Kaspers Korner

The Green Bay Packers made a very hard decision in moving on without future Hall of Famer quarterback Brett Farve.  Reflecting back trading Farve to the Jets was the right thing to do.

The trade of Farve made way for quarterback Aaron Rodgers to become the starter.  Even with it just being his first full year as a starter the Packers with Rodgers did not miss a beat offensively.

Rodgers went on to throw for 4,038 for the years, with 28 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions, for a 93.8 quarterback rating.  That led the Packers to a ranking of eighth in the league, which would have been higher if the running attack was better. 

That means this years collapse from a 13-3 last year is clearly on the offense, and its abismal ranking of 26th in the league against the run.

There is one thing for sure this year going into the offseason for the Packers they have to find a new defensive end, and defensive tackle if they are going to make it back to the playoffs.

Many Green Bay Packers fans will be wondering if the Packers did not trade Brett Farve would they have gotten to the playoffs.  The reality is that another offseason trade is what really hurt the Packers.

The Packers last offseason traded defensive end Corey Williams, who was a defensive tackle on the Packers, instread of paying him.  That proved to be a costly move as the defense has dramatically fallen off the map.

The proof is in just a single category, and that category is defense against the run.  Last year the Packes were giving up almost 103 yards per a game.  This season they are giving up 35 more yards per a game at 138 yards per a game, and is not ranked in the bottom half of the NFL.

That is the one area that a team cannot be bad in if they are going to be a contender for the Superbowl, and the Packers are bad now at it.

So, what can the Packers do to improve the situation.  First, they could make a run after defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth who is going to be a free agent after the season.  The second option is simply spend a first or second round draft choice on a defensive tackle.

Simply, the Packers must get another defensive tackle if they are going to get back to the playoffs, because if they do not then it will be very hard to even get in.

The Green Bay Packers cut their all time leading sacker in Gbaja-Biamila.  At 31 years of age it is simply the wrong move to make.

Gbaja-Biamila appeared in seven games, but only started one of them.  He had nine tackles, and half a sack, for the Packers.

It was foolish cutting him this early in the season.  Especially, when your back up is no better.

Everyone has bad seasons, and that includes the best.  Buffalo Bills defensive end Aaron Schobel has only one sack in five games he has played, but most likely has been bothered most of the year by a toe injury.

Cutting Gbaja-Biamila now leaves their defensive line very thin.  Football is a game of injuries, and to cut someone with the likes of talent that Gbaja-Biamila has is fool hardy.

The Green Bay Packers looked like a foolish team right before the offseason, as they traded quarterback Brett Farve to the New York Jets.  With outstanding performances from Aaron Rodgers it looks like their success is going to continue.

Rodgers after three weeks has looked like a franchise quarterback.  That is fortunate, because usually after a franchise quarterback leaves teams fall apart.

However, after three weeks is when defenses adjust to rookie quarterbacks.  The reason is that the opposition has film on them, and now can look for tendancies to tip off plays.

So, what that means is that Rodgers is going to have to work harder for now on.  He is going to have to look at every single little thing that he does in video tape to make sure that he does not do anything that will tip his hand in favor to the defense.

The Packers for the most part are a young team, but for the most part they have been well coached.  Now, it comes down to Rodgers implementing what he has learned all those years behind Farve.

The Minnesota Vikings have been implicated in tampering charges brought up by the Green Bay Packers.  Now, the Packers are going to have to answer some question from  National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell.

Vikings saftey Darren Sharper was a teammate of Brett Farve for eight seasons with the Packers.  When responding to the question if he has had any questions with Farve, according to the Star Tribune, he said this, “Not that I can say on the record. I don’t have his cell phone. It’s Packer issued. They’re not going to let me have that number.”

The problem is that the Packers have not included the worth of the phone in the rest of Farve’s contract.  Not disclosing that Farve had the phone to the league is a violation of the salary cap.

This is going to be a huge blow for the Packers.  It means that they will have to forefit a draft pick for violating the salary cap.

The Packers should have shut up, never filed the tampering charges, and just cut, or trade Farve.

So, in the end the Packers will be team that is hurt the most by the whole Brett Farve saga. 

Sometimes general managers just out smart themselves.   

National Football League owners opted to end the current collective bargaining agreement early, with fears that players expenses are getting out of control.  Those fears have been confirmed as the Green Bay Packers made 37 percent less of a profit in 2007 2008 fiscal, which ended March 31st than the previous year.

The Packers are almost one of the top ten most profitable franchises in the NFL.  Even with total revenue going up ten percent to $241 million they still lost 37 percent of its profit. 

