What Green Bay Is Thinking

[gblowfish]

They don't seem too excited about tonight's game. This is from the Green Bay local newspaper.

Scrubs vs. Scrubs Bowl:
http://tinyurl.com/27t4ake

Thursday extra point: Are jobs really on the line vs. Chiefs?
Posted by Mike Vandermause September 2nd, 2010, 11:13 am

GM Ted Thompson and coach Mike McCarthy insist that jobs will be won or lost in tonight’s Packers preseason finale against the Chiefs.

“Sure,” said Thompson when I posed that question earlier this week.

“There are still decisions to be made. There are a lot of balls up in the air right now.”

So you mean after five months of offseason workouts, countless OTA and minicamp practices conducted with cameras rolling, 24 training camp sessions at Ray Nitschke Field, three exhibition games and one Family Night scrimmage, that what happens tonight will make or break someone’s chances of earning a job?

I posed that question to McCarthy. Here is his reply:

“You hate to be so dramatic about it but it’s really 25% of the preseason so any way you cut it and it’s probably even bigger than that for younger players. In preseason week number 1 they played relatively a lot in the second half. They played less and less in preseason weeks 2 and 3. This is probably the most they’re going to play the whole preseason. This is a big game for them as far as the number of opportunities they’re going to have but also where we are. We have a lot of questions going into this game of how our roster is going to fill out. And then you have the injury aspect. Unfortunately sometimes an injury occurs in the last game that changes the way your roster sorts out too. That’s always part of the equation.”

OK, I’ll agree that if there’s a significant injury against the Chiefs, it could open the door, at least temporarily, for another player to make the team.

I will also agree that if someone plays absolutely lights out tonight, there’s an outside chance they could win a job. For example, if Jason Chery returns another punt or kickoff for a touchdown, that might be enough to convince the Packers to keep him around.

There is one other scenario that could make or break a player’s chances tonight: if someone completely lays an egg it could buy him a one-way ticket out of town. For example, if Tim Masthay shanked a couple of punts, that might pave the way for Chris Bryan to win the job.

Beyond those unusual situations, I’m convinced the Packers already know who they will keep. Many of the reserves tonight aren’t battling for a spot on the Packers’ roster, but rather for a spot on some other team.

[The Franchise]

We'll still lose.

[ChiTown]

We'll still lose.

It's what we do and who we are.

[LaChapelle]

Brodey Croyle vs Patrick Ramsey? David Carr? Mel Torme?

[Deberg_1990]

So you mean after five months of offseason workouts, countless OTA and minicamp practices conducted with cameras rolling, 24 training camp sessions at Ray Nitschke Field, three exhibition games and one Family Night scrimmage, that what happens tonight will make or break someone’s chances of earning a job?



Exactly why we dont need 4 preseason games. Waste of time.

[gblowfish]

We'll still lose.

That's the spirit!

[KCrockaholic]

Brodey Croyle vs Patrick Ramsey? David Carr? Mel Torme?

David Carr will rip him a new one.

[Goldmember]

Exactly why we dont need 4 preseason games. Waste of time.

So if they do decide to go with two preseason games and an 18 game schedule, the second preseason game will become like the current fourth game. No coaches will want to play their starters much to avoid injury.

[KCrockaholic]

So if they do decide to go with two preseason games and an 18 game schedule, the second preseason game will become like the current fourth game. No coaches will want to play their starters much to avoid injury.

Starters will get very little time to practice, in-game.

I'm on the other side of the debate on this. I like 4 pre-season games, and a team like the Chiefs need them. Each game is used as a scouting tool for who gets cut, and when it gets broken in half, teams will have even less time and film to base their cuts on. I just don't like it. But, it will have to change. The owners aren't going to have it any other way.

[DaneMcCloud]

Exactly why we dont need 4 preseason games. Waste of time.

For good teams, yes.

For bad team, no.

[BigChiefFan]

I have to say, I welcome fewer preseason games. As a season ticket holder, it gets old shelling out full price for two preseason games, when that money could be spent on games that count. I know, selfish, but full price for preseason games is a joke.

[kcmaxwell]

I have to say, I welcome fewer preseason games. As a season ticket holder, it gets old shelling out full price for two preseason games, when that money could be spent on games that count. I know, selfish, but full price for preseason games is a joke.

This, absolutely!

[Deberg_1990]

For good teams, yes.

For bad team, no.


You really think jobs are on the line tonight for the Chiefs?? They already know what they are going to do, even if they dont publicly say it.

[Deberg_1990]

So if they do decide to go with two preseason games and an 18 game schedule, the second preseason game will become like the current fourth game. No coaches will want to play their starters much to avoid injury.

Yea, thats going to be interesting....Peter King speculated a few teams might even drop training camps. Who knows?

[okiedokieokoye]

Hello Td Throw from the BroCro to the D-Bowe Show Yo

[Demonpenz]

I have to say, I welcome fewer preseason games. As a season ticket holder, it gets old shelling out full price for two preseason games, when that money could be spent on games that count. I know, selfish, but full price for preseason games is a joke.

When's the last time the chiefs had a game that count?

[Goldmember]

Yea, thats going to be interesting....Peter King speculated a few teams might even drop training camps. Who knows?

That doesn't make sense to me. I would think you would need MORE training camp because of the shortened preseason.

[Deberg_1990]

That doesn't make sense to me. I would think you would need MORE training camp because of the shortened preseason.

heres his reasoning:


http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/peter_king/08/22/mmqb/index.html


The End Of Training Camp As We Know It?

Question: Will the 18-game schedule ruin the great tradition of NFL training camps as we know them? Do the math here. If the NFL goes to 18 games and two preseason games, my information is that the league is likely to push the season back two weeks and not start the games on Labor Day weekend or earlier.

If that's the case -- using this year's calendar as an example -- the preseason weekends would be Aug. 28 and Sept. 3. Team usually report to camp two weeks before the first preseason game, so let's say teams start on Aug. 14 or 15. The 13 teams that go to college campuses -- Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Arizona, Minnesota and others -- may not have the run of campus anymore. Not only is school at many of the 13 campuses close to beginning then, but also are teams going to want to go to the trouble of packing up and going to camp for 10 or 12 days? "It'll be hard,'' Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome told me the other day. "At a lot of camps, you'll lose your facilities [because of schools starting up].''

Don't tell John Alvey, who was at Ravens camp the other day with his two nieces. He's been coming to training camp once or twice a summer since the Ravens relocated to Baltimore in 1996. "It would really hurt the future,'' Alvey said. "My daughter took a football card to camp once and got Ray Lewis to sign it and he talked to her for a couple of minutes. I came up once and retrieved balls Matt Stover was kicking. It's a great personal touch that would be terrible to lose.''

My guess is some teams with a long tradition of going away to a specific campus -- the Ravens in Westminster, Md., the Steelers in Latrobe, Pa., and Minnesota in Mankato, Minn. -- would keep that going, even if it's just for a few days. Some others would just let it die. A shame.

[OnTheWarpath15]

If this was the regular season, they'd be thinking this:

http://www.shercomindustries.com/img/products/speedbump_street.jpg

[ChiefaRoo]

I'll take cash money bets right now that KC wins this game straight up. Who wants some?

[Red Dawg]

We will win this game. The Pack roster is set so they will not try worth a shit. Ours is not as polished so we will play harder as a group.