For all the talk that it's the strength of their team and that they'd keep us in games while the offense simply has to avoid mistakes, I'm seeing a unit that I believe to be pretty overrated.
The biggest gripe is that they seem to take away one aspect of an opposing offense while allowing the other to be pretty exceptional. I understand that most defenses want to make the opposition one dimensional, but you don't want to make that opposition excel at that dimension.
In three of the four Packer victories, I think we can safely say that the opposition abandoned the run when they probably shouldn't have, or they didn't go to it enough. I'm talking about the Eagles (Westbrook: 20 carries, 4.3 ypc), Giants (Ward: 15 rushes, 6.0 ypc) and the Vikings (Peterson: 12 rushes, 9.3 ypc). Had the Eagles, Giants and Queens gone to what was working for them, maybe we're not 4-0. Maybe we don't even have a winning record. I held my breath every team Peterson had the ball and was relieved every team he left the game. He got 12 carries to Taylor's 8. If he gets a handful of those, I'm not sure we win.
Right now the Packers are 24th against the run in terms of yards per carry. In the coming weeks we're going to see teams that love to run the ball. Oakland (2nd in Rushes/Game), Washington (4th), Dallas (8th), Denver (9th), Carolina (12th).
I'm a bit worried the one of these weeks we're going to see a team that decides that they're going to run the ball and make us consistently stop them.
- That said, in regards to the Vikings...
Peterson is a freakin' stud. I was pissed when the Queens took him last April and I'm certainly no happier now. Injuries are the only things I can see curtailing a potentially hall of fame type career. He's just a really special back and I have a feeling that once the Vikings get the rest of their offense figured out, we're going to be looking up at them in the standings unless we find ourselves a 1500 yard back. This next draft is runningback heavy. Nothing would help this team more than a legit threat at runningback. I'm crtainly not ready to give up on Jackson and Wynn. Some backs just need a bit of time. But look at what Chester Taylor did behind the Vikings line and then look at what Peterson did. Taylor looked like what our backs were doing. Maybe you put Peterson behind this line of our and he's still putting up 100 yard games. I don't know.
- What I do know is that if Thompson think a certain first round back could be a dynamic player in the NFL and he's available, he'd better take him. My darkhorse is Arkansas's Felix Jones. Only a junior, I think you could end up seeing a situation similar to what happened in 2005, where to RBs from the same team go in the first round. I like Jones a lot. He gets massively overshadowed by McFadden, but he might be the 2nd or 3rd best back in the nation. As a freshman he averaged 6.3 ypc. As a sophomore he averaged 7.6. This year he's averaging 10.4. He's also among the nation's best kick returners. I think he'd be stupid to go back to school and risk injury if he goes over 1100 yards, something he's very likely to do.
- Can anyone remember another offense like the one we're seeing from the Packers? It's like watching a version of the run and shoot that heavily utilizes the tight end. Favre must be in heaven. I wonder how long they keep it up. While I think that Favre could continue to pass for 300 plus yards each game, the cold weather is probably going to become a factor and convention says that cold weather teams need to be able to run the ball (and stop the run).
However, this isn't the 'frozen' tundra of old. Most home games I can remember over the last few seasons have been pretty mild. Should we get some home games in January, though, that might change. You never know I guess.
- Where would you rank our set of wide receivers now?
Driver is still the same reliable Driver he's always been. Jones and Jennings catch it if it's around them and both have shown the ability to get by their man. Even Ruvell Martin made some impressive catches last week. One thing I consistently see from him is he catches the ball out and away from his body with his hands. He's got great hands. Like xTitan said, this unit is a strength. If we can get anything out of Koren Robinson when he gets back it's just a nice bonus.
- Would you rather have any TE in the North right now than Donald Lee? Until you start to see something out of the kid Olson in Chicago, the answer has to be no.
Sportsline:
4 Packers
