Packers training camp is only a few weeks away, which means it’s time to get excited.
And worry.
Any good fan worries. It’s normal. You get excited about all the possibilities of the upcoming season, but you also can’t help but fret over certain worst-case scenarios that could play out and ruin the season.
Some people might call this worrying “negativity.” Those people are wrong. They worry just as much as you, and their way of coping is by criticizing others who worry openly.
What’s your biggest worry about the Packers as training camp gets closer?
I suppose Aaron Rodgers’ good fortune running out and missing multiple games with an injury is always a concern, but I tend to not worry about injuries so much because you literally have no ideal from year to year what a team’s injury luck might be.
For me, I worry about impact players in the middle of the Packers defense. A.J. Hawk, Brad Jones, Morgan Burnett and either Jerron McMillian or M.D. Jennings will likely be roaming the middle of the field for the Packers on defense.
Do any of those players strike fear into opposing offenses?
It’s nice to have an impact player up the middle to wallop somebody and force a fumble or range across the field and make a pick to change the momentum of the game or make up for shortcomings in other area’s of the defense.
Hawk definitely isn’t that type player. We’re not sure yet about Jones, but I don’t have my hopes up. Burnett is a good player, but hasn’t yet ascended to playmaker status. McMillian and Jennings are unknowns, but again, I wouldn’t get my hopes up — especially about Jennings who is really small.
So, there’s your does of negativity for the day. Or what some people call negativity and I call worrying like any normal fan would.
I do think the Packers defense will be better, but I’d be a lot more confident if their players up the middle had at least one proven playmaker. Hopefully Jones, Burnett or McMillian/Jennings ascends this season and makes all my worrying for not.
Packers News, Notes and Links
- Clay Matthews says he is ready to be more of a leader. You know it’s time for the offseason when the “Player A hopes to be more of a leader this season” stories start popping up. Just once, I’d like to see a player say, “You know what? I am not going to be more of a leader this season. Instead of making inspirational speeches before games, I’m going to take a nap and catch up on episodes of “Downton Abbey.” When young players come to me searching for wisdom, I’ll send them to McCarthy because he’s the coach and gets paid to lead. I’m paid to make tackles and sack quarterbacks.”
- Speaking of leadership, for anyone who needs guidance in how to shoo away annoying celeb hunters, Aaron Rodgers does a pretty good of it here. Lombardi Ave. asks if Rodgers is really worth following around with a camera for TMZ footage. What sort of salacious thing does TMZ think Rodgers might do? Get caught sneaking into a limo with Brett Favre? Accidentally leave his playbook at a VIP booth in a swanky club? Intervene before an intoxicated and shirtless Ted Thompson leaps on a table and starts dancing to “Let me see your hips Swing?”
- Sam Shields and Casey Hayward are listed as No. 15 on Jason Wilde’s list of most important Packers. Even though Wilde cheated and listed two players at No. 15, his annual list is a must-read and a good way to get up to speed before Packers training camp opens.
- Zach Kruse takes a look at what a contract extension for Randall Cobb might look like now that Victor Cruz signed an extension with the Giants. The Packers are also reportedly looking at extending Morgan Burnett. Good. Burnett isn’t the big-play machine that Nick Collins was (yet), but he’s solid and has remained healthy after missing most of his rookie season. Sign him now before he realizes he’s worth more than what the Packers are offering.
- Acme Packing Company has started making predictions about the Packers roster. As of now, the only thing I’m predicting is that the Packers will have 47 players active on gameday.
- Our own Jason Perone was a guest on Brian Carriveau’s Railbird Central this week. Jason has a voice that can both soothe a crying child and hold the attention of a grown Packers fan. I call him the Barry White of Packers podcasters. A big thank you to Brian for having the entire ALLGBP.com crew on Railbird this summer. If you aren’t already listening to Brian’s show, shame on you. Catch up on past episodes here.
Non-Packers Links and Other Nonsense
- At least Louis CK made Forbes’ list of the 10 highest paid comedians. The other nine are about as funny as me.
- I had one crazy ex-girlfriend, but I don’t think she was Anna Benson crazy.
