Packers/Kitties II Lead up

[MickeyDavis]

McCarthy reported that several players who were hurt may return to practice this week and could play.


WR Greg Jennings may practice on Wednesday. Same with OT Bryan Bulaga. McCarthy's hope is to play Chad Clifton against the Lions to see whether he can help in the playoffs.


DE Ryan Pickett is taking some tests today to see if he can return to the practice field. RB James Starks will be hard-pressed to practice on Wednesday, which means he's probably doubtful.


McCarthy said he is going for 15-1. He wants to sweep the division. He didn't guarantee that he wouldn't rest anybody, but his message is that the Packers aren't going to let up against the Lions Sunday.

[an_also]

Play rodgers a quarter. Maybe a half.

[Wooderson]

Deactivate all current player and sign Favre + a collection of the worst offensive lineman you can find and let Suh bury Favre 6 feet under Lambeau.

Renovation complete.

[UWM_Brew_Buck]

I don't want to see Rodgers play a snap in a meaningless game against a dirty Lions team.

[an_also]

McCarthy wants Clifton to play on sunday

“I want to see him play. I want to see him play in the game,” said McCarthy, who was then asked if that was for his own comfort level as a head coach.

“And for him to be comfortable. Chad has played a lot of football for us. Chad’s an All-Pro left tackle. The call he needs to answer is his own. The feedback has been very good throughout the rehab, and I just want to see him take the next step. More importantly, he needs to get out there in live action.”

[Bernman]

As far as I know, it's unproven that a team will perform worse after a couple bye weeks. What I do know is that a team will perform worse without their MVP and the league's all-time highest rated QB. Therefore Rodgers shouldn't play next week.

By the same token nobody among the team's more valuable players or those who have a re-injury risk should play either.

However, that doesn't apply to Clifton because between his age and long-term injury we don't know what caliber of an offensive lineman he is anymore without seeing him during actual game action. Just look what happened to Mark Tauscher last year subsequent to injury problems. He fell off a cliff. Don't want to find out the same has happened to Clifton after digging a hole in a playoff game. I support McCarthy's decision here.

[MickeyDavis]

Clifton absolutely has to play a half at least.

[paulpressey25]

As far as I know, it's unproven that a team will perform worse after a couple bye weeks.

I don't have empirical evidence for it, but the teams that usually get upset in the playoffs are the ones who clinch everything a couple weeks early and then use subs for two or three of the last regular season games.

We don't have that situation as the Bear game was must win and we played all our starters. I'd still play Rodgers a quarter though to keep him going in outdoor conditions at Lambeau.

[MickeyDavis]

With 46 active players you can't rest all the starters like you can in the preseason. But Rodgers absolutely has to sit most of the game. Matthews too. And Woodson. Otherwise just keep rotating guys in and out. Sounds like Starks will be out again, not good. Grant has played well but if he goes down and Starks is still hurt in two weeks.... I'd say go with Saine much of the game.

New Orleans I believe rested guys 2 years ago and won. Indy has rested guys and lost early. It just seems as if the teams that are playing well going into the playoffs have the best shot, as we did last year. I just don't want to go in having lost 2 of the last 3, even if one of them was planned.

Then again with our offensive weapons there's no reason Flynn can't have a great game.

I really don't want to see Detroit win for the first time in 20 years here.

[paulpressey25]

Seems like the national media is enjoying stirring the pot on Brees v. Rodgers for MVP.

[Newz]

If Brees wins MVP over Rodgers, that would be the lulz.

He has him in nothing besides bulk yardage because he was like 125 more attempts. Rodgers pwns everyone in yardage per attempt.

[LUKE23]

It shouldn't even be a discussion. The yard record is getting way more play than it should have. It's a volume record. YPA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> total passing yards.

Rodgers currently has the best QB rating all-time, and is leading Brees by a healthy 14 in that category, with more wins, over one more YPA, and 7.5 TD/INT vs. Brees' 3.15 TD/INT. In reality, if people are objective, Rodgers should win this unanimously. The only thing Brees has done better than Rodgers this year is accuracy, and it's 70.7 to 68.3, with a shorter YPA.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

It shouldn't even be a discussion. The yard record is getting way more play than it should have. It's a volume record. YPA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> total passing yards.

