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Packers WR Randall Cobb.

Breakout WR/HB/KR/PR Randall Cobb touched the ball 159 times and amassed a Packers franchise record 2,342 all-purpose yards in 2012.

It was quite the season for the second-year talent out of Kentucky, and very necessary. Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson all missed significant time with injuries. Cobb, along with James Jones, stepped up to fill the void left by Jennings and Nelson and helped negate the Packers struggles running the ball.

But 159 touches is a lot for a player who is 5-foot-10 and 191 pounds. Cobb injured his ankle and missed the season finale against the Vikings. He also managed just six catches for 31 yards in two playoff games and was taken off of punt returns against the 49ers, only to see rookie Jeremy Ross muff one deep in Green Bay territory that led to a San Francisco touchdown.

I was at the wild-card win over the Vikings and watched Cobb limp around on that ankle. He was hurting. The explosion wasn’t there.

With Jennings gone, it’s assumed Cobb will have an even bigger role in the offense. His role probably will be bigger, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll touch the ball 159 times again.

Cobb was targeted 104 times in 2012, the most since Jennings’ 125 targets in 2010. If Nelson stays healthy, and Jones repeats his stellar 2012 season, perhaps that number will come down a bit.  Read more... (632 words + 1 image, estimated 2:32 mins reading time)

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Surviving Sundays with no Packers Football

Forgive me, Packers fans, I’m about to stick up for the Chicago Bears.

(*The author pauses for a moment to put on his bullet-proof vest, change the locks on his home, and take a deep breath*)

I have no problem with the Bears one year, $2 million contract offer to Brian Urlacher. I’m actually insulted that Urlacher called the offer “insulting.”

Football is a business. Good teams make roster decisions not to reward once-great players or keep local heroes around to appease the fanbase. Football has been trying to teach us this lesson over and over again, but most people will never learn it, or simply refuse to even try to learn it.

Urlacher was a free agent for the first time in 13 seasons. He’ll be 35 years old in May and he missed the last month of the 2012 season with a hamstring injury.

In the 12 games that Urlacher did play, Pro Football Focus graded him out positively in only three of them. He finished with an overall season grade of -11.3. Pro Football Focus is not the be-all, end-all of player evaluation, but from what I saw of Urlacher in 2012, a -11.3 seemed generous. I thought he was slow and a shadow of his former self.

Does a $2 million contract offer for a once-great, but now aging player coming off an injury and likely on the downswing of his career really sound that insulting to you?  Read more... (1200 words + 1 image, estimated 4:48 mins reading time)

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B.J. Raji

From the time BJ Raji was drafted in 2009, I’ve taken a special interest in this player. Maybe because he’s from a local town here in NJ, maybe because I was hoping he would be one of the linchpins for Dom Caper’s new 3-4 defense – the next “Gravedigger.”

I wrote a profile on Raji back in May of 2009, and later talked to some people who saw him in his HS playing days. “Really nice kid from a nice family,” I heard repeatedly, followed by, not sure if he has enough “mean” in his personality to thrive in the trenches in the NFL.

I discounted those comments for the most part. Surely the Packers wouldn’t have spent a top-10 draft choice on him if the Packers didn’t think he was a potential star.

B.J. Raji made the Pro Bowl in 2011, probably based on the rep earned by his 8 sacks and strong sophomore season  in 2010 (film study here).  Ironically, though, he just wasn’t that good in 2011.

Raji’s 2012 season for the Packers was noticeably better than 2011, but one major thing was missing; consistency.  It seemed to these non-expert eyes that as the season unfolded, Raji had some very strong performances, and some downright awful ones.

Raji terrorized the Bears (film study here) late in the season and a few weeks later was bounced around like a pinball machine by the 49ers offensive line. With those two offensive lines being on opposite ends of the talent scale, a thought crossed my mind; were’s Raji’s “good” performances all against “bad” offensive lines and vica versa?  Read more... (837 words + 4 images, estimated 3:21 mins reading time)

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Graham Harrell

1) Introduction: Was Harrell’s 2012 season the best ever by a backup quarterback? The second-year player from Texas Tech held the clipboard with perfect form. His posture and facial gestures while watching games from the sideline was second to none. His bored-to cup-to pour time — aka the amount of time it takes Harrell to snap out of staring straight ahead and being bored, sprint to the water cooler, grab a cup, fill it, and deliver it to Aaron Rodgers without spilling — was the best in league history. I can think of no other quarterback that is better suited to back up Rodgers than Mr. Graham Harrell.

2) Profile:

Graham “Mr. Wonderful” Harrell

• Age: Ageless
• Born: to play backup quarterback
• Height: He’s bigger than the game
• Weight: Harrell doesn’t wait for anything or anybody
• College: School of Hard Knocks
• Rookie Year: Doesn’t matter. Harrell has played like a veteran ever since setting foot on the field
• NFL Experience: Watching Harrell play is an experience we all should cherish.

