James Lofton Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 This is the time of year that my hopes for a dominant team take shape. I'd like to hear why you think the Pack will be better or worse this year. I have a list for both: BETTER: 1) Another year in Coach Lafleur's system has got to be more comfortable and dynamic. Last year they looked slick for a number of scripted plays and then became a dud once the real game started. I've got to imagine the offense will be more comfortable and have an expanded look this year. 2) The defense should take another step as well. A lot of new players and young players from last year could improve. Guys like Darnel Savage and Gary are likely candidates to be real contributors this year. I expect the running backs to catch a lot of passes too. And the Tight Ends are unproven, but can't be worse, and will likely be better blockers than ever before. 3) I think Rodgers played at a lower level last year and I have good feeling about him this year. I expect him to be more accurate and hit guys in stride to set up longer sustained drives. *I expect us to win fewer games but have a stronger team if that makes any sense WORSE: 1) injury -- last year few starters suffered season ending injuries. We had a very consistent group play each week and the chances of repeating that are slim. The fact that Aaron Jones made it through an entire season is amazing. Blake Martinez wasn't a dynamic playmaker for us, but he was consistent and accountable -- can't say that about Kirksey and Burks. 2) Right Tackle -- say what you want about Brian Bulaga's health history and age, but last year he played well. He had to handle many of the top rushers in the league on a regular basis. Who will go up against Khalil Mack and Danielle Hunter? Can you imagine what we will do if Bakhtiari has to lose time to injury? 3) Dependent on limited play makers in the skill positions -- Aaron Rodgers of course, Davente Adams and Aaron Jones are All Pro caliber, but the drop off after them is staggering. 4) Until we prove we can stop the run teams will be pounding us Let me know what you think 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I think we have a tougher schedule than last year by far and if you look at our losses from last year, they were all because we couldn't stop the run. That run defense got significantly worse so we'll be an 11-5 team, 12-4 at best. On the other hand, I won't be surprised if we got 10-6/9-7 and split with Minnesota and Chicago because our offense is still sputtering with all those new pieces and no preseason games to figger it out... The cons outweigh the pros TBH, though I only have two big complaints about this team(lack of talent at IDL/ILB and Pettine's scheme). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gopackgonerd Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 (edited) RT and DL next to Kenny is my biggest concern, but if a bunch of guys like Gary/MVS take a jump from last year we should be a better team. Losing Bulaga really sucked tho. Edited September 9, 2020 by Gopackgonerd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VonKarman Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 We'll get a worse record but play better. If we manage to be 4-4 by midseason the division should be ours. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deltarich87 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 1 minute ago, VonKarman said: We'll get a worse record but play better. If we manage to be 4-4 by midseason the division should be ours. Yep Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green19 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 As long as the offense gets better at not waiting to the last possible second to get on the ball and snap it... I’ll call this season a success. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PACKRULE Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 i think MLF will be much better to start the season the MM in the past. MM played so timid and passed to much. As a run first team it should open so many more doors for AR and the offense. We have the ponies to run it which should be fun to watch. As someone else noted our DL is a concern. i think we will be an 11-13 win team. lots of odd bounces but we have a strong vet presence and if AR spend time watching himself from the past and commits to working to be like that again we should be just as good as last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vegas492 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I can give you a reason why we could be worse. Key word "could". It's our coach. Plain and simple. As a rookie head coach, there wasn't a lot of film out there that showed what he wanted to do. And we were successful. And a lot of that success was due to our free agent acquisitions playing well. Rodgers doing just enough. There's now a year of film on MLF. He has to progress his offense, and defense, in order to stay ahead of other teams. Nagy won a lot of games in year one. Regressed in year two. Both with Mitch. It's up to MLF to build upon last year and be better. If he isn't, this year could get ugly in a hurry. This has everything to do with evolving the offense and defense, as well as coaching during the game. Having Godgers under center would overcome a lot of that. And by all accounts, he's been present in camp most every day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rainmaker90 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 I’m very confident we will be better as a team. 13-3 will be hard to achieve, but going into the playoffs, I think we’ll be considered a team nobody wants to play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
