Hello everyone, welcome to Ford Field for the regular-season finale between the Packers and Lions? How's everyone doing today?
It's pouring rain outside and as a Ford Field worker said outloud on our parking lot shuttle, 'Why would anybody go to this game?'
Well, there are a fair amount of Packers fans in the house, so we'll see whether they can make it look like this place isn't empty. I'll send a photo out at kickoff so you can guess the attendance.
I think we need to step away from the season a little bit to understand why it has gone so well. It definitely has surprised me and I'm sure Mark Murphy couldn't have imagined it would go this way. Health has been key, the schedule has fallen just right and the division is down. All of those things have contributed.
The reason is that they don't want to sit MVS, Lazard or Allison. One of those guys has to sit if they go with Grant. They like those three as blockers in the run game and they still think MVS can draw attention because of his speed.
He has a pretty big personality and it may have just worn management down. He wasn't playing much and they may feel like there's a chance Raven Greene can come back for the playoffs, so they decided to just cut bait now.
Lucas Patrick's deal is chump change. The signing bonus was $350,000. With Clark you're talking about a $25M signing bonus; With Martinez $10-12M. If they were going to sign any of the latter two, they wouldn't have used up cap space this year to lessen Rodgers' cap hit in future years. They would have needed the cap room. So, they created $11.4 million next year and that will help in signing either Clark or Martinez in the off-season.
I'm sure some of them are.
They do. They have some time to figure it out, especially if they have a bye. They can wait and see if Raven Greene is healthy or they can bring someone up from the practice squad. They could also sign someone from another team's practice squad as a way to grab him for next season.
He is up. He'll play on special teams.
He had some issues in Jacksonville, including fumbling a punt that kind of caused them to give up on him.
You're nuts. They can't function without him. You would realize how important he is if he were gone, believe me.
Because they didn't need it. Whoever they signed wouldn't be active.
It's very iffy. Big thing is he hasn't practiced so even if he is ready, it would be iffy whether he'd be football ready.
I don't think he gave Mariota the freedom he has given Rodgers to change plays. It's possible some of the simplicity the scout saw is due to the receiving corps. I also think this offense isn't that complicated. It's a lot of play-action.
They haven't granted me that level of security.
Tom, thanks for a great year on the blog. Season number two starting soon. Your thought on new Coach Matt... first year success like this is unheard of. Did you see strength in his leadership to get them here? Or, how much is the health of the team contributing? Maybe his approach is why they are healthy? Your thoughts. Thank you from Glendale, Ca. 🏈 😎 🏈 😎