NFC Championship: Buccaneers @ Packers - Sunday, Jan 24th, 2:05 PM

[adambr2]

Rodgers sounded like a guy who genuinely isn't sure if he'll be back next year.

 

I think kicking that field goal might have damaged his relationship with Rodgers irreparably. MLF will never be able to get the decision to trust Pettine over Rodgers back.

[GAME05]

It would sure be something if Rodgers were more upset at things than he let on, this game was the last straw, and he pulled a Watson/Stafford.

[HiAndTight]

They are currently $28 million over the cap. They used any wiggle room they had to sign a soon-to-be 30-year old tackle with a torn ACL. The term ‘hell’ may be a bit of hyperbole, but this won’t be a walk in the park.

 

 

Dude....I JUST went over this.

 

A-They're not "over" any cap because they don't have a cap yet. All they have is a floor. The absolutely LOWEST the cap could possibly be.

 

B-They're about 3 simple moves away from clearly almost all of that space.

 

C-If THEY are in cap hell, then so is just about every team. The Buccs have cap space...and they have Goodwin, Lavante David, Barrett, Gronkowski, Suh, Antonio Brown, their RB's, their other two starters on the DL today and several other guys who are going to be FA's.

 

 

So IF the cap remains at what is currently the lowest possible number and they don't raise it to 196 for next year(which is the current speculation) it could literally go up 100 million the following year.

 

So no, they're not in Cap hell, they're really not even in that much trouble...aside from the trouble that just about EVERY competitive team is in...just about.

 

They have very few FA's and they've got capable replacements and 10 draft picks. They're not in cap hell and they're not headed to cap hell unless they want to be aggressive this off-season. And even then....AGAIN, 100 billion dollar TV deal coming. So it's entirely possible you see a 300 million dollar salary cap the year after next. They're fine. They don't have a lot of space. That's not the same as "cap hell."

 

 

And that "soon to be 30-year-old LT with a torn ACL," didn't have a torn ACL when they signed him, and take a look at other elite tackles. Trent Williams is projected to get about 4/80. He'll be 33. Jason Peters is 39 and was a Pro-Bowler and AP well into his 30's. Whitworth, 38 years old... a very good left tackle.

 

They're nowhere near cap hell and the insinuation that it was a bad idea to sign Bahktiari because he ended up getting hurt is...a 29-year-old 1st team All Pro at the 2nd most important position. You don't pay him, exactly who DO you pay?

 

If you want to keep bemoaning how bad the Packers salary cap situation is, look at all the other teams and their Free Agents.

[HiAndTight]

We can be favored by 2 touchdowns in next years NFCCG and I'll still fully believe we'll find a way to choke until we actually reach a Super Bowl. It's become synonymous with Packer football and Wisconsin sports in general. I let myself believe today that this was our turn -- that we would finally get it done and none of the past mattered. I truly believed we would win.

 

I won't believe again. They let us down -- again.

 

 

I thought they could...but when it was Tampa, I was about 50/50 they'd blow it.

 

I mean...with the young stars on this team or stars in their prime, I could find a way to spin this and talk about how they should be just as good next year...but who the hell cares? They just blew a chance at a SB.

 

And despite all the mistakes, if Bahk doesn't suffer a fluke, freak injury, we almost CERTAINLY win today as Rodgers would have had much more time to carve up that weak, depleted secondary.

 

 

But of course, things were going too well. Of course Bahk had to snap his ACL.

This was my biggest fear going into the postseason. I knew this would come back to haunt us eventually.

 

 

Yup. I don't think it would have cost us vs Buffalo, NOLA, KC nearly as badly. But vs JPP and now it's harder to help out on Barrett. That's just asking too much out of a RG who's playing LT.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Rodgers sounded like a guy who genuinely isn't sure if he'll be back next year.

 

I think kicking that field goal might have damaged his relationship with Rodgers irreparably. MLF will never be able to get the decision to trust Pettine over Rodgers back.

