Packershow Season 3 Episode 16 December 27, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Packershow , 7commentsPackershow Season 3 Episode 16
Zone blocking
Packershow Season 3 Episode 15 December 18, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Packershow , 3commentsPackershow Season 3 Episode 15
Positive’s from this year…we tried to be optimistic.
NFL Launches “Game Rewind”, Every Game On-Demand In HD With No Commercials December 13, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Good , 6commentsToday, the NFL launched a new video on-demand service called Game Rewind that lets you watch every NFL game in HD quality, with no commercials. The service, which costs $19.99 for the season or $4.99 for a week pass, also provides DVR functionality and lets you watch up to four games at once. While it is not known exactly how quickly games are made available after they end, for now the NFL is saying within 24 hours, but it is expected times will be much shorter.
The NFL is using Move Networks for the service, which is the same technology partner used for the NFL’s live video service called GamePass HD, available to those outside the U.S. As expected, the quality of video for Game Rewind is amazing and the NFL kept the interface clean and simple. While you can see a demo of the service at NFL.com/gamerewind, the interface I got through an actual account looks a little different. You have the option of just watching the game with no additional content, or including things like stats and chatting with others during the game or watch up to four games at once. Initial buffering times took about a second for me on my Mac, in Safari and I experienced no stuttering at all getting the 2.4MB stream.
While it’s not ideal that the NFL would charge for games on-demand, at twenty bucks a year, it’s very affordable and by providing HD quality and no commercials of any kind, I’d throw down twenty dollars for it. I’d prefer to see the NFL offer this kind of on-demand video with this kind of quality, for free, but with online video monetization models being what they are today, you can’t fault them for charging viewers. With the NFL now providing this kind of video quality for two out of their three online video services, I hope the games they broadcast on Sunday night in conjunction with NBC start getting the HD treatment, or least encoded into a much higher video quality.
Packershow Season 3 Episode 14 December 11, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Packershow , add a commentPackershow Season 3 episode 14
Fire Bob Sanders lives. Email and team discussions.
Fire Bob Sanders December 11, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Ugly , 3commentsPost as you want, spread the word!
GBU Correction December 10, 2008
Posted by PCastleberg in : Bad, Good, Packershow, Ugly , 5commentsIn the Good Bad and Ugly this week I screwed up (read didn’t check my facts before opening my mouth) and said that the 549 yards was the most a Packer defense had EVER surrendered. I should have known that was not true. Greg Bedard of the JSO posted in the post game chat the following:
The 549 yards the Texans rolled up on the Packers weren’t just the most in franchise history for the young team. It was 114 yards more than the previous high. As Jeremy Kapinos said after the game, “That was sombering.”
That led me to believe that “the 549 yards the Texans rolled up on the Packers” was the most in franchise history. How I could have deducted that from the quote above I have no idea.
The true facts about the most yards given up by a Packer D are these:
The Packers allowed 549 yards, their highest total since allowing 552 in the Washington game in 1983. In the last 25 years, they yielded 500 or more five other times: 539 at Detroit in 1984, 545 against Minnesota in 1998, 514 at Denver in 1999, 524 at the New York Giants in 2001 and 542 at Philadelphia in 2004. Green Bay’s three highest yields were 611 at the Los Angeles Rams in 1956, 599 at the Rams in 1957 and 594 at Chicago in 1980.
Just figured I should get that correction out there ahead of time. I certainly have some thoughts about the defensive performance. Not the least of which is that our DC and his scheme need to go. I don’t think the Scheme is championship caliber and I don’t think Sanders has the creativity to modify it to be so.
I’ll leave the rest of the commentary to the actual podcast.
Next Sunday I’m wearing a cup December 9, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Packershow , 7commentsAs I write this, Tuesday, December 9, there is still no explanation that makes sense. Frankly, it feels like I was kicked in the nutsack for the sixth time this season. Seriously, 549 yards!?! Is that even possible or is it a misprint? Maybe this is what Donovan McNabb felt like when he found out that you CAN tie in the NFL.