packfanfb Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 Interpreting "better/worse" to be regarding our W-L record: We will be worse simply because our schedule is more difficult (road games @ NO, TB, SF, Houston, Indy, plus the division). Even going 4-4 on the road this year is going to be an accomplishment. We will better if in fact "home-field advantage" does not matter this year due to COVID. Without fans, maybe GB steals one or more of those road games. GB's home-field advantage will not matter as much because our fans are rarely loud anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green19 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 1 hour ago, packfanfb said: Interpreting "better/worse" to be regarding our W-L record: We will be worse simply because our schedule is more difficult (road games @ NO, TB, SF, Houston, Indy, plus the division). Even going 4-4 on the road this year is going to be an accomplishment. We will better if in fact "home-field advantage" does not matter this year due to COVID. Without fans, maybe GB steals one or more of those road games. GB's home-field advantage will not matter as much because our fans are rarely loud anyways. Home field might be more of an advantage this year because of covid. Think of all the extra steps a visiting team at a hotel will need to do. Heck packers are already leaving later than normal because they will be locked into the hotel. So they are minimizing how long these guys are on lockdown until game time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacman5252 Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 (edited) Better- - Year 2 in MLF system -Oldest starter on D is 28. The high picks from 18/19 should take a step forward (Gary, Alexander, Savage, Jackson) -Progression of wrs (MVS/Lazard/EQ) -More speed at ILB (Kirksey, ... maybe R Greene/Burks jump) -Maybe DL if Keke improves, or Adams comes out of nowhere (home take, probably not) -Road crowd noise will be less Worse -Injury luck (was good last year) -RT (we had a downgrade... how big?) -Nickle CB (Tramon Williams loss could be a downgrade) -Age regression of AR/Bak -Crosby's kicking probably takes a dip (91% probably becomes 80) -Home crowd noise will be less -The road schedule this year is very tough (NO, SF, Hou, Indy, TB, Division games). We'd probably be a pickem in Chicago, Hou, and Det and slight underdogs in all of the rest (nothing crazy... NO/SF a 6ish, the rest 1-4). Last year outside of SF and Dal, the road schedule was pretty bland.... with that said as of now, I don't see us being a dawg at home in any game. I think we probably statistically/progression wise will be a "better" team this year, but most likely win less games. (probably like 7-1 at home and 3-5 on the road) Edited September 9, 2020 by pacman5252 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
40Year Pack Fan Posted September 9, 2020 Share Posted September 9, 2020 (edited) 5 hours ago, Joe said: I think we have a tougher schedule than last year by far and if you look at our losses from last year, they were all because we couldn't stop the run. That run defense got significantly worse so we'll be an 11-5 team, 12-4 at best. On the other hand, I won't be surprised if we got 10-6/9-7 and split with Minnesota and Chicago because our offense is still sputtering with all those new pieces and no preseason games to figger it out... The cons outweigh the pros TBH, though I only have two big complaints about this team(lack of talent at IDL/ILB and Pettine's scheme). We have to take into account, we struggled against Detroit twice, Washington and Carolina last season....Played a Mahome-less Chiefs and our defense struggled against a QB that hadn't been in the league for some time....This year will be interesting with a tougher schedule....I would also suspect Rodgers will start slow out of the gate again, but has been his pattern the last few seasons....Will this year be a sophomore jinx for Lafleur?....I find it hard to believe we will improve, since last year in many ways we overachieved.... Edited September 9, 2020 by 40Year Pack Fan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skibrett15 Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 if the pass rush is somehow better, this team could be great again, and live up to a 13-3 record. If it's just ok, this will probably be a much worse team. It really feels like all the eggs are in the pass rush bucket this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squire12 Posted September 10, 2020 Share Posted September 10, 2020 17 minutes ago, skibrett15 said: if the pass rush is somehow better, this team could be great again, and live up to a 13-3 record. If it's just ok, this will probably be a much worse team. It really feels like all the eggs are in the pass rush bucket this year. pass rush and pass defense. Just not sure the run defense is anything different than last season. Teams that want to run it should be able to Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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