***Official Green Bay Packers Thread***

[Timebomb07]

If the offense plays like that, we have a shot. Simple as that.

Defensively, I think we can hold them. We need to score and sustain drives.

[TwoStep2888]

we will lose, hopefully we put up a fight this time

[TwoStep2888]

Jay Sorgi @jsorgi
#Packers inactives:
WR Adams
QB Hundley
CB Daniel
DB Gunter
RB Crockett
LB Mulumba
G Walker
In other words, Shields active.
5:46pm · 16 Jan 2016 · Twitter Web Client

Jason Wilde @jasonjwilde
So on offense, #Packers will have LT David Bakhtiari (ankle) for first time since Dec. 20 but will not have WR Davante Adams (knee).
5:50pm · 16 Jan 2016 · TweetDeck

Jason Wilde @jasonjwilde
#Packers must feel good about CB Sam Shields (concussion) and CB Quinten Rollins (quadriceps) being active with LaDarius Gunter inactive.
5:49pm · 16 Jan 2016 · TweetDeck

[jaking1185]

As long as the running game is effective and the defense shows up we got a shot.

[clayj41]

Pathetic play calling.

[jaking1185]

Rodgers is magic sometimes.

[jaking1185]

Win or lose I am so satisfied with how this season ended considering how things looked about a month ago.

Aaron IS magic.

[antsmarching777]

another playoff meltdown.... I feel sick.

[jaking1185]

This wasn't like last year's playoffs. No punch in the gut. The Packers made it farther than I expected and Aaron did all he could to keep us alive. Not much you can do with only reserve WR's and a banged-up line.

The D flamed out in OT but I usually expect that with Dom Capers defense. I'm satisfied that the team went out fighting.

[TwoStep2888]

Aaron to Janis x2 on that final Q4 drive was amazing haha

[antsmarching777]

Originally Posted by TwoStep2888

Aaron to Janis x2 on that final Q4 drive was amazing haha

101 yards on that drive alone. Stepped up big time!

Now that I'm a little more calm, I have realized the Pack just pushed the #2 seed to the absolute brink with their #5, 6, & 7 receivers. Gives me a lot of hope for what could be a truly great offense next year. A healthy offensive line and a lighter Lacy could seal the deal. Where does every one think Adams fits in now? I mean Janis and Abby looked great tonight! Adams didn't look that good at any point this season. Don't imagine they keep Jones, but it was a heck of an effort by him all season.

Nelson, Cobb, Adams?, Montgomery, Janis, Abbrederis

Defense was so damn good over the second half of the season. I will step off my fire Capers soapbox for the offseason. But I'm still not sure why they went to a zone defense during the second half of tonights game. Clearly gave Fitz some opportunities to wreck everything. Hope they can get at least one more quality ILB and re-sign some of the guys along the d-line. Not sure if Peppers comes back, he would really need to restructure his contract.

Final thought, the last time the Packers lost to the Cardinals in the playoffs they won the Super Bowl the following year! Just saying...

[clayj41]

Originally Posted by jaking1185

This wasn't like last year's playoffs. No punch in the gut. The Packers made it farther than I expected and Aaron did all he could to keep us alive. Not much you can do with only reserve WR's and a banged-up line.

The D flamed out in OT but I usually expect that with Dom Capers defense. I'm satisfied that the team went out fighting.

I thought I'd feel the same way, but I'm sick and tired of being on the losing end of some of the most ridiculous playoff games in NFL history. If nothing else, it just gave me flashbacks of the nightmare that was the NFC championship game last year. And I'm again reminded that the window of opportunity is so narrow in any professional sport. We kept it propped open as long as we could last night, but it still got slammed shut. Another year gone...

[jaking1185]

I was thinking about this. I went back to 2003 against the Eagles, 2007 against the Giants, 2009 against the Cards, last year with the Seahawks and last night...

We need to avoid OT games in the postseason at all costs. If it's OT we are toast, often spectacularly.

[Timebomb07]

AFC south and NFC east next year.

I see 12-4 or better record coming.

Until next year....

[TwoStep2888]

Fat Mike cracking down on Fat Eddie

Mike McCarthy on Eddie Lacy's weight issues: 'He's got a lot of work to do'

By Jared Dubin | Staff Writer | January 18, 2016 8:06 pm ET

Pretty much right from the start of his NFL career, Packers running back Eddie Lacy has been criticized for his weight. Remember the infamous "Fat Eddie Lacy" photo from training camp his rookie year?

