HILARIOUS

Green Bay, Booze, and Broads posted a video yesterday "In honor of Jay Cutler", who is known to have diabetes. Because I am basically a religious The Price is Right viewer, I see these commercials all the time and find this absolutely hilarious.

MY TAKE ON THE JAY CUTLER DEAL

So by now it is old news that Jay Cutler has been traded to the dreaded Bears. I talked about my thoughts of possible trades to the NFC North the other day. Acquiring Jay Cutler definitely helps Chicago, but I think that they definitely slowed their all around team improvement process by making this deal:

Chicago Gets:
Jay Cutler
2009 5th Round Pick

Denver Gets:
Kyle Orton
2009 1st Round Pick
2009 3rd Round Pick
2010 1st Round Pick

So they improved at a position that has basically been a revolving door since Jim McMahon. They desperately needed a quarterback. But what about the rest of the team? By giving up two first round picks and a third round pick, they have drastically lowered the chances of actually getting a wide receiver for Cutler to throw to. Right now he has Devin Hester, a realistic number 3 receiver, as his number one option. The defense has been very questionable over the past few years, and could definitely use some new blood to regain the physicality and fear it had just a few years ago during their Super Bowl run.

They also signed Orlando Pace yesterday in an attempt to sure up the left tackle position. I'm on board with this move for Daaaa Bears. They needed somebody, and a seven time Pro Bowler can be the answer. But if I'm Jerry Angelo, I'm not done yet. They need to take a serious look into acquiring Torry Holt or Marvin Harrison. Neither is at the skill level they once were, but Angelo can't give up so much for a top-tier quarterback and then leave him out to dry with no options. Trading for Jay Cutler was a great move for the Chicagoans, but by giving up so much to acquire him, he has become just the first step in a number of moves that must be made to justify this blockbuster deal.

MY BID FOR TAKING MICHAEL CRABTREE IF STILL AVAILABLE AT NUMBER NINE PICK

First of all, I realize that this does not fill one of the immediate needs that has been created by either the switch to the 3-4 or the aging and injuries to our offensive tackles. This pick, however, could do so much for the team. And we know Ted Thompson likes to take highest value/best player available over need. So at number nine, Michael Crabtree has inexplicably fallen because of his injury and is still available. The Packers choose him. Why?

1. As I already stated, Thompson is known to pick for highest value/best player available.

2. Donald Driver, while still a very legitimate receiver, will not be for very much longer. He turned 34 in February, and even Jerry Rice had somewhat of a downturn (in Jerry Rice-esque fashion) after he turned 34. He was only elected to two Pro Bowls after the season during which he reached 34. Same with Cris Carter. After he turned 34, he was elected to one Pro Bowl (when he was 35) and only played three more seasons. Marvin Harrison's last Pro Bowl season was the year in which he was 34. Since, there has been a strong downturn in production, and he is currently struggling to even find a team.

3. The Arizona Cardinals defense. Also, see Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald, and even Steve Breaston. The Cardinals finished 28th in the league in 2008 in team defense. Yet, they made it to the Super Bowl? How the...? Oh that's right, Kurt Warner and his receivers. They finished DEAD LAST in rushing yards as well. Their passing game was just too good. The Packers defense finished 26th in '08, and the rushing game 17th. But think about this: Aaron Rodgers would have Greg Jennings and Michael Crabtree for the future. That sounds like a Boldin/Fitzgerald-esque 1-2 to me. And that leaves room for Donald Driver to continue producing at whatever level he can for the next few years until he is done, and then James Jones or Jordy Nelson can step in and be Steve Breaston-like. It gives more leeway to Thompson if either Jones or Nelson doesn't develop and equate to the third and second round pick, respectively, that he spent on them. The team wouldn't need to continue trying to find a pass-catching tight end; Ben Patrick was the leading receiver at TE for the Cards and only had 11 receptions. They could stick to a run-blocking tight end, and Ryan Grant and Brandon Jackson could be solid running backs for the future that would, for sure, keep the team from ever finishing last in the league in rushing.

While I know it is said that offense wins games and defense wins championships, this one pick could sure as heck win a lot of games in the future for the Pack, and the issues on the defensive side of the ball could be addressed later in the draft.

INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE ON TED THOMPSON'S GENERAL MANAGING

Packer Update took an interesting look at Ted Thompson's strategy of being pretty quiet during free agency and building his team from within (ie the draft). Only 17.7% of the players currently on the Packers roster have worn another team's jersey in a regular season game. This is much lower than a team like the Minnesota Vikings, at 29.3%, which Packer Update claims is near the league average.

Because I am a big baseball fan, this reminds me of the New York Yankees. Although I am a big Yankee hater, when they were winning championships in the 1990's, it was with players from in-house that they brought up through their system. Since, they have become a team that delves into huge free agent contracts, they have had the league's highest payroll every year, yet they have not won a championship since 2000. While the numbers in baseball are quite different, in relation, it follows the same idea. In 1998, a historic season with 114 regular season wins and a World Series championship, only 54.06% of the players on the Yankees had played for a different team. Compare that to the 76.29% of the San Diego Padres, the team that they swept 4-0 in the World Series. In 2008, the world champion Philadelphia Phillies had only 57.5% of their players that hadn't come up through their system.

Maybe the comparison between the NFL and MLB is farfetched, but hey, when you're a Packers fan sitting around watching other teams make moves to improve themselves, and Ted Thompson is sitting still and banking on the draft, you gotta reach for something. Even Nick Barnett thinks that some help could be used.

APRIL FOOLS JOKES ALREADY BEING PLAYED IN AND AROUND TITLETOWN

Cheesehead TV posted "Peppers To The Packers: It's Official" and then linked to a Youtube of the muppets. I'm loving this Twitter thing. Nick Barnett, just minutes ago, tweeted "Hey every one. I have some bad news.. I have just been traded to the Minnesota Vikings :-( " Oh man, April 1st it is, and tweet on Nick Barnett, tweet on.

RIGHT ON TIME MR. SILVERSTEIN

In yesterday's Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Tom Silverstein wrote an article entitled "NFC North Still Has Call to Arms." While his point is well made and well taken, the news out of Denver this evening is disheartening for any Packer fan. Broncos CEO and president Pat Bowlen released the following statement:

"Numerous attempts to contact Jay Cutler in the last 10 days, both by Head Coach Josh McDaniels and myself, have been unsuccessful.

A conversation with his agent earlier today clearly communicated and confirmed to us that Jay no longer has any desire to play for the Denver Broncos.

We will begin discussions with other teams in an effort to accommodate his request to be traded."

Yes, that's right; Jay Cutler is officially on the block. And why should this concern Packer backers? BECAUSE THE OTHER TEAMS IN OUR DIVISION ALL CURRENTLY HAVE INADEQUATE NFL QUARTERBACKS ON THEIR ROSTER:

Detroit -
Daunte Culpepper - washed up.
Drew Stanton - Detroit beat writers say he'll struggle to even make the '09 roster.
Drew Henson - tenure probably over, as QB coach (same one he had at Michigan) left for South Florida

Chicago -
Kyle Orton - has a neard (neckbeard).
Caleb Hanie - wait who? What's his name?
Brett Basanez - played at Northwestern. Believed to be signed strictly "for the fanbase."

Minnesota -
Sage Rosenfels - maybe the most legitimate of all with 30 TD and 29 INT in career. Not saying much if he's the most legit.
Tarvaris Jackson - Mr. I Play OK But Will Never Be Good Enough. Or more simply, Mr. Mediocre.
John David Booty - last name says it all.

So this means, in my eyes, all three of these teams should make a play for Cutler. Likely, all three will at least make contact with the Broncos, but we can only pray that for the Packers sake, a team like the Jets or Buccaneers makes a stronger push for Cutler's services. Thank you Josh McDaniels, for coming from the dirty New England Patriots and running a franchise quarterback out of town.

AS PROMISED...

A follow up to Nick Barnett's tweet about meeting new defensive coordinator Dom Capers... "Ok meet with capers so far I have a really good feeling about him.. Also the strengh program is real good!!" Barnett also added soon after, "Kevin Greene seems like he's going to be intense LOL imagine him moss together whoa!!!" Nick seems to take his involvement with Twitter quite seriously; in the past twelve hours he has tweeted on his own nine times, in addition to responding to fellow Twitter users' questions. I like this.

