August 2008 - Posts

• Another transaction is coming for Packers

  Posted Aug 31 2008, 08:50 AM by Brian Carriveau

  The Green Bay Packers are currently down to 53 players, but they're not done yet. General manager Ted Thompson will still make another transaction or two before all is said and done.

  At least one move is sure to happen. That's because the Packers placed long snapper J.J. Jansen on injured reserve ending his season. It's all but guaranteed they'll add a long snapper in the next day or so.

  It could be Thomas Gafford who has had two previous stints with the Packers. Gafford was cut by the Chicago Bears recently.

  "The Packers also have tryouts scheduled with several snappers this week and could sign one of them," reports Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette.

  It's possible that the Packers could go after Taylor Inglis formerly of the Canadian Football League as a long snapper too.

  No matter what direction they go, they'll have to trim the roster by one more player. Those who seem most vulnerable are either Charlie Peprah or Jarrett Bush. The Packers could get away with one less defensive back. Although it's possible they could cut Tracy White where one less linebacker wouldn't hurt too much. Or Breno Giacomini who doesn't figure to play this year anyway.

  Then again, all of them could be safe if the Packers swing a trade, an unlikely but possible scenario.

  In addition to needing a long snapper, the Packers also could use some help at defensive tackle where they really only have three true defensive tackles in Ryan Pickett, Johnny Jolly and Colin Cole.

  If they feel Pickett is healthy, they may just try to wade through the first couple of weeks until they get Justin Harrell back after week six. That would certainly mean Cullen Jenkins would see a lot of time at defensive tackle.

  So stay tuned. The practice squad will start to take shape this afternoon as well.
  

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• And the cuts start rolling in...

  Posted Aug 30 2008, 11:01 PM by Dan Haddinger

  According to ESPN, here are the Packers cuts so far:

  Wide receivers Jake Allen, Johnny Quinn, Taj Smith and Brett Swain, cornerbacks Scorpio Babers and Joe Porter, defensive tackles Conrad Bolston, Alfred Malone and Daniel Muir, center Brennen Carvalho, safety Tyrone Culver, linebackers Spencer Havner and Danny Lansanah, tight end Joey Haynos, running backs Noah Herron and Vernand Morency, guard Ryan Keenan, tackle Orrin Thompson and fullback Corey White. 

  They also placed defensive tackle Rodney Allen, center Junius Coston and long snapper J.J. Jansen on injured reserve.

  Some of the cuts are a little surpising, in my opinion.  Getting rid of both Herron and Morency? That gives us a VERY young backfield. Combine that with the age of all of our QB's and we've got a group of kids who have no idea who the ThunderCats are.

  We'll just see if Ted is looking to pick anyone up from wire.  Looks like there's been a few bigger names let go.

  My choice (and yes I know I sound like a homer) but let's bring in Nick Hayden. Panthers cut him today too and we could use someone with a good motor on the D line. 

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  Filed under: Taj Smith, Jake Allen, Joey Haynos, Brett Swain, Daniel Muir, Tyrone Culver, Joe Porter, Vernand Morency, Alfred Malone, Conrad Bolston, Johnny Quinn, Noah Herron, Corey White, Spencer Havner, Scorpio Babers, Danny Lansanah, Orrin Thompson, Brennen Carvalho, J.J. Jansen, Rodney Allen, Ryan Keenan, Junius Coston

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• An exercise in futility: guessing the Packers 53 man roster

  Posted Aug 30 2008, 07:22 AM by Brian Carriveau

  Don't trust anyone predicting the Green Bay Packers 53 man roster. Every year general manager Ted Thompson cuts down below 53 players to either add someone through waivers or through a trade.

  There's no reason to think the Packers won't do it again this year. Thompson, after all, has had success doing so.

  Last year he brought in phenomenal running back Ryan Grant into Green Bay via trade with the New York Giants. It's doubtful the team will ever have that much success again in a trade.  However, most waiver claims have been productive players.

