December 1st, 2008

In Praise Of Spitz and Sitton

packeraaron in Jason Spitz, Josh Sitton, Scott Wells

In the wake of Scott Wells’ mysterious concussion, Jason Spitz and Josh Sitton made the best of their second chances at the center and right guard positions respectively.

I was ready for the worst when Spitz had to slide over and Sitton was inserted but I have to say, they both shocked me with their play, in the best possible way. Spitz in particular did a great job of setting the assignments and seemed to pick up nearly every stunt the Panthers threw at him. Sitton got pushed around a bit, but overall did a solid job off the bench. It bodes well for the future that Sitton could come in cold and play at a high level. And it’s encouraging that he obviously didn’t stop trying to improve after his less than stellar performance earlier in the year.


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August 18th, 2008

Hey, Whatever Happened To…

packeraaron in Alan Barbre, Jason Spitz, Josh Sitton, Mike McCarthy, Offensive Line

… Alan Barbre competing for the left guard spot? I mean, I understand wanting to get your rookie Sitton on the field and all, and the fact that Campen and McCarthy have repeatedly stated that Jason Spitz is their best guard regardless of side (wonder how they feel about THAT statement after watching the tape from Saturday night) but how in the hell does Barbre go from looking good in OTAs, then lining up with the starters on the second day of training camp, to barely being able to sniff the starting lineup?

McCarthy and Campen need to get this fixed and stop screwing around. If Sitton is that good, fine, but Spitz has shown that he can be bullrushed regardless of which side he is on (or even if he’s in the middle - anyone remember his stint at center against the Bears last year? Not pretty) Let Barbe at least get a look in. As Vic Carucci notes over at NFL.com, Barbre looked good against the Bengals. ‘Good’ is not a word that leaps to minds when assessing Spitz’ performance.


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August 17th, 2008

‘Finesse’ Team Rears Its Ugly Head

packeraaron in Jason Spitz, Josh Sitton, Mike McCarthy, Scott Wells

Toward the end of last year, I made the observation that the Packers under Mike McCarthy had become a finesse team. Last night, McCarthy’s team played true to that moniker. Every which way, they were beat on the lines, they were beat on almost every hit, and they were clearly the team that has spent a great deal less time worrying about hitting and tackling and a great deal more time worrying about rest and recovery during training camp.

The biggest culprit for this finesse label is the offensive line. Football is a game for men. Strong, hard, hopefully a bit nasty, men. The interior of the Packers’ offensive line is populated by boys. Growing boys, to be sure, but up against the likes of Pat Williams or Tommie Harris, boys. It’s a very real problem that McCarthy seems content to wait on. Only a man armed with a long-term contract would be comfortable sharing the sentiments below from McCarthy’s end-of-season press conference:

I like the body type of our offensive line. The positive is they’re all young. They’re all going to get stronger, they’re going to get bigger, they’re going to be smarter, their fundamentals are going to improve. We have so much in front of us. I’m extremely pleased with our ability to pass protect. I’ll take our group over anybody in the league as far as what we ask them to do in pass protection, and the performance level of our pass protection. Our pass protection was clearly better this year than last year, and on top of that, the stress of what we put our players in this year was 10-fold what we asked them to do last year. So that part of it, they’ve done a great job of. But we need to pick up the run-game performance, and having Ryan Grant is a big part of that. Having a full offseason to develop and play the upcoming season the way you want to play, as opposed to going through growing pains like we went from last year’s offseason program when we didn’t really know who the runner was going to be, and offensive linemen fighting for jobs, so now we have a lot of competition there. I think just the maturation of our players and being in year three will help us.

Now, I’m no expert. But it would seem to me that if players like Jason Spitz, Daryn Colledge, Alan Barbre, and Josh Sitton are supposed to “play the upcoming season the way you want to play”, and you had no plans to bring in the likes of Alan Faneca in the offseason (now there’s a man - who’s now blocking for Mr. Favre, in a small slice of irony) perhaps it would have been prudent to start hitting in pads from the start of camp, and more than once or twice a week. Because right now, the young pups on the offensive line looked surprised at the ferociousness of the game.

To his credit, McCarthy seems to have noticed this:

I thought they were more physical than we were, and that’s…you know. I need to get that fixed. So I did not have the team prepared, and we will get that done this week.

Just hope it’s not too late for the boys, Mike.


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August 7th, 2008

On Guard

packeraaron in Josh Sitton, Offensive Line

Lost amongst the Favre brew ha-ha, (and really, what football info hasn’t been?) is the fact that starting center Scott Wells has been out with an injured ‘trunk’. (Don’t ask) While no one thinks it’s serious, he’s been out a good couple days now and it is definitely something to watch.

The good news is that Wells absence has allowed rookie Josh Sitton a chance to shine with Jason Spitz moving over to center while Wells is out. (Remember, Spitz was drafted as a center) Watching Sitton during Family Night, I can tell you the kid has the one thing the Packers’ offensive line has lacked since McCarthy installed his zone-blocking scheme. To put it simply, Sitton’s got a bit of nasty to him. The guy keeps blocking up until (and possibly just after) the whistle blows. And for a team that was the worst in the league on third and short, he’s a welcome addition.

Now word comes that McCarthty has indicated that Sitton is being given a chance to win the right guard spot, indicating that Spitz could move to left guard if Sitton was inserted on the right after Wells’ return. Anything that sends Colledge to the bench is fine with me…


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