The Green Bay Packers are NFC North Champs!

Packers 21 Bears 13

In the NFL it is about the Quarterback first, everything else comes after. The difference in this game is obviously Aaron Rodgers over Jay Cutler. The Packer QB is the reining league MVP who won't win the MVP this season but team goals are always more important to him anyway. The Bears QB is the best one they have had since Jim McMahon but that is not saying much. The 20+ guys that have tried to play QB for the Bears in the past couple of decades were so unsuccessful that Jay Cutler looks good by comparison but simply is not very good. Worse yet he is not a leader and his body language makes him hard to like. As the Bears Defense gets older it looks like the Packers will be the better team for many years to come. The Packers Defense played great today and is young. Casey Heyward could be the Defensive rookie of the year in the NFL and Clay Matthews came back after missing more than a month and made an instant impact. 

I must mention that Randall Cobb had another great game but my MVPs of this game are James Jones (3 Touchdowns) and Mike Neal (1.5 sacks) there impact needs to be noticed. They might not be the big stars of this team but they were amoung them on this day.

This was a total team effort and they was some bad as usual:

As Mike McCarthy said after the game "Excellent Team Win" and yes, he also took the blame for an ill-advised trick play on a return when Randall Cobb's throwback was miss-handled by seldom used Jeremy Ross.

This may be the game that forces Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy to find a new kicker. Mason Crosby missed a pair of field goals Sunday. His 43-yard attempt sailed wide left and his 42-yarder hit the left post. It appeared Crosby may have turned a corner the last two games at Lambeau Field. Yet in Chicago, the funk continued. His second attempt could have given the Packers a two-touchdown cushion with 10:16 to play. 

However on the opening drive of the second half, the Packers drove downfield and faced a fourth and 6 from Chicago’s 26. Rather than kick a field goal, Green Bay went for it and Rodgers hit Randall Cobb for 12 yards. Soon after, Jones caught his third touchdown and the Packers were ahead, 21-7. A lack of confidence in the kicker paid off.

The Packers made a real statement today and now tonight if the New England Patriots take down the San Francisco 49ers (and I think they will, just look at the Quarterbacks) the Packers will move into the #2 spot in the NFC which at season's end can give us the first round bye and then a home game in the second round of the playoffs. The Falcons made an even bigger statement as they shut out the defending champion Giants. As I have been saying all season long, I look forward to the NFC Championship game at Atlanta in the Georgia Dome.

One more fun fact: The Vikings are now in second place in the NFC North and the Bears fall to third. The Bears and Vikings are both 8-6 now and would not even make the playoffs as it stands right now. If they sneak in I would love to play them but they would be knocked out in round 1 anyway while Green Bay is enjoying a playoff bye week!

The Journey is the Reward and we should all celebrate this newest title in Titletown!

Predicting the Unpredictable!

Here is my educated guess on how each NFL team will finish this season. I set forth some criteria for making these predictions because things are so uncertain in the NFL from week to week and one major injury, like Aaron Rodgers going out for the season, would mean less than the 11 wins I have predicted for the Green Bay Packers and change everything in the NFC.

I assume that every player in completely healthy all season long and that all games are played under normal weather conditions with professional officials who will get the calls right. Home Field is considered a big advantage. The planned starting Quarterback for Week 1 for each team will start for that team all season long. If I find a game too close to call I look at which team is better at the Quarterback position.

So if you happen to think that the 10 wins I have predicted for the Philadelphia Eagles is too many, remember, I am predicting under the assumption he plays every snap of all 16 games. Yes, this means that Peyton Manning will be the Peyton Manning that we know from the past, therefore the Denver Broncos should also win 10.

