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2019 Green Bay Packers offseason - OTAs/minicamps


Shanedorf

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2 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

And right on schedule, Rodgers on Kumerow via PackersWire

“The key is being reliable, and earning my trust,” Rodgers said. “I never feel like there’s been a real difficult recipe or plan. It’s, you know what you’re doing, and you’re in the right spot at the right time, and you don’t make repeat mental mistakes He is an extremely intelligent guy who is in the right place at the right time. He makes contested catches, he makes the plays that are there and he does the little things.”

“Just little things like that he does, I think almost innately, I think almost separates him from a guy you might not trust as much because you know the guy is going to do it right, he’ll always be in the right spot, he knows what he’s doing all the time and what the other guys are doing,” Rodgers said. “And when he gets a chance to make plays, he makes plays. And he does it in a super classy, understated way. Obviously, I’m a big fan of him. I don’t need to keep going on that.”

 

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"He does it in a super classy way" lol I would love for their TD celly to be shaking hands

Edited by JBURGE
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1 hour ago, Shanedorf said:

here's an interesting note I came across:

Warren Sharp of analytics fame is a big fan of the mismatch between RBs and the defenders tasked with covering them, especially on early downs
He said the delta in skills levels between LBs/Safeties and the RBs is greater than the delta in skill levels between a WR and a CB

I don't know who Warren Sharp is...but I think I know a little bit about football.  If you are asking a RB to play WR and run routes, you are asking him to do something that isn't natural to him.  RB's line up behind the LOS.  They use that distance and their vision to see lanes.  They "feel" blockers and they setup their moves to minimize contact...all while securing the most important possession in the game, the football.  The ball is handed to their chest or it is softly pitched to them.  Oh, and they absorb an insane amount of contact.

A WR lines up on the LOS or very near to it.  They have to accelerate quickly while seeing and feeling the corner and being mindful of the safety and underneath coverage.  They need to get in and out of breaks, while getting their head, hands and feet aligned with the QB.  Then there is the whole "hands/catching" thing.

These are very, very different skillsets.  I'd say that it is easier for your typical LB to cover someone 1:1, or in a zone, than it is for a typical RB to run routes like a WR and catch balls like a WR.  And I am assuming that it is a pre-determined route, not an option route.  Now, if on "early" downs?  Probably trying to get a run stopped mismatched on a RB who will run RB routes, not WR routes.  Quick easy wins, that can lead to failure because of the hands/catching thing.

Now...if you have a RB with true WR skills ala Marshall Faulk and from what I've seen....Kamara and Cohen?  Yah, advantage.  But those guys don't grow on trees and I really haven't seen any WR traits out of Williams or Jones.  Again, if you just want someone to catch screens, wheels, slants and checks downs, you bet, all day long with our guys.  

But if our offense is actually scheming these RB into WR routes....well....then I'm worried and I hope Rodgers goes elsewhere with his read.  

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2018 Titan stats for running backs...

Dion Lewis had 59 catches for 400 yards.  1 TD.  Second leading receiver in catches, third in yards.  (If a RB is our second leading receiver, we will be picking in the top 10.)

Derrick Henry had 15 catches for 99 yards.

So, 74 catches, 499 yards for the RB's.  6.74 average.  That isn't the average of a RB running WR routes.  Those are dump off kind of stats.

...now...I don't think either Jones or Williams has receiving ability like Deion Lewis.  But maybe Jones is close.

I'd be willing to bet that our RB's don't sniff those catch numbers, but will hit that yardage number.

