Training Camp Thread

Post #1 » by **ReasonablySober** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:12 pm

Peprah aiming to remain the starter.

Some (possible) battles.

Strong Safety: Peprah vs Burnett
Right Outside Linebacker: Zombo vs Jones vs Walden
Left Guard: Lang vs McDonald vs Dietrich-Smith vs Sherrod
Runningback: Grant vs Starks
Right Defensive End: CJ Wilson vs Howard Green vs Mike Neal

Newz · Post #2 » by **Newz** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:16 pm

DrugBust wrote:Peprah aiming to remain the starter.

Some (possible) battles.

Strong Safety: Peprah vs Burnett
Right Outside Linebacker: Zombo vs Jones vs Walden
Left Guard: Lang vs McDonald vs Dietrich-Smith vs Sherrod
Runningback: Grant vs Starks
Right Defensive End: CJ Wilson vs Howard Green vs Mike Neal

Guys that I hope win said battles:

SS: Burnett (Peprah is solid. Would love for him to remain a back-up safety though and have the young guy turn out to be legit)
ROLB: Walden (Think he has the most physical talent of the three)
LG: McDonald (Hoping we strictly groom Sherrod at LT)
RB: Starks (I really like him as a player. But hoping him and Grant split the load most of the time regardless of who 'wins')
RDE: Neal (He is a freak of nature)

LUKE23 · Post #3 » by **LUKE23** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:29 pm

I'd say Burnett, Zombo, Lang, Grant, Neal.

rilamann · Post #4 » by **rilamann** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:46 pm

I'd like to see Starks win the starting RB spot as well.

I have pretty high expectations for Starks this season.

I am basing that on the fact the guy didn't have much camp/practice time and was thrown into the fire late in the season,playoffs & Super Bowl and preformed so well.

With a full camp and full season I think he could be something serious.

Post #5 » by **ReasonablySober** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:26 pm

Well if you think he's going to be better with a full camp you're gonna have to wait another season.

TheMove · Post #6 » by **TheMove** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:36 pm

I really like our RB situation. I dont like giving one Rb most the carries. I like splitting it up keeping the backs fresh for playoffs.

LUKE23 · Post #7 » by **LUKE23** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:40 pm

I see Grant getting a heavy percentage of the 1st/2nd down snaps, and Starks getting almost all of the 3rd down snaps. Even with Starks ability last year, he did only finish the season at 3.9 YPC. Grant for his career is at 4.4 and is a pretty "fresh" 28 years old, given the amount (or lack thereof) of carries he's received in his career.

Newz · Post #8 » by **Newz** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:43 pm

LUKE23 wrote:I see Grant getting a heavy percentage of the 1st/2nd down snaps, and Starks getting almost all of the 3rd down snaps. Even with Starks ability last year, he did only finish the season at 3.9 YPC. Grant for his career is at 4.4 and is a pretty "fresh" 28 years old, given the amount (or lack thereof) of carries he's received in his career.

I can't see Starks getting a lot of 3rd down work until he proves he can block someone. His blitz pick-up last year was absolutely abysmal and I'm not sure that's going to go away with just one preseason worth of work. He needs to make massive improvements in that area.

Alex Green was great at picking up the blitz in college from what I have read and he has tremendous hands. I'd think that he'll be our guy on 3rd downs.

LUKE23 · Post #9 » by **LUKE23** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:49 pm

Jackson was the only guy on the team that was an exceptional blitz pick up guy, so I don't see that being the deciding factor on the who plays third down. I don't see Green being light years ahead of him there, so it's going to probably go to whoever has the surest hands/is the biggest WR threat.

Ayt · Post #10 » by **Ayt** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:04 pm

Pass pro is a really big deal in our offense for a RB. MM gets seriously pissed if a play is designed to have the RB pick up a blitz and RB doesn't make the block. Hopefully Starks is improved in that department or Green can learn to block. I've read good things about his receiving ability, but his blocking is apparently not very good.

Ayt · Post #11 » by **Ayt** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 1:02 am

Finley looks like he's in great shape.

http://twitpic.com/5wcraw

Newz · Post #12 » by **Newz** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 3:56 pm

Ayt wrote:Pass pro is a really big deal in our offense for a RB. MM gets seriously pissed if a play is designed to have the RB pick up a blitz and RB doesn't make the block. Hopefully Starks is improved in that department or Green can learn to block. I've read good things about his receiving ability, but his blocking is apparently not very good.

Really? I read Green's blocking was very good on draft day. (Don't have the article I read now though) Where did you hear he had issues blocking?

Also, I agree pass protection by our RBs is extremely important on our team. I think losing Brandon Jackson is a lot bigger deal than most do.

Post #13 » by **MickeyDavis** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:18 pm

Finley is in a contract year, he will be interesting to watch. He's never been shy about wanting the ball.

Four games in, Finley was averaging 75.3 yards per game. After five games, Greg Jennings was averaging 36.6.

Jennings blew up after Finley's departure, averaging 92.3 yards in the last 15 games. Some of his biggest plays (see the Super Bowl) came from Finley's old No. 3 slot.

