Building The 23 - USMNT 1.0 for 2014 World Cup

The United States Men's National Team manager Jurgen Klinsmann can take 23 players to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.  Yesterday I covered the United States being drawn into the toughest group in the 2014 World Cup with Germany, Ghana, and Portugal.  Much like I do with Building The 53 for the Green Bay Packers, Building The 25 for the Milwaukee Brewers, and Building The 15 for the Milwaukee Bucks...I am about to do the same for the United States with Building The 23.  Without further adu, let's turn our attention to speculating on the 23 guys Klinsmann should take to Brazil.

Traditionally the breakdown of The 23 is 3 goalkeepers, 8 defenders, 8 midfielders, and 4 strikers.  Besides goalkeeper, some of the players drawn into defense or up front could also slide into the midfielder so those are not hard and fast numbers.  Here are my initial thoughts about the players Klinsmann should select for The 23.

Goalkeeper (3): Tim Howard, Brad Guzan, and Nick Rimando.
Starter: Tim Howard
Analysis: Luckily Klinsmann has the benefit of having two legitimate starting goalkeepers in Howard and Guzan.  I think it is highly unlikely to happen but I wonder what Guzan would have to do to unseat Howard.

Defenders (8): DaMarcus Beasley, Matt Besler, John Brooks, Geoff Cameron, Steve Cherundolo, Brad Evans, Clarence Goodson, and Omar Gonzalez.
Starters: DaMarcus Beasley (LB), Matt Besler (CB), Omar Gonzalez (CB), Steve Cherundolo (RB)
Analysis: After Cherundolo held down the starting right back spot for essentially the last decade, injuries have hampered his form in 2013.  Given there are six more months until the 2014 World Cup, I see Cherundolo doing everything humanly possible to be in form by the start of the 2014 World Cup.

Midfield (8): Kyle Beckerman, Michael Bradley, Mix Diskerud, Landon Donovan, Fabian Johnson, Jermaine Jones, Brek Shea, and Graham Zusi.
Starters: Landon Donovan (LW), Michael Bradley (CM), Jermaine Jones (CM), Graham Zusi (RW)
Analysis: Absent injuries, Bradley and Donovan are locks to start in Brazil.  That leaves two spots: one in central midfield and one at outside midfielder.  Unfortunately, I see those two spots changing a dozen times in the next six months.

Striker (4): Jozy Altidore, Clint Dempsey, Aron Johnannson, and Eddie Johnson.
Starters: Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey
Analysis: There was never any question about Altidore's physical abilities but going into 2013 he still had not found a way to turn that promise into actual production scoring goals for the national team.  Given that Jozy Altidore has been in rare form scoring almost every time our for the national team, he deserves to be in the starting XL in Brazil.  If Klinsmann deploys Dempsey and Donovan in the midfielder, I could actually see Johnson getting a start up front next to Altidore.

Shifting gears from the futbol to football.  Make sure to check back on Monday for my thoughts on the Green Bay Packers make-or-break game at home against the Atlanta Falcons sans starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers for the sixth straight game.  Without Rodgers the Packers have gone 0-4-1 so even though the Falcons are one of the worst teams in the NFL this season.  Let's not forget that they went to the NFC Championship Game last season so a win is far from guaranteed for the Packers.  If the Packers win, their slim playoff hopes stay alive.  If the Packers lose, all the coverage of them in this space will shift towards building for 2014.

Howard
F. Johnson (Parkhurst, 46)
Goodson
Gonzalez
Beasley
Jones
Beckerman
Bedoya (Zusi, 84)
Dempsey (c)
Donovan-1
E. Johnson (Diskerud, 76) - See more at: http://www.ussoccer.com/teams/us-men/lineups/2013-lineups.aspx#sthash.OaFxfIMe.dpuf

Howard
F. Johnson (Parkhurst, 46)
Goodson
Gonzalez
Beasley
Jones
Beckerman
Bedoya (Zusi, 84)
Dempsey (c)
Donovan-1
E. Johnson (Diskerud, 76) - See more at: http://www.ussoccer.com/teams/us-men/lineups/2013-lineups.aspx#sthash.OaFxfIMe.d

Altidore, Jozy

Altidore, Jozy

Altidore, Jozy

Altidore, Jozy

2014 World Cup Draw for United States

The 2014 World Cup in Brazil starts on Thursday, June 12, 2014.  Earlier today FIFA choose the eight groups for the 32 participants with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the knock-out stages.  The first hour of the "selection show" was downright brutal to watch.  I know it is supposed to give the host country a chance to educate the world about them but having recently visited Brazil, I would say they completely missed the mark.