 

He sounds like a guy who's sick of breaking records to see his efforts seriously hampered by either front office inactivity or very bizarre in game coaching or some combination of both.

 

I don't absolve Rodgers of ALL blame, he played a nice game, but he did have two chances to take the lead, a third to tie, and couldn't.

 

I think he's sick of this. Just my gut feeling, but I get the sense if the Packers wanted to move with Love, he would be more of a "Well OK, I'm off to San Francisco," and be pretty happy about it. I think he's ready to embrace moving on. I would have been six years ago.

[homer]

I think he sounded like a guy really bummed out that he lost. You guys are reading way too much into that interview.

[HiAndTight]

We're not headed to cap hell and I don't blame Rodgers for anything. I think he wants to go somewhere else and I think the Packers are tired of paying one position so much money.

 

 

 

I mean...unless today's game was really that devastating, he's talked at length all season long about how much he's enjoying playing here and how close he and LaFleur have been, and how much he likes this team(not to mention his desire to finish his career in GB).

 

If the Packers are sick of paying him...well, I think they'd be morons, but let's wait another year. I think his contract may look pretty good heading into the 2022 season.

[adambr2]

I think he sounded like a guy really bummed out that he lost. You guys are reading way too much into that interview.

 

I agree that emotions are probably a part of it.

 

With that said, I think it's highly likely that next season is his last in Green Bay. If they win it all, I think he'll retire. If they don't, I think he'll have had enough and look to finish up his career elsewhere.

 

Imagine Rodgers with the Saints. Or the Colts. We've had 10 years to get him enough help to win another championship and we haven't even been able to get back to the game. The organization has failed him. Tampa Bay did everything they could to put enough talent around Brady to win today despite him not having his best game and that's part of the reason they're playing in Super Bowl 55 and we are not. It took them one single try with a HOF QB to get to the game that we've had 10 consecutive failures at getting him to.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think he sounded like a guy really bummed out that he lost. You guys are reading way too much into that interview.

 

 

Ehhh, if that's all there was, yeah. But it's not. Rodgers has already stated on record he thinks he'll finish his career somewhere else. I genuinely don't think he'll be playing out this contract in GB.

 

He's been getting awfully deep about his mysterious future lately.

[yourout]

Has a team ever lost 3 straight conference championship games?

[Eye Black]

Sorry if this was posted already, but here’s LaFleur’s quote about the TD at the end of the 1st half:

 

"It was man coverage; definitely not the right call for the situation."

[homer]

I think he sounded like a guy really bummed out that he lost. You guys are reading way too much into that interview.

 

 

Ehhh, if that's all there was, yeah. But it's not. Rodgers has already stated on record he thinks he'll finish his career somewhere else. I genuinely don't think he'll be playing out this contract in GB.

 

He's been getting awfully deep about his mysterious future lately.

 

 

Yeah he said that because they drafted a QB.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Has a team ever lost 3 straight conference championship games?

 

Reid's Eagles did. Then won the 4th one and lost the Super Bowl. Rams did in the 70s too. Cowboys from 80-82. Probably others.

[brewcrewdue80]

While MLF lost this game in the 4th qtr, I hope he's the Packers coach for a very long time. The guy has got it figured out for the first 30min in Football games. At some point he just has to find success coming out of half time with adjustments and decisions in the 2nd half. He finds that mojo you're looking at next Belichek. Hopefully he solves this soon before GB gives up on him with another few season results like this.

[MrTPlush]

He should figure it out while he still has Rodgers. Life won’t be as easy when he doesn’t have an MVP running the offense.

[yourout]

Has a team ever lost 3 straight conference championship games?

 

Reid's Eagles did. Then won the 4th one and lost the Super Bowl. Rams did in the 70s too. Cowboys from 80-82. Probably others.

 

Wow... That's surprising.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I think he sounded like a guy really bummed out that he lost. You guys are reading way too much into that interview.

