Morning Buzz: Can the dog play linebacker?
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.
One of the biggest things to keep track of down the stretch of any season, but this one especially, is the health of the football team. Michael Cohen starts us off with all the latest on Nick Perry, Clay Matthews and T.J. Lang, among others.
Replacing Perry would be a difficult task with a healthy linebacker corps, but with injuries to Clay Matthews (shoulder), Blake Martinez (knee), Jake Ryan (ankle) and Kyler Fackrell (hamstring), the situation is murky at best and calamitous at worst.
Needless to say, things don’t look great at linebacker. And Perry is definitely out.
The Packers came within minutes of a trip to the Super Bowl two years ago. Since then, their opponent in the NFC championship game and their opponent this week, the Seattle Seahawks, have continued to thrive while the Packers have stumbled.
Pete Dougherty looks at the difference between the two teams.
So why are the Seahawks in better shape than the Packers? They’re healthier, to be sure, and you can’t dismiss that. But they’ve also better weathered the personnel losses that NFL teams have to withstand, in large part because coach Pete Carroll and general manager John Schneider have used select free-agent signings and a major trade to augment a roster that nevertheless has been built primarily through the draft.
In the simplest terms, the Seahawks have done a couple big things right.
Make sure you read the entire piece to find out what those big things are.
The Packers may be able to take advantage of Earl Thomas’ absence. Ryan Wood has the goods.
My latest podcast is up:
Michael Cohen leads his notebook with Makinton Dorleant finally being available.
Michael Bennett spoke with the Green Bay media Wednesday and, as always, had a lot to say.
This is an outstanding bit of writing from Sports Illustrated’s Austin Murphy on Mike McCarthy.
The NFL’s smallest city can also be its most unreasonable—call it Entitletown—though perhaps the judgment of its citizens has been impaired by heartbreak. McCarthy is 8–7 in the postseason, with five of those losses coming on the final play.
Former Packers executive Andrew Brandt tells some stories from his time living in Green Bay:
The MMQB took Trevor Davis coat shopping.
SI: Green Bay Rookie's 1st Winter Coat
They also went bow hunting with Brett Hundley:
Emily Kaplan has an excellent column up on the Ron Wolf personnel tree:
NFL Films put together a trailer for Sunday’s game:
The Packers could see the newest member of the Seahawks this weekend:
Although he ended up breaking his leg on the play, this was still incredibly impressive from Earl Thomas.
By the way, Aaron Rodgers is back throwing into tight windows.
Solid tackling form from the dog here. The Packers should sign him up.