Packers Daily Links: Thompson Cites Injuries as Sample of Team's Bad Luck
Packers general manager Ted Thompson met with the media while at the Senior Bowl. That and more in today's Daily Links...
Catching up with Packers general manager Ted Thompson was Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, both of whom were down in Mobile, Ala. for the Senior Bowl on Monday. In an interview, Thompson looked back at the 2012 season and made mention of the team's bad luck in 2012 from a health standpoint. "I'm proud of our team. I'm proud of what they did," Thompson is quoted as saying. "We went through some tough spots in terms of injuries but hung in there. .?.?. We're not saying that as an excuse. I'm just saying that it was a tougher year and our guys persevered." Thompson also placed tacit faith in defensive coordinator Dom Capers by saying he had confidence in the entire coaching staff.
A connection was made by Tyler Dunne connecting Syracuse quarterback Ryan Nassib and Packers head coach Mike McCarthy. "In preparation for Senior Bowl week -- and eventually the NFL draft --- the Syracuse quarterback has been training with Paul Hackett," writes Dunne. "That's the same Paul Hackett who served as a mentor of sorts to the Packers' head coach at the University of Pittsburgh and then the Kansas City Chiefs. McCarthy was drawn to Hackett's extreme attention to detail, the unique way he broke down the quarterback position." You can just envision McCarthy picking Hackett's mind on Nassib at some point before the Draft, but the Packers may not have an opportunity to do so. Although it's not an opinion shared by everybody, Russ Lande of the National Football Post thinks Nassib could be the No. 1 overall Draft choice.
Among other prospects at the Senior Bowl, Michigan quarterback turned wide receiver Denard Robinson cited a couple current Packers players who played multiple positions in college and had success in the NFL. “I’m pretty sure you’ve seen it," Robinson told JSOnline about Randall Cobb. "You see it from a lot of guys. A lot of guys have it. Charles Woodson. He had the juice. He had that mojo. He could make a play from any position on the football field.” Robinson is looking to make the transition to some sort of role other than quarterback in the NFL.
More on Denard Robinson and Packers connections comes from Packer Report.
Offensive line coach James Campen talked to Wes Hodkiewicz of the Green Bay Press-Gazette about tackle Derek Sherrod's future in Green Bay. “I expect him to be back and competing for a spot,” Campen is quoted as saying. “He was just on the cusp of doing some very good things when he got hurt. It was there and unfortunately we had the injury in Kansas City and it’s taken a little bit longer than we had thought to get ready, but we expect him to be back and ready to go.” As a former first-round draft choice, Sherrod's career has been disappointing thus far. But he deserves the chance to show he can come back from injury. The offseason will be a critical one for Sherrod.
A couple more items at the Press-Gazette are on Josh Sitton and Marshall Newhouse.
Fox Sports Wisconsin published a couple articles on Desmond Bishop, defending the read-option and another Aaron Rodgers MACC Fund visit with a child.
The Aaron Rodgers video appears at ESPNMilwaukee.com too.
The Packers offseason is discussed by Bob McGinn in a video at JSOnline.
Needs of the Packers in the NFL Draft are brought up by Adam Czech at AllGreenBayPackers.com.
A few Packers Super Bowl connections are noted at Acme Packing Company.
The Chicago Cubs visited Lambeau Field as part of their research for renovations planned at Wrigley Field.
Video: Packers Hall of Fame Johnnie Gray appeared on Clubhouse Live on Monday...
Brian Carriveau is the author of "It's Just a Game: Big League Drama in Small Town America," a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and an editor at Cheesehead TV. To contact Brian, email [email protected].
Comments (31)
January 22, 2013 at 09:46 am
What I don't understand if it was just bad luck as TT says, why so many injuries in practice and a lot of them deep tissue injuries. That reeks of poor conditioning or poor pratice methods. Especially when your team isn't even getting hurt in games but in practice, somthings wrong.
Maybe it was those short 1:30 minute practices Mc did in pre season. Barely get the heart started in that much time let alone get in shape.
January 22, 2013 at 10:08 am
Bishop - in a game (pre-season)
Bulaga - in a game
Smith - in a game
Nelson - in a game
Worthy - in a game
Perry - in a game
Shields - in a game
Woodson - in a game
Jennings - in a game
Starks - in a game
Benson - in a game
Were you thinking of the Packers when you posted this, or maybe some other team?
