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Cheese Curds: Green Bay Packers Updates


swede700

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Jimmy Graham signed a three-year deal with the Packers a year ago expected to become a favorite target of Aaron Rodgers. But the five-time Pro Bowl tight end scored only two touchdowns, catching 55 passes for 636 yards. Does Graham have anything left? The 32-year-old insists he does and will prove his doubters wrong.

Graham:  “I mean we all have our ups and downs.  Obviously, there was a lot going on last year for all of us in the building. But all that’s in the past. I know the player that I am, and I know I still have juice; I know I still can run. I’m going to go prove a lot of people wrong. Obviously, last year was disappointing for everybody. I’m not used to losing. I don’t think anybody here is, you know? And for me, it was not a good year. I’m completely focused on putting my best foot forward and being the player that I am: Scoring in the red zone and being that big threat on third down. I mean, I’ve got to get back to that, and I take it serious. It’s something that eats at me every single day, not making the playoffs and sometimes not making the plays that I should have. So you better believe I’m going to be ready.”

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/06/02/jimmy-graham-i-am-going-to-prove-a-lot-of-people-wrong/

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On 6/3/2019 at 1:02 AM, vike daddy said:

Jimmy Graham signed a three-year deal with the Packers a year ago expected to become a favorite target of Aaron Rodgers. But the five-time Pro Bowl tight end scored only two touchdowns, catching 55 passes for 636 yards. Does Graham have anything left? The 32-year-old insists he does and will prove his doubters wrong.

Graham:  “I mean we all have our ups and downs.  Obviously, there was a lot going on last year for all of us in the building. But all that’s in the past. I know the player that I am, and I know I still have juice; I know I still can run. I’m going to go prove a lot of people wrong. Obviously, last year was disappointing for everybody. I’m not used to losing. I don’t think anybody here is, you know? And for me, it was not a good year. I’m completely focused on putting my best foot forward and being the player that I am: Scoring in the red zone and being that big threat on third down. I mean, I’ve got to get back to that, and I take it serious. It’s something that eats at me every single day, not making the playoffs and sometimes not making the plays that I should have. So you better believe I’m going to be ready.”

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/06/02/jimmy-graham-i-am-going-to-prove-a-lot-of-people-wrong/

Few Packer fans think Graham is going to do anything remotely productive this year, but he is. 

If you looked closely at Graham last year, he was frequently open and not targeted.  His struggles last year were more on Rodgers than on himself, and yet he's taking the blame for it. 

In spite of clear and visual evidence of Rodgers literally avoiding him when he was open and a broken thumb, Jimmy Graham was still top 10 in every major receiving category in the NFL except for touchdowns. 

Although most Packer fans are willing to write that off as him sucking, those who see Rodgers as one of the biggest problems to the offense last year could see that Graham is still capable of being a weapon. 

As to his lack of red zone production, again, that is Rodgers.  There's a reason why Jordy Nelson had so many touchdowns in the red zone, and it's because Rodgers trusted him and had a strong chemistry with him.  It's the same reason Rodgers had his worst red zone season of his career this past year... He had only one player he trusted there, which was Davante Adams. 

With Rodgers, it takes time.  Every single Packer fan laments the loss of Jared Cook, and yet Cook's numbers to Graham's numbers are eerily similar in their first years in Green Bay. 

A lot of people also like to act like Graham is over the hill when he's not.  Gonzalez had an 80/800/8 season at 36, Gates is 38, Witten is 47...

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Quarterback Aaron Rodgers doesn’t seem to be thrilled with the fact that new coach Matt LaFleur’s system entails little freedom at the line of scrimmage for the guy who gets the snap.

Rodgers: “I don’t think you want me to turn off 11 years. There’s stuff that not many people in the league can do at the line. That’s not a humble brag. That’s just a fact.”

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/06/16/aaron-rodgers-wants-more-freedom-at-the-line-of-scrimmage/

 

Let's all remember how Favre was considered such a diva.

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10 hours ago, SemperFeist said:

Can’t say that he’s wrong, though. 

Which one, Favre or Rodgers?  I personally think Favre was light-years better than Rodgers is at improvising on the fly.  I'm just not sure that Rodgers is as good at that as he thinks he is.  He is far more talented than Favre was, but there probably aren't many QBs better than Favre at playground-style of football.  

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Favre's playground style of football probably led to more careless turnovers too. I think Rodgers is probably more efficient at it than Favre, but Favre probably had more memorable moments and game winning type situations. Could be completely wrong here but Favre was known for being a turnover prone gun slinger.

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5 minutes ago, vikingsrule said:

Favre's playground style of football probably led to more careless turnovers too. I think Rodgers is probably more efficient at it than Favre, but Favre probably had more memorable moments and game winning type situations. Could be completely wrong here but Favre was known for being a turnover prone gun slinger.

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He certainly was, which is why Holmgren had to rein him in as much as he could, but in a 2-minute scenario at the end of a game, there weren't many I would take over him...Rodgers included.  

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1 hour ago, swede700 said:

Which one, Favre or Rodgers?  I personally think Favre was light-years better than Rodgers is at improvising on the fly.  I'm just not sure that Rodgers is as good at that as he thinks he is.  He is far more talented than Favre was, but there probably aren't many QBs better than Favre at playground-style of football.  

I think the thing that separates Favre and Rodgers is that Favre seemed to take responsibility when the improvisation turned ugly.  Rodgers will usually blame anyone else other than himself.

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The Lions tried to trade tight end Michael Roberts to the Patriots, but the deal was rescinded last Friday and Roberts was placed on waivers instead. Now Roberts will be headed to one of Detroit’s divisional rivals instead.

The NFL’s daily transaction report brings word that the Packers have claimed Roberts and added him to their 90-man roster.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/06/17/packers-claim-michael-roberts-off-waivers/

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On 2019-06-16 at 10:36 AM, Outpost31 said:

If you looked closely at Graham last year, he was frequently open and not targeted.  His struggles last year were more on Rodgers than on himself, and yet he's taking the blame for it. 

In spite of clear and visual evidence of Rodgers literally avoiding him when he was open and a broken thumb, Jimmy Graham was still top 10 in every major receiving category in the NFL except for touchdowns. 

Graham was 9th in receptions and 9th in receiving yards, for TEs.

But he played nearly 800 snaps on a pass-heavy offense with Aaron Rodgers at QB. He was 3rd in the league in routes run and 7th in targets, for TEs. He was was 29th in yards per route run (out of 40 qualifying TEs), and 31st in passer rating when targeted. 

You can put some of the blame on Rodgers or the offensive scheme but PFF graded Graham as mediocre: 59.4 overall (31st of 41) and 59.9 receiving grade (28th). 

That wasn't a one year blip either. Graham graded at 66.0 overall in 2017 (20th of 51) and 65.3 receiving (23rd). That was by far his worst year until that point. Until 2016, Graham graded no lower than the mid-70s in any single year. He had 2 years grading in the 80s (including an 85.4 in 2016) and another just above 90. 

So his last year with Seattle was a major downturn, and he took another step back in 2018 in Green Bay. 

I've watched Graham pretty closely for the last few years -- he's declining. He turns 33 in November. I wouldn't expect too much from him this year. 

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