tromadz
14 years ago
I listen to results.

And Enya.
evad04
14 years ago

He better start, otherwise that $2.3 Million salary isn't looking so good.

"djcubez" wrote:


I keep hearing this stuff about salaries, and I gotta say, at the moment it seems irrelevant. Hawk isn't being traded. Neither is Barnett. And Poppinga's $2.3 million won't be enough to send him packing anytime soon. These guys have been there all spring and summer, and they'll be here all fall and winter.

It's as though people have a magical number in their head as to what constitutes "starting money" and "backup money." Vince Young and Matt Leinart are making good money, and they haven't seen much playing time recently. And it doesn't just go for potential franchise quarterbacks. There are countless examples of guys listed as #2 on the depth chart who are paid like #1s.

Where am I going with all this? Poppinga's salary is a non issue, as of now. Maybe it WILL be (and maybe that's what you meant in the first place, in which case just disregard this rant). It just seems highly unlikely that Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy are looking at the roster and going, "Man, that Poppinga is makin' too much for an on-the-cusp starter."

(And I know you didn't mention anything about Barnett and Hawk -- I just included their names because so far there seems to be a lot of speculation that one of them will be traded. I find that patently absurd. A trade right now seems ill-advised. Who thinks they've been properly evaluated in the NEW system? Oh -- and how often does Thompson trade a brand named guy? -- and Favre doesn't count ;))
William Henderson didn't have to run people over. His preferred method was levitation.
"I'm a reasonable man, get off my case."
evad04
14 years ago

If Poppinga is the best candidate for the job.. so be it.

But I have a question to your facts part of your posts? What facts are you referring to?

The fact that Brady's poor pursuit angles have been exposed time and time again?

The fact that he was as ineffective as the rest in his blitzing last year?

The fact that he is a coverage liability in the past two years?

I give him he has been healthy for the most part.. but I find it interesting that Thompson and Matthews have been "unprofessional" due to hamstring concerns.. especially since we hired a new trainer in targeting this in mind..

Curious to it all is all..

"pack93z" wrote:


I take issue with a few of these. For starters, Poppinga's coverage skills have improved noticeably. I suppose this is a subjective issue -- I can't exactly call upon a catalogue of video evidence supporting the contrary. But I, as you must currently feel, DID think Poppinga was a major coverage liability. And I, unlike you, was surprised on a few occasions when I told myself (often aloud -- it's okay, I talk to myself when I watch football) "Wow, Poppinga didn't screw that one up!" Granted, there are greater compliments in the world than "he didn't screw that up" but my point is I reached a nominal level of comfort with Poppinga's coverage skills. I liken it to our situation at guard -- many times I told myself I thought Colledge sucked. Turns out when I wasn't looking intently he slowly became our most consistent asset on the offensive line. Poppinga isn't the most consistent LB -- that's not what I'm saying. Just trying to point out that it is easy to cross a guy out for things he didn't used to do well. I don't think coverage will be as big an issue in this scheme -- particularly considering we'll be doing a lot less of the man-to-man/match coverage underneath. Too many times those bad angles were the result of offenses hitting us at the weak point of our schemes. When you know you're up against man coverage you can exploit those LBs.

Now, as far as Poppinga's ineffectiveness as a blitzer -- you are right. He was about as effective as the rest of the guys. Not at all. And I think it's for good reason: even the blitzing we did was vanilla! Pressure schemes in the 3-4 are by nature less predictable and more explosive. Poppinga wasn't great rushing off the end as a DE. He wasn't a stalwart as a blitzing LB, either. But his skillset (mainly that he plays like a pissed off pit bull) will probably be better utilized under Capers.

Sorry for the novel.
William Henderson didn't have to run people over. His preferred method was levitation.
"I'm a reasonable man, get off my case."
DakotaT
14 years ago
I take issue with his contract. As far as his play, he's adequate and plays with a lot of heart which is never a bad thing. He won't be cut, but I doubt he is the starter by the end or even middle of the season.
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Dulak
14 years ago
To be honest - I dont find pop's play that inspiring ... he looks like a nice guy and all but I dont get all hyped up when I see that he is on.

