I think Finley can be great too, but don't be an apologist. We can't keep using his age as an excuse. A lot of players his age have a lot on their plate. This is the time he has to use his ability. If this year's Pack team wants to be considered one of the best teams ever he has to catch what's thrown to him. He has to get out of his own head.

http://gifs.gifbin.com/1233928590_citizen%20kane%20clapping.gif

Can't happen soon enough for me.

Aaron - I totally agree with your take. I also think it precludes the team from using the franchise tag, as he may end up pressing in a contract year again next year. I know this is premature, but is there any chance his FA experience is like 89's? I think it's obvious that Finley is worth more, but effectively, do you think GB may only be bidding against themselves (like with JJ) or is there a Dan Snyder-esque ridiculous offer lurking out there from someone else?

Great article, Aaron. I know that I'm guilty of being a prisoner of the moment all too often. It's easy to jump to conclusions, you know? I think maybe we're all upset because we miss Cullen Jenkins SO much...

It wasn't just him dropping balls all the receivers sucked and Rodgers wasn't at his best. Cobb should be given more reps.

Nope. I refuse to listen to any of this. Bad apologetics.

There's a legal maxim that states: "One who seeks equity must do equity".

If Jermichael wants the benefit of the doubt, he should quit mouthing off to the media (not just about himself mind you but about Tebow and God knows what else).

What you see with Finley is consistent bad play: in drops, in pre-snap errors, penalties, and sloppy route running. This from supposedly "the playmaker" on the team. This isn't an example of Packers fans being reactionary - it's an observable trend and a legitimate concern. Packer fans wanting Finley gone isn't entirely unreasonable either. This Packers team prides themselves on humility and hard work. Consistently bad performance + consistently primadonna attitude = perfect recipe to get on Packer Nation's bad side.

And "24" is a grown butt man why are you calling him "kid"? He's had considerable more time in the offense yet still failing to pick it up. Randall is barely 21 yet manages to show a high level of grace, maturity, and professionalism. Also it's funny you say Finley should let the game come to him. No. He should go get the ball. That's what playmakers do.

Yes, he could be a giant threat but you're talking about potential. Potential yet to be tapped and as of Week 15 this season, potential that has been squandered.

Where has James Jones been? Why did the Pack re-sign him if they never use him? He was a legit deep threat last year despite some drops. Time to get back to what got us on top of the league!

I don't care that he had the two biggest plays in the game yesterday. He also had the most drive killing drops in the game yesterday.

But that's not my main issue with Finley. My main issue with Finley is that he runs his mouth, constantly, and then fails to show up, especially when we need him the most. Just STFU and let your play on the field do your talking for you. Or just STFU and don't. Either way, STFU.

How old are Gronkowski and Graham? Age is irrelevant. And by the way, do you know who turns off twitter around August? Aaron Rodgers. His focus is solely on the game and the results are evident.

Finley's problem is that he is the most vocal member on a team that models itself after its coach, GM and QB. Would he be the most vocal on most other teams? Maybe and maybe not. I do believe that he is sincerely trying to emulate the "Packer" mentality on this but right now his bigger problem is that his drops are screaming out louder than any of his comments.
If he is indeed pushing himself and it is causing him to drop balls then that is a huge issue and age doesn't have anything to do with that. Think Tony Romo (I know, I'd rather not either), lots of talent but how many times has he shot himself in the foot when the pressure is really on?
I hope Finley gets it figured out and soon because he is such an asset to the team and he seems to be a good guy but there is a part of me that is expecting to go into cringe mode when we find out what kind of contract he thinks he is worth.

Apologist. Remember Aaron, because you write the column, doesn't mean you're always right. Granted ... Finley's paid to do many things. And catching the football is the most basic. He's talked about it for the last two years, both before his injury last year and early in the season this year. He wanted the opportunity, he got it ... and he dropped it. Repeatedly. And looking back through the year, it's not the first time. Add your column to this week's "The Bad."

Personally, I think the Packers allowing average quarterbacks to stand behind average offensive lines for an eternity to find average wide receivers wide open in the middle of the field much more disturbing than a couple mistakes by one of our better players. Woodson will commit penalties, hold, and display poor coverage and then make a great pick and all is forgiven. Don't hear anyone screaming to jettison him.

A couple of thoughts

- Many Packer fans will never let go of their view as Finely as a loud mouth malcontent. Started with the minor issues his rookie year and will probally follow him his entire stay with the team. While his drops are inexcusable and should be crtiqued, his detractors also fail to give him credit for his immense improvement as a blocker. Re-watching every game this year, you can see it where he looses very few battles as an inline blocker. It also shows that his willing to put in hard work to help the team. This isn't a DeSean Jackson approach where "I don't want to go over the middle without a new contract". Does he want a new contract? Hell yes. But his mistakes are mental, not for a timid approach or selfish approach. I still don't get the "He should STFU" opinion of packer fans. Nothing he has said is out of bounds or inflamatory. What he needs to do, is catch the damn ball.

I usually agree with your view on Packer stuff, Aaron, but I totally disagree with you on Finley. He is in this league for nearly 4 years now. He should be a playmaker and threat in every game. Of course he can drop some balls, everybody does it from time to time. But it's the mental stuff which bugs me, like being in the worng spot pre-snap, running "wrong" routes or missing blocking assignments.

