Packers Already Better This Season Than Last
By Chris Havel
Some say there is no guarantee that the Green Bay Packers will be better this season than they were last.
I say they already are better.
Packers GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy are signed through the 2012 season. They are contractually bound at the hip. Their successes and failures are a shared experience into the foreseeable future. This is a joint venture, and as everyone from Mike Holmgren to Mike Sherman has proved, head coach-GM is a two-man job.
But the trick isn’t merely finding the right two men. It is finding the right two men that are willing and able to work together. The notion that Thompson and McCarthy might realize so much success they grow incompatible is possible, but not likely.
That is because they know and embrace their respective roles. Thompson’s area of expertise is talent evaluation. McCarthy’s is talent development. They already have shown the ability to blend those skills to do whatever is in the team’s best interests.
It is rare to find a coach-GM duo possessing the acumen and open-mindedness to success in such a high-powered, big-ego business as the National Football League.
That alone doesn’t guarantee success, but it does create the proper environment. Holmgren once told me that having competence and compatibility in the coach-GM positions isn’t everything, but it’s pretty darn close.
Said Holmgren: “It’s almost impossible (to win) without it.”
Naturally, there are other key factors to the Packers’ fortunes this season.
Whether Brett Favre decides to return is critical. The Packers know they can reach the NFC Championship Game with Favre playing at or close to his level in 2007. They also know that the offense’s young receiving corps is ascending at a rate quicker than the quarterback’s skills are eroding.
The Packers also know that running back Ryan Grant is going to be better for the experience he gained last season, and that goes for backup Brandon Jackson as well.
The offensive line isn’t undergoing any major defections in free agency, or any catastrophic reshuffling due to injuries. It can’t get worse unless it regresses which isn’t likely because of its youth. I know fans worry that tackles Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher aren’t getting any younger, and it is a valid concern. However, Clifton and Tauscher aren’t ready for the scrap heap, either.
That is why I would expect Thompson to find an offensive tackle in the draft, and why I expect McCarthy and his staff to coach him up and develop him.
Defensively, the Packers must add a pass rushing defensive end to line up opposite Aaron Kampman. That is most likely possible through free agency. If Thompson can locate a free agent to fit the bill at least as well as cornerback Charles Woodson and nose tackle Ryan Pickett have at their respective positions.
The Packers’ defense also could use a stout backup at the strong-side linebacker position behind Brady Poppinga. The idea is to push Poppinga, who still has room to improve, and also to add depth in the event of injury to Poppinga, Nick Barnett or A.J. Hawk. The hunch here is that Thompson will find this in the draft.
There has been a lot of clamoring about the Packers’ need for another cornerback, as if Green Bay is the only team. There isn’t a defensive coordinator in the NFL that wouldn’t welcome help at cornerback, and I suspect Thompson will find that in the draft.
In fact, I’m guessing the Packers’ first three draft picks will include a cornerback, a linebacker and an offensive lineman. The only way that changes is if the Packers find themselves in the enviable position of having to choose between a player at one of those positions they feel is very good, and a player at another position they feel can be great.
This is where the Thompson-McCarthy relationship is significant. Instead of arm wrestling over the call, they will jointly determine which is the best move based on an array of factors ranging from team chemistry to team needs (present and future).
Meantime, the Packers seem set at safety where Atari Bigby, Nick Collins and Aaron Rouse represent a strong foundation, and in the defensive line (aside from an upgrade over Cullen Jenkins at defensive end).
That leaves Favre’s decision as a wild card, but even if he retires it shouldn’t be devastating because Thompson and McCarthy are prepared. They drafted and developed Aaron Rodgers, and they built a team that a solid quarterback can win with.
Will the Packers be better this season? If you have to ask, you haven’t been paying attention.
Chris Havel is a freelance writer, best-selling author and host of northeast Wisconsin’s top-rated sports radio talk show, Sports Line, heard Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sports Radio 107.5 FM and 1400 AM THE FAN. He writes a weekly column exclusively for Packers Fan Tours’ Website throughout the 2007 season.
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