Mark Murphy, "No one can match the Patriots, but we're pretty close"

[Dubz41]

What a do-nothing disappointment Murphy has turned out to be. To have possibly the greatest QB to ever play and may end up with only one SB is not acceptable, imo. To just sit there every year and watch Ted draft terrible defensive players and do NOTHING in FA is beyond frustrating to me. I agree with posters that opine all they care about is filling seats and making moolah. They seem to be quite fine with being steady and competitive and that's all. I don't get it.

If Aaron doesn't play out of his mind, the Packers don't have a chance. That's on Ted. MM and his coaching staff should have been given an extremely short leash after that debacle in Seattle. But the organization just sits there and does nothing. Get off your comfy sofa and earn your salary Mr. Murphy! The fish rots from the head down.

I almost agree with all of this except that TT does draft well. Yes, in hindsight there are mistakes made, but when you put his record up against other GMs he rates out very well. His worst drafts were also bombs league wide for the most part. The really weird thing is that when TT does sign a FA- It usually works. The FAs he signs that are expected to start and contribute usually do. (M Marquand was a fail) Peppers, Woodson, Pickett and Cook all performed. The frustrating part is why doesn't he use it more often. He doesn't have to go all 'NY Giants' and spend $200M, but it could really compliment his draft by adding one A lister first.
The other point I'd like to make is that some of this is on the systems MM runs. We don't suffer MORE injuries than a lot of other teams, it's just when we do- the next guy up is not as talented and MMs system is all about individual responsibility, not team oriented. This was touched on in a different post about how other systems are friendlier and easier to pick up than MMs super ego-centric offense where the QB HAS to play at a 115 rating or we lose. With the salary cap you can't win it all with this kind of system when you suffer injuries. IMO. So, like I said above, our competitive team that is lead by an insane front office, MM/TT/MM. They all share it equally.

 

[Pugger]

All teams have injuries but when a position is devastated like our RB and CB last year it is damn near impossible to have enough depth to cover that unless you make some sort of trade in season. Near the end of the season 2 of our better pass rushers were literally playing one handed so without a consistent pass rush and inexperienced slow and/or banged up CBs at the back end is it any wonder Atlanta had a field day against us in the NFCC game?

 

[Half Empty]

I know there are some attempts at numerical rankings of injuries, but I don't know how that's ever going to be anything more than an approximation. Who is injured, when they are, how they are, and a bunch of other variables make it really hard to talk about injuries being a/the factor in a team's performance. Just the 'eye test', which has been the Packers, with one exception in recent memory. I wonder how reasonable it is to ding management (first, obviously, team practices and the strength/conditioning folks) for some a lot of it. Losing Jordy last year was a major blow, but it happened before the season, allowing for obtaining a replacement, or changing the scheme, or whatever - was that whole, deep WR corps a house of cards? This year, even I had to concede that the situation on D was almost laughable (had to be, otherwise tearful ), but, while I realize we can't 'have all-pros at every position' the performance of the original starters, when they were in, and of the subs pretty much throughout, made me question what would have happened had they been healthy. Other examples, of course, but if injuries are going to near the top of the excuse list, and they're going to happen almost every year, can I apply for a seven-figure job with Packer management - couldn't be much worse, and I need it more than they do.

 

[Wolfman]

Dubz41, I think your post is excellent, as always. My point with Ted and his drafts deals specifically with his defensive picks. High picks like Thornton, Harrell, and Worthy really set this defense back, imo. He also needs to wake up and get new trainers. Just plain wake up, Ted! Drives this Packers fan nuts sometimes!

 

[rpiotr01]

Murphy has turned out to be a glorified real estate developer and TT is a glorified college scout. In effect MM runs the show. The Packers org has a lot of high and fancy titles but somehow a leadership and executive void.

 

[Dubz41]

Dubz41, I think your post is excellent, as always. My point with Ted and his drafts deals specifically with his defensive picks. High picks like Thornton, Harrell, and Worthy really set this defense back, imo. He also needs to wake up and get new trainers. Just plain wake up, Ted! Drives this Packers fan nuts sometimes!

Wolfman, agree. He has strengths and weaknesses and he sucks at DL. Too many projections, wish he would draft players at the positions they play! Perry and Jones were collegiate DEs and Randall was a safety. Thornton and Harrell were Teddie trying to show us he was smarter than everyone else and Worthy was...well....unworthy. His best DL pick was Daniels in the fourth round (I hated that pick!). I have a feeling he is going to make a Barnett pick this year, right now I get a feeling he's looking at a 3-down LB, Hassan Reddick from Temple. He played DE in college so it makes perfect sense!?!?!

 

[ChampionshipBelt]

All teams have injuries but when a position is devastated like our RB and CB last year it is damn near impossible to have enough depth to cover that unless you make some sort of trade in season. Near the end of the season 2 of our better pass rushers were literally playing one handed so without a consistent pass rush and inexperienced slow and/or banged up CBs at the back end is it any wonder Atlanta had a field day against us in the NFCC game?

Pugger, the problem with this theory is the last 7 playoff losses our defense has given up an average of 36 points per game. Three over 40 points. Injuries are not an excuse when your defense has been that bad that consistently the last 7 playoff losses.

 

[Pugger]

Pugger, the problem with this theory is the last 7 playoff losses our defense has given up an average of 36 points per game. Three over 40 points. Injuries are not an excuse when your defense has been that bad that consistently the last 7 playoff losses.

I was only addressing the last playoff game against Atlanta. We were woefully undermanned to contend with that high flying offense and IMO injuries were a major component of why we lost. The offense sputtered a little too. The only way we had a prayer in that game was Aaron and company had to play lights out and they didn't. I don't think any of this is a "theory".

 

[ChampionshipBelt]

You are correct. AR was the only way we would have beat Atlanta. Hence you are proving my point. No changes on defense and coaching as well as GM and we have given up an average of 36 points in the last 7 playoff losses. No depth again. Nobody else that can do anything but AR due to our coaches and GM being inept.
Injuries can be an excuse every year. Nobody takes that excuse anymore with the consistent losses in the playoffs year in and year out. Packers lost because their defense sucks. Period.

 

[Pugger]

You are correct. AR was the only way we would have beat Atlanta. Hence you are proving my point. No changes on defense and coaching as well as GM and we have given up an average of 36 points in the last 7 playoff losses. No depth again. Nobody else that can do anything but AR due to our coaches and GM being inept.
Injuries can be an excuse every year. Nobody takes that excuse anymore with the consistent losses in the playoffs year in and year out. Packers lost because their defense sucks. Period.

The offense played like garbage against Atlanta too. Usually when we lost in the playoffs it was a team-wide mess. The Seattle NFCC game is Exhibit A. Yes, ST and the defense collapsed but our offense couldn't get first downs late in the game to close it out (and unfortunately couldn't score TDs instead of FGs in the first quarter of the game). Having a one legged QB didn't help the cause either...