January 22, 2013 at 10:24 am
Bickering aside, what is far more concerning is the number of injuries, which has been a trend the last few years. That is the part that to me, smells of conditioning/training staff/training issues. Mark Chmura said recently hamstring injuries are a lack of weight training/working out.
January 22, 2013 at 10:46 am
Dr. Chmura?
January 22, 2013 at 10:49 am
I'll let you meet him in Waukesha to ask him that. Players know more than the average blog posting fan.
January 22, 2013 at 11:05 am
I'm sure Clay Matthews' hamstring injuries are due to a lack of weight training/working out.
January 22, 2013 at 11:04 am
If the conditioning/training staff is an issue, how do you explain the relatively injury-free 2011?
I think the Packers injuries can best can be explained by "shit happens."
January 22, 2013 at 11:26 am
I'm just saying what I heard Chmura say. I just think there are serious problems with either the way our players train or the way our players are treated/rehab. Since the coaches do nothing but blow smoke, I'm more inclined to listen to what a player says.
January 22, 2013 at 12:07 pm
"I just think there are serious problems with either the way our players train or the way our players are treated/rehab."
Then explain 2011?
January 23, 2013 at 12:11 am
Coaches are inclined to blow smoke and former players are inclined to act like they know everything about organizations they haven't been involved with for years or decades. Chewie is a pot-stirring mofo and one of the last people I'd take at face value.
January 22, 2013 at 11:29 pm
Whoa, cow42 just made tons of sense. What is going on here and how am I suppose to react to it? Bravo dude, feel encouraged to post like this more often.
January 24, 2013 at 08:07 pm
Some guys- last two responses.
What kinda smoke do you blow, and how do you react to it? WOW!
January 22, 2013 at 02:36 pm
How do you explain 2009, 2010, and 2012? happens more often than it doesn't.
2009 = 9 guys on IR
2010 = 15 guys on IR
2011 = 6 guys on IR
2012 = 9 guys on IR
January 22, 2013 at 02:48 pm
The obvious takeaway from this is that more guys on IR=better playoff run.
2009 = 9 guys on IR = 1 and done WC OT loss away
2010 = 15 guys on IR = Superbowl victory
2011 = 6 guys on IR = 1 and done Divisional beatdown at home
2012 = 9 guys on IR = WC win, Divisional beatdown away
It all makes sense now.
January 22, 2013 at 03:03 pm
I explain it as I did above: "shit happens."
And going with straight IR numbers doesn't really tell the whole story. Especially in 2011, when Collins had a freak neck injury, Sherrod had a devastating leg injury and Green and Quarless shredded their knees. Those injuries can hardly be blamed on the medical/training staff.
January 22, 2013 at 03:08 pm
It's been about 12 years since I was in AP Stats, but I'd add that drawing a conclusion like "happens more often than it doesn’t" from a four year sample size probably isn't statistically sound.
January 22, 2013 at 07:20 pm
Not trying to fuel any fires but how do the Packers injuries compare to the other teams in the league? That would be more relevant to either side of the argument I would think.
January 23, 2013 at 12:14 am
It's hard info to find but I know Football Outsiders would be a good place to look. They track this with their adjusted games lost stat. You can also send a question in to their mailbag email address and if they find it interesting they might write a post about it.
January 22, 2013 at 11:57 pm
It's not just how many guys but who they are.
Compare.
2009: Tory Humphrey, Patrick Williams, Devin Frischknecht, Justin "Bone China Boy" Harrell, Will Blackmon, DeShawn Wynn, Brett Swain, Jason Spitz, The Ghost of Al Harris, Aaron Kampman, Jeremy Thompson
Lots of guys, but like 1/3 of them went down in preaseason. Most of them were either depth, didn't fit Capers' scheme so well anyway, or were DeShawn Wynn, for whom "depth" is really kind of generous if you think about it. Harrell barely even counts, I reckon, given that his job at that point was more to teach Thompson a lesson about sticking with guys too long than anything.
2010: Jeff Moturi, Josh Bell, Quinn Porter, Will Blackmon (again), Allan Barbre, Harrell (again), Ryan Grant, Burnett, Derrick Martin, Nick Barnett, Finley, Brady Poppinga, Brad Jones, Tauscher, Spencer Havner, Anthony Smith, Newhouse, Anthony Levine
Again, lots of guys but Grant, Finley and the B*rnetts were the only key ones. Barbre probably did us a favor by getting hurt, and who the hell was Jeff Moturi anyway?