Career Stats and more:

3) Expectations coming into the season: Stay the hell off the field. The Packers kept extra beer in the coolers at Lambeau just in case Harrell ever had to enter a game. It is unclear whether the beer was intended to distract the fans from Harrell actually being in the game, or to calm the nerves of the Packers coaching staff who had to try and make sure Harrell didn’t injure any teammate by hitting them in the nuts with an errant pass.  Read more... (441 words + 1 image, estimated 1:46 mins reading time)

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Packers QB Aaron Rodgers

1) Introduction: It was a grind at times for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Things didn’t look quite as easy as they did in 2011. When injuries mounted and adversity came and went, Rodgers kept the Packers in games and came through in the end more often than not. It wasn’t an MVP season, but it wasn’t far off.

2) Profile:

Aaron Rodgers

• Age: 29
• Born: 12/02/1983, in Chico, CA
• Height: 6’2″
• Weight: 225
• College: California
• Rookie Year: 2005
• NFL Experience: 8 years

Career Stats and more:

3) Expectations coming into the season: 8,000 yards, 108 touchdowns, 1 interception and a QB rating of 607.3. Seriously, I think some people honestly expected those numbers from Rodgers. His 2011 run might have been a once in a lifetime thing. It’s unfair to expect that to happen every season, maybe ever again. Rodgers ended up leading the league in passer rating for the second straight season and made several plays when he had no business making a play. It was another great season, regardless if he failed to meet some people’s unrealistic expectations.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: This was my favorite Rodgers’ throw of the season. Amazing. Other highlights include the big game against Houston, making plays down the stretch at Lambeau against the Vikings and recovering nicely from an interception to beat the Saints in a must-win early-season game. If I could change one thing about Rodgers’ season, it would be the interception against the 49ers in the playoffs. Rodgers hasn’t had a holy crap that was awesome! type of playoff game since the Super Bowl. That needs to change.  Read more... (471 words + 1 image, estimated 1:53 mins reading time)

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North Carolina RB Giovani Bernard

Green Bay Packers NFL Draft prospect profile: RB Giovani Bernard

Player Information:

Giovani Bernard, RB North Carolina
5-10, 205 pounds
Hometown: Davie, FL

STATS:

NFL Combine:

N/A.

News and Notes:

Bernard enters the NFL as a redshirt sophomore … Missed his freshman season with a torn ACL before becoming the Tar Heels’ starting running back for two seasons … Can do everything from the position: catches the ball well out of the backfield and hits the hole quickly … 45 receptions as freshman, 47 catches as a sophomore … Started over Wisconsin RB James White at St. Thomas Aquinas HS in Florida … 2012 First-Team All-ACC (ACSMA, Coaches, Phil Steele) … 2012 ACC Player of the Year (CBSsports.com) … 2012 Third-Team All-America (Associated Press, Phil Steele) … 2011 First-Team All-ACC (ACSMA) … 2011 First-Team Freshman All-America

 What they’re saying about him:

• CBSSports.com: “Bernard is compactly built with good lower body drive, running decisive and hard with some power. He has quick feet and loose hips to make smooth lateral cuts and make open field moves with the acceleration to force poor angles by defenders.”
• DraftInsider.net: “Nifty, elusive, double cut runner that consistently creates his own yardage.” (Only RB that warrants a 1st-round grade.)
• Video:

Video Analysis:  Read more... (406 words + 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

• Natural runner with great vision.
• Impressive as a receiver out of the backfield. Doesn’t only catch screen passes; runs a number of pass patterns and catches the ball with his hands.

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1) Introduction:  After missing his entire senior season at Buffalo due to injury, James Starks fell to the sixth round of the 2010 NFL Draft. The Packers stashed him on the PUP list to start the season before activating him for their week 13 game against the San Francisco 49ers. Starks was the Packers’ starting running back during the team’s run to the Super Bowl in 2010. But in his second season, Starks was nothing more than an average running back on a pass-happy team. He entered 2012 as the team’s starter, but expectations were limited.

2) Profile:

James Darell Starks

• Age: 26
• Born: 02/25/1986, in Niagara Falls, NY
• Height: 6’2″
• Weight: 218
• College: Buffalo
• Rookie Year: 2010
• NFL Experience: 3 years

 Career stats and more:

3) Expectations coming into the season:  Starks was the starter coming into the season, playing ahead of second-year player Alex Green. But after a porous performance in the team’s preseason opener in San Diego, the team realized Starks may not be the answer. As a result, the Packers signed veteran Cedric Benson in hopes that he’d help revive a struggling running game.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights:  After the preseason opener against the Chargers on August 9, turf toe kept Starks out of the lineup until October 14 against the Houston Texans. The early-season injury was more of the same for Starks. But with Benson out for the season and Alex Green struggling as the starter, Starks became a more important part of the offense late in the season. The highlight of his 2012 season was against the Minnesota Vikings when he rushed for 66 yards on 15 carries, including a 22-yard touchdown run.  Read more... (399 words + 1 image, estimated 1:36 mins reading time)

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