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Green Bay Packers ( 11 - 5 )

• Total Offense = 13th
• Passing Offense =9th
• Rushing Offense =20th
  
• Total Defense = 11th
• Passing Defense =11th
• Rushing Defense =17th
  
• Points For = 27.1 (5th)
• Points Against = 21.0 (11th)

San Francisco 49ers ( 11 - 4 - 1 )

• Total Offense = 11th
• Passing Offense = 23rd
• Rushing Offense =4th
  
• Total Defense = 3rd
• Passing Defense = 4th
• Rushing Defense =4th
  
• Points For =24.8 (11th)
• Points Against = 17.1 (2nd)

* 2012 stats

To be honest - Im a bit worried about our team:

Seems like we spent too much time this year testing out rookies or quarterbacks that cant cut it rather then getting our real players ready for this game (and the season).

San fran isnt going to be easy - and we get to play it over there again.
Seriously are we ready ... for:
- that pass rush
- their rushing attack
- the QB option
- receivers
davis etc

We pretty much knew who was going to play for our team at the start of preseason - yet we hardly played these guys.
Weather it was by choice or by injury - when it comes to game time; crying about injuries is not going to matter.

Finley is the only offensive weapon that I feel confident in - ok rodgers a bit but I havnt seen him out there much this preseason so really am not sure if he is ready.
lacey is new, starks has had to divide time up, cobb and nelson coming off injuries

I will say that our run defense looks decent this year ...

but is the above good enough to beat San Fran in San Fran? ...

what do you think?

I think san fran played their starters less than we did

Dulak;255599To be honest - Im a bit worried about our team:

Seems like we spent too much time this year testing out rookies or quarterbacks that cant cut it rather then getting our real players ready for this game (and the season).

San fran isnt going to be easy - and we get to play it over there again.
Seriously are we ready ... for:
- that pass rush
- their rushing attack
- the QB option
- receivers
davis etc

We pretty much knew who was going to play for our team at the start of preseason - yet we hardly played these guys.
Weather it was by choice or by injury - when it comes to game time; crying about injuries is not going to matter.

Finley is the only offensive weapon that I feel confident in - ok rodgers a bit but I havnt seen him out there much this preseason so really am not sure if he is ready.
lacey is new, starks has had to divide time up, cobb and nelson coming off injuries

I will say that our run defense looks decent this year ...

but is the above good enough to beat San Fran in San Fran? ...

what do you think?

I think a lot of your worries stem from the fact that we play San Fran right out of the gate.
I'm guessing you wouldn't be having these feelings if we started with the Jets or the Raiders.

I'm a bit concerned as well
but I'm not sure I would say I am worried about them.
You knew that players like Cobb and Nelson and Jones and Rodgers would not play much even if they were healthy.
I'm not sure how you can say Finley is the only offensive weapon you fell confident in.
To me that says your confidence comes from the preseason and not from prior seasons.
If Jones' huge year last year, Nelson the year before, Cobb's emergence and Rodgers being touted by many as the best player in the game don't instill confidence in the passing game I don't know what to tell you.
There is a reason you don't see players like Rodgers much in the preseason, they don't need the time.
Did you really need to see significant playing time from these guys in pretend games to be confident about their abilities?

I'm not sure if we saw more testing of rookies (we did see a lot of it) than preparing our starters this preseason over past preseasons
but when I see the rash of injuries throughout the league I think it will be the way things are going to be done in the future.
It is just not worth the risk to the veterans to have them play in meaningless games.


Besides that we did have holes to fill on the OLine, Dline & Secondary.
Its not enough to simply throw a whole lot of any old dirt in a hole.
It has to be the right dirt.
The Packers played a lot of players to make sure they got the right dirt to fill the holes.
The other option would have been to pick the guys they thought were going to be the best and play the crap out of them.
That may get them ready but it doesn't give you any information on any of the other guys just in case.

I'm not sure there is a team in the league that doesn't have similar concerns.
While they may not have as many as the Packers they all have them.


I'm not sure if the Packers WILL beat the 49ers but I am confident that they CAN beat them (and not just in the "any given Sunday" context of beating them I mean legitimately beating them) and when you are talking about one of the elite teams in the league that's about all you can hope for.
If you don't think this team can legitimately beat the 49ers you might as well pack in the season.

Played them last year in week 1 too, and it got us off to a bad start.
Year before that, New Orleans, and it got us off to a good start.
That game was a barn burner.

PREDICTION:
This team will shit itself.


