My concern is the secondary. Will they hold up this year or not. It's nice to use the first couple of draft picks on Dbs but as we already saw that doesn't always work out.

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Evan Massey wrote a fine article for the "Inquisitr" internet site. He makes some fine points , but then so do the posters in this forums TRAINING CAMP BATTLES thread. [yikes]

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I'm not really worried about who will be the RB, as long as they can block since we are not going to be running the ball all that much. Also not really worried about the Oline, they are returning 4 of 5 starters. My concern for the secondary is part of what should be the biggest concern, getting consistent pressure on opposing QBs. If we do not get more pressure than last year, the additions to the secondary won't do squat to change the effectiveness of the pass defense.

Another concern of mine is how well McCarthy will incorporate our new TEs into the offense. I'm worried that McCarthy with these new threats will go back to calling deep routes and counting on the scramble drill rather than scheming players open.

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On D. The thing that killed us last year was losing Shields. We'd have been 100% better if he got a career ender in OTAs. Next best thing would have been to know in week 2 that Shields was done. The defense change was thought of as temporary and then done on the fly.

This was exasperated by our #3 safety [Banjo] and #2, #3 and #6 CB not able to get healthy.

It is impossible that we suffer the same kinds of loses in 2017 and if we lose our #1 this year, it will not cause the D to change.

Not sure who they are yet; but we will have the best #3-6 CBs in the league. Brice and Evans being in year 2 will make us injury proof at safety as well.

The pass rush:

Fackrell will replace Peppers role; Elliot can replace what Fackrell did last year. We just cant afford to lose Matthews. Unless Fackrell really jumps.

Improvement will come from inside. Clark will become almost a Gilbert Brown like force pushing in the middle and Adams will give us a very productive 300 snaps in the gap this year. I see Lowery playing some Peppers' role inside with his 6'6"ness getting into throwing lanes.

McCarthy doesnt call deep routes. Most plays have an assortment where the first reads are short and the later reads are deeper. When there's too many deep throws its on Rodgers, he's passing up the open guys underneath. McCarthy wants 8-12 play drives, not 2 play drives, because it protects the defense. Now if Rodgers passes up the quick throws to an open Bennett; Bennett will get in his grill. Maybe even knock Rodgers on his ass.

The only question is will Rodgers play an entire season with his head not up his ass.

Barfarn, like everyone else, I do so enjoy reading the excuses why sports teams loose. Here are some more :
The grass was slick.
The sun was in their eyes.
It was too cold.
It was too hot.
The shoes were too tight.
It was too windy.
The coach made a bad call.
The rain made the ball slippery.
etc, etc, etc ...


Champions don't need excuses .

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If he isn't calling the deep plays, he is letting Rodgers get away with changing the call at the LOS which is probably worse than if he was calling them himself.

Certainly there are times when he calls short plays. But far, far to often do I watch and see every WR option running back turned to Rodgers for at least 10 yards (that is deep IMO).

Oh how I miss the days watching the Packers offense run slant after slant, begging the CB to start cheating and jumping the route so they could hit them with the SLUGO. Far to much of the Packers offense the past couple years has been running the WR 10-15 yards or more, before making their break and if not open looking for space and working towards Rodgers as he scrambles.

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WPR, I'm with you on this one. The DB's were AWFUL last year. Putting your faith in untested rookies is scary. It could be great, or could be a total bust.
Of course, if we can get some kind of pass rush this year, which for the most part was non existant last year, that would help a lot with the DB's.

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Silly me. I thought people can have questions about the team that have nothing to do with position battles.

Someone's biggest question might be about Rodgers and will he need to carry the whole team or it could be about pass defense. It doesn't have to be about who is going to be the # 6 WR or if they keep 5, 6 or 7 of them.

Believe it or not we can actually have both of them.

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If your conception of the battles that take place in a training camp is limited to just positions, then you are leaving out a lot of other battle zones. The position fights are, IMO, the most visible and postworthy.

Weather the Offense or the Defense will be GB's most dominate force is not really a question. The Defense will have to learn how to pull it's pants on, the Offense will of course lead the way, again. Rodgers knows that GB can't win without him. The TE's should help to open up the offense more as they add to the mix.

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