Packers Huddle

People hate McGinn because he doesn't let go of a preset narrative, even when evidence suggests he is wrong. That should sound familiar.

Ben Fennel is brutally honest and informative and the best beat writer for the Packers. Others are good too. None are unnecessarily rosy.

Yoop wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 07:57

people hate McGinn because he doesn't provide the ear candy as much as the rest of our beat writers do.

I disagree. I think the Packers (and most teams) have no shortage of pessimistic and/or curmudgeonly writers--Silverstein comes to mind.

I'll also say that my Dad was a sportswriter for 35 years here in Annapolis, Maryland and when I was five, he was ranked as "the most hated man in Annapolis" by a local magazine and had a segment of a public access show devoted to profiling the newly-minted "most hated man." He told me that hate mail means they're reading. So I GET IT.

I think what upsets people about McGinn is not that he's hard on the team or the players; we are, too, in fact. What people dislike about McGinn is that before each offseason, McGinn picks one, maybe two, storylines that define the offseason and he does not adjust those storylines to new information.

One offseason he insisted that the team wanted to get bigger and stronger, and then any move that was made that did NOT involve size and strength to his liking would be trashed as if it was a failure. But it is only a failure if you accept McGinn's original premise, which often seemed to have no source other than his own opinions. It's easy to pick one action item and then view every roster move or draft pick through that lens, but that's not how team building works.

McGinn has a ton of value. He is very well-connected and he does the leg work, which is a lot more than most local beat writers can say. His "what the scouts say" items for the draft or free agent signings are insight that we can't get elsewhere. His weekly player grades are in the eye of the beholder, but it's certainly more work than most locals are doing.

The thing that gets our goat, though, is and has been and will continue to be his one-note narrative formation, that he invents or exaggerates, and then his inability to change his perspectives or narratives based on new information. If you read his first column after each season, then you know what he's going to say about everything else that happens for the next 6-9 months. He becomes predictable and rote.

And so often, the narrative is just... incorrect. Which is fine, we all make incorrect assertions around here. But you have to be able adapt to new information and understand that you don't speak for the team--even if you have a good source. Back in 2005 when I worked at the combine, I can tell you that multiple members of the personnel staff loved Jason Campbell and Adrian McPhereson at QB. I mean raved. But a scout's opinion and the TT-personnel department consensus are different. He could have had Eliot Wolf himself saying "the team really needs to get bigger and stronger" and it doesn't mean that TT is viewing the personnel moves through that vain. It means Eliot wants them to, and nothing more.

Moved to this thread bc it wasnt really Nola Specific:

Wonder how Savage has been doing from a graded performance perspective. I’ve seen him get burnt a few times, but that doesn’t mean he’s doing awful overall I guess. This D needs him to keep growing into what we thought we were getting early last year. I know he is young but jw if anyone had any thoughts on how he looks so far.

Amos is not someone opposite teams fear imo, but he is someone who typically does his job adequately. A safety teams always want to know where he is lined up would be very cool for our defense. I had hopes that could be Savage, and still do.

Drj820 wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 09:29

Wonder how Savage has been doing from a graded performance perspective.

I don't think particularly well. I think it was either Herman or Nagler did a pretty extensive deep dive into his play and described him at the crossroads. Makes a few beautiful plays, but still wildly inconsistent where you have to start to wonder if he will ever really get there.

Pckfn23 wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 08:07

People hate McGinn because he doesn't let go of a preset narrative, even when evidence suggests he is wrong. That should sound familiar.

Ben Fennel is brutally honest and informative and the best beat writer for the Packers. Others are good too. None are unnecessarily rosy.

One of the best podcasts you can get.

Ben Fennel and Andy Herman joined up together after the Lions game.

https://cheeseheadtv.com/blog/pack-a-da ... to-2-0-755

NCF wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 09:38

Drj820 wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 09:29

Wonder how Savage has been doing from a graded performance perspective.

I don't think particularly well. I think it was either Herman or Nagler did a pretty extensive deep dive into his play and described him at the crossroads. Makes a few beautiful plays, but still wildly inconsistent where you have to start to wonder if he will ever really get there.

