Win today, or win tomorrow?

[57packer]

I'm with Budman . . . give me either one. I'll take a title a Super Bowl next year, or if you want to build towards one in 2020, I'm fine with that as well, but TT really doesn't follow either strategy. If you want to win now, sign a few FAs and go for it. If you don't and want to build towards one, then trade away assets for high picks and draft a bunch of young talent.

Also agree with reality . . . I think that infamous chip on Aarons shoulder means he wants records and championships. I suspect he plays until he's 40 unless his legs fail him or some sort of major injury takes him down. Look at his contemporaries - the best ones. Brady, Brees, Rivers, Manning, etc. all still playing pretty well and none are really talking about retirement. Heck, even oft injured Tony Romo is talking about playing again and probably will find a team.

 

[eyecatcher]

Rodgers started out the season a little slow but finished up in the MVP talk. All the talk about him losing his edge and age catching up with him seemed to be proved wrong. I'm not sure if he plays until he's 40 but I certainly don't think we need to find his replacement for 4 years or more. At that point he'll be 37 and nearing the end of his career. If he plays until he's 39 that would give you a couple years to groom his replacement. I expect Rodgers will be straightforward with the Packers in his retirement decision. He didn't care for the way things went with Favre and I don't see him doing the retired/not retired thing.

I'm inclined to agree with Nerd in the sense that TT cannot be blamed for the team not winning more championships. Injuries have killed the team more times than not. 2014 the Packers should have been in the big game. 2015 we lost to Arizona in the divisional round with Janis and Abbredaris as the top WRs. This year the secondary was decimated by injury and they still made it to the NFCCG. The team is closer than many are giving them credit for.

 

[Cheesedog]

Good point about TT 57... He also doesn't use all the tools at his disposal. GB hardly ever takes advantage of the permitted pre draft visits to get to know prospects better. I would think that a team that is almost strictly draft and develop would gather as much info as they could and use every avenue of exploration to make the most informed decision.

So it's not really win today or tomorrow.. It's let TT act as a glorified scout and as long as the profit margin is high winning a championship is nice and all but not worth the effort of going all out.

 

[Budman]

Rodgers started out the season a little slow but finished up in the MVP talk. All the talk about him losing his edge and age catching up with him seemed to be proved wrong. I'm not sure if he plays until he's 40 but I certainly don't think we need to find his replacement for 4 years or more. At that point he'll be 37 and nearing the end of his career. If he plays until he's 39 that would give you a couple years to groom his replacement. I expect Rodgers will be straightforward with the Packers in his retirement decision. He didn't care for the way things went with Favre and I don't see him doing the retired/not retired thing.

I'm inclined to agree with Nerd in the sense that TT cannot be blamed for the team not winning more championships. Injuries have killed the team more times than not. 2014 the Packers should have been in the big game. 2015 we lost to Arizona in the divisional round with Janis and Abbredaris as the top WRs. This year the secondary was decimated by injury and they still made it to the NFCCG. The team is closer than many are giving them credit for.

You and nerd make great points. Injuries have definitely been a factor. I've never really thought along the lines of nerd, as far as depth goes. I've always thought the Packers lacked quality depth but maybe nerd has something with the thought that TT's roster depth is what's kept them afloat. It's food for thought and I'll definitely think a little deeper on that subject.

On the other hand, if TT is supplying the team with the necessary talent, then where is the breakdown and isn't TT responsible for the football operations of this team? Isn't it, in essence, his scoring staff, coaching staff, training staff etc.? Where does the buck stop?

 

[eyecatcher]

You and nerd make great points. Injuries have definitely been a factor. I've never really thought along the lines of nerd, as far as depth goes. I've always thought the Packers lacked quality depth but maybe nerd has something with the thought that TT's roster depth is what's kept them afloat. It's food for thought and I'll definitely think a little deeper on that subject.

On the other hand, if TT is supplying the team with the necessary talent, then where is the breakdown and isn't TT responsible for the football operations of this team? Isn't it, in essence, his scoring staff, coaching staff, training staff etc.? Where does the buck stop?

I should have said I don't exclusively blame TT. He obviously has to shoulder a large portion of the blame but player performance, training, coaching and luck all factor in as well. The last year the Packers won it all was not the best team the Packers have had and they almost didn't make the playoffs. It all came together perfectly at the end of the season and they finished.

Take a look at the secondary. Many of us were excited for this year with Randall and Rollins performances last year and Shields returning. The experts were expecting the Packers to have a top secondary. The 2nd year players both got dinged up, performance regressed, technique was worse and the secondary was awful. Whose fault was that? TT, MM, position coaches, trainers, players or who? IMO it was a little bit of all of them.

 

[TW]

Probably the most glaring weakness the Packers have is that when there are injuries, it takes movement of two or three players by position to take up the slack. It's great that players have multiple position talent, but when you start moving them around, like on a checker board, the chemistry you have on the field totally disappears.

We saw that play out this year in the defensive secondary. Injuries were key. Yet, even if the injuries hadn't been that numerous, can anyone honestly say that the defensive schemes of the Capers defense would have worked? Where had they improved - in other areas - to a point that they would have been better than they were in 2015? The fact is, they didn't improve, and the defense, as a whole, without those injuries, would not have been much better than it was.

I know that statement is subjective. My opinion. But here's why I say that. The front four was not better in 2016 than the year before. If anything, they seemed to have less push in most games. Let's say they were about equally as good as the year before. Give them a "C+.+ Next is the linebackers. The reduction in Peppers playing time to start grooming his replacement was pretty obvious. Perry spent a lot of time out there. Good or bad? Don't know. I just know that when Peppers was in there, he was a damned good player. Better than Perry. Matthews showed signs of being solid again, but injuries hurt him badly. He still has some moves, but he didn't have an All Pro season, that's for sure, despite spending most of his time outside. The inside linebacker crew did what they could. Injuries hurt them, but they didn't do that much less than they would have without injuries. Martinez is still the key in my eyes. He's the smart one out there, and that's what will matter next year, assuming Capers recognizes it. He has the same field savvy that we saw when Hawk was calling the defensive shots. You need that out there. You can't just appoint someone, they need to understand what they see in front of them, and convey it to their teammates. The only three that I know of, during this entire McCarthy era, were Woodson, Hawk, and now Martinez, who can comprehend and digest everything they see quick enough to bark out defensive options. It's essential, in my book.

All that said, I believe the Packers will concentrate on the defense when it comes to the draft. Probably 5 or 6 of the 8 picks, unless they do some trading to change their positioning. In all honesty, their first round pick is worthless to them this year. It's time to trade it for a lower pick this year, and what could be a significantly higher pick, possibly top 10, next year. They need to fill depth in positions more than find a front line player who's a playmaker, but next year, they have to look at a couple of play makers who can help them keep winning.