The New Era

Now the new era officially begins. Its life after Ahmad the Terrible (C'mon Dawg!). With this begins the clearing of the picture of what we really have for a GM in Ted Thompson. Those who wish to tear him down in this, the first year of "full" control must look at what rubble he has continued to sift through to even find a team. I for one still hold Mike Sherman accountable for the condition of the team. Responsibility for moves that have had to be made, money that has been spent and the necessary rebuilding that has begun (not done) all start and end with Mike Sherman on draft day. His last draft as GM, the 2004 draft has proven to be a very costly draft indeed. With one pick in the first round, none in the second, and three in the third we have nothing but a trail of tears to show for it. The remaining two picks were the good picks, well one of them......well a couple of late bloomers.... I'll give them that. Corey Williams and Scott Wells are on no ones radar before any trade deadline and I don't foresee that happening any time soon. The most costly picks, however, were never going to bloom. To pick these guys on one roster is like something right out of the Homer J. Simpson book of draft classics:
1 (25, 25) - Ahmad Carroll----"Doh!!!"
3 (7, 70) - Joey Thomas ----"Doh!!!"
3 (9, 72) - Donnell Washington"Doh!!!"
3 (24, 87) - B.J. Sander-------"Doh!!!Doh!!!"
These were all wasted picks; a wasted future. When you draft players, you hope within two to three years you have some solid starting material. Granted, the 2004 draft was not one for the ages beyond the first round but look at who was drafted early:
1 (1) Eli Manning Mississippi
2 (2) Robert Gallery Iowa
3 (3) Larry Fitzgerald Pittsburgh
4 (4) Philip Rivers North Carolina State
5 (5) Sean Taylor Miami (FL)
6 (6) Kellen Winslow Miami (FL)
7 (7) Roy Williams
8 (8) DeAngelo Hall Virginia Tech
9 (9) Reggie Williams Washington
10 (10) Dunta Robinson South Carolina
11 (11) Ben Roethlisberger Miami (OH)
12 (12) Jonathan Vilma Miami (FL)
13 (13) Lee Evans Wisconsin
Now you say "Yeah, but they were all earlier that Green Bay." Yes , but Steven Jackson of the St. Louis Rams was one pick ahead of Ahmad Carroll. Think about that. What would Pick number 25 plus 70 (Joey Thomas) have done for us?
How about 25 and 72 (Donnell Washington)?
This is where Sherman messed up. Like he did with one minute and twenty seconds to go in any given two minute drill, he hesitated and lost out on opportunity.
This year we had more draft picks that any other team and have gotten at least two potential super stars in A. J. Hawk and Greg Jennings as well as rookie linemen that, given the circumstances, have been shaping up to be decent players and will be the future of the offensive line, not to mention some other good prospects such as Abdul Hodge and Will Blackmon. Many mistakes are yet to be erased. Some mistakes will be made again ( SCHOTTENHEIMER) and hopefully corrected. But all in all the direction is slowly turning back toward north to the great Frozen Tundra of the past. The Packers have fallen to the depths. Its easier to step on a team when it is down. But if you hold on to it while it rises (no matter how slowly), eventually you will have the privilege of the view from the top.

Hard Worker?

Over the last 3 seasons the term "Hard Worker" has been linked to Aaron Kampman and rightfully so. The guy works his tail off during and after the season. But it's high time he receive some respect as well. Hard worker? We are only 2 games into this season and one of the only bright spots on the entire team is Aaron Kampman. He has 4 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. Today in a losing effort he had 3 sacks putting him in a category that has only 4 other memebers. Only Gbaja-Biamila, Reggie White, Tim Harris and Bryce Paup have multiple 3 sack games for the Green and Gold. Think about that for a minute. In the entire history of this storied team those are the only members of that club. That is 5 out of the 92 defensive ends this team has had. To furhter that he is making big plays on running backs in the back field as well as puttng pressure on the quarter back. He is running down plays from the backside and blowing things up that might have gone for big yardage. He is successfully doing the things you expect from a defensive end that just signed a big contract. Last year he had 82 tackles, 7 sacks and 3 forced fumbles compared to KGB who had 53 tackles, 8 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. And unlike KGB, I never see his knees buckle and him crumble to the ground because he is so over powered by the offensive tackle. After leading the D-line in tackles and playing above expectations even when the team was in the midst of a nightmare of a season what does he get. That's right, a new contract. These are the guys who you want to keep around, the guys who are "Hard Workers" when it all seems to mean nothing. These are the guys you can depend upon week in and week out. What does a hard worker do with a brand new paycheck? So far in the first two games of this season he has been one of the best players on the defense and a real leader. So when you hear people say he is over rated or that he is "just a hard worker", think about it for a second before you jump on that band wagon. He is someone that deserves respect for the probowl type performance he has turned in so far this year. He may not get there if this turns out to be a losing season, but you know he will go down swinging. I'll take an entire D-line made of Aaron Kampmans any day. We could use a little more hard work once in a while.

Laying the Groundwork

When Ron Wolf commented on what he saw at the practice facility this past week he said he didn't see a contender.....Yet. Even if he is the guy who gave Mike Sherman the green light, you have to respect his total resume and the Championship coaching staff, players and personnel he assembled in his tenure. I like his candidness as well. Last year when the Packers lost so many players to injury and were left with disappointment he said they had NFL Europe quality players left. He was telling the truth. He said they were horrible and they were. With that in mind, he said this week that he believes that Thompson will get this job done and that has to give one hope.
We are not looking at this year and we may not even be looking at next, but it will happen and this is just the groundwork. When you look at the one year contracts that he signed with some of these players you can see that many are temporary answers. These are players that either prove themselves a better player than they have been assessed as or they will have served their purpose in filling in while the young bloods get up to speed and until the free agents of next year come in. Thompson has made mention that next year is the better year for free agents and if you do a little math you will see that the Packers will have a decent pocketbook to right some phat checks (of course that has to include taking care of Al Harris first, but that is another story).
With all of this in mind, I think these may have been the things conveyed to Brett Favre to entice him to come back and play. I don't think he could have been talked into the idea of the Packers making a Superbowl run right away this year. He did seem to make some references to that idea when he was golfing and cutting grass this summer, but I think he had to realize that was a pretty tall order even if he does change clothes in a phone booth. I also don't think that, knowing it was going to be a couple of years, he would come back for the roughest of the next three and call it quits. I think you will see Brett here for a couple of years and maybe more. It has been said that McCarthy has three years to get it done and that figure has to sit pretty good with Brett's golfing schedule as well. You can't blame him for holding on and you couldn't blame him for hanging them up. I think he still believes it can happen again and I think he's the right guy to be at the helm.
So this year may not be the year, but kick back and watch some football. Have a couple of beers and watch the groundwork. Remember the early years of Favre's career and how it built up to the Superbowl. Now put that in fast forward and here we go again.