Jersey Al's Packers Blog

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

How many of us have heard that question?  In the NFL, especially as it relates to head coaches, it rings true more than most.  Every successful head coach now seems to come from some kind of coaching “tree,” as in he worked under another successful head coach as an assistant.

For example:

Sean Payton? Bill Parcells.

Bill Belichick? also Parcells.

Mike Shanahan? Bill Walsh.

Andy Reid? Mike Holmgren, who also came from Walsh.

It goes on and on.

Hold on, though. What about Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy?

Thought so.

Mike McCarthy is one of those rare birds in the NFL who became a successful head coach on his own.  Yes, he worked at Kansas City with Marty Schottenheimer, but Marty’s struggles in the playoffs are well documented.  Read more... (605 words + 6 images, estimated 2:25 mins reading time)

As the Packers prepare to face the Cleveland Browns in their first preseason game, the defense is ready to embark on their second year under Dom Capers. The key unit to watch out for, in my opinion will be the defensive line.

Last season, the injury-riddled secondary struggled as the Packers were unable to mount enough of a pass rush to help the inexperienced replacements out. A big part of the lack of pass rush can be attributed to the defensive line not getting a push up the middle or occupying blockers so the linebackers had blitzing lanes.

When Dom Capers was hired to be the Packers Defensive Coordinator we all heard the doom and gloom predictions of what would happen making the change to a 3-4 defense without having the players to fit the system

That proved to be a wasted worry, as the improvement in the defense was one of the best things to come out of the 2009 season.  Read more... (1333 words + 6 images, estimated 5:20 mins reading time)

I’ve had this nagging feeling for years now that the Green Bay Packers of Mike McCarthy’s tenure do very well against weak opponents, but tend to fold when it comes to stronger opponents, or at least not do nearly as well. So I went back and looked at every game, regular and post-season, that the Packers have played since their 2006 season opener against the Bears, Mike McCarthy’s first game.

My Theory: that McCarthy’s Packers have serious trouble beating teams 10-6 and above.

My categories went like this:

Category 1: Teams that went 0-16 to 6-10
Category 2: Teams that went 7-9 to 9-7
Category 3: Teams that went 10-6 and above.

(My reasoning here is that there doesn’t tend to be huge differences between 8-8, 9-7, 7-9 teams. Also, I wanted to measure how the Packers did against the best teams in the league, which I defined as teams with a 10-6 record or better.)  Read more... (720 words + 6 images, estimated 2:53 mins reading time)

This story is about a gruff, quote-worthy coach who single-handidly built a football dynasty in the 1960s. No, this isn’t a review of the upcoming Broadway play based on the life of Vince Lombardi. Rather, it’s an interesting story about another type of football coach, born the same year as Vince, whose persona and achievements closely mirror those of Lombardi. Eerily so, in some cases. I call him “Vince Lombardi with an Accent”. This fine piece of historical comparison is brought to you by guest author Fran Dunn, a Packer fan from “across the pond”, known as “baboons” on twitter.

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”  Read more... (1400 words + 6 images, estimated 5:36 mins reading time)

By Guest Author, Pigskin Paul

Our friend Pigskin Paul comments on some  Green Bay Packers players in the news and looks at some 2009 stats.

Given TED THOMPSON’s penchant for building his team through the DRAFT, and retention of his own young players who have shown progress in their development as Pros, this time of year is generally pretty quiet in PACKERS Country.

But primarily thanks to some unsettling off-field activity, things have been a little more active within the PACKERS organization this June. Let’s take a look at some situations drawing attention right now.

Unfortunately, BRANDON UNDERWOOD has put himself in some minor legal trouble, and perhaps a bit more trouble within the team’s infrastructure, by letting the little head think for the big head. All this while spending time in the Wisconsin Dells area, ostensibly to help in a golf-outing, fund raising event.  Read more... (1083 words + 5 images, estimated 4:20 mins reading time)

By Guest Author, Pigskin Paul

Our friend Pigskin Paul takes a close-up look at three of the Packers’ undrafted free agents that are hoping to snag a roster or practice squad spot:

One of the free agent mystery men who won a contract after his audition as an unsigned invitee to the Green Bay Packers 2010 Rookie Camp, was SHAWN GORE, who played his prep and college ball north of the border. So who better to give us a scouting report on GORE than our good friend COLIN LINDSAY from The Great Blue North Draft Report. Here is his synopsis in evaluating GORE coming out of college.

When word leaked out that Green Bay had a WR in for a tryout from little Bishop’s University in Canada, just about everyone assumed it was Stephen Turner who put on a remarkable athletic performance at this year’s Canadian league draft combine where he ran the 40 in just over 4.30 seconds.  Read more... (1455 words + 9 images, estimated 5:49 mins reading time)

by Guest Author, Thomas Hobbes

Packer fans, here’s a different way to look at the recent NFL Draft:

An interesting piece of information just came to my attention, namely a photo was recently leaked of Jerry Jones during the NFL draft in front of the Dallas’ Cowboys’ big board .

More importantly, Cowboy fans with no lives have spent hours working out the players listed in the majority of rounds one through four. I’m sure Jones is livid that his board was exposed (Luckily for the Cowboys it looks like the picture was taken while the draft was going on, so its unlikely that any other teams gained any unfair information).

Here is what Cowboys fans have been able to determine:  Read more... (1420 words + 7 images, estimated 5:41 mins reading time)