Railbird Central : JerMichael Finley

A win is a win is a win

Brian Carriveau — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:44:06 GMT

Tune in tonight for another Packer Transplants blogcast brought to you by Cheesehead Nation at 8 p.m. CDT this evening.

Joining us this evening will be tight end Jermichael Finley right away at 8 p.m. and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel beat writer Greg Bedard later in the show.

This week's guest panelist on the live blog will be F.G. Union of Meat Packers Union as well. Things are shaping up in what appears to be another great show.

As always, Aaron Nagler and Corey Behnke of Cheesehead TV will be hosting the show from their studios in New York City. Hope you can come and join us.

Blue, red & cow chips in Packers '09 loss at Vikings

Brian Carriveau — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:49:02 GMT

Designating blue chips, red chips and cow chips is our way of analyzing each game's winners and losers for the Packers. So without further ado...

Jermichael Finley -- It's was the moment we've all been waiting for, the game Finley finally "broke out." Everyone knew he was talented coming out of college. We saw glimpses of it late last season. And then throughout offseason workouts and training camp, we were led to believe that Finley was on the verge of becoming a go-to tight end in the NFL. Problem was, he was virtually absent the first three games of the season. It wasn't entirely his fault, however. He had to help out the offensive line quite frequently. But after yesterday's performance for six catches and 128 yards, Finley proved he's a force to be reckoned with. His yards after contact were pretty darn good as well.
Korey Hall & kickoff coverage unit -- The kickoff coverage unit was a beast yesterday. They held first round draft choice Percy Harvin to a 17.3 yard average on three returns. Anytime you can hold a kickoff return man to less than 20 yards (the length of a touchback), that's impressive. That really helped the Packers in the field position game. It's unfortunate they couldn't take advantage. Hall led the way with a huge hit on Harvin and three tackles on special teams overall.

Ryan Pickett -- No, Ryan Pickett didn't do anything sexy last night. He didn't have any sacks, forced fumbles or fumble recoveries. But he was lynchpin of a group that held Adrian Peterson to 55 yards on 25 carries for a 2.2 yard average. Many times he did the dirty work required of a 3-4 nose tackle gobbling up blockers. But he also made seven tackles for the night including one for a loss. And when Pickett makes tackles, he doesn't make them downfield.
Ryan Grant -- Grant looked awesome last night. The problem was he only got 11 carries the entire game. When he got the opportunity to tote the ball, he made them count gaining 51 yards and a 4.6 yard average with a long of 15. He looked really powerful and decisive running the ball in the first half of the game. He helped put the Packers in manageable down-and-distance situations on third down. One of the best plays he made all days was quickly bouncing a run outside when the middle was clogged up. Too bad that play was called back after holding on John Kuhn. But Grant also had precious few carries in the second half. The Packers were playing from behind, but given his current and past success against the Vikings, he needed to get the ball a little more often.

Derrick Martin -- You know things are bad when you're pulled out of the game in favor of Jarrett Bush. Twice Al Harris was beaten deep and expected help from over the top from Martin. Harris reportedly needed to speak to safeties coach Darren Perry and had to call up to the coaches' press box to straighten things out. Unless Martin starts making an impact on special teams, the trade for Martin suddenly isn't looking so good. By the way, raise your hand if you still regret the cutting of Anthony Smith ... that's what I thought.
Pass rush -- Brett Favre is good at getting rid of the football. Had the Packers gotten a better pass rush than what they did last evening, sometimes they still wouldn't have sacked Favre because of his quick trigger. Even so, that's no excuse for a miserable pass rush. Not only did the packers get zero sacks yesterday, they had a single quarterback hurry. There's a link between continued success in the NFL and teams with consistently generate good pass rush. The Packers haven't done it for going on two seasons now. You can't let a quarterback like Brett Favre sit back and dissect a defense. If the Packers can't get to Favre the next time they play the Vikings at home, another loss could easily happen.

Blue, red & cow chips in Packers preseason victory over Bills

Brian Carriveau — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 19:06:00 GMT

Designating blue chips, red chips and cow chips is our way of analyzing each game's winners and losers for the Packers. And here we go...

