Which injured player could help the Packers most?

[LarryHarris]

Who would you bring back if you had magical healing powers?

[LarryHarris]

I voted for TGIF. I contemplated leaving him off because he seems like such an obvious choice. If I couldn't get him back, I'd go with Nick Barnett. I know Bishop is playing good, but I have a fear that he'll get exposed because of his lack of football smarts.

[chuckleslove]

For me its Finley, followed by Grant and then Neal and probably Harrell fourth.

This is of course assuming my magical healing power could keep them from getting injured again. If my magic healing power was one use and couldn't fix Harrell's glass body then he would be at the bottom.

Finley really opens up the offense and while our running game has progressed it would have been nice to have a more consistent running game from the start of the season plus Grant is still better than Jackson.

As for the big guys I'll always take defensive line or offensive line help. Tauscher would have been high on the list if he didn't look like he was completely done and Bulaga is a significant upgrade to him.

[LarryHarris]

This is of course assuming my magical healing power could keep them from getting injured again. If my magic healing power was one use and couldn't fix Harrell's glass body then he would be at the bottom.

It also assumes that somehow you could convince Roger Goodell to allow someone to be removed from IR and reinstated to the active roster...

[chuckleslove]

Yeah, I saw the NFLPA sent a counter proposal compromise thing regarding the 18 game schedule, I hope if we do get an 18 game schedule they replace pre season games and they increase the roster by a few spots(I know the NFLPA asked for 4) and they make the IR not season long, maybe allow for a 6 game injury list, a 12 game injury list and a season ending IR or something, similar to what baseball does. with the 30 and 60 day DL.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Barnett would be the last player I'd want back because Bishop has been a beast and easily our best ILB. I went with Finley, pretty obvious choice. After that it gets interesting. I'm almost tempted to say Brad Jones just because if Zombo goes down we don't have any OLBs, but I'd also like to see Burnett back just so he could continue to develop. Neal would be another big body on the DL, which we could also use.

Man, getting all those guys back next year will be like adding a super stud draft class.

[PkrsBcksGphsMqt]

Yeah, I saw the NFLPA sent a counter proposal compromise thing regarding the 18 game schedule, I hope if we do get an 18 game schedule they replace pre season games and they increase the roster by a few spots(I know the NFLPA asked for 4) and they make the IR not season long, maybe allow for a 6 game injury list, a 12 game injury list and a season ending IR or something, similar to what baseball does. with the 30 and 60 day DL.

I'd like to see a 2nd bye week as well.

[LarryHarris]

Man, getting all those guys back next year will be like adding a super stud draft class.

Until they all get hurt again. Ugh.

I just think sooner or later we are going to get burned for having Bishop out there. I hope I am wrong. There were whispers during training camp that the reason he never got his chance was because his football IQ is not high. He has played well, I agree, I just feel much more comfortable with Barnett.

[LarryHarris]

Man, getting all those guys back next year will be like adding a super stud draft class.

Until they all get hurt again. Ugh.

I just think sooner or later we are going to get burned for having Bishop out there. I hope I am wrong. There were whispers during training camp that the reason he never got his chance was because his football IQ is not high. He has played well, I agree, I just feel much more comfortable with Barnett.

[chuckleslove]

Yeah, I saw the NFLPA sent a counter proposal compromise thing regarding the 18 game schedule, I hope if we do get an 18 game schedule they replace pre season games and they increase the roster by a few spots(I know the NFLPA asked for 4) and they make the IR not season long, maybe allow for a 6 game injury list, a 12 game injury list and a season ending IR or something, similar to what baseball does. with the 30 and 60 day DL.

I'd like to see a 2nd bye week as well.

Yes, that was in their counterproposal and something I want as well. 2 pre season games, 18 regular season games, 2 bye weeks, some sort of disabled list that isn't for the entire season, expanded rosters. The owners can make this work to generate more revenue and if the right compromises are made it should be better for the fans too.

[ReasonablySober]

Uh, yea.

[El Duderino]

Finley and it's not even close at all.

Looking at the team right now and guys who have replaced injured players, Finley is the one guy we really badly miss and then followed by Grant/Neal who have also hurt to a much lesser degree.

The rest of the guys are easily replaceable role player types and in the case of Barnett, Burnett, and Tauscher, their replacements have performed better IMO.

[El Duderino]

Speaking of this poll, the great former Packers beat writer Cliff Christl wrote a column on this topic a few days ago.

http://packersnews.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20101114/PKR07/101114036/1058/PKR01

When the Green Bay Packers last won a Super Bowl, they lost wide receiver Robert Brooks and tackle Ken Ruettgers to season-ending injuries.

Going into the 1996 season, General Manager Ron Wolf still considered Ruettgers to be his team’s best offensive lineman, and Brooks was clearly its best receiver, having caught more than 100 passes the year before.

While both were good players, they were anything but indispensable. Wolf found two replacements on the NFL’s scrap heap, wide receiver Andre Rison and tackle Bruce Wilkerson, who eventually filled their shoes with no significant drop-off in performance.

The time before that when the Packers won a Super Bowl, both of their starting running backs, Elijah Pitts and Jim Grabowski, were cut down by season-ending injuries in a span of less than three minutes in the eighth game.

Here again, it was no big deal. Former castoffs Ben Wilson and Chuck Mercein filled in adequately for Grabowski. Pitts’ injury might have been fortuitous. If he hadn’t blown out his Achilles’ tendon, the Packers might not have won their third straight NFL championship.

