AllGreenBayPackers.Com

D.J. Williams

1) Introduction: When the Packers selected D.J. Williams in the fifth round last April, most were quick to say that “the rich were getting richer,” with the assumption that Williams—the Mackey Award winner in 2010—would step right into a role in the Packers already deep and talented offense. That may still happen in time, but Williams didn’t add much to the Packers’ offensive pot during his rookie season.

2) Profile:

David Edward Williams, Jr. (D.J)

Position: TE
Height: 6-3
Weight: 254 lbs.
AGE: 24

Career Stats

3) Expectations coming into the season: In the shorts and helmet start to training camp, Williams looked like a player that was actually going to have an impact on the Packers offense. How could Mike McCarthy possibly keep a guy that looked this good off the field? Once the pads came on and the game sped up, however, Williams quickly reverted into the 5th round rookie he really was. He was then plagued by mental miscues during the preseason, and it was clear by the start of the season that Williams needed time before becoming a bigger factor in the Packers’ offensive plans.  Read more... (495 words + 1 image, estimated 1:59 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny

Ryan Taylor

1) Introduction: Ted Thompson raised a few eyebrows in April when he took Taylor just two rounds after selecting D.J. Williams at the same position. The Packers then had five tight ends, including Taylor, with a chance to make the final roster at the beginning of training camp. By September 3, Taylor and his four peers had, in fact, made the 53.

2) Profile:

Ryan Lawrence Taylor

Position: TE
Height: 6-2
Weight: 245 lbs.
AGE: 23

Career Stats

3) Expectations coming into the season: A special teams captain in two of his four years at North Carolina with experience playing linebacker, Taylor reminded some of Spencer Havner. If he was able to make the 53-man roster in 2011, most expected Taylor to play a similar role.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Taylor played on just 32 offensive snaps but did catch his first career touchdown pass in Week 14 against Oakland. It ended up being Taylor’s only catch of the season. To his credit on special teams, Taylor was active in 15 of 17 games and finished second on the team with eight total tackles.  Read more... (371 words + 1 image, estimated 1:29 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny

Brett Goode

1) Introduction: I wouldn’t mind having Brett Goode’s life. He pals around with Aaron Rodgers, gets a front row seat to watch the Packers every Sunday and does the only job he’s assigned to do very well.

2) Profile:

Brett Goode

Position: LS
Height: 6-1
Weight: 255 lbs.
AGE: 27

Career Stats:

3) Expectations coming into the season: Avoid the closeup. If the long snapper gets a closeup on TV, it’s usually because he just snapped the ball over the punter’s head. Goode managed to stay off TV this season

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Every time Goode hits the punter or the holder right in the hands, it’s a highlight. Lowlights have to be only managing one tackle. At 6-1, 255 pounds, Goode just doesn’t have the size to be an impact player once the ball is kicked.

5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: Both Mason Crosby and Tim Masthay had good seasons and some of that credit goes to Goode. It means a lot when a long snapper has good velocity and puts the ball right where it needs to be.

6) Player’s contributions in the playoffs: Unfortunately, the Packers had to punt more often than they would have liked. At least Goode’s snaps were accurate.  Read more... (256 words + 1 image, estimated 1:01 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny

Alex Green

1) Introduction: After limping through the 2010 season at running back, the Packers decided to use their third round pick last April on Hawaii’s Alex Green. A one-cut-and-go type runner with receiving skills, Green was seen as an ideal player to pick up on third downs where departed free agent Brandon Jackson left off.

 

2) Profile:

Alexander Denell Green

Position: RB
Height: 6-0
Weight: 225 lbs.
AGE: 23

Career Stats

3) Expectations coming into the season: The expectation when Green was drafted was that of a third down back who could block in pass protection and make a defender or two miss in the open field. Some optimistic observers even thought that Green could steal carries from Ryan Grant and/or make the veteran back expendable.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: The somewhat-lofty expectations for Green were never realized in Year 1. He was a healthy scratch in three of the first seven games, then blew out his knee on a kick return in Minnesota. Green did have one third down catch and conversion in Atlanta that eventually led to points. In seven games, Green had just three carries for 11 yards and one catch for six.  Read more... (364 words + 1 image, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny

Andrew Quarless

1) Introduction: When the Packers drafted Quarless in the fifth round of the 2010 draft, few thought his impact on the following season would be as profound as it ending up being. At the moment when Jermichael Finley tore up his knee in Week 5 at Washington, Quarless had exactly 12 career professional snaps. From that point on, Quarless played over 500 for a Packers team that ended up winning the Super Bowl.

2) Profile:

Andrew Christopher Quarless

Position: TE
Height: 6-4
Weight: 252 lbs.
AGE: 23

Career Stats

3) Expectations coming into the season: Some saw a mini-Finley in Quarless when he came out of Penn State, but there were never the flashes of elite athleticism from Quarless in 2010 like Finley showed during his rookie season. After an injury in camp and the drafting of both D.J. Williams and Ryan Taylor, a number of people thought that Quarless might not make the final roster. He made the 53, but expectations for the second-year tight end were low.  Read more... (436 words + 1 image, estimated 1:45 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny

C Scott Wells is one of eight free agents for the Packers in 2012.

It’s far from a Moneyball style stats movement, but the guys over at Pro Football Focus have slowly but surely put together one of the premier stat-organizing sites available for the NFL and its legion of fans. It’s not a fool-proof system, and I occasionally disagree with a rating or two from a given game. But PFF grades every player on every play for all 32 teams, so there’s no shortage of work these guys put into their grades and ratings.

With the 2011 season over in Green Bay, I used PFF’s ratings/grades to analyze the Packers’ eight free agents this offseason. If you’re not familiar with the ratings at PFF, don’t fret—a higher score indicates a better rating, and a negative score obviously isn’t what you’re looking for.

Also, for another look at the Packers’ free agents in 2012, check out this article from AllGBP’s own Adam Czech.

CB Jarrett Bush (-4.0, 321 snaps)  Read more... (920 words + 1 image, estimated 3:41 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny

The Giants pointed their ship to the NFC Championship Game with a 37-20 win over the Packers. (Photo: Darron Cummings, GBPG)

The Green Bay Packers (15-2) picked an awful time to play their worst game of the 2011 season, and the New York Giants more than capitalized on it Sunday in knocking the defending champions out of the playoffs with a 37-20 win at Lambeau Field in the NFC Divisional Round.

Here are five observations from the game:

1. Capping a tough week

There was some this week, including Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who opined that the Packers could be more focused on Sunday in light of the terrible tragedy that struck that the Packers family early this week. But maybe those people underestimated how difficult the transition could be from a Friday funeral to a Sunday football game.

The Packers made their fair share of mental mistakes on the offensive side of the football—dropped passes, missed throws, back-breaking fumbles—that were very uncharacteristic of the Packers in 2011. Could that have partly been due to a week of grieving for the Philbin family and missing their offensive coordinator? Professional football players get paid a lot of money to separate the two, but these guys are human beings, not football robots.  Read more... (1077 words + 1 image, estimated 4:18 mins reading time)

Get AddToAny