It’s not play it’s the personal relationships that he struggles to handle

One, or both, must go.

That was Douglas and he looked caught between choices to me.

He's a dime guy at best.

I like what Gutey did. We already have a good NT in Kenny Clark, and Rashan Gary is better than Sweat; he's one of the NFL's top pass rushers! Savage had potential to be good; we saw some of that in 2020, but the coaches screwed him.

"Nothing dislodged Drayton. My guess is that took some one else after the end of the season."

The most reasoned explanation on Drayton that I'd heard was that nobody is going to hire an outside coordinator mid-season, and that the coaching depth at STs (Rayna Stewart) is so thin--and that Stewart was essentially a coaching rookie--that it would be a self-defeating move to can Drayton mid-season. LaFleur also has to be looking at his ability to hire assistants in the future, and canning guys like that hampers that future process--the same has been said for his retaining JB through the season (ability to attract a top assistant), but I'm scratching my head on that one.

"It looks pretty likely that it took someone else to get LaFleur to let go of Amari and Watkins."

Gute signs those guys and Gute releases those guys. LaF and the assistants decide game plan and who gets on the field. If anything, the snap counts should have been sending Gute a message. These guys aren't getting it done--and I wouldn't read too much into AmRod having a "flash" for Houston. I'd argue that those releases are more on Gute and his pet projects than anything else.

Who will also get screamed at and have fingers pointed at him for not knowing Rodgers' beloved signals.

In fact he will be easily replaced. Thanks, Since '61

With 12 being chosen by the front office at pretty much every turn in his career, any HC/playcaller hired or installed at this point has to be prepared to be only that in name. They have to expect it coming in the door.

As somebody mentioned here yesterday the ball already left from Rodgers hand before Lazard stopped and also looking all the remaining throws that Rodgers made this Sunday only that deep throw has been outlier. Even Cousins threw a similar interception when the receiver gave up on the Route. May be it is on Lazard again it's a may be.
I am not sure but i see this Lazard's approach has changed from the game against cowboys where Watson has broke out. From very next match we saw Lazard giving up on routes. May be Watson taking up the Wr1 has taken some mental toll on him? I always used to like lazard as seems to be tough and selfless guy and really like him as a Wr3 in this team but i have a feeling that Watson taking over that Wr1 has something to do with lazard's approach these last few weeks. His performance hasn't been not bad but not great either.
Just a thought

I was waiting for a Murphy’s Law reference. Cookie for that.

Move down in the first and use 2024 picks as needed to stock two picks or more in the second round and go to town. OT, CB, RB, TEs, WRs, Edge/DE x two and Keeanu Benton in the third. Bisaccia should be given his Holiday Bonus and extended. The rest are looking for their lumps of coal.

So if KC .....who has a worse defense than the Packers....wins in the playoffs.....what does that do your view of things? WE ARE AN AVERAGE defense....how does that result from a "miserable incompetent"

And yes, I want to win the division. You can't control who else makes the playoffs, but if you win the division you're in and you're at home and that's all anybody can ask for.

We had a blocked punt, and you say it gave the game away. I say the multiple, multiple, failures on offense counted much more than one failed play on special teams towards that loss. It certainly wasn't the defense.

Our losses this year...7 points at Minnesota, 9 at Detroit, 10 against the Jets...you can't hang those on the defense or special teams. We scored 17 twice, and lost both of those. Five losses where we couldn't get more than 17 points on the board.

Fix The Offense. This isn't about defense or special teams. It's about a BELOW AVERAGE offense this year and which played very poorly in our last playoff game, despite having some pretty good players on the field.

Do we want to be better in 2023? Then fix the offense, and that doesn't just mean add a bunch of targets and Day 3 line prospects.

If Florio’s article is correct, that’s almost as staggering as the revelation that our STs never practiced in pads till Bissacia insisted upon it. LaFleur just shows a lack of some incredibly basic head coaching understanding. Did he spend his entire time holed up with a “blackboard”?

Some what different scenarios. no huddles, routine events and one specific individual who is awaiting an expected instruction with nothing much else going on.

Theres NFL teams who feast off of it but it requires a qb with running ability which makes it a 3 option play. When you dont have the running qb, it becomes a 2 option play. And when you have a non running qb who doesnt really like to hand the ball off, you now have a pass play where 9 other guys are playing run. It can work, but not with this quarterback.

We're missing two of those first round picks, Stokes and Gary.

I'm going to have to disagree with your choice of a "whole lot more with a whole lot less"

I'm using the Broncos as an example here. They're #3 in scoring defense, even though they have kind of anemic offense that can't keep the defense on the sidelines. They've given up 63 fewer points than the Packers, divided by 14 games is about 4.5 ppg. That's not insignificant, but if the Packers had held every team we played to 5 points less, it would have only moved one game from the loss column to the win column, the Washington game.

Only one team has gone over 28 on us this year, and Denver has had it happen twice. Denver, despite having the #3 defense, is not making the playoffs. Four of the top 9 defenses are good bets to miss the playoffs.

To summarize, even the best defensive teams in the league aren't a "whole lot" better than the Packers (SF is the possible exception). They're a little better. It's like, on one drive, they've held the opponents to a FG instead of a TD. That's the difference.

IMO, you focus on the offense. The 9 top offensive teams are all at .500 or better. The Top 4 offensive teams....KC, Buffalo, Philly, and Dallas....are almost certainly going to be well represented when we get down to 4 or 8 teams. Three of those teams have a defense that's about a FG per game better than us, and KC is actually worse.

