Railbird Central : Jake Allen

Packers Daily Links 11.19.09

Brian Carriveau — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:34:00 GMT

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Brian Brohm is now a member of the Buffalo Bills. The Packers' second round draft choice in 2008 accepted a contract offer and decided to leave the Packers' practice squad. "The Packers had an open roster spot ... and attempted to retain Brohm by offering the same two-year deal as the Bills did," reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But in the end, the Packers' second-round pick in 2008 thought it best to go to a team searching for a quarterback, not stay on one that has its long-term answer at the position in Aaron Rodgers." More than anything, it's tough to lose a second round draft choice from only a year ago and get nothing in return.

On the same day the Packers released Jake Allen, they also parted ways with wide receiver Jake Allen. "Don't look for the Packers to fill the opening this week," writes Tom Pelissero of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "The word is the spot likely will stay open for a while, barring an injury issue. Also, Allen won't be back on the practice squad -- the Cleveland Browns claimed him off waivers." I'm not exactly sure why the Packers aren't filling the roster spot. They've got guys like Cyril Obiozor and Ronald Talley looking for a chance on their own practice squad. And as I wrote about last week, it's time for the Packers to poach a player off somebody else's practice squad. There's no reason they can't make such a move right now.

More than halfway through the season, the Packers have made tremendous gains stopping the run compared to a year ago. They're no. 4 in the league in both yards allowed and average yards per carry. "Last January, McCarthy fired defensive coordinator Bob Sanders because the 2008 Packers didn’t stop the run (No. 26 in the NFL in yards allowed and yards allowed per carry) or rush the passer (No. 25 in sacks percentage)," writes Pete Dougherty of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. It truly is amazing how far they've come in such a small span of time.

Players are returning to the practice field from injury right and left.
-->"The Green Bay Packers are about as healthy as they could hope to be at this point of the season and returned two starters to the practice field on Wednesday — outside linebacker Aaron Kampman and right tackle Mark Tauscher," writes Dougherty. The Packers are just about at full strength as they possibly could be at this point in the season.

Tight end Jermichael Finley is back as well. "Finley suffered the injury on the opening drive of the game against the Browns on a 16-yard reception, and had yet to participate fully in practice since then until Wednesday," writes Tom Fanning of the Packers official website. "Head Coach Mike McCarthy said Finley took his normal number of reps for a Wednesday practice." The Packers offense has missed the second year tight end. Hopefully he'll bring some game changing capability back to the Packers offense.

Greg Bedard of the Journal Sentinel argues that Aaron Rodgers may have "come of age" in the win over Dallas. "His statistics are gaudy," writes Bedard. "He's fourth in the National Football League with a 101.8 passer rating. Rodgers' 134.9 rating on third downs is far and away the best in the league. He has thrown 17 touchdowns against just five interceptions." Most impressive about Sunday's win was his 15 play, eighty yard, clock eating drive.

Chris Lempesis of Ol' Bag of Donuts notes an ulterior motive the Packers may have for returning Aaron Kampman to the starting lineup. "To maximize his trade value, Green Bay needs to get his numbers up," writes Lempesis. "The best way to do that is to use him sparingly. That will also help the defense in a potentially major way this season." It's generally assumed that Kampman will be gone next season whether it's free agency, or made the franchise player and subsequently traded.

Jersey Al of Packers Lounge notices a deficiency coming from the team's tight ends in the blocking department. "When you are playing a team with a pass rush like Cowboys have, that’s the right thing to do," writes Jersey Al. "While in many cases Lee and Havner were of help in protection, Lee was called for two holding penalties and Havner was slow to react on 2 plays, both resulting in sacks."

Aaron Nagler of CheeseheadTV praises Nick Barnett.

Holly has the Opposition Research up over at The Other 31.

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Three tweets 11.16.09

Brian Carriveau — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:06:24 GMT

I'll be providing at least three thoughts about the Green Bay Packers per day on Twitter. Here what I'm tweeting about:

1. I was glad to see the #Packers hold Brandon Chillar out of yesterday's game. Players with club casts rarely play as well as they do without.

2. On the other hand, I don't know why a player like Jake Allen or Breno Giacomini wasn't active in Chillar's place.

3. Question: Would signing a street free agent at punter be a risk? Or is Jeremy Kapinos good enough for the remainder of the season?

Join the craze. Click here to follow Railbird Central or Brian Carriveau on Twitter.

