Morning Buzz: Rodgers defends McCarthy
Aaron NaglerWelcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers and the NFL from around the web and here atPackersNews.com. Grab a strong cup of coffee, sit back and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers.
We start with the third installment of our nine part positional preview series, withMichael Cohen’s look at the Packers’ tight ends.
Taken together, the trio of Bennett, Kendricks and Richard Rodgers is almost certainly the deepest collection of tight ends in McCarthy’s tenure as coach. Those three players combined for 135 catches for 1,471 yards and 11 touchdowns last season for the Patriots, Rams and Packers, respectively.
Cook’s performance reiterated the importance of dynamic athletes at the tight end position. And even though he’s gone, this year's group should be even better.
You can find all our positional previewshere.
Ryan Wood writes on the news that second year wide receiver Geronimo Allison will be suspended for the opening game of the season:
I brought back the podcast out of offseason mothballs and spoke with our Rich Ryman about the Packers’ most recent financial report and the ongoing development of the Titletown District:
Rich writes on the new artwork which will be featured in Lambeau Field this year:
Just a quick example of how Ty Montgomery’s versatility can open things up for the Packers offense:
Elsewhere, Mike Sando got votes and quotes from ex-Packers coaches Mike Holmgren and Ray Rhodes, as well as eight other current and former NFL coaches, to put together what he calls The GOAT Index. It essentially acts as a ranking of modern era quarterbacks. Aaron Rodgers comes in at No. 5.
From Holmgren on Rodgers:
If you are a quarterback aficionado, you just look at him and say, "This guy can do anything he wants to." He passes the ball, he runs, he has the whole package. I will say this forever. The playoff game against Atlanta a few years ago, that was maybe the best quarterback performance I have seen by anybody ever. He dropped back, he ran, he threw on the run, he threw accurately, he got first downs. I also think he has shown tremendous toughness because he gets banged around a lot. Some guys have better receivers or better whatever, but Rodgers gives you a chance to win and go to the Super Bowl every year.
Brett Favre came in tied for sixth with Dan Marino.
From Holmgren on Favre:
Brett is the contrast quarterback to Manning and Brady for how he played the game. You could make a case that, while he played within an offensive system, he ad-libbed a lot. It helped him a great majority of the time and hurt him some. Those other guys were more robotic. All these guys are tough, but Brett's record of playing in all those games cannot be overlooked.
Rob Demovsky notes that the Packers are looking for a new director of player development due to Rob Davis leaving the organization:
DLIneVids highlighted Reggie White’s famous hump move:
Aaron Rodgers came to Mike McCarthy’s defense when asked about former teammate Greg Jennings’ recent comments:
Football Outsiders, via ESPN, wrote about“sneaky strengths” for each team’s offense and defense. Here’s what they had to say about the Packers:
Offense: Runs on second down
No running backs? No problem. The Packers were forced to move receiverTy Montgomery to running back for the second half of the year, but they still finished No. 1 in DVOA when running on second down.
Defense: Tackling
Despite their other defensive problems in 2016, the Packers dramatically improved their tackling from past seasons. They tied Jacksonville with a league-low 79 broken tackles allowed and ranked third with broken tackles on just 7.6 percent of plays, after finishing 30th and 31st in broken-tackle rate the previous two years.Blake Martinez led the Packers with just eight broken tackles allowed; every other defense in the league had at least three players with eight or more broken tackles.
Pro Football Focus ranked all 32 NFL offensive lines. The Packers come in at No. 8.
While Green Bay still has two of the best pass-protecting tackles in the NFL in David Bakhtiari and Bryan Bulaga, the interior has taken some lumps over the past two offseason. Gone are Josh Sitton, T.J. Lang, and J.C. Tretter, but if one of either Kyle Murphy or Jason Spriggs can make the switch effectively to guard, Green Bay could still be a top-10 line.
ACME Packing Company highlights quotes from Casey Hayward talking about his exit from Green Bay:
The Power Sweep thinks Mike McCarthy may finally have the tight end group he’s always wanted:
Over at Cheesehead TV, Zach writes that the Packers offense shouldn’t skip a beat without Allison in Week One: