Review of Brewers On Deck 2011

Papa Cheese (my Dad) and I attended Brewers On Deck 2011 at the Frontier Airlines Center. For those of you that don’t know, Brewers On Deck is basically a meet and greet for fans with most of the players, coaching staff, front office personnel, media people, and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers. The event drew record crowds with 11,299 fans (previous attendance record was 10,600 set in 2010) attending this year mostly to meet the new coaching staff and pitchers that are supposed to make the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers a playoff team.

Brewers On Deck 2011 had a main stage, an interactive stage, the 620 WTMJ stage, a team museum, memorabilia alley, a team store, an interactive FS Wisconsin stage, a Kids Zone, numerous concessions stands, 6 autograph stages, and of course the Klement's Racing Sausages.

There were many highlights with very few low lights at Brewers On Deck 2011. I took a bunch of pictures on my iPhone at the event that I will pepper in throughout the post to give those that were unable to attend the event an even better glimpse at what happened during Brewers On Deck 2011.

Main Stage Review:
There were a number of different Q&A sessions with various people within the Brewers organization. We were able to attend most of the sessions. Here is a quick look at each session we attended.

"Meet the coaching staff" hosted by Brian Anderson:

It was nice to see new manager Ron Roenicke and the rest of the coaching staff. Host Brian Anderson did a good job of moving things along and making sure we heard at least something from each of the coaches. Unfortunately the coaching staff kept everything close to the vest. Apparently they haven't talked about how they will slot their starters or their opening day lineup. Really? I have a hard time believing those discussion have not been ongoing all off-season. I understand that they do not want to give away too much information, but why not at least give us some information? The only real nugget we learned was that new manager Ron Roenicke wants to be more aggressive on the base paths than Ken Macha. That is not even that big of a nugget because Macha was one of the most conservative coaches in the last decade.

"Who Wants to be a Brewer?" with Casey McGehee, Ed Sedar, and hosted by Cory Provus:
This was a Brewers trivia knock-off on Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It was a good concept to pair a Brewer with a contestant with each correct answer giving the contestant an even better prize. Decent game but there is too much other good stuff to cover so let's move on.

"Meet Mark Attanasio, Doug Melvin, Gord Ash, and the Newest Brewers Pitchers" hosted by Bob Uecker:

I can't describe how nice it was to see Bob Uecker on his feet and healthy again. As I covered in an earlier Sunday Funday, Brewers fans should thank their lucky stars to still have Uecker in the fold. Uecker mixed in some funny nuggets while owner Mark Attanasio, general manager Doug Melvin, assistant general manager Gord Ash, pitcher Zack Greinke, and pitcher Shaun Marcum answered an array of questions. I was impressed with everyone on stage besides Zack Greinke. Not only were Greinke's answers almost inaudible, but as you can see in the picture, he squirmed in his chair and had absolutely horrible body language. There is no question that Greinke can pitch but his first impression to most fans was mediocre at best. I know Greinke has anxiety issues, I just didn't know they are that extreme.

"Name That Hit!" with John Axford, Zach Braddock, Craig Counsell, Randy Wolf hosted by Bob Uecker with Dean Rosko on the organ:

Much like "Who Wants to be a Brewer?" the game paired a Brewer with a contestant to correctly identify songs in order to win prizes. The preliminary rounds dragged because the only time a team got a song right was when they knew the song from the clue given by Uecker as opposed to Dean Rosko's rendition on the organ. For how well Dean Rosko tickles the ivory, it wasn't until the final round when Rosko played larger snippets of songs in rapid succession that the game got interesting. The final round was Counsell against Wolf. In terms of Brewers that seemed sports funny, those guys are very high on the list. For those that don’t know, sports funny means that athletes are by no means comedians. In fact, athletes would bomb as stand-up comedians but fans find them funny because they are funny…for a pro athlete. Much like the other game, another substantive panel would have been a much better addition to the event.


Interactive Stage:

A bunch of different things were going on here, a stage with a little bit of everything if you will. At one point there was a Q&A session with Rickie Weeks, Jonathan Lucroy, and Corey Hart. What made that Q&A especially awesome is that they took questions only from children. It was really neat to see the smiles on their faces as they got to ask questions of some of their favorite Brewers. Later when we passed by people with impressive voices were singing the Star Spangled Banner. This stage was sort of the jack-of-all trades stage. Great idea, great execution.


620 WTMJ Stage:
620 WTMJ is lucky have a presence at the event because terrestrial radio stations seem to be going the way of the dodo. Unfortunately like radio broadcasts themselves, the area always seemed sparse in attendance compared to other areas unless they were interviewing an actual player or someone from the front office. A better idea would have been for the Brewers to show off some of their new media offerings through Brewers.com or other in-game technology such as the features of the new scoreboard as opposed to having old media terrestrial radio on hand.


Brewers Museum:

The highlight of the museum was Papa Cheese sitting in the old bullpen cart that took players out to the mound at County Stadium. If I ever make it big I am buying that cart or making a replica to ride around my compound. There were a bunch of interesting nuggets in the museum but it was a little cluttered and disjointed. For example, they had a wall with information about the entire history of the franchise but it was hard to take it all in because it was written out in small type on one big wall. Besides that, it was a little light on historical artifacts. People that are willing to come to a baseball event on a Sunday morning at the end of January want to see more than just a few pieces of memorabilia and a wall with the history of the franchise. Most people probably skipped the museum because it didn't stand out and was thin on memorabilia. Next year I hope the Brewers put some more time and artifacts in the museum.


