Morning Buzz: Back from the bye
Welcome to your Morning Buzz, rounding up news and views regarding the Green Bay Packers from around the web and here at PackersNews.com. Grab a cup of coffee and get ready for your day.
Start off your week back from the bye with this great look at the Packers’ continued use of young players from Pete Dougherty. Pete made an astute point that doesn’t get talked about nearly enough, not only in Green Bay, but around the league.
One old saw is that there’s not much difference among most players in the NFL. If you want to take the most macro of views, a handful of players really matter; then there’s the rest.
Or a little less macro, there are the players who are Pro Bowl caliber or better, then there’s everyone else. Many have value for the role they fill with the team they’re on, but most don’t last long and are easily replaced.
There’s great truth in this view. The Packers can play all these rookies liberally and still win year after year because they have an elite quarterback plus a few other players better than the norm. There’s not much difference between these rookies and the veterans they’ve replaced.
Make sure you read the whole thing. It is absolutely spot on in regards to Ted Thompson’s reasoning for building his teams the way he does.
Elsewhere on the web, Rob Demovsky takes a look at the rebirth, so to speak, of Nick Perry in the Packers' defense for ESPN.
The guys over at Inside the Pylon have a new video feature called Under the Microscope and in their first episode they took a look at the battle between Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari vs. Minnesota Vikings defensive end Everson Griffen back in Week 2.
Packer Report was in attendance at the Meyer Theater last Monday night for An Evening With Mike Holmgren and the former Packers coach talked about his prospects for enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
As Holmgren puts it:
“I honestly will say this, and I mean this, and I’ve said it a number of times to the people in Seattle on my radio show,” he started. “The No. 1 thing for me coaching — it would be a wonderful honor (to get in the Pro Football Hall of Fame), it would be fabulous, just like when I went into the Packers Hall of Fame — but the No. 1 thing I wanted was the respect of my peers. … It was really important to me that the other head coaches in the league would look over and say, ‘He’s OK. He can coach.’ I think we’ve done that. I think we did that.”
The Hall of Fame selection committee meets Feb. 4, 2017 in Houston, a day before Super Bowl LI.
Speaking of the Hall of Fame, former Packers assistant coach Kevin Greene was in attendance Sunday night during the Pittsburgh Steelers’ annihilation of the Kansas City Chiefs. Greene received his Hall of Fame ring at halftime.
Over at the Packers’ official site, team president and CEO Mark Murphy answered five fan questions in his monthly Murphy Takes 5 column.
Former Packers fan favorite John Kuhn seems to be doing well in his new home down in New Orleans. Kuhn scored three touchdowns Sunday in the New Orleans Saints’ win over the San Diego Chargers.
The Chicago Bears got their first win of the season over the Detroit Lions on Sunday. Former Bears defensive lineman Anthony “Spice” Adams had a simple recap of the game.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune has a more traditional column on the Bears’ first victory of 2016.
On Monday night, the Minnesota Vikings take on the Packers’ next opponent, the New York Giants. Ty Dunne has a great look over at Bleacher Report at what is making this year’s Vikings team a special unit that has real championship aspirations.
For an in-depth overview of all of Sunday’s action in the NFL, be sure to check out Don Banks’ Snap Judgements column over at NFL.com.
Buried toward the end of Don’s column is this very sensible suggestion for the Giants.
Given the Giants play at Minnesota on Monday night , then have to turn around and play next Sunday night at Green Bay , shouldn't Ben McAdoo's club just cut down on the redundant travel and stay all week and practice in Wausau, Wis., which is roughly halfway between? Come to think of it, McAdoo, the former Packers quarterbacks coach, would probably sign up for that.
Sounds like a plan.