First of all, no team that is high in the running for most penalties is the best O-Line, especially one that has let not one but two pro bowlers walk in the last couple years. Our pass blocking looks a little better this year because Graham knows how to block and the new RBs are actually picking up the blitz, so its not as bad as the last two years. But a fair amount of that can be chalked up to a lack of run pass balance in the playcalling and a lack of discipline in practice (12 being hurt and not practicing most of the week likely hurts here too), which is a coaching issue. Last week, we looked great.... against that terrible Lions pass rush, so maybe there is light at the end of the tunnel. But there is a timing issue that's making the protection inconsistent from week to week.
And how skewed are Nelsons numbers when we have a sure HOF QB and played the Bills and Deadskins in the same stretch? You know what Cobb has that Nelson doesn't? A three drop game. So yeah, Nelson might have a couple games where he was held to 50 yards receiving on an abjectly terrible team, but he is STILL doing better than just about anyone on our roster aside from Adams. If anything the numbers are skewed AGAINST him because he does not have Rodgers throwing to him.
And no, now with Teddy the Ghost gone, we don't have the ridiculous cap room we were carrying before. Chalk some of that up to overpaying Clayfaker, burning through three TE Free Agents when the first one was perfectly good, and of course AR deciding "screw it, at least I am going to get paid" this year (byproduct of that ridiculous Cousins contract). But if they were seriously considering Mack, then obviously we have room in there somewhere.
Rodgers holding the ball too long on plays started up again this past Sunday. And talk about skewing numbers, if you mix his rocket ball releases from the Bears game with this one, yeah the average looks good. But clearly at least one of his fumbles was the direct result of him holding the ball too long, which my gut tells me is a lack of trust with the newer receivers. Time will correct some of that, but we have seen this from him before and its the biggest knock on him right now, in my view. We don't know how often he is audibling out of 1yd run up the gut plays (and last week we needed more of those, frankly), but we can see his hesitancy with holding the ball and not taking what the D was offering him. That's a concern that falls entirely on him and if he cannot practice all week, its going to be harder to correct.
Overall, the most worrying thing in this season is the whack a mole nature of our problems. The three things that have been consistently bad have been the slow starts, the complete absence of linebacker play, and too many deep pass plays when five and diming would do just fine. Oh, and late game D collapse, but considering how little there is to work with and its year one of a new system, I can accept that as growing pains. The other issues have been random and isolated, like our pass coverage, kicking, late game offense petering out, dropped passes, and turnovers. To me, this points to a lack of both concentration and fundamentals. That ALWAYS points back to coaching. Yeah maybe you can blame Philbin's return, but having seen this over and over, plus AR finally getting fed up with it publicly, its not rocket science who the problem is here. But lucky for us, AR chose to stay and stick it out, plus his contract is so massive even the Mighty McDoofus can't toss him under the bus like he does to everyone else. I see the front office making changes and many are good, I just hope they get the literal elephant in the room too.
As for the Brady thing, no one knows for sure but him. But unless he really is a "system QB" under Darth Bellicheat, I struggle to find a reason as to why a guy with his stats, rings, and experience would consistently take below top pay at his position. I am open to other theories on that one, honestly. Maybe Bill deflates his balls for him as part of his contract...…..
