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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TOPHAT" data-source="post: 147226" data-attributes="member: 781">DRAFT REVIEWS: OFFENSE PLAYMAKERS...IS IT ENOUGH?<a href="http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/index.php?ntid=132228&ntpid=1" target="_blank">http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/sports/index.php?ntid=132228&ntpid=1</a>Packers' draft still hot topic   BY OATESFor fans and critics, it has become the draft that won't go away. No matter how much they try to forget about the Green Bay Packers' performance in last weekend's NFL draft, people can't let it go. It seems everyone has a strong opinion on general manager Ted Thompson, though those opinions are deeply divided.  Some wanted Thompson to trade for wide receiver Randy Moss, some were violently opposed to it. Some wanted him to draft an offensive playmaker in the first round, some wanted him to take the best available player. Some wanted him to trade up for a halfback, some wanted him to trade down and gather additional picks.  The only thing people seem to agree on is that quarterback Brett Favre must be seething as he sits on his tractor in Mississippi and wonders why Thompson went a third straight year without adding a sure-fire playmaker to the offense. Some think Favre should sue for non-support. Some think he should have called Thompson and retired on the spot.But with all due respect to Favre, the greatest player in Packers history, it doesn't really matter what he thinks. It's not Thompson's job to make sure Favre is happy with every decision. It is, however, his job to maximize Favre's ability in the final years of his career. Thompson fell down on the job again last weekend, but not because he didn't placate Favre. It was because he didn't give Favre the means to be fully productive at his age and diminished skill level. That affects the entire team, not just Favre.Despite his timid approach to building a team, Thompson has done some good things in Green Bay. With a whopping 34 draft picks in three years, he has fortified a roster depleted by Mike Sherman's mismanagement of the draft.  The one thing Thompson has failed to do, however, is add game-breakers to a sluggish offense. Indeed, it has become increasingly apparent that Thompson is reading out of a 10-year-old playbook, one written by his mentor, former general manager Ron Wolf.During the Packers' Super Bowl years, Wolf spent his money elsewhere and handed Favre mid-round draft picks at the skill positions. In 1996 and '97, Edgar Bennett (fourth round) and Dorsey Levens (fifth) were the halfbacks, Robert Brooks (third) and Antonio Freeman (third) were the wide receivers and Mark Chmura (sixth) was the tight end.  All of those players were good, but none was truly special. The Packers got away with it because Favre was such a dominant playmaker himself.At 37, Favre simply isn't the playmaker he once was. Yet, Thompson is still trying to surround him with good but not great skill players. He doesn't seem to understand that Favre needs more help than he once did.  By refusing Saturday to trade for Cleveland's first-round pick in 2008, Thompson showed he wants to win now. That's why it's curious that he didn't give Favre more help. If Favre is going to be the quarterback, why not give him the weapons he needs at this point in his career?Wolf has said often that his biggest regret is not putting enough weapons around Favre during his prime. Thompson is doing the same thing at a time when Favre needs them more than ever.__________________________________________________________________________________<a href="http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/PKR01/70506031/1989" target="_blank">http://www.packersnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070506/PKR01/70506031/1989</a>Mike Vandermause column: Packers' offense remains biggest unknown The regular season is four months away, so perhaps it’s too soon to begin targeting the Green Bay Packers’ potential problems. Who can say what hidden roster gem might emerge and make a major impact?  But staring at the upcoming season from a distance, there’s one nagging issue that can’t be ignored. Assuming no significant free agents are signed, a giant question mark looms over the Packers’ offense. This is a team that finished in the bottom third of the NFL in scoring last year and froze up in the red zone. This is a team that lost featured running back Ahman Green. This is a team that signed no free agents on the offensive side of the ball.  How are the Packers going to score this season? If they ranked near the bottom of the league last year, what’s going to change in 2007 with quarterback Brett Favre a year older and no experienced workhorse ready to step in and replace Green?  It’s possible the Packers will become a spinoff of the Chicago Bears, in which they rely on a dominant defense and happily accept whatever production they can muster out of the offense. It’s not the worst way to go, especially if you believe that defense wins championships.  Packers general manager Ted Thompson, for one, isn’t sounding the alarms over a lack of talent on offense.   “I think we have a pretty decent group of guys here,” he said of the offense following last weekend’s draft. “As a team, I think the best way, the most consistent way to get better is to get better from within. Our own guys have to try to keep getting better.”  That seems to indicate no significant upgrades to the roster will be forthcoming. If the Packers improve on offense, they must do it with the talent on hand.  Last year’s rookie linemen — Daryn Colledge, Tony Moll and Jason Spitz — are bound to get better, as will promising receiver Greg Jennings. But does coach Mike McCarthy have enough overall talent to make the offense flourish? Or will the Packers be forced to scratch and claw for every touchdown?   “I am never one to complain about who’s not here,” McCarthy said Sunday following the team’s rookie orientation camp. “My focus has always been on who’s here.”  It appears the Packers will use a running-back-by-committee approach that includes holdover Vernand Morency and rookie Brandon Jackson. “The role Ahman played and the job he did is going to have to be shared by some people,” said Thompson. “I think it’s going to be more of a group effort.” That might be the Packers’ best and only option, since Jackson never started a full season in college and Morency has been used strictly as a change-of-pace back in the NFL.  History indicates rookie wide receivers aren’t typically difference-makers, meaning big things shouldn’t be expected of Packers third-round draft choice James Jones or fifth-rounder David Clowney.  With the possible exception of Jackson, the rookie contributions shouldn’t matter too much if McCarthy’s theory about last year’s offensive struggles is correct. “We didn’t at the end of the day say, ‘Well, we just don’t have enough playmakers,’ ” McCarthy said.  “We have players here that we need to put in position to be successful. If we do that and everybody does their job, we’ll be more productive.” Whether that’s a realistic possibility or wishful thinking remains to be seen.</blockquote>

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