Green Bay Packers

Having been a fan of american football for quite a while now I decided to pick a team and it's the Packers. My reasoning is simply because I have a few friends from Wisconsin and I've flown back from there today.

Obviously I know all about Aaron Rodgers but was wondering whether someone could give me a crash course in them i.e: playing style, defensive style, other star players?

Cheers!!

Good choice!!

There's a few Cheeseheads on here, I'll let someone else fill you in as I'm on my phone and its a pain to type...

They don't have a defense based on what I saw last year. But they are a big passing team who rarely use their running backs in a featured role. They have two top receivers in Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson, as well as some great veterans like Charles Woodson in the secondary. Clay Matthews is also well known albeit overrated imo. So they are probably the best team in the NFL but in terms of their overall roster give them a qb not named rodgers, manning, brees or brady and they might not make the playoffs. All about Rodgers

Offensively the Pack are a passing powerhouse, not so great at running the ball though. Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson are both very good receivers.

Defensively, they were opportunistic I guess. Weren't particularly good by any stretch though. Star player would probably be CB/Safety Charles Woodson after BJ Raji and Clay Matthews regressed last year

As a quick summary...

Playing Style:
Up tempo offence, very pass heavy with lots of 4 and 5 receiver sets.
Like to use TEs both split out as receivers in the spread but also as blockers in run formations.
In fact often when the Packers run the ball it's from a Full House or similar formation which is very heavy on blocking TEs and FBs.

Defensive Style:
Pretty aggressive 3-4 defence which tries plenty of exotic blitzes and slightly odd personnel sets (e.g. one lineman and a whole host of linebackers)
They give up an awful lot of yards because of their aggression and because teams often have to chase them due to the prolific offence. As a result they often move out of a standard 3-4 and play in the "Nickel" with 3 cornerbacks.
Defense creates a lot of turnovers as part of the general aggression.

Star Players:
A lot. They are widely regarded as one of the best run teams in terms of building their own talent and drafting well.
In my opinions the top guys are Clay Matthews (OLB), Charles Woodson (Saftey - former CB), Greg Jennings (WR) and Jordy Nelson (WR).

However Josh Sitton (RG), BJ Raji (DT), Jermichael Finley (TE) and Desmond Bishop (MLB) are great talents.

I'm sure i've missed someone as well which is the scale of the talent!

I'd definitely disagree on Finley. Very overrated.

Raji and Matthews could rebound from bad 2011s tho

I'm not a Packer fan, but I can give you the perspective from your opponents this Sunday (49ers).

Playing style - With Aaron Rodgers, arguably the best passing attack in the league. Jordy Nelson and Greg Jennings are the best pair of wide receivers on any team in the league in my book, backed up with other decent passcatchers such as Finley, Cobb and Driver. The rushing attack isn't great, but doesn't need to be

Defensive style - 3-4 defence, anchored by BJ Raji. Heavily reliant upon Clay Matthews to rush the passer last year but this year the rookie Nick Perry has been added to try and help there. The defensive backs were shaky last season, but I believe Charles Woodson has been moved to safety this year, and another rookie cornerback whose name I can't remember has been brought in to provide competition.

Star players - Rodgers, Matthews, Jennings, Woodson, Raji, Nelson would be the first guys to come to mind, but I'm sure the other Packer fans could give you a few more to look out for!

Edit - And just seen that crazy_dave has beaten me to it!

That's great info cheers guy's!! Definately need to budget sky sports into my package now. Big fan of exotic blitzes so should enjoy watching some hail mary style defenses!!

GSC wrote:I'd definitely disagree on Finley. Very overrated.

Raji and Matthews could rebound from bad 2011s tho

He still has great potential - he just seems to drop too many balls and can loose focus

You've known me for for how long and didn't ask me for the run down prop? You cheeky feicer.I'm offended! Most of the lads have said it all, their history is immense, and right now they are an offensive powerhouse, a poor defence last season but it should improve given some guys they got in the draft. They can't run the ball but with Rodgers et al they don't need to. Rodgers is a very good QB, arguably the best in the league last season, I'm going to say something controversial that he is not an incredible player no doubt but he has 2/3 star receivers that other top guys don't really have.

He goes through his reads very well and can make all the throws, why do I think he might be a tad overrated, he has so many good receivers, they get open, great receivers improve a QB. Now Rodgers is still the 2nd/3rd best QB in the league no question is he the best, I don't know about that


Considering your recent trip you should have gone for Tampa or Miami, but seeing as you support Gloucester in the rugby I can kind of forgive you for hopping on a bandwagon.

Sorry T didn't think about asking you! I picked the Packers because I know people out there so may end up going back plus........I love cheese!!

I'll choose to ignore the Glos comment!!

Truth hurts doesn't it? I'm just waiting for someone to try and shoot me for my Rodgers comment.......


Good luck getting a ticket to a home Packers game I think the season ticket list is something like 30 years. I'm serious on that. Might be better off going to Florida and joining in with local bandwagoners down there!

I'd say its more of a Saints type of offense with WRs that all have different strengths and provide matchup issues.

Good choice prop-lyd! Welcome to Title town!

Defence was pretty rubbish to be honest last year, mainly due to some big injuries to key players, and the roster sort of being 'patched' up. Prior to that, GB had an excellent defensive record. Even last year, they ranked very close to the top of the table for interceptions. It's just we occassionally give away big big plays, both in the air and on the ground. Hopefully with more time under their belt training together, our defence (primarily secondary) will have gelled.

Clay Matthews had a poor season last year, mainly because he was constatly double-teamed. With the introduction of Nick Perry as LB, I reckon Matthews will return to his best, and Raji will also be given more room to do what he does best; stuff the run.

Here's to a good season!