Some Unconventional Packers Mid-Season Awards
It is fashionable for many scribes to award mid-season awards such as Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, etc. Here are a few of our unconventional awards that you might not see elsewhere.
By pointerjeff
The Green Bay Packers have hit the half way mark of the season. Half-way done, half-way to the end.
It is fashionable for many scribes to award mid-season awards such as Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved, etc.
Here are a few of our unconventional awards that you might not see elsewhere.
Most Disappointing Player Award: RB Eddie Lacy. This was not a clear-cut choice as there were several players in contention. The 2013 ROY started the year strong but has regressed each week. His 308 rushing yards for the season rank 38th in the league, only five more than quarterback Russell Wilson. His 3.7 average yards per attempt is well behind James Starks at 4.3 YPA. Lacy was officially demoted this week to second string in a move that Lacy seemed to endorse. Be it his weight, injuries, motivation or a combination Lacy is just not getting the job done at a time when the offense desperately needs a running game.
Under-achiever of the Year Award: OT Bryan Bulaga. When free agent Bulaga resigned with the Packers it was thought to be quite a catch for GM Ted Thompson – a prized catch at a team friendly price. So far he has not lived up to the hype. Ranked the top available offensive tackle in free agency and number twelve free agent overall, Bulaga has had a disappointing year to date. According to the stats furnished by ProFootball Focus, Bulaga is ranked the number 48 tackle in the league. His running mate on the left side, David Bakhtiari who has had issues himself, is ranked 32nd and grades out better than Bulaga in both pass and run blocking. Bulaga has fallen so far that he ranks below Marshall Newhouse in run blocking. Perhaps his injury which sidelined him for three games has lingered and is still affecting his game, but Bulaga is not the same dependable tackle he once was.
Pleasant Surprise of the Year Award: CB Damarious Randall. Randall may very well be a star in the making. He was drafted in the first round but with limited action at cornerback at the college level it was assumed that Randall would require time to acclimate to and excel at the pro game. Yet each week the rookie catches your eye with his play. It would not be a surprise at all to see Randall move into a starting role before the end of the season.
Worst Coaching Move of the Year Award: Mike McCarthy abandoning the play calling. The offensive woes cannot be laid at Tom Clements feet alone. It might be that the proper plays are being called (or not called), or perhaps the scheme has been to blame, the multiple injuries to key players (Jordy Nelson) or simply execution of the plays as valid reasons for the poor offensive results as of late. But the fact remains that the Green Bay Packers offense has not been the same since McCarthy relinquished the play-calling duties to Tom Clements.
Best Coaching Move of the Year Award: Shawn Slocum fired as Special Teams Coordinator. This was a hands-down, unanimous award when McCarthy sent Slocum on his way and inserted Ron Zook in his place. The 2014 32nd ranked Packers Special Teams are currently ranked 14th by Football Outsiders – not yet great but a far cry from where they were last year. And even more telling is that ST have not cost the Packers a game.
Wish He Were Still Here Award: S Charles Woodson. Yes this move goes back a few years, but Ted Thompson should have never let Woodson leave (or to be pushed out of the door). After the Packers allowed Tramon Williams and Devon House to depart via free agency there was concern about who would man the boundary corner and slot receiver spots. The Packers started the year with a plethora of safeties and cornerbacks after picking CB’s number one and two in the draft. But injuries have played a huge role this year with Shields, Burnett, Hayward, Rollins, Goodson and Richardson all missing time and Ha Ha Clinton Dix playing hot and cold it would have been nice to have the skills and leadership that Woodson provides. Woodson leads the league in interceptions (5) and his 41 total tackles ties Micah Hyde in that category. He may not have been an every down player for the Packers this year, but he certainly would have contributed.
Most Curious Move Made Award: Sticking with Nate Palmer as the fill-in starter at inside linebacker and not going with rookie Jake Ryan earlier. With limited game time to make a true evaluation, it is still readily apparent that Ryan is a better player and with more upside than Palmer.
