Tag: Green Bay Packers (Page 19 of 57)

Barstool Debate: Who is going to win — the Packers or the Falcons?

January 14, 2011 / John Paulsen

Saturday marks a special day in my relationship with my co-worker Anthony Stalter. No, it’s not our anniversary or anything – my favorite team is the Green Bay Packers and he’s an Atlanta Falcons fan, so the fact that the two teams are squaring off in the playoffs is a pretty big deal in our world. In fact, since he lives in St. Louis and I live in Southern California, we’ve both agreed to purchase a 12-pack of Bud Select 55 (not a plug, but it could be!) and pretend that we’re splitting a case while watching the game together.

As I just tweeted, everything that happens today is just a preamble to Saturday’s game, so let’s talk a little trash as we try to run the clock out on the work week.

JP: First of all, let’s see who’s the bigger fan. I was born outside of Milwaukee and grew up loving the Packers, even when players like Lynn Dickey, Eddie Lee Ivory and Paul Ott Carruth were the big names (and an 8-8 record was a successful season). Then came Brett Favre (ironically via a trade with the Falcons) who was my favorite player for 16 freaking years before he retired his way to our arch-rival. Blood had been spilled. My autographed photo of Favre is sitting, face-down, in the garage, waiting for his inevitable “mea culpa” visit to Lambeau in a couple of years. What’s my point? I’m a fan of the Packers, not of any one player. Now, tell us how you became a fan of the Falcons…

AS: I grew up in Chicago so many people assume that I’m a Bears fan (why they would think that, I have no idea). But my folks are from New York so they had no loyalty to the home team. To my family’s disappointment, I didn’t become a Jets fan. When I was real young, I liked certain players instead of teams. But when I was 9, the first playoff game I remember watching from start to finish was the 1991 Wildcard matchup between the Saints and Falcons. When you’re a kid, you usually don’t focus on defensive players, but I was enamored with Deion Sanders. He was the most athletic player I had ever watched. Chris Miller also hit Michael Haynes on a 61-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter, so that particular game was thrilling. I’ve been hooked on the Falcons ever since, even though it hasn’t been easy being a fan of theirs over the years. Up until last year, they never had back-to-back winning seasons so I’ve endured a lot of losing. From Jeff George to Jamal Anderson to Michael Vick (ugh, talk about highs and lows), they’ve put me through a lot. But just like you when it comes to the Packers JP, the Falcons will forever be my team. Since I have never lived in Atlanta, DirecTV’s “Sunday Ticket” is the world’s greatest invention. I never miss a snap of the Falcons’ games, even when I have to watch them again later so I can fulfill my responsibilities to TSR.

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Five Questions: Packers vs. Falcons

January 12, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Matchup: Packers (11-6) @ Falcons (13-3)
Kickoff: 8:00PM ET, Saturday

1. Can the Falcons deal with the Packers’ newfound offensive balance?
In the first game between these two teams, the Falcons did a nice job of forcing Aaron Rodgers to throw underneath. On the three plays that went for 30 yards or more, two of them happened because Atlanta defensive backs failed to wrap up Green Bay receivers. (The other play was a great flea-flicker play call by Mike McCarthy on a 3rd and 1.) But in that first meeting, the Falcons also didn’t have to game plan for running back James Starks, who shredded Philadelphia for 123 yards on 23 carries. Atlanta knew it didn’t have to worry about stopping the run and therefore could commit extra defenders into coverage. The Falcons won’t be able to do that again this time if Starks gets going, so they’ll have to deal with both him and Rodgers (one of the most effective quarterbacks in the league). The Packers definitely have the upper hand when it comes to showing the Falcons different looks because Starks didn’t play in the first game.

2. Can the Packers slow the Falcons’ running game?
Green Bay’s front seven needs to attack Atlanta’s running game like New Orleans did in Week 16. The Saints didn’t do anything special in that game to slow Michael Turner. They simply attacked the line of scrimmage and forcefully filled Turner’s running lanes. One thing the Falcons had success with in the first meeting with the Packers was running the ball downhill. They didn’t try to go north south with Green Bay; they attacked the outside linebacker position opposite Clay Matthews by moving their lineman downhill. Then fullback Ovie Mughelli did a great job of blocking the first defender in the hole and Turner was patient before heading up field. The Packers can’t allow the Falcons front five and Mughelli to dictate where they the play to go. They must attack and play on the other side of the line of scrimmage.

External Sports, NFL

2011 NFL Divisional Round 2011 NFL Divisional Round Playoffs 2011 NFL Playoffs Aaron Rodgers Atlanta Falcons Green Bay Packers James Starks Matt Ryan Michael Turner Mike McCarthy

Former Bears Scout: Passing on James Starks was the “most embarrassing moment” of my career

January 12, 2011 / John Paulsen

Former Bears scout Greg Gabriel wrote an interesting article for the National Football Post. He describes the scene as the Bears tried to decide between James Starks and Dan LeFevour.

