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Weekly Green Bay Packers News from Twitter and other Sources by Al Bracco and Jayme Joers (As heard on Cheesehead Radio (9/15/11 ).

To listen to the show, click on the play button below.

Packers News 9/15/11

Al:The news coming out of Mike McCarthy’s press conference yesterday was not good. Injured Packers defensive end Mike Neal will be missing more games after undergoing a surgical procedure on Tuesday. Details of the procedure were not released, but Mike McCarthy said the doctors were pleased with how it went. McCarthy would only say Neal will miss “significant weeks,” but he doesn’t think it would be long enough to put Neal on injured reserve.

Jayme: The news was better about Tramon Williams. Thanks to the extra 3 days between games, McCarthy believes Williams’ shoulder could be improved enough for him to play Sunday at Carolina.

McCarthy also said that it wasn’t a requirement Williams be able to practice this week to play in the game. Sounds like Mike really doesn’t want to play the game without him…

Al: NFL sources have reported that Packers cornerback Charles Woodson was fined $10,000 for punching Saints tight end David Thomas in the third quarter of last week’s game. Although Woodson was flagged for a penalty, he was not ejected, which the rules call for. After the game, Woodson said he regretted that it happened, but he didn’t exactly apologize for doing it.  Read more... (712 words + 3 images, estimated 2:51 mins reading time)

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1) Introduction: When the Green Bay Packers drafted C. J. Wilson in the seventh round last season, I immediately went searching for You Tube videos of him. I found some video that really impressed me, leading me to believe he could be as good as Mike Neal, who the Packers took in the second round. Of course, that was a stretch, but my point is, my expectations for Wilson were probably higher than most.

2) Profile:

Clifford James Wilson

Position: DE
Height: 6-4    Weight: 271 lbs.

Born: March 30, 1987 in Bellhaven, NC
College: East Carolina (school history)    (Wilson college stats)
Drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the 7th round (230th overall) of the 2010 NFL Draft.

3) Expectations coming into the season for that player: As a seventh round draft pick, just making the roster would normally be exceeding expectations. Wilson, however, showed enough for the Packers to cut Jarius Wynn and keep Wilson on the active roster. And it sure was a good thing they did.

4) Player’s highlights/lowlights: C.J. Wilson got his first significant playing time when he was thrown into the fire of the Packers’ home game against the Vikings. With both Cullen Jenkins and Ryan Pickett injured and out of the game, the Packers were down to 3 healthy defensive linemen (the others being B. J. Raji and Jarius Wynn). C.J Wilson played like a veteran that day, recording 5 solo tackles and 4 assists. The playoff game against Atlanta, where he had 3 tackles, one assist and a sack was another highlight. As for lowlights, it was difficult coming up with specific examples, so we’ll go with the 5 straight games after the bye where he saw little or no action when the Packers picked up Howard Green.  Read more... (460 words + 3 images, estimated 1:50 mins reading time)

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One of the biggest headlines during the 2010 season was the issue of player safety, most notably concussions. After a congressional hearing criticized the NFL for not taking the matter more seriously, the NFL took to the issue with a renewed fervor. What resulted was mass confusion for everyone; players, coaches, referees, the media and the fans had no idea what constituted an illegal hit.

This was followed by frustration by many players, most notably Steelers outside linebacker James Harrison, who was fined upwards of $10,000 per infraction. Harrison lead the league in fines (with over $100,000) and criticism (with a meeting with commissioner Roger Godell in New York and a fiery jab during the Super Bowl media day) and even threatened to retire should these fines continue.

I believe that the NFL is heading in the right direction, concussions are a serious matter and the ramifications for players as they retire and grow older can be devastating, but the system with which officials determine what constitutes an illegal hit and the repercussions that the NFL enforces afterwards are a little baffling.

The first issue, of course, is what constitutes an illegal hit due to the threat of concussion. While some hits, such as the Julius Peppers’ hit on Aaron Rodgers during the NFC championship game are pretty obvious, others, most notably when defenders end up hitting quarterbacks on the head, are a little harder to explain (such as Trent Cole’s “hit” on Peyton Manning this season). Perhaps if Deacon Jones was still playing and axe chopping quarterbacks that might be an issue, but usually these penalties occur when defenders are trying to bat balls or throwing arms and their hand coincidentally ends up touching the quarterback’s helmet.  Read more... (1071 words + 1 image, estimated 4:17 mins reading time)

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Weekly Green Bay Packers News from Twitter and other Sources by Al Bracco and Holly Phelps. (As heard on Cheesehead Radio 2/3/11 )

Al: Welcome to Super Bowl week. It was really hard finding some Packers related items this week this week, but we’ll do our best. First thing I want to do is give you all a reading assignment for after the show. That’s right, Professor Bracco is giving you some homework. A nice byproduct of the Packers making the Super Bowl is that now the best sportswriters on the National level turn their attention onto the Packers. There were some fabulous articles this week from Mike Freeman at CBSSports.com and three writers from ESPN, Gene Wojciechowski, Patrick Hruby and Wright Thompson. Look up the Packers coverage on these sites and find these articles. You will be reminded why it’s so special to be a Packers fan.