Most Curious Move(s) Not Made Award: Inclusion of receivers Jeff Janis and Jared Abbrederis into the offense. I have never been as high on Janis as others because his route running is not as refined as it could be. I also realize that Abby is really only a rookie in terms of experience having sat out last year with an injury and needs time. But with an offense so stagnant and in need of playmakers – a deep threat such as Janis or a skilled route runner like Abbrederis – why not give these two a chance to earn their keep?
Awards or not the state of the Green Bay Packers starts to come into greater focus this week in Lambeau Field. The start of a winning streak here will go a long way toward the ultimate team award: A February date with a certain trophy in San Francisco.
Comments (38)
croatpackfan
November 13, 2015 at 07:07 am
Nice overview Jeff. I just think that some cheesehead TV guys are not fair to Ha-Ha. It was similar you were towards Morgan Burnett when he was island as safety (Jennings and McMillian time with Packers)... If there are player who can play safety positions alone, I'm sure TT will hire him or draft him. Nobody can cover SS and FS position at the same time and to me it looks like fans expects that from Ha-Ha. When Morgan and/or Micah plays well, Ha-Ha plays well. It is simple as it is...
Regarding Charles Woodson, do you know for certain how much Charles asked for his services and who you would cut off from the roster 2013 when Charles was let go...
Irish_Cheesehead
November 13, 2015 at 10:12 am
Woodson was willing to take a pay cut to remain with the Packers but the front office never even broached the idea of restructuring his contract. As far as who on that squad to cut, take your pick of safeties off that 2013 roster! Jerron McMillan? M.D. Jennings? I'd go back and cut both of those guys to keep Woodson! No brainer.
croatpackfan
November 14, 2015 at 04:31 am
Oh, yes. At the time they were deciding who to cut they surely knows that M. D. and McMillan would be great busts. They were young, brought that year as rookies to the camp. So, they had cut Woodson, then pick up two of them! You just mixed the pots!
EdsLaces
November 13, 2015 at 07:11 am
Wish you stayed healthy award goes to : pretty much every DB and WR.
RCPackerFan
November 13, 2015 at 07:48 am
OL too...
Evan
November 13, 2015 at 07:22 am
While it would obviously be great to have Woodson right now, I think that's very much a hindsight opinion. At the time, moving on from him was clearly the right move. He looked very much done his last year in GB. No one predicted he would have a 3rd career renaissance.
RCPackerFan
November 13, 2015 at 07:49 am
Yeah, it was the right move at the time. Well sort of. I would have taken a done Woodson over MD Jennings any day.
Thegreatreynoldo
November 13, 2015 at 10:30 am
As to Wish he were still here award: Looks like packer nation has finally moved on from Cullen Jenkins (Nick Collins and Jermichael Finley don't count since they are gone due to injury).
RCPackerFan
November 13, 2015 at 07:47 am
Under-achiever of the Year Award:
While I agree that Bulaga has under performed I have to think its more injury based then anything. As we see this week he was limited practicing due to a swollen knee. The whole OL is banged up right now. Once they start getting healthy I think we will start seeing them play better.
Most Curious Move Made Award:
Yeah, I don't get this one. Ryan is clearly the better player. They have no problem playing Randall even though he makes some mistakes, but don't play Ryan? And we will see if they actually stick with Ryan moving forward.
Most Curious Move(s) Not Made Award:
There are a few other nominations I would like to add to this category.
Playing Janis so little especially after he performed well against the Chargers. I get it. He may not be ready as a player to play full time. He may never be a full time starter. But he showed against the Chargers that he can help the team. And since that game his only significant playing time is when he came in against the Panthers, motioned behind the RT and blocked. That is a great use of a WR.
I really don't get that they used Elliott 0 snaps last week. Actually the last few games he hasn't been used as much. Early in the season they were getting a great pass rush and part of the reason was because they had a great rotation going. But Elliott has proved to make some big plays in both the pass and run game. He needs to play more, not less.
