AllGreenBayPackers.Com

Packers Defensive Lineman Ryan Pickett

Green Bay Packer defensive lineman Ryan Pickett recently joined the hosts of CheesheadRadio to talk about football, his charitable endeavors, “his “grizzled veteran” status at 33 yrs old, and his outlook on life in general. It’s a fascinating interview that gives you a unique look inside the mind of this huge man with a heart of gold.

The Pickett interview starts at the 17:00 mark, but I hope you’ll have time to listen to the entire show and become a regular Cheesehead Radio subscriber on itunes or listener on Blog Talk Radio.

———————–

Find out more out Ryan’s Charitable foundation, Team 79, at theryanpickettfoundation.com, and get the full details about his Celebrity Golf Tournament coming up at  Barona Creek Golf Club in Lakeside, CA.

Here’s some info on Ryan’s Golf Tournament:  Read more... (309 words + 3 images, estimated 1:14 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Packers defensive linemen Neal, Wilson, and Pickett are all set to become free agents in 2014.

In the wake of the Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews contract extensions, many of us have been wondering how the Green Bay Packers will utilize their remaining cap space. How they use it will depend a lot on the current players who will be free agency following this season. Not counting the recent restricted free agent tenders and offseason signings, there are a total of fourteen Packers players entering their final year of a multi-year contract.

One of the major concerns, though, is that four of those players – or over a quarter of them – are defensive linemen. And not just any defensive lineman. They accounted for 38 starts, 51 total games played, and 2,108 defensive snaps in 2012. Take a look:  Read more... (786 words + 1 image, estimated 3:09 mins reading time)

• Ryan Pickett, DT, 33, 13th yr.
  (2012: 16 starts, 16 games, 658 snaps – 2^nd DL, 3.8 PFF grade – 2^nd DL)
• B.J. Raji, DT, 26, 5th yr.
  (2012: 14 starts, 14 games, 768 snaps – 1^st DL, 6.5 PFF grade – 1^st DL)
• Mike Neal, DE, 25, 4th yr.
  (2012: 0 starts, 10 games, 323 snaps – 5^th DL, 3.4 PFF grade – 3^rd DL)
• C.J. Wilson, DE, 26, 4th yr.
  (2012: 8 starts, 11 games, 359 – 4^th DL, -2.1 PFF grade – 6^th DL)

---- Get AddToAny

CheeseheadRadio, part of the Packers Talk Radio Network, will be live tonight with special guest Ryan Pickett.  Ryan will be coming on to talk some Packers football and get the word out about the first annual Ryan Pickett Celebrity Golf Classic.

Show Starts at 8:00PM Central and can be heard live at BlogTalkRadio.com.

Here’s some info on Ryan’s Golf Tournament:

For more details, visit theryanpickettfoundation.com

Follow Jersey Al:

          Follow @JerseyAlGBP           Add to Circleson

Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

---- Get AddToAny

Packers DT Ryan Pickett getting after it.

If you’re an NFL fan who subscribes to Game Rewind and likes to re-watch games in order to see what happens away from the ball, Packers defensive lineman Ryan Pickett is your type of player.

The 330-pound 33 year old doesn’t make many plays that garner immediate attention on the game broadcast. To appreciate what Pickett does, you have to watch the film. That’s when you’ll nod your head at the veteran’s quickness off the ball. You’ll pump your fist when he shoves two blockers backward and frees up a linebacker to make a tackle. You’ll notice that Pickett is often the reason why a mess of players pile up at the line and the ballcarrier fails to pick up a short-yardage first down.

After 12 seasons, Pickett should be slowing down. Instead, he looks as strong and nimble as ever. It’s not a rarity to see space-eating defensive linemen play effectively as they creep into their mid-30s and beyond — Casey Hampton, Ted Washington and Pat Williams come to mind as older, run-stuffing linemen who excelled as they aged.

I planned to do an in-depth study of stats and numbers to tell you just how great Pickett has been the last few years, but I said the hell with it. Pickett’s worth goes beyond *numbers.* Let’s watch some film instead.

Here’s Pickett wrecking the Houston Texans offensive line:

   Read more... (462 words + 1 image, estimated 1:51 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

Next up in the AllGreenBayPackers.com’s positional group analysis is the defensive line, who while showed some improvement from their disastrous 2011 season was still probably the reason behind their playoff collapse this year.