Sports Memorabilia Alley:

Speaking of memorabilia, it is a sad area to walk through because it consisted mostly of baseball cards and signed memorabilia of players that had a cup of lukewarm coffee with the Brewers. In fact the tables with Packers memorabilia seemed to create the most buzz. Just to drive the point home, the only thing I bought from sports memorabilia alley was a Super Bowl XLV program. Besides the sign to the left (I signed "Go Pack Go, Cheesehead Sports Nut") and sports memorabilia alley, the event did not have much of a Packers presence which was surprising to me since the Packers are less than a week from playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. Kudos to the fans in attendance for keeping it mostly Brewers.


Brewers Team Store:
They had the standard stuff, nothing much to talk about so let's move on.


FS Wisconsin Stage:
There was a backdrop with an actual camera, teleprompter, and news desk. Fans could do an actual one-minute telecast using the teleprompter. Quick side note on using a teleprompter, it is much harder than it looks. I tried to use a teleprompter once and failed miserably. Back to the review. This stage was a great idea but poorly executed. FS Wisconsin should have had an actual anchor there the whole time. Not only would that have drawn more of a crowd but they could have given young kids pointers to increase their interest. Finally, why didn't they tape each segment and send it out digitally. Simple things like that would not only would have given fans a nice memento but been some quality free marketing for FS Wisconsin. You are on notice FS Wisconsin...get more out of your stage next year.


Kids Zone:

The Kids Zone was a great way to keep the little kids interested and active. The space was so big that there was an astro turf mini-field for clinics. The Brewers offered: throwing/catching basics with Jerry Augustine, hitting with Larry Hisle, pitching with Jerry Augustine, throwing/fielding with Jim Gantner, and catching drills/base running with Marcus Hanel. There was a mock mini-locker room, base running timer, speed pitch area, batting cage, and even a dance area off to the side to keep kids busy. The kids zone was well conceived and implemented.


Autographs:

New this year, your entry ticket got you one entry into a raffle for a chance to get a "premium autographs" from either Ryan Braun, Yovani Gallardo, Zack Greinke, Corey Hart, Bob Uecker, or Robin Yount. If your raffle ticket was pulled, you got the autograph for a $25 donation. Papa Cheese choose Ryan Braun and I choose Yovani Gallardo. We went .500. I missed the chance for Gallardo's signature by two spots...oh dang. Luckily Papa Cheese won so he got a picture signed by Braun. Check out the picture of Papa Cheese, aka The Silver Fox, (you heard me Anderson Cooper) with Ryan Braun.

The equation for professional athletes signing autographs is pretty simple: ask the fan their name, shake their hand, make quick small talk, sign something, and pose for a picture. I am a huge proponent of body language so I watched a number of players sign autographs to see how they reacted to fans. I did not get to see all the players sign but without question Ryan Braun was the only one that followed the simple equation. Here are my grades for the people that I actually saw signing:
- Zack Greinke: C+
- Rickie Weeks: A-
- Yovani Gallardo: B-
- Kameron Low: B
- Casey McGehee: B-
- Robin Yount: A-
- Latroy Hawkins: B+
- Ryan Braun: A+
- Manny Parra: B

There were long lines for all the other non-premium autographs (i.e. Low, McGehee, Hawkins, Parra, etc) that cost either $10 or were free. Quick side note, the cost of your autograph essentially told each player how secure their roster spot is with the Brewers in 2011. It seemed like people were waiting in lines more than actually going to the various events. As a way to alleviate all the lines, the Brewers should limit all autograph lines to a set number of signatures and then hand out tickets in a lottery system like they did for premium autographs. Not only would it allow people to enjoy the festivities more than just sitting in line, but it would allow the autograph sessions to stay on time because they all looked like they were running behind schedule.


Klement's Racing Sausages:

Last but certainly not least, check out me with the sausages. The Italian Sausage was mingling with other people but 4 out of 5 racing sausages is not too bad. I am pretty sure that everyone knows by now, but here is the lineup:
#1 - The Bratwurst
#2 - The Polish Sausage
#3 - The Italian Sausage
#4 - The Hot Dog
#5 - The Chorizo
Cheesehead Chick is partial to The Chorizo but I am still a traditionalist so my heart still lies with The Bratwurst.

Papa Cheese and I thoroughly enjoyed Brewers On Deck 2011. On paper the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers look like legitimate playoff contenders. Following the Super Bowl, check back for more Brewers coverage on the blog because spring training is right around the corner.

2010 NFC Championship Game Review of Packers/Bears

The Green Bay Packers met the Chicago Bears for the 182nd time on Sunday, January 23, 2011 but that was only their second post-season meeting all-time. The first post-season meeting between the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears came on December 14, 1941 at Wrigley Field. The Bears won round one but the Packers won round two beating the Bears 21-14 for the right to face the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV in the Jerry Dome in North Texas.