The team might recover from their bad mistake or two, a "lull" if you will and win, but Mike will NOT have this team ready.
Until about week 10.

nerdmann;255602Played them last year in week 1 too, and it got us off to a bad start.
Year before that, New Orleans, and it got us off to a good start.
That game was a barn burner.

PREDICTION:
This team will sh!t itself.


The team might recover from their bad mistake or two, a "lull" if you will and win, but Mike will NOT have this team ready.
Until about week 10.

Im just imagining a rookie LT and a less then consistent rt tackle against that pass rush - not even sure how healthy our passing game is - I just want a healthy cobb nelson jones finley

I just hope the coaches burn into these rookies minds that we got trounced last year in the playoffs and its revenge time.

I predicted a win for this game and I'm sticking by that, though I won't be at all surprised if it is an "ugly" win.
But it will be a win, because:

1.
Rodgers will not get knocked out of the game in week one.
I expect him to get hit a fair amount, and still lack confidence in this OL being good enough long term.
But he'll last the first week.

2.
Kaepernick will prove a non-factor.
He might escape and run for a couple first downs, but that'll be it.
Packers rush D will be stouter this year.

3.
Pickett and Jolly will keep Frank Gore stuffed long enough for Rodgers to establish more than a touchdown lead, and therefore his number will be called less in the third and fourth quarter as SF plays catch-up.

What could keep it from being a win?

a.
Frank Gore.
This guy still doesn't get the respect he deserves, and I don't understand it.
Even when the Packers have had a good run defense under McCarthy/Capers (which has been the case too seldom), it has taken a while to get established. It might not be there in week one against a hard-running back like Gore.
Gore, not Kaepernick, is the guy that the Packers need to worry about most.

b.
Boldin and Davis over the middle.
Biggest weakness of the Packer defense last few years has been the mid-depth middle (8-20 yards out).
If they haven't solved this problem Davis and Boldin will eat them up.
And even if middle coverage has improved to where it should be, Boldin especially will make them pay for bad tackling technique.

c.
Nnamdi Asomugha.
Forget what he looked like with the dysfunctional Eagles.
He's still got serious game, and if Rodgers goes his direction too often, he's going to get burned.

Prediction:
Green Bay 30, San Francisco 20.
Rodgers 3 TDs, 2 to Jones.
Crosby 3-3 with a long of 56 to end the first half.
Kaepernick, 27 yards gained rushing, 32 yards lost to 5 sacks, 1 fumble, 2 int.
Matthews (2), Mulumba, D. Jones, Jolly with sacks; T. Williams and Francois with interceptions.

nerdmann;255602Played them last year in week 1 too, and it got us off to a bad start.
Year before that, New Orleans, and it got us off to a good start.
That game was a barn burner.

PREDICTION:
This team will sh!t itself.


The team might recover from their bad mistake or two, a "lull" if you will and win, but Mike will NOT have this team ready.
Until about week 10.

Normally, I'd agree with you.
But I think this year will be different.
I think this team comes out and pretty much dominates the 49ers.
Rodgers will, alas, get hit too often.
But his arm and legs will be fresh enough to overcome those hits in week one.
He will come out looking pinpoint-laser sharp.
And the defense will come out with attitude, shut down Kaepernick and keep Gore just enough in check.

The Packers still have some problems (that OL, no good backup QB, will they be able to stop the run consistently, will they be able to cover the middle of the field better, will they tackle better, uncertainty at kicker), but IMO those problems won't show up in week one.

I'm just gonna enjoy the fact that unlike last year,

REAL FOOTBALL IS BACK!!!!!

Win or lose this is just 1 of 16 and I'm glad that I will be able to watch and root on the 53 men chosen by Ted and Mike as they give their all for The Green and Gold!!!!

1 week!!!!

LET'S GO PACK!!!!

Dulak;255599Seems like we spent too much time this year testing out rookies or quarterbacks that cant cut it rather then getting our real players ready for this game (and the season).

What better way to test them hader practice than what they'll see in a game?

While they might not be able to match the 49ers starters, they had Rodgers, Cobb and Nelson off the field and told them to try to move the ball.... that MIGHT be harder to do, than trying to move the ball on the 49ers WITH Rodgers Cobb and Nelson.

I used to love it when the Packers played Jeff Fisher's team in the last perseason game. The Packers like most teams would mainly be playing their back-ups that game. Not Fisher's team... they played the starters mostly in the last perseason game.

So we got to see back-ups get VERY hard practice as they went up against starters of another team for over 2 quarters. He was great to see which back-ups could step it up and which couldn't.

MM didn't seem to like it. But I did [smile]