Play calling has been bad all year. But the award goes to not using the screen pass until the 4th quarter against the Panthers. Actually I would like to say not using the RB's in the pass game very much all season has hampered the offense.
While the running game hasn't been as effective they still could use the RB's in the passing game. That includes more FB passes. I would love to see more plays like Ripkowski's catch, run and run over defenders.
Tundraboy
November 13, 2015 at 06:13 pm
Totally agree.
NickPerry
November 14, 2015 at 08:26 am
Hey RC, excellent post but how much you wanna bet we don't see a Screen pass this weekend against Detroit? It's almost certain when something works they completely get away from it. So far we might not see it for 2 or 3 weeks.
Bearmeat
November 13, 2015 at 08:27 am
The coaching staff has been infuriating all year long. Calls. Use of personnel. ugh.
murphy
November 13, 2015 at 09:00 am
McCarthy is 3 for 4 on challenges this year. Silver lining!
Tundraboy
November 13, 2015 at 07:10 pm
Sure has. Aargh
Since'61
November 13, 2015 at 08:41 am
Jeff - agree on Lacy, his performance or lack thereof has hurt the team.
Bulaga may be the product of injury. I would consider R. Rodgers for most under achieved since has been healthy all season, at least as far as we know.
As for the play calling move, last year at this time we were 5-3 and everyone was blaming MMs play calling for the New Orleans debacle and demanding that he give up the play calling role. Now we're blaming MM for his decision to give up the play calling and turn it over to Tom Clements. This is unreasonable, since A. Rodgers probably plays a significant role in designing the offensive scheme and game plan every week. Also we don't know how many plays Aaron is calling at the LOS. It's not play calling it is execution. Whether it is injuries, level of talent, playing on the road, quality of opponent and/or all of the above the Packers have not executed effectively on offense or defense for the last 2 games. The excellent film study articles on this site this week have pointed out clearly some of the mental mistakes and execution issues on both sides of the ball. Even A. Rodgers has been missing open receivers. I also agree that Janis should get more playing time, if nothing else than to present at least the possibility of a deep threat and to add some speed to the receiving corps. It may open up some opportunities for Cobb, Jones and Adams. On to the Lions and Go Pack Go! Thanks, Since '61
Evan
November 13, 2015 at 11:12 am
"Whether it is injuries, level of talent, playing on the road, quality of opponent and/or all of the above the Packers have not executed effectively on offense or defense for the last 2 games."
More like 4 games.
DrealynWilliams
November 13, 2015 at 01:35 pm
@61 If I could give multiple thumb up votes, I would. Right on the money with this one!
Since'61
November 13, 2015 at 09:19 pm
Thanks Drealyn, Since '61
Thegreatreynoldo
November 13, 2015 at 05:29 pm
"everyone was blaming MMs play calling for the New Orleans debacle and demanding that he give up the play calling role. Now we're blaming MM for his decision to give up the play calling and turn it over to Tom Clements."
Perhaps so. But the operative part is turning over play calling to Tom Clements. The only real evidence of Clement's play calling ability was that Buffalo yanked those duties away from him in mid-October in his previous opportunity. So, I don't blame MM for giving up play calling (I generally upheld MM in his choice of plays, lukewarmly perhaps), but I questioned reposing such confidence in Clements from the start.
I agree with the rest of your comment, Since 61.
croatpackfan
November 14, 2015 at 04:36 am
As always very insightful... And right on spot. Lot of last years cries and demands come back as this year as just opposite cries and demands... Enough for clever person...