FIFA creates four pots and then picks the eight groups out of those four pots.  It is confusing so here is a nice breakdown.  Unfortunately for the United States, FIFA placed all the CONCACAF teams in the same pot as the Asian teams, which makes that pot by far the weakest pot.

Going into the selections, I decided to develop some power rankings for each group.  Just to make these rankings crystal clear, the first team in each pot is the team I would least like the United States to be drawn against, so on and so forth.  It is sort of academic for Pot Three since the United States cannot be drawn with any of those teams but I thought it would be a nice way for me to rank the teams as they are currently constituted.  I put each country's current FIFA ranking in parenthesis, which were updated on November 28, 2013.  Here are the four pots with my ranking (best to worst) within each pot:

Pot One: Spain (1), Brazil (10), Argentina (3), Germany (2), Uruguay (6), Belgium (11), Colombia (4), and Switzerland (8)

Pot Two: Ivory Coast (17), Chile (15), Ghana (24), Algeria (26), Ecuador (23), Nigeria (36), and Cameroon (51)

Pot Three: United States (14), Mexico (20), Costa Rica (31), Honduras (41), South Korea (54), Japan (48), Iran (45), and Australia (59) 

Pot Four: Netherlands (9), Portugal (5), Italy (7), Croatia (16), France (19), Greece (12), England (13), Russia (22), and Bosnia-Herzegovina (21)

The highest FIFA ranked country that did not qualify for the 2014 World Cup was the Ukraine, which are currently ranked 18th.  I understand that only so many teams can qualify from certain continents but it makes no sense to me that Ukraine lost a home-and-home playoff to France for a spot in the World Cup but are still somehow ranked ahead of France in the FIFA rankings.

Here is explanation of the rankings.  I get that the FIFA rankings account for more things that just World Cup qualification but the lunacy of France being ranked behind the Ukraine despite knocking them off to get into the 2014 World Cup is just one of the million problems I have with the FIFA rankings.  Since FIFA could care less about cracking down on match fixing or the fact that they awarded the next two World Cups to corrupt countries, they could at least carve out an exception to their rules for their rankings that account for oddities like the one just highlighted.

Sorry for the FIFA rankings detour, back to the draw for World Cup 2014.  Those that counted the teams in each of the pots above will notice that only seven teams are in Pot Two and nine teams are in Pot Four.  FIFA had to randomly draw one of those teams into Pot Two.  There are some restrictions for how the team that is moved to Pot Two can be drawn based on how teams are drawn from Pot One.  Basically FIFA did not want to see two European teams drawn into one group out of Pot One and Pot Two because that would mean a third European team would be drawn into that group from Pot Four.  As it turns out Italy, which was the team that I ranked third in Pot Four, got drawn into Pot Two.

Going into the draw I thought the best possible draw for the United States was Switzerland, Cameroon, and Bosnia-Herzegovina while the worst draw was Argentina, Portugal, and Netherlands.  Again groups matter because only the top two teams from each group qualify for the knock-out stage.  Here is the full list of the groups for the 2014 World Cup:

Group A: Brazil, Cameroon, Mexico, and Croatia.

Group B: Spain, Chile, Australia, and Netherlands.

Group C: Colombia, Ivory Coast, Japan, and Greece.

Group D: Uruguay, Italy, Costa Rica, and England.

Group E: Switzerland, Honduras, Ecuador, and France.

Group F: Argentina, Nigeria, Iran, and Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Group G: Germany, Ghana, United States, and Portugal.

Group H: Belgium, Korean Republic, Algeria, and Russia.

