OPE. This is the first time I’ve smiled about anything Packer related since last week Sunday afternoon at about 1:55pm Central Standard Time. Aaron Rodgers may be a Cali-guy born and raised on the West Coast, but nearly two decades in the Midwest has clearly had it’s impact. There is NOTHING more Wisconsin than hopping in the bed of a buddy’s pickup truck with a case of beer on a cold November day. Also there’s not a doubt in my mind that there are a TON of Kwik Trip chicken sandwich wrappers in the back of that pickup. Guys being dudes. You love to see it!
^Kind of related: The Packers officially moved on from Mike Pettine around the same time that the above video cropped up on Friday night. Not all that surprising. I think it’s been fairly clear during LaFleur’s postgame press conferences over the last two seasons that they weren’t exactly ‘simpatico’ with their defensive philosophies. Pettine was the one coach that LaFleur was kind of forced to keep when he got the head coaching gig in 2019, and now he gets to hire his own guy.
Pettine leaves an interesting legacy in Green Bay. We were all optimistic and happy for a change after the last 8-9 years of the Dom Capers Era fell flat, and we did see some positive gains after Pettine’s first season. 2019 was still kind of a mess, and the run defense getting MAULED in the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco had a lot of people believing that he might be gone after that game. But they retained him for the final year of his contract, and honestly for most of the season the defense wasn’t awful. Statistically they were fringe top 10 (#11)*. And they played well in the Divisional Round win against the Rams. They were DREADUL in the first half against Tampa Bay, but they played much better in the second half, and actually handed the ball to the offense THREE TIMES with the chance to take the lead. Obviously most people will remember the egregious call of being in man-coverage at the end of the first half and allowing the touchdown pass to Scotty Miller. And ultimately I think it was plays like that that were Pettine’s undoing. Just too many mental lapses like that in big games. This defense has quite a bit of talent, Za’Darius Smith was great again, Rashan Gary is an up and coming pass rusher, Kenny Clark is one of the best tackles in the game, Jaire Alexander actually is the best corner in the the league, and the Savage/Amos safety combo is more than solid. They have a clear void at the corner spot opposite Jaire as well as a Nickel-corner, and they need to figure out the middle linebacker position, but overall that’s too much talent to not make the big plays in the big games. It will be interesting to see if LaFleur goes with a bigger name (Wade Phillips/Dan Quinn) or if he brings in a younger/up-and-coming name.
Double Related: There is NO circumstance where you would trade Aaron Rodgers, the soon to be 3-time MVP, but after seeing the haul that the Lions got for Stafford over the weekend, you’ve got to wonder what the offer for Rodgers would be. Reportedly the Rams did call the Packers to ask about Rodgers’ availability. They ultimately give up Goff, two 1st-rounders, and third-rounder for Stafford. I would imagine any trade conversation revolving around Rodgers would have to start with 4 first round picks then, right? Would a team have to give up an entire draft Ricky Williams-style? Would they have to trade some form of dark-web currency that we don’t even know about yet?? Again, no chance they would trade him, but that exchange over the weekend makes you think about what it would take.
*’I don’t care what the stats say, I know what my eyes say and they say the defense STINKS.’- Boomer.
PS: As long as we’re doling out sports takes: HORRIBLE weekend for hoops in the state. The Badgers played terrible defense in losing to Penn State for the first time since 2011, Marquette lost another really bad game at home to a mediocre team, and the Bucks got dusted by the Pelicans and Hornets on back to back nights. I’m just going to keep telling myself ‘it’s early’ as it relates to the Bucks. And honestly, after being the best regular season team in the league the last two years and winning nothing of note in the playoffs, who really cares about their regular season record. But I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned with their new defensive scheme at the moment. It feels like every other night the team they’re playing has a ‘historic’ night from beyond the arc. They’ve got a LOT of time between now and April to get it tuned up for the playoffs, but if they don’t get it in shape, imagine what a team like the Nets is going to do to this defense in a best-of-7.
Double PS: Last week at this time I thought that the Brewers were a move or two away from being the favorite for the NL Central crown. The Cubs are in a half-rebuild, the Reds are purging some big name talent, the Pirates are the Pirates, and the Cards hadn’t done much of anything. Assuming that Yelich and Hiura return to some sense of normalcy, you’ve got a great 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation in Woodruff in Burnes, and arguably the best 1-2 punch on the back end of your bullpen with Devin Williams and Josh Hader. Add in a piece or two and you could be looking at 85-87 wins which would have been enough in a watered down division. Then the Cardinals come out of nowhere on Friday and acquire a HOF talent in the prime of his career by trading for Nolan Arenado. Not only that, but they convince the Rockies to pay $50 million of his salary. Of course.