Aaron Rodgers -- The statistics speak for themselves: 8 of 9 for 98 yards, 2 touchdowns and 0 interceptions for a 151.6 passer rating. Rodgers' receiving corps deserves almost as much credit for making him look so good. With the efficiency Rodgers is running the Packer offense, this team is going to be hard to stop. He's not making bad throws, and he just keeps the machine chugging along, churning out first downs and touchdowns.
Desmond Bishop -- For the second week in a row Bishop absolutely dominated the competition. He needs to be on the field every down. If Mike McCarthy doesn't make that move by the regular season, then he's holding the team back. For the second consecutive game, Bishop took part in creating two turnovers with an interception and a fumble recovery. But he also had a quarterback hurry in which he hit the QB, and did you see that smack down the laid on the Bills? That one tackle took off part of the "G" decal on his helmet.

Brady Poppinga -- Poppinga might have been at the right place at the right time when he took part in two turnovers with an interception and a fumble recovery. But he showed a nose for the football. Good thing happen when you're around the football, and that's what he did. He also had a quarterback hurry and two tackles in limited playing time. Nice job for a guy trying to find playing time.
Jermichael Finley -- Finley not only led the team with three reception, he also had the highest average yards per reception on the team as well. When a tight end has a higher average yards per reception than a wide receiver, that's impressive. It's possible that Finley could be one of the NFL's better receiving tight ends this season.

Brian Brohm -- Brohm's completion percentage wasn't terrible going 12 for 19, but he did have an interception and zero touchdowns. Plus he's showing a tendency to have his balls batted down. But another factor that's he's also dealing with, look at his average yards per completion. Aaron Rodgers threw 15 more yards on four less completions. Brohm averaged rougly seven yards per completion, not good.
Second half front seven - Did you see the Packers' leading tacklers. The first three in order were Joe Porter with seven and then Tramon Williams and Jarrett Bush tied with six. The Bills scored all 21 of their points in the second half when the Packers' second and third string defense was in the game. It goes to show that beyond the starting lineup, the Packers have some issues with depth among the front seven when the secondary is making that many tackles.

Best & worst case scenarios for the Packers tight ends

Brian Carriveau — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 22:26:00 GMT

We continue our third annual best and worst case scenarios for every player on the Green Bay Packers roster. Today we analyze the tight end position. Check back tomorrow for a look at the quarterbacks.

Donald Lee

Best case scenario: The Packers are lucky to have such a well rounded tight end like Lee. He doesn’t make the Pro Bowl because there’s plenty of other tight ends in the league that put up gaudier numbers, but most of them don’t block as well as Lee. The Packers veteran is no slouch in the passing game either. He increases his receptions from one year ago and is a red zone threat.
Worst case scenario: Lee is generally phased out of the passing game with the emergence of Jermichael Finley. Considered by many to be a one trick pony that can block and not much else, the Packers start to play Finley ahead of Lee as the season goes on. As Finley eases into the starters’ role, Lee is lucky to be a member of the Packers in 2010.

Jermichael Finley

Best case scenario: Finley lets his actions on the field do his talking for him. He progresses as both a receiver and a blocker at an almost previously unseen rate. Aaron Rodgers shows ultimate confidence in the second year pro. Finley becomes one of the top receiving tight end threats in the entire NFL.
Worst case scenario: Finley is definitely improving, but immaturity continues to dog him. He talks too much trash on the field, and as soon as something goes wrong, he looks for blame somewhere else. Besides that, he’s not much of a blocker, which limits his playing time. Finley improves upon last year’s receiving totals, but they’re not nearly as good as they could be when he lands in McCarthy’s doghouse.

Spencer Havner

Best case scenario: The Packers decide to keep Havner as the team’s third tight end. Even though he still provides depth at linebacker, he still sees more time on offense than defense. The Packers bring Havner along slowly playing him mostly in three tight end sets and utilize him more as a blocker than a receiver. Still, he makes progress in the passing game as the season goes on, and he shows promise as a tight end. And, of course, he’s a big contributor on special teams.
Worst case scenario: As hard as he tries, Havner doesn’t make it as a tight end. His performance in preseason games give that away. Plus, he no better than the ninth or tenth best linebacker on the roster. The Packers just can’t afford to keep him even if he’s good on special teams.

