The Green Bay Packers are making one last trip this weekend to East Rutherford, New Jersey, right before St. Nick makes his one big trip all the way around the world.
To keep the matchup between the 5-8-1 Packers against the 4-10 New York Jets in the season, my preview will look beyond football X’s and O’s. Instead, let’s turn the 12 Days of Christmas song into the twelve things the Packers should think long and hard about over the holidays.
Feel free to sing along.
On the 12 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me….12 Free Agents Wond’ring.
Yes, the Packers have a dozen unrestricted free agents coming due in 2019 and they’ll all be wondering if there’s a future in Green Bay. Clay Matthews and Randall Cobb are the only full time contributors on the list, but are their contributions worthy of another lucrative extension? Muhammad Wilkerson had his first Packer season cut way too short by injury. There’s aging tight ends Mercedes Lewis and Lance Kendricks, fill in guard Byron Bell, linebacker Jake Ryan and fill in defensive backs Davon House, Bashaud Breeland, Ibraheim Campbell and Eddie Pleasant along with fullback Danny Vitale. It’s possible none of the twelve will be back next year.
On the 11 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me……11 Touchdown scorers.
Davante Adams and Aaron Jones have accounted for 21 of the team’s 36 touchdowns scored this year. No one else has more than two. That includes Jimmy Graham, a real red zone disappointment. There’s been but one defensive score (Breeland’s pick six against Atlanta) and one from special teams, the Josh Jackson catch of Geronimo Allison’s blocked punt against the Vikings. I had to subtract Ty Montgomery’s only score because he would have been a 12 th to find the end zone but since he got traded, it fit the number.
On the 10 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me……10 practice squadders.
The Packers still have 10 players on the squad and if the season was 18 or 20 games long, chances are pretty good some more would be promoted to the active roster. Will Redmond, Tony Brown, Danny Vitale, Adam Pankey, Kendall Donnerson, Tyler Lancaster and James Looney all moved up this season because of injury.
On the 9 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me…..9 kicks a-missing.
The dark demons of 2012 returned for Mason Crosby this year. That season he went 21 for 33 on field goals. This fall, he missed a couple of long ones that could have either forced overtime or given the Packers a win and then there was the disaster in Detroit with four missed field goals and an extra point. For the year, Crosby has missed seven field goals and two PAT’s. An off year for the team’s all-time leading scorer.
On the 8 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me …. 8 Fackrells sacking.
If you would have told me Kyler Fackrell would be the leading sacker on the defense, I would have called you crazy. The third year pro got them in bunches, two games each with three, against the Bills and Seahawks. A crazy 8 is still more from an 800,000 dollar player than Clay Matthews and Nick Perry have combined from their more than 22 million in cap salary . As a team, the Packers have a respectable 41 sacks, from 16 different players which speaks more to Mike Pettine’s blitzing scheme than it does actual edge rushing talent. This will be on the upgrade list, again.
On the 7 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me…..7 interceptions.
Here’s another sorry defensive statistic. Of the seven picks, four are from players who are no longer playing. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix got three before getting shipped to Washington and Kevin King teased us all with one before another injury shut him down for the second straight season. That leaves Breeland with a team high 2 and Jaire Alexander with 1. We long for the Dom Capers days of takeaways.
On the 6 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me……6 picks a’helping.
Brian Gutekunst’s first draft as General Manager collected 11 players and 10 of them were active for at least one game. Only Cole Madison, the 5 th round offensive lineman from Washington State, who never reported to the team, was not. A half dozen of the selections contributed a lot this season, Jaire Alexander and Josh Jackson in the secondary, Oren Burks (more on special teams than linebacker), wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling (far more than Equanimeous St. Brown) and the specialists, punter J.K. Scott and long snapper Hunter Bradley. The batting average far exceeded Gute’s predecessor from each of the last four prior drafts.
On the 5 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me…..5 Gold Rings.
This is the only verse left unchanged. A 5 th Super Bowl gold ring will have to wait.
On the 4 th day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me……4 quarters finished.
How many times this year did the Packers put together a terrific quarter of football, a solid first half and even a competitive three quarters, only to fall apart in the final 15 minutes? The Vikings tie, the near collapse against the 49ers, the Rams kickoff nightmare, the fumble in Foxborough, at CenturyLink, US Bank Stadiums, all games in which this team had a shot only to shoot themselves in the foot. A complete game is on their Christmas list for sure.
On the 3 rd day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me…..3 running backs.
The season started with a three member committee, Aaron Jones, Jamaal Williams and Ty Montgomery. It went to two when Montgomery fumbled his way to Baltimore and down to one when Jones got hurt in Chicago. Williams is now joined by a green former Redskin backup and a Northwestern University fullback. Williams and Jones will return next year but a third one will be required.
On the 2 nd day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me……2 Pro Bowlers.
Davante Adams on merit, Aaron Rodgers on reputation earned invitations to the Pro Bowl from a five win team. Certainly, players like David Bakhtiari and Blake Martinez deserve consideration but face it, the Packers are frighteningly short of impact players. They must find more for both sides of the ball.
On the First day of Christmas, the Packers gave to me….. A Head Coach to turn this all around.
Mike McCarthy’s demise was more of a systemic failure across the organization in 2018. Bad drafts, bad luck with injures, bad play and a marriage with the quarterback gone bad. Will the 15 th Head Coach in franchise history get the arrow pointed back up? Maybe, maybe not. He will be the point man but it will take a collective effort.
Happy holidays.
Oh, don’t tell Santa, but I like the Packers to actually beat the Jets, 27-20.