go pak go wrote: ↑29 Mar 2021 16:40
lupedafiasco wrote: ↑29 Mar 2021 16:23
go pak go wrote: ↑29 Mar 2021 13:08
Andy Herman's video today hits on this perfectly.
I listened to his podcast yesterday and felt he described my feelings perfectly. If the team isn’t getting better it’s getting worse. They stayed the same outside of losing Linsley and they won’t have much to rely on as far as leaps from last years draft class because the majority was drafted for depth.
So really it’s going to be last years team minus an all pro center and a crop of rookies. The Buccs are gonna be the same but they beat us twice.
Yeah I just don't see how that is surprising though. It is why last January I was so urgent on the 2020 Packers. 2020 was likely the best roster Rodgers will have as a Packer. It's just going to be hard from an offseason standpoint to get better than that and I guess I expected that going into this offseason.
Honestly I am pleasantly surprised we were able to keep Jones and at least don't have a gaping hole at CB.
But this roster is maxed out. It's maxed out more than I thought it would be. It's now up to the players to elevate and win it. They failed last year. They failed in 2019 too but the expectations weren't as high.
And the players can absolutely elevate it. I'm not worried about the Bucs. It's a whole new year. We were all worried about the 9ers last year and you can see how quickly a team can rise and fall. Right now it's about the Packers players elevating their game (Smiths, Gary, Clark and Barnes)
I think TB has a better roster than us, and had a better roster than us last season, despite having a worse record. I think that they underperformed kind of like the Miami Heat did in the first year of their triumvirate.
Pettine needed to be fired, but I heard a good point the other day that where we really lost was actually Rodgers in the 2nd half. He brought us almost all the way back and our defense got us 3 turnovers and then our offense failed. TB is not one of those SF or NYG teams however, so we can actually beat them, but you're right when you say this is mostly on the players.
We can still improve though. Our 2010 roster was better in every way except RB. As good as Jaire is, I would rather have 2010 Woodson if I could only pick 1. As good as Amos is, I would rather have Collins. Would rather have Bishop and Hawk. Would certainly rather have Tramon than King, and Shields vs whoever we have been trotting out there. 2010 Matthews was better than 2020 Z, although not by a lot. Smith/Gary > Zombo, and Kenny Clark > Pickett I think. But that 2010 line overall was better too because Pickett is only slightly worse than Clark, but Cullen Jenkins was himself top 5 at the position. WRs hands down better in 2010, not even close. QB was better too since Rodgers made you respect the run (which, had he done against TB, I think likely would have made enough of a difference for us to win, certainly on that wide open lane near the end zone late when he instead threw to Davante). I would think TE is better now, but Donald Lee was incredibly underrated. I'd probably take our line now over Colledge/Spitz/Wells and the gang.
I was having this discussion the other day, but if you look at our defense on paper, we have like at least 6 guys who all can be considered in the discussion for being at the top 3 of their position depending on your criteria (Jaire, Amos, Savage, Clark, Z, Gary (assuming he takes the leap we expect although by metrics alone, he is already there)). But as I said before, despite how consistently well they grade out, how many of these guys would you take over their 2010 counterparts? Pretty much just Kenny Clark and then whoever you rank as our #2 safety vs Charlie Peprah. I think what these guys bring is consistent high performance, but we are still missing playmakers. If we get a playmaking ILB or CB then I will feel more comfortable with this D.