2009 NFL Preview: Green Bay Packers

(Typed on Saturday night)

By JFein

The Aaron Rodgers era in Green Bay started last year and suffice to say, it was not as successful as the Favre era was. However, much of the blame cannot be placed on Aaron Rodgers as a lack of a running game put too much pressure on Rodgers and that would be too much for him to overcome last year. This year, Rodgers is another year older and another season smarter and things could be looking on the up and up for the Green Bay Packers. Or are they?

Is Favre Still a Distraction?: I do not blame you if you skip over this section, I'm as sick of Favre stories as the next guy is, but with all of the talk that he might come back to the Vikings, perhaps in large part to spite the Packers management for their poor dealings of him a year ago, has got to be in their minds. And besides, it does not help that people NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM! Every day there is some new Favre story out there. In fact, I'm pretty sure that it is a headline that Favre went to bed at 10:00 last night. And now I will do what everyone in the mainstream media has failed to do for the entire decade: stop talking about Brett Favre for 10 minutes.

Aaron Rodgers: I said it above, but I'll say it again, I did not think that Aaron Rodgers had that bad of a year last year. There is hope for the Pack at the QB positon. It was not a great year, but he did not have the support that he needed on offense. There is no playmaker on the Packers that can break the game open at any time with any touch of the ball. More on that down below.

Running Back: Oy ve. Where do we start? The lack of a credible back-up or the fact that Ryan Grant was a complete 1-year wonder? The Packers are certainly hoping that the 1-year wonder was the off-year last year and the real Ryan Grant was the Ryan Grant that we saw in 2007, but somehow I'm not buying that. But hey, I've been wrong before. All I know is after what we saw last year, at the very least, I would have someone else in the backfield other than Tyrell Sutton, John Kuhn, and Brandon Jackson. I almost hate to say it, but going after and signing Corell Buckhalter may just have been stupid enough idea to actually work in Green Bay.

Wide Receivers: More Packer woes. For starters, Donald Driver, while a decent veteran, is not getting any older and is more than likely past his prime. The only other productive receiver that they have that is in his prime is Greg Jennings. Now I don't have a problem with Jennings or anything, but you need more than that to be a successful offense, especially with a noticeable lack of running game. If you want to play a Colts style offense that consists of constant passes, there should at least be several decent wide receivers that can make plays. I do not see that in Green Bay, though.

Packers defense: Sorry for the lack of creative titles. It is currently 11:02 on a Saturday night and my eyes are literally half shut. Anyways, the Packers defense also struggled a bit as well last year, not helping the young Aaron Rodgers at all. If the Packers want to have any shot at the playoffs this year, they are going to have to step it up big time on defense. There are certain teams such as Indianapolis and New England where the strength of the offense is so much that they do not need a really strong defense to carry them all the way, sadly for them, the Packers are not one of those teams.

Video: Number 4's last throw as a Packer. (see, I kept my word by never mentioning his name ;-))



Prediction: 6-10, 3rd place NFC North. Sorry Packers fans, I just don't see your team doing anything special yet. The offense is not where it needs to be and while Rodgers is not a bad QB, he needs much more than what he has. And while the Packer defense does have some bright spots, to me it seems like not enough is there to make a legit run at things.