Overrated/Underrated?

Most overrated: probably Jermichael Finley, he tends to have cement hands occasionally but at the same time when he is on his game he is a monster to defend.

Most underrated: To me its a toss-up between Ryan Pickett and Desmond Bishop. Pickett is a beast of a run stuffer on the D-line and Bishop always seems to be around the ball which is exactly what you want out of a 3-4 MLB. You could possibly make a case for Jordy Nelson too because of the numbers he puts up without much recognition.

Rookie of the Year: without a doubt its Randall Cobb.

As far as teams passing on us, I think it comes down to a number of things. First the loss of Nick Collins was huge and I think that’s the reason why they give up so many big plays down the field. Second is the lack of pressure they have been getting on the QB combined with what seems to be a lot of zone coverage. When a QB has all day to look downfield, eventually someone is going to find a hole in the zone. Finally, a lot of the season stats are skewed by the fact that they’ve had large leads in the 4th qtr of almost every game which meant they switched to the prevent defense and gave up a ton of yards underneath.

As for the lack of a running game, who needs to run the ball when you have Aaron Rodgers. They have had some success running the ball when they tried, both Ryan Grant and James Starks averaged over 4 yards a carry, but they only averaged about 10 carries a game a piece. They haven’t met anyone, other than the Chiefs, who were able to shut down the passing game so they just stuck to what was working.

Overrated: Tramon Williams. He had an amazing season last year. I thought he was the best cover corner of anybody not named Revis. This year though, it’s been a rough going for him. He got hurt in week 2 and wasn’t able to shake it off for a while but even late in the season he was playing poorly. It’s looked to me like he’s had his fair share of blown coverages, and he’s been victimized on back shoulder and deep balls.

Underrated : Jordy Nelson.

ROY: Randall Cobb without question.

I think it was largely due to the fact that we had/have no pass rush. Jenkins left, and with that so did our pass rush. Neal (who is a 2nd year guy, who we picked in the 2nd round) was the guy who we thought would give that pass rush but he got early in the year and was out until the Bucs game in late November. Of course, losing Collins didn’t help anything either. I think that definitely played a role too.

Our running game is one that’s good when they’re set up by the passing game. Whenever we’re in a situation where the defense knows we’re going to run, we rarely seem to even gain a yard.

Who is the Packers most overrated player?

It’s definetely Jermichael Finley. That doesn’t mean he’s not a good player or was a huge disappointment, but he simply dropped too many passes to warrant the praise he receives. That being said, I’d rather have him on our team than play against him. He is still a threat and a difficult player to gameplan against. If he can eliminate the dropsies from this year, he’s an elite TE.

Most underrated player?

The answer is clearly Jordy Nelson. He’s still underrated even after such a big year. Jordy has developed so much this year that he’s an entirely different player this year compared to last year.

Rookie of the year for the Packers?

Not many rookies got much playing time. I think WR Randall Cobb wins this award by default due to his contributions on Special Teams and big play ability. Derrek Sherrod played well in the limited playing time he saw, but his season was cut short by a season ending injury. 3rd Round Pick Alex Green also had a season ending injury, but looked like a keeper in his limited playing time. DJ Smith was a steal in the 6th Round. He played good while Hawk and Bishop sat out for a few games, but since Cobb played the most over the entire season, I give this award to him.

Teams had ease passing on the Packers secondary, why do you think this was?

This is a question a lot of us are baffled on. We were so good against the pass last year and have seen a major drop off in production this year. Here are a few possibilities: the loss of Nick Collins really hurt, backup Safety Charlie Peprah hasn’t played at the level he did last year, and we are getting burned deep repeatedly all year. Burnett is just as responsible for those miscues as well though. Last year and the years before that, our secondary played a lot more physical. They played a lot of press coverage and always got their hands on the WR. This year we saw a different secondary. It’s like Capers changed his scheme around completely, because the CB’s are playing off coverage. Tramon Williams was hampering a big shoulder injury earlier this season, so that could be a reason, but we don’t know for sure.

How big was the loss of Nick Collins?

As I specified in the previous question, this was a huge loss for us. Not only was his season ended short, but his career could be over. He’s still a young player, and a Pro Bowler. You simply can’t replace players like that over night. If Collins’ career is over, it may take us another couple years to adequetly replace him. There has been some discussions of moving Charles Woodson to FS, but then we have a void to fill at the CB position. Losing Collins really hurt, and I truly hope he can recover soon to resume his NFL Career.

Who is the Packers most overrated player?
Aaron Rodgers…just kidding. Probably would go with Finley here too. We consider him to be a top 5 TE despite the fact that he’s never actually put up a top 5 TE season. He has the potential but just can’t seem to play at an elite level consistently.

Most underrated player?
I’ll go with Brian Bulaga. He had a very solid season in his second year. I think Jordy is getting plenty of pub for a guy who’s emerging in his first great season…and the snubbing talk is overblown.

Rookie of the year for the Packers?
Randall Cobb, not really much competition in year one.

Teams had ease passing on the Packers secondary, why do you think this was?
Lack of a pass rush is part of it, loss of NIck Collins is another big part, regression of Shields and Williams, Woodson slowing down a little. I think its really a lot of factors.

How big was the loss of Nick Collins?
Very big.

Is your lack of a running game because Rodgers is just that good, or is it because your running backs aren’t very good?
A little of both. We are so good passing the ball that we can ignore our average rushing game and still move the ball. They want to keep those guys fresh for the playoffs too.

Matt Flynn, obviously.

Underrated, I’d say TJ Lang.

Aaron Rodgers. His backup put up better stats.

And in a related story, the most underrated is Odin Matt Flynn.