As the only seasoned back on the 1967 Packers, Pitts was Vince Lombardi’s security blanket. Once he went down, Lombardi was forced to start giving some carries to Travis Williams, a raw rookie with game-breaking speed. Pitts averaged 3.2 yards per carry. Williams averaged 5.4 over the rest of the regular season and starred when the Packers upset the Los Angeles Rams in a conference championship, prompting losing coach George Allen to say, “He’s the best third-string halfback in America.”

In truth, injuries aren’t always a bad thing in the NFL. Most of them are easily overcome.

Don’t get me wrong. Injuries to certain players can be devastating. They can tilt the balance of power in the snap of a football at any point of any NFL season.

After the New England Patriots lost quarterback Tom Brady to a knee injury in the 2008 opener, they couldn’t make the playoffs after going 16-0 and coming within a David Tyree miracle of winning the Super Bowl the previous season. Last year, the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers failed to make the playoffs when they went 5-6 in games that their ubiquitous safety, Troy Polamalu, missed.

There are some elite quarterbacks and a few other great players in the NFL who are irreplaceable. And, yes, there are times when a rash of injuries can ruin a team’s season.

But it’s not the number of injuries that poses a problem for the Packers as they head into this year’s stretch drive; it’s one injury in particular — the one to tight end Jermichael Finley.

NFL personnel heads will admit that their pro player ratings sometimes lag behind reality. In Finley’s case, he emerged as a star so suddenly that most teams might not have had him rated yet as a blue — or top-tier player — when he was lost in the fourth game.

But, in actuality, his playmaking ability by then ranked with the best receivers in the NFL. And that included Andre Johnson, Antonio Gates, Calvin Johnson or anyone else.

So a true ranking at that point of the No. 1 receivers on each of the 32 teams would have put Finley near the top of the list. In turn, Greg Jennings would have ranked at or near the top of the No. 2s, ditto for Donald Driver among the No. 3s, and on down the line.

Start with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers had as potent a passing attack as any team in the league.

But when Finley went down, the domino effect changed everything. Jennings became the No. 1 threat and he probably ranks in the top half of the top 32 receivers, although maybe not top 10. The same goes for an aging Driver among the No. 2s.

Hence, Rodgers is down to one weapon: Jennings.

That’s why Finley’s injury alone could derail the Packers’ Super Bowl hopes. His absence could spell the difference in a tight playoff game.

But the rest of the Packers’ injuries haven’t mattered other than the one that knocked Clay Matthews out for a game and a quarter, and resulted in two losses. Just as Wilkerson and Mercein were in past Super Bowl seasons, bargain-basement fill-ins have been as adequate as the Packers’ previous starters everywhere but at tight end.

That’s why they should roll into the playoffs, whether they get healthier or not. Other than Finley, they’re not missing anybody they need.

The Packers have replaced one pedestrian running back with another; a solid inside linebacker with one who has improved enough in a month’s time to be almost as good; some big slugs upfront defensively with some different big slugs now that they’ve added Howard Green. And at right tackle and strong safety, the Packers have found more physical and probably better players.

One quick footnote: Losing rookie defensive tackle Mike Neal was a blow. Typically, ascending young players are the toughest to replace.

No coach in the NFL is going to stand at a podium and say: “We’ve just lost our quarterback, Don Majkowski, to an injury and it’s a blessing. It forces us to start Brett Favre, which we should have been doing from day one.”

But while the media yaks endlessly about injuries and coaches fret about them at times, the titans of the game going back to the likes of Paul Brown and Bill Walsh understood that somewhere between 95 and 99 percent of the players in the NFL are easily replaced.

[FAH1223]

I'd say Grant and ... then Finley

Grant also was a playmaker and this is the time of year we need one at RB... Our last two winning seasons (2007 and 2009) saw Grant become a beast in the 2nd half... breaking off long runs and changing games.

[LUKE23]

Finley easily, IMO. He's our best receiving threat and really opens up the offense for the WR's.

[Marley2Hendrix]

Finley easily, IMO. He's our best receiving threat and really opens up the offense for the WR's.

what he said. It's not even up for consideration. My only concern is that Rodgers was a bit over amped up with regard to forcing the ball to finley, but c'mon, he is the best playmaker on the team, so I'm cool with it. It's frustrating to miss out on the potential chemistry that could have developed over the course of this season. Anyhoo, we are a 6-3 team that will be adding one hell of a playmaker next year. I'm not making any proclomations about playoffs until after the Sota game, but my heads percolating with all kinds of fantasies, most of which involve holiday themed sodas, but in several of them I am drinking said soda while watching the packers in january.

[Newz]

I'd go with Mike Neal.

Jenkins and Pickett have been banged up too. I think we could really use some quality depth on the defensive line and an insurance policy in case either one of those guys goes down. I also worry about Raji being able to stay healthy if he continues to have to play an absurd amount of snaps like he has.

Finley would be second.

[LUKE23]

what he said. It's not even up for consideration. My only concern is that Rodgers was a bit over amped up with regard to forcing the ball to finley, but c'mon, he is the best playmaker on the team, so I'm cool with it. It's frustrating to miss out on the potential chemistry that could have developed over the course of this season.

Yep. I also think it's the primary reason the offense has struggled. The D continues to play well. We've had injuries there, but we've for the most part made up for them outside of the Miami game missing Clay. We're seriously missing Finley's versatility.

[Wade-A-Holic]

Anybody who hasn't said Finley is either not thinking this through at all or is just trying to be different.

[humanrefutation]

Grant. Finley is a beast, but our offense has solid WRs who have excelled in past years without big production from TGIF. The lack of Grant's production has really caused us to become unnecessarily one dimensional. Luckily, Jackson is getting better though.