Lead Up Thread: Week 1 at Philly

[Captain Erv]

Post any news, thoughts, opinions, analysis, etc that is related to the week 1 game vs the Eagles leading up to the actual game thread.

Eagles week: Monday practice report

By Greg A. Bedard of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 6, 2010 12:38 p.m. |(5) Comments

Green Bay - I know you all missed these:

* LBs Clay Matthews (hamstring), Brad Jones (right shoulder) and Desmond Bishop (hamstring) all returned to practice and looked to full be taking part. No way to tell how effective they are but all seemed fine. Bishop was obviously feeling his way through. Matthews missed all four exhibition games, Jones the final three. Bishop only missed the final one.

* CB Brandon Underwood (left shoulder) appeared to be the only player not participating in any part of practice. He was wearing a harness on his shoulder.

* DE Cullen Jenkins (calf) went through jog throughs and then exited practice. At least for jogthroughs, the Packers finally had their entire starting defense back.

* There were a few number changes. S Charlie Peprah is 26, LB Frank Zombo is 58, and practice squad QB Graham Harrell is 6.

We'll be back with more from coach Mike McCarthy.

[Captain Erv]

Jackson, Nelson are the top two options for kick returners.

Tramon Williams and Jennings are top two options for punt returners.

[LUKE23]

The reward does not outweigh the risk of having Jennings or Tramon return punts. I know the Eagles do with D. Jackson, but he's a home run threat every time he touches it, so that is a bit different. I would not have any key starters returning punts.

Well, heading into the season we are only going to be down Bigby, Harris, and Underwood of players we were hoping to see contribute this year. Three isn't bad, especially when all will be back at some point. The problem? They are all in the secondary.

On a side note, I'm losing hope in footballsfuture forums. I don't know if anyone posts there (I know DB and Ayt do). I went there because I knew it was high traffic and a ton of posters, but it's turning into badgernation (say anything negative, even if well supported with evidence, and get slammed). This forum is better IMO.

[Captain Erv]

Confirmed that Nelson will return kicks and Williams will return punts.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

I'm going to be nervous every time we return a punt. If we lose Tramon, we are really f'd in the secondary.

[LUKE23]

Unbelievably stupid decision.

[MickeyDavis]

Hate having any starters doing returns. It's not worth it. Jordy will never be a good return man but he'll catch the ball and be solid, just let him do both.

[MickeyDavis]

"We'll go full tilt with (Matthews and Jones) until we're told otherwise."

"I feel good about Cullen and Bishop. They'll be ready Wednesday, no later than Thursday."

Brandon is getting better, couldn't tell you. He's very positive. They all tell me they feel great. Dr. McKenzie feels he's made a lot of progress." When, we're not sure yet.

Nelson, Jackson are kickoff options. Tramon Williams and, yup, Greg Jennings options on punts.

On Nelson getting benched returning KOs vs Arizona: Injury affected him, made him hesitant. Has rebounded. McCarthy also cited scheme changes.

[rilamann]

Playing Philly is a good team for us to play to get a quick gauge on our defense right off the bat.

Playing with so many key guys out and playing vanilla in preseason we really don't how good (or bad) our defense is going to be.So I'm pretty anxious for that.

I think with most of our main guys ion the field which we should see Sunday, the D under year 2 of Dom Capers will be pretty solid.

[jimmybones]

Normally I would hate the idea of Jennings on punts because of his importance to the offense. But, we are super deep at wr and the exact opposite at corner. As good as Jennings is, I think Tramon would be a bigger loss.

[rilamann]

Normally I would hate the idea of Jennings on punts because of his importance to the offense. But, we are super deep at wr and the exact opposite at corner. As good as Jennings is, I think Tramon would be a bigger loss.

I disagree,I think Jennings would be a much bigger loss than losing Tramon.

I understand your your point of view and although Woodson,Collins,Burnett,Tramon is a very solid secondary IMO,our depth is an issue if one of those guys get hurt obviously.

But I think losing Jennings would be bigger loss to the team.

With all our guys healthy on offense I think we can win games just buy how powerful our offense is,I don't want to win games that way but I think the offense is good enough to the point that even if (hypothetically) our D sucks we could still make some noise.

I hate that Jennings could be returning punts,he better just call for fair catches out there.

[Captain Erv]

Shields, Masthay, Matthews and other notes from locker room
By Lori Nickel of the Journal Sentinel

Sept. 6, 2010 2:56 p.m. |(5) Comments

Green Bay -- Post-practice notes from Monday:

~ Sam Shields has played a lot in the nickel cornerback position and he said he expected to continue along that role this week. He said he was excited about the opportunity. “It’s a blessing, I just have to keep going forward,” said Shields.

