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Now that the Favre soap opera is over lets get some early predictions on the 2008 Green Bay Packers.

These wont be offical predictions,we'll make those after preseason but its always fun to make a rough draft prediction before preseason.Granted you dont want to put a ton of stock in preseason of course but preseason does kind of give you a good sense of the direction the team is headed.

For example I remember last year right before preseason I thought the Packers would be a 9-7 maybe 10-6 team at best but after preseason I was confident they had a shot at 12-4 becuase the defense looked very impressive/improved from 2006.

So lets get some predictions and see how much if at all they change prior to week 1 vs the Vikes.

DEFENSE

I think the Packers have (still) maybe the most underated defense in the league,thats probably due to the fact they didnt get a ton of takeaways last year but the bottomline is this defense does a hell of a job keeping people out of the end zone.

I expect the defense to be even better this year and if they can force a few more turnovers look out.My only concern is depth at DT with the loss of CW & Jolly's legal troubles and we all know stopping the run is the key to wiining games in the NFL so thats a concern.Other than that we are solid & loaded at every position on defense.

Best new addition on defense that will have the biggest impact:Pat Lee,I got a strong feeling TT hit the jack pot with this guy and we needed depth at CB to boot.

Most improved defensive player from last year:Tough choice between Aaron Rouse & Atari Bigby but im gonna go with Bigby.Bigby came on strong at the end of the year after an inconsistient start to the season.I think Bigby is going to pick up where left off last year and be a consisitient play making hard hitting saftey all season.

My bold defensive prediction is that Aaron Rouse will steal Nick Collins starting job in preseason and start alongside Bigby at saftey this season.


OFFENSE

Not much to say about the offense other than the obvious that Rodgers has to make plays & stay healthy.Solid O-line and weapons all over the field.

My bold prediction on offense is that Driver will be our 3rd WR by seasons end with Nelson breathing down his neck at #4,Jennings & Jones will be #1 & #2.I have a feeling I might very well eat my words on that one though because Driver is a guy you dont wanna bet agianst.

Dont get me wrong its not realy a knock on Driver its more a testament to the young & very talented other guys we have at WR and when you consider Driver's age he might get bumped down to #3 this year.

As for coaching I think MM is a top 5 coach in the league and very underated,he wont be underated after this season.He will keep the team focused and have them ready to play every week like always.

I predict the Packers go 12-4 win north and earn homefield advantage, the Packers to the suprize of a lot of people outside Wisconsin wont miss much of a beat without Favre.

Rodgers doesnt have to be Favre or be great for the Packers to have success,all Rodgers has to do is move the offense and make plays while not turning the ball over and we'll be fine and I know many of you agree and have said the same thing.

Provided of course Rodgers stays healthy and thats my biggest concern about him,not his play.TT & MM have made me very confident in Rodgers ability to lead this team.

There's no way this is a 12 win team. No worse than 7-9, no better than 10-6. There's going to be some growing pains. I'm not sure why everyone is still so damn sure we're one of the best teams in the NFC A.B. I'll guess 9-7 (same record as the Vikes) but we'll lose some bizare tiebreak after we split the season series with them and accumulate the same record against the division.

The schedule is really rough. Min (2), Dallas, @ Sea, Ind, @ Ten, @ NO, @ Jac. The Chicago, the Tampa, and Carolina games could also end up being tough games. My prediction right now would be 8-8 or 9-7. Maybe 7-9 if the Packers are hit with a string of injuries. Even without the soap opera and Favre playing, this was going to be a very tough season. I think on paper the Packers will be good, but I think next year will be the year everything just clicks and they completely break out and have a huge run.

The defense I think has to be better if the Packers are going to have double digit wins. They have to be more agressive and become a top five defense. The linebackers are going to have to be huge this year. Woodson and Harris are getting older and who knows what the depth is going to be like behind them. THe line might also have issues depending on what happens with Jolly and if Harell ends up playing or not. Plus, an injury to that position would hurt more than most other positions on the team. The linebackers are going to have to make a ton of plays this year to help take the pressure off the other parts of the defense.

I think the defense explodes this year. Jenkins was nursing injuries all last year, and that really hurt our overall pass rush. Hawk is in his third year and all the LB's are in their athletic prime. I think Rouse takes over Collins safety spot to give us two playmaking hard hitters with him and Bigby, and I think our nickel situation is in as good of shape as it's been in a while, I'm very high on Tramon Williams.

We were #6 in PPG D, #11 in yards D last year. I think we are in the top 7-8 for both this season.

LUKE23 wrote:I think the defense explodes this year. Jenkins was nursing injuries all last year, and that really hurt our overall pass rush. Hawk is in his third year and all the LB's are in their athletic prime. I think Rouse takes over Collins safety spot to give us two playmaking hard hitters with him and Bigby, and I think our nickel situation is in as good of shape as it's been in a while, I'm very high on Tramon Williams.

We were #6 in PPG D, #11 in yards D last year. I think we are in the top 7-8 for both this season.

I agree to some extent although I'm concerned about our depth at DT. We're already pretty thin there. Jolly is coming off injury and has legal troubles, Harrell can't even get on the field. That leaves us with Pickett, Cole, and Muir? I'm not comfortable with that rotation. Jenkins could always slide back into the middle, but KGB is coming off an injury as well.

If both Jolly and Harrell are out, I agree that DT depth is a concern. It will depend on whether or not Jolly gets suspended.

It sounds like they might try both Montgomery and Hunter at DT this year, to get more pass rush out of the middle on passing downs.

But we do need Jolly to be there all year, I agree.

I think it would be a good move to bring in another warm body, preferably someone packing 320 lbs.

I like Rodgers skills and confident attitude, but he's got to prove he can produce week in week out and stay healthy. The QB spot is just so important, so while i can see the team winning 10-11 games, my confidence is slightly tempered until Aaron actually gets it done on the field.

DrugBust wrote:I think it would be a good move to bring in another warm body, preferably someone packing 320 lbs.

On both lines, fix that guard turnstile we've had since we chose not to re-sign Rivera and Wahle (I'm not saying it wasn't the right move, nobody get defensive). Colledge is our guy, err I mean Coston, I mean Moll, I mean Barbre, I mean Sitton. Sitton might live up to the hype but I'd rather just sign a proven player if we can. It's not like we don't have a surplus of cap space. Signing one or two veterans to decent sized contracts still isn't going to stop us from re-signing our young guys in the future.

Who are we going to sign at OG at this point that would be a better option than what we have?

Amongst the group you listed, I'll be happy with whoever wins the job. I'm comfortable with everyone else. That is a lot of competition and one of them is likely to seize the spot and do a good job.

Even with all the shuffling last year, we got better production than we did the year prior. I'd expect the interior OL to take another step forward this year.

Ayt wrote:Who are we going to sign at OG at this point that would be a better option than what we have?

Amongst the group you listed, I'll be happy with whoever wins the job. I'm comfortable with everyone else. That is a lot of competition and one of them is likely to seize the spot and do a good job.

Even with all the shuffling last year, we got better production than we did the year prior. I'd expect the interior OL to take another step forward this year.

Yea i'm confident they'll find an at least decent option or better for the last guard spot. The bigger concern for me is the backups at tackle. Both starting tackles have been very durable, but one fluke play and say Clifton misses half the season, it could be devastating if Colledge can't handle the job half way decently.

Outside of Rodgers and maybe Kampman, i can't think of another player than Clifton who would hurt the team most if a bad injury struck.