Packer 2021 Team Discussion (Rodgers Out Vs. Chiefs)

[KeithStone53151]

I was looking over the roster today, I'm not in the details as much as many of you guys so I'm hoping you might have answers to a couple questions that are better than what i could find in a google search. 4 tight ends, I understand 3 of them. Who is this Dafney guy and what is he good at? Is he more blocker or more receiver? I found 4 tight ends on the roster to be weird so I'm curious his purpose. Also, I feel like ILB has been a problem for this team forever...like since Nick Barnett was actually good. I recognize Burks and I thought I remember him being decent last year, but he's not listed as a starter on the depth chart. How are we looking as far as ILB? Campbell and Barnes, how good are we thinking they'll be?

[OldSchoolSnapper]

Don't know about ILB but Dafney is definitely not a primarily blocking TE. He's very athletic played some wildcat QB in college. Probably a hybrid type H-Back that they are keeping around as a project.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

I was looking over the roster today, I'm not in the details as much as many of you guys so I'm hoping you might have answers to a couple questions that are better than what i could find in a google search. 4 tight ends, I understand 3 of them. Who is this Dafney guy and what is he good at? Is he more blocker or more receiver? I found 4 tight ends on the roster to be weird so I'm curious his purpose. Also, I feel like ILB has been a problem for this team forever...like since Nick Barnett was actually good. I recognize Burks and I thought I remember him being decent last year, but he's not listed as a starter on the depth chart. How are we looking as far as ILB? Campbell and Barnes, how good are we thinking they'll be?

 

Dafney is an H-Back type that will play some fullback and some TE. He's a solid receiver. Played quite a bit last year when they had injuries at the TE spot.

 

They Packers traditionally keep 4 TEs, as they are typically core special teamers. The the Packers' case this year, the four they kept are not carbon copies. Tonyan is the receiving TE, while Lewis is the in-line blocker. Deguara is basically the Packers' version of Kyle Juszczyk, and will play a lot of FB along with receiver. Dafney is another one of those types. Sternberger, if they keep him when his suspension is over, is more the Tonyan type. There is no way they'll keep 5 TEs though.

[CheezWizHed]

Dafney was added to the team late last year after Deguara was injured and other options flopped in that role (H-back). He was surprisingly good and made several key plays and scored a couple TDs.

 

The H-Back role is a hybrid between blocking TE (Lewis), move TE (Tonyan), and FB (remember Kuhn or Henderson?). They will lead block for the RB, go out on shorter pass routes (often as a decoy or clear-out route to ultimately block after the catch), or pass-block on max protect. They might not do any one thing extremely well, but the value is in the flexibility of changing play calls. It works to reduce the specialization of the defense. I suspect they'll keep Sternberger for the two games as insurance of someone getting injured. If everyone is healthy, I doubt he makes the team.

 

For ILB, Burks actually never has been good on defense. His resurgence this year was pretty shocking (IMO) as I expected this to be his last chance. He is extremely athletic, but never assignment sure. Barnes was a UDFA last year that came from no-where. He is the complete opposite - not overly athletic, but very smart and strong tackler. Campbell is the new guy we signed this year and was getting positive reviews from TC, but barely played in preseason, so who knows what we have...

[young guns]

I read an article that seems to want to fan some more Rodgers vs front office flames. It was pretty ridiculous, but it was about how Rodgers said nice things about kaufusi and then he was cut drawing comparisons to the kumero situation and ripped into the front office for not keeping him on the 53 to appease Rodgers.

[nodakfan17]

I just saw a WI Packers vanity plate with the tag ‘ILVGOLD.’

[CheezWizHed]

I read an article that seems to want to fan some more Rodgers vs front office flames. It was pretty ridiculous, but it was about how Rodgers said nice things about kaufusi and then he was cut drawing comparisons to the kumero situation and ripped into the front office for not keeping him on the 53 to appease Rodgers.

 

I really hate the media... everything is clickbait now.

[nodakfan17]

I read an article that seems to want to fan some more Rodgers vs front office flames. It was pretty ridiculous, but it was about how Rodgers said nice things about kaufusi and then he was cut drawing comparisons to the kumero situation and ripped into the front office for not keeping him on the 53 to appease Rodgers.

 

I really hate the media... everything is clickbait now.

 

Yeah, even on semi-reputable sights like CBS Sports, you’ll see headlines like ‘Eagles sign former Super Bowl MVP.’ Why couldn’t they just say ‘Eagles sign Joe Flacco?’ Sometimes they get me, but I try not to take the bait.

[homer]

I stick to the newspaper.

[nodakfan17]

Some predictions for the season:

 

Record: 12-5

Result: Loss in NFC Championship Game

Rodgers: 40 TD / 11 INT; 110.0 Passer Rating

Pro Bowl: Rodgers, Adams, Jenkins, Alexander

 

Positive Surprise (O): A.J. Dillon

Positive Surprise (D): Henry Black

Negative Surprise (O): Randall Cobb

Negative Surprise (D): Za’Darius Smith

 

Jordan Love is the QB in 2022

2022 is a lost season for ‘cap repair’

[sveumrules]

After watching the game today & looking over the schedule I'll say 11-6, NFC North Champions & a loss in the Divisional Round is the median outcome for this team (assuming healthy Rodgers).