As it turns out the United States got just as bad of a draw as my worst case scenario landing in Group G with Germany, Ghana, and Portugal.  It also means that United States manager Jurgen Klinsman will coach against his home country in the group stages.  Just to show how strong the members of Group G are, all four teams made it to the knockout round of the 2010 World Cup.  The only other group to even have three members make the knockout round of the 2010 World Cup was Spain, Chile, and Netherlands from Group B.

The lowest ranked team in Group G according to the FIFA rankings is Ghana at 24.  United States fans know that Ghana are no pushovers either because they knocked the United States out of the last two world World Cups (final group stage match in 2006 and in the Round of 16 in 2010).

As you can see, it would be no small feat for the United States to be one of the two qualifiers for the knockout stage out of Group G.  The first match of the 2014 World Cup for the United States is against Ghana.  Hopefully the United States will be able to avenge their last two World Cup defeats to Ghana with a win, which would mean they would most likely only need a win or tie against Portugal or Germany to reach the Round of 16.

We have over six months to speculate and let's not forget injuries play a big part in what groups actually end up being the toughest right now I would say Group G is the deepest group.  The United States were drawn into Group B or Group D then that could have been the toughest group in the 2014 World Cup.  I see Group E or H as the easiest.

Although this is a Cheesehead sports blog if you follow the United States Men's Soccer Team or the World Cup make sure to check back as the 2014 World Cup nears because I plan to write Building The 23 posts leading up to the World Cup and The 23 posts throughout the World Cup.

Building The 25 - Brewers trade Aoki to Royals for Smith

Milwaukee Brewers general manager Doug Melvin violated one of the five general rules that I gave him for how to approach this off-season when he traded starting right fielder Norichika Aoki to the Kansas City Royals for left-handed pitcher Will Smith.  Let's table the fact that Aoki became a huge fan favorite in just two years in Milwaukee and evaluate the trade as objectively as possible.

Despite Aoki being 31 and Smith only being 24, they both only have two years of MLB experience because Aoki played professionally in Japan from 2004-11.  Over the last two years Aoki put up seasons of 3.5 (2012) and 3.0 (2013) wins above replacement (WAR). After starting 16 games and throwing 89.2 innings for the Royals in 2012, Smith worked almost exclusively out of the bullpen in 2013 logging just 33.1 innings. That means over the last two years Smith put up 0.0 WAR, which means Smith was nothing better than a borderline major league baseball player while Aoki added 6.5 wins over that same time frame.

According to Jonah Keri's Baseball Dictionary for Grantland.com, a win on the open market costs $6 million, which made Aoki a steal for the Brewers the last two years since he produced 6.5 wins but only cost them $7.25 million ($2.5 million posting fee and $4.75 million in salary and performance bonuses).  Yes, there is a chance that Aoki will regress in 2014 since he turns 32 before the start of the season but the Brewers only owed him a little less than $2 million.  I know that Aoki was a seasoned professional when he joined the Brewers in 2012 while Smith was a young, developing left-handed but two years later it does not look like Smith has improved very much.

Sure Aoki is set to become a free agent after 2014 while Smith is not able to become a free agent until 2020 but my guess is that the Brewers could have extended Aoki through 2015 or 2016 for an average of $2.5 million a year.  I am sure part of the reason the Brewers made the trade was that they wanted to give promising young outfielder Khris Davis a chance to start in 2014 but I am still not sure that justified trading Aoki for what amounts to a glorified lottery ticket.  There was going to be a market for Aoki all the way up to the trade deadline at the end of July so if Davis proved he was worthy of starting over Aoki in 2014, the Brewers could have moved Aoki at some point before the trade deadline for a player like Smith.  If Davis struggled, the Brewers could have kept Aoki at the trade deadline if they were in playoff contention.

Although I didn't like the Aoki for Smith deal because the Brewers traded a known commodity for what amounts to an enticing lottery ticket, I am not always against the Brewers making a trade for a lottery ticket.  Earlier this off-season Melvin traded right-handed reliever Burke Badenhop to the Boston Red Sox for left-handed minor leaguer Luis Ortega.  I didn't mind that deal since last season Badenhop was -0.3 wins above replacement while Ortega is a 20-year-older that had success in the lowest level of the minor leagues despite his slight build 5'10" and 155 lbs.  There are tons of Bradenhops (below average relief pitchers) and Ortegas (young, left-handed pitcher) so I would rather role the dice on Ortega at the expense of Badenhop because Ortega's potentially higher ceiling.