Both Lacy and the Green Bay coaches insisted at the time that his weight was not an issue.

"It was a bad angle," Lacy said at the time. "There's nothing you can do about it."

Lacy then went on to have a productive season, rushing 284 times for 1,178 yards and 11 touchdowns.

The next season he was arguably even more productive, pushing his yards-per-carry average from 4.1 as a rookie to 4.5. He finished with 1,139 yards and nine touchdowns, also tacking on 42 catches for 427 yards and four touchdowns. During the course of the 2014 season, Aaron Rodgers apparently mentioned to Lacy that he might want to drop some weight for the next (2015) season.

"I think what he (Rodgers) is getting at is if I'm going to be involved in the passing game this year, and if I want to be a better player, then it might not be a bad idea to, just get a little more agile," Lacy said, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"I mean, I don't have to. It would just make you better as a player."

Then this year rolled around and Lacy was not exactly smaller. Lacy, though, again denied that his weight was a problem. "I'm not the smallest person," Lacy said. "Brandon Jacobs wasn't the smallest person. Jerome Bettis wasn't the smallest person. Some people can just play like that, not that I'm Jerome Bettis' weight or nothing like that. I'm just saying, not everybody's meant to look like Adrian Peterson or somebody like that."

Packers coach Mike McCarthy initially took Lacy's side on the issue.

"I'm not going to get into guy's weights," McCarthy said in October, per ESPN. "I mean, I've never been asked a question about a guy's weight. But I think players do get bigger in their career. But he's bigger than he was as a rookie."

But after a year in which Lacy regressed (he went back down to 4.1 yards per carry and his number of totes dropped all the way down to 12.5 per game, almost three fewer than last year), McCarthy has changed his tune.

"He's got a lot of work to do," Mike McCarthy said Monday, per NFL.com. "His offseason last year was not good enough and he never recovered from it. He cannot play at the weight he played at this year."

The Packers listed McCarthy at 234 pounds this season, but there were rumors during training camp that he weighed as much as 242 pounds. He was alternately ineffective and out of the lineup, and he had only six games out of the 18 Green Bay played in which he topped 75 yards, which was his career average coming into the season.

The Packers have previously been in Lacy's corner about his weight, so this is a very public change of tune. If he doesn't come into camp in significantly better shape next summer, they could be headed for an ugly situation.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-...-of-work-to-do

[jaking1185]

Not sure why he waited until the season is over to address the issue publically. Acted like their was no problems with Lacy.

[TwoStep2888]

Eddie prob ate Mike's end-of-the-season hoagie, that pushed him over the edge

[jaking1185]

I agree about McCarthy's shortcomings, but I also agree that Thompson needs to sign more free agents:

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packe...366325731.html

[TwoStep2888]

Fat Eddie gonna get ripped http://www.acmepackingcompany.com/20...tor-per-report

[TwoStep2888]

Aaron Rodgers knee surgery news

Aaron Rodgers knee procedure described as minor scope

10:50 PM ET | Jason Wilde and Rob Demovsky

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Aaron Rodgers had a legitimate reason for pulling out of the Pro Bowl.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback underwent knee surgery within days of the team's playoff loss to the Arizona Cardinals, according to two sources.

One source described the surgery as a minor scope.

It's unclear when Rodgers' knee became an issue this past season, but he was hit on his left knee by Detroit Lions defensive end Ezekiel Ansah on Nov. 15. After the game Rodgers described the hit as "a little low" and said he was sore. The following week, the Packers listed Rodgers on the injury report, but for his shoulder, not the knee.

It was the only week that Rodgers was listed with any kind of injury. He played in all but 10 of the Packers' offensive snaps this past season and did not miss any practice time because of the knee.

The injury, however, could help explain, at least in part, why Rodgers' production dropped in 2015. He set career lows for completion percentage (60.7), passing yards per game (238.8) and yards per attempt (6.7).

One source described the scope as a "clean-up of an old injury."

Rodgers had reconstructive surgery on his left knee in January 2004, after his first season at the University of California. Doctors repaired a torn ACL that Rodgers said he suffered years earlier while playing basketball in high school. He returned for the start of his second and final season at Cal.

