The Packers completed the second of two Organized Team Activities (OTAs) sessions this past week, with a plethora of eager new faces traversing the field, looking to get noticed. The focus for the coaching staff is now solely on putting together a 53-man roster that will compete for a chance to play in the next Super Bowl.
Almost five months have passed since the Packers flaming exit from the NFC Championship game. The Seattle Seahawks, the team that came out on top in that game after the most improbable of comebacks, has the edge over the Packers yet again – this time from the oddsmakers.
A quick poll of popular sports betting sites mostly show the Seahawks as the 6-1 favorites to win the next Super Bowl, with the Packers at 7-1, the current Super Bowl Champion Patriots at 7.5-1 and the Indianapolis Colts at 8-1.
Of course, the Patriots odds dropped thanks to the “Deflategate” scandal and the possibility of Tom Brady (he who is strongly in favor of soft balls) being suspended for as many as four games. So the Packers, who apparently play with balls in their natural (and approved) state, moved up a notch in the futures odds standings.
But with the Seahawks having traded for a major new offensive weapon in TE Jimmy Graham, the oddsmakers believe they are the best bet to get back to the Super Bowl, where this past February they had an imminent second straight Super Bowl victory snatched away by Patriots rookie Malcom Butler’s goal line interception.
While Packers fans have moved on from the meltdown against Seattle, one has to remember just how dominant the Packers were against the Super Bowl favorites in their stadium for most of that game. Carbon Sports, one of America’s leading sports betting sites, seems to remember, as they have the Packers’ odds equal to those of the Seahawks at 6-1.
When the book closes on the 2015 NFL season, will the Packers still be “behind” the Seahawks?
I shiver with antici…………….pation.
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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This could be the best overall Packers team yet. I’m working an article on it.
I get that the Seacocks are good, but I’m one of the few who believes that they will soon be on the decline. Much like the 40 whiners, they simply can’t hold on to that much talent especially after they pay Russell Wilson, and an injury plagued year is due.
The Packers are only getting better, regardless of the low priority TT took with the ILB problem, there’s enough to think that it won’t be nearly as big a problem anymore. If in doubt, they can always keep plugging Clay Matthews there.
To me, if the Packers had just ONE more good receiver last year, they would have won another another 2-3 games, would have hosted the NFC Championship game, and easily took care of the Seacocks. They could have as many 5 legitimate receivers this year.
All the offense of 2011, plus a run game and a slightly above average defense. The rest of the NFL ought to look out!
I disagree on Seattle Chad. Just like the Packers having Rodgers, as long as Seattle keeps Wilson they will be in contention year after year. I believe he’s that good. That team with Schneider is almost a carbon copy of Green Bay so I expect them to be run pretty much the same way though he dabbles a little more in free agency than Ted does. They draft well and they have an elite qb. They will be in our face pretty much every year for the next 10 years or until Wilson retires or Schneider leaves. It will be tougher to compete once Wilson is signed I agree but they can do it if Schneider follows Ted’s recipe for success which he currently is.
Ted
Why do you think Russell Wilson is really that good? Take away his quick legs and you have a mediocre quarterback at best. Look at what happened to Michael Vick (age), to RGIII (injury), to Colin Kaeperdick (play calling). Once they’ve been deprived of their ability to run, they’re completely different players.
An elite quarterback is one who can make a receiver all the better, so why do his receivers struggle so much to break 1,000 yards? Look at Golden Tate. He left Seattle and had the year of his life!
Wilson has had a lot of luck on his side, being that he hasn’t been injured. Considering how often he runs, I’m quite surprised he hasn’t had a major injury yet.
Their team as a whole was REALLY freaking good in 2013 and ’14. But contracts are being signed, leaving less and less room to sign and re-sign key free agents. They’re not going to a bad team by any means, but they retain their previously form, not by a longshot.
I think Russell Wilson right now is probably no. 5 or no. 6 in the league. He’s up there with the elite qb’s of the league. Yes, he likes to run and so did Fran Tarkenton who was one of the best qb’s of all time and if I recall was constantly in first place for a decade or more in the 70’s while Green Bay was at the bottom.