  Thompson has cherry picked players from waivers like John Kuhn, Charlie Peprah and Jarrett Bush. All are currently with the Packers, and all have contributed. There have even been other instances like offensive lineman Tony Palmer who also contributed to the team before being injured.

  If we know Thompson is actually going to cut down below 53 players, what positions are those cuts going to come from? Our guess here is at tight end and along the defensive line.

  Here's your guess at a 51 man roster. Then expect Thompson to fill in the rest of the holes by Sunday or Monday with some waiver claims or trades. Am I going to be right? Probably not. But then again, I emplore you to find anyone that predicts the 53 man roster perfectly. I'll give them a cookie.

  Of course, there may be one reason everybody else will be right and I'll be wrong. And that's because this is the deepest team yet under Ted Thompson. The Packers may go with the thinking that they won't find any other NFL castoffs that are better than what they already have. Oh well. Here's a blind stab at things.

  Quarterbacks (3): Aaron Rodgers, Brian Brohm, Matt Flynn

  Running backs (5): Ryan Grant, Bradon Jackson, Noah Herron, Korey Hall, John Kuhn

  Wide receiver (5): Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, Ruvell Martin, Jordy Nelson

  Tight end (2): Donald Lee, Jermichael Finley

  Offensive line (9): Chad Clifton, Daryn Colledge, Scott Wells, Jason Spitz, Mark Tauscher, Tony Moll, Josh Sitton, Allen Barbre, Breno Giacomini

  Defensive line (8): Aaron Kampman, Cullen Jenkins, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Michael Montgomery, Jason Hunter, Jeremy Thompson, Ryan Pickett, Johnny Jolly, Colin Cole

  Linebackers (7): Nick Barnett, A.J. Hawk, Brady Poppinga, Bradon Chillar, Abdul Hodge, Desmond Bishop, Tracy White

  Defensive backs (9): Al Harris, Charles Woodson, Atari Bigby, Nick Collins, Aaron Rouse, Tramon Williams, Will Blackmon, Patrick Lee, Charlie Peprah

  Specialists (3): Mason Crosby, Jon Ryan, J.J. Jansen

  And one more intriguing trade possibility: cutting ties with Nick Collins? Didn't see that coming did you?

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• The silver lining: an explosive offense

  Posted Aug 29 2008, 05:08 PM by Brian Carriveau

  

  Every week we here at Railbird Central plan on bringing you the silver lining from the past Green Bay Packer game. This week's silver lining: an explosive offense.

  The offense provided a glimpse into the post-Brett Favre era in Thursday's preseason finale at home against the Tennessee Titans. It was a brief glimpse. If you blinked, you may have missed it.

  It's hard to blame people if they worried the offense might not have the same explosiveness without Favre as they had with him. He had a lot of attributes: his cannon for an arm, his elusiveness in the pocket, his cagey playmaking ways.

  Aaron Rodgers isn't Brett Favre and never will be. But there is a reason some people considered him for the number one overall draft choice in the NFL draft. He showed why on Thursday. People might also forget that Rodgers was the highest rated passer in the entire NFL during the 2007 preseason. How soon we forget.

  Perhaps even more responsible for the first string offense's touchdown last night was Greg Jennings. His nice catch and run turned into a 68 yard touchdown. He just might be headed for a role formerly held by Donald Driver as the team's number one target.

  The receiving corps as a whole will definitely be better than in '07. It's possible that Rodgers will be on the same wavelength as the younger receivers such as Jennings. People have already mentioned that Ruvell Martin is headed for a bigger role in the Packer offense due to his repoire with Rodgers from serving together on the scout team offense for years. Driver is a Pro Bowler. James Jones should be better in his second year. And Jordy Nelson should be a nice addition to the offense.

  The Packer offense of 2008 has an advantage over last year's version in that they also have an threat at running back starting in week one unlike last year. The running game should help to take some pressure off Rodgers as Ryan Grant could be headed for a great year. And even if Grant slips up, Brandon Jackson should be light years ahead of where he was 365 days ago.