Packers Daily Links 10.28.09

Brian Carriveau — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:34:18 GMT

Railbird photo of the day:

Photo credit: Mark Duncan // Associated Press

Practice squad wide receiver Jake Allen has officially been promoted to the 53-man roster. To make room for him, the Packers have placed Brett Swain on injured reserve. "The 6-foot-4, 196-pound Allen has spent a year and a half on the practice squad and might have made the roster earlier had the Packers not been so deep at receiver," writes Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "Allen started out fast in training camp but never really challenged Swain for the No. 5 spot." Allen is the tall, red zone type threat that Ruvell Martin was with the Packers. It doesn't appear Allen is as strong as Martin, though.

To take Allen's spot on the practice squad, the Packers signed a pair or wide receivers. They also released a player on the practice squad as well. "The team also signed wide receivers Biren Ealy and Patrick Williams to the practice squad," reports Jason Wilde of ESPNMilwaukee.com. "One took Allen's spot on the eight-player squad; guard Stanley Daniels was released to make room for the other." Williams was with the Packers in training camp while Ealy has actually played in four regular season NFL games in his career with the Tennessee Titans.

The Packers also worked out some other players on Tuesday. "In addition to Ealy and Williams, they also worked out WR Justin Brown (Hampton), WR Logan Payne(Minnesota), TE Tom Crabtree (Miami of Ohio) and TE Rob Myers (Utah State)," reports Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. It's noteworthy keeping track of the tight ends' names because of Jermichael Finley's injury. If he should happen to be out for a considerable amount of time or another tight end gets injured, the Packers might have to add some insurance to the practice squad.

Aaron Nagler of Cheeshead TV rips into Milwaukee Journal Sentinel sports editor Garry Howard for his take on Brett Favre and how Packer fans should give him a standing ovation. "Garry, I don’t have a problem with you telling us how YOU feel about it," writes Nagler. "It’s clear you still respect Favre (hell, I think it’s pretty clear that I still do) but for you to use your platform to treat Packer fans like a bunch of toddlers who need looking after ... is an abuse of your position, plain and simple." I agree with Nagler in that I will not be cheering for Favre on Sunday. But an abuse of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's sports editor's opinion? I think that's a stretch.

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Packers Daily Links 8.8.09

Brian Carriveau — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 13:25:43 GMT

Social Networking: Follow both Railbird Central and me on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. And if you're Tweeting from practice, remember to put #railbird in your tweets!

Come to either SportsBubbler, Cheesehead TV or Packers Lounge tonight for our Family Night LIVE blog. For those of you outside of Wisconsin, it may be the best way to follow along with the action on the field.

As far as the action on the practice field goes, wide receiver Jake Allen was the star of yesterday's show. With a couple of touchdowns and a couple other spectacular catchers, Allen let it be known that at the very least, he's going to be a tough cut. Tom Pelisero of the Green Bay Press-Gazette describes perhaps his best moment of the day, "In the backed-up team period, Allen ran a go against Pro Bowl CB Charles Woodson, who lost his balance as Allen made a great adjustment to catch Flynn's underthrown deep ball. If it were a game, Allen could have jogged in for a 98-yard TD." Of course, none of this was with pads on, only shells. Allen will need to show he belongs in game situations.

Greg Bedard thinks the inside linebackers of the Packers could play on some rotational basis. "Depending on how healthy Barnett proves to be after ACL surgery, the Packers could use Hawk (Buck) and Barnett (Mack) on the first two downs, and then replace them with Bishop and Chillar in passing situations or some similar combination," reports Bedard. Linebackers coach Winston Moss seemed to agree as well. Over in yesterday's LIVE blog, there was a heated conversation about the effectiveness of Hawk in passing situations. On one hand, he's given up some big plays. On the other hand, user "Waldo" cites statistics that Hawk gives up the lowest completion percentage among linebackers in the entire NFL. It was a very interesting debate, and it will be even more interesting to see how it all plays out.

The Packers have been playing it safe with defensive tackle Justin Harrell. "After the 2007 first-round draft pick made it through the first six days and seven practices without apparent injury, the Packers essentially took him off the field for the two workouts before Saturday night’s Family Night Scrimmage at Lambeau Field," reports Dougherty. Harrell is expected to play in Saturday's scrimmage. With him being nearly 100 percent healthy for the first time in years, it will be interesting to watch his performance.