KEY:
1*=First Round Bye and Home Field throughout the playoffs
2*=Division Winner with a first round bye
3*=Division Winner #3
4*=Division Winner #4
5w=Wildcard #1
6w=Wildcard #2

Here we go:

AFC East
4* New England Patriots 10-6
     Buffalo Bills 8-8
     New York Jets 8-8
     Miami Dolphins 5-11

AFC North
3* Baltimore Ravens 9-7
     Pittsburgh Steelers 9-7
     Cincinnati Bengals 7-9
     Cleveland Browns 4-12

AFC South
2* Houston Texans 10-6
5w Tennessee Titans 9-7
      Jacksonville Jaguars 6-10
      Indianapolis Colts 5-11

AFC West
1* Denver Broncos 10-6
6w Oakland Raiders 9-7
     San Diego Chargers 8-8
     Kansas City Chiefs 7-9

NFC East
4* Dallas Cowboys 10-6
     Philadelphia Eagles 10-6
     New York Giants 9-7
     Washington Redskins 6-10

NFC North
1* Green Bay Packers 11-5
5w Detroit Lions 10-6
     Chicago Bears 9-7
     Minnesota Vikings 5-11

NFC South
3* Atlanta Falcons 10-6
6w Carolina Panthers 10-6
     New Orleans Saints 9-7
     Tampa Bay Buccaneers 5-11

NFC West
2* San Francisco 49ers 11-5
     Seattle Seahawks 8-8
     St. Louis Rams 6-10
     Arizona Cardinals 3-13

So there it is balanced at 256-256.
The NFC has 8 more wins overall than the AFC.
The best division is the NFC North 36-28.
The AFC North is now the worst division at 29-35.

The Philadelphia Eagles go 10-6 but still miss out on the playoffs.
The Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints just miss as well after winning 9 games and losing 7. There is more parity than ever in today's NFL.

January 2013 will bring us the 2012 NFL Playoffs and I expect these games to be close but go true to form. I predict that we will not have a Wildcard team getting hot and knocking off better teams on the road to the Super Bowl this season. In the end the leagues two best Quarterbacks will vie for the title On February 3, 2013 in New Orleans.


SUPERBOWL XLVII will feature:
The GREEN BAY PACKERS over
THE DENVER BRONCOS                                                                 

The 11-5 record that I predicted for the Green Bay Packers assumes losses in five tough road games. All five might not be lost but someone might pull off an upset at Lambeau like the Chiefs did last year. I am going with 11 wins but think that more is very possible. The main thing is no losses once playoff time comes around! Aaron Rodgers vs. Peyton Manning will be one of the best championships of all-time!

THE FINAL 53 is really 55 players right now

Apparently the suspended players do NOT count as part of the official 53 man roster, so the packers actually get to keep 55 for now. 6 players wind up on Injured Reserve and out for the season including Desmond Bishop and LB Vic So'oto. 4 players are on the Reserve/Physically Unable to Perform list including OT Derek Sherrod and LB Frank Zombo which means they will have a chance to find a spot of the 53 man roster sometime near mid-season. So really 65 of the 90 who came to training camp are still Packers. Here is the current 53 (55) man roster as the morning 9/1/12:

2QB: Rodgers, Harrell 
5RB: Benson, Starks, Green, Saine, Kuhn, 
6WR: Jennings, Nelson, Cobb, Jones, Driver, Boykin
4TE: Finley, Williams, Crabtree, Taylor
7OL: Bulaga, Sitton, Saturday, Lang, Newhouse, Dietrich-Smith, Barclay
6DL: Pickett, Worthy, Raji, Daniels, Wilson, Merling
9LB: Matthews, Hawk, Smith, Perry, Walden, Moses, Francois, Manning, Jones, Lattimore
11DB: Woodson, Williams, Burnett, Bush, Hayward, McMillian, Jennings, House, Shields, Richardson, Ross
3 Specialists: K Crosby, P Masthay, LS Goode

LB Erik Walden comes back after Week 1 
DL Mike Neal after Week 4.

There are 6 players on this roster that I thought would be cut but only four names that I missed. I am calling it 49/53 and it looks like some things could change soon.


The following information is from JS Online:
 
Green Bay - The Packers' 53-man roster is complete - for now.

By 11 a.m. Saturday, they could have some new additions based on any waiver claims they might have put in. After 11 a.m. they can start signing players to their practice squad.

Here's a look at the roster:

OFFENSE (24)

WR (6) Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson, Donald Driver, James Jones, Randall Cobb, Jarret Boykin

ANALYSIS: No surprises with the top five. Diondre Borel and Tori Gurley never did enough to warrant a spot. Boykin was a huge surprise. He caught everything, ran great routes and would have been claimed on waivers if they cut him. He'll mostly be on the scout team this year, but he'll give the defense great looks every day.

