Playing the " What If" game...

[Packer Brother]

Had the Packers beat Seattle & Atlanta in 2014 & 2016, do you think they would've defeated New England in the SB(s)?

I don't want to bring up bad memories for anyone or anything. Just curious.

 

[XPack]

Perhaps....but I don't think so.... without ruling out a upset.

Looks wavery ..... That's how it is. If it was a series a best of 5, I'd say Pat's would win it, but in a SB anything might happen.

I'd say we had a 40% chance of winning. Not good, but can't rule out either.

 

[C-Lee]

The 2014 Packers were the best team in the NFL

 

[Patriotplayer90]

The 2014 Packers were the best team in the NFL

Not even close. Average defense at best, 1 good receiving option with a couple of other guys that Rodgers elevated. They looked the same as most other years, except that they could run the ball.

 

[Zartan]

I dont know. Maybe in 2014 but Hell no in 2016. The 2016 squad was too banged up on defense.

 

[mradtke66]

2016? Nope. We had serious flaws on that team and BB would have been able to exploit us easily.

2014? Depends entirely, and I cannot stress this enough, on Rodgers' health.

Go to the regular season when we did beat the Pats. Great game and we won. Woo us. But look at *how* that happened.

BB's general approach is to take away your greatest weapon and/or the part of your game he fears/worries about the most. So how did BB play the Packer offense?

1. Double Nelson with the No. 2 corner and a Safety.

2. Solo Cobb w/ Revis

3. Force you to beat us with your No. 3 option ( Adams )

And most important of all:

4. Keep Rodgers in the pocket. Don't let him escape, don't let him scramble.

More than anything else, this tells me what BB was worried about--Rodgers breaking contain, making plays, running for 1st downs. He stuck to this principle so hard, they never really rushed him. It was rush-contain in the extreme.

Now we have gimpy, can barely run Rodgers. BB no longer has to adhere to no. 4 on the list up there. What does he do instead? I'd be worried.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Not even close. Average defense at best, 1 good receiving option with a couple of other guys that Rodgers elevated. They looked the same as most other years, except that they could run the ball.

The 2014 Packers were a scared coach away from dominating the Seahawks in Seattle. That "average" defense forced Wilson into his worst game ever. The Seahawks, in turn, were a confused coach away from beating New England. The Packers lost the 2014 Super Bowl because MM refused to run the ball in Buffalo and because he was scared of trying to gain 3 yards in Seattle (yes, obviously other factors came into play, but those only occurred after the scared stuff).

2016, probably not.

 

[Ogsponge]

What if the Packers had drafted Sanders instead of Mandarich...
What if Sterling Sharpe was never injured...
What if Collins was never injured...
What if 4th and 26 never happened...
What if Dix had batted down the biggest rainbow, lame duck pass in the history of the NFL...
What if...
What?
...

Doesn’t matter...

 

[Poppa San]

What if Julia Roberts walked into the bar before my now wife did?

 

[PackerDNA]

What if Julia Roberts walked into the bar before my now wife did?

Your now wife would still be your wife?

 

[Deleted member 6794]

I believe the 2014 team would have beaten the Patriots but there's no way the Packers would have won in '16.

The 2014 Packers were the best team in the NFL

Unfortunately that only lasted for 55 minutes.

 

[PackAttack12]

What if the Packers had drafted Sanders instead of Mandarich...
What if Sterling Sharpe was never injured...
What if Collins was never injured...
What if 4th and 26 never happened...
What if Dix had batted down the biggest rainbow, lame duck pass in the history of the NFL...
What if...
What?
...

Doesn’t matter...

Lawwwd. Have a little fun. It's not even July!

Good topic. I think that the 2014 team would have had a really good chance to beat the Patriots. Why? Because they had just beaten the Patriots earlier in the year. Granted that game was at Lambeau, but the Patriots were no strangers to the elements of an environment like that. Rodgers had the benefit that year of having a running game for a change and also had the benefit of having the only half way decent defense he's had since 2010.

I find it incredibly hard to think however that the Packers would have defeated the Patriots in 2016. Two weeks for Belichick to prepare for that laughable excuse for a football team? Probably would have been ugly, even with Rodgers doing all he could do.

The real crime in all of this however is that we still have yet to get the epic showdown that we've been deprived of. Rodgers v.s. Brady. Far and away the two best quarterbacks in the game today. It would likely be the greatest quarterback showdown ever in the Super Bowl that I can think of. Perhaps Montana v.s. Marino. But that one didn't really live up to the hype when all was said and done.

Hopefully this year we have a passing of the torch from Brady to Rodgers and the Packers win its 5th Super Bowl.

 

[swhitset]

Your now wife would still be your wife?

Alternatively... she might have left with Julia.

 

[Patriotplayer90]

The 2014 Packers were a scared coach away from dominating the Seahawks in Seattle. That "average" defense forced Wilson into his worst game ever. The Seahawks, in turn, were a confused coach away from beating New England. The Packers lost the 2014 Super Bowl because MM refused to run the ball in Buffalo and because he was scared of trying to gain 3 yards in Seattle (yes, obviously other factors came into play, but those only occurred after the scared stuff).