As we got closer to our pick, Angelo made the decision for the Bears to draft Starks. When we drafted a player there was a protocol we followed. After the decision on who to draft was made, Cliff Stein (the Bears contract negotiator) would call the players agent and tell him we were planning on drafting his player. He would tell the agent that the wanted to get a 4-year contract with the player and wanted the contract done by a certain date. If the agent agreed then I would call the player and give him the news that the Bears were going to take him. This is exactly what happened with Starks. I was on the phone for a minute or so with Starks when Angelo walked in my office and told me he had changed his mind and was drafting LeFevour. I put Starks on hold and then said to Angelo that Stein had already talked to the agent and I had the player on the phone…we couldn’t do business like that. He said he was sorry but he decided he wanted LeFevour and the card had been turned in.
I then had to tell the player (a player that I had developed a good relationship with over the previous two years) that in fact we were not drafting him. Hearing a kid go from being extremely excited to silence was not easy. It was the most embarrassing moment I had experienced while scouting.

This is something of a story now that Starks is emerging as the top tailback for the Packers. He rushed 23 times for 123 yards against the Eagles, showing very good burst and wiggle through the hole. He also showed some nice hands out of the backfield, which makes sense since he caught a total of 93 passes in 2007 and 2008 as a member of the Buffalo Bulls.

After Ryan Grant went down, the Packers decided not to add Marshawn Lynch to the mix at tailback and it appears that Starks was the main reason why.

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Do the Packers have the killer instinct to go all the way?

January 11, 2011 / John Paulsen

Honestly, this has been bothering me since Mike McCarthy took over as head coach of my beloved Packers, so the title of this post could easily read “Does Mike McCarthy have the killer instinct to go all the way?”

My historical evidence is purely anecdotal, but during the Holmgren/Favre Super Bowl years, it seemed like the Packers didn’t change their offensive strategy until they got up by three scores. Only then would they get a little more conservative and start working the clock with the running game. Several times over the past three seasons the Packers have had semi-control of a game only to let things slip away by playing too conservatively with a substantial amount of time remaining.

Case in point, towards the end of the second quarter of Sunday’s win over Philadelphia, leading 14-0, Green Bay just stopped the Eagles on a third-and-7. There was almost two minutes on the clock when Jason Avant was tackled on the Packers’ 11-yard line. With two timeouts remaining, McCarthy sat on his hands as the Eagles ran the clock down to 1:15 and kicked a field goal to cut the lead to 14-3.

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Balanced Packers edge out Vick, Eagles to advance to Divisional Round

January 9, 2011 / Anthony Stalter

Here are six quick-hit thoughts on the Packers’ 21-16 victory over the Eagles in Sunday night’s Wildcard matchup.

1. Thanks to Starks, the Packers finally find offensive balance.
The role that James Starks played in this game cannot be overstated. All season, pundits have criticized the Packers’ inability to run the football and have questioned whether or not they could protect leads in the fourth quarter. But Mike McCarthy made Starks a focal point in his game plan (either that or he just rode the hot hand after Starks busted off a 27-yard run on his first carry…either way, nice work, Mike) and the rookie responded by rushing for 123 yards on 23 carries. From a yardage standpoint, Philadelphia held Aaron Rodgers (18-of-27, 180 yards, 3 TDs) in check. But because the Packers were able to stay balanced, when Rodgers did throw the ball he found open receivers (especially in the red zone). If Starks runs this way next Saturday night in Atlanta, the Pack could be headed for the NFC Championship Game against the Bears. (Oh whatever – I’m just saying what everyone is already thinking…the Seahawks don’t have two miracles in them.)

2. Rodgers silences critics (however few remain).
I was shocked with how much attention was paid to Rodgers’ 0-1 record in the postseason. He’s played at a MVP-like level all season and leads one of the most explosive passing games in the league. No, he didn’t have a playoff win coming into this weekend but he does now. He didn’t throw for a ton of yards but he was incredibly efficient. He engineered three big scoring drives in this game and had James Jones not dropped a deep ball right before halftime, Rodgers’ numbers would have been even better than they were. Because of him, the Packers are legit Super Bowl contenders.

3. Vick comes up short again.
Right before the Eagles’ offense took over down by five with less than two minutes to play, I texted a friend that if the drive didn’t end in a Michael Vick turnover I’d be shocked. After Vick led the Eagles down to Green Bay’s 38-yard-line, he took an unnecessary shot to the end zone and was intercepted by all-world corner Tramon Williams (what a season this guy is having). As a Falcons backer, I immediately felt the Eagles fans’ pain. I had seen similar outcomes like that before. Vick makes some incredible plays at times but he’s always been careless with the football. He’s always been a quarterback that with the game on the line, you don’t know if he’s going to do the unthinkable or make a boneheaded decision that will leave a bad taste in your mouth for three days following the game. That one throw doesn’t take away the great season he had and he kept the Eagles in this game throughout. (He also played that final drive on a bad ankle and came back strong after suffering a quad injury against the Vikings last week.) But if he wants to be elite and a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, he can’t continuously come up short in the clutch.

External Sports, NFL

2011 NFL Playoffs Aaron Rodgers Anthony Stalter Green Bay Packers James Starks Mike McCarthy Philadelphia Eagles

Tag: Green Bay Packers (Page 19 of 57)

Barstool Debate: Who is going to win — the Packers or the Falcons?

Five Questions: Packers vs. Falcons

Former Bears Scout: Passing on James Starks was the “most embarrassing moment” of my career

Do the Packers have the killer instinct to go all the way?

Balanced Packers edge out Vick, Eagles to advance to Divisional Round

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