The Green Bay Packers became the 10th different NFC Champion in the last 10 years*. With only 16 teams in the entire NFC that leaves only six other NFC teams that have not won the NFC Championship in the last 10 years**. Of those six NFC teams only the Detroit Lions, thanks in large part to Matt Millen, have not won at least one playoff game since 2000. The NFL thrives on parity and the NFC sure does its part to send new teams to the Super Bowl year in and year out.

At kickoff it was downright balmy in the north end zone where Cheesehead Chick and I took in the game thanks to my very generous Uncle Phil and Uncle Tony. Once the sun went down between the 3rd and 4th quarter it got cold but it was actually really pleasant weather-wise for the first three quarters. Here are the "nuggets of information" that I gleaned from the NFC Championship Game between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on January 23, 2011 deemed "Epic Showdown" by the souvenir cup:

Greg Jennings:
Starting with the first drive, Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Greg Jennings were in sync. Rodgers found Jennings on consecutive plays to pick up 22 and 26 yards respectively. That helped Jennings on his way to amassing 8 catches for 130 yards. It took Rodgers almost two months to get on the same page with Jennings but as the NFC Championship showed, they are clicking on all cylinders now.


Jay Cutler's knee:
Just about everyone and their mother weighed in on Bears quarterback Jay Cutler's knee by now. In fact, there has been so much coverage that it went from NFL players being critical of Cutler to a backlash against those players for speaking out against Cutler. Right after the game the entire Chicago Bears organization from middle linebacker Brain Urlacher to head coach Lovie Smith and everyone in between backed Cutler. That lead to a reverse backlash that made the NFL players that spoke out against Cutler look foolish.

What was lost in the shuffle is that Cutler played much worse (6 for 14, 80 passing yards, and 1 interception) than the Bears’ 3rd-string quarterback Caleb Hanie (13 for 20, 163 passing yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions). Cutler will most likely be the Bears quarterback for the next decade and his post-season performance will define how he is perceived in Chicago. If Cutler wants, he could have the city of Chicago eating out of his hand but that is not how he chooses to play it. Now Cutler's play on the field will have to improve in the playoffs or he will be remember for his knee as opposed to being the most physically gifted quarterback in Chicago Bears history.


Tim Masthay:
After not even having to punt last week against the Atlanta Falcons, Packers punter Tim Masthay helped take the heat off embattled special teams coach Shawn Slocum. Of Masthay's 8 punts, all of them landed inside the Bears' 20-yard line***. The Bears only had 48 punt return yards and 22 of them went to Earl Bennett on one return. Devin Hester (possibly the best punt return man in NFL) was limited to three punt returns for 16 yards. Masthay's stat line for the day, 8 punts for an average of 41.8 (34.5 net) yards with five punts pinning the Bears inside their own 20-yard line.


B.J. Raji's Interception:
Packers’ defensive tackle B.J. Raji being left off the Pro Bowl team is moot since he would be unable to participate. Raji’s performance against the Bears shows exactly why he deserved to be invited to the Pro Bowl though. Although Raji only recorded one tackle in the game, he was consistently double-teamed. Those double-teams opened up lanes for other defenders to make plays. All of that is window dressing to Raji's interception that he returned for a touchdown. The pick-six came with 6 minutes left in the game to put the Packers up 21-7. That play helped the Packers punch their Super Bowl ticket.

The Packers drafted Raji and outside linebacker Clay Matthews in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft. Although Matthews gets more praise because of the sack numbers he puts up, with out Raji occupying blockers, there is no way Matthews has any where close to the same production. Raji is one of the best up and coming defensive linemen in the NFL. I'll take it one step further; the NFC North might have the two best defensive tackles in the entire NFL over the next decade in B.J. Raji and Detroit's Ndamukong Suh.


Bears offensive coordinator Mike Martz's play calling:
Of the 64 offensive plays Martz called, the worst was the 3rd and 3 play call from the Packers' 27-yard line with 1:15 remaining in the game. Coming out of a timeout, Martz called an end around to wide receiver Earl Bennett. Packers’ middle linebacker Desmond Bishop tackled Earl Bennett for a two-yard loss on the play setting up a 4th and 5 from the Packers' 29-yard line with 47 second remaining. Martz had extra time to think about the play call and that's what he dialed up? Bennett is possibly the slowest wide receiver on the Bears' entire roster. Even if the play were dialed up for wide receiver Devin Hester it would be a questionable play call.

The only positive thing Martz did all day was that he kept running back Matt Forte heavily involved in the game. For the day Forte amassed 160 yards (70 rushing and 90 receiving) on 27 touches. After Forte the rest of the offensive superstars were non-existent: Johnny Knox had 2 catches for 56 yards, Devin Hester had no catches, and Greg Olsen had 3 catches for 30 yards. The Bears played half the game with a backup quarterback but that still does not excuse Martz from failing to get Devin Hester a single touch from the line of scrimmage in the NFC Championship game.

Sam Shields:
Packers rookie undrafted cornerback Sam Shields came up with three huge plays on the day:
#1) Strip-fumble sack of Cutler that was recovered by Forte.
#2) Interception of Cutler at the end of the first half at the Packers' 3-yard line to keep the Packers up 14-0 going into halftime.
#3) Interception of Haine with 37 seconds left in the game at the Packers' 12-yard line to seal the victory.