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51 minutes ago, vegas492 said:

I don't know who Warren Sharp is

He's one of the original Analytics guys, he used it on the betting side for years before the rest of the world caught analytics fever
He's rather acerbic in his commentary, but he also knows a fair bit, enough to get invited to speak at various NFL meetings

https://twitter.com/SharpFootball

I really appreciate you sharing your insight here, I'm always interested in learning more and what you wrote makes a ton of sense
Can't comment on AJones route-running abilities, but his draft write-up noted he has "elite" hands and we've already seen some of that from him

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5 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

And one more snippet from The Athletic, fits with some of our earlier conversations

 

It can be difficult to evaluate pass rushers during non-padded practices because so much of their job description is predicated on physical contact. But one thing that has been obvious regarding outside linebacker Preston Smith is his effort. Smith routinely sprints across the field to pursue running backs and “tag off” with a swipe at the football rather than attempting an actual tackle. He appears to have no qualms chasing plays from the backside or dropping into coverage, both of which fall under his umbrella of responsibility.

“The outside backer group, we’re throwing it all at them just to see,” Pettine said. “We don’t want to specialize with those guys too soon. Rashan (Gary) was brought here to rush the passer, as was Za’Darius (Smith). Preston’s a guy that has a little more coverage stuff in his background but can still rush very effectively. We’re going to give it all to them. That’s fine to see those guys dropping in the spring, but like I told Za’Darius, you’re getting paid to go that way (toward the quarterback) and not that way (toward the secondary).

“We always like to have some change-ups where an offense can’t draw a bead and say, ‘Listen, he’s always (doing this).’ That’s a big part of our pass-rush package is causing confusion as far as who the rushers and who the droppers are. You can’t have a guy that’s 100 percent rush. That makes it a little bit easier on (the offense).”

 

My favorite part about this and about Smith thus far is he has a great work ethic. We gave the Smiths quite a bit of cash and by all accounts both are very hard workers and seem like they will earn their pay.

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4 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

from Cohen via tweeter

An early trend for the Matt LaFleur offense is how involved RBs seem to be in the passing game. #Packers using tailbacks all over the formation and dedicating drills to fundamentals of receiving. Could be a way to get more touches for Aaron Jones.

Keeping the chains moving should be key and getting into good down and distance another. The big plays will come and often need to be worked towards. It seemed under MM we just went deep far to often in the last few years. Quick dump offs for 3-4 yards are good gains and to me can be a bit more effective than the a 3-4 yard run considering coverage and the possibility of more 1v1 vs a RB going into the defensive line. Also if these are completed quickly the risk of holding calls and going backwards should be limited which doesn't seem to happen in our run game.

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4 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

He's one of the original Analytics guys, he used it on the betting side for years before the rest of the world caught analytics fever
He's rather acerbic in his commentary, but he also knows a fair bit, enough to get invited to speak at various NFL meetings

https://twitter.com/SharpFootball

I really appreciate you sharing your insight here, I'm always interested in learning more and what you wrote makes a ton of sense
Can't comment on AJones route-running abilities, but his draft write-up noted he has "elite" hands and we've already seen some of that from him

I appreciate @vegas492‘s knowledge but what he wrote doesn’t pertain to what Sharpe wrote. A large part of gameplanning is finding mismatches. If you line up an average RB on your average LB or safety, they’re going to be better at route running than the defender is at coverage. Better than an average WR will be against an average CB. What Sharpe is pointing out is that there’s an edge there for smart gameplanners - and you just have to look at how Chicago used Cohen last year to see it.

Cohen is super fast and quick, but he’s not running any fancy routes here. Just good game planning exploiting mismatches.

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Pettine on turnovers:

We didn’t do a good enough job coaching it last year,” Pettine said. “Our awareness of the football and attacking just has to go up, and I think we’ve done a good job emphasizing it this spring. That falls back to ‘you get what you emphasize,’ and I think the players have done a good job responding to that request.”

The 2018 defense produced just 15 takeaways, 29th-worst ranking in the league. ( the 2010 defense had 44 )

“I think the biggest thing for us is attacking the football and having that mentality,” Pettine said. ‘We’ve been using the phrase ‘ball awareness,’ and I think we’ve been doing a much better job this spring of, as the runners are coming through, of being aware of where the football is, and taking swipes at it, punching at it. And we always talk to our guys, too, about tackling at the level of the football. When you wrap you have a chance to knock it out. The circuit (practice) part is big into it.“

 

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