Barring a setback in his recovery, Rodgers likely will be ready to participate when the Packers begin their offseason program in April.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/14...r-knee-surgery

[TwoStep2888]

Kevin Greene eyeing return to NFL

Pete Dougherty, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin 8:35 p.m. EST February 10, 2016

Kevin Greene's departure from the Green Bay Packers two years ago was a stunner.

He'd been their outside linebackers coach since Dom Capers took over as defensive coordinator in 2009, and judging by his demeanor on the practice field, Greene had as much passion for that job as he did for rushing quarterbacks as a player.

Yet, just a few days after the team's 23-20 home loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the playoffs in January 2014, Greene informed coach Mike McCarthy that he was resigning.

"I know I caught coach McCarthy off guard a bit and it was tough, we'd just lost that game," Greene said Saturday in San Francisco, only a few hours after he'd been voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. "I went in and said, 'I'm just going to step away.' He had no idea it was coming, it was out of left field. My heart felt for him. I felt for the entire organization."

Greene said a primary reason he stepped down was that his son, Gavin, had been begging for instruction in football as a young player early in high school. When Greene would get home from work, Gavin would ask him what he'd been teaching Clay Matthews, Erik Walden and Frank Zombo that day.

So in 2012, Greene bought a striking sled for the basement of the family's De Pere home and worked with his son there. The next season, 2013, turned out to be Greene's last with the Packers. He and the family moved to a home in Florida in '14, and last fall he helped coach Gavin's high school team. Now Gavin is considering accepting a football scholarship at a lower-level college or walking on at a higher level.

"(Gavin) started getting up in age and growing," Greene said, "and I knew I needed to step away to pour myself into my son and to put my hands on him like I did with Clay and all my (players) in Green Bay."

Greene, fresh off his Hall of Fame honor, now wants to get back into coaching in the NFL. He even said he'd love to return to the Packers.

When Greene left, McCarthy and Capers consolidated the outside linebackers and inside linebackers jobs into one position group, with Winston Moss as coach and Scott McCurley his assistant. During individual drills at practice, Moss works with the inside linebackers and McCurley with the outside.

Whether Greene burned his bridge with McCarthy because of his unexpected departure, only McCarthy knows. The Packers, though, had no openings on their defensive staff this offseason.

"I'm sure you'll see Kevin at some point in time back in the league coaching," said Capers, who coached Greene with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers. "There's nothing available (with the Packers). That's always (a big factor) in this business in terms of availability. But he's a passionate guy. He did a good job for us in the five years he was here."

Greene spoke of his hope to return to NFL coaching last Saturday while basking in the joy, or maybe it was more relief, of being named to the Hall of Fame that afternoon. He was among the 15 finalists of modern-era players for the fifth straight year, so he'd already endured four years of increasingly bitter disappointment at not being chosen in the final vote.

Greene was inducted mainly on the strength of his prolonged productivity: He finished his 15-year career as the NFL's third all-time sack producer (160) and had double-digit sacks in 10 seasons, including his final four.

"I've always felt I belonged (in the Hall)," he said.

That Greene would have anything even approaching a Hall of Fame career looked like a long-shot early on. The Los Angeles Rams selected him in the fifth round of the 1985 draft, and in his first three seasons he had a total of 13½ sacks.

When coach John Robinson summoned him to bring his playbook to his office late in the 1987 season, Greene thought he was getting cut.

"He brings me in and sits me down, goes, 'Open up your playbook,'" Greene said. "I am shaking, I'm peeing my pants. I mean, I'm freaking."

Robinson didn't cut Greene. Far from it. Instead, he told Greene that the Rams wanted to him on the field more the next season, and that innovative defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, who would later run the Packers' defense for Mike Holmgren, had come up with a defense to do it.

Shurmur devised a scheme that bore some similarities to the Chicago Bears' 46 defense. It deployed five linebackers and two defensive tackles in the front seven. One linebacker stood up over center, two others aligned as standing defensive ends, and two others were more traditional linebackers off the ball.

Shurmur named the defense the "Eagle 5" because Greene played in college at Auburn, where the rally cry is "War Eagle." Greene, who played mostly as the standup linebacker on the left end of the line, had 16½ sacks in '88 and '89, and 13 in '90.