Russell Wilson is just insane when it comes to competing. Nobody works harder than he does. He put to shame Matt Flynn by outworking him 100 to 1. He’s been blessed genetically coming from a family that values education and is smart as they come including Aaron Rodgers. He has a lot more going for him than you are giving him credit for.
I get that his legs mean a lot to him but I’m not talking what ifs, I am talking right now and right now this qb is at the top year after year and I expect him, like Rodgers to have his team in contention year after year. As John Schneider says, “he tilts the field”. I agree. You don’t. No biggie. I actually like everything you wrote Chad. We just disagree on Wilson.
Ted
I think that Saints sent Jimmy Graham to Seahawks because they know something not so favorable for Graham. He is still very good TE, but only one player. He is not that good to make Seahawks that much better. I consider Seattle as top 5-6 teams, but there was some lost in their OL as well as in their DL that will make difference, larger than Graham for offense…
If not for the suspect nature of their defense and the TBD improvement in STs the Packers would be the favorite to win it all in 2015. The current odds for the Packers say a lot about A. Rodgers and the Packers offense. Thanks, Since ’61
The cornerback group will have to improve quickly for the Pack to increase its odds of getting into the SB. CB Coach Joe Whitt recently said, “”I have a bunch of guys that don’t know how to play football right now, and we have to figure out how to get them to play in the NFL.” The average fan doesn’t realize that it takes time to develop an NFL-calibre CB, and that rookies in the secondary will make rookies mistakes, which can lose big games. Coach Whitt does. It’s good that we have him.
Super Bowl 50 will be in Santa Clara at the 49ers’ stadium. Perfect spot for Rodgers to get another ring — very close to where it all started.
I can’t imagine anyone in a Packers uniform fearing the Seahawks. They completely dismantled the Seahawks. They made them look like bitches. MM locked up the brakes and took his foot off the accelerator and gift wrapped the game to the Seahawks.
I agree with Chad that GB would have won more games and against Seattle if they’d have had one more good receiving threat. I think they will get that piece this year through the improvement of both Davante Adams and R. Rodgers, and I think we might get even more as I think Abby, Janis, or Coxson will show something.
I think I am the only one who reads with disfavor articles about Aaron Rodgers not throwing the ball to a wide open Janis (or Richard Rodgers, but I am thinking of a specific play and article) and instead waiting for a different receiver to come free. I personally think this trust thing has gone too far and has the trappings of being a diva. There is something to the idea of building the confidence of rookies. I know that when my employer hired someone new it meant that the newbie was good enough to be given appropriate assignments and it was not up to me to substitute my judgment for my employer’s. Aaron Rodgers largely ignored R. Rodgers for too long last season, in my opinion, and it was bad for the team. I hope Rodgers does not do this again in 2015 in regards to whoever ends up being the #4 WR. I am pulling for Janis or Abby to win the #4 spot. Janis because he has a year in the system and might be earning some trust, and Abby because Abby runs beautiful routes, and gets separation, two things Rodgers covets. Yes, throwing more to rookies might hurt that interception statistic, but it could easily lead to a better team with better depth.
Reynoldo, you have any kids? Why not give them the keys to your car without taking a driver’s ed class or any practice behind the wheel. That’s all Rodgers is doing. He’s a perfectionist and he wants/demands everyone else study as hard and know the assignments as he does. He’s the Vince Lombardi of quarterbacks. Very demanding and tough on the people around him. I don’t hold it against him not to throw to someone even if they are open. He’s making a point and that point needs to be stressed to some of these guys.
Aaron Rodgers not throwing to a wide open Jeff Janis or Brandon Bostick is not why we lost in Seattle.
In fact it was a Shawn Slocum’s decision to activate and play Brandon Bostick (a dumb ass who didn’t know his assignments all season) as my prime example. Had Slocum given Bostick the same treatment Aaron Rodgers does to people that he can’t trust, the Packers are hoisting another super bowl trophy so I side with Rodgers. Slocum and Bostick by the way were shit canned. Moral of the story, study hard you kids out there. Miss class you sit on your ass.