Evan Moore

Best case scenario: Due to either ineffectiveness by Havner or injuries on the depth chart ahead of him, Moore makes the 53-man roster. It helped his cause that Tory Humphrey had already been hurt. Moore is raw, but he shows promise. He’s a natural receiver, but his blocking has a long ways to go before he’s relied upon in regular season games.
Worst case scenario: The Packers have plenty of receiving threats already. They don’t need another one. Moore’s lack of blocking skills is the cause of his demise. However, the Packers keep him on their practice squad. If there’s an injury to either Lee or Finley, the team needs a backup plan. They can’t rely on Havner to play anything more than a spot role at tight end just yet.

Devin Frischknecht

Best case scenario: Making it beyond the first mandatory cutdown date would be considered a success for Frishknecht. He’s fifth on the depth chart at best, and the Packers can’t afford to keep him much longer.
Worst case scenario: The UFL comes calling for Frischknecht. At least it’s a paycheck.

Tory Humphrey

Best case scenario: The Packers realize that Humphrey will only miss a couple of weeks until his broken arm is healed. They put him on the PUP list, which makes him ineligible to play for the first six weeks of the NFL season, but he joins the 53-man roster after that. Humphrey doesn’t offer the team a lot, but being a veteran with knowledge of the offense helps.
Worst case scenario: Humphrey has wore out his welcome in Green Bay. He’s been hurt more than he’s been healthy, and he just can’t be relied upon. The Packers waive him with an injury settlement.

Packers Daily Links 8.7.09

Brian Carriveau — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:06:51 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 today around 2:00 p.m. to follow along with this morning's practice in our Cheesehead Nation LIVE blog.

Injuries continue to climb league wide as training camps progress. That's not a surprise, it happens every year. Although, I'm am becoming concerned with several injuries the Packers are enduring. The worst of which came in Thursday night's practice when tight end Tory Humphrey broke his forearm. He'll undergo surgery today. "Given Humphrey’s lengthy injury history and tenuous hold on a roster spot, however, the odds seem strong he’s seen the field for the final time this year -- and perhaps his final time as a Packer," writes Tom Pelissero of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Pelissero is spot on. It's highly unlikely Humphrey will be able to play this season, and even if he could, he was questionable to make the team anyway. It's time for the Packers to give Spencer Havner and Evan Moore long hard looks at tight end.

In other alarming injury news, rookie Clay Matthews tweaked the same hamstring he hurt during OTAs. While a tweak isn't exactly serious, his previous off-season hamstring injury kept him on the shelves for several weeks. That's something neither Matthews nor the Packers can afford to happen at this stage of the season. Furthermore, Matthews' main competition at left outside linebacker, Jeremy Thompson, also dropped out of last night's practice with a groin injury."With Brady Poppinga shaken up at one point, the starting outside linebackers were Aaron Kampman and Cyril Obiozor," reports Bill Huber of Packer Report. Ouch! Obiozor also dropped out at one point last night too.

In the good news department, quarterback Aaron Rodgers performed like a beast last night. "On Thursday night, he was at his best in a drill in which the quarterbacks throw 40 to 50 yards trying to drop the ball in what looks like an oversized fishing net in the corner of the end zone," reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "If one of the three quarterbacks hits one during a practice, it's a good day. Rodgers hit four in the night practice, including an incredible three in a row. He pumped his fist like Tiger Woods after each one. Then in team drills, he threw over the head of cornerback Al Harris and into the arms of Greg Jennings for a long gain." It appeared as if the offense got off to a slow start in training camp but is now coming around. There's no reason Rodgers shouldn't just keep improving.

There's good news and bad news about the punting situation. First the bad news. "Durant Brooks basically shanked his first two punts in the morning session," reports Rob Demovsky of the Press-Gazette. "With the ball at the 1-yard line, Brooks only got the first one to his own 41, and it had just 3.1 seconds of hang time. His next one reached only his own 33-yard line with 3.28 seconds of hang time. While he recovered to boot a 62-yarder (with 4.5 seconds of hang time), a 53-yarder (4.3) and a 54-yarder (4.1), there are no mulligans in the NFL." The good news? Thankfully, the term "shank" this year includes punts that go over 30 yards. Last season Packers fans were getting used to shanks by Derrick Frost that went less than 10.

