What If: Barry Sanders Was A Packer?

Reflecting back on the career of Brett Favre, I sometimes have to begrudgingly admit that when trying to compare him amongst the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Favre Detractors will often point out he only won one championship in his long career.

First of all, let’s set the record straight. The Packers only won one championship during Favre’s career. As much as the media has hyped Brett Favre as being the only reason the Packers are in existence, reality reminds us that it takes a team to win a Super Bowl.

So, if the Packers could have won another championship, when would it have been? The Sherman tenure had a lot of potential, but even Lee Remmel, long time Packer historian, characterized Mike Sherman as an overachiever. With the exception of 2003, I’m not sure if there was a season that might have come together for a deep playoff run and actually beat the AFC champion Buccanneers (2002) or Patriots (2003).

I like to look back, however, at the early 90s, when the Packers were on the rise. It took them all the way until the 1996 season to finally break through, with powerhouse teams like the 49ers and the Cowboys always thwarting their playoff runs. The Packers were an innovative team with a great coach, a solid defense, a GM with a Midas touch, and of course, a quarterback with all the potential in the world, going through his own growing pains.

Often cited by Favre’s Detractors was the 1989 draft, in which by virtue of winning the last game of the 1988 season, the Packers fell out of the #1 pick overall and missed out winning the Troy Aikman sweepstakes. We all know how that one win affected the draft, and in effect, the future of the Packers. The Cowboys picked Troy Aikman, considered one of the top 20 quarterbacks of all time, and the Packers took perhaps the biggest draft bust of all time, offensive lineman Tony Mandarich.

There are those who propose that had the Packers ended up with Aikman, there would have been no Favre in green and gold, and that the Packers might have been the superior team in the early 90’s, when Aikman was truly in his prime.

I make a counter-contention, and one that doesn’t rely on changing the results of the 1988 season in order for it to happen. Troy Aikman was gone when the Packers went to pick at #2, so there’s no way to get around that. But Troy Aikman wasn’t the biggest piece of that Cowboy dynasty. He was a steady, accurate quarterback, but benefited greatly from perhaps one of the greatest offensive lines in NFL history, excellent receivers at both the WR and TE positions, and of course, a fantastic defense.

The Cowboys, as we know, had built a lot of that team from the windfall of players and drafts picks afforded them by the fleecing of the Vikings for Herschel Walker in 1989, and the biggest bonus was the first rounder they got from Minnesota in 1990: running back Emmitt Smith.

Aikman benefited from having one of the greatest running backs (by some accounts, the greatest running back) in the backfield with him, accompanying a solid defense and efficient passing game with a back who started making the Pro Bowl his rookie year, and didn’t stop for six consecutive seasons after that.

Aikman in Green Bay would have had some of the workman-esque (pun intended) corps of Packer running backs Don Majkowski and Brett Favre had to work with until 1995, when Edgar Bennett became the first 1,000 rusher since 1978.

If you’d like to know what that might have looked like, take a look at Aikman’s rookie year with the Cowboys, a year that many started thinking of Aikman as a bust on a horrible team, when he went winless in 11 starts.

So, what is my contention? Instead of thinking about what we couldn’t have had anyway, think about what we could have had. Right behind Tony Mandarich at #2 was Barry Sanders at #3, taken by the Detroit Lions. He was right there for the taking. Now, let’s imagine a Packer team throughout the early 90’s with Barry Sanders as our running back, instead of Brent Fullwood, Vince Workman and Darrell Thompson.

Starting in 1993, the Packers started making the playoffs every year, clearly a team on the rise, with an exciting quarterback on one side of the ball, and an exciting defensive end on the other. During Favre’s first three seasons as the Packers’ QB, he went through some clearly painful growing pains. I still remember the time when fans started applauding when he finally started to throw the ball out of bounds instead of to an opposing player.

But those seasons, including 1995, always saw us match up against an opponent that managed to take us out of the playoffs, usually the Cowboys. Barry Sanders ran for a minimum of 1,100 yards every season from his rookie year on, and during those 1993-1995 seasons, he averaged over 1,400. Imagine that running attack paired with a young Brett Favre at quarterback, taking on the Cowboys on their home artificial turf.

