February 5, 2008

Packers Season Recap

I was pulled out of my Packer hangover yesterday by my Dad's post in the Packer Forum, and figured a good place to start was a recap of the past season.

Despite how it ended, the '07 Packer season was a great one. Some people will argue that the season was good rather than great because the Packers didn't make it to the Super Bowl, but finishing 4 points out of the Super Bowl, playing a close, competitive game for the NFC Championship is a great season, and not only that, but the season was very exciting.

A 13-3 finish will always be exciting, and I think this season was particularly exciting because of the low expectations at the beginning of the year, and because many of the games were close and hard fought. Two fumbled punts recoveries against the Eagles made for a great finish, an 80 yard touchdown pass in overtime against Denver might have been the regular season highlight, sweeping the AFC West made for great drama, and taking the future Super Bowl champions into overtime in the NFC Championship game was nerve racking, if not exciting.

If I had a main complaint against the Packers season, it was the special teams play, the kickoff team in particular took a beating. They averaged 21.8 yards on kick returns 22nd in the league, and while I can't find the numbers on what they allowed per return, I would guess around 30. What is worse, it seemed like the kicking team played worse in big games, Dallas and New York in particular.

But that is the only major complaint I have about this season. It was very exciting, and the Packers are still a young team. I expect next year to be more of the same.


Posted By: Chris Burkhardt

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 7:20:28 PM (Central Standard Time, UTC-06:00)
This was definitely a great season for the Packers! Anyone who doesn’t believe that doesn’t understand how difficult it is to end up with 13 wins and only 4 losses in the NFL. If I had my choice, I would have picked other teams to lose to, in particular the first three losses. I think that the last loss was to the best team in the league (at least right now).

The Pack improved in all three phases of the game. According to the NFLs website http://www.nfl.com/teams/greenbaypackers/statistics?season=2007&team=GB&seasonType=REG during the 2007 regular season the Packers averaged;

Net on kickoff returns - 21.8 yards
Allowed on kickoff returns - 20.9 yards
Net on punt returns - 10.3 yards
Allowed on punt returns - 5.9 yards

During the 2006 season the Packers averaged;

Net on kickoff returns - 19.7 yards
Allowed on kickoff returns - 22.5 yards
Net on punt returns - 7.8 yards
Allowed on punt returns - 9.1 yards

A number of the young players on the team turned out very good performances and there’s no reason to believe that they won’t get better next year. Ted Thompson isn’t batting 100% on his decisions but no one does. I think he’s done a very good job selecting talent and Mike McCarthy and his assistants are doing a great job developing them.

While we always hope for improvement, if the Packers finish next season with a 13 and 3 record I’ll be very happy. Especially if they then go on to win the Super Bowl.
Dave
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