Here is my only complaint about Shields. Much like cornerback Tramon Williams against the Eagles two weeks ago, why did Shields try and return the interception? Shields picked the ball off with 37 seconds remaining in the game so the only way the Packers could lose the game at that point was if Shields fumbled the interception. It looked like Shields was trying for a pick-six. Sam Shields is one of the fastest players in the NFL but he has to be more aware of the game situation. Especially after Williams made the same mistake a few weeks ago, Shields should have learned and simply went down. Just to end on a positive note, Shields became only the 4th player in NFL Playoff history to intercept two passes and force a fumble in the same game.


Rodgers tackling Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher:
On 3rd and goal, eating the ball is much better option than throwing an interception. If the score were 17-0, the Packers essentially would have iced the game. Instead Rodgers gave the Bears life again. After throwing the Favre-like interception, at least Rodgers tackled middle linebacker Brian Urlacher at the Bears' 45-yard line to save a touchdown.


Bears Defense:
As Peter King pointed out in his Monday Morning Quarterback column, the Chicago Bears defense only allowed 14 points in 13 offensive drives in the NFC Championship Game. Furthermore, excluding kneel downs, the Packers offense only scored 41 points (5 touchdowns) on 34 possessions in the three meetings this season. For the day, the Packers were 1 for 8 on 3rd down. It was the tale of two halves. After surrendering 252 yards in the first half, the Bears only gave up 104 yards in the second half. Long story short, it was a typical Bears performance...great defense backed up by a horrible offensive performance.


What does this all mean?

The NFC is sending their second 10-win team to the Super Bowl since 2007****. Packer fans remember that the Giants beat the Packers in the NFC Championship Game in Green Bay to head to the Super Bowl. I attended that frigid game in person at Lambeau Field with my buddy Fernando. Seeing the Packers’ victory in person with Cheesehead Chick over the Bears at Soldier Field helped erase the loss to the Giants. It was sweet once the game was over but downright nerve racking being a fan of the road team in the NFC Championship Game. Kudos to Bears fans though, most were cordial and quite complimentary once the game finished.

The Packers joined three other NFL teams that have won three consecutive road playoff games to get to the Super Bowl:
- 2007 New York Giants - Won the Super Bowl over the New England Patriots
- 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers - Won the Super Bowl over the Seattle Seahawks
- 1985 New England Patriots - Lost the Super Bowl to the Chicago Bears

Finally, the 2010 Green Bay Packers became the first team since the AFL/NFL merger to never trail by more than 7 points through the NFC Championship Game. If you have read this far, you clearly have enough time to watch NFL.com's highlights of the NFC Championship Game.

Check back for more coverage of Super Bowl XLV between the Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Footnotes:
* – St. Louis Rams in 2001, Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2002, Carolina Panthers in 2003, Philadelphia Eagles in 2004, Seattle Seahawks in 2005, Chicago Bears in 2006, New York Giants in 2007, Arizona Cardinals in 2008, and New Orleans Saints in 2009.
** – Atlanta Falcons, Dallas Cowboys, Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins.
*** – Bears' 13-yard line, Bears' 3-yard line, Bears' 11-yard line, Bears' 16-yard line, Bears' 11-yard line, Bears' end zone, Bears' 10-yard line, and Bears' 18-yard line.
**** – The NFC also sent a 9-win Arizona Cardinals team in 2008.

Midseason Rankings of the 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks

The 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks have been absolutely ravaged by injury. Only 41 games into the season the Bucks have already lost 155 player-games* because of illness or injury. That means the Bucks have missed on average 4 players per game, which has forced Milwaukee Bucks head coach Scott Skiles to use 13 different starting lineups. That has resulted in the 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks putting together a disappointing record of 16-25 (only one game worse than they were last year). Let's not forget that the Bucks had zero expectations last year, but after making the playoffs, expectations were high heading into this year.

Before we jump into the rankings, here is how the 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks stack up against the other 29 NBA teams:
- 30th in the NBA in points scored per game with 91.5 points
- 12th in the NBA in rebounds per game with 42.1 rebounds
- 30th in the NBA in assists per game with 18.0 assists
- 4th in the NBA is points allowed per game with 92.8 points
- 8th in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed with 44.6% shooting

Although I am starting to embrace NBA advance statistics** I will stick with a pretty simple one: if you only score 91.5 points per game but allow 92.8 points per game it is going to be hard to win games. Coming into the 2010-11 season most people thought the Bucks would have a hard time keeping everyone happy on the offensive side of the ball because there were more shooters than shots to go around. Ironically it is their defense that has kept the Bucks in games. When the Bucks score more than 100 points they are 7-2 but when they score less than 89 points they are 2-18. Unless the Bucks can figure out a way to score more points, they are lottery bound in 2011.

Let's take a quick mid-season look at the questions I posed about the 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks before the season:

Will Bogut rebound from injury again?
It has been a mixed bag so far. It looks like Bogut's injury really has at least a year recovery time, which means Bogut probably won't be fully healthy till the 2011-12 NBA season.

How will the 8 new players mesh with the 7 holdovers from the 2009-10 team?
It is really too early to tell whether the players will mesh because they have not been at full strength all season.