Now, I know what you are saying. Barry Sanders might not have been as effective on grass as much as on the turf he used so well in Detroit. It also would guess that the Packers might have used him differently, too, and not been the same player as he was with the Lions.

I say that Sanders might have been even more effective than he was in Detroit. The Lions’ big mistake was so centralizing their offense completely around his ability to make his own plays, running an ill-fated run-and-shoot offense, knowing he could make a good run with only five blockers in front of him.

Mike Holmgren wasn’t going to break from the offense he knew and trusted…the WCO in its heyday, before defenses learned to play it effectively. Barry Sanders would have been in a pro set more often than a single-back set. If you ever watch a highlight of Barry Sanders, you will see that he utilizes his blockers as well as any of the great running backs (you just don't notice it because he blew by them so quickly). Now, add to that the passing threat of Favre (something the Lions never had), and you would see not only a running back that would gain 1,000 yards in a season, but also catch another 1,000 yards in receiving yards to boot.

Sanders may not have won as many rushing titles as he did, but the screen passes he would have caught from Favre would have been just as electric and effective as any of his runs.

Oh, what might have been. Instead of struggling to play with the big boys for so many playoff seasons in the years before 1996, they might have been the big bully on the block. Imagine the Packers with what most consider a top-ten quarterback of all time teamed up with a consensus top-five running back of all time?

It’s not just a pipe dream. It was all possible, with just one pick in the 1989 draft, and perhaps, the Team of the 90’s would have been same as the Team of the 60’s.

Troy Aikman was a very good quarterback, but he was far from the only cog in the Dallas machine. Had he been selected by the Buccanneers instead of the Cowboys, he might have been the next Tim Couch or Jeff George. And, you give the Packer offense Barry Sanders as a weapon, and not only might we have won the Super Bowl in 1997, we might have won in 1995, too. Maybe, even another before that.

In 1995, despite Edgar Bennett's 1,000-yard season, the Packers finished a woeful 24th in rushing offense. Barry Sanders finished with more rushing yards that season (1,500) than the entire Packer backfield combined. The Packers lost to the Cowboys in the NFC Championship game that season by eleven points, but actually led by three going into the fourth quarter. It took Emmitt Smith's running attack in that quarter that put the Cowboys over the top: two touchdowns in the 4th quarter, plus 50 yards to boot.

What if the Packer would have had a running back that could take over a game like that? Troy Aikman sat back as almost an observer in that fourth quarter, as his defense and running back ground it out.

This is to take nothing away from the Super Bowl team of the 90’s that we’ve all grown to love, or from the legacy of Brett Favre, who still numbers among the best of all time at his position.

But, football is a game of inches, and that pick in the 1989 draft was perhaps the difference between a championship team and a dynasty, right here in ol’ Green Bay.

Time for Thompson's Picks to Step Up

Mike McCarthy has talked about players "grabbing the rope", especially about young players who need to step up and establish themselves. He's certainly had no shortage of young players to choose from in his two years as head coach.

But with the departure of Brett Favre, the venerable lightning rod of leadership and criticism, McCarthy is left with the task of building this team post-Favre. As several other Sherman holdovers also approach the sunset of their Packer careers--Donald Driver, Al Harris, and Chad Clifton--the time has come for the players that Ted Thompson has drafted to "grab that rope".

In his first three drafts, Ted Thompson has come away with a stunning 34 draft picks, mostly a result of his penchant for trading down to stockpile more picks. This compares to the 21 picks that Mike Sherman acquired in his first three drafts, and 31 picks that Ron Wolf used in his first 12-round drafts.

Mike Sherman was perhaps not the most astute drafter in the history of the Packer organization, and his penchant for trading up to get the player he wanted ended in disaster on more than one occasion. Therefore, when Thompson began trading down, it was cheered by many because, they figured, trading down=smart and trading up=dumb.

Frankly, any of those strategies are smart or dumb, as is staying put...it just depends on who you have doing the drafting and how good the scouts and talent evaluators are. But in theory, when you trade up, you are trading quantity for quality. When you trade back, as Thompson has done, you trade quality for quantity.

