Earlier in training camp, when asked about the offense, Aaron Rodgers stated that some new wrinkles have been added to what is already a relatively unique, highly complex offense. This of course has left me to ponder the question, whatever could they be?
Thus far this season, the offensive offensive line has been the talk of the town. Opinions on the subject have ranged far and wide, from fire Campen, it is all Barbre’s fault, Colledge sucks, Aaron is holding it too long, Ted Thompson needs to be fired for poor talent. I applaud Bedard’s recent analysis of release times in the Mn game (Here). By and large, I think that it speaks to a lot of confusion on the issue, simply put it is hard to pin down what the issue is. Compounding everything is that the Packers lead the NFL in sacks given up, and that typically is the only stat readily avalable; as a volume stat and only part of the picture, overall it is a very poor indicator stat.
I went though all the stable QB situations thus far this season (Cle, Phi, Sea, Det, Mia, StL, Tam have not been), and tallied all the pressure metrics for the QB, there are some interesting findings. The three primary pressure statistics are sacks, hurries, and hits. Sacks are self explanatory, a hurry is a play where a defender chased the QB, but the QB got the ball away and wasn’t hit, a hit is similar to a hurry, but the QB is hit in the end.
Unfortunately the stats have not been updated for this week yet, so this is only through week 5.
While we as Packer fans collectively bask in the glow of a preseason gone right, after the recent exclamation point in the desert, it is time to toss out the red flag and take a look. The commentary on the team has drastically changed, from expectations of struggling with our defensive transition and a revamped offensive line, to a powerhouse poised to make a run. Its good, the players believe, the fans believe. That is good energy. Rarely does a team go far that isn’t one of the 20 or so that believe that everything is in place this year to make a run.
I want to focus on the defensive transition. I have to do my due diligence. I am not a bottom line guy. The bottom line isn’t sustainable without the fundamentals. I have argued many times, though the bottom line said we were 6-10 last year, the metrics showed a much, much better team. So this comes as no surprise that we are doing well thus far. The bottom line is great this preseason. The starters have given up a total of only 10 points in about 4 quarters of play. Not bad. Is that bottom line sustainable? (more…)
Where's Lambeau? 