Will Bucks point guard Brandon Jennings become an elite NBA point guard?
Jennings is just getting back into game shape after missing games since mid-December. Jennings looked on the cusp of being a top-10 point guard heading into the season, which is really saying something because the NBA has possibly the best crop of young point guards in league history right now.

How many players will Bucks head coach Scott Skiles use in his rotation?
Thanks to injuries, Skiles has been unable to develop a consistent rotation.

Will the Bucks move Michael Redd's expiring contract?
It looks like Milwaukee Bucks general manager John Hammond is going to let Redd's contract expire because of a lack of takers and the labor uncertainty currently facing the NBA.

Rookie shooting guard/small forward Daringoton Hobson dropped out of the rankings because he was waived. Just to recap, Hammond traded shooting guard Jodie Meeks for a second round pick that he used to take Hobson. All along it looked like Hobson v. Meeks was going to take a few years to decide but Hammond settled that in less than a month...he should have just held onto Meeks.

As I do with all my Milwaukee Bucks player rankings, I am going to rank the players on the current Milwaukee Bucks roster from 15 to 1. In case you missed it, check out my initial rankings of the 2010-11 Milwaukee Bucks roster. There are a number of factors that determine each player's value: short-term expectations, long-term expectations, salary, relative strength at each position, and swagger. I know that some of those factors are subjective but it is my list. I will update the rankings at the end of the season. Without further ado, here is the initial list with their preseason rankings in parenthesis:

#15 (15) - Michael Redd (SG): With each passing day it looks like Michael Redd has played his last game in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform. The saddest indictment on Redd's career is that if you exclude his rookie season (played sparingly) and last year (out injured), Redd has only played on one Bucks team with a winning record. That sure does not sound like the impact you expect from a "max contract" player.

#14 (NR) - Anyone: I hate to pile on here but Bucks fans are really looking to turn the page on Redd. It is hard to say whether Jeff Suppan or Michael Redd signed the worst contract in recent Cheesehead sports history. At least with Suppan the Brewers did not do it at the expense of keeping a great veteran. In the case of Redd, the Bucks basically gave away Ray Allen to make way for Redd. Thank you very much Ernie Grunfeld. By the way, how is Ernie Grunfeld still an NBA executive? Back to this year, even if Redd is healthy by the end of the season the Bucks should tell him to stay away. The Bucks have not gotten comfortable with each other yet because of all the injuries they have suffered and Redd will only create more issues. The Bucks should consider buying out Redd and signing a few young guys that are hungry to contribute off the bench instead of trying to reintegrate Redd for 25 games.

#13 (10) Jon Brockman (PF): As the season wears on Brockman looks more and more like a warm body as opposed to a player with a big upside. Brockman has not seized his opportunities this year. Part of that could be blamed on the erratic playing time he has received but guys like Brockman need to capitalize on any opportunity they get if they want to play in the NBA as opposed to Europe.

#12 (11) Larry Sanders (PF): At the start of the season it looked like Sanders would essentially red-shirt this year and learn how to become a successful NBA power forward for the 2011-12 NBA season. Unfortunately Drew Gooden has been injured throughout the season so Sanders has been forced into action prematurely. Sanders has played alright but still has not proven worthy of being the 15th player selected in the 2010 NBA Draft.

#11 (12) Earl Boykins (PG): With Jennings out, Boykins has put together some impressive performances as a backup point guard behind Keyon Dooling. I highly recommend catching Boykins live at least one time because it defies all logic to see Boykins score on guys that are almost a foot taller that him.

#10 (13) Chris Douglas-Roberts (SG): Despite missing 16 games to an eye injury, CDR looks like a quality NBA scorer in the making. CDR has taken over a few games showing that he can create his own shot and finish around the rim with ease. CDR has a chance to crack the top-7 in the player rankings by the end of the season if he stays healthy and continues to score.

#9 (4) Carlos Delfino (SF): Unfortunately a concussion has forced Carlos Delfino to miss most of the 2010-11 NBA season. Delfino's post concussion symptoms are so bad that even watching television has caused Delfino problems. Professional sports are starting to take concussions much more seriously but I am still not too sure why it has taken so long. Delfino has struggled in the two games since he returned from the concussion. When Delfino gets back into game shape look for the Bucks to dramatically improve.

#8 (6) Drew Gooden (PF): This is more of an indictment on Gooden's inability to stay healthy as opposed to his production when he actually plays. When healthy, Gooden looks like a nice fit next to Andrew Bogut. Unfortunately Gooden has missed 16 games due to plantar fasciitis. Since Gooden is signed long-term, at some point the Bucks need to consider shutting down Gooden for the season since the 2010-11 season is looking like a lost season anyways.

#7 (5) Corey Maggette (SF): True to form, Maggette has put up numbers on a bad team. What is even more troublesome is that Maggette's post game comments have confirmed that he is a locker room cancer. I actually hesitate to put Maggette ahead of Delfino and Gooden but Maggette has been healthy so health alone earned Maggette the 7th spot.

#6 (9) Keyon Dooling (PG): With starting point guard Brandon Jennings out for an extended period of time, my assertion that having former back-up point guard Luke Ridnour on the roster has rung true. I am sure John Hammond regrets not re-signing Ridnour now, but the Bucks have to work with the players that are on the current roster. Dooling has played alright in place of Jennings but the Bucks sorely need Jennings in the lineup if they want to contend for a playoff spot.