TWEET, AND NOT THAT CARTOON BIRD

Twitter is the new thing to do. I mean, everybody's doing it (except me I guess). Railbird Central informed Packers fans that Nick Barnett has an account on the site that encourages you to let people know what you're doing. Athletes like Charlie Villanueva and Shaquille O'Neal have become well known for their use of Twitter. Villanueva "tweeted" during halftime of a Bucks game vs the Celtics. O'Neal recently tweeted, "Anybody in portland touches me rt now will get two tickets I'm at redstar cafe," and later updated fans that "100 people n the prtland area just came for tickets wow portland twitterers r niiiiiice." Clearly, fans pay attention to this. Nick Barnett has been using his to update fans of his rehab progress and also, like O'Neal, just the general "where are you" or "what are you doing." This morning, Barnett tweeted "Going to meet capers today I'll tell you guys later what I think." And after really looking into Twitter for this post, I can guarantee I'll be checking back with Barnett later to see what he thought of the new Defensive Coordinator.

VIDEO OF RYAN MOATS SAGA

As many football fans have heard the story already, Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats was pulled over by a policeman outside of a hospital while his mother-in-law took her last breaths. The video of incident was either leaked or released onto the internet, and I came across it on Yahoo! Sports' Shutdown Corner blog. This cop disgusts me and should be fired immediately, and he should never be given a chance to be in a position of power like this again. Racist pig. Check the video here. See more about this story here.

PRESEASON OPPONENTS ANNOUNCED

Yesterday, the NFL released the 2009 preseason schedule. The Packers schedule is quite peculiar to me. In order, they host the Browns and Bills, then travel to Arizona and Tennessee. Why would the NFL schedule the Browns and the Cardinals during the preseason if they were already set to square off during the regular season? Also, why does the Pack have to travel to Arizona TWICE now? Their regular season match-up is going to be in Glendale as well. While I'm not a professional athlete and I can't speak from experience, I'm sure the miles add up over time. In 2007, when the Packers went 13-3, they flew just 10,738 miles during the regular season (fourth fewest in the league), and that was more than a 6,000 mile drop off from their 8-8 season in '06. While it's clear that more than the traveling contributed to the different seasons' outcomes, I'm sure it had its impact.

BRIAN BROHM GETTING SOME FACE, OR WORD, TIME ON PACKER BLOGS

Both Cheesehead TV and Ol' Bag of Donuts have posted about Brian Brohm over the past couple of days, and Adam over at OBOD does a great job trying to look into Ted Thompson's thought process behind choosing Brohm in last years second round. CTV links to Adam's post, but gives a bit of their own insight as well.

Going into the 2008 draft I thought that Aaron Rodgers had a good chance of being a solid NFL quarterback, but with only one game of experience, I was nowhere near confident enough to rest the full future of the Green Bay Packers on his shoulders. When Ted Thompson took Brohm in the second round, I was ecstatic. Just a year earlier, if he had left Louisville after his junior season, he was being considered as a top 10 pick in the draft. Here are his stat lines from his three years as the primary starter for the Cardinals:

Sophomore: 68.8 completion percentage, 2,883 yards, 19 TD 5 INT - missed 2 games, injury
Junior: 63.4 completion percentage, 3,049 yards, 16 TD 5 INT - missed 3 games, injury
Senior: 65.1 completion percentage, 4,024, 30 TD 12 INT

Yes, Brohm struggled during the 2008 preseason, and that caused him to lose out the number two QB position to Matt Flynn. But as CTV points out, "Brohm was in with a bunch of second and third level guys against a lot of number ones, while Flynn was in against scrubs almost exclusively." I find it hard to believe that a player like Brohm, who was always considered a great NFL quarterback prospect in college, with the tools and size (6'4", 228) that he has, showed his true abilities last season. Although his teams' success tailed off after coach Bobby Petrino left Louisville, what Brohm himself did in his senior season under a new head coach was quite remarkable. With all-do-respect to Matt Flynn, I expect Brohm to come prepared to camp in '09 and win back the number 2 QB position.

WHY I'VE AGAIN BEEN SO QUIET

Again over the past week, my posts have become few and far between, but I promise it has been for good reason:



That is now what you'll find when you search my name on ESPN.com. While I continue to pursue my undergraduate degree, I get busy with school and classwork quite often, especially when I am in the process of producing, shooting, and editing stories for ESPN. So forgive me, I was spending my time well and being productive, and I may have a few more to show in the near future. But check those out, and back to Packers blogging!