NickPerry
November 14, 2015 at 08:37 am
Hey Since "61, excellent post as always. On NFL Matchup I thought Jaworski had made a interesting observation of Rodgers and the more I thought about it the more I agree with what he said. Jaws thought Rodgers was "Seeing Ghosts" which would explain his comment "Something scared me". Give it a listen.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=14118520
Since'61
November 14, 2015 at 12:27 pm
Nick - I appreciate the feedback and thanks for pointing out the Jaworski observation. I agree with Jaworski to a point. I also think that Aaron is struggling because his receivers are getting knocked off their routes and the OL has not been as solid as in the past. It is a combination of several points but Jaworski's observation is a good one. Thanks, Since '61
Funcrusher
November 13, 2015 at 09:44 am
Most disappointing player - I'd go with Casey Hayward. In a contract year, he's had the chance to prove that he's more than a just a slot corner, but he's been absolutely awful. He's lost himself a lot of money.
Pleasant Surprise - I think you got it right with Randall, but I'd also consider Jayrone Elliot. He's stuck in a pretty deep rotation of olb's but has made a lot of big plays with the limited snaps he's gotten, and has proven that he's not another Vic So'to. Think he'll be starting at olb next year for us.
zoellner25
November 13, 2015 at 09:56 am
Really can't argue with any of these.
Thegreatreynoldo
November 13, 2015 at 10:44 am
Most curious move not made: Lacy's decision to have more grand slam meals rather than fewer turnovers.
Biggest disappointment: Edgar Bennett's chagrin when he realized how little credence other GMs give to his title as Offensive Coordinator.
sonomaca
November 13, 2015 at 11:55 am
I' m no psychiatrist, but I think they should examine Lacy for depression. He doesn't have the demeanor of a typical young man.
D Ernesto
November 13, 2015 at 06:44 pm
Maybe he is home sick?. Maybe he wants out? Maybe he wants to meet up with his buddy Trent Richardson and start a bar called "The Also Rans"?
sonomaca
November 13, 2015 at 08:07 pm
I think he's depressed. Maybe homesick is part of it.
Point-Packer
November 13, 2015 at 11:03 am
Over under on the number of Culver's butter burgers Lacy has housed while playing the new Black Ops in the last month?
I'm thinking 50, but that may be low.
RCPackerFan
November 13, 2015 at 11:13 am
those things are good.
Their new pub burgers are really good as well...
RCPackerFan
November 13, 2015 at 10:33 pm
To the person that disliked my comment. Are you not a fan of the pub burger? Do you dislike the butter burger? Can you at least explain the dislike?
RCPackerFan
November 14, 2015 at 01:02 am
To the person that disliked my dislike question. Are you anti Wisconsin? To not like Culver's is the same thing as not liking Wisconsin. Not very nice.
AZPack
November 13, 2015 at 02:47 pm
Lacy is hands down the most disappointing. Not even close... others have been disappointing, but none nearly az much! Talk about a fall from grace.
Bulaga had surgery to repair torn miniscus. Thats a very painful injury and its a testament to his toughness that he's on the field. That injury/surgery is robbing him of the ability to push off w his legs and generate power. Should be same as last year in a month.
Randall didn't have limited college experience or playing time at CB in college. The vast majority of his college snaps was in man coverage w/o help over the top! Doesn't that indicate CB to you?
Thegreatreynoldo
November 13, 2015 at 05:30 pm
Yep. Correct on all points, imo.
croatpackfan
November 14, 2015 at 04:40 am
So why then put Bulaga in the game. Let him heal completely before his return... We may play... Oh, sh*t! We have no other playwer to play on quality level RT. Hmmm....
AZPack
November 14, 2015 at 02:26 pm
Cuz even limited after the surgery Bulaga is much better than Barclay! Duhh.. And no/very limited risk of further injury.
D Ernesto
November 13, 2015 at 06:42 pm
I have yet to date seen ha ha clinton dix play hot and no one else has either. He misses tackles, stands in center field and watches other try and make plays, I wonder just what the hell he does do but a shutdown cover safety coming up to make tackles and break up plays, not the clinton dix I see.
Should have been a third round pick
croatpackfan
November 14, 2015 at 04:42 am
He is, this year, leading tackler for Packers, so you must be watching some other franchise. That may be reason why you did not see Ha-Ha plays...