Can you explain the distinction between mediocre and average?

Originally Posted by: Cal2GreenBay 

The Seahawks provided the blueprint for the rest of the year of how to stop the packers.

Originally Posted by: Cal2GreenBay 

Did you even watch the game? We were knocking Luck around hard all game until Raji went down, after which we didn't get any interior push which allowed for doubleteams on Matthews. Heck, after a full game of what he went through in the first half I was wondering if we were going to send that kid to the hospital. He got whalloped more than a couple times.

This D Line isn't going to get many sacks, it's all about our linebackers... But it's hard for the linebackers to get home if the D line isn't generating interior pressure, and that starts with Raji.

Originally Posted by: Porforis 

Are the Packers Mediocre?

Talent wise, no, I don't believe they are.

The level of play overall from them, yes, yes they are. Some of that is in direct relationship to the guy calling the offensive plays.

Defensively, overall, I think they have done a fair job overall with some of the situations they have been put into.

Offensively, I think they have to really look deep to what the opponents are taking away and adjust until they force the defense to come up and respect the run and screens. That means Mike McCarthy has to alter how he is calling plays, albeit I think he intended to be balanced yesterday until Benson was out.

Personally, I think Mike McCarthy performance more so than the teams has been the issue. And the team is a reflection of the head coach and his staff.

So would have to agree, through week five they are Mediocre at best.

Originally Posted by: Pack93z 

Yes, I did. Why would you even ask such a question? Pickett, Worthy, Wilson and Neal had their asses handed to them, by an interior made up of 2nd and 3rd string OL.

"However, the Colts were far worse off starting the game, and with their ragtag roster it should have been too much for them to overcome against what was thought to be a playoff-caliber team.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/173026821.html 

Luck was sacked 4 times, all in the 1st half. Neal did a great job getting his. No other DL got a sack. Only 4 QB hits and only 5 tackles between the 5 that played, that includes Raji. Everybody disappeared in the 2nd half. By rights, this group of Pick, Worthy, Neal and Wilson should have buried Luck in the 2nd half. It didn't happen. Seems we lose every time we keep Daniels inactive. I was hoping Ted would keep more beef here. Instead, he went pretty thin on our DL. Now, when a guy like Raji goes down, we have no back up. Makes no sense to me.

The DL is just one group that underperformed in my opinion. There is bigger blame to go around, but being a team game, they cannot just disappear for an entire half and expect their team to win.

Originally Posted by: play2win 

Of course we'd love to see our D line get as many sacks as possible, but I guess what I'm saying is that paying attention to numbers too much can be deceiving. If you look at Clay Matthews' numbers last year alone without watching a game, you'd think he stunk it up. Having watched or listened to every game though, it's obvious that nobody in the front 7 and arguably the entire defense made more of an impact than Matthews. We're overloaded with talent, especially pass-rushing talent at linebacker. Our D-Line could certainly be better, but even if we had 3 Rajis up front, I would expect our linebackers to get at least 3x the sacks that the D line does. All the line needs to do is eat up blockers and push them in the quarterback's face. Once Raji went out we had no push upfront, nobody that demanded attention. This is indeed a problem, but you can't just chalk it up to the D line. We let Reggie Wayne tear us apart without even THINKING about double or triple covering him (Yet we thought we needed to double and triple Randy Moss earlier this year), the DBs dropped 4 or 5 picks that ranged from easy to moderately difficult that easily could have swung this game at least 7 points, probably more.

It was a complete team failure on defense, excluding maybe the linebackers, and the Offense didn't adjust.

Originally Posted by: Porforis 

Absolutely, complete team failure. As I mentioned, there is bigger blame to go around than on the DL, but those guys did get handled in the 2nd half against their 2nd/3rd string OGs and C. The O certainly is not helping the D - and that is 5 weeks, uh, running. Really poor word choice there by me... ugh. We are not controlling anything with our offense.

The dominant teams in this league can run the football, contrary to what some say here. Probably the hottest team in the NFL is SF, and Alex Smith just had his 3rd 300 + yd passing day in 8 seasons. They run. So do the Patriots, throwing down another W with 200+ yds rushing. Haven't checked most leading teams, but I would venture ATL and HOU are doing just fine running the football.

Also, key drops by Finley are really starting to get to me as a fan. Last week I stuck up for him in the stands at Lambeau when the DB made a great play to knock it away. Two ladies behind us going off on him when it wasn't his fault. Nonetheless, there are a ton of other drops he is responsible for that are killing drives. Super frustrating.

Lots of blame to go around, adding to the perception that maybe we are mediocre. The Packers are doing nothing special, and need a kick in the ass. All of them.

Originally Posted by: play2win 

The dominant teams in this league can run the football, contrary to what some say here.

Originally Posted by: play2win