He will demand Top TE money, but he does not play like a Top 5 TE this season. I would take Gronkowski, Hernandez, Gates, Witten and Graham over him. Heck I would even consider guys like Daniels or Fred Davis over him right now.
But if the Packers chose not to resign him or someone outbids them, they have to draft another good prospect high in the draft, because as far as I can see it right now all the other TEs are "just a bunch of guys" and in todays game a great TE is so damn important.

At some point if you're gonna keep proclaiming yourself as the teams "playmaker", and you insist on reminding everybody that this is the YOTTO (thought last year was too?), then you should probably just go ahead and catch the ball... That is all.

GBP 4 LIFE

The drops are pretty bad of course, but I agree 100% that this is more of a case of a guy who really wants to be a difference maker just pressing too much. It's not like he's taking plays off or anything - he sees that his contributition is important and is forcing it. The main thing is he is still a threat. Opposing teams still have to gameplan for him - and that makes a big contribution. Like Aaron says, once he starts playing within himself and trusting the game plan, things will fall back into place and there will be people jumping all up on his bandwagon again and laughing about his adorable quips and celebrations. Oh, and do you think Rodgers thinks he's a bad player? Drops and all, the guy still had 10 balls thrown to him. I'll take #12's assessment over anybody else's since he controls the rock.

Man, a team gives you 19 games without having to deal with a loss and the first time it happens it's like we're the Lions or something! Anybody out there have a team they'd rather be supporting right now? Not me!

Finley should've been benched out of principle. Give Taylor a shot I'll take consistency over the occasional---very occasional in Finley's case---big play.

Finley has incredible value to the Packers but I can't see TT giving him a top-tier TE contract for a number of reasons including his play this year. Look at the Rodgers and Jennings contracts...it's just not how TT does things.

How he has played this year may lower Finley's valuation of himself and his willingness to tell his agent to get a deal done. I think it is very possible that a long term deal may get done during the down time at the end of this season. It will allow TT to use some 2011 cap space and it will give Finley a huge pay increase and eliminate the risk of him losing out on a huge payday due to injury. Plus, Finley will get another shot at another contract since he is so young AND he gets to play catch with the best QB in the league which helps him with his next contract. I think the Quarless injury also plays a role. I just have this hunch we get news of an extension during the bye week. There are just to many reasons for both sides to get this deal done this season and valuations of Finley by both sides may be closer now then ever before. Expect a four year deal like Jennings and slightly below market value for his position.

But if Finley is demanding top-tier TE money (~$9m a yr and ~$20m guaranteed) then he'll get the TE franchise tag which is a relative bargain compared to other positions and is only a one year risk for the Packers.

Either way he is a Packer in 2012.

"He's an incredible talent, close to a once-in-a-lifetime player that the Packers can hold onto and mold into one of the most dangerous offensive weapons the league has ever seen."

_________

Here's the part I'm struggling with because I've heard this from many smart people (smarter than me, so maybe I'm "out of my mind")since 2009.

I just don't see it.

Forget about the drops. I can agree that he's pressing during his contract year. But you look at the Grahams and Gronkowskis and other great TEs both now and in the past and they just get open a whole heck of a lot more than Finley. I realize defenses gameplan for Finley, but the same is true for those guys.

I feel like even his raw abilities are being overrated a little bit.

GO PACK GO

Hey, we just had a 19 game winning streak, we're 13-1, and we're the defending champs. I think the team is entitled to a bad game. A game they list by less than a TD despite playing miserably on the road.

Blaming Finley for this loss is silly. Did he have big drops? Sure. But so did Driver and Nelson. The offensive line also got abused and Rodgers didn't have a great day in his own right. And let's not forget about the defense, which couldn't stop the Chiefs. THE CHIEFS!

But getting back to Finley. Here are the facts: he's incredibly talented; He's shown the ability to be a difference maker; and he's usually the focal point for the defensive game plan. What he needs now is consistency, which will come. I seem to remember people wondering where Jennings was early last year.

Finally, as to Gronkowski and Graham. Brady and Brees target both of those guys a ton because the Saints and Patriots do not have the WR corps the packers have. Graham did most of his damage while Colston was out. Also, defenses have finally started to adjust, so you're seeing Lance Moore come on as of late. As for Gronk, Brady looks for him constantly, especially while Hernandez was out and still hobbled. If need be, Rodgers could lean on Finley in a similar way, but he just doesn't have to.

I agree with you about the potential that Finley has as well as that he is pressing this year. I could almost sense that coming into the season, as eager as he was to get back and play at the high level he demands from himself. By no means is this loss his fault at all, it seems to me the entire team had an off day yesterday. Top to bottom.

A thought I had yesterday is that without Jennings, defenses can hide coverage better. You mentioned that Rogers uses Finley to help read the coverage, where Finley is probably second priority in recieving, when Finley becomes first priority, and he stays inside the WR's, I don't think the Offense was getting the same read on the D that they would if Jennings was there. I think you might have been hinting at this in your article though.

I hope that Packernation gets to watch Finley continue to grow as a reciver. And comparing him to Graham and Gronk isn't a fair comparison, they play the same position, but not the same way at all. Finley creates very unique defensive matchups that you won't have with either Graham or Gronk, because of his speed and athletic ability. Both Graham and Gronk are great athletes and have proven to be huge weapons for their team, just different types of weapons.