 

If they can't beat the Lions at Lambeau next week it doesn't get any easier with @ SF week 3 then vs PIT week 4.

[adambr2]

The two decisions I was most critical of in the off-season were the re-signing of Kevin King and the hiring of Joe Barry.

 

Barry continues to look overmatched and outschemed as an NFL coordinator which is no big shocker because his previous two such jobs were also collasal failures.

 

That said, I'll give him a couple weeks to see what happens when his defense isn't out on the field for the entire first half, but the early returns on Barry are not good.

 

Kevin King was a terrible re-sign from Day 1 that made no sense then and still makes no sense now. There was a surplus of good or at least average CBs available for cheap and we with the bad one just because we had familiarity with him. People constantly cited his minimal cap hit as a positive -- it doesn't matter whether King is playing for free or $20M when he's a total liability every time he's on the field and here we are paying for him to play for us yet again.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

It's hard for me to keep blaming DCs when the defense has been mostly bad for 30 years unless you pick out a couple of seasons. I think there's probably less talent on the defense than fans like to think. There were long periods of watching the Packers where I'd pull teeth to tell people that Morgan Burnett or Cletidus Hunt weren't that great.

[adambr2]

It's hard for me to keep blaming DCs when the defense has been mostly bad for 30 years unless you pick out a couple of seasons. I think there's probably less talent on the defense than fans like to think. There were long periods of watching the Packers where I'd pull teeth to tell people that Morgan Burnett or Cletidus Hunt weren't that great.

 

I don't know. I'd like to think there are some pretty good players on this defense. Darnell Savage and Kenny Clark for example probably aren't as good as we make them out to be but they sure are a lot better than Morgan Burnett and Cletidus Hunt.

 

The coaching staff on defense seems somehow unable to talent differentiate between who is a really good player and who is a complete liability. You've got one of the premier corner talents in the league in Jaire Alexander and you pair him with a guy that probably belongs in the independent or arena leagues and yet you have him starting. It's inexplicable. You can leave a guy like Alexander out on an island with anyone so we continue to get burned by 2nd and 3rd options.

 

And on that same note this is the second year in a row that the surrounding cast for Clark on the line was clearly the Achilles heel of this defense and it's been the second off-season in a row that we did nothing, absolutely zilch to address it.

[MrTPlush]

Yah...the common theme was, "defense is just as bad as last year."

 

That would make me want to play the people on the field, no the DC on the sideline. Yet everyone was rolling the DC over the coals.

[GAME05]

LBs are a limiting factor (not including the pass rushers who are only technically LBs), but otherwise I see no reason this defense shouldn't be great. But I'll try to give some time for the DC's scheme to really take hold and for players to better know what their assignments are before I start complaining.

[adambr2]

The defense wasn't bad last year though so I don't know why that is a common theme. They were very good in pass defense and average in run defense. They had a terrible NFCCG with an inexplicable play call before half.

[OldSchoolSnapper]

I'd say the defense was OK last year. Better than it usually is but it wasn't like some awesome lockdown thing. Somewhere between its usually crappy self and the '14 team which was the last one that I thought had a really good defense by the end of the season.

[PeaveyFury]

Yah...the common theme was, "defense is just as bad as last year."

 

That would make me want to play the people on the field, no the DC on the sideline. Yet everyone was rolling the DC over the coals.

 

There's a ton of talent on the defensive side of the ball, but I do think it's fair to note that they really did very little to address the front 7, so it shouldn't be a huge shock that defending the run didn't get better. Still, blown coverages and seemingly no plan to provide any sort of additional attempts to slow the running game or contain a mobile quarterback makes it equally fair to note that the scheme doesn't look a whole lot different than the one that wasn't very good the last two years.

 

For example, MLF stated clearly that one of his goals was to have his CBs play physical with receivers by lining up opposite to them off the line. Yesterday, the opposite of that took place, with the corners playing 7-yards off the ball just like they did last year.

[CheezWizHed]

I think we have a ton of talent in some locations, but also some big holes. DL remains very weak around Clark. MLB remain so-so with no chance of upside, impact players. I thought bringing back King would keep our floor at a certain level, but I wasn't expecting it to be his play in the NFC championship game... oof.

 

Not surprisingly, we get exposed on the run game and receptions to TEs and RBs (yeah, I know - Kamara, but still). And King gets burnt or plays soft on WRs.

[PinaMadness]

[sarcasm]So what can we fetch for Rodgers at the trade deadline?[/sarcasm]

[MrTPlush]

EDIT

 

Below is a funny meme. Sorry if I let you down and caused you to yell at small kids to get off your lawn.

 

[SomewhereInTime]

I wish there was a way to embed tweets here or at least have an idea of what the tweet is before clicking. Sometimes people post them and it's big news, other times it's a waste of a click.

[LouisEly]

I wish there was a way to embed tweets here or at least have an idea of what the tweet is before clicking. Sometimes people post them and it's big news, other times it's a waste of a click.

The mods have asked people to do this.

 

All they have to do is post one sentence with it.

[ThisIsMyCrew]

So is Berry going to last the season as the DC?