#5 (7) Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (PF): The Prince continues to be a defensive stopper that is limited offensively. With the Bucks struggling to score, if The Prince could do anything on the offensive end he would garner even more playing time. Only time will tell but The Prince needs to huddle with CDR and Salmons to learn how to get better at creating his own shot.

#4 (8) Ersan Ilyasova (PF): I stand by my assertion at the beginning of the season that Ilyasova is a poor man's Dirk Nowitzki. Slowly Scott Skiles is starting to agree with me and give Ilyasova more playing time. Whether the increased playing time is because of injuries to other players or a renewed faith that Skiles has in Ilyasova is hard to tell. Either way Ilyasova belongs in the starting line-up.

#3 (3) John Salmons (SG): Unfortunately Salmons started off the season in a shooting slump. The boo-birds were out and some fans started to question whether Salmons was worth of the lengthy extension that he signed in the off-season. Salmons finally broke out of the funk and strung together some good shooting performances in December and early January. Unfortunately the injury bug recently claimed Salmons (surprise, surprise right). With CDR playing well, the Bucks are better off letting Salmons get healthy instead of forcing him back too early. Only time will tell whether Hammond overpaid Salmons but early indications are that Salmons is overpaid.

#2 (2) Brandon Jennings (PG): I made the assertion above that Brandon Jennings was on the cusp of being a top 10 point guard heading into the season. In my current point guard order of merit, here are the NBA point guards that are better than a healthy Brandon Jennings (worst to best) right now: John Wall, Devin Harris, Jason Kidd, Andre Miller, Jameer Nelson, Tony Parker, Steve Nash, Rajon Rondo, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Chris Paul, and Derrick Rose. I know there are some notable names that are not on the list but some of the guys omitted are too old (i.e. Chauncey Billups) while other guys don't play as a true point guard (i.e. Gilbert Arenas). The line of where Jennings can jump over the next few seasons is between Nelson and Parker until Nash retires. Let's check in on the aforementioned list at the end of the season to see if Jennings has passed anyone.

#1 (1) Andrew Bogut (C): The Bucks built their offense around a healthy Andrew Bogut. Unfortunately centers are injury prone (think Yao Ming and Greg Oden) so the Bucks need to be versatile on offense because there is a good chance that Bogut is going to continue to miss games due to injury throughout his career. The Bucks need to work on running multiple offensive sets because the chances of Bogut finishing the season healthy are remote. Yes the whole last paragraph was me trying to reverse jinx Bogut into staying healthy for the rest of the season.

I know my rankings are subjective, feel free to leave a comment below on whether you agree or disagree with my rankings.

Footnotes:
* - Carlos Delfino missed 32 games, Chris Douglas-Roberts missed 16 games, Drew Gooden missed 16 games, and Brandon Jennings missed 16 game.
** - I plan on incorporating advanced NBA statistics such as usage rate, win score, and player efficiency rating in my final rankings.

2010 Divisional Round Playoff Review of Packers/Falcons

The Green Bay Packers killed two birds with one stone by beating the Atlanta Falcons 48-21 in Atlanta to punch their ticket to the NFC Championship Game against the Chicago Bears in Chicago. For one, the Packers avenged their Week 12 loss to the Falcons in Atlanta. More importantly, the Packers finally avenged their first home playoff loss in franchise history when the Michael Vick lead Atlanta Falcons beat the Packers 27 to 7 on Saturday, January 4, 2003. I saw the miserable playoff loss with my buddies Fernando, Gaber, and Sug at a bar in Punta Gorda, Florida. The Packers (the only holdovers are Chad Clifton, Donald Driver, and Mark Tauscher) enacted sweet revenge for us and the rest of Packers Nation eight years later. It took eight years but we can officially put that loss behind us and just remember the good times had in Punta Gorda fellas. Here are the things that stood out to me from the Green Bay Packers’ 48-21 win over the Atlanta Falcons:

Aaron Rodgers:
Against the Falcons Rodgers was 31 for 36 with 366 passing yards, 3 touchdowns (1 rushing touchdown) for a 136.8 passer rating. Rodgers really spread the ball around to his receivers: Greg Jennings (8 catches for 101 yards), Donald Driver (6 catches for 79 yards), Jordy Nelson (8 catches for 79 yards), and James Jones (4 catches for 75 yards).

Statistically speaking how well did Rodgers play against the Falcons? Football Outsiders have a statistic called “DYAR” or Defense-adjusted Yards Above Replacement*. Basically it shows the degree of difficulty on the performance over an average player. Rodgers’ performance was the 4th best DYAR playoff performance since 1993 meaning great quarterbacks such as Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Brett Favre, and Ben Roethlisberger never had a game as good as Rodgers did against the Falcons. Who had the best playoff performance ever? Unfortunately it was Kurt Warner’s 385 DYAR (29 for 33, 382 yards for 5 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, and 1 sack) against the Packers last year in their 51-45 overtime thriller.

In three playoff games with Aaron Rodgers at the helm, the Packers’ offense has averaged 38 points a game. Furthermore, Rodgers became the 1st quarterback in NFL history to throw more than 10 touchdowns in his first 3 playoff games.