Back to the Aoki/Smith deal for my final thoughts.  Best case scenario Davis picks up in 2014 where he left off in 2013 and the Brewers bought low on a left-handed relief pitcher in Smith for 2014 that they can turn into a starter down the road.  Worst case scenario, Davis and Smith struggle while Aoki continues to be Aoki.  My best guess is that Davis is a slightly above average outfielder while Smith serves as a middle reliever in 2014, which is why I do not think Smith was enough for Melvin to get in return for Aoki.

Building The 53 - McMillian out, Bell in

We knew that Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson added veteran running back Kahlil Bell to The 53 almost 24 hours ago thanks to Twitter.  At 5'11 and 216 lbs, Bell is a versatile running back that amassed 148 carries for 633 rushing yards and 22 receptions for 150 receiving yards over four seasons in the NFL mostly for the Chicago Bears.  For those that don't remember, Bell gashed the Packers for 159 total yards as a member of the Bears on Christmas Day 2011 thanks to 23 carries for 121 yards and four catches for 38 yards.  Bell previously served as a kickoff returner for the New York Jets, which is a plus since rookie cornerback Micah Hyde's success returning punts has not translated to kickoff returns. Since news of Bell's addition to The 53 broke after NFL business hours, the question turned to what player was going to make way for Bell?

Starting center Even Dietrich-Smith injured his knee on Thanksgiving against the Lions so with only four games left in the season there was a chance the Packers would put EDS on injured reserve.  Apparently EDS might be healthy enough to practice this week so that meant that the Packers were going to have to cut a healthy player to add Bell to The 53.  The strongest candidates to get cut from The 53 were the following pick-six (in alphabetical order):
- Victor Aiyewa (LB): the most recent addition to The 53 made his roster spot tenuous.
- Chris Harper (WR): a healthy scratch the last five games.
- Jeron McMillian (S): can't get on the field lately despite serious needs at safety.
- Marshall Newhouse (OT): arguably the worst offensive player currently on The 53.
- Nate Palmer (LB): healthy scratch the last two weeks.
- Jake Stoneburner (TE): rookie undrafted free agent that has seen very little of the field on offense or special teams despite all the injuries the Packers suffered at tight end this season.

As it turns out, McMillian made way for Bell.  When Thompson used a 4th round draft pick to draft McMillian, some scouts thought McMillian would have a hard time adjusting to the NFL since he played college football at Maine against second-tier NCAA players. After watching McMillian as a rookie, I actually thought he could be Atari Bigby 2.0 given how physical he played as a rookie.

Thanks to a productive rookie campaign, McMillian entered training camp this season as the starter opposite Morgan Burnett at safety but struggled throughout training camp.  Despite McMillian's struggles, he actually started the first two games this season due mostly to lack of better options since Burnett was injured.  After playing 184 snaps on defense in the first five games this season, McMillian played just seven defensive snaps in the last seven games.  Thus the longer McMillian was on The 53 during his sophomore season, the less he saw the field.  Even worse, McMillian was only a part-time player on special teams so that was probably the biggest indicator that McMillian's roster spot was tenuous. Ultimately McMillian played 28 games for the Packers including the aforementioned two starts by default.  As it turns out I was wrong about McMillian's upside because he is more of a homeless man's Bigby than Bigby 2.0.

With the change to The 53 out of the way, let's turn to the most notable thing we learned from Packer head coach Mike McCarthy's press conference earlier today.  McCarthy revealed that quarterback Aaron Rodgers is still not cleared to play but did not rule him out for Sunday when the Packers host the underwhelming Atlanta Falcons.  Hopefully the Packers will have Rodgers under center against the Falcons because without his services they've gone 0-4-1 since Rodgers suffered a broken collarbone against the Bears.  Given that the Packers trail the Detroit Lions by 1.5 games for first place in the NFC North with four games to play, the Packers face a do or die stretch to finish the season.