Ryan Grant: 19 rushes for 104 yards and 1 TD. 5.5 yards per carry.
Aaron Rodgers: 19/30 for 295, 2 TD, 1 INT. Passer Rating of 104.2
4 turnovers
And we lost. I am at a loss. This team has no heart and I can’t for the life of me understand why. Perhaps the Favre incident (yes, that’s my new term for it) took the life out of the team. Now another veteran is out, probably forever…Tauscher.
Man, it’s a tough day. Next week I’m wearing a cup.
Packershow Season 3 Episode 13 December 4, 2008
Posted by Ross - a.k.a. The Fat Man in : Packershow , 1 comment so farPackershow Season 3 Episode 13
Email and Website discussion. Analysis. Patrick’s Good Bad and Ugly.
The Missing Link December 3, 2008
Posted by PCastleberg in : Commentary , 8commentsIn quite possibly what was simultaneously one of Ted Thompson’s worst and most overlooked moves the releasing of Tracy White has really come back to bite this team. Tracy White was cut October 7th in favor of keeping Danny Lansanah.
Now I am far from saying that White would be a magical savior for the special teams considering all the other fluctuation from injuries that there has been but when you look at this move in hindsight and think about the fact that we basically cut our best special teams cover guy just to keep a practice sqaudder it hurt this team and it sent a very bad message.
I don’t have a problem with most of the moves made this year when you look at them:
- Corey Williams traded: people want to whine about this move but they forget that Williams would have been our highest paid DL and after he had to play full time last year he wasn’t nearly as effective. It would not have made sense for the Packers to keep him at the price tag he was going to command because the performance didn’t justify it. Ask yourself what kind of a difference he’s made in Cleveland this year. I think Thompson got as much as he could for him and that’s all I can ask.
- Brett Farve traded: Once again I have no problem with this move. People forget, Farve retired…not once but TWICE and didn’t decide to come back until after training camp had already started. At that point there was no going back for the Packers IMO. It was time to move on, the on again/off again act from Farve along with his open questioning of the multiple moves that created what he himself called “the most talented team I’ve ever been on” were tired and old. Rodgers has played very well, and while he has made some “rookie” mistakes he has shown that he has all the physical tools needed to lead this team for years to come. Once again I think Thompson got as much as he could for him and thats all I can ask.
- KGB gets cut: I have to admit I was VERY surprised by this move but in retrospect I wasn’t. While KGB is a fan favorite and a personal favorite the guy just didn’t have it any more. He couldn’t recover from the knee problems he was having and just couldn’t get it done any more. Classy guy that you hate to see go but I think it was the right move. Very similar feelings to seeing Henderson fade away.
- Tracy White gets cut: This is the one move I have a problem with. You have a guy who wasn’t that old (only in his 6th year), was VERY good at his job and was a veteran presence on a team severely lacking in veteran leadership. He was the leader of a very young unit. His play had not slipped, he was still getting the job done and getting it done well. Yet he was cut for a first year undrafted rookie who had showed some promise and we didn’t want to lose from the practice squad.
Now maybe I’ll be proven wrong, maybe Lansannah will prove to be the second coming of Ray Nitschke but I highly doubt it. Before this move was made our STs had only surrendered 1 kickoff/punt return of more than 30 yards. That came in White’s last game against Atlanta (54 yards). Since that time the Packers in 7 games have given up 6 kick off returns of 30+ yards. 3 of which went for over 50. Opponents average starting field position against the Packers is their 32 yard line and opponents have had 22 drives start in Packers territory.
Tracy White played in every game he was on the team this year. In his 7 games since being signed on October 7th Danny Lansannah has been a game day inactive in two of them. He has not been inactive since Nick Barnett went down with a season ending knee injury, which only leads on to believe that he has been on the field in the last 3 weeks while the Packers have surrendered kick off returns of 62 yards to the Saints and 40+ and 50+ to the Panthers in successive weeks.
In the grand scheme of things not many people will even mention Tracy White but in this case I would argue that he has been an invaluable missing link for our not so Special Teams.
