I would really like to know what you think on all or some of these topics…. go ahead and leave a comment below!
WisconsinBadgers Basketball: Badgers lose to Iowa…… not a shocker for me…. I was truly shocked that with 5 minutes left that the Badgers were still within 6 in the game but the no offense, no defense, no coaching Badgers did not let us down. It was none other than Vitale that called out the Badgers offense….. no other on-air announcer has done the same this year even though it has been blatantly obvious all season. Gard has made no change, took no action and sent no statement to get this team fire up or motivated.
Green Bay Packers: Stories have come out last week that the Packers should be one of the teams that could sign JJ Watt……. I hope not……. Granted I like JJ Watt, I liked him in the NFL…. I liked him in college but as a Packer, it just would not work out. First JJ is consistently hurt and given how much money he would want vs how much we could give….. just not worth it. Second, JJ would not fit with the Packers ….. should the Packers continue to play the ridiculous 2 defensive line scheme with this new defensive coordinator then Clark will get double teamed along with Watt…… and as before the 2 LB’s will continue to be single teamed by a OL and TE…… leaving any competent QB with little to no pressure to pass at will. This will leave Watt frustrated and angry for even coming to Green Bay. The only way this work in Green Bay for Watt is to switch to the 4-3 (the best option) or play a true 3-4 with 3 TRUE defensive lineman with Watt on one of the ends.
Milwaukee Bucks: What can I say about the Bucks……. I was right? It does not matter how much talent you have on the team….. you need proper coaching….. you need actual plays….. they need a 1 on 1 breakdown player.
Milwaukee Brewers: Another Brewers season is almost of upon us and it is time for another topic…. me ripping on Craig Counsell.
Other Thoughts:
Other Thought #1: Stories have come out this week that Phil Mickelson is talking about his transition to the broadcast booth….. this got me thinking. Why do these networks think that a top caliber player will make a top tier announcer? Back in the day where sports announcers were put through their paces at lower level lower tier games….. Even people like Pat Summerall and John Madden did lower tier games before being named to their top tier status and eventually paired together. Nowadays it seems that we get a player retired and BOOM they are top tier right away….. but what have they shown in broadcasting up to that point? Look at Romo who predicts every outcome before the play then people said he was right or Witten who was a disaster.
I would really like to know what you think on all or some of these topics…. go ahead and leave a comment below!
WisconsinBadgers Basketball: On Wednesday, the Badgers had a closer than the scoreboard will show you matchup with 4 win Nebraska…… it is bizarre how inept our offense is given how each broadcast keeps referencing how old this team is on the court. There is no flow, there is no touch on the shots and there are no plays most of the time…… I say again, we don’t even look like a Division 1 team out there….. not kidding…. we physically look smaller, thinner and underwhelming. The Badgers got lucky Wednesday but my prediction for the last 6 games is 1-5 with the lone win against Northwestern.
As for the Michigan game….. who didn’t see that coming? I figured that Michigan would have issues in the 1st half given their layoff but they came out in the second half against the poor offense and poor defense Badgers. This game showed more than any how much non-Division 1 talent is on this roster…… nobody can shoot….. nobody can take over…… nobody can body up…….. Reuvers somehow plays a foot shorter than his 6′ 11″ frame…. Davison is too short, too dumb and can’t shoot….. Trice tries these ridiculous shots where most fail……. Potter should be inside more…….. It just baffles me that Gard has come up with none….. ZERO….. go to plays to get points when were are on these looooooong scoreless streaks. We just dribble-stop-think for 25 seconds then fire up some horrible shot at the end……. that is not a long term success plan! You should be creating or trying to create shots right from the start and if you get the shot….. take it!
Green Bay Packers: I thought I would bring up this week…………. The draft does matter! When you are the Packers and in the 2020 NFC championship game where you lost to the 49ers then you bring most everyone else back, you have to figure you are about one or two pieces away. Normally you should draft with your first couple of picks those pieces but instead you draft for 2 or 3 years down the road………. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
You could see during the season and during the playoffs that the draft can be the difference between making it to the NFC championship game and playing for the Super Bowl (and possibly winning based on how Tampa took care of KC)
Example #1: During the Week 11 lost to the Colts we blow a big lead thanks to our 2 Defensive Line scheme + 10 yards off the ball defense but the game was already lost for the Packers even before it started……. in the DRAFT……….. Lets take a look at the production of each team based on their first three picks.