Of Thompson's 34 picks, an amazing 23 remain on the present roster. That's a pretty big chunk of your team that are draft picks with three or less years of experience, and also a testament to Thompson's hands-off approach to free agency.

In contrast, of Wolf's first 31 draft picks, only 17 remained on the roster going into his fourth season. We do remember that Wolf was more liberal with his use of free agency, trades, and other signings, just a much a sign of Wolf's style as a sign of the very new nature of salary caps and free agency of the time.

But Wolf's 17 picks going into 1995 also gave us nine starters, and very solid starters at that. Robert Brooks, Edgar Bennett, and Mark Chmura started from the 1992 draft; Wayne Simmons, George Teague, Earl Dotson, and Doug Evans from the 1993 draft; and Aaron Taylor and Dorsey Levens (at fullback) from the 1994 draft. All but Levens were well-established and all were major contributors for the 1995 team.

In contrast, Thompson's picks also estimate around 8 starters for the upcoming season, but the term "solid starter" doesn't apply to as many of them.

Aaron Rodgers is penciled in to start, and still doesn't have any competition for the job.

Korey Hall is also pencilled in to start, though John Kuhn or a new acquisition would challenge him for his job.

Greg Jennings is well-established at WR, and looks to take over the #1 spot when Driver retires.

Mark Spitz and Daryn Colledge both struggled at guard this past season, and offensive line still remains a top concern this offseason.

AJ Hawk is a solid, if unspectacular starter at linebacker.

Brady Poppinga has struggled on the other side, and Brandon Chillar has already been brought in to challenge him for his starting job.

Nick Collins has held on to his starting job, despite struggles with coverage and assignments.

There are some other draft picks, such as Tony Moll, Adrien Barbre, Aaron Rouse, and Justin Harrell who may challenge for spots, and of course, Mason Crosby is our kicker.

But none of these players appear ready to truly shine at their positions. While Jennings, Collins, and Hawk all earned Pro Bowl 2nd or 3rd alternate status last season, all of the 2008 Packer Pro Bowl picks and first alternates were Thompson free agents (Woodson) or Sherman holdovers (Favre, Driver, Kampman, Harris, Barnett, and Clifton).

All of those players are well-established veterans, and we wouldn't necessarily expect young draft picks to be earning Pro Bowl berths. But Ron Wolf also supplemented his talented picks with veteran talent, utilizing free agency to completely redo the roster, with only LeRoy Butler as any holdover from the previous regime by 1995. Reggie White, Brett Favre, Keith Jackson, Frank Winters, Sean Jones, Gilbert Brown, and George Koonce were all acquired by other means than the draft by Wolf, and their contributions were monumental.

This is not to compare Thompson unfairly to Wolf, who was the GM in a different time, when free agency was in its infancy and there were nowhere near the salary cap pressures yet. In addition, Wolf benefited from many of these older free agents willing to come to Green Bay and work for a lesser salary in order to be a part of a championship.

But the pressure is on 2007's Executive of the Year to have his strategy pay off, capitalizing on an unexpected run at the Super Bowl to give this team what it needs to win today as well as tomorrow. Some of the picks from his first few years will need to step up and show they are as much "quality" as they were a part of "quantity".

It cannot be lost that Ron Wolf's fourth draft was probably one of his most successful, bringing 4 solid starters by the end of their rookie seasons (Newsome, Henderson, Freeman, and Timmerman) as well as an future All Pro special teamer (Travis Jervey).

But instead of looking at Thompson's picks with confidence, we continue to hedge our bets, hoping Rodgers can stay healthy, hoping one of the guards will finally step up and establish himself consistently, hoping Hawk will live up to his draft position and play like an All Pro, and hoping that Collins will start to improve more. We also know that some of the starters, like Poppinga and Hall, may just be there until someone better comes along.

At some point, Ted Thompson is going to have to play his cards to insure that when the rest of the Sherman holdovers are gone, his own picks will be able to continue to carry this team. Last draft, we saw Thompson do something he hadn't done in his previous two drafts: he didn't trade down on the first day. Why? Perhaps is looking at a need for quality over quantity, and didn't think he could afford to do his patented trade-downs and not get the high-quality talent he needs.