Where Are We Now

Here are the current suspects;

• BJ Raji (1st round, 2009)
• Ryan Pickett (1st round, 2001)
• Mike Neal (2nd round, 2010)
• CJ Wilson (7th round, 2010)
• Jerel Worthy (2nd round, 2012)
• Mike Daniels (4th round, 2012)
• Philip Merling (2nd round, 2008, cut week 4)

So that’s where we are.  Thompson has made quite an effort to shore up his defensive line, with three 1st or 2nd rounders in the last four years.  However, despite Thompson’s focus on the defensive line, not much good has happened.  BJ Raji hasn’t been as dominant a force as he was in the 2010 Superbowl season, Mike Neal is essentially starting his sophomore campaign with all the injuries he suffered and rookie Jerel Worthy looked like a raw rookie before suffering an ACL injury.  Read more... (1446 words + 1 image, estimated 5:47 mins reading time)

• Raji: Raji spent considerably more time as a defensive end this year than as a nose tackle (536 snaps at DE vs. 123 at NT) and overall as I’ve written in my previous articles this is probably the best move for the Packers as defensive ends are much more important to a 3-4 defense than nose tackles.  While Raji definitely had a better season than his lackluster 2011 campaign, it still pales in comparison to his 2010 season where he earned the nickname “the freezer”.  One distinct possibility is that Raji is starting to wear down due to all the snaps that he’s had to take since there were no other viable DL around, but the addition of Worthy, Neal and Daniels will hopefully allow the Packers to have a decent DL rotation.

---- Get AddToAny

1) Introduction: With BJ Raji spending more time at defensive end and Jerel Worthy and Mike Neal being higher on the DL pecking order in the nickel formation, Ryan Pickett mostly played as the nose tackle while occasionally appearing as a defensive end, usually on running downs.  While this might be considered a downgrade by some, really it catered towards Pickett’s strengths, namely being his strength and his ability to eat up blockers.

2) Profile:

Ryan Lamont Pickett

• Age: 33
• Born: 10/08/1979, in Zephyrhills, FL
• Height: 6’2″
• Weight: 338
• College: Ohio State
• Rookie Year: 2001
• NFL Experience: 12 years

Career Stats and more:

3) Expectations coming into the season: Moderate.  As one of the Packers better run defenders and “block eaters” Pickett’s role is understated but no less important.  Pickett was expected to do much of the dirty work of taking on interior blockers and letting his fellow linemen and outsider linebackers go out and make plays.  While Pickett rarely collapsed the pocket, he rarely broke containment.

4) Player’s highlights/low-lights: Pickett’s best performance was in week 3 against the Seahawks where Pickett was responsible for 6 tackles, 3 assists and 3 negative offensive plays.  Pickett’s lowlight was probably week 1 against the 49ers where he played the majority of snaps but only managed one assisted tackle.

5) Player’s contribution to the overall team success: While very hard to quantify, Pickett provided stability and leadership in a very young defensive line rotation as well as taking on double teams.  Nose tackles aren’t as important to 3-4 defenses as they used to be but Pickett was certainly not a liability.  Read more... (341 words + 1 image, estimated 1:22 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny

So Packers vs. Vikings part II with a definite part III coming up.  Again, if there is any play in particular you would like to see my analyze, please leave comments below.  As for this week I’ve decided to take a look at one of the times where quarterback Christian Ponder was able to beat the Packers defense through the air.  My belief is that the Packers at best can only slow down Adrian Peterson, so it becomes paramount to stop Christian Ponder and the passing since the Packers have already proven that Adrian Peterson can destroy the Packers run defense and still lose the game.

The situation: The score is tied at 27 all with the Packers surging in the 2nd half with 12 minutes left in the 4th quarter.  The Vikings know they have to make a big move soon or be on the losing end of a scoring race to the finish line.  To their advantage is that Adrian Peterson has maintained his regular season form and is playing lights out, which makes the Packers very susceptible to play-action as every Packers defender is fixated on Peterson.  Read more... (1152 words + 7 images, estimated 4:36 mins reading time)

---- Get AddToAny