He’s especially confident in working on the field with his roommate, safety Morgan Burnett. The two of them have been testing each other on assignments and schemes all during camp and by now, know each other so well that on the field, they can communicate non-verbally.

“It helps, we quizzed each other almost every night,” said Shields. “We talked to some of the veterans who helped us out and then we kept doing it. Plus we’ve got that bond now, like we’re brothers. And that’s what I like about Green Bay, we all help each other out. There’s nobody that’s isolated.”

In preparation for the week ahead and the opener at Philadelphia, Shields had just asked Charles Woodson on Monday afternoon to accompany him to the film room so they could study together.

“Just getting with him, it’s really going to help me out, come game time,” said Shields. “I just went up to him and just asked him for help, and he was willing to do it.."

Otherwise, “Don’t get a big head,” is the advice he’s heard around the team so far. “Just keep working.”

Shields said his hard work and dedication landed him a job here. He is one of three new faces of undrafted free agents to make the team – Frank Zombo and Nick McDonald were the others. Tim Masthay could be considered the fourth, since he came out of Kentucky last year undrafted. Shields also has a job with the Packers because of his blazing speed.

His special teams work, however, may be limited to simply playing gunner in Week 1. He was given a shot at returner but a few muffs hurt his chances of earning that right now.

“Hopefully I do get an opportunity again but right now, they’ve got their guys,” said Shields. He said he wasn’t upset that he didn’t win a return job; he also added it will be up to him to put in extra work in catching and securing the ball to try to prove himself capable again.

~ Clay Matthews returned to the field with what he hopes is a healed hamstring. “Felt good, it held up well today,” he said. “It was a good first day coming off of three, four weeks off. Physically it felt great. Obviously mentally, that’s going to have to catch up with the time. I should be good to go 100% for the game.”

~ Punter Tim Masthay won the job in a heated battle with Chris Bryan. The one good thing, he said, was that the coaches allowed him to get in the proper amount of punting work to prepare for this job, so he didn’t over-kick or under-kick in camp, meaning he is not tired. He also feels prepared heading in tothe season.

He was asked how he thought he won the job: "I don't know, I mean, Ted Thompson, Coach (Mike) McCarthy and Coach (Shawn) Slocum have said all along that they were going to look at the whole body of work. And then on top of that, the preseason carries the heaviest weight. So I guess they looked at all that and decided."

~ Charles Woodson actually said he was happy he made another team. “Feels good,” he said. Sweating it out on Saturday, were you? Well, his phone rang early, he noted…. “This game, you can’t take it for granted.”

~ Ryan Grant was asked what he thought about keeping two running backs, and that some people didn’t think that was enough. “Are one of those somebodys Coach McCarthy? Or Mr. Thompson? No? Then I think we’re good to go.”

~ Jusin Harrell said the back has been good. He was happy he could make it through camp through the majority of practices. He said his goals for the next month are simple:

“Any way I can help this team,” said Harrell. “Phase One is down, just by me making this team. You’ve got to show that you’re on this team for a reason. So whatever my role is – special teams, whatever, whenever my opportunity comes, I have to be ready.”

How did he think he make this team again? “Just being available," he said. "The main thing coming in to this year was, will the back be able to hold up. I think from the standpoint of my whole career, that’s always what it has been about.”

[xTitan]

Playing Philly is a good team for us to play to get a quick gauge on our defense right off the bat.

Playing with so many key guys out and playing vanilla in preseason we really don't how good (or bad) our defense is going to be.So I'm pretty anxious for that.

I think with most of our main guys ion the field which we should see Sunday, the D under year 2 of Dom Capers will be pretty solid.

if you actually look at Capers history his defenses have historically took a step back in year #2 (heard Wilde say it on 540 ESPN), I see no difference this year, I see basically 3 playmakers on this defense (Woodson, Matthews, Collins) and several weak spots.....I do agree that facing Philly week #1 will give us an early guage on how good the starters will be. at least before the lack of depth becomes a factor.

[MickeyDavis]

I love Woodson's comments that he's glad me made the team, lol.

[LUKE23]

if you actually look at Capers history his defenses have historically took a step back in year #2 (heard Wilde say it on 540 ESPN), I see no difference this year, I see basically 3 playmakers on this defense (Woodson, Matthews, Collins) and several weak spots.....I do agree that facing Philly week #1 will give us an early guage on how good the starters will be. at least before the lack of depth becomes a factor.

The defenses that took a step back in year 2 for Capers had significant injuries the next year. There isn't any tangible evidence that players get WORSE in their 2nd year in the scheme, or any scheme for that matter.