- John Lunness was molested by a priest as a child, then grew up to become a priest himself. Jeff Pearlman does a Q&A with Lunness and it’s fascinating.
Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
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you wanna talk “worry”?
check out this article…
http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/packers-rookie-running-back-lacy-has-burden-to-carry-b9951355z1-215404221.html
looks like they may have wasted a 2nd rd pick this year.
Cow – I read the whole thing, and for a minute I didn’t see anything other than a 22 year old man with some life questions he’s trying to answer. How quickly we forget how unsettled and uncertain life is for a man at that age.
What you have is rookie that hasn’t learned that in the age of Twitter, the degree of mis-interpretation of the things you candidly reveal is in direct proportion to the degree of angst and issues of the reader of same.
Take a deep breath. He (and you) are going to be fine.
Sure doesn’t sound like he cares about football all that much… or about staying in shape, for that matter.
Starting to make sense why this guy dropped in the draft…
-foot
-conditioning
-dominant college line
-depressive tendencies
-lack of love for the game
Hope Franklin and Harris are ready.
I liked the stuff about how he could run people over or run around them, showed up every day, played hurt, ran angry, etc.
It’s gonna be OK.
While it’s clearly preferred to find young men who love the game of football to fill your roster, a lack of love for the game does not preclude a young man from being successful or excelling.
It’s called “Professionalism”, and just because your vocation is that of an athlete does not mean you are unable to be a professional.
I would wager that the great majority of Americans do not have a innate love of their job, that they don’t have their hearts in what they do. Yet, a good number of us still get out of bed every day and give it our best at our jobs because we’re professionals and take pride in what we do.. And most of us aren’t getting 6-7 figure incomes to do it.
Adam, I think we’ve all has at least one crazy girlfriend and some of us were even brave enough to make them our wife!
Carrying that idea one step further, I came across this gem the other day.
A man is talking to his son about relationships, and he says, “Son the best relationship advice I can give you is to make sure you’re the crazy one”.
You can tell I’m from Arizona when the biggest takeaway from the TMZ video on Rodgers was that he got into a club wearing a T-shirt. Causal rules!
FWIW, last year during the preseason, Clay Matthews basically DID tell reporters he wasn’t paid to be a leader when he was asked about being a mentor to Nick Perry..
He basically said (and yes, I’m flagrantly paraphrasing, here) it’s not his job to help out Perry and that Perry was on his own.
The best part? The JSO article written by usually great reporter Tom Silverstein carefully omitted the part of Matthews’ response that wasn’t so positive and awesome.. Even though the locker room video DID include Matthews’ less-than-mentor-like comments.
Spoon probably saw the comparisons to the Favre comments about mentoring Rodgers and didn’t feel like going there.
That’s a helluva memory and observation you have, Oppy.
It was such a glaring interview faux pas that is stuck out, and stuck in my memory. To then read an article the next day and see the quotes carefully tiptoed around/edited out in the transcript absolutely shocked me and further lodged the comments deep into my melon.
It wasn’t more than a sentence or two, but it was such a poor choice to even go there it really made me raise an eyebrow!
I don’t agree that all fans worry about the team.
Most fans critique and question, without a doubt. Worry is a wasted emotion and a waste of your time. I tend to steer clear of it.
Do I question/critique? You bet.
Do I worry, fret, fritter, and lament? Most of the time, the answer is a resounding “no.”
I can not control any facet of the game of football from my couch or seat in the stadium. I try my best to enjoy the game of football and my participation in it as an avid fan of the Green Bay Packers. Worry simply detracts from that enjoyment.
Not to pick on Cow, but I get the feeling football is nothing but angst and pain for him. I don’t want my love of watching Packers football to ever turn into that.
^^^^LIAR!^^^^^
🙂
I know what you mean. I probably should have defined the difference between sports worry and actual worrying. Worrying about your favorite sports team and worrying about a real-life event or situation are two different worries.
To me, sports worry makes sports more enjoyable. I like the anxiety and adrenaline that comes from fretting about things during games or pondering aspects of the team when games aren’t being played. It’s a healthy worry.
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