That means when the 2010-2011 fiscal year ends March 31, 2011, at the current rate of profit decrease, the Packers will have made only a five million dollar profit.  That means that teams in the bottom half of the most profitable scale will be losing money by that time. 

The thing is though NFLPA Union cheif Gene Upshaw wants the whole NFL to open its financiak books.  Just the Packers books might not be enough for Upshaw.  

What will most likely happen is that the players will eventually kick Upshaw to the curb.   Fans will turn on the players if they do not make concession, especially with the current new.  That will lead to Upshaw’s demise, after all he is very stubborn. 

What will happen is anyones guess.

It is tornado season, and they are hitting with a fury.  That includes the neighborhood of a National Football League player’s grand father.

Claas Kampman, 71, is the grandfather of defensive end Aaron Kampman.  Claas’s home was destroyed in a tornado that hit Kelsey, Iowa.  He was also hurt in the process, which resulted in him having to go to surgery.

This quote by Packers director of media relations Adam Woullardis a classic, which appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel”Aaron said he has a chainsaw running and doing anything they can to help.”

It goes to show that despite of the Michael Vicks of the world there are good people that play in the NFL.  The unfortunate thing is that this good deed will barely go noticed outside of Green Bay.

Thanks Aaron.

The Greenbay Packers lost a key member of its defense this offseason, and that being defensive tackle Corey Williams, who was traded to the Cleveland Browns.  So, now the question is can they overcome that loss.

The loss of Williams is a big deal.  You do not lose someone of the caliber of Williams, and not feel the effects of it.  Also, with that type of loss comes doubt.

The most likely replacement for Williams is Johnny Jolly, who is going into his third season.  Jolly started seven games for the Packers last season.

With Jolly being esentially a rookie there will be serious doubt that the defense will be what it was last season.  If either Jolly or other starting defensive tackle Ryan Pickett does not command double teams in the run game, then it definately will be a long season for the Packers.

The best example is the Buffalo Bills.  With defensive tackle Pat Williams they were one of the best defenses for years.  After general manager Tom Donahoe let him walk the Bills defense has been a mere shadow of itself.

Ultimately, not paying Willliams could cost general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy their jobs.

The Green Bay Packers are in a small markey, but thanks to the devotion of the fans, and it marketability nation wide they still make a good profit.  However, Packer’s President Mike Murphy has dropped a major hint to when a lock out would happen.

Murphy, in an article by Rob Demovsky of the Green Bay Press Gazette, reinterated that the Packers do not like the idea of an uncapped 2010 season.  Murphy would not mention the level of concern with labot issues, but that does not matter.  What matters is that a lockout is coming sooner than expected.

Many people have stated that the Redskins would love the idea of an uncapped year, but after this year, and with this news it is likely that Redskins would go along with the idea.  Even the Cowboys might go along with it, considering what owner Jerry Jones stated about the draft.

Jones this past week confirmed what all fans already thought, and that is drafting at the top of the draft, and missing cripples a franchise.  Also, the Redskins have stopped throwing around money after owner Dan Snyder realized that the best way to build a team is through the draft, and retaining your own players.

A lockout before the 2010 season makes sense, since playing that year would be even too costly for teams like the Redskins.  That is due to the rising demands of players, and if they played during a uncapped year contract demands for free agent would go up, and probably draft picks would increase demands as well.

Also, there would be no revenue sharing during the 2010 season.  That would cripple teams like the Packers, since small market teams rely on revenue sharing to pay the checks of the players.

In the end the current CBA is garbage, and teams like the Packers cannot play with out some components of it.  That means a season without football is coming soon.

Green Bay Packers general manager Ted Thompson turned his team around, and was  very close to a trip to the Super Bowl.  Eventhough, he came up short he still won The Sporting New’s NFL executive of the year.

Thompson won executive of the year for turning a team that was one of the worst in 2006 to one the best in the NFC, with a 13-3 record.  However, the Packers play in the weaker conference, and turn arounds is easily do able. 

New York Giant gm Jerry Reese was the runner up, evethough it was his first year on the job, and he Giants won the Super Bowl. Thompson has been on the job, since 2005, and has just now put things together.  On top of that the Giants beat the Packers to go to the Super Bowl, but still other NFL executives feel he is the better gm.

Next year will be the real test for both.  The Packers winning next year depends on quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who finally gets a chance to start after the retirement of Brett Farve.  The Giants on the other hand have a franchise quarterback on Eli Manning.

In the end the better gm is the one with the most championships.  Right now Reese 1-0 over Thompson.