Random Packer News & Notes

[deathstar]

21 hours ago, Refugee said:

Patrick Taylor, RB practicing for the first time with the team since he began the season on the PUP with a foot injury.  His tape from Memphis looks solid and maybe because he's a bit taller but reminds me of James Starks' slashing, violent style. 

What little I've read about him says he's a dedicated guy and he definitely produced at the college level. We'll see what this means for the next few weeks but I'm glad the coaches are getting a good look at him n practice going into next year.

From Matt Waldmans RSP: 

27. Patrick Taylor, Memphis (6-1, 217) Depth of Talent Score: 74.35 = Reserve:
Contributor with limitations in scope and execution.
Taylor split time with Darrell Henderson for part of his career, but had 1,122 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns as a junior when paired with Henderson in the backfield in 2018. Last year, Taylor was slated to start but dealt with injuries and the rise of Kenneth Gainwell, who earned over 1,400 yards and 16 touchdowns, reduced Taylor to a role-player.
Taylor has feature-back size and his athletic metrics are good enough to produce in the NFL. Memphis used Taylor on gap and zone plays including counter, power, off- tackle zone, split-zone, and as an option receiving direct snaps.
Taylor hits creases hard as a gap runner and has power to win after contact. He has been patient enough on zone runs to adjust his gait to bait defenders out of their gaps so he could bounce, cutback, or cram the run to best crease.
Taylor is at his best when he can make small, downhill cuts to avoid pursuit. He has an efficient jump cut in open space to make pursuit from over the top miss the shot at Taylor’s legs. He has the hip mobility to turn 90 degrees and accelerate through the sharp turn. He favors using pressure cuts to avoid opponents and the more dynamic the cut, the more Taylor has to slow down to execute it.
Taylor has curvilinear movement to bend/corner around pursuit. If he can’t use this technique and must transition downhill with a cut, he’ll take two gather steps to come to balance and make the move. Although Taylor worked out well at the NFL Combine, he runs like a one-speed player that lacks notable burst.
His feet are awkward at times for a runner in the same way former Packers runner James Starks was when he was at the University of Buffalo and still figuring out the position after converting from quarterback. He slips when attempting downhill cuts that he should have made.
Taylor has the strength to lean through contact and generate a push. He works his pads under safeties and sends them backwards. His forearm shiver is also a helpful tool. He delivers it and the traditional stiff-arm with enough pop to put an outside linebacker on the ground.

[craig]

6 hours ago, Leader said:

Andy Herman -   First 45 career games:

MVS: 185 targets - 95 catches - 1636 yds - 9tds

Nelson: 149 targets - 100 catches - 1268 yds - 6tds

J. Jones: 187 targets - 109 catches - 1487 yds - 9tds

Driver: 146 targets - 87 catches - 1358 yds - 9tds

R. Brooks: 141 targets - 88 catches - 936 yds - 5tds

MVS and Jones both got used heavily as rookies.  Nelson and Driver didn't.  

Uncaught targets, MVS 90 > Jones 78 > Driver 59 > Brooks 53 > Jordy 49.   

Uncaught %:  49% > 41% > 40% > 37% > 33%.  

Guessing Jordy's extraordinary body control factored into that; plus the attention that Jennings, Driver, and Jones and Finley attracted. 

MVS doesn't have the hands or the body control; but his "uncaught" % is certainly inflated by deep balls with lesser completion expectation.  I thought Rodgers was pretty wildly inaccurate on deep throws last year, some where MVS was open but Rodgers gave him no chance.  

 

[Sasquatch]

50 minutes ago, craig said:

MVS and Jones both got used heavily as rookies.  Nelson and Driver didn't.  

Uncaught targets, MVS 90 > Jones 78 > Driver 59 > Brooks 53 > Jordy 49.   

Uncaught %:  49% > 41% > 40% > 37% > 33%.  

Guessing Jordy's extraordinary body control factored into that; plus the attention that Jennings, Driver, and Jones and Finley attracted. 

MVS doesn't have the hands or the body control; but his "uncaught" % is certainly inflated by deep balls with lesser completion expectation.  I thought Rodgers was pretty wildly inaccurate on deep throws last year, some where MVS was open but Rodgers gave him no chance.  

 

Not going to argue the stats, and MVS has had his fair share of drops.  We know he has hands that can catch contested throws - we saw that last weekend.  He just needs to trust himself to use his hands and not catch with his body.  Adams had issues early in his career also, and while MVS may never reach that same level of success, he can go far with increased confidence.  And Rodgers seems to believe this also.

[HighCalebR]

anyone get me the split on how much we're screened this year vs last?

Interesting to note we are in the bottom third in passes attempted against,  Bottom third of depth of targeted defender and air yards (more short passes). While being middle of the road in missed tackles and YAC. Explains some of the pressure % problems.

Maaan looking at the #'s kinda just blows you away at how good this offense is at hanging on to the ball and scoring at the end of the drive. We're in the bottom quarter of the league in plays but have thee highest time per drive. We start with bad field position and we get less bites at the apple than most everyone but we score more than everyone. You literally cant try to deflate the ball and keep aaron off the field because we're better at it than you.

