I agree with Greg Bedard. Fans should probably lay off Daryn Colledge a little bit. We love to talk about how horrible he was this past year. But improvement was definitely evident once he was allowed to stay in one spot. And he was the best offensive lineman during the 2008 season. As I've written before, perhaps being pushed in training camp, as he was leading up to the '08 season, will bring out his best in 2010.
UPDATED. Spencer Havner is facing DUI charges after a motorcycle accident early Saturday morning. Havner, 27, allegedly was driving a 2007 Kawasaki motorcycle.
Ted Thompson has clearly committed to the teams "improve from within" mantra. He has a team that went from 6-10 to a Wild-Card berth and a first round exit in the playoffs. That's improvement. But the next step is the toughest - ensuring the team doesn't experience the terrible slide that saw it spiral from a 13-3 Championship game participant to the aforementioned 6-10 squad.
Cheesehead TV has learned that Tom Pelissero, Assistant Sports Editor and prodigious Packers beat writer for the Green Bay Press Gazette, is leaving the paper for a new position at ESPN Twin Cities.
The band is back together again.
From Jason Wilde over at ESPNMilwaukee.com:
One day after doling out contract extensions to safety Nick Collins and Ryan Pickett, and one week after bringing back veteran left tackle Chad Clifton, the Packers agreed to terms on a two-year deal with veteran right tackle Mark Tauscher Saturday, an NFL source said.
Let it be known - I agree with Mike Vandermause. (I may as well give up now)
In light of the fact that I completely contradicted myself earlier this week, I went back and watched the three games that McCarthy and Capers are no doubt going to pay the most attention to when reviewing tape this offseason - the second Vikings game, the Steelers game, and the Cardinal playoff game.
And despite the secondary being torched repeatedly in those contests, especially in the playoff game, I'm pretty sure my first take was the correct one - an improved pass rush, namely a compliment to Matthews who can win a one-on-one at the line of scrimmage, will solve a lot of problems the Packers had against Favre, Roethlisberger and Warner.
In looking at the secondary, I fell victim to what I call looking through the "offseason-lens" - where you remember every big play, both good and bad, but forget that there are hundreds of other plays that happened inbetween. Going back and watching the three games in question, you can see the potential in Brandon Underwood. Josh Bell is not nearly the liability that that final pass against Pittsburgh makes you remember him as. Improvement from those two players alone will go a long way in shoring things up on the back end of the defense. And this is even before counting on anything from Al Harris, Will Blackmon or Pat Lee.
On today's show, Andy reviews which of the 90 players on the roster are actually worthy of making a 53-man roster for Green Bay, or for another franchise. Don't miss it!