If only we could bring up posts about a guy name Nick Collins from Julie's World about his play from 2006 - 2008.

The daggers came at Collins especially in 08. And then it just clicked in 09.

Drj820 wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 09:29

Moved to this thread bc it wasnt really Nola Specific:

Wonder how Savage has been doing from a graded performance perspective. I’ve seen him get burnt a few times, but that doesn’t mean he’s doing awful overall I guess. This D needs him to keep growing into what we thought we were getting early last year. I know he is young but jw if anyone had any thoughts on how he looks so far.

Amos is not someone opposite teams fear imo, but he is someone who typically does his job adequately. A safety teams always want to know where he is lined up would be very cool for our defense. I had hopes that could be Savage, and still do.

I would say Sage is the lowest graded player in the secondary so far and Amos is right behind him. Amos has had some misses too from coverage and tackling.

NCF wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 09:38

Drj820 wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 09:29

Wonder how Savage has been doing from a graded performance perspective.

I don't think particularly well. I think it was either Herman or Nagler did a pretty extensive deep dive into his play and described him at the crossroads. Makes a few beautiful plays, but still wildly inconsistent where you have to start to wonder if he will ever really get there.

That is why i went with him in Papa John's to be honest. Time for the 1st rounder to make an impact here.

By the way, I found this as of the day after cutdowns:
Really fun to see that we're the 5th-youngest team 2 years in a row, and went 13-3 the first time and are looking good at 2-0 this time. A lot of younger teams are struggling and building.

I thought about it listening to the Herman and Fennell podcast discussing how we're getting contributions from our young stars while the veteran presences we do have are filling their roles to expectations and how that's complementing each other.

YoHoChecko wrote: ↑

25 Sep 2020 11:38

By the way, I found this as of the day after cutdowns:

image.png

Really fun to see that we're the 5th-youngest team 2 years in a row, and went 13-3 the first time and are looking good at 2-0 this time. A lot of younger teams are struggling and building.

I thought about it listening to the Herman and Fennell podcast discussing how we're getting contributions from our young stars while the veteran presences we do have are filling their roles to expectations and how that's complementing each other.

Also, I know the changes are minute, but hard to not notice how we dropped down a little older in 2017 and 2018 and those are our least successful seasons in recent memory, probably going back a decade.

Anyone know where I can find a list of the injuries that happened in the Saints game, or any previous game that comes up?

paco wrote: ↑

28 Sep 2020 06:49

Anyone know where I can find a list of the injuries that happened in the Saints game, or any previous game that comes up?

They are so quiet on injuries this year.

I do know that Rashan Gary has an ankle and Kirksey has a shoulder.

By my count the Packers have fielded 6 different OLine alignments (7 if you count the backups in for the final drive of the Lions game) in which three different players have played multiple positions and three different players have started at RT and the Packers are 2nd in the NFL in rushing yards (per game and per carry), tied for first in fewest sacks allowed, and the #2 overall offense in yardage.

That's absolutely ridiculous.

go pak go wrote: ↑

28 Sep 2020 08:06

paco wrote: ↑

28 Sep 2020 06:49

Anyone know where I can find a list of the injuries that happened in the Saints game, or any previous game that comes up?

They are so quiet on injuries this year.

I do know that Rashan Gary has an ankle and Kirksey has a shoulder.

They used to list them in pressers after the game. I honestly didn't even notice Gary was out of the game until I saw it on twitter by chance.

" I don't know how many more times this needs to be said, but let's get this out for the record.
Damon Harrison is not coming to Green Bay. They offered him more than any team in FA, but he doesn't want to play in the cold with his knees".


Dear Packer fans...No snacks for you !

BSA wrote: ↑

28 Sep 2020 13:02

" I don't know how many more times this needs to be said, but let's get this out for the record.
Damon Harrison is not coming to Green Bay. They offered him more than any team in FA, but he doesn't want to play in the cold with his knees".


Dear Packer fans...No snacks for you !

Hey [mention]BSA[/mention], if you post twitter links without the url tags, it will automatically format the tweet in media format for you. I edited your post.

BUT WHAT OF MARCEL DAREUS? THIS IS MY OLD IDEA, NOT A NEW IDEA

Who knows our next opponent any better?