The internal talks about Michael Vick among the Packers' brass has reportedly gone further than just some fleeting conversation. Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports a source saying the Packers have gone so far as to actually interview him. "If later they think the two quarterbacks behind starter Aaron Rodgers aren't performing up to snuff or they feel they need someone of Vick's explosive ability someplace other than quarterback they will have already studied the risk-reward factor with signing him," writes Silverstein. For this reason alone, it will be interesting to watch the progress of the Packers' two young backup quarterbacks in the preseason.

The B.J. Raji holdout enters its eighth day. So what is he doing to pass the time? “Cooking and all of that, fixing up his townhouse,” Raji’s mother, Mamie, told The Associated Press by phone Friday from her home in Washington Township, N.J. “He’s waiting.” Most fingers point to 49ers draft choice Michael Crabtree for holding up negotiations. That excuse will only hold for so long. If Crabtree lets his holdout linger into the regular season, Raji would be stupid, absolutely stupid to follow suit.

Last year's second round draft choice Pat Lee sat out yesterday's practice with back spasms. The same situation occurred last year as well forcing him to sit out an entire week. "Yeah, it's almost the same thing," Lee told the Journal Sentinel. "I should be fine. I'm not worried about this at all. Should be back to it soon." If Lee has any chance of playing this season, he needs to be on the field in competitive situations. It would definitely behoove him to be on the field tonight.

The offense hasn't exactly done a very good job of picking up the blitz so far during training camp. "It might be great training, as coach Mike McCarthy phrased it for the offense to have to face defensive coordinator Dom Capers' fire-zone blitzes all day long, but at some point it's going to have to do a better job of picking some of them up," writes Silverstein for the Journal Sentinel. "There were at least two occasions during practice Friday that QB Aaron Rodgers would have been picking up his teeth if the action were live. You can only remain upright so long after taking continuous hits from the likes of LBs BrandonChillar and Aaron Kampman." At least the offense is learning a valuable lesson from Capers' aggressive style. It will only help once the regular season rolls around.

T.J. Lang joined the first string kickoff squad in practice yesterday. "The No. 1 kickoff unit consisted of Charlie Peprah, Brandon Chillar, Korey Hall, Spence Havner and Jarrett Bush up front, with Desmond Bishp, Tony Moll, T.J. Lang, Breno Giacomini and John Kuhn behind them," reports Bill Huber of Packer Report. It just goes to show how much the Packers value Lang. He's also the only rookie thus far to join the first string on any of the special teams units.

C.D. Angeli of Tundra Vision is concerned about the cornerbacks in the Packers new 3-4 scheme. "One thing that popped out at me this week was the repeated burns of our corners, particularly veteran Al Harris," writes Angeli. "Now, we've all thought he was on the verge of losing a step anyway, but the hope was that playing zone might be a better situation for him: not as much need for catchup speed when you are playing back a bit." Harris has been getting beat with regularity so far during practice. But it is only practice. Harris is a veteran. If he starts getting burned in games, then there might be something to worry about.

I found a new Packers blog called Packers Mix. Blogger Zach Garhart tells us to watch out for Kregg Lumpkin. "Expect him to put up a strong fight for the vacant backup tailback spot," writes Garhart. "Despite his measly 41 total all purpose yards last season, Lumpkin has impressed me with his skills once he has the ball in his hands."

Total Packers takes a look at the tight end position. "While there hasn’t been a change at the top of the depth chart yet, Rodgers seems to be developing a repoire with Finley that he didn’t have with Lee last season," writes Monty. He does have a good point. This little "repoire" could go a long way this season. Rodgers seems to trust Finley, and that could go a long way this season.

Micheal Smith of Packer Chatters argues that most of the training camp battles on the team are more a sign of mediocrity than depth. Interesting take.

F.G. Union of Meat Packers Union has a prediction for the season. "The Packers will finish up 11-5 and win the North by a nice margin. Ronnie Rodgers will go to the Pro-Bowl and the defense will succeed in wreaking havoc," writes F.G. Union. Ronnie Rodgers, huh? Nice.

Allen Barbre is profiled in a local newspaper back near his hometown.

The Journal Seintinel has a Q&A session with former Packers quarterbacks coach Steve Mariucci.

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And the cuts start rolling in...

Dan Haddinger — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 04:01:46 GMT

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.