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Surviving Sundays With No Packers Football

Last week I used this space to discuss dead wrestlers, concussions and the suicide of Junior Seau. It was some heavy and serious stuff, so serious that I didn’t have the will to keep the post going and talk about Packers news.

To make up for it, this edition of Surviving Sunday will be nothing but Packers.

Enjoy.

Rookie Camp
All eight Packers draft picks signed contracts and are participating in this weekend’s rookie camp. From a fan’s perspective, rookie camps and mini camps are a nice reminder that football season is getting closer, but that’s about it. It’s impossible for us outsiders to glean too much from offseason camps. The quotes from coaches are the same every year. Everybody looks great. Everybody is in amazing shape. Everybody looks real focused. Everybody just wants to help the team win. Yawn……

Alex Green and Ryan Grant
Alex Green wants to return by training camp according to Tyler Dunne of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. If he’s putting in the effort and work necessary to make it happen, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Green make it back for camp. It sounds like Adrian Peterson has a legit shot at playing in week one after ripping up his knee at the end of last season. Obviously, no two knee injuries are the same, but if Peterson can return that quickly, I like Green’s chances of being ready to go by August.  Read more... (665 words + 1 image, estimated 2:40 mins reading time)

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Oh yeah. I've got this.

Let’s get this out of the way first: I couldn’t be more excited about the 2012 Green Bay Packers draft class. I thought Ted Thompson did a great job targeting needed position players and acquiring them at a good value. For a GM who has scraped the bottom of the barrel for outside linebackers the past two years, it’s refreshing to see him pick a prospect like Nick Perry in the first round.

Of course, draft picks usually come with some baggage, and Perry is definitely no exception. Draftniks have identified a couple question marks when it comes to Perry’s future as an outside linebacker for the Packers:

1. Is he the right fit for a 3-4 OLB, or should he be playing as a DE in a 4-3 system? His body size seems to be large for an OLB, and he has expressed minimal enthusiasm about switching positions.

2. Does his motor run consistently enough for the professional level? Scouts have called him “a little soft” and noted that he has a tendency to take plays off.  Read more... (777 words + 1 image, estimated 3:06 mins reading time)

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Yesterday afternoon, our fellow blogger in crime Zach Kruse shared an interesting bit of information over at CheeseheadTV.com. Apparently some Green Bay Packers sources indicated to Pro Football Weekly that they “will not be shocked in the least if the team releases injury-prone DE Mike Neal after the draft.”

Neal’s recent violation of the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy earned him a four-game suspension to start the 2012 season, and this has most likely put him on the short list in the mind of Ted Thompson. Of course, this is also just adding to the fact that, due to injuries, Mike Neal has only been active for 9 games in his first two years as a pro football player. And in only 3 of those games did he actually record a tackle.

A lot of fans have been hailing him as the second coming of Justin Harrell, though perhaps a bit prematurely. Now, though, it seems he also has a little bit of Johnny Jolly in him, too.  Read more... (1392 words + 1 image, estimated 5:34 mins reading time)

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Surviving Sundays With No Packers Football

For those looking for Adam Czech, I’m sorry to report I am not him. I’ll be filling in for him in this edition of Surviving Sunday.

Ted Thompson continued his uncharacteristic off-season by continuing to be extremely active in free agency. The Packers signed Anthony Hargrove after the move was speculated last week. So far this off-season, the Packers have added Jeff Saturday, Daniel Muir, Anthony Hargrove, and re-signed Jermichael Finley and Jarrett Bush.

The Packers also brought in Dave Tollefson, formerly a New York Giant, for a visit that began on Thursday and continued into Saturday. Whether or not Tollefson is signed, it is clear Thompson is not playing around when it comes to revamping the Packers defense.

It was clear that the Packers defense needed reinforcements, but no one could have predicted just how active Thompson would be. It makes sense with how quickly Super Bowl windows open and close. The Packers’ window to compete for and win Super Bowls in the near future is open and Thompson’s activity shows the Packers aren’t interested in waiting around to strictly develop new talent on defense.  Read more... (917 words + 1 image, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)

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Surviving Sundays With No Packers Football

The Packers signed free agent center Jeff Saturday this week to replace the departed Scott Wells. Yes, I said the Packers signed a free agent. A free agent that I actually heard of, nonetheless.

I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to react to this occasion.  It’s been a while since Ted Thompson blew the dust off the checkbook he uses to sign free agents from other teams and actually brought someone in. Fans from other teams often celebrate like they just won the Super Bowl after inking a free agent so….congrats fellow Packers fans?

Thompson obviously didn’t know how to react to the occasion, either. He was so confused and out of sorts about what he just did that he turned around and did it again, signing free agent defensive lineman Daniel Muir.

Now, Muir fits the mold of a Packers free-agent signing much more than Saturday. Muir is a journeyman that Thompson signed and released once before. He’ll have to fight hard just to make the team and anything he contributes during the season will be a bonus.  Read more... (916 words + 1 image, estimated 3:40 mins reading time)

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If you’ve been away this weekend or cooped up in a hole to avoid the weather, you might have missed the big story that hit all the media outlets on Friday afternoon. I first found out through our friends at CheeseheadTV that the New Orleans Saints have been found guilty of offering bounties (or payouts) to defensive players as a performance incentive. It wasn’t only for interceptions or fumble recoveries, though. No, they were getting rewarded for injuring other players.

I, for one, found this appalling.

Now, I’m no fool. I am well aware that the rules of the league are often broken to gain a competitive advantage. And some people in the CheeseheadTV comments section feigned a sarcastic state of shock in light of this news.

But what really got to me were the comments and tweets around the internet that this is commonplace and not that big of a deal. The only reason it’s a huge story is because the Saints actually got caught. Some people likened it to the use of performances enhancing drugs (PEDs), in that it happens all the time, yet only a few are ever found out.  Read more... (960 words + 1 image, estimated 3:50 mins reading time)

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Packers 2012 NFL Draft Guide

Pre-Order Discount Here – Only $4.99

Brought to you by the fine folks at CheeseheadTV, with contributions from yours truly and Zack Kruse, this Packers-centric guide to the 2012 NFL Draft is a must have for any Packers fan. You’ll get feature articles, interviews and most importantly, player profiles and rankings according to how they fit for the Packers.

Last year was the first edition for this guide, and just for you, here it is for you to look over.

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