LUKE23 · Post #14 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 4:26 pm

While I would like to keep Jones, him leaving alleviates the pass spreading around problem a little bit. I expect Jennings and Finley to get nearly 2/3 of the targets on passing downs, maybe more. I doubt we run any 5 WR sets either, it will be 4 WR + Finley or even 2 TE + Jennings/Driver/Nelson. Quarless and DJ Williams are both speedy TE's more than your typical blocking guy.

I expect a monster year from Finley though.

Ayt · Post #15 » by **Ayt** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:29 pm

Newz wrote:
Ayt wrote:Pass pro is a really big deal in our offense for a RB. MM gets seriously pissed if a play is designed to have the RB pick up a blitz and RB doesn't make the block. Hopefully Starks is improved in that department or Green can learn to block. I've read good things about his receiving ability, but his blocking is apparently not very good.

Really? I read Green's blocking was very good on draft day. (Don't have the article I read now though) Where did you hear he had issues blocking?

Also, I agree pass protection by our RBs is extremely important on our team. I think losing Brandon Jackson is a lot bigger deal than most do.

I've seen it mentioned in different places.

From NFL.com in his weaknesses section:

Struggles to block linebackers in pass protection.

Jerry Fontenot, our new RB coach:

One thing we stress is ball security. Everybody is subject to it. He will not be any different. All that stuff is coachable. He also will need to work on pass protection...He wasn’t called on much at Hawaii for pass protection. But he’s aggressive, not afraid to stick his nose in there. He’s a big physical guy so he has the tools.

http://blogs.greenbaypressgazette.com/b ... lex-green/

He's obviously a big and athletic guy, but it seems up in the air what kind of blocker he can be out of the gates.

Ayt · Post #16 » by **Ayt** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:34 pm

MickeyDavis wrote:Finley is in a contract year, he will be interesting to watch. He's never been shy about wanting the ball.

Four games in, Finley was averaging 75.3 yards per game. After five games, Greg Jennings was averaging 36.6.

Jennings blew up after Finley's departure, averaging 92.3 yards in the last 15 games. Some of his biggest plays (see the Super Bowl) came from Finley's old No. 3 slot.

I think they were close to even in number of targeted passes when Finley got hurt last year. In the final 8 games of 2009 they both put up big numbers:

JF: 44/575/4
GJ: 38/600/3

Seems like much ado about nothing especially with DD being old and JJ possibly being gone.

LUKE23 · Post #17 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:36 pm

Agreed. Finley was targeted as much as he was early last year because he was essentially almost always open, even against double (and in the Philly game, triple) coverage. Jennings will likely get less targets overall than last year, but he's going to be more open as well. Finley is the biggest mismatch on our team.

Newz · Post #18 » by **Newz** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 5:42 pm

Ayt wrote:He's obviously a big and athletic guy, but it seems up in the air what kind of blocker he can be out of the gates.

Gotcha.

Well after reading that I hope we somehow find a spot on the roster for Brandon Jackson. I think I'd rather have Jackson than Ryan Grant going into next year if it meant we had an above average guy in pass protection in the backfield.

Ayt · Post #19 » by **Ayt** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:03 pm

Newz wrote:
Ayt wrote:He's obviously a big and athletic guy, but it seems up in the air what kind of blocker he can be out of the gates.

Gotcha.

Well after reading that I hope we somehow find a spot on the roster for Brandon Jackson. I think I'd rather have Jackson than Ryan Grant going into next year if it meant we had an above average guy in pass protection in the backfield.

I could still seeing him being used a lot out of the backfield even if his blocking is only average. The best RB we've had out of the shotty is Wynn in terms of the ability to be a weapon, and he wasn't a very good overall back. MM liked to use draws and shovel passes with him that were actually quite effective. Grant has never been a very good back out of that set, and Jackson was also not good. The RB went from a potential weapon in 1st and 2nd down situations out of the shotgun to mainly just a blocker or a guy looking to chip and release for a dump off if needed. The draw and screen was relegated mostly for 3rd down situations or maybe 2nd and long if we thought the D was set up for it.

I always go back to Deuce in NO when MM was there. They ran a ton of 3 WR shotgun sets and MM ran a ton of draws, shovels, and screens to let McCallister operate in space against a spread out D. Green seems like a guy who knows how to create explosive plays in space out of a shotgun set. The defense having to account for a running play or a screen could help to slow down the pass rush when we play shotgun on 1st and 2nd down (and perhaps even 3rd and 4 or so).

Post #20 » by **MickeyDavis** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:44 pm

It's official, the first practice of the season is 7:00 Saturday night at Ray Nitschke Field. Gates open at 5:30. For those who have never gone to practice I highly recommend it. First practice is no pads. While Family Night is fun because you see action inside Lambeau, you are a lot closer at Nitschke field. There's only a few rows of bleachers. They split into their position groups and do drills and then they do some 7 on 7 series. The field is 170 yards long and they do a good job of moving the groups around so no matter where you sit you will likely get some up close action of Rodgers and the receivers.

Of course with no OTA's this year the first practice might not be the same. But you can't beat the atmosphere of seeing the world champs up close.