The 53 - Packers pummeled on the road by Lions on Thanksgiving

Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford came into their Thanksgiving 2013 match up 0-6 for his career against the Green Bay Packers and the Lions lost 15 of their last 16 games against the Packers.  The Lions lost nine straight on Thanksgiving but were 11-8-1 all-time against the Packers on Thanksgiving heading into their game on Thanksgiving 2013.  The Lions lost to the Packers for the 23rd consecutive times in Wisconsin earlier this season so they were looking for payback on Thanksgiving.

The inactives for the Packers against the Lions were: Brandon Bostick (TE, concussion), Chris Harper (WR, healthy scratch), Jamari Lattimore (LB, quad), Nate Palmer (LB, healthy scratch), Aaron Rodgers (QB, broken collarbone), Jerel Worthy (DL, healthy scratch), and C.J. Wilson (DL, ankle).  I was shocked that the quintet of right tackle Don Barclay, defensive lineman Johnny Jolly, outside linebacker Nick Perry, and cornerback Sam Shields returned for the Packers.  I almost wonder if those guys could have played against the Vikings just four days ago when the Packers tied the Vikings at home but Packers head coach Mike McCarthy didn't play them because he thought he could beat the Vikings without their services.  Well the Packers had all of their services but it didn't seem to help much.

In the first half the Packers offense got just three first downs, which is the same amount of turnovers that the defense created.  Luckily the defense returned one of those for a touchdown because the Packers scored just three points on offense on a drive that started at their own 40-yard line thanks to Lions punter Sam Martin hitting the kickoff out of bounds.

Besides the turnovers, the Lions were stellar on offense en route to gaining 17 first downs thanks in part to converting 4 of 5 third downs into first downs while the Packers converted merely 1 of 6 third downs into first downs.  The Lions held the ball for 20:34 minutes while the Packers only held the ball for 9:26 in the first half. The Lions gained 340 yards while the Packers gained just 43 yards.  The Lions should have been up huge at halftime but thanks to three turnovers and a missed 31-yard field goal at the end of the half by Lions kicker David Akers, the Lions only lead 17-10.

The Packers received the ball to start the second half but unfortunately it was just more of the same sans turnovers. Ultimately the Packers lost 40-10 to the Lions.  You can read more in-depth recaps of the second half elsewhere, I am more interested in where we go from here.

The Lions scored 37 unanswered points and out-gained the Packers 561 yards to 124 yards.  The offensive yardage numbers for the Packers would have been even more lopsided without the garbage 56 yard reception by wide receiver James Jones in the waning minutes of the game with the game already out of hand.  Let that sink in for a minute, the Packers gained almost half of their total yards on offense on one play, in garbage time.

There are tons of people calling for Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers to be fired.  If the Packers make that move, I assume they would name assistant head coach/inside linebackers coach Winston Moss the interim defensive coordinator.  Given that the Packers are most likely out of playoff contention, I am not sure what they accomplish other than putting a head on a spike.  Here are my updated rankings following the Packers/Lions game:

The 53

1. Aaron Rodgers (QB, LR 1) 2. Clay Matthews (OLB, LR 2)  3. Jordy Nelson (WR, LR 3) 4. T.J. Lang (G, LR 5) 5. Morgan Burnett (S, LR 9) 6. Josh Sitton (G, LR 4) 7. Eddie Lacy (RB, LR 6) 8. B.J. Raji (DL, LR 8) 9. James Jones (WR, LR 7) 10. David Bakhtiari (T, LR 11) 11. Evan Dietrich-Smith (C, LR 10) 12. Mike Daniels (DL, LR 13) 13. Sam Shields (CB, LR 12) 14. Tramon Williams (CB, LR 14) 15. Brad Jones (MLB, LR 15) 16. Don Barclay (T, LR 20) 17. Nick Perry (OLB, LR 21) 18. A.J. Hawk (MLB, LR 16) 19. Davon House (CB, LR 17) 20. Datone Jones (DL, LR 18) 21. Micah Hyde (CB, LR 19) 22. Jarrett Boykin (WR, LR 22) 23. Tim Masthay (P, LR 24) 24. Mike Neal (DL/OLB, LR 26) 25. Johnny Jolly (DL, LR 27) 26. Ryan Pickett (DL, LR 28) 27. Mason Crosby (K, LR 33) 28. Jerel Worthy (DE, LR 25) 29. Jamari Lattimore (LB, LR 23) 30. Matt Flynn (QB, LR 29) 31. Jarrett Bush (CB, LR 32) 32. Scott Tolzien (QB, LR 31) 33. M.D. Jennings (S, LR 38) 34. James Starks (RB, LR 34) 35. Brett Goode (LS, LR 35) 36. John Kuhn (FB, LR 36) 37. Derek Sherrod (T, LR 37) 38. Andrew Quarless (TE, LR 30) 39. Chris Banjo (S, LR 44) 40. Brandon Bostick (TE, LR 40) 41. C.J. Wilson (DL, LR 41) 42. Ryan Taylor (TE, LR 42) 43. Sean Richardson (S, LR 43) 44. Andy Mulamba (LB, LR 46) 45. Jerron McMillian (S, LR 47)  46. Myles White (WR, LR 48) 47. Lane Taylor (G, LR 49) 48. Jake Stoneburner (TE, LR 50) 49. Josh Boyd (DL, LR 51) 50. Marshall Newhouse (T, LR 45) 51. Victor Aiyewa (LB, LR N/A) 52. Nate Palmer (LB, LR 52) 53. Chris Harper (WR, LR 53)

Physically Unable to Perform

1. JC Tretter (T)

IR, Designated for Return

1. Randall Cobb (WR)

Injured Reserve

1. Jermichael Finley (TE) 2. Bryan Bulaga (T) 3. Casey Hayward (CB, LR 16) 4. DuJuan Harris (RB) 5. Jonathan Franklin (RB) 6. Robert Francois (MLB) 7. Greg Van Roten (C/G) 8. Sam Barrington (LB) 9. Seneca Wallace (QB) 10. James Nixon (CB, LR 53) 11. Kevin Dorsey (WR) 12. Sederrik Cunningham (WR)

Cut

1. Jeremy Ross (WR, Lions) 2. Michael Hill (RB, Buccaneers)

1. Aaron Rodgers (QB, LR 1): With Rodgers healthy, the Packers were 5-2 after beating the Minnesota Vikings in their last visit to The Humpty and looked like a strong candidate for a first round playoff bye.  Since Rodgers went down in the first offensive series of Monday Night Football against the Bears, the Packers have gone 0-4-1.  Has a player ever been named MVP without playing?

5) Morgan Burnett (S, LR 9): After having zero big plays so far in 2013, Burnett lucked into two fumble recoveries.  The first fumble was created by outside linebacker Clay Matthews stripping Lions running back Reggie Bush.  The second fumble was created by outside linebacker Nick Perry's strip sack of Stafford that Burnett returned to a touchdown.  Burnett showed that fumble recoveries are sometimes the definition of empty calories given that Burnett was quiet otherwise against the Lions.  I was totally against cutting Charles Woodson, clearly Woodson's play for the Oakland Raiders shows that he is not worth paying him $10 million this season, but worth have on The 53 for the Packers since he would be the starter at safety opposite Burnett.  I could be wrong but if the Packers could get even decent play next to Burnett, I could see the safety position turn from a liability to a position of strength given Burnett's potential upside.

13) Sam Shields (CB, LR 12): The Packers had two interceptions and two fumbles against the Lions.  Shields accounted for one of those interceptions on the only quality defense the secondary played on Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson all game.  Shields ran stride for stride with Johnson, maintained proper defensive position, and high-pointed the ball perfectly to intercepts Stafford's pass to prevent a touchdown.  Unfortunately those plays have been few and far between for Shields this season.  I reserve the option to chance my thoughts but as of right now I would force cornerback Tramon Williams to take a significant pay cut or send him packing, pay Shields, and move cornerback Micah Hyde to safety.  Assuming Williams takes the pay cut, the depth chart at cornerback next season would be Williams, Shields, Casey Hayward, Davon House, and Jarrett Bush.  That would leave the depth chart at safety as Burnett, Hyde, Jennings, Richardson, Banjo, and McMillan.