This draft, picking 30th, its a sure bet that the first- and second-tier players will be gone before Thompson even gets a chance to trade down. For a team that has already lost its starting quarterback, knowing that our offensive tackles and cornerbacks aren't getting any younger, this has to be a bit of pressure on Thompson this offseason.

To his benefit, he hasn't panicked yet, only signing a mid-range linebacker to a modest contract. But all that ails this team isn't going to be fixed in the 2008 draft. The free agent market is pretty dry this year, with mostly aging veterans still available. But the Packers haven't been linked to many of those free agents, anyway.

This means that, consistent with the Thompson credo, the players presently on the roster are going to have to "grab the rope" and step it up in 2008 and beyond. Hopefully, Ted Thompson was able to find just enough quality amongst all of that quantity he invested in.

Brady Poppinga: Can You Feel The Love Tonight?

Last week, I wrote a blog article about the reason Brett Favre so polarized his fan base was because he became such a personal entity to the common man, which for some people, was about as comfortable as a straitjacket. We tend to be fickle fans, cheering a name and wearing a jersey one minute, and quickly moving on once that player starts to fizzle.

No one may be personifying that more than linebacker Brady Poppinga, who is seeing what was once a groundswell of fan support quietly disappear into the night. This morning, I opened the Green Bay Press-Gazette to see a fan poll as to which veterans should get their contracts extended this season. Brady Poppinga received only 5.2% of the vote, trailing Ryan Grant, Atari Bigby, and "Someone Else".

This is a far cry from the excitement he generated after starting one game as a rookie in 2005, before suffering a somewhat serious ACL injury. The fourth-round draft pick was high on everyone's list for 2006, with fans and media alike citing his "good motor" and "high intensity". He was, by all definitions, Ted Thompson's best example of "Packer People".

He was also perhaps the best-suited physically for playing the strong-side linebacker, at least given what we had on the roster at the time. In 2006, rookie AJ Hawk was slotted in on the weak side, appropriate as he was a bit shorter and stouter (6'1", 247 to Poppinga's 6'3", 245). The strong side linebacker lines up over the tight end, has to fight off his blocks, and is the one who needs to cover him on pass plays. The former defensive lineman, Poppinga, seemed best suited for the job.

But this "good motor, high intensity" guy, who makes you fall in love with his style in play just hearing him talk about it, couldn't meet the expectations that we may have set for him after that one-start 2005 season. After starting 12 games in 2006 and 15 games last season, his play has remained average. In fact, he saw his tackles drop by almost 20% and didn't get a sack all season in 2007.

But most glaring has been his deficiencies in pass coverage--somewhat of a Achilles' Heel for many on the Packer defensive side of the ball--as opposing tight ends repeatedly burned the Packers through the air. As a former DL, Poppinga has struggled to make that transition to a coverage linebacker, and it has cost us repeatedly.

So much so, that Ted Thompson's only investment thus far in the free agent market was for 6'3" Brandon Chillar, a linebacker from the Rams whose claim to fame lies in the area that Poppinga's doesn't: pass coverage. The announcement that Poppinga's job was the first one targeted for competition got a collective non-reaction from a fan base and media that once loved the "good motor, high-intensity" linebacker.

Ted Thompson has stated that Poppinga "is our starting SAM", but acknowledges the fact that Chillar brings competition to the position. In contrast to Brady's shrinking tackle totals, Chillar has recorded totals of 27, 52, 56, and 65 the past four years (Poppinga had 60 in 2006, 50 in 2007).

Scott Linehan, the Rams coach, called Chillar "assignment-sure", and the linebacker has actually played at all three linebacker positions.

If nothing else, it can now be stated that our linebacker depth is that much better than last season, when there was little along the second string behind the starting three. The question is who is going to be the depth, Chillar or Poppinga?

If Poppinga returns to a reserve role, or a specialist role (allowing Chillar to come in on passing downs), he will likely become the special teams demon that got people excited about him to begin with in 2005, where a "good motor, high intensity" player is served best of all.