Rodgers currently has the best QB rating all-time, and is leading Brees by a healthy 14 in that category, with more wins, over one more YPA, and 7.5 TD/INT vs. Brees' 3.15 TD/INT. In reality, if people are objective, Rodgers should win this unanimously. The only thing Brees has done better than Rodgers this year is accuracy, and it's 70.7 to 68.3, with a shorter YPA.

Last week put to rest the people who say its his weapons. Well, his all-pro WR was out and his RBs were hurt or non existent. Granted it is still a good offense put not as stupid as it normally is and puts it on par with Brees's. It definitely helps Rodgers went all-madden with his best guy out.

[LUKE23]

Even if people were using that, do we even legitimately have more weapons than NO, especially counting RB's? I'd say it's pretty close. Our WR's are better, but theirs are very good, they have probably the 2nd best TE in the league, and a stable of three good RB. We have nobody like Sproles, for instance.

[MickeyDavis]

Capers comments:

(What are your areas of concern) - "Things that we need to make improvement on is our run defense. Run defense is as much team defense as anything. It’s like putting a glove on and everything has to fit together in terms of gap control, leverage on the ball, tackling. I’ll give their running back credit in terms of many times they bled us for too many yards, where we’d make a hit a yard or two from the line of scrimmage and it would come out of there as a 5-yard gain. So I know we can play the run a lot better than what we did yesterday."

(Was it just a matter of missing DE Ryan Pickett) - "Well, I don’t know that totally. Now we certainly think that Ryan’s one of our better run players. He’s a big, physical guy that’s pretty disciplined, a good technician, but we can play better. We came out of the Kansas City game and I looked back, and they would have had — you take the reverse and the 15-yarder at the end of the game away, and they would have had less than 100 yards rushing. Even with those two plays, they were like 3.6 per rush. So I was fairly encouraged after that game."

(What did you think of OLB Vic So'oto's production) - "He got more playing time yesterday. Again, as we move along that’s a week to week thing based on who we’re playing. He played more yesterday. You saw the last series, we had Jamari Lattimore in there. We played more people."

(Are you desperate to find a pass rusher on the right side) - "Vic’s a young guy. Anytime we have a chance to give him an opportunity, we’d like to give him an opportunity. With these young guys, what I always tell them is you have to make the most of your opportunities and make it hard for us not to get you on the field. He did a couple good things. He’s still very raw in some areas."

[MickeyDavis]

"Someone is going to ask this question so I am going to answer it before it's asked," Payton said. "Typically, would I be throwing it there? The answer would be probably not. In fact, the answer would be 'I wouldn't be.' But I thought it was appropriate that we get the record. And we did it. We have a ton of respect for Falcons coach Mike [Smith], his staff and his players. It seemed like the right thing to do. I felt real good about the decision."

[MikeIsGood]

It seemed like the right thing to do, even though you're going to break it next week anyways.

[Newz]

Even if people were using that, do we even legitimately have more weapons than NO, especially counting RB's? I'd say it's pretty close. Our WR's are better, but theirs are very good, they have probably the 2nd best TE in the league, and a stable of three good RB. We have nobody like Sproles, for instance.

It's really tough. I think Graham is probably the best 'weapon' between both teams, but a healthy Jennings is very close or just as good. Our WRs/TEs 2-7 or whatever number you want to use are probably overall better though.

They have us whipped pretty good at RB. Sproles on his own has been a massive factor in the passing game. His versatility to run, then split out wide, etc. has been a great addition for them.

[LikeABosh]

It shouldn't even be a discussion. The yard record is getting way more play than it should have. It's a volume record. YPA >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> total passing yards.

Rodgers currently has the best QB rating all-time, and is leading Brees by a healthy 14 in that category, with more wins, over one more YPA, and 7.5 TD/INT vs. Brees' 3.15 TD/INT. In reality, if people are objective, Rodgers should win this unanimously. The only thing Brees has done better than Rodgers this year is accuracy, and it's 70.7 to 68.3, with a shorter YPA.

Rodgers is also coming off the 2nd longest winning streak in league history.

And I don't understand the argument about Rodgers having a bad game in KC. Brees has had terrible games at Tampa and at St. Louis.

[Balls2TheWalls]

Aaron Rodgers has 0 multi-interception games. Brees has 4.

The best stat I saw was that Rodgers has 39 more touchdowns than interceptions, and that 39 touchdowns is more than any QB outside of Brees has thrown overall.

He is just the best QB in the league, period.