A successful year for Jordan Love: I hope to see him come out of the year healthy, both physically and mentally. Look AR12, Patrick Mahomes and Joe Burrow in the eye and you can see the confidence that they know what needs to be done and will get it done. I think if we still see it from JL10 in Week 17 (or later), the team has a winner; No. 3 in the row. All the other things can come with experience and coaching, but the mental toughness and confidence will take him … and the team … far.
Confidence is the catalyst for a successful quarterback at any level of football. Having vertigo obviously affects your own style of play, but it also trickles down to the rest of the locker room. When a team trusts its quarterback, it brings out the best in the other 47 players on the game day roster.
Steve from Middletown, KY
Good morning. In terms of DPI, the potential for a deep spot mistake would suggest sending a WR downfield on every pass play. However, I would like to see a WR go deep repeatedly to start the game, especially early in the season, to draw a safety deeper into coverage with the hopes of opening up the shorter throws for JL. AR took his shots, but do you see a more ball-controlled offense this year? Love seeing a deep shot of Watson on the first play again this year! GPG!
I don’t know if you guys saw Warren Sharp’s tweet this week, but the Packers went deep a lot of times last year. The problem was that only six of the 40 attempts beyond 30 yards were completed, with two touchdowns and four interceptions. The structure of Green Bay’s offense will threaten the top of the coverage organically, but Love and the receivers just have to make their shots count. If you draw a DPI, great … but that shouldn’t be the goal of your passing game underneath.
Lukas Van Ness. That name just sounds like a Green Bay Packer. Can’t wait to see him play.
I know I opened Pandora’s box with the argument that LVN is the guy you want leading your team off the bus, but I really mean it. Over the years, there will be guys that come in with certain nicknames and nicknames, and you’re naturally like, “OK, OK. Yeah, yeah.” Hercules is a perfect fit for Van Ness. He is built differently.
Wes, it just dawned on me the other day with the departure of both Rodgers and Crosby this offseason, the Packers have no players left on the roster from Super Bowl XLV. It truly is a new era in Green Bay. When is the last time the Pack didn’t have a player on the roster who had won a Super Bowl with the team?
Coincidentally, that was 2008-09, Rodgers’ first two years as the starting quarterback.
Hey guys, in terms of really bad losses that haven’t been mentioned yet, the 2015 Cardinals playoff loss was significant. I was at a pub in Seattle with my wife the night before I flew across the country. I was devastated when we seemed to lose badly. So Janis x 2! One of the greatest moments I have ever witnessed in my 20+ years of fandom. Then…total heartbreak as the defense let legend Larry Fitzgerald catch and run right through them all over the field.
The Packers deserved their fate in 2014. They made too many mistakes to win that game. The 2015 playoffs were the opposite, but the result didn’t fit the story. From a coverage standpoint, that’s what made that game insane to me. The Packers did everything in the second half of that game to win but win.
Maybe this is just my perception, but I felt there was a stubborn reluctance to attack the middle of the pitch last season. I know there is a risk of turnovers, but doesn’t defending the pass make it way too easy for a defense when they know the ball only goes outside?
Inside or outside, you must force the defense to cover the entire field. A good example of that is the 2014 opener in Seattle, when the Packers were content to leave Jarrett Boykin against Richard Sherman on the right perimeter. In theory, that makes sense because Seattle didn’t travel Sherman with anyone. But Sherman, pitching a shutout against Boykin, took a third of the field, leaving the Packers to handle the other 10 Seahawk defenders on the rest of it. No bueno.
I’ve never seen “Hard Knocks” before, but if the Jets are on this year I probably will.
Twenty years into that series, I have no shocks left to harden. The ghost of Curly Lambeau could do a guest spot and you couldn’t get me to turn it on.
Matt from Kolesin, Poland
Hello Insiders! Offseason at its best. I consider being a professional athlete a dream profession. I like my job; I have a lot invested in it and have long-term plans, but if Brian Gutekunst called me to be a practice guy for the Packers, I’d be in Green Bay no sooner than tomorrow. Would you change your job to be a member of the practice group or your bar set up there in the final list or even as a full-time starter?
Matt, I’m 5-foot-nothing, 100-and-nothing … and even if I was the size of Lukas Van Ness, I wouldn’t be mentally strong enough to play soccer at the highest level. I know my limits. But your question brings me back to the story I wrote about Tyler Goodson last month where he talked about the difficulty of watching matches from the sidelines after being a perennial contributor at Iowa. These guys don’t just want to wear the uniform and collect the paycheck – they want to play. That’s the mentality you have to have.
The idea of an OI MVP is more than a little ridiculous. These four candidates are favorites of the two of you, Wes and Mike, in that you continuously select and publish their questions (and now even those from their spouses). They make the two of you feel better; I am overwhelmed. Why do you impose them on us? It’s all just so circular. Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure they are good people and of course big Packers fans. But this MVP business is a clear sign that you take yourself WAY too seriously.
Why impose them on you? Because it is our column. Outsider Inbox is a week to celebrate all the wonderful people who make Insider Inbox what it is the other 51 weeks of the year. I will champion these people and give them the credit they rightfully deserve. This column is nothing without them. If you have a problem with that… well, it’s a holiday week. Maybe take a vacation or three?
Not really a question, but I had to respond to Christopher from Stratford Upon Avon, UK regarding his picks for greatest Packer wins on Thanksgiving 1986. I grew up a Lions fan and watched that game with my future wife and her entire family, all diehard Packer fans. When Walter Stanley returned the punt to win the game, I became a Packer fan at that moment and have never looked back!
It’s a nice memory to bring us into the weekend and the start of the Outsider Inbox. I’ll be back next Monday (July 10th) to finish OI and return to the usual format. Have a great week, everyone…even John from Grumpyville.