  In the wake of a Packers loss yesterday, fans should at least be encouraged by the play of the first string offense. And that's your silver lining.

  Photo credit: Joe Koshollek for the Journal Sentinel

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  Filed under: Ryan Grant, Aaron Rodgers, Greg Jennings, silver lining

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• Blue chips, red chips & cow chips from Packers preseason finale

  Posted Aug 29 2008, 08:33 AM by Brian Carriveau

  

  Take a look at who played well and who played crappy in the final preseason game for 2008:

  The blue chip, great performances:

  • The linebackers -- If head coach Mike McCarthy is really going to keep the 53 best players on the roster, is there any doubt he'll keep 7 linebackers? Come to think of it, the trio of Desmond Bishop, Abdul Hodge and Tracy White would make a good starting trio on a lot of NFL teams based upon the way they played on Thursday. Both Hodge and White tied for the team lead in tackles with nine. Two of Hodge's nine tackles went for a loss. Not far behind those two was Bishop who was next with seven tackles. And none of them appeared to be out of position. Also playing well was Brandon Chillar who had two tackles in very limited playing time. The top seven players appear headed for a roster spot unless the Packers find a trading partner for one of them. Even Spencer Havner had his best showing of the preseason, but appears destined for waivers.
  • The first string offense -- Maybe it's unfair to put the first string offense in this spot seeing as they really only played one play, but they made the most of their one play. Why risk further injury to the starters? They got the job done. Aaron Rodgers left the game with a 158.3 passer rating and Greg Jennings had one catch for 68 yards and a touchdown. And unlike the second string, the first string offensive line gave up zero sacks. These comments are made in jest, but it was an encouraging sign.

  The red chip, solid performances:

  • Joey Haynos -- The undrafted rookie tight end is on the fence regarding a roster spot, but he did everything in his power to put on a good performance in his final audition. Haynos had three receptions for 35 yards with a long of 20. But more impressive was the way he broke tackles and fought for extra yards while falling forward when being tackled. Having a big frame helps in that regard. Haynos could be fighting Tory Humphrey for the final tight end spot, but he also could be a practice squad candidate if nothing else.
  • Noah Herron -- In limited opportunities, Herron had 79 yards on 14 carriers for a solid 5.6 yard average coming into Thursday night's game. He continued to up the ante last night when he added 25 yards on only 4 carries for a 6.3 yard average. And that's not counting the 19 yard run he had that was cut down to seven on a holding penalty. It's hard to see the Packers keeping both Herron and Vernand Morency. At least Herron has helped to make their choice a tough one.

  The cow chip, crappy performances:

  • Brian Brohm -- Aside from the statstics, Brohm has really put the Packers in a quandry. If the Packers decide to add a veteran quarterback after the rest of the NFL teams decide to trim their rosters, they'll have to cut Matt Flynn and risk losing him to make room for a veteran QB, because you know they're not going to release the second rounder. So even though Flynn has outperformed Brohm, Flynn could end up lost due to Brohm's ineptitude. Thursday didn't help when Brohm had three fumbles (lost only one) and was sacked four times (at least one of which he could have avoided). He completed over fifty percent of his passes, but hasn't shown that he can consistently lead scoring drives like Flynn can.
  • The pass rush -- It's only the preseason, but have you noticed that the Packers only had two sacks the entire preseason. The Packers certainly weren't going to expose any new blitz packages and played pretty vanilla defense most of the time. But the defensive line didn't exactly wow anyone with pressure on opposing quarterbacks. Of course, that could change in the regular season. You just know Aaron Kampman will be his usual self, while seeing KGB could go a long way towards improved sack numbers.
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  Filed under: Joey Haynos, Tracy White, Desmond Bishop, Brian Brohm, Noah Herron, Abdul Hodge

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