There was no real Packers news this week, other than the departure of Jerry Gray, something I wrote about the last two weeks. I still feel he had an entirely different idea of how to scheme his guys than Joe Barry did and was embarrassed by all the soft zone he was forced to play. Given the opportunity, he did a quick “Adios!”
Anyway, what I’m going to do this week is take a look at the teams that made it to the Championship games and examine what stood out to me that those teams have or do that the Packers don’t. So here goes:
DBs that love to tackle and are damn good at it. DBs on these seem to come out of nowhere to make tackles and stop ball carriers in their tracks. There’s no one in the Packers’ secondary striking fear in opposing ball carriers, whether they be running backs or receivers.
A Coach/QB combo that doesn’t waste timeouts. The Packers are in the top three of most “wasted timeouts” over the last several years according to NFL Data Analyst Tom Bliss. The Eagles and the Chiefs had among the fewest.
An Impact Tight End. – Sure, Travis Kelce and George Kittle are future Hall of Famers, but should it be that hard to find a tight end the likes of Dallas Goedert (55 rec, 722 yds, 3TD) or Hayden Hurst (52 rec, 414 yds, 2TD)? Would you be happy with that level of production from a Packers tight end? I sure would. It would help this offense immensely.
A quarterback that will use the tight end. – I’m not talking about scheming plays for the tight end, I’m referring to looking for easy completions to the tight end short/middle when the wide receivers are blanketed.
Respected Defensive Coordinators – One already has a new head coaching job, and the other three are interviewing for head coaching jobs. No one is calling Joe Barry.
Finally, a young, mobile quarterback. Rodgers, of course, used to be mobile (and young), but those days are gone. Three straight disappointing January offensive performances with Rodgers at the helm are enough for me. I’m ready for Green Bay to move on, even if it doesn’t work out with Jordan Love (but I think it will).
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“Jersey Al” Bracco is the Editor-In-Chief, part owner and wearer of many hats for CheeseheadTV.com and PackersTalk.com. He is also a recovering Mason Crosby truther. Follow Al on twitter at @JerseyalGBP.