So far, the MVS dropped passes have not occurred at a crucial point in the game. However, if he continues to play, sooner or later, it will cost them a game. IMO, a dropped third down pass equals half a turnover.

I never got the criticism of Billy Turner. You can't have the best player ever at every position. He plays well at just about any position the line and is a genuinely cool and nice guy.

"Do you think Matt LaFleur had a little talk with Mike Pettine" Well, if thats true it doesn't make me like Pettine more. He should want to go out and beat the other team. Not just barely hold on hoping the offense bails him out.

Maybe it is the price of having a top QB but weakness (or at least thinness) at the WR position seems to be chronic with the Packers. Going back to Favre, we have watched our great quarterback throwing to 1 good receiver and a carousel of journeymen. The small window with Jennings, Driver Nelson and Jones may have been our best group. Don't get me going on TEs. Overall, it doesn't matter until you play the better teams then we watch the offense sputter. The end result of this approach is that the Packers will only realize 1 Super Bowl with Favre and 1 with Rodgers. KC will match that with Mahomes by the end of this season.

Love the development of Barnes and Martin. If we can get Barnes and Kirksey back soon, the Packers may have their best ILB group in a long time. With M. Adams also playing better and more snaps, the Pack may actually be developing a rushing defense to go with a pretty good pass defense.

Totally on board with the praise for Turner. I was one of those folks who thought Turner was just an okay RG, but he has played well at both RT and LT. And Wagner has been a good RT for the Packers. The Pack has really good O-line depth now and that will ease the pain of free agency losses soon to come.

"I'd say "Alexander Island" has officially arrived. And it looks like you can't even catch a cold there."

Sadly, that catching issue seems to have extended to Jaire...how many clear picks has he dropped? The big flaw in his game, so far.

MVS: his MO over the course of his first 3 seasons has been to regress as the season goes on. He's in the middle of that slide, now. Step aside and next man up.

Martin: If you're going to make mistakes, make them at 100 mph with your hair on fire.

Turner: his versatility has been a key part of this offense this season. A guy who can step in anywhere on the OL (put Jenkins in this category, too) and allow your offense to still function without losing a big chunk of the playbook is a tremendous asset. A few people have called for him to be Bakh's replacement going forward...I think we need to temper our enthusiasm there. Houston is a bad defensive team, and they didn't know who would be playing LT on Sunday and how to attack that spot--but they did know it wouldn't be Bakh, and the fact that they didn't seem to adjust to try to exploit Turner says something.

Raven - when the play is there, he ends it there, nothing fancy.

Turner - I was puzzled when they signed him to a big contract? Now I get it. Carry on

MVS - I never saw star potential, I was right

Malik - he catches the damn ball! Other than that nothing special but I’ll take him over MVS

Matt & Mike - put up or shut up time Mike!

Martin - Martin & Barnes I’m liking where this is going!

Alexander- he’s all that Terrel Buckley should have been!

That is all

Packers need to find a veteran receiver fast , I have not seen anything on Barnes here but I have seen reports he's done for the season that's why they activated Burgess, can anyone confirm? Oh and nice pickup by the Lions for a 6 th round pick for Everson Griffen why couldnt the Packers bring him in? Dan Quinn for D coordinator?

Raven Greene:
The defense is different when Greene plays. Its more physical and they are a lot better in the run game. Now he did get taken advantage of a bit in the passing game against the Cobb and whatnot. But that isn't his strength to line up one on one against slot WR's. While he had a lot of completions against him he tackled the player almost immediately. His tackling is really good!

Memo to Turner:
Year 2 for Turner is much better the year 1. I love his versatility. Being able to play just about any position on the OL really helps out when there is an injury.

MVS:
I was on that train. I guess I will ride that train until it derails. I think the expectations needs to change a bit. MVS is a 3rd/4th WR at best. A guy who can fill a specific role but can't be counted on to down in and down out to make key plays. He is a deep threat who can take the top off the defense. He can still play that role. They can use him on Jet sweeps too. Maybe try hitting him on some crossing routes as well. But he isn't a #1 or 2 WR.

Malik Taylor:
I could see Taylor getting more opportunities starting this week. We need more WR's to step up and make plays. Lazard won't be back for a few weeks at least. EQ doesn't look ready to contribute.

Matt and Mike:
I questioned this during the game. I questioned if Pettine had a talking to about being more aggressive. He definitely had a more aggressive game plan on Sunday. Also I wonder if Pettine heard his former mentor (Rex Ryan) talking about how he didn't recognize the defense he was running. Talking about how as a defensive coordinator you sometimes need to be the aggressor and not wait for the offense. I hope Pettine stays aggressive!

Kamal Martin:
I can't wait to see more of Martin! I really am looking forward to seeing Barnes and Martin together!

Clock Management:
LaFleur and Rodgers are in tune with each other. When they are in tune it makes the offense look even better!

Jaire Alexander:
Gutekunst's first draft pick and the moves he made to get him look better and better every day.

Not sure if it the blocking scheme or the bodies that we’ve assembled on the O line, but the versatility has been the key to the depth. If/when one guy goes down, we have enough players who can slide in to multiple positions that we can always be adding our 6th best lineman when “something happens”. No need to bring in a Spriggs at LT just because he is the backup there. I think this has been key for the line’s performance.

The stinker in TB aside, this team is all in all playing very well. The aggressive front 7 of the Bucs and what they did to our offense remains a concern. I've been beating the drum all along, but we NEED another reliable WR other than Davante. When it matters most in crunch time, it's going to come down to execution and not scheme. We have plenty of the latter, not enough of the former from WR 2-5. The defense, pass rush aside, is playing (finally) up to hopes. The DL has played better since the ATL game, and the ILBs have improved in Kirksey's absence.

