Morning Buzz: Murphy 'optimistic and hopeful'
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 (or brew some tea, if that’s your thing) and get caught up on everything you need to know about the Packers.
There’s only one place to start today, and that’s with the words of Packers CEO and president Mark Murphy, who typically eschews all interview requests in-season and defers all questions on football to Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy.
But these are not normal times in Green Bay.
Appearing on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee, Murphy addressed fans’ frustrations with the 2016 season.
I do hear from a lot of fans. And I tell fans: Like them, I'm disappointed. Certainly, the season hasn't gone the way we had all hoped, but there's a lot of football left to be played. And the other thing I tell people is, you've got to look at Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy's track record.
We've been through difficult stretches before. We've had consistent success, and it's hard to achieve that in the NFL, but I do sympathize with our fans. They want us to win, they want us to play better, and we've just got to work through a difficult patch. I'm optimistic and I'm hopeful. We've done it in the past and, hopefully, we can do it again.
Murphy was asked directly about this tweet from NBC Sports’ Mike Florio.
Murphy responded:
The context of that is, the Packers are really harmed because they don't have an individual owner who can go in and fire somebody. Well, if you look across the league, when those individual owners do things like that, it usually doesn't turn out very well. The answer isn't just to fire people midseason, especially, you know, we've had a run of success and our coaches and personnel people and Ted and Mike have shown in the past they can turn things around and I think that taking that approach certainly makes more sense than just firing people to fire people.
You can hear the entire interview, a true in-season rarity for Murphy, below. He also touches on the progress being made with the Titletown District and what it’s like to watch games with Thompson.
Speaking of the games, the Packers have one coming up Monday night in Philadelphia that essentially will determine whether the final five games mean anything. Yes, it’s a must-win game, as I lay out in my three storylines for Packers-Eagles.
The Eagles have had their ups and downs this season and are coming off a tough loss in Seattle. You can find out all about the makeup of their team in Bob McGinn’s scouting report.
The Green Bay Packers might be in the throes of a four-game losing streak but some people who make football their living aren’t giving up on them.
Two executives in personnel and an assistant coach for a recent Philadelphia opponent all picked the Packers to defeat the Eagles Monday night at Lincoln Financial Field.
“Even with how horrible Green Bay has looked, the way the NFL is, they might come back and kill (the Eagles),” an NFC personnel man said. “Just when everything looks like it’s down in the dumpster they’ll come back and win.
“I never count Aaron Rodgers out. I’ll give the Pack one last chance.”
The defense has struggled at a historical level, but Eric Baranczyk and Pete Dougherty make the case that Dom Capers may not be the right target for fans’ ire.
Tom Silverstein has the story on Blake Martinez’ knee injury.
Eric Goska writes that the Packers’ secondary is a balm for quarterbacks looking to improve their passer ratings.
Appearing on Clubhouse Live on Monday night, Randall Cobb pledged to match up to $20k for the Stock the Shelves campaign.
Randall Cobb offers to match $20K for Stock the Shelves
Mike McCarthy has no plans to make any coaching changes during the season.
ESPN’s hype machine is revving up for Monday night.
Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz may be a rookie, but he’s a talented quarterback who many feel will be a very good player in the NFL.
Zach Berman has all the latest on the Eagles’ injury front.
Eagles beat writer Jeff McClane has a bunch of great film study nuggets on his Twitter timeline.
Much like the Packers, the Eagles need a lot to go right to even start thinking about the playoffs.
Apparently, Ahman Green has called McCarthy and offered to help.