Monday, November 28, 2016

Green Bay Packers 2017 Mock Draft


Packers mock draft 2017
The Green Bay Packers lost again last week, this time on the road against the Washington Redskins. This drops the Packers to 4-6 on the season. There are massive changes coming to this organization at the end of the season, so we thought it might be a good time to do our annual check in on the Packers draft prospects for next May. All draft choices are based on us expecting the Packers to draft somewhere between the 10th or 15th spot in each round.

Round One: Teez Tabor/CB/Florida- Yes, that is the name of an actual person, not a gamer tag or screen name. With all of the injuries and the way the season has played out, the Packers top need suddenly switches to corner back. Quinten Rollins and Damarious Randall, who has been injured for most of the season, are good, but in this passing league, you need a lot of good in the secondary. Sam Shields may never play again, so the Packers need a top shut down corner. Tabor is a top of the depth chart all-pro shutdown type of corner, and the Packers need that.

Round Two: Royce Freeman/RB/Oregon- The Eddie Lacy era in Green Bay should be over. The Packers have given him every chance in the world, and this latest injury didn't help. The final straw should be the report that he gained back all the weight he lost during the offseason. At 5'11”, 230 pounds, Freeman is big bruiser who would fit well in the cold weather of Green Bay.

Round Three: Carlos Watkins/DT/DE/Clemson- At 6'5”, 305 pounds, Watkins is the prototypical collegiate defensive tackle who get's moved to a 3-4 end in the NFL. The Packers could use some fresh bodies up front, and Watkins would allow the Packers to move Kenny Clark back inside, where they want him.

Round Four: Tyrone Crowder/OG/Clemson- The Packers need to shore up the interior of the offensive line. At 6'2”, 340 pounds, Crowder is a big athletic guard who translates well to the NFL. In a year or two, he could replace T.J. Lang, on the left side of the line.

Round Five: Marlon Mack/RB/South Florida- The Packers need running backs, and they need them badly right now. Mack would offer a change of pace to Freeman.

Round Six: Cam Serigne/TE/Oregon- The Packers could use a third tight end as well out of this draft. Serigne is a blocking tight end who would fit that role.

Round Seven: Austin Rehkow/P/Idaho- The best punter in this draft and the Packers need one.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Resch Center Globetrotters Tickets On Sale

Globetrotters tickets
Coming to the Resch Center in December, it's The Harlem Globetrotters. The date is set for December 30th. The event is on the front end of their 2017 world tour, and the team is stopping at over 100 cities across the globe. Ticket King has great Globetrotters tickets on sale now. This family event can't be missed. 

Monday, November 14, 2016

Grading the Packers Like You Grade the Stock Market


This idea of using a “Stock Market Report” to review a game seems to be trending lately. So naturally, we decided to give it a try, while covering one of the worst Packers games in a very long time.

 

Blue Chip Stocks

Davante Adams/WR- The Packers offense has been playing much better lately. Much of it has to do with the emergence of Davante Adams as one of the best pass catchers in the league. Adams had six catches for 156 yards today. Adams has put his nightmare 2015 well behind him, and is on his way to a Pro Bowl, maybe even an All-Pro award.

 Jordy Nelson/WR- Nelson had a great day moving the chains. He finished the day with 12 catches for 126 yards and a touchdown. I don't understand why the Packers insist on calling deep balls to him though. He no longer has the speed or vertical for them. As I have been saying all along, he is a smart veteran who can move the chains for this offense. That is his new role, and they need to let him settle into that role, which means stop forcing him into vertical routes he can't run anymore.

 Solid Investments

Aaron Rodgers/QB- This is the man the Packers are paying all of that money to. Rodgers had another good day, going 31 of 51 for 370 and two touchdowns. Ignore the two interceptions; he had to throw both of those balls up for grabs. I will say this. The Packers recent struggles are not his fault.

 Junk Bonds

James Starks- First of all, I would like to thank Starks for his many years of service to the Packers. He has been in and out of starting lineup, and has been dependable as both a starter and second back for a long time now. But, Father Time is not kind to athletes, especially running backs, and Father Time has come for James Starks.

 The Entire Defense Today- I know injuries have derailed this defense. I just have one thing to say though. They gave up 47 points to the Titans. Let that one marinate for a while.

Buy: Injuries are to blame for the defensive problems right now- Yes, at one point during this rough stretch, the Packers were down their top three corners, three greats ones at that, and Ladarius Gunter found himself covering maybe the best receiver in the league in Julio Jones. If the Packers were fully healthy on defense, today, as well as the last two weeks, may have gone much differently.