 

 

Ehhh, if that's all there was, yeah. But it's not. Rodgers has already stated on record he thinks he'll finish his career somewhere else. I genuinely don't think he'll be playing out this contract in GB.

 

He's been getting awfully deep about his mysterious future lately.

 

 

Yeah he said that because they drafted a QB.

 

So what? That's a very relevant factor at play. It was a first round pick that could have brought him closer to getting over the hump. Instead a guy at his position. You don't think that possibly nudged him in a direction?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

He should figure it out while he still has Rodgers. Life won’t be as easy when he doesn’t have an MVP running the offense.

 

Dudes now 38 for the Packers purposes. If they couldn't get this done against a very questionable NFC and home field advantage, in a game in which the opponent's geriatric QB threw them three ducks, it ain't happening. Not without whatever devil deal Tom Brady made.

[adambr2]

Sorry if this was posted already, but here’s LaFleur’s quote about the TD at the end of the 1st half:

 

"It was man coverage; definitely not the right call for the situation."

 

Pettine is a dead man walking. You don't throw your DC under the bus that egregiously unless you're certain he isn't going to be your DC next year. MLF had his mind made up at halftime. Maybe a win could have bought him a mulligan, but he's gone.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Sorry if this was posted already, but here’s LaFleur’s quote about the TD at the end of the 1st half:

 

"It was man coverage; definitely not the right call for the situation."

 

Pettine is a dead man walking. You don't throw your DC under the bus that egregiously unless you're certain he isn't going to be your DC next year. MLF had his mind made up at halftime. Maybe a win could have bought him a mulligan, but he's gone.

 

 

Not to mention he almost certainly had a guy he wanted to install there when he got the job and couldn't. Well he could. But not really.

[GAME05]

We can't know what's in Rodgers' head one way or another good or bad. And we certainly can't base anything based on what he's said in front of a camera--he's smart enough and has been around long enough to know what he's supposed to say in public.

 

So Rodgers is 1-4 in NFC CGs. Would he be 4-1 if not for coaching/coordinators? SF was clearly the better team last year, though Seattle I blame MM for more than Bostic.

[HarveysWBs]

As per Rodgers comments, I’m not sure all the smoke people think they see is a real fire. Rodgers has sounded kind of cryptic and weird about a lot of things this year, indeed, about life in general. And you know what? A lot of people have been pretty weird this year. Because this year has been bat guano insane on a global level. I think anybody making any huge decisions about their life and career (in Rodgers case) or the fate of the most talented player to ever lace it up for your franchise (Gutekunst) after a hugely emotional failure amidst the most difficult set of circumstances the world is likely to face in a generation would be well served to take a breath for about three months and revisit then. If nothing else, you’d think a couple guys who had front seats for Favre’s late career weepy press conferences would have learned as much. I’ve been wrong about much this season, but I’m still convinced it would take an absolutely stunning turn of events to get Rodgers in another team’s uni next season. I just don’t think it’s going to happen. And a couple sentences from a disappointed superstar isn’t changing the basic underlying fact that you don’t make decisions when you’re emotional.

 

Except for replacing your defensive and special teams coordinators. That gets done amidst a bucket of tears and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

[GAME05]

I didn't think Pettine was going to be around next year even before this game.

[DHonks]

Also...HOW did he go rogue? Him playing man coverage up on Miller with no safety help over the top isn't on him. You can't always tell what the play call is and who's at fault, but this argument that King went rogue...that only makes sense if he's got a safety over the top. How else could he have gone rogue? And IIRC, they were all pressing.

 

Supposed to stay behind his guy at all times, keep the ball infront of him there

[yourout]

Sorry if this was posted already, but here’s LaFleur’s quote about the TD at the end of the 1st half:

 

"It was man coverage; definitely not the right call for the situation."

 

Pettine is a dead man walking. You don't throw your DC under the bus that egregiously unless you're certain he isn't going to be your DC next year. MLF had his mind made up at halftime. Maybe a win could have bought him a mulligan, but he's gone.

 

Wow.. That's pretty blunt by MLF.