27) Mason Crosby (K, LR 33): My two main beefs with Crosby is consistency and inability to convert kicks from length once it gets cold. Crosby has been 25 of 29 this season including makes from 57 yards against the the Giants and 54 yards against the Lions.  Unfortunately I think we are in for a stinker or two from Crosby over the next four games.  Given that Crosby is due $3.4 million in 2014 and the Packers have a ton of guys to take care of, the Packers need to consider whether it is worth biting the bullet to carry $1.2 million in dead money split over their 2014 and 2015 salary cap to go in a new direction at kicker next season because we know there is very little correlation in kicking percentage season-to-season.

30) Matt Flynn (QB, LR 29): Last week I praised Flynn for potentially saving the Packers season.  For how well Flynn was last week, he was equally horrible this week against the Lions.  In three career games against the Lions, Flynn has either been boom or bust.  On December 12, 2010 he went 15 for 26 throwing for 177 yards, and 1 interception for a 62.5 passer rating in a 7-3 loss in Detroit.  On January 1, 2012 he went 31 for 44 throwing for 480 yards, 6 touchdowns, and 1 interception for a 136.4 passer rating in a 45-41 win in Green Bay.  On November 28, 2013 he went 10 for 20 throwing for 139 yards, and 1 interception for a 51.9 passer rating in a 40-10 loss in Detroit.  In what is hopefully Flynn's last snap for the Packers at quarterback he fumbled a clean snap to ensure the offense only scored 3 points.

42) Ryan Taylor (TE, LR 42): I am shocked that Taylor returned to the game after suffering what looked like a gruesome concussion when he was tackled by two players.  It looked like the hit was legal.  Given how much an emphasis the NFL has put on head injuries twenty years too late, apparently it did not result in a concussion for Taylor.

50) Marshall Newhouse (T, LR 45): When starting center Evan Dietrich-Smith went down with a knee injury, the Packers had an interesting decision to make.  If I were in charge I would have slide starting right guard T.J. Lang to center, starting right tackle Don Barclay to right guard, and put Derek Sherrod at right tackle.  Instead McCarthy moved Lang to center and inserted Newhouse at right guard while leaving Don Barclay at right tackle.  Newhouse gave up a safety and provided about as much protection as a defective condom before getting benched for undrafted guard Lane Taylor. For the final series the Packers gave Sherrod a chance at right tackle.

51) Victor Aiyewa (LB, LR N/A): Added to The 53 in place of rookie running back Johnathan Franklin.  After a promising preseason, Franklin played sparingly in the regular season amassing 107 yards on 19 carries and 1 touchdown mostly against the Cincinnati Bengals.  It was Franklin's crucial fumble against the Bengals that will be remember as opposed to his 13 carries for 103 yards and 1 touchdown effort.  Franklin played against the Bengals because fellow rookie running back Eddie Lacy suffered a concussion against the Washington Redskins that precluded him from playing against the Bengals.  Franklin suffered a concussion last week returning the opening kickoff return against the Vikings.  It was curious that Franklin was returning kickoffs because rookie cornerback Micah Hyde claimed that spot due to Franklin's ineffectiveness.  Franklin became the 12th player that the Packers placed on injured reserve.  As you can tell, I wanted to recap Franklin's rookie contributions for the Packers.  Given that Aiyewa is the first addition to The 53 by the Packers of a guy that I know very little about, here is a quick rundown on Aiyewa: he went to the University of Washington, his height (6'1"), and weight (237 pounds).

Stafford broke his winless streak against the Packers and now the Lions are now 12-8-1 all-time on Thanksgiving against the Packers.  The Packers need to win out and get some help, Lions need to lose 2 of their next 4 and Bears need to lose 1 of their next 5, to have any chance of winning the NFC North.  With ten days off before the Packers host the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau Field the focus will be on whether Rodgers plays. Something tells me I could be writing a fairly length obituary on the Dom Capers-era.  If the Packers make any changes to the coaching staff or The 53 between, make sure to check back for full coverage.