OL (7) Marshall Newhouse, T.J. Lang, Jeff Saturday, Josh Sitton, Bryan Bulaga, Evan Dietrich-Smith, Don Barclay.

ANALYSIS: There's no way they can go with seven guys for the six weeks Derek Sherrod is on the physically unable to perform list. You can bet they put in waiver claims for at least one lineman they hope to add to the roster. Barclay may or may not make it based on whether they add one or two linemen.

TE (4) Jermichael Finley, Tom Crabtree, D.J. Williams, Ryan Taylor

ANALYSIS: No surprises here. Crabtree has to recover from his shoulder injury and Williams didn't play Thursday night because of an ankle injury.

QB (2) Aaron Rodgers, Graham Harrell

ANALYSIS: Graham Harrell hit a grand slam in the bottom of the ninth.

RB (5) Cedric Benson, Alex Green, James Starks, Brandon Saine, John Kuhn

ANALYSIS: Too many people are writing off Starks. He'll be in the mix when it's all said and done. Marc Tyler probably will go on the practice squad and be available if someone goes down. Starks isn't that far away from being back from a turf toe injury.


DEFENSE (26)

DL (6) Ryan Pickett, B.J. Raji, C.J. Wilson, Mike Daniels, Jerel Worthy, Phillip Merling,

ANALYSIS: Merling may be holding a spot until LB Erik Walden comes back after Week 1 or Mike Neal after Week 4. Both nose tackles, Raji (ankle) and Pickett (calf) have injuries, so it's a bit of a gamble to let Daniel Muir go. But in an emergency Wilson can line up in the middle.

LB (9) Clay Matthews, Nick Perry, A.J. Hawk, D.J. Smith, Robert Francois, Terrell Manning, Jamari Lattimore, Brad Jones, Dezman Moses

ANALYSIS: Walden will be back after Week 1 and Manning may be holding his spot. If Desmond Bishop were healthy this would be Ted Thompson's best linebacker corps. It still might be. The OLB position has been upgraded considerably from last year.

CB (11) Tramon Williams, Jarrett Bush, Charles Woodson, Morgan Burnett, Sam Shields, Davon House, Casey Hayward, Brandian Ross, M.D. Jennings, Sean Richardson, Jerron McMillian

ANALYSIS: Richardson was kept on his potential. He's very raw and will have to fight to be on the game day active list. His special teams play will help him a lot. Ross quietly had a solid camp and was steady on special teams. Expect Bush to start at CB and either McMillian or Jennings at nickel safety. The safety position is really young. Burnett might as well be in his second year given he missed most of his rookie year with an injury. Burnett, Jennings, Richardson and McMillian have a combined three years of NFL experience.

SPECIALISTS (3)

K Mason Crosby
P Tim Masthay
LS Brett Goode

ANALYSIS: Status quo.

SUSPENDED (2)

LB Erik Walden, one game

DE Mike Neal, four games

The rookies are in and James Starks might be out!

Now that the Packers have cut the roster from 90 down to 75, it is time to predict who will be on the 53 man opening day roster. 22 players will be cut OR added to the ever growing number of players on the Injured Reserve and Physically Unable to Preform lists!

ALL 8 OF THE 2012 PACKER DRAFT CHOICES WILL MAKE THIS TEAM

The biggest name that I expect to NOT make the 53 man roster is Running Back James Starks:
He has just not been able to get better at ball protection and has not been able to stay healthy. Thank You for helping us win the 2010 Superbowl but goodbye James Starks.

The Quarterback situation is not good and a trade might be in the works. For now, all three are still on the roster and expect Graham Harrell to get most of the playing time on Thursday night. I think B.J. Coleman should get a lot of playing time as well to make his case. The Packers would like to go with just 2 here but I think the 7th round pick and #3 QB B.J. Coleman needs to be active until whomever the #2 Quarterback is going to be, is ready to play!