2011: Lawrence Guy, Shaky Smithson, Nick Collins, Alex Green, Quarless, Sherrod
Only six guys but among them were one of the NFL's best safeties, our best blocking tight end, and a tackle we were hoping to groom for the future.
2012: Benson (DFR but couldn't), Johnny White, Quarless (recovering from the same injury), Sherrod (same injury), Sean Richardson, Bulaga, Perry, DJ Smith, Saine, Vic So'oto, Duane Bennett, Johnny Jones, Des Bishop, Eric Lair, Mike McCabe
Still a lot of guys that went down in preseason, but this year it hurt more because Bishop was one of them. We also lost the starting right tackle on a team that went with 7 OL, which doesn't really help; Bishop's replacement; some DL depth; Clay Matthews' hopeful running mate; and a couple of running backs on a team that didn't run well in the first place. Starks might as well have been on IR, and we had at least 1 WR hurt at pretty much all points in the regular season as well. I have no idea who Lair or McCabe are.
From what I can see 2012 is the worst yet, but other than Blackmon and Harrell we haven't seen one guy miss more than a full season. Injuries happen, and a situation where one guys misses year X then a different guy misses year X+1 doesn't mean TT is drafting injury risks. Other than Harrell, obviously.
January 23, 2013 at 12:00 am
Er, and one point I meant to make is that a lot of this is depth guys, which makes sense because that describes most guys in the NFL. Whether it makes sense that a depth guy, ie one who takes the field less, is more likely to get hurt is something I don't know.
At least a couple of them are concussions, which obviously says nothing about the training staff.
January 22, 2013 at 02:38 pm
If you look at the injuries that really had an affect wins and losses, its not a long list. ILB, OLB, DE, RT, RB were where I think they were hit hardest.
Some of it is bad luck (Bulaga), but I also think guys who dont really have "it" for the NFL get hurt too. Bad technique (Perry? Neal?) gets you hurt, and being undersized (Smith?). I just think the conditioning staff has little to do with it, and they would have to be pretty blatantly bad or be trying some risky techniques to actually cause injuries.
January 22, 2013 at 03:04 pm
What about Perry's technique hurt his wrist?
January 22, 2013 at 11:58 pm
Well they did have him try to play press on WRs a couple times. Kidding...
January 22, 2013 at 03:14 pm
I would say looking at injuries the last four years is a decent sample size for the majority of the current roster, coaching staff and medical staff. I think injuries are a problem, you obviously do not. I guess you got me on AP stats though, can't compete there.
January 22, 2013 at 03:37 pm
Pepper Burruss has been the Packers head trainer for more than 20 years. To draw conclusions about his and his staff's ability based on four of those 20 years seems unfair to me.
Injuries are a problem in that they suck. But I just don't see the evidence to support laying blame on the medical or training staff.
January 22, 2013 at 06:19 pm
Blame the trainer for the defensive coordinator's sins. Makes sense to me. See how blame-shifting and scapegoating works?
January 23, 2013 at 12:22 am
Upside: Packers currently have no defensive coordinator.
Downside: if they bring Capers back it's almost certainly going to be for at least 2 years.
January 22, 2013 at 09:42 pm
Nick Perry, out for season. kidding me.
Im SORRY, BUT there's not enough play to tell us HE's legit!
2010, next man up, more injuries, attitude, AND we won the Super Bowl,
This team is soft! Not hungry!
Im hoping TT, MM, players, learned something from the Viqueen, SF game, IT's called attitude!! IT"s lacking!
AND, if we don't start protecting MVP Rodgers soon! Game over!
Just sayin.
January 23, 2013 at 12:24 am
Yeah man what this team really needs is ATTITUDE. Not a defensive coordinator who can adjust to modern offenses, or secondary players who don't end up pointing at each other in confusion after a busted coverage, or a QB and coach who are willing to respond to "this isn't working" with something other than "do it harder until it does," or a legit running game. ATTITUDE.
Thank you, living embodiment of sports talk radio-made-flesh.
Oh, I saw your post below this where you're talking about how Rodgers needs to be more like Manning, the same guy whose team only managed not to get embarrassed 49ers-vs-Packers style because of a 5'5 kick returner. I get it, you're trolling! My bad.
January 22, 2013 at 10:02 pm
P.S. Rodgers needs to start being a leader,
on the sidelines to his teammates!!,
P. Manning style if he wants to be legit!
January 23, 2013 at 12:21 pm
Trolling, what ever.
Maybe your fine with one,two and out, Im not!
This a better team than that!
And coaches don't play the game, my bad.
Got some touchy individuals in here!