Holly: And special is certainly how the Packers players felt on Tuesday’s media day, surrounded by throngs of photographers and reporters hanging on their every word. And along with all of that, of course, there were the reporters in costumes, the ridiculous questions, and the silly requests, like the female reporter who asked to feel Clay Matthews’ hair.  Read more... (804 words + 3 images, estimated 3:13 mins reading time)

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Weekly Green Bay Packers News from Twitter and other Sources by Al Bracco and Jayme Joers. (As heard on Cheesehead Radio 1/27/11 )

Al: Well, what can I say. After 13 long years, the Packers are back in the Super Bowl. Having survived a season racked with injuries and in jeopardy of not making the playoffs at all, the Packers found themselves winning 5 straight elimination games to propel themselves into the big game. The sweetest part, of course, was beating the Bears in their home for the NFC Championship.

Jayme: And the week that followed could easily be called controversy gate. We had Cutler-gate, Concussion-gate and Photo-gate. The Bears Jay Cutler was criticized by some former and current NFL players for supposedly tanking on his team. Bears fans vilified him, with some taking to burning his jersey. Never mind that this was a huge rush to judgement and Cutler really did have a serious injury.

Al: Yes Jayme, but I think Cutler brought this on himself. His dispassionate attitude on the sidelines would surely infuriate me if I was a Bears fan. Fortunately, I’m not and my quarterback is Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers, by the way, did a classy thing by coming out and saying he was very disappointed by the way Cutler was treated. Rodgers then mentioned the airport incident and noted that he has come to realize that you can never make everyone happy and as long as you know you’re a good person, that’s all that matters.  Read more... (837 words + 3 images, estimated 3:21 mins reading time)

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When I read that Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers was fined $10,000 by the NFL today for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in Sunday’s NFC Championship, one thought and one thought only went through my head:

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!

For a player who recently signed a huge free agent contract that could total $91.5 million, $10,000 is like pennies to you and me. During the regular season, the NFL apparently made it crystal clear to teams and players that hits that involve the leading of the helmet would not be tolerated and would be met with stiff fines and possible suspensions.

If $10,000 is a stiff fine to multi-millionaires, then I’m the King of England.

Look at Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker James Harrison (who the Packers will face in Super Bowl XLV). He has been fined for times for illegal hits and the fines total $125,000 for an average of roughly $31,000 per offense. Again, pocket change to the millionaire players of the NFL.

But let’s get back to Peppers, and more importantly for Packer fans, Rodgers.

This is not the first time Peppers has rung Rodgers’ “bell.” In a regular season game at Lambeau Field in 2008, Peppers was flagged for a bruising hit on Rodgers out of bounds when he played for the Carolina Panthers. That hit can be seen here: Julius Peppers Nails Aaron Rodgers  Read more... (770 words + 1 image, estimated 3:05 mins reading time)

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Bryan Bulaga is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs almost 320 pounds. But the Green Bay Packers’ right tackle probably felt like the smallest person in Lambeau Field after each of his four penalties in Sunday’s must-win game against the Chicago Bears.

Bulaga committed two holding penalties that negated Packers’ first downs. He was also guilty of two false starts. The Packers failed to pick up a first down after each of Bulaga’s penalties.

It’s impossible to give Bulaga a passing grade for Sunday’s game because of those drive-killing penalties. You simply cannot afford mistakes like that when the season is on the line.

But lets be as fair as we can to the big guy and examine the plays where Bulaga was not committing a penalty. In my opinion, he actually played decent.

Bulaga’s brightest moments came in pass protection on the two long Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings connections. The fourth quarter connection is especially highlight-worthy.

Aggressive at the line
Bulaga is matched up against Israel Idonije (I think it’s Idonije. It’s difficult to see on Direct TV’s camera angle). Idonije hesitates for a bit on the play-action, then tries to get up field and force Rodgers to move out of the pocket. Bulaga stonewalls Idonogie, which allows Rodgers to stand tall, go through his reads, and deliver a perfect strike to Jennings.

 Read more... (792 words + 1 image, estimated 3:10 mins reading time)

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