Bottom Line: You can win in this league with an average defense and good offense more easily than you can with a good defense and an average offense.

RTS - Then maybe the HC should do whatever is necessary to get everyone on the same page. If any player is not on the same page they should sit. If Rodgers is not on the same page play Love. MLF had his chance to play Love while Rodgers had the thumb injury. It's not Rodgers fault that he wants to play. It's also not Rodger fault that he can read defenses as well as he does and changes plays to get the best matchups. That is part of the QBs job.
His record proves that Rodgers has been very good at his job during his career. HOF, 4 MVPs, highest ever passer rating, numerous All-Pros and Pro Bowls.

It's also not Rodgers fault that MLF is the HC. And just because MLF is the HC doesn't mean that he knows more about play calling or playing QB than Rodgers. It also doesn't mean that he even knows more about coaching. The fact that MLF was hired after only one interview and not sufficiently vetted is not Rodgers fault. In fact it is probable that Murphy hired him because of his inexperience. And it is also probable because MLF expected that having Rodgers as his QB would make the HC job much easier for him. Again, neither case is Rodgers fault.

Finally none of. us know if Rodgers is changing any of MLFs play calls. just about every play call has one or more audibles depending on the personnel package. It's extremely possible that Rodgers audibles into one of the plays called as part of the original play call. It never ceases to amaze me that even when the team wins people complain about Rodgers and blame him for everything and anything that goes wrong even in a winning effort. Makes no sense to me. Thanks, Since '61

You need to understand that the coach on the sideline sends the play on to the field long before the defense has lined up. So when he chooses the play, he does not have the slightest clue how the defense will line up.

When the QB brings the team to the line and looks at the defense, he will often discover that the chosen play is actually a horrible choice because of the way the defense has lined up. So he needs to be able to get out of the bad play and to chose one that will work better. That's the whole point of audibles. Every single team does this on virtually every single play.

Oftentimes teams break the huddle with contingency plans already in place... "if we see this from the defense, then we do that, but if we see that from the defense, then we do the other thing." Again, standard operating procedure.

You hire the offensive minded coach so that during the week you can identify the best way of dealing with these contingencies when they inevitably happen during the game.

Where was the TE to move the short passing game along? Oh, yeah, Big Dog fumbled heading into the hot zone. No TE receiving threat, Gutey.

I am speaking only my opinion in regards to, "It's always easier to blame one guy (the QB in this case). It simplifies the alleged understanding of the game".

It is only easier to blame one guy when that one guy is the source of my angst and frustration. I can't think of another player on the roster (def or st or off) that has said what he has said about the organization or threatened the organization to leave.

He can do what he wants and it isn't his fault (after a while) if no one holds him accountable. I am frustrated with the front office and a couple coaches. I agree, #12 isn't always to blame, but the blame he receives...he brought on the majority of it himself. With the $ he earned in his new contract, I was hoping he would be more of a team player (in season and off). I am concerned about his commitment I guess.

I appreciate your passion and admire your devotion to the Packers and #12. My devotion is to the Packers.

Thanks for reading...

Since, it is easier to blame 20 others pkayers from time to time. But when that player do not held himself accounable for his mistakes, neither care about his team mates nor for chemistry in the locker room, than in many flaws this team has he is guilty for at least 20%. That is how much of team cap space (salaries for other players) falls on him.

ACR was and never be the leader of the men. He just do not know how to be. Like Brett Favre. Brett has "Ministry of defense" as team leader and ACR had Charles Woodson. While those 2 were on the team both won one SB.

During the last play off loss, ACR made much more mistakes than D or ST. Let say D did not allowed TD. Just 2 field goals. ST allowed TD and missed FG. 2 mistakes. Are you willing to start to talk about many ACR mistakes in that game, with iceing on the cake at the last Packers possesion.

If he just did not made mistake and throw the ball to either wide open Lazard or ESB, game would be over and nobody would talk about ST TD.

So, stories about loss vs 49ers is on ST and D is not credible.

Thank you!

That's what I like about how you analyze things Since '61, you base your analysis on facts not emotions.
You have been critical of AR when criticism is deserved, but you do not let whatever you may think of Aaron Rodgers the person, cloud your judgement of what you see on the field. That my friend is how it should be done. Kudos!!

"if anyone, played their position as well as Rodgers plays QB we'd be undefeated"

Ahhh, #12's play this year? (we would be undefeated?)

Ouch. Merry Christmas to you, too. "The type of analysis that excludes critical thinking".

I'm going to disagree with you on this. There's plenty of critical thinking involved in this. You started off with these rhetorical questions

""How often do we see the offense score and the defense give up an easy TD on the opponent's next possession. Or how often do we see long time consuming drives which just eat up the clock or a stupid penalty which extends a drive that should have been ended."

Good questions. Perhaps you, or someone else, would like to go back over the season and count them, and then look at every other team in the league and count the number of times it happened to them. And then, I'm pretty sure, you'd see that the Packers are AVERAGE in that regard, too.

I'm not going to spend my time doing that, and I'm not going to say nobody ever makes a bad play, because it happens all the time on the Packers, and on other teams, too And sometimes, bad games. But over the course of the season, the Packer defense is AVERAGE , just like last year and the year before.

Then, this beauty.

""And here we are out of the playoffs ""

Yes, we essentially are. Because we scored 7 points against Minnesota and 9 against Detroit. Even a mediocre offensive performance could have won those games.

In this year, 2022, and going back to our playoff loss last year, we are a below average offensive team and an average defensive team. That's my analysis, and I apologize for the lack of critical thinking involved.