I'd really like to see how thompson and matthews do - its too bad they got injured. Hope we get a chance to play them least for a few downs in the next upcoming pre-season games.
Dulak
14 years ago
follow up post ...

http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/20090825/PKR01/90825184/1058&referrer=NEWSFRONTCAROUSEL 

its sounding like the like pops non-injury status and the fact he has got reps in as OLBer.

Thompson was lining up; backing up kampman on the left and matthews is still injured. So who knows maybe pop will start this season ...?
Tezzy
14 years ago
Outside of Bishop I think right now Poppinga is the only LB that shows fire on the field every time he is on the field. I love his work ethic and i think it shows on the field. His flaws have been identified repeatedly, but obviously the coaching staff can live with those errors because he is still going to get his reps and do his part when he is on the field. Thankfully the 3-4 helps reduce his vulnerability in the passing game, no more streaking coverage up the seam with him chasing a TE and no help. As long as he crashes down on the ends and keeps contain, I'm happy with him being in there. Either way if he starts or not, now with the O-Line being set, I think the LB corp is the last piece of the puzzle. It's going to be interesting.

I also want to mention, did anyone else notice last weekend that Hawk was finally starting to show some emotion on the field? I need him to get some attitude to match Barnett's in the middle.
On top of every beard grows a man.
"The Bears are shell-shocked... and it's breaking my heart."
PackerTraxx
14 years ago
If you are a productive back up that the team trusts a couple million dollars a year salary is not going to get you cut. Didn't we pay Kabeer 10-11 million, as a back up, to come back after being injured?
Why is Jerry Kramer not in the Hall of Fame?
Pack93z
14 years ago


I take issue with a few of these. For starters, Poppinga's coverage skills have improved noticeably. I suppose this is a subjective issue -- I can't exactly call upon a catalogue of video evidence supporting the contrary. But I, as you must currently feel, DID think Poppinga was a major coverage liability. And I, unlike you, was surprised on a few occasions when I told myself (often aloud -- it's okay, I talk to myself when I watch football) "Wow, Poppinga didn't screw that one up!" Granted, there are greater compliments in the world than "he didn't screw that up" but my point is I reached a nominal level of comfort with Poppinga's coverage skills. I liken it to our situation at guard -- many times I told myself I thought Colledge sucked. Turns out when I wasn't looking intently he slowly became our most consistent asset on the offensive line. Poppinga isn't the most consistent LB -- that's not what I'm saying. Just trying to point out that it is easy to cross a guy out for things he didn't used to do well. I don't think coverage will be as big an issue in this scheme -- particularly considering we'll be doing a lot less of the man-to-man/match coverage underneath. Too many times those bad angles were the result of offenses hitting us at the weak point of our schemes. When you know you're up against man coverage you can exploit those LBs.
.

"evad04" wrote:



Through the preseason this year he does look improved.. I will give him that.

But the original poster stated facts.. and the only facts that are out there are game tapes of Poppinga.. which is a hindsight look, but those are the only facts we have.

Can he become a better player over time.. sure most do.. but it doesn't diminish the fact that Poppinga has been less that stellar in his pursuit angles, tackling form and coverage.

Nothing more.. solid player but I think we can do better with our first unit based on his past performance. Could he step up and prove that incorrect.. absolutely.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"
14 years ago
JSOnline link 

Loony Tune
Poppinga, Greene have formed working relationship

By Bob McGinn of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: Aug. 25, 2009

Brady Poppinga being coached by Kevin Greene looks like a match made in football heaven.

In the quasi-militaristic environment of a National Football League training camp, the outside linebacker and the outside linebackers coach stand out as free spirits. One official for the Green Bay Packers referred to them as just a couple of psychos, in the gentlest sense of the word.

"I don't know what the word 'psycho' means," Poppinga said Tuesday, expressive eyebrows cocked and eyes open a mile wide. "Does it mean not normal to other people in this world?"

Mike McCarthy got a laugh out of that.

"They've got a lot of the same personality," the coach said. "Two intense individuals."

Greene doesn't carry himself in the same volatile, swaggering fashion that he did as an NFL linebacker for 15 years. His wild side was more than just evident early in camp, but as the days have passed he has settled into a less combustible role.

Still, it doesn't take more than 15 minutes of a scrimmage period for fans in the stands to identify Greene as the most animated coach on the field.

The bond between Poppinga and Greene might have been cemented the night of Aug. 4, when the linebacker lost his composure and smashed running back Kregg Lumpkin to the Nitschke Field turf with the cheapest of shots.