Ted
Your reply is the logical counterpoint to mine. But you focus on Janis and Bostick, who had 15 and 32 offensive snaps, respectively. These guys had nothing to do with GB’s overall success from scrimmage since they didn’t play hardly at all due to the coaches’ decision. [Clearly, using Bostick on STs affected GB’s overall success, but that has nothing to do with the relationship between Aaron Rodgers and Bostick, R. Rodgers or D. Adams.]
My argument focuses on mostly on Richard Rodgers and to a lesser extent, Davante Adams. R. Rodgers had 2 targets (both caught) in the first 6 games. One of those 2 receptions is in the 4th game (vs. Chicago) and went for 43 yards. Both Quarless and Richard were wide open down the seam, but Aaron doesn’t throw the ball to either, then the play breaks down and during the scramble Aaron finally, reluctantly, throws it to Richard, who goes for 43 yards. Worse, this play is designed to get the TE open down the seam, and it worked perfectly, with both TEs getting open, so it was not like Richard Rodgers was the 5th option on the play, he was the first freaking option. It was a great call by MM, and Aaron just ignored it. [The play was broken down by either Jay here or by R. Olson on Cheesehead.]
I do have sons, and managed to live through their student driving days. When the State said they had passed their driving test, I gave them spare keys for my cars and put them on the insurance. When Fontenot, Edgar Bennett, and MM decided to start Richard Rodgers and Davante Adams, to me that means those players passed the coaches’ tests. It is an odd argument for you in particular to make that it is okay for a player to overrule the judgment of the coaches. I suspect that TT also expected Richard Rodgers and Adams to be on the field and pretty much starting. It may be Aaron Rodgers is in a special category. Brady also is similarly demanding. Somehow, though, if a play is designed to be a run to the left, I don’t think Starks or Lacy could decide that they didn’t trust Bakh to throw the block correctly and on their own just run it to the right or up the middle.
You can point to Brady, though. I actually expect that most commenters would agree with you. I just think it is a hard argument to make that it is okay for the QB to ignore a TE with great hands who is wide open down the seam for a big gain, especially on a play call designed to get the TE open. I would suggest that when R. Rodgers leaked out into the flat but the LB in zone coverage decided that he could maintain his normal full depth instead of matching Rodgers because Aaron wasn’t going to throw the ball to the TE overall hurt the team. I suggest that it hurts the rookies’ confidence too. I’ve written that Davante Adams does everything well except get open after some of his games where he caught zero or one pass, and immediately people commented that Adams was indeed getting open consistently. Wut? Anyway, I am just suggesting that there is a happy medium between not trusting co-workers to the extent that they have no chance to do their jobs and building the confidence of young colleagues.
Yes, I get you were going the emotional route of confidence and hurt feelings. I think a lot of it goes back to Rodgers as a rookie and how he had to work his ass off for 3 years and get nothing in return. Nobody noticed or cared. He treated every practice like it was a game. I am sure he sees who the hard workers are and who are the lazy ones who could do more.
He also loves stats and hates ints. Most of his int’s are a result of a player effing up mentally if you go back to the few int’s he threw in his career. James Jones, Finley and Jordy made a ton of mental errors their first couple seasons. I am sure he could throw to some of those rookies more but my guess is he simply knows from history now after being in the league 10 years that it’s probably best to look elsewhere.
He wants that record of throwing the least int’s in NFL history. I know that means alot to him because it’s the exact opposite of Favre who has the NFL all time record for throwing ints lol. You know this because he will rarely throw a just before halftime Hail Mary. Throwing to green rookies is a risk in his book unless it’s Greg Jennings. He was the only rookie I know of that could be trusted.
The seahawks have peaked. MINN thought the answer was a medicore WR who played with a great QB, so did Oakland. For years this narrative has played out. Drew Brees does not need a TE as much as the TE needs a DB. That’s the lesson still not learned. Wilson is simply not a franchise level qb and his team is measurably less talented this year than last.
Let me ask you this Mark. Would Seattle be in the NFC Championship game three years ago and in the super bowl the last two years with Charlie Whitehurst or Matt Flynn as their starting qb? Please don’t insult people by saying Russell Wilson is not a “franchise level qb”. Come on man!! He’s one ot the top five or six qb’s in the NFL right now and still climbing.
The Seattle defense peaked two years ago but Russell Wilson and that offense is still not close to peaking. That’s what’s scary.