Aaron Rodgers and 1st-String Offense, Defense Shine in Preseason Loss to Bengals

Packers:  17, Bengals:  20

The start of the Aaron Rodgers era was a good one.  The Rodgers offense looked sharp, scoring 10 points in the first 15 minutes of the game.  Too bad it was only on display for one quarter.  Then rookie Brian Brohm took the field, promptly throwing an interception and displaying a bewildering lack of accuracy.

The same is true of the defense.  The first team looked sharp.  The backups–not so much.  They gave up a few touchdowns and gave the Bengals a lead they never relinquished.

But the first stringers on both offense and defense displayed some real grit.  The Packers defense shut down Carson Palmer’s offense for three consecutive possessions to start off the game.  Donald Driver knocked a tackler on his back.  But the most impressive play of the game came on a long pass from Rodgers to James Jones.  While pulling in the ball, Jones got absolutely clobbered by a pair of Cincinatti defensive backs and lost his helmet.  Somehow, however, Jones managed to remain upright and, after a quick glance at the pair of defenders at his feet, jogged in for a touchdown sans-helmet.  That got the team, and the crowd at Lambeau Field, pretty fired up.

On another positive note, the crowd seemed to be extremely supportive of Aaron Rodgers, who finished with over 100 passing yards and a TD in just one quarter of play.

 

 

James Jones Survives a Vicious Hit to Score

Favre Traded to Jets–for sure this time

It’s finally over.  For real.  Signed, sealed, delivered.  Brett Favre will be a New York Jet for the 2008 NFL season.

I won’t bore you with a recap of the entire Favre fiasco.  I’ll just give you the terms of the trade.  I’m sure you’ll be able to find plenty of others perfectly willing to rant against the Packers management/Brett Favre for being so stupid/selfish and how it will result in a disaster/blessing/surprise for the Packers/Jets/Thompson/Favre.

The Jets get Favre, and the Packers get a conditional draft pick.  At the very least (even if Favre plays 3 snaps the entire season and the Jets go 0-16), the Packers get a 4th round draft pick.  If Favre takes at least half of the snaps this season, it becomes a 3rd rounder.  If Favre takes 70% of the snaps and leads the Jets to the playoffs, the Pack gets a 2nd round pick.  If Favre somehow manages to take the sub-par Jets to the Super Bowl (while taking 80% of the snaps), the Packers get a nice shiny first round pick (obviously, it would be one of the last two picks of the first round).  If Favre takes the Jets to the Super Bowl and Aaron Rodgers leads the Packers to Tampa as well, then the universe will explode.

To prevent the Jets from trading Favre to Minnesota, Thompson insisted that the trade include a “poison pill” clause, where a trade to the Vikings would result in New York forfeiting 3 first-round draft picks to the Packers.  So, naturally, I’m hoping the Jets do that.

Regardless of how you think Ted Thompson handled the whole Favre situation, you’ve got to admit Ted did a pretty good job of negotiating a trade and keeping him out of the NFC and off of Green Bay’s schedule.

Favre to be traded to Buccaneers–we think

Last night there was a report that Favre was seriously considering staying retired.  But, as is often the case, a report today contradicts that, saying that Favre will be traded to the Bucs by the end of the day today.

It seems to have been brought about by Favre’s unwillingness to play for the Packers after all the bad blood, even though the Packers had finally offered him the chance to compete for the starting job.

No word yet on what Green Bay will get from Tampa Bay.

The Favre Situation is FUBAR

Nobody really knows what’s going on.  The Packers may or may not be having an open QB competition during training camp and Brett Favre may or may not want to participate in it.  He may or may not want to be traded, and if he does, he may or may not be traded within the NFC North.  Favre may or may not re-retire.  Rodgers may or may not be the quarterback.  I don’t know what to think of this anymore.  I may or may not know more after Mike McCarthy’s press conference which is (or may not) be at 6:00 p.m. ET today.

More if and when I ever get any more details…

Packers Sign Ryan Grant to 4-year Deal

Lost in all the Brett Favre news was the fact that Green Bay’s emerging start at running back was holding out for a better contract.  Luckily, this has been resolved.

The Packers signed Grant to a 4-year, $18 million contract.

Now we can all focus on what will be a very interesting training camp competition for the starting quarterback job.

BREAKING: Packers to Allow Open Competition for Starting QB Job

After weeks of gridlock, the Packers have apparently decided to keep Favre on board with the Packers in a serious role.  You’ve got to feel for Aaron Rodgers, but this might have been the best option for the Packers at this point.  (This begs the question, why didn’t they do this earlier?)  We’ll have to wait and see if the Packers make a good faith effort to keep the competition open.

I’ve seen both sides of this story from the start:  It has to be extremely difficult to accept a Favre return when you’ve already made preparations and strategic moves based on his retirement.  How long can the Packers have to wait and see what Favre does?  Favre isn’t the only player on the team.

On the other hand, Favre clearly gives Green Bay the best chance to win now.  And it’s understandable that Favre changed his mind as football season got closer.  Both sides handled this poorly, and hopefully we can move on.

The Packers took the first step toward reconciliation by releasing this statement, which acknowledges the difficulty of the past few weeks while emphasizing that the team will move forward with Favre on the team:

“Sixteen years after Brett Favre came to the Packers, he is returning for a seventeenth season. He has had a great career with our organization and although we built this year around the assumption that Brett meant what he said about retiring, Brett is coming back. We will welcome him back and turn this situation to our advantage. 

Frankly, Brett’s change of mind put us in a very difficult spot. We now will revise many actions and assumptions about our long-term future, all predicated on Brett’s decision last March to retire. As a result of his decision, we invested considerably in a new and different future without Brett and we were obviously moving in that direction. That’s why this wasn’t easy. Having crossed the Rubicon once when Brett decided to retire, it’s very difficult to reorient our plans and cross it again in the opposite direction – but we’ll put this to our advantage. 

Brett will be in camp tomorrow. Although there has been uncertainty regarding Brett’s return, Ted Thompson and Coach McCarthy had previously discussed this and have had a plan in place. Coach McCarthy will talk to the team and the quarterbacks about the plan moving forward, and after he has done that we will share it publicly. 

No matter what, I look forward to another successful season for the Packers and our fans. This has been a tough situation, but the Packers will make the most of it.”