When almost the entire offensive line charged over to settle accounts with Poppinga, guess who stood in their way?

That would be Greene, gesturing and screaming to back off. Even at 47, he has a menacing way about him, so even jumbo-sized men don't want to mess with the guy.

Immediately, Poppinga took to Greene as if he were a kindred spirit. Let's just say they didn't have a problem relating.

"Oh, I love him, man," said Poppinga. "It's really a cool situation. He's a great, great coach."

Retired as a player since 2000, Greene turned to being a husband and father of two children with much the same gusto he brought to football. He worked in real estate and spent five summers interning in various NFL camps.

When Dom Capers, his old coach, got the job in Green Bay as defensive coordinator, Greene was hell-bent for the outside linebackers job.

"I really like what Kevin brings to our staff and I like the way he coaches his players," said McCarthy. "You could see that in the interview. He's done a great job. Kevin has clicked with the whole group."

Obviously, the affinity between Greene and Poppinga was strong. A walk-on at Auburn, Greene didn't become a starter until his fourth season in the NFL. Hailing from Wyoming, Poppinga went on a Mormon mission for two years before playing at Brigham Young and becoming a fifth-round selection by Green Bay in 2005.

When camp began, Poppinga was second string behind Aaron Kampman on the left outside. When injuries sidelined Clay Matthews and Jeremy Thompson after a week, Poppinga replaced them as the starter on the right side in the 3-4 defense.

Poppinga responded by playing so well that McCarthy basically has awarded him the job.

"Look at his production," said McCarthy. "Brady Poppinga is a much better fit for what we do now than what we did before. Brady's an on-the-line linebacker. He's better on the line than playing in the bubble."

Poppinga wholeheartedly agrees. In fact, he seemed even more ebullient than usual Tuesday when the 3-4 was broached.

"This defense is easy to do because it's who I am," he said. "Naturally, it just flowed. It nurtures the attributes and skill that I bring to the game. Such as aggressiveness."

Thus far, the coaches say Poppinga has excelled at the point of attack.

"That's been his strength," McCarthy said. "Going down in there and taking two linemen on so the linebacker can scrape over the top. We're crashing those guys a lot. It's called 'bullets.' "

Greene, a shade over 6 feet 2 inches with a playing weight of 247 pounds, had good speed (4.7 seconds) coming out of Auburn. Nonetheless, many of his 160 sacks were the result of using muscle on muscle.

That style of rushing is what Greene demands of his charges.

"Rushing the passer is a power game," he said. "We don't need our defensive ends to run up the field and run around the quarterback. You need the antithesis of a finesse linebacker. We want our guys to get in their face, hit 'em square in the lips and collapse the pocket, then make a move and make the sack."

Poppinga did have 20 sacks at BYU, but in the NFL pass-rushing has been the weakest part of his game. In the one-on-one drills this summer he owns a 1-11 record.

Nevertheless, Greene isn't dissatisfied with Poppinga's pass rush because at least he is smashing into people and holding outside containment.

"I think Brady is getting better as a rusher, I really do," said McCarthy. "We're teaching pass rush differently. Everything we're teaching is off the bull. Breaking glass, all those coaching terms. And Brady is not a finesse linebacker."

Thompson is a more gifted athlete than Poppinga with a larger and more refined set of pass-rush moves. Some scouts rated Matthews as the No. 1 pass rusher in the 2009 draft.

Nevertheless, Thompson wasn't nearly as physical as Poppinga taking on blockers. Matthews appeared to be more than physical enough but as a rookie has a lot to learn before getting on the field.

In terms of zone drops, both McCarthy and Greene say Poppinga has been more than adequate in coverage.

"He's done a great job with his body," McCarthy said. "He's lean. This is the most I've ever seen him around the ball."

Greene played every down for most of his career. Poppinga might not be as fortunate.

It's possible Poppinga might play on run downs and then be replaced in the nickel by Thompson or Matthews.

"My vision was we had playmakers on defense," said McCarthy. "I want to use them all. I felt before we didnt utilize as many players as we are now."

Given the youth and athleticism at his position, Poppinga seemed a candidate to be replaced or traded. Not now, not with his head coach in his corner and his position coach understanding what makes him tick.


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