So here is my prediction of the 2012 Green Bay Packers 53 man opening day roster:

5WR: Jennings, Nelson, Cobb, Jones, Driver
4TE: Finley, Williams, Crabtree, Taylor
8OL: Bulaga, Sitton, Saturday, Lang, Newhouse, Dietrich-Smith, Wells, Datko
3QB: Rodgers, Harrell (or someone else), Coleman
5RB: Benson, Green, Saine, Kuhn, Cooper
7DL: Pickett, Worthy, Raji, Daniels, Wilson, Muir, Neal
8LB: Matthews, Hawk, Smith, Perry, Walden, Moses, Francois, Manning
10 DB: Woodson, Williams, Burnett, Hayward, McMillian, Jennings, House, Bush, Levine, Shields
3 Specialists: K Crosby, P Masthay, LS Goode

Where is Matt Flynn when you need him?

The second exhibition game provided additional cause for concern! If Ted Thompson would have thought a backup Quarterback you can count on is worth the money and would have kept Matt Flynn. It would have not only made the pre-season much better, it would have avoided this new problem of who is going to backup Aaron Rodgers?

After looking back at pre-season records over the years, which are not easy to find, I have discovered that what some Packer fans have been saying does not hold water. Since the first quarter of Thursday nights game at Lambeau Field, I heard fans at the stadium saying what fans are still saying today: "Pre-season games are meaningless" but...
The truth is that that there is some correlation between how you do in the pre-season and the regular season. The past two Packer championship teams 2010 and 1996 only lost 3 games combined in those pre-seasons. The Packers 2nd string Quarterbacks over the past two decades have always been better than what Graham Harrell is right now.
It's the 3rd pre-season game that matters most as the starters typically play into the 3rd quarter so as long as the Packers core players start getting healthy and the Packers do win at Cincinnati on Thursday evening everything might be just fine. That is as long as injuries don't hit this team as hard as they did in 2010 when somehow the Packers were able to overcome them all. The one good thing about sad game on Thursday was no notable new injuries.
Before getting into the Quarterback situation let's talk about the Defense, where the most improvement needs to come on this team compared to last season: First we will be taking a look at the rookies and  how they are doing:

Pick #1 LB Nick Perry is looking good: With Clay and Nick as the starting OLB's both healthy and playing well at the same time, opponent QBs will get getting rushed and sacked and making bad throws. This could be very exciting and make everyone else on Defense better.

Pick #2a DE Jerel Worthy has a lot of potential: Might not start right away but will make an impact and hopefully push B.J. Raji to get back to his 2010 form before fame got to his head a little bit.

Pick #2b CB Casey Hayward: He just might start because the other CBs fighting for the spot seem to be banged up and/or less productive so this rookie can claim the position as Charles Woodson moves to safety this year. Start or not Casey Hayward makes the secondary better.

Pick #4a DE Mike Daniels has not made a difference yet but I keep hearing about how great he looks in practice so he will be in the mix.

Pick #4b S Jerron McMillian: It the Packers did not have Charles Woodson and Morgan Burnett, a very solid safety duo, McMillian could be a first year starter. Too bad he was not a Packer already last season when Nick Collins went down.

Pick #5 LB Terrell Manning: Have not heard a lot about him yet but I suspect he will make the team considering how awful the Defense was last season. Again in the Cleveland game it looked like we did not have much of a pass rush and everyone was always open, including when Manning was in the game. Is this a coaching problem? I don't know but this Defense needs to get better fast!

Pick #7a T Andrew Datko: I don't think making the 53 man roster is possible here the practice squad is a possibility if the Packers have room to take on this project.

Pick #7b QB B.J. Coleman: I was really looking forward to seeing this strong armed cocky kid play but it did not happen until the final minute and then he threw an INT on his very first pass. He will be the 3rd string QB but if the Packers only keep two Quarterbacks he will be on the practice squad. They say he is just not ready to be the #2 guy yet.

So who is going to be #2? Well Mike McCarthy is not going to cut Graham Harrell after two bad pre-season games after all the work he has put into helping this guy improve over the past two years but...pre-season games is where guys like Matt Hasselbeck and Matt Flynn would shine over the years before they move onto other teams with a chance to start. You have to be able to shine in pre-season playing with other backups or you simply can't be counted on to be the man if Aaron Rodgers goes down for a game or two.