For all the talking Jermichael Finley has done this off-season about improvement, it's starting to show. Through seven practices during training camp, he seems to be improving each and every one. He struggled the first day or two. Then he started coming around. Now he's turning heads. "There also was a no-huddle period in which Rodgers' first three passes went to TE Jermichael Finley, who made one of the plays of the day by adjusting his corner route to haul in a touch pass to his inside shoulder for a 32-yard gain," reports Pelissero. "That's the sort of play Finley just didn't make last year." He still has a way to go with his blocking but even that's improving too.

I LOVE this quote from wide receiver Donald Driver. "Our receiver group, one thing that we put on our shoulders is we were the best team in yards after the catch," Driver told the Packers official website. "Last year we lost that title. Our goal now is to get that title back. Whatever we have to do with me, Greg, Ruvell, James, Jordy ... we have to get on top of our game and do what we always do, and that's make plays." According to STATS, Inc., the Packers were either first or second in the NFL in YAC in McCarthy's first two years as coach. That dipped all the way down to 14th last season, and that's kind of surprising. Everyone knows they're good, so why the slip in production?

Aaron Nagler of Cheesehead TV is concerned about nose tackle Ryan Pickett. "I said then (and still worry now) that Ryan Pickett just isn’t the kind of dominate player you need at the position for the Packers to be successful," writes Nagler. Pickett, thus far, has had a nice training camp. There's no need for worry yet ... yet.

Packergeeks thinks Green Bay should go sign a particular free agent. "I would also bring in Mitch Berger," writes awhayes. "As far as I understand it, he is still a free agent. In addition to still being a serviceable punter, historically, he has been considered a fantastic holder too – another bonus. And his NFL experience may help Crosby a bit considering Ks and Ps hang out together all the time." I think Packer fans will find out Durant Brooks will be just fine. He's still esentially a rookie. Once he gets over those jitters, he should be fine.

Pete Dougherty of the Press-Gazette has a pretty good idea. "Ultimately, Capers might do as predecessor Bob Sanders did much of last year — have Hawk and Chillar split time at one of the inside positions, with Hawk playing on early downs and Chillar on passing down," writes Dougerty. The way Chillar has played ever since coming to the Packers, you just can't keep him off the field. The fact that he's shown he can blitz from the inside in the new 3-4 defense so far during training camp is even more of a reason he needs playing time.

Bob Wolfley of the Journal Sentinel tells us we should pay particular attention to what Rich Gannon has to say on Sirius NFL Radio seeing as he's a personal friend of Mike McCarthy. "I really like Green Bay," Gannon is quoted as saying. "I like this football team. I think Aaron Rodgers did a phenomenal job a year ago handling the Brett Favre saga. . . . He played every game. I think he's going to be a year better. I think bringing in Dom Capers was significant. Mike McCarthy has always wanted to have this 3-4 defense. B.J. Raji certainly anchoring that front and with Clay Matthews, they have a good core group of linebackers with some athleticism and quickness. I think that'll suit them well. Aaron Kampman will do well in this 3-4 defense."

Donald's Designated Driver of the blog All Kinds of Time has good point regarding Ted Thompson's interview policy. "I know the folks in the media think Thompson's first priority should be to keep them in the loop on the inner-workings of the Packers front office, but I don't," wrote Triple D. "His job is to put a winning football team on the field." Kudos. Well said. There are certain things coaches, players and administrators all have to hold back. You don't expect McCarthy to tell the press how he plans on attacking the Bears defense on third downs. So no one should expect Thompson to explain the inner workings of the Packers' front office.

Total Packers informs us about the movie "Lombardi."

Here's a list of individual player feature articles for your perusal:

Tom Silverstein profiles DeShawn Wynn.

Tom Fanning of the Packers official website profiles James Jones.

The Wisconsin State Journal via the Associated Press profiles Ryan Grant.

Nancy Gay of NFL Fanhouse looks at Aaron Rodgers as leader of the Packers.

Rob Demovsky profiles Spencer Havner.

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