Christopher Owens:
Brian Williams beat out Christopher Owns for the nickel cornerback job for the Atlanta Falcons at the start of the season. Williams was inactive for the game so the Packers picked on Owens all day. After giving up a 102-yard kickoff return to Eric Weems, the longest play in playoff history, the Packers were down 14-7. That proved to be the last time the Packers trailed for the rest of the game because they drew two penalties on Owens that helped the Packers tie the game up at 14-14. As shown above, Rodgers spread the ball around to all of his wide receivers. Rodgers went after Owens for most the game because whoever was covered by Owens looked like Rodgers’ first read on most plays. Let’s move from the worst cornerback on the day to the best cornerback on the day.


Tramon Williams:
Cornerback Tramon Williams had two interceptions against the Falcons, both coming at the end of the first half to swing the game from competitive to a beat down. Let’s set the stage. The game was tied at 14 with two minutes left in the half when the Falcons gave up a sack to cornerback Charles Woodson that set-up a 3rd and 21 for the Falcons from the Packers’ 26-yard line. Instead of attempting a safe throw, Matt Ryan went for it all and threw an interception to Tramon Williams in the end zone. The Packers capitalized on the interception to go up 21-14.

The Falcons got the ball back with less than a minute remaining in the first half down 21-14. Thanks to consecutive pass interference penalties on Sam Shields and Tramon Williams the Falcons had the ball on the Packers’ 26-yard line. Following a sack by Claymaker, the Falcons were forced to use their last timeout of the half which gave them the ball on the Packers’ 35-yard line with 10 seconds left in the half. Despite having one of the best place kickers (Matt Bryant) in the NFL, the Falcons tried to pick up a few more yards on an out route. The smart play was to attempt a field goal to only trail 21-17 at the half. Instead, Tramon Williams stepped in front of the pass and returned it 70-yards for a touchdown to give the Packers a 28-14 lead heading into halftime.


The artist formerly known as Matty Ice:
Everyone used to like to call Matt Ryan "Matty Ice". Well he was Matty Ice against the Packers...ice cold. Ryan pushed his playoff record to 0-2 with 6 turnovers and a safety. Just to add insult to injury, Ryan lost more games in the last three weeks (2 games) in the Georgia Dome than he lost there in the previous three years (1 game). Ryan is clearly one of the best, young quarterbacks in the NFL but Rodgers catapulted ahead of Ryan in the quarterback pantheon because playoff wins are unfortunately how most quarterbacks are judged.


35 Consecutive Points Scored:
Following an NFL post season record 102-yard kickoff return by Eric Weems, the Green Bay Packers rattled off 35 unanswered points. Punter Tim Masthay's only work on the day was serving as a holder for the multitude of kicks (3 field goal attempts and 6 extra point attempts) for place kicker Mason Crosby. The Packers out-gained the Falcons 442 yards to 194 yards. Thanks in large part to Rodgers working the pocket perfectly on 3rd down, the Packers converted 8 of their 12 opportunities while the Falcons only converted 3 of their 10 opportunities.


Why the Pro Bowl is a joke:
Matt Ryan and Brent Grimes were voted into the Pro Bowl ahead of Aaron Rodgers and Tramon Williams. Don’t get me wrong, the Packers are sending an undeserved player in left tackle Chad Clifton in a “career achievement” vote but Rodgers and Williams might be two of the best three players on their team right now along with outside linebacker Clay Matthews. As a Packer fan I hope the Packer Pro Bowl representatives (Clifton, Collins, Jennings, Matthews, and Woodson) are unable to play in the Pro Bowl because they are getting ready for the Super Bowl but this game is a microcosm of how the Pro Bowl system is flawed.

Playoffs by the numbers:
In 1990 the NFL expanded the playoffs to include 12 teams. From 1990 to 2004, no 6th seed ever defeated a 1st seed. Since then, being a 6th seed is not all that bad. Starting in 2005, the 6th seed has defeated the 1st seed five times including twice this year (Packers over Falcons and Jets over Patriots).

From 1990 through 2001 teams with a bye in the first round of the playoffs went 39-9 in their first playoff game. In 2002 the NFL changed from 6 divisions to 8 divisions. Despite the number of divisions changing, the number of teams that made the playoffs stayed at 12. Something changed though. Starting in 2003, bye teams have gone 18-14 in their first playoff games and only 12-12 since 2005. Road teams only won 30% of playoff games up till 2005, since then road teams have won 45% of the time.

Finally, the Packers became the first team in post-season history to score at least 45 points in consecutive years. Check back for NFC Championship coverage on the blog this week as the Packers prepare for only their second post-season meeting with the Bears. The Packers will be looking to enact revenge for their loss to the Bears in their first post-season meeting on December 14, 1941 at Wrigley Field.