"It was pin your ears back and attack," Green said. "My career was goin'."

Greene's sack numbers dipped after Robinson fired Shurmur and hired Jeff Fisher as defensive coordinator in 1991. Greene was a natural 3-4 outside linebacker and was in no-man's land moving between a traditional defensive end and traditional outside linebacker in Fisher's 4-3 scheme.

But his career reignited when Capers as defensive coordinator with Pittsburgh had the Steelers sign him for their 3-4 scheme in 1993. Capers later was expansion Carolina's head coach and signed Greene in free agency in '96, the year the Packers beat the Panthers in the NFC championship game. Greene led the NFL in sacks in '94 (14) and '96 (14½).

Greene always was among the craziest competitors in the NFL — Capers remembers him as the player who went around the locker room firing up teammates before games. That's not hard to envision if you ever watched Greene coaching on the Packers' practice field during training camp. In his five seasons with the team, he was the staff's most animated figure on the field.

He was similarly wild-eyed in interviews and even pulled one reporter into a one-on-one film session when he thought the reporter had slighted Zombo. Rolling through the video of several plays, Greene exclaimed, "Zombo! Zombo! Zombo!" with such gusto that a Packers public-relations assistant poked her head in the room to make sure everything was OK.

"Kevin's an emotional guy and he's a passionate guy," Capers said. "When you're around him people sense that and it impacts them. He had an infectious personality."

— pdougher@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @PeteDougherty.

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...-nfl/80179502/

[TwoStep2888]

coaching staff finalized for 2016, and we have a dedicated WR coach again, after not having one last season

Packers promote Getsy to receivers coach

Weston Hodkiewicz, USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin 6:32 p.m. EST February 17, 2016

The Green Bay Packers have a receivers coach again.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy has promoted offensive quality control coach Luke Getsy to receivers coach, the team announced its 22-man staff on Wednesday evening. Alex Van Pelt will go back to coaching strictly quarterbacks after handling both duties last season.

Former Cleveland Browns assistant coach Brian Angelichio has been hired to coach tight ends, while former St. Louis assistant Ben Sirmans takes over as running backs coach. Coaching administrator David Raih replaces Mike Solari as assistant offensive line coach.

Ejiro Evero replaces John Rushing as the defensive quality control coach.

Luke Getsy, 31, is held in high esteem within the organization. He recently completed his second season as the offensive quality control coach. Prior to his arrival in 2014, he served as the receivers coach at Western Michigan and offensive coordinator/quarterbacks at Indiana University of Pennsylvania from 2011-12.

Like many in the coaching staff, Getsy has ties to Pennsylvania. A native of Munhall, he served as an offensive graduate assistant at the University of Pittsburgh in 2010. He started his college career playing quarterback for the Panthers before transferring to Akron where he set 24 individual school records.

Getsy threw for 6,117 yards, the third most in school history, with 41 touchdowns and 23 interceptions in his two years with the Zips.

Ben Sirmans was hired last month to replace Sam Gash as running backs coach. He spent the past four years with the St. Louis Rams in the same position. His top priority will be getting tailback Eddie Lacy back on track. Lacy struggled with weight and curfew issues in 2015, leading to a dismal seasons.

After starting his career with consecutive 1,100-yard seasons, Lacy had just 758 yards in 2015.

Sirmans oversaw the rookie development of Todd Gurley last season. After finishing outside the league's top 15 in rushing during Sirmans' first three seasons, the Rams drafted Gurley 10th overall last year and their rushing offense soared to seventh in the league with 122.3 yards per game.

Gurley finished third in the NFL with 1,106 yards despite missing three games.

Brian Angelichio, who replaces Jerry Fontenot, was the Cleveland Browns tight ends coach last season after coaching Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight ends in 2012 and 2013. Though Angelichio has not coached with a winning team in his three NFL seasons, he has overseen solid tight end production.

Angelichio helped develop undrafted rookie Tim Wright into a promising tight end prospect in 2013. Perhaps his most impressive work came last season with tight end Gary Barnidge.

A former fifth-round pick with the Carolina Panthers, Barnidge not only had a career year in 2015. His 79 catches, 1,043 yards and nine touchdowns were more than he had in his previous seven seasons combined.