All in all though, this team is a super bowl threat. I hope Gute does something to assist with our biggest glaring weakness today. And no, the depth piece we got yesterday doesn't count.

I do wonder if Amos, Kirksey and P Smith are shown the door after this year for cap purposes. There are young/cheap guys behind them seemingly playing well.

I know it's easy to say you need pressure on a QB but there is a difference between Brady and Watson. Blitzing Brady at the goal line may not be a good idea, but probably need to for Watson with his running ability.
Different schemes for different QBs.

Great column as always JerseyAl.

I couldn't see all the game in the UK, what did they do to manipulate the clock at the end of the first half?

No mentions of Oren Burks lately, is he done and dusted in GB?

Al, I completely agree with you on Raven Greene. He just simply knows how to play and how to tackle. I really enjoy watching him play. Our defense is not the same without him on the field.
I don’t see MVS making it in the league.
As I responded to Bearmeat above it’s time for Gute to make a move for a legit #2 WR ala Wolf for Rison back in ‘96.

Turner has played well. Much better at OT than OG.

I don’t know if Pettine received a “talk” or not. Let’s see if the defense continues to be aggressive against the Vikings this week.

Alexander is probably our best CB since Herb Adderley. I hope he keeps it going.

As usual Al, best article of the week. Stay safe and stay well. Thanks, Since ‘61

Uh oh...

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2020/10/texans-close-facility-after-co...

Turner has filled in admirably for us , but I still worry about him against a good defense. Could Runyon be that filler next season? Greene and King sadly cannot stay on the field because of constant injuries.Too bad because Greene provides our D with that quicker tackler and coverage ( not slot ) option at ILB.

Those were some nice tackles, and tackling is important. If a guy isn’t tackled he scores. So I’m a Greene fan. You might not be able to prevent a catch, but you can apply the punishment.

Alexander has progressed beautifully. Last season he bit on fakes and got burned but this year he hasn’t taken the bait.

Turner and Wagner were scrutinized in detail by our scouting and personnel people before we signed them. Good job. We’ve done well in free agency, but the downside is we can’t resign our own good players now because the money isn’t there.

MVS is on his way out of town. To be a receiver, you have to catch the ball. If you can’t, go line up with the defense. I thought he would step up in the absence of Adams and Lazard but he hasn’t, He has a lot of tools but he is still failing on short out patterns and that’s pretty basic.

THE GOOD NEWS is that we are scoring over 35 points per game with our existing group. How is that possible? Either WR isn’t critical, or the guys we have are better than we think, or both. If our WR group is thin and critical , then we shouldn’t be able to score 35+ points, even on the road., shouldn’t we.? Is this just luck? A combination of random factors? Or maybe something else.....? If we’re already scoring 35, why mortgage the future to bring in somebody?

I think we’re fine for this week. Lazard will return. We are moving the ball and protecting our QB....except in one game. We’re on an 18-4 streak. I just don’t agree with this sense of urgency about a position that obviously isn’t that critical.

How quickly many forgot how the Packers defense for so many years made many a bad offense look great.

I'm not saying the Packers' offense needs a bad defense to look good, but let's not forgot so quickly the defenses we've played, and what has happened when we played a real defense, Tampa.

Houston is a team that walks a tightrope on both sides which can make the opponent look awesome on both sides of the ball.

The Packers are 5-1 and unless a total collapse occurs they will repeat as Division Champs (toe raise), but the likelihood of getting thumped out in the playoffs because of the defense remains high, and that will have the offense boxed into limited use of ability corner. It's still a rinse and repeat scenario for GB this season and wins against the mediocre and less will not make the change against the better to win what needs to be achieved, as the play against Tampa showed, and we haven't even talked or seen the real AFC yet, less a couple more stout NFC Championship door stops.

I wasn't able to see the Houston game here in Tucson (I listened to Wayne and Larry on Sirius) and haven't had the time to watch NFL rewind, so -as always- I appreciate your column. Larry M. made a point on several plays to mention that MVS was doing a great job of blocking, positioning himself to help the other receivers, especially Adams, make plays. I'm still holding out some hope that MVS can turn around his catching issues, but he does do one thing well: the THREAT of catching the ball deep. Finley had some really poor games catching the ball but his THREAT always made the defense add extra people on him. I see MVS as similar right now. T.E. Finley eventually became better at catching before his career ending injury; maybe MVS can still improve (throws salt over shoulder just for luck).

MVS- WE just haven't seen that Adams jump. (Too stiff). Turner - Jack of all trades do have their value. But--- he's now a OL without a position. At some point the payment won't exceed the return. Green - Can he stay off the IR? Taylor- Way to early. Martin- Best draft Pick? Matt and Mike- Lets give some credit to the DL. I mean look how Adams is getting more snaps. And Lowrey? Well lets just say Ke Ke might be the better option. If not Adams. Jaire Alexander- We didn't need Williams after all. Clock management- It starts up front.

Before I jump on the “Bobby” Turner bandwagon, I would prefer to see him do just as well against tougher pass rushers. The Texans don't have much of a defense. Still, I am happy that he filled in well. MVS may never be much more than a decoy on a go route. EQ looks rusty at best. Rodgers does better with a steady WR even if that receiver isn’t elite. A nice steady possession receiver could go a long way to help our offense. I like the potential of our backup MLB’s and I like the price even more.

Lazard will begin practicing this week!!!!! Also Kirsky, No news is good news on Barnes.