Regarding depth, there are some concerns, most of them caused by injuries to Bigby and Harris. People clamor about the OLB depth and they are right, but then also ignore that TT hit on IMO all three of his first three picks. Technically, we could have reached on an OLB that likely wouldn't have beaten out Jones, but from what I've seen, I'll take Neal over any of the late 2nd round OLB's right now. There were no OLB's that we could realistically get to play here that we could sign in FA that would definitely start over Jones either. In the draft, people wanted Hughes and Kindle. Hughes has looked horrendous and Kindle might not even play football at all.

No team has zero weaknesses if you're also counting depth. Doesn't happen. Being cautious is one thing, being incessantly negative over and over and over is another.

My thoughts on the D are this:

1. They will stuff the run
2. The secondary is talented enough if there is a pass rush
3. We will be above average to great in causing TO's because of our personnel in the secondary (I think all four of the starting secondary players are capable of 5 INT+ seasons)
4. The pass rush is TBD, especially in terms of consistency
5. The DL will be better at collapsing the pocket this year over last, given the DL changes (plus Neal's ability to bull rush)

[MickeyDavis]

It will be interesting. Can Woodson have the same type of year? Doubtful. He'll be very good but there is bound to be a little dropoff. Matthews? Unless Jones, or someone else, performs on the other side, he'll see constant double teams. Rookie starting at safety. He'll be a good player but will have growing pains. Williams as a starter doesnt do much for me either. But neither does 35 year old Harris coming back after major surgeries. Jolly had a great year last year and he's gone. Nickel back sucks right now. Shields may be good one day but he's not yet. Bush will have his usual one good game, 4 bad games. Hawk is Hawk, slow slow and slow. Maybe someone else will step up but I can't see the defense being the same as last year.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

It will be interesting. Can Woodson have the same type of year? Doubtful. He'll be very good but there is bound to be a little dropoff. Matthews? Unless Jones, or someone else, performs on the other side, he'll see constant double teams. Rookie starting at safety. He'll be a good player but will have growing pains. Williams as a starter doesnt do much for me either. But neither does 35 year old Harris coming back after major surgeries. Jolly had a great year last year and he's gone. Nickel back sucks right now. Shields may be good one day but he's not yet. Bush will have his usual one good game, 4 bad games. Hawk is Hawk, slow slow and slow. Maybe someone else will step up but I can't see the defense being the same as last year.

That's about as pessimistic of a view one could have. You're basically assuming the worst at every level of the defense.

I'm in the group that thinks we'll be about the same as last year. We have a bunch of young guys that will be improved, but we also lost a couple of vets (some of which will be back at some point). The fact we aren't switching to a brand new system should help the D get off to a good start.

[xTitan]

It will be interesting. Can Woodson have the same type of year? Doubtful. He'll be very good but there is bound to be a little dropoff. Matthews? Unless Jones, or someone else, performs on the other side, he'll see constant double teams. Rookie starting at safety. He'll be a good player but will have growing pains. Williams as a starter doesnt do much for me either. But neither does 35 year old Harris coming back after major surgeries. Jolly had a great year last year and he's gone. Nickel back sucks right now. Shields may be good one day but he's not yet. Bush will have his usual one good game, 4 bad games. Hawk is Hawk, slow slow and slow. Maybe someone else will step up but I can't see the defense being the same as last year.

That's about as pessimistic of a view one could have. You're basically assuming the worst at every level of the defense.

I'm in the group that thinks we'll be about the same as last year. We have a bunch of young guys that will be improved, but we also lost a couple of vets (some of which will be back at some point). The fact we aren't switching to a brand new system should help the D get off to a good start.

I see what Mickey D sees...you keep saying young guys who will be improved...who exactly? Matthews will be double teamed...Raji, could very well improve....I think people way over-rate a second year 7th round pick who was very ordinary last year when he played, in Brad Jones....who else on that defense is young and improved?? Pickett, Jenkins, Hawk,Barnett, williams, and Woodson are not young.

[MickeyDavis]

I'm not assuming the worst but I just dont see how woodson can have a better year than he had last year. Harris coming off major surgery, no Jolly, etc... Pickett at a new position he's never played...

Yeah some of the young guys can improve like Raji but it will be very very hard to equal last years defense.

[rilamann]

The defense should be improved this season for a few reasons,the main reason being that it's year two under Capers.Just based on that the group should be improved as a unit.

Matthews should be improved plus you got to remember he didn't play the first few weeks of the season last year,then when he did play he didn't start right away.Having Matthews going full blast for all 16 games will be big.

Brad Jones was solid last season and should deff be improved.

Raji should be improved in year two plus he was banged up when he did play last season.

Burnett is a rookie but he should be and looks like an upgrade over Bigby.

Neal should be pretty solid.

And it's not like our vets are at stages of their careers where they are going to quickly decline or anything.


The defense will be solid,sure there are some question marks but name a team that doesn't have some going into a season.I think worst case scenario the D is about the same as it was last year.