APC’s Christmas Wish List for the Green Bay Packers

Putting together a list of holiday wishes is a tradition for kids around the world, and here at Acme Packing Company a handful of our writers did just that. We have our wishes for the Green Bay Packers below.

What are your wishes for the team around this holiday season? Let us know in the comments.

Bob Fitch

I’ll stick to bullet points - Santa’s a busy guy, and crafting then delivering these gifts will take some time.

• A fresh head coach.
• A GM willing to spend money in free agency.
• This fire suit. I’m a business guy, gotta dress classy.
• Clay Matthews to return to peak form. Gary Zilavy touched on it in a walkthrough a few weeks ago, but it’s disheartening to realize that the players you have watched start as rookies are now fading and that you’re aging right there with them.
• The ability to pull off this look. Or maybe this one. I have the hat and the mustache, just not the bolo tie, the charming good looks, or the infectious confidence.
• Eddie Lacy to return next year on a cheap contract. I have an irrational sense of affection for this dude.
• A new defensive coordinator. Gus Bradley as our new defensive coordinator next season.
• A super bowl LI win. I mean, duh, right?

Paul Noonan

My Christmas Wish is to never see a power run out of a bunch formation again as long as I live, except to set up passing out of bunch formations later. But really, if you’re going to pass, you may as well line up in a standard set as the gains from proper personnel will generally eclipse the gain from bunch formation deception.

The entire notion of lining up and overpowering your opponent is just so ridiculous. You know they’re trying to do the same thing back to you, right? And even though you know this, you’re just going to stay in the same suboptimal formation and run against a defense tailor made to stop you. Maybe if you succeed the manly one-yard power points will help boost your confidence for the rest of the game or some such nonsense, but I would much rather run a play, on a high-leverage down that is designed to exploit opponent weakness and continue the drive rather than a play that you have told the defense is coming, and often concede a turnover.

It is bad. Kill it with fire. Oh, and Merry Christmas!

Evan “Tex” Western

My Christmas wish for the short term is for Aaron Rodgers to end up as the modern Nostradamus; namely, that the Packers win their final two games to complete Rodgers’ “run the table” talk and win the NFC North. If they do so, I feel confident that this team is capable of beating any other in the NFL, and I want to see them get the opportunity to prove that in the postseason.

In the long term, I want the Packers to finally - FINALLY - have a season in which the team as a whole stays relatively healthy. I’m sick of seeing multiple starters on injured reserve just weeks into the season and numerous others missing five or six games each with recurring injuries. Just for once, can we make it through a year at relatively full strength?

So come on, Santa. Bring Packers fans a healthy squad in 2017. Please? We’ll be really, really good this year, I promise.

Jon Meerdink

It’s been at least since 2014 since the Packers had a truly dynamic threat at wide receiver, back when pre-ACL tear Jordy Nelson was stretching defenses deep and making tremendous toe-tapping catches on the sideline. My Christmas wish is that Ted Thompson somehow unearths an equally game breaking threat in the draft next spring.

He could be a physical specimen type or a little speed burner (think Trevor Davis, but actually on the field), I don’t care. All I want is someone that defenses are truly afraid of.

Ty Montgomery has been a wonderful revelation for the Packers down the stretch, and now all we need is an equally fun version of Mr. Montgomery at wide receiver.