Edited December 18, 2020 by HighCalebR

[Mr Bad Example]

5 hours ago, ReadyToThump said:

AJ Dillon, Patrick Taylor, Dex Williams and Mike Weber, I like our RB room next year even without Aaron and Jamaal...Theres a lot of talent at RB on this team. More talented than we've ever been.

Imma need a definition for "ever" here. 

[craig]

1 hour ago, HighCalebR said:

Interesting to note we are in the bottom third in passes attempted against,  Bottom third of depth of targeted defender and air yards (more short passes). While being middle of the road in missed tackles and YAC. Explains some of the pressure % problems.

Maaan looking at the #'s kinda just blows you away at how good this offense is at hanging on to the ball and scoring at the end of the drive. We're in the bottom quarter of the league in plays but have thee highest time per drive. We start with bad field position and we get less bites at the apple than most everyone but we score more than everyone. You literally cant try to deflate the ball and keep aaron off the field because we're better at it than you.

Thanks, HighC.  The bottom-quarter-in-plays is really interesting, and makes sense.  We don't throw many clock-stopping incompletions, and Rodgers always kills clock and runs the play clock down.  Defensively, we play for runs and short passes, again not for many clock-stopping incompletions. 

I think this is why our defensive volume stats look fairly good, like 8th in total yards or something like that, even though rates-wise our defense isn't actually as good as that.  

[HighCalebR]

21 minutes ago, craig said:

Thanks, HighC.  The bottom-quarter-in-plays is really interesting, and makes sense.  We don't throw many clock-stopping incompletions, and Rodgers always kills clock and runs the play clock down.  Defensively, we play for runs and short passes, again not for many clock-stopping incompletions. 

I think this is why our defensive volume stats look fairly good, like 8th in total yards or something like that, even though rates-wise our defense isn't actually as good as that.  

The passing avgs are right in the middle of the field, while in the middle of the field. Our RZ stuff stinks. The run avgs are bad for sure. But were middle of the league in scoring % per drive, middle of the league in yards per play too.

Definitely not built for these ST gaffes.

Edited December 18, 2020 by HighCalebR

[Chili]

I remember thinking how similar height-wise and athletically Patrick Taylor was to Jamaal Williams. Williams is more physical/energetic whereas Taylor is quicker and more straight line-ish.

[ReadyToThump]

6 hours ago, Mr Bad Example said:

Imma need a definition for "ever" here. 

That I can ever remember... not saying I'm 100% right but has there ever been a better RB group than Jones, William's, Dillon and then back end/PS guys like Williams, Weber and Taylor?

I might be higher than most on the latter 3 guys, but I really think there's some talent there. 

[ThatJerkDave]

We had Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor in the same backfield, both are in the Hall of Fame.  Ahman Green, Najeh Davenport, Tony Fisher was better than we have right now.  

[coachbuns]

15 hours ago, HighCalebR said:

The passing avgs are right in the middle of the field, while in the middle of the field. Our RZ stuff stinks. The run avgs are bad for sure. But were middle of the league in scoring % per drive, middle of the league in yards per play too.

Definitely not built for these ST gaffes.

Spot on.  Special teams is the Packer's worst unit by far. (minus field goal kicking)  Not sure if it's one of these or a combo: the players on it don't adapt well, aren't coached well or just don't fit well ... it must get better.  Get it figured out - they've been below average for a long time. 

[40Year Pack Fan]

7 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

  Ahman Green, Najeh Davenport, Tony Fisher was better than we have right now.  

What about Dorsey Levens?...Was quite effective on passes out of the backfield...

[40Year Pack Fan]

8 hours ago, ThatJerkDave said:

We had Paul Hornung and Jim Taylor in the same backfield, both are in the Hall of Fame.  Ahman Green, Najeh Davenport, Tony Fisher was better than we have right now.  

Too bad their careers didn't end better in GB...Taylor was traded to NO after wanting to get paid for all his years of service...Horning nixing the chance to play in the SB, being picked up by NO, only to decide to call it a career...

[ThatJerkDave]

Just now, 40Year Pack Fan said:

What about Dorsey Levens?...Was quite effective on passes out of the backfield...

Dorsey was paired with Edgar Bennett.  Also a very good pairing.  I believe that William Henderson spanned the Edgar/Dorsey and Ahman/Najeh years too, he was a fantastic FB. 

I think Eddie Lacy and James Starks were better than the stats may indicate.  I think it was in part due to McCarthy's preference for WRs, he also seemed to prefer to really lean on one back, rather than split the carries.  In a totally un-provable situation, I think Lacy and Starks would be just as productive as Jones and Williams in LaFleur's offense.  

[40Year Pack Fan]

21 hours ago, HighCalebR said:

This is such a weird argument. We wouldn't have drafted MVS if we had those guys. 

Yeah we had Jermichael Finley as well...