2016, probably not.

Wilson had perhaps the worst game of his career, and we still couldn't win. That same team shredded the defense in Week 1. They were better at their worst, and significantly better at their best. Yes, we beat NE at home, but so did the Dolphins last year. That doesn't mean they are a better team. Just like KC and Seattle beating Philadelphia last year doesn't make them the best teams in the league.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

Wilson had perhaps the worst game of his career, and we still couldn't win. That same team shredded the defense in Week 1. They were better at their worst, and significantly better at their best. Yes, we beat NE at home, but so did the Dolphins last year. That doesn't mean they are a better team. Just like KC and Seattle beating Philadelphia last year doesn't make them the best teams in the league.

Yes, that's my point. The defense forced Wilson into the worst game of his career and coaching managed to ruin the performance. I think the team would have beaten a very beatable Pats team with a much worse defense than the Seahawks and playing on a neutral field.

 

[HardRightEdge]

What if pigs had wings? Thompson could have drafted one and Capers could have had him fly around the backfield knocking down deep balls. Pigs are pretty smart.

 

[Patriotplayer90]

Yes, that's my point. The defense forced Wilson into the worst game of his career and coaching managed to ruin the performance. I think the team would have beaten a very beatable Pats team with a much worse defense than the Seahawks and playing on a neutral field.

He also looked like one of the greatest QBs in the history of the league at the end of that game. I don't think that the defense was solely responsible for his poor play, seeing as we never forced a good QB to throw 5 INTs, and he's a very efficient QB who never throws that many. He just had a really bad day, we let them hang around long enough for him to turn it around.

I agree that coaching was the reason that we couldn't finish them off, but that was far from a good representation of our defense, if one were attempting to use it as support to the argument of us being the best team in the league.

 

[PackerDNA]

Alternatively... she might have left with Julia.

Ouch!

 

[gbgary]

14 yes. 16 no...they got all they deserved in 16.

 

[sschind]

What if Julia Roberts walked into the bar before my now wife did?

I can't think of a better response than swhitset so I'll just leave it at that.

What if the Packers had drafted Sanders instead of Mandarich...
What if Sterling Sharpe was never injured...
What if Collins was never injured...
What if 4th and 26 never happened...
What if Dix had batted down the biggest rainbow, lame duck pass in the history of the NFL...
What if...
What?
...

Doesn’t matter...

What if the Packers had drafted Sanders instead of Mandarich... - Barry sanders might still have the same number of superbowl rings as he has now.

What if Sterling Sharpe was never injured...- He would be in the HOF and talked about as one of the top 5 WRs of all time.

What if Collins was never injured...- we wouyldn't have looked so inept in the defensive backfield for so many years.

What if 4th and 26 never happened... The Packers maight have another SB trophy in their trophy case.

What if Dix had batted down the biggest rainbow, lame duck pass in the history of the NFL...- Tha packers might have yet another SB trophy in their trophy case.

Is that what you wanted? Lots of things don't matter but we talk about them anyway. I suppose we could always discuss Jameis Winston's suspension in the General NFL talk thread. That would be so much more productive.

I have one. What if some fans lightened up a bit and had some fun...

 

[Packer Brother]

What if the Packers had drafted Sanders instead of Mandarich...
What if Sterling Sharpe was never injured...
What if Collins was never injured...
What if 4th and 26 never happened...
What if Dix had batted down the biggest rainbow, lame duck pass in the history of the NFL...
What if...
What?
...

Doesn’t matter...

Which play is this your referring to?

 

[Poppa San]

Which play is this your referring to?

2014 NFCCG 2pt conversion.

 

[C-Lee]

2014 NFCCG 2pt conversion.

 

[Sunshinepacker]

He also looked like one of the greatest QBs in the history of the league at the end of that game. I don't think that the defense was solely responsible for his poor play, seeing as we never forced a good QB to throw 5 INTs, and he's a very efficient QB who never throws that many. He just had a really bad day, we let them hang around long enough for him to turn it around.

I agree that coaching was the reason that we couldn't finish them off, but that was far from a good representation of our defense, if one were attempting to use it as support to the argument of us being the best team in the league.

At some point we need to realize how silly our standards are. The Packers defense forced a top 5 QB into the WORST game of his career and we're classifying it as a poor representation? You're contending that the Packers just lucked into that terrible game from Wilson? That must really tick off all those good/elite defenses that Wilson has carved up.

 

[HardRightEdge]

At some point we need to realize how silly our standards are. The Packers defense forced a top 5 QB into the WORST game of his career and we're classifying it as a poor representation? You're contending that the Packers just lucked into that terrible game from Wilson? That must really tick off all those good/elite defenses that Wilson has carved up.

You mean like 200 yds. and 3 TDs in the last 7 minutes of that game? That was clearly not Wilson's worst game of his career and the Packer defense was clearly not good. The closers won, the other guys didn't. If you can't close you do not earn a designation of "good". There's not much more to it than that. Fire Capers! was 3 years late in coming.