Harrell won't get as much time next week against Cincinnati because typically the third game is when Rodgers plays the most. In the fourth game, McCarthy will have to decide how much time to give to Harrell and how much to give to. If he does not have success the Packers will need to bring in a veteran who will have just been released by another team as they get down to a 53 man roster including just 2 or 3 QB's.

Who might be available after the pre-season? Here is a list:

• Matt Moore (Carolina)
• Tarvaris Jackson (Seattle)
• Matt Hasselbeck (Tennessee)
• Kevin O’Connell / Charlie Whitehurst (San Diego)
• Kellen Clemens (St. Louis)
• Brady Quinn/ Ricky Stanzi (Kansas City)
• Chris Redman (Atlanta)
• Scott Tolzien / Josh Johnson (San Francisco)
• Colt McCoy (Cleveland)
• Matt Leinart (Oakland)
• Trent Edwards (Philadelphia)
• Tyler Thigpen / Vince Young (Buffalo)

Yep, that is a list but not an impressive one. The Packers like to stay young but my choice would be Matt Hasselback. If his starting days are over it is time to come home where it all began. He used to sit on the Packer bench behind Brett Favre back in the day. Now he can sit on the bench behind a slightly less durable, but better Quarterback and better man, Aaron Rodgers. This way if Aaron does miss a game or two, the season is not over.

If the Packers have to count on Matt Hasselbeck or some other starting Quarterback for more than a few games we won't be winning the Superbowl. To reach your goals you must have your best player healthy. This is why the Offensive line playing well is priority #1 and they looked okay in the first quarter vs. the Browns. Everything is fine Packer Nation as long as our best player is healthy and everyone else just does their job. It's all good when you have Aaron Rodgers!!!

Green Bay Packers 2012: Was the first exhibition game a cause for concern?

Going into this new season everyone is looking for improvement defensively. The Packers drafted six players on that side of the ball and we as fans want to see improvement immediately. First round draft pick LB Nick Perry looked very good. Too bad the good news ends right there. Second rounder’s DL Jerel Worthy and CB Casey Hayward did not do anything of note. I came into this game hoping to see CB Devon House show that he can be a starter and I think he did before hurting his shoulder. The Defense overall still made way too many mistakes and missed a lot of tackles. Maybe they only need to become average. If they improve and the Special Teams and Offense stays the same the team will be better but...

With LT Herb Taylor trying to protect Aaron Rodger's blind side, and James Starks fumbling the ball, the Offense could not get anywhere. With Special Teams fumbles as well that first quarter was not at all what we were looking for. It is obvious that we can't assume anything and every season is different. Based on starters vs. starters both teams looked bad but the San Diego Chargers were the better team.
There were some good things that happened during the remainder of the game but nothing good enough to mention in this dull 21-13 loss.

The injuries to LB Desmond Bishop (knee and hamstring) and cornerback Davon House (shoulder) trump anything else that happened Thursday night. The main thing in any pre-season game is coming away healthy. The Packers sure don't want to lose last season’s leading tackler and a potential starter at cornerback. This game already has me wanting to see the real thing, the regular season opener on Sunday, September 9 vs. the 49ers. Wow, Mike McCarthy has a lot to get done in one month!

Packer Nation wants to believe that as Super Bowl champions from 2010 and the best regular season Packer team ever going 15-1 in 2011: Our Packers are a lock to win the NFC North again and advance to the Super Bowl. We would like to think that it is obvious that Green Bay has the best team in football. Surely it was a bit of bad timing combined with the Giants getting hot and a little lucky that derailed this train last January but what if what happened in the playoffs, during the season at Kansas City, and again at San Diego in this pre-season opener is no longer the exception but become the rule?

As a Packer fan you don’t allow yourself to think that way but with friends that are fans of other teams, reality hits me in the face and I cannot ignore it. This season’s journey to our rightful spot in the Super Bowl might not be that easy. I think this Defense will be better in 2012 but I don't know if the Special Teams is going to be good again or take a step back. I wonder if the Offense can be even better than last year without a good running game. I am thinking no because of the uncertainty of the Offensive Line. Therefore, I hope to see Ted Thompson sign Cedric Benson.

What do you think? Was Week 1 of the pre-season meaningless or cause for concern?