 Sell: The injuries are the only reason this defense is playing so bad- Yes, the injuries have been a problem, but come on, the team gave up 47 points. These guys are professionals. At some point, they have to get off the field. What happened to the supposed best run defense in the league? I know Matthews is a big loss in that front seven, but other than Clay, it's not like this front seven is hurting injury-wise.

 

Buy: Aaron Rodgers is playing much better- Yes, this is a lot better than he was for pretty much a year there, where he was possibly the worst quarterback in the league statistically.

 

Sell: Aaron Rodgers is playing like an MVP- At the same time, Rodgers is still going through stretches of play where is he getting outplayed.  

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

Packers One Point Short, but Very Impressive on Sunday | Ticket King Green Bay

Ticket King Green BayWe chose to go to our man T.J. Bryce for his thoughts on last Sunday’s Packers – Falcons game.
“Shocked, stunned, happy, sad, kicked in the stomach, content, satisfied, then nothing.”

Those were the thoughts swirling around in my head after Sunday’s 33-32 loss on the road, against the Atlanta Falcons. The Packers, missing half their team, traveled to Atlanta  to take on one of the league's best. The Packers, much like the divisional playoff game in Arizona back in January, were facing insurmountable odds.

And much like on that warm January Saturday night in the desert, they almost did the impossible.

Indeed the Packers nearly did the unthinkable. Missing Sam Shields, Damarious Randall, Quinten Rollins, Clay Matthews, Randall Cobb, Ty Montgomery, Jared Cook, Eddie Lacy, and James Starks, they went into Atlanta, supposed to lose by three touchdowns.

They came up one point short of making the front page headlines of every sports page in America Monday morning. This Packers team is strange, and I mean STRANGE. It appears as if this team is at its best when they are facing impossible odds. For a team whose criticism of them for being sloppy and not giving a full effort most of the time is both well known and publicized, they are at their best when the deck is stacked against them. When they are expected to win, they lay an egg, when they are expected to lose big, they almost pull off the unthinkable. This is, at sometimes, bi-polar team. 

It's sad to lose that game, because the man we have all been waiting for came to play that afternoon. That was Aaron Rodgers. That was the National Football League's two-time Most Valuable Player. That was, some would say, the best football player in the NFL. That game was indeed all of those things, as Aaron played his best game in two years. The swagger was back, the sideways smile was back, his “Aaronness” was in top form on Sunday. Two weekends back, Rodgers played a solid game, and it was his best game in a year. This week, Rodgers played his best game in two years, and this was an MVP performance. Those weren't quick passes either, Aaron was throwing hay-makers yesterday.

An offense that was without Eddie Lacy, James Starks, Ty Montgomery, and Randall Cobb, played their best game in over a year. Maybe this team is better off without Lacy, much like the Minnesota Vikings (up until Monday night,) are better off without Adrian Peterson at this point. In two games without Lacy, this offense has looked much better than they were with him in a long time. Without all of those players, all of these young mega-talented receivers showed us how good they can be. Trevor Davis caught a touchdown pass and had a big punt return. Jeff Janis caught a couple of passes and a touchdown. Geronimo Allison, who is big, fast, and who they really like, just called up off the practice squad this week, caught a touchdown pass. Aaron is finally starting to trust these young receivers, and that is a very good thing for the Packers going forward. And when did Davante Adams suddenly become the best receiver in the league? How did that happen? In the last two games Adams has 25 catches. Adams has now become the Packers ace receiver, and Jordy Nelson fans need to accept that.

Speaking of Nelson, yes he had a good game yesterday statistically, but he will never again be the same player he was before. On that big completion on the first drive, if this were three years ago, he would have scored a touchdown on that play. Nelson no longer has that “see you later, nice chatting with you, but I gotta’ run” burst that he had pre-torn ACL. On the play in the fourth quarter where he almost blew a first down trying to cut it to the outside, once again, three years ago, he would have pulled that off. But this is not 2013, this is 2016, and Jordy Nelson is a 31-year-old man coming off a torn ACL, whose calling card has been speed and jump ball. He will never again be that player. The question is, will he accept a Donald Driver role going forward, as these young receivers hopefully start reaching their full potential, as they have been showing us the last six quarters? Time will tell.

There was  much to say about the defense. Missing their top three corners and their best player, this defense was not expected to keep up with Atlanta. Ladarius Gunter, a second year former UDFA player, came into the season expecting to be the Packers dime corner. On Sunday, he found himself on the top of the depth chart going up against the best wide receiver in the league. Gunter did as good of a job as he could, and should get an award for courage. The Packers may have found their new Al Harris. Tough, gritty, and doesn't back down for anybody. Yes the Packers lost by one point, but there is a lot to build on going forward, which is not what could be said about this team just a few weeks ago.