pro Bowl.  The other four teams without a Pro Bowler are the Atlanta Falcons, Jacksonville Jaguars, New York Giants, and New York Jets.  That marks the first time since 2005 that the Packers did not have a single player named to the Pro Bowl.

The Packers did have eight players named as Pro Bowl alternates: John Kuhn (FB), Eddie Lacy (RB), Clay Matthews (OLB), Jordy Nelson (WR), Aaron Rodgers (QB), Sam Shields (CB), Josh Sitton (G), and Tramon Williams (CB).  Here are my thoughts on the three biggest Packer Pro Bowl snubs, in reverse order:

#3) Josh Sitton (LG): There were six offensive guards selected to the Pro Bowl ahead of Sitton: Jahri Evans (Saints), Ben Grubbs (Saints), Mike Iupati (49ers), Logan Mankins (Patriots), Louis Vasquez (Broncos), and Marshal Yanda (Ravens).  I am fine with Iupati, Mankins, and Yanda making it ahead of Sitton.  I am even fine with either Evans or Grubbs making the Pro Bowl at guard but not both given that the New Orleans Saints offensive line was not that dominate this season.  I presume giving Vasquez the nod is just a tip of the cap to the Denver Bronco offensive line given that the Broncos had one of the most potent offenses in NFL history this season.  In terms of Sitton's case for the Pro Bowl, not only did he seamlessly transition from right guard to left guard but he lined up next to rookie offensive tackle David Bakhtiari and blocked for a backup quarterback for almost half the regular season.  Accurately comparing offensive lineman is more of an art that a science but given all that I just discussed, it would have been nice to see Sitton named to the Pro Bowl this season.

#2) Jordy Nelson (WR): There were eight wide receivers selected to the Pro Bowl ahead of Nelson: Antonio Brown (Steelers), Dez Bryant (Cowboys), Josh Gordon, (Browns), A.J. Green (Bengals), Andre Johnson (Texans), Calvin Johnson (Lions), Brandon Marshall (Bears), and Demaryius Thomas (Broncos).  I honestly think if Nelson was more flashy, he would get more recognition because he made a number of highlight reel catches like his touchdown catch that helped spark the comeback against the Dallas Cowboys. Given how much the Texans have struggled this season, I probably would have given Nelson the nod over Johnson.

#1) Eddie Lacy (RB): There were the six running backs selected to the Pro Bowl ahead of Lacy: Jamaal Charles (Chiefs), Matt Forte (Bears), Frank Gore (49ers), Marshawn Lynch (Seahawks), LeSean McCoy (Eagles), and Adrian Peterson (Vikings).  If I was starting a franchise tomorrow and could have any of the aforementioned group, I would have a hard time choosing between McCoy and Peterson.  After that, it would be a tough choice between Lacy and Lynch when you factor in that Lynch is four years older than Lacy.  I am biased in my love for Lacy so I would probably take Lacy ahead of Lynch but that is a very tough call.  Oddly I am fine with Lacy getting snubbed by the Pro Bowl if that helps him win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year because I actually think that is a more important benchmark in a player's career given what a joke the Pro Bowl has become.

Let's hope no one on The 53 for the Packers can compete in the 2013 Pro Bowl because they are preparing to play in Super Bowl XLVIII.  Their first step towards that goal is beating the Chicago Bears in the winner-take-all battle for the NFC North title.  No matter the outcome of the game, make sure to check back early next week for my full thoughts on the Packers/Bears game.

Tweet Beat involving @CheeseheadSN

It has been almost two years since I've had a "Tweet Beat" post but based on what transpired Friday on Twitter, I had to post a combo Sunday Funday/Tweet Beat post.  For those that don't know, I tweet under the handle @CheeseheadSN in relative anonymity thanks to only having a couple dozen followers.  I only selectively tweet, usually about Cheesehead sports, so please bear with me since this post is going to come off as purely gratuitous.

Let me set the stage, @billsimmons was browbeating NHL commissioner Gary Bettman in his weekly article for Grantland.com.  The closing paragraph to that portion of his article was: "For that and that alone, Gary Bettman needs to step down. No, we can't impeach him. Yes, we can continue to excoriate him. He's the worst commissioner in sports history, and really, it's going to remain that way unless Roger Goodell extends the NFL's season to 20 games, adds Wednesday- and Friday-night football to the schedule, pays a hitman to murder Jonathan Vilma, and gets outed for having a heated affair with his biographer, Peter King … and even then, I'd probably still give the edge to Bettman."  (source)

For some reason I decided to tweet this:

@si_peterking thoughts on @billsimmons taking a shot at your relationship with @nflcommish in his column: grantland.com/story/_/id/863…?
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) November 16, 2012

I was completely floored to see @SI_PeterKing tweet this out to his almost 1 million Twitter followers:

RT @cheeseheadsn: Thoughts on @billsimmons taking a shot at your relationship with @nflcommish in his column .. That's life in the big city.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) November 16, 2012

If that wasn't enough excitement for one night, as I was getting ready for bed I saw that Green Bay Packers offensive guards Josh Sitton was interacting with fans on Twitter so buoyed by my excitement of the tweet discussed above, I decided to tweet this:

@jsitton71 what are your thoughts on the back and forth between @aaronrodgers12 and @60minutes?
— CheeseheadSportsNut (@CheeseheadSN) November 17, 2012