Footnotes:
* = Gives the value of the quarterback's performance compared to replacement level, adjusted for situation and opponent and then translated into yardage. DYAR (and its cousin, YAR, which isn't adjusted based on opponent) is further explained here. (Source)

2010 Wildcard Round Playoff Review of Packers/Eagles

The Green Bay Packers went on the road to beat the Philadelphia Eagles for the second time this season. Here are the biggest things that stood out to me from the Packers' 21-16 playoff victory over the Eagles:

Bottled up Michael Vick:
Let’s not forget that outside linebacker Clay Matthews is a big reason why Michael Vick is quarterbacking the Philadelphia Eagles. The Packers played the Eagles in Week 1 in Philadelphia. It was supposed to be Kevin Kolb’s coming out party after the Eagles traded quarterback Donovan McNabb to their division rival the Washington Redskins. Unfortunately for Kolb, Matthews knocked him out of the game with a concussion on a clean hit. Michael Vick came in to throw for 175 yards and run for 103 yards. Vick almost lead the Eagles to a come from behind victory over the Packers. In their second meeting of the season on the same field Vick threw for 292 yards and ran for 33 yards but it was not enough to beat the Packers. Vick threw an ill-advised pass up for grabs in the end zone that was intercepted by Tramon Williams to seal a victory for the Packers.

Miscues hurt both teams:
Usually in a playoff game if either team makes a critical mistake it leads to a loss. Both the Packers and Eagles made miscues that canceled their respective errors out. The Packers defense made a nice stand on the first drive but on the ensuing punt much maligned (mostly for off the field reasons) backup cornerback Brandon Underwood touched the ball with his foot despite the fact that the rest of the Packers special teams was trying to get away from the ball.

The touch was recovered by the Eagles giving them great field position. The Eagles were unable to punch the ball into the end zone and were forced to settle for a 41-yard field goal attempt by David Akers. Very uncharacteristically, Akers missed the field goal. Most Packer fans would consider that miss a make-up for the fumble since the Eagles did not “deserve” to get the ball anyway. Akers later missed from even closer on a 34-yard attempt.

Those missed field goals were covered up by the Packers own miscues. Right before halftime Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers found wide receiver James Jones in stride for what should have been a 63-yard touchdown. Unfortunately Jones dropped the ball so the Packers only lead 14-3 as opposed to 21-3 at halftime.

Not only did the half end in a whimper for the Packers but they started the second half with another big gaffe. Rodgers was stripped by Eagles defensive lineman Darryl Tapp on the first possession of the second half. Eagle defensive lineman Juqua Parker recovered the fumble at the Packers’ 24-yard line.

As you can see, the Packers and Eagles both had some major miscues that essentially canceled each other out.

James Starks:
After rushing for only 101 yards in three regular season games, rookie running back James Starks rushed for a rookie playoff franchise record 123 yards. Greg Gabriel, the former Director of College Scouting for the Chicago Bears and current contributor to National Football Post, recently pointed out that James Starks was almost a Chicago Bear. Although Starks contributed very little in the regular season due to injury, his performance against the Eagles justified Packers general manager Ted Thompson’s decision to use a 6th round pick in the 2010 NFL Draft on the often injured Starks. Keep in mind that if Starks had a clean bill of healthy he was a potential first round pick in the making after his junior year in college.

Aaron Rodgers:
Coming into the game Rodgers had a 0-1 playoff record but Rodgers really only made two mistakes in his first playoff performance against the Arizona Cardinals. Unfortunately one of them directly lead to the Packers losing. Fast forward to this year, Rodgers completed 18 of 27 passes. Rodgers had a pretty good game against the Eagles in a win but played much better last year in the Packers' playoff loss to the Cardinals. Aaron Rodgers' two playoff starts show that quarterbacks get too much credit when they win (i.e. Eagles playoff victory) and too much blame when they lose (i.e. Cardinals playoff loss).

What should the Eagles do with Michael Vick:
With the Eagles’ 2010 campaign coming to a disappointing end, the Eagles need to decide what to do at the quarterback position. After trading away a franchise quarterback (Donovan McNabb) in the off-season, they still have two potential franchise quarterbacks on the roster. The Eagles have Kevin Kolb under contract for the 2011 season for a little more than a million dollars. Michael Vick is set to become a free agent, which means the Eagles might be forced to put the franchise tag on Michael. It is amazing to think what happened between Vick’s last playoff start, the 2005 NFC Championship Game in Philadelphia playing for the Atlanta Falcons and today. Vick spent 18 months in federal prison for participating in a dog fighting operation. Vick’s jail time cost him two NFL seasons and millions of dollars. The Eagles put their faith in Michael Vick when no other team trusted Vick, how will that trust impact their negotiations?

Packers finally win a playoff game in Philadelphia:
Third times a charm. The Vince Lombardi lead Packers lost to the Eagles in the 1960 NFL Championship, which turned out to be Lombardi’s only playoff defeat. Even better the Packers officially put to bed “4th and 26” from a playoff game in Philadelphia that took place on Sunday, January 11, 2004. The Eagles were facing a 4th and 26 from their own 25 yard line, trailing the Packers by three points with 1:12 remaining in the game. Thanks to questionable coverage by Nick Barnett and Darren Sharper, former Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb hit wide receiver Freddie Mitchell for a 28-yard gain to keep the Eagles alive. The Eagles kicked a field goal to send the game into overtime. Following an overtime interception by Favre, the Packers lost to the Eagles on a David Akers field goal.

With their playoff victory over the Eagles, the Packers now head to Atlanta to face the #1 seeded Atlanta Falcons. Check back for more Packers playoff coverage.