Packers
Game Production
Colts
Game Production
1st
Jordan Love
NOTHING
Michael Pittman Jr.
Caught Pass TD
2nd
AJ Dillion
NOTHING
Jonathan Taylor
Key Rushing Yards in 2nd Half and OT
3rd
Josh Deguara
NOTHING
Julian Blackmon
Forced Fumble in OT to set up GW FG
As you can clearly see here that the Colts first three picks all contributed to the 3 point victory in overtime in some way…. if the Packers would have drafted for this year and not the future….. this very well could have been a 7 point (or more) victory the other way if we had taken a WR, LB or D-Line.
You could be saying “sure but the Packers still got the #1 seed” but I say……… if you don’t at least make it to the Super Bowl, does it matter what seed or what your record was? When other teams can expose your flaws in the regular season and then those same errors are exposed again in the postseason….. when it really matters…… does that loss not matter now?
Example #2: As my other example lets look at the team we lost to in the regular season and in the playoffs….. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers…….
Packers
Season Production
Bucs
Season Production
1st
Jordan Love
NOTHING
Tristan Wirfs
Played all 16 games
2nd
AJ Dillion
242 yards, 2 TD’s
Antoine Winfield Jr.
Played all 16 games… key player in SB
3rd
Josiah Deguara
1 rec, 12 yards
Ke’Shawn Vaughn
10 Games, 109 rushing yds, 1 receiving TD
For AJ Dillion, who was severely under utilized during the season, 50% of his yards and all his TD’s came in one game (Tennessee). Deguara was hurt after his one and only catch but on a team that had Lewis, Tanyan and Sternberger already on the roster….. did we REALLY need to waste our 3rd round pick on another Tight End when there were so many other positions we needed??????
That is EXACTLY the difference between getting to the NFC championship game and playing for the Super Bowl………. if we had the one more Wide Receiver …….. a couple more dominate D-Lineman…… maybe one more high pick Linebacker or Corner the game would have went in a different direction for the Packers……… When you are one step away from the Super Bowl, the draft is for what you need now to be better first than what you need 3 years from now…………… THE …………..DRAFT…………….. DOES……………… MATTER
Other Thoughts:
Other Thought #1: I could have provided my Super Bowl thoughts on last weeks post but wanted a day to think over the game. Wow, that game was not even close. Tampa played the EXACT defense the Packers should be playing…. you rush heavy up front and play close on the receivers in the 5-15 yard range …. mainly because if you can get a good rush that is about the distance the receivers will be when the ball comes out.
As for the KC defense….. it was like watching the Packers game…….. no pressure up the middle so Brady which means he could just stand there and just throw it at will. Really this game was over at half.
Other Thought #2: One thing that drives me crazy about Super Bowl ads is when a company drops mega bucks on a ad and is has nothing to do with their company, what they sell or what action they want you to do….. I know in the past that Chevy use to be the biggest offender of this where they would have someone just talk about America for 30 seconds…….. ad’s like those are just pointless and a waste.
Other Thought #3: I’m sure I will bring this up again and again but why does FOX use the NBA on NBC team for their college basketball? Whenever I hear that song I think of NBC not college basketball on FOX.
Other Thought #4: Packers ….. DO NOT GET JJ Watt who was released on Friday….. he will ask for too much money than you can pay him and even if you do get him he will be totally neutralized in our ridiculous 2 Defensive Line scheme. This is not a time to try and plug the holes on this defense…. this is a time to blow up the current concept, current culture and current alignment.
Other Thought #5: NASCAR….. what can I say that I have not said before…… I watched Trucks, Xfinity and Cup Daytona races this past weekend. As controversial as it is to say this…… NASCAR needs to drop Daytona and Talladega. These are performance capped tracks…… nobody on any team or manufacturer can do anything to their car give them an edge in the race enough to cause a 4, 5, 6 car breakaway….. instead of we have these 25 car packs at the very end…… which makes the first 95% irrelevant then we have wreck after wreck after wreck………. I’m fine with close races at the end but to truly appreciate the close races you need ones were one driver has the edge and dominates the race with the perfect strategy. The last time someone won on a restrictor plate track by more than a second? Harry Gant in 1991 at the Winston 500. This is the same problem the NBA has….. it is too close to the very end so why watch the first 3 quarters?
This is an era of NASCAR where there are teams with unlimited budgets, unlimited cars and drivers that just have at it and don’t care about the equipment.
A few thoughts from Brian 