His biggest responsibility figures to be further developing former third-round tight end Richard Rodgers, as well as any young tight end the Packers bring into the organization this offseason. Like many on the Packers' staff, Angelichio has ties to the University of Pittsburgh where he coached tight ends from 2006-10.

David Raih, 35, joined the Packers staff as an offensive assistant in 2014. He worked in medical sales for a few years after his football career ended at the University of Iowa ended due to injury. He was an intern for two years at UCLA, working primarily with the quarterbacks before returning to the Hawkeyes as a graduate assistant.

Raih was working with the outside receivers at Texas Tech at the time he applied for a position with the Packers. This past summer, he helped Mike Solari with the offensive line when offensive line coach James Campen was away from the team in training camp due to a personal matter.

Evero joins the Packers after serving as an assistant coach with the San Francisco 49ers for the past five seasons. After joining the 49ers in 2011 as a quality control coach, he spent 2012-13 as an offensive assistant and the past two seasons as a defensive assistant.

whodkiew@pressgazettemedia.com and follow him on Twitter @WesHod.

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...oach/80525232/

[Timebomb07]

High hopes for 2016!

... as always.

Here's to a healthy season, a return to the best pass attack in the league, a skinnier fat boi Lacy and a defense as good as we had this past season. Oh, and another very, very solid special teams unit top to bottom (though Timmy Mat can punt better than he has the past two seasons).

GO PACK!

[TwoStep2888]

I think it'll be good, I like new TE and RB coaches, I like having a full-time WR coach, Eddie gonna get ripped, it's gonna be good.

[TwoStep2888]

FA is a quiet time for Ted Thompson Packers, but we did just re-sign Nick Perry to a one-year deal.

[TwoStep2888]

sad to see Casey Hayward go, but expected it after Randall and Rollins had great rookie seasons

[Timebomb07]

Raji to retire.

[TwoStep2888]

Raji 'hiatus' statement:

I am taking a hiatus from the NFL and will not play during the 2016 NFL season. This decision was made after hours of conversation with close family members and mentors and considerable self-introspection and is one in which I am absolutely certain. I cannot rule out a return to the NFL in the future, but I will definitely not be playing during the 2016 season.

Coach Lombardi once said that “unless a man believes in himself and makes a total commitment to his career and puts everything he has into it – his mind, his body, his heart – what’s life worth to him?” That is the approach I have taken with football since I was a 2-star high school recruit. That total commitment was the foundation of my success at Boston College, helped me become a top ten pick in the NFL and helped me both make a Pro Bowl and win a Super Bowl. However, when my agents Brian Murphy and Camron Hahn informed me that they had a new deal with the Packers, I knew that I would not be able to live up to Coach Lombardi’s “total commitment” standard and made this decision out of respect to this great organization.

I have played football and been defined as a football player for as long as I can remember. This off-season was the first time that I felt myself pulled in another direction and I am excited to first be “all in” with my family back home and then to explore new frontiers. I am not exactly sure what the next phase of life will entail, but I am confident that all of the lessons I learned during my NFL journey will provide a solid foundation for success.

I have enormous gratitude for Mr. Murphy, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Ball, Coach McCarthy, our entire coaching and training staff and all those in the football personnel department who make the Green Bay Packers so special. This organization not only made my NFL dreams a reality and provided financial security for me and my family for generations to come, but the Packers also helped me become the type of man who can make the decision I make today and for that I am eternally grateful.

I had the great fortune of playing with and developing friendships with some of the greatest teammates in the NFL and I thank all of them for going to battle with me every Sunday. It doesn’t seem that long ago that Clay and I came to Green Bay together as first round picks (me 17 picks ahead of Clay of course) and I am really proud of what we were able to accomplish as a defense and a team, bringing a Lombardi trophy to Green Bay.

Finally, I can’t possibly thank enough the tremendous city of Green Bay and Packers fans across the country. You embraced me from the beginning and helped Green Bay become not just a place I worked, but also a home. I know if I have the same passion, dedication and love that the Packers fans bring to Lambeau Field every game, I will find happiness and great success.

All my best,

BJ Raji

http://www.packersnews.com/story/spo...ball/81770768/

[Nvetta]

This will hopefully help. Jared Cook in Green Bay, set to sign with Packers http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com...-with-packers/

[jaking1185]

Any serviceable TE would be an improvement at this point.