Less floored than the tweet involving me by @SI_PeterKing but surprised nonetheless, here is what @jsitton71 tweeted:

“@cheeseheadsn:what are your thoughts on the back and forth between @aaronrodgers12 and @60minutes?”fuck 60 minutes. #anythingforstory
— josh sitton (@jsitton71) November 17, 2012

Trust me, I know it is sad how much excitement I get out of the fact that an NFL writer for Sports Illustrated and an offensive lineman for the Green Bay Packers took a few seconds out of their life to re-tweet some of my tweets while adding their thoughts.  I also get that it is downright certifiable that I dedicated an entire "Sunday Funday" post to the tweets above but since I only gained a half dozen followers via the re-tweets, I had to share my stories with the masses just a few second before I tweet out a link to this blog post.

2012 Preseason Week 1 - Packers/Chargers Review

Turnovers and penalties marred the start of the 2012 Green Bay Packers' march to Super Bowl XLVII.  We usually only get to see the starters for the first few series of the game in Week 1 of the preseason. As a result I expected to see sloppy play from the second and third stringers this week but the first-stringers were the ones that worried me the most.  Here are a few quick thoughts on the Week 1 Preseason game between the Packers and the Chargers:

#1) Player that hurt his stock most: Let's relax on replacing Donald Driver with the likes of Diondre Borel and Shaky Smithson.  I understand that the shadows were tricky in the Whales Vagina but if Borel and Smithson can't field balls cleanly on special teams in the preseason that does not make me confident that they are ready to do it when the games count.  Obviously Driver is no longer a special teams player but he does everything the Packers ask of him on the field and more importantly, off the field he is a legitimate veteran presence in the locker room that the Packers desperately need.  You want an indictment on Borel and Smithson, the Packers had stud returner Randall Cobb essentially fair catching punts in the 4th quarter instead of giving them more reps.

#2) Player that helped his stock most: With Charles Woodson not in uniform it gave the Packers a good chance to see what they have at cornerback and safety besides the mainstays (Woodson, Tramon Williams, and Morgan Burnett).  Davon House showed flashes of brilliance before getting hurt on special teams.  If House can stay healthy (huge if based on last season) and play that well in the regular season then we might be looking at Al Harris 2.0 not only aesthetically with the locks and the jersey number but with his play.  Casey Hayward was routinely victimized on defense while House played well so as long as House is healthy, look for him to push Sam Shields for playing time.

#3) Position to watch: With middle linebacker Desmond Bishop leaving the game with what looked like a serious knee injury, only half of the guys that will start defensively for the 2012 Green Bay Packers are set: B.J. Raji, Ryan Pickett, Claymaker, Tramon Williams, Charles Woodson, and Morgan Burnett.  Let's focus on linebacker, which looks like the spot with the most uncertainty where the Packers will most likely keep 10 guys.  The only locks to make the roster are Claymaker, Bishop (assuming he isn't lost for the season), Perry, and D.J. Smith.  Odds are that the Packers keep A.J. Hawk despite his bloated salary so that leaves eight guys for five spots.  There is still a ton of preseason left but if I had to guess today I would bet Erik Walden, Jamari Lattimore, Terrell Manning, Frank Zombo, and Dezman Moses make the team while Brad Jones, Robert Francois, and Vic So'oto will be cut.

Final Note: I don't know all the in's and out's of the labor negotiations between the NFL and the NFL referees but Roger Goodell needs to sort this out well before the start of the regular season.  It is downright crazy that NFL referees are not full-time NFL employees.  Obviously Goodell realizes that the referees are essentially the gatekeepers of a multi-billion industry right?  One way or another the real NFL referees better be presiding over the regular season games or the product on the field will suffer.

NFL Labor Update

Barring a major change of events the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL owners and players is set to expire at 11:59 EST on Thursday, March 3, 2011. If that happens, all NFL activity besides the 2011 NFL Draft would stop until a new agreement is reached.

Many NFL fans wonder how we got here. In the simplest terms, the NFL owners and players are fighting about how to split revenue. The NFL reportedly took in $9 billion in revenue in 2010. Under the current agreement, the NFL owners take roughly $1 billion of that revenue off the top and then spend 60% of the remaining revenue on the players. As employers are normally prone to think, the NFL owners think they are paying the players too much.

Besides how to split revenue here are the other main issues that the NFL owners and players are fighting about:
- Expanding the NFL regular season by two games to 18 regular season games
- Implementing a rookie wage scale
- Extending health care benefits for retired players

The owners will argue that since 2006 players costs have grown by 11% a year while revenues have only grown by 5.5%. The owners will point to the financial disclosures by the Green Bay Packers (only publicly owned team in the NFL so they are required to release certain financial information) that shows that the Packers' profits have decreased from $34 million to $10 million in four years.

The NFL players will counter that it is not really millionaires fighting with billionaires because the average NFL career only lasts 3.4 years. Furthermore, players like Aaron Rodgers have already earned tons of money but it is the borderline NFL players that can't afford to lose money and benefits. The players will further assert that it is ironic that the NFL is focusing on player safety but also trying to increase the number of regular season games thus subjecting the players to more injuries.

I have a million thoughts about how this should play out v. how this will actually play out. Check back for more coverage on this issue as things unfold.