We also added veteran safety Anthony Smith from Pittsburg, who is familiar with the 3-4.
Coach Kevin Greene, who made the transition from DE to OLB, is working with Aaron Kampman and others to make the same crucial transition. Altogether, our defense could hardly be worse than last year. We should be stout on the defensive side of the ball this season.

I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in believing that the Packers will win the division next year, and make a legitimate run to the superbowl.

We were both hit by a “Bus” in recent off-seasons that really tore the fan-base apart

/slow clap

Sweet! The first Citizen Kane reference on this blog.

The problem with filling holes on the roster, adding just a few more pieces, etc. is that the roster didn’t appear to have any holes going into last season. The biggest question was how Aaron Rodgers would perform, but there were signs based on the 2007 preseason and his game against Dallas that November gave us an indication that he would be good.

But when the season was played out, the defensive front seven collapsed. For no particular reason; the same group of players from 2007 played worse in 2008. It wasn’t an aging group either (the Packers were again the youngest team in the NFL). Injuries to Cullen Jenkins and Nick Barnett didn’t help, but Barnett wasn’t playing very well before the injury.

So now they’ve brought in Dom Capers to switch to the 3-4 (although there will still use a 4-3 alignment at times), and drafted Raji and Matthews in the 1st round. They’re made changes and addressed the problem, but a lot of teams make changes that don’t work out.

I’m optimistic and hope for the best, but sometimes things don’t go as planned. Minnesota won the division with 10 wins, so the Packers don’t have to win 13 again to win the division. They just have to focus on their games against Minnesota, Chicago, and Detroit, and that should win them the division.

The Packer D should be pretty good this year! There will be some growing pains early in the season to be sure, but I have complete confidence in Capers to put a winning D on the field, and improve the D ranking to around 10-15 by the end of the year!

Drafing Raji and Matthews puts us in position of having 2 guys that were drafted specifically to succeed in the 3/4 D. Along w/ a few holdovers who have the abiltiy to play in any scheme. Pickett, Woodson, Bigby, Kampman have the skills to do well in just about any scheme, IMO!

If Capers can integrate his scheme and adapt to the players skills we have a great chance for a turn around year! Kevin Greene will add an intensity to the LB, that was missing most of last year! Jenkins and Barnett injuries hurt the D, but Bigby brought a physicality to the D, that was SORELY lacking last year. His loss was a major reason the D suffered last year as well.

I have alot of faith that Rodgers will have a better season than last! I really believe the Packers will win 11 games and the division in 09!!!

It really comes down to how well Capers can do w/ the piece he now has! The other part of switching to the 3/4 that is overlooked by most is the affect the 10 LB on the roster will have on ST, which was another reason for last years disastrous season! I expect a much better season on D and ST to help propel the Pack into the NFC playoffs.

I agree Special Teams will play a huge part in our success next year! Especially the kickoff unit, both kicking off and receiving. It seemed like the other team returned it to our 35 at least, almost every kick, and it seemed like we only returned to about our own 15-20 every time. I feel as though our punt unit was pretty decent, I don’t recall giving up any punt return TD’s but I wouldn’t be surprised if we gave up 1, and I think Blackmon returned 3 or 4 for TD’s and Woodson did well returning also.

The next thing is our Defense. Too me this was the reason our season didn’t turn out well. I’m not really going to go into specifics about why it was poor, but rather, just say I think injuries and our D coordinator were the cause of our poor D. As far as next year goes, I’m excited about the 3-4 and all the new defensive staff members we have acquired. I know the transition into the 3-4 can be a difficult one and most of the time is, but I feel it will be easier for us, because I think we now have all the pieces. Too me, I think we have all the talent needed to run this system, and with the help of some great coaches (Capers, Greene to name a couple) I think our D will flourish.

I don’t feel I need to say much about the offense. Rodgers will only be better, which I think will propel him into next years Pro Bowl. The receivers will be great as they have been for the last 2 years, and will improve a ton with a healthy James Jones. And I think the run game will be much improved as our oline should finally be healthy. But keep in mind Grant did rush for 1,200 yards last season, which is pretty darn good.

I think we’ll have 10-12 wins and feel we will win the division!! I can’t wait!!!!!!!!!

How stout is your pass-rush? I’d like to know how many times you think you’ll be able to show Cutler just exactly how green the grass is on the other side. ;-)