Hmmm.....
Not what I like to read, but he has a point.
-Scott
===============================
Wags
by Len Wagner
Wednesday, July 24, 2002
"Revolving Door Leads to Training Camp"
Well, it's late July and you know what that means. . .the start of football
season.
The Packers are opening their real training camp, following a series of
rather unreal practices they call mini-camps. Unreal because they don't
truly tell anyone much, despite lots of yammering about how good this guy
or that guy looked. Trust me, nobody looks good until they get into full
pads and start hitting each other.
So anyway, with the start of camp, let me see if I have all this straight:
The Packers had a 12-4 record last year -- pretty good -- but lost in the
second round of the playoffs to the St. Louis Rams, 45-17. That, of course,
was cause for at least semi-panic in the weeks following. No matter that
lots of teams were bumped rather indelicately by the Louies.
The panic mode resulted in the termination of a flock of players, all of
whom, as I remember, contributed rather well to that 12-4 record and a
playoff conquest of San Francisco before the flop at St. Louis. Can't help
wondering what sort of hit the roster would have taken if the Packers had
actually beaten the Rams and lost in the next round.
Oh well, that's totally beside the pointspread now. So let's get back to
actuality and take a look at the situation.
In the biggest move of all, the Pack dumped its top three wide receivers.
Actually, Schroeder and Freeman were pretty well dumped while they sort of
meekly let Bradford just slip away. In any case, that was a housecleaning
worthy of the Merry Maids. And who do they have to replace these three
veterans? Well, the current depth chart has:
1. Terry Glenn. This is the guy who was so good the Patriots won the
Super Bowl without him as he was under suspension of one sort or another
for all but four games. He is reputed to be a great player but in six
seasons that flash has been dimmed by attitude and off-field problems.
2. Robert Ferguson. The second round draft choice in 2002 was active
in only one game last year, due in part to injuries and in bigger part to
an inability to digest the offense.
3. Javon Walker. The team's No. 1 pick this year who readily admits
he is one of the more dull knives in the drawer. Another Ferguson?
Considering these three, perhaps Donald Driver and Charles Lee
will finally get the larger opportunity they have earned.
Elsewhere on offense, Bubba Franks, the Pro Bowler -- and I haven't found
anyone who could explain that -- is back at tight end and hope remains he
actually will play up to a Pro Bowl level. He remains a major key to
success with the West Coast offense. Keep the faith. The offensive line is
intact and, generally, pretty solid -- fortunately no terminations or
defections here. Ahman Green, trying to stay out of domestic abuse jail, is
back at running back, supported by a string of very non-Levenish folks --
all has-beens or wannabes.
Brett Favre remains at QB, proclaiming he is still at the peak of his
career. Doug Pederson is No. 2 and the best thing about him at this point
is he has proven that a quarterback out of Northeast Louisiana can actually
make it -- at least to second string --in the NFL. That's important because
the Packers latest version of their QB of future is rookie Craig Nall,
fifth round pick out of the same Division I-AA school. He played there as a
senior, rather well, apparently, after flunking quarterback and settling
for a few games at wide receiver at I-A Louisiana State. Most NFL scouts
figured him for about the third round of collegiate free agents. Then
there's Marcus Brady, a bona-fide free agent, from Cal State-Northridge,
another I-AA school.
Fullback is William Henderson, a good one, undervalued by many. Behind him
is fourth round draftee Najeh Davenport, who has been limping on a injured
leg and/or foot through much of his career -- except for when he decided,
in Miami University tradition, to flee a woman's dorm room closet just
before the police arrived.
What all this tells us about of the offense is that one off-season
miscalculation, or cracked bone or stretched ligament (Green, Favre,
Henderson) or, in today's NFL, failed drug test could leave the
much-discussed Super Bowl aspirations wobbling on crutches.
And if the wide receiver position was pretty well flushed, consider the
defense: Gone are regulars LeRoy Butler (retirement due to injury), Santana
Dotson, Bernardo Harris, Jim Flanigan, John Thierry (all expunged). Granted
the last four are very replaceable (though I thought Flanigan generally
played up to what was expected). The question is whether end Joe Johnson
and linebacker Hardy Nickerson, both brought in with much trumpeting on the
free agency express, can live up to their billing. Nickerson has always
impressed me but the guy is 36, though the Packers would have you believe
that's a "young" 36. He supplants fired Bernardo Harris in the middle
because sophomore Torrance Marshall's physical talent still outweighs his
mental talent in a tough position..
Johnson's presence was required at great expense after it was pretty well
determined that more youthful multi-millionaire Jamal Reynolds, the No. 1
draft pick a year ago, isn't going to cut it at defensive end. Where and if
he cuts it at all, will be one of the interesting aspects of training camp.
He played just four games last season without much distinction, though he
was hampered much of the early season by injuries. Marshall, the third
round pick a year ago, also was hard to find on the field in '01 -- making
one wonder how the Packers actually won all those games and made the
playoffs with virtually no help from their top three draftees.
One reason, however, was the generally decent play of the largely rotating
defensive line, even outside of the departing members. So this, like the
offensive line, should be a positive point. If the other linebackers, Nate
Wayne and Na'il Diggs, remain whole, it could be a respectable group --
though Diggs may have slumped a bit from his first season.
Butler's heir apparent is Antuan Edwards, coming off an injury and who, in
three years, has yet to really scare any opponent. Then there's always
another of the draftees who's off-field exploits measure up to their
on-field play, Marques Anderson, a No. 3 from UCLA. He is reputed to be a
contender for Butler's spot. Fortunately reliable Darren Sharper and Mike
McKenzie, augmented by improving Bhawoh Jue and Tod McBride return to the
defensive backfield. Unfortunately, so does Tyrone Williams.
Special teams? That's always iffy at this stage except for the specialists.
And even they fit in that category this year. Ryan Longwell was
spectacularly inconsistent in the field goal department last year.
Presumably he should regain his form. Josh Bidwell had some good numbers
but every punt remained an adventure. And then we have one Darrien Gordon
to return punts. The Falcons were willing to set him free after collecting
Allen Rossum (remember him?).
Now, I suppose some of this sounds pessimistic. Actually, it is an attempt
to take a real look at the Packers for 2002.
On the optimistic side, the pieces are all there. But there are a lot of
them, many still untested. Perhaps some square blocks trying to wedge into
a round hole. It makes for a particularly interesting training camp this
year. And if those pieces do fall into the right places, as Coach-GM Mike
Sherman, the guy who was spinning the off-season revolving door, envisions,
it could be a really fine year. Another one.
But Super Bowl? A possibility. The temptation is to call it a slim shot.
But there's lots of parity in the NFL, providing great expectations for a
good many teams, including Green Bay. |
