With Thanksgiving giving most of us a needed day away from our respective places of work, Peter and I thought it best to use this newsletter a little differently. We’re opening up the comment section to everyone and the two of us will pop in throughout Thursday and Friday to respond to questions (and drag anyone who dares to slander mac and cheese as a Thanksgiving side).
Loving The Leap! I read most posts before I get out of bed and it’s a great way to start the day. I’m a born and raised Cheesehead from Oshkosh, WI living in Sandy, OR. Home for the holiday and headed to GB on Saturday with my best friend from high school and our wives for the Lambeau tour and some Brett Favre steak and potatoes to celebrate being a new share-owner of an NFL franchise! We have two tickets to the Pack vs Rams game on Sunday. Pretty much a dream weekend if we can come away with a win. My question is should we buy into a prepared tailgate party (if so which one) or should we bring the grill and cooler and make our own beer & bratwurst magic in the parking lot?
Happy Thanksgiving all! Over here in the UK, the Packers have a huge fanbase. Favre and Rodgers have ensured the Packers games have been must show on Sky for the last 30 years, making them one of the best supported teams here. Other teams with large fanbases in the UK include the Patriots, Steelers and Giants, teams that have been good and on TV since the NFL really started taking off over here. Yet, in the US, all teams have equal ish (bar the Cowboys) coverage. So why do the Packers have such good support? Every game - regardless of where it is played - there is a strong Packers contingent, which feels quite unique. Is this again down to the Favre/Rodgers effect?
Love The Leap guys, thanks for the great content. GoPackGo.
Peter can probably provide a better answer to this given his work hosting the biggest Packers podcast on the internet. But the simple explanation is teams with extended runs of success tend to create massive fan bases that extend beyond their original geographic borders. Pittsburgh isn't a huge city, but the Steelers' run in the 1970s made them one of the NFL's premier attractions. The same happened with the Packers during the Vince Lombardi era, allowing them to maintain a huge footprint even during the lean 1980s seasons. The past three decades of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers pushed that influence wider, and now there aren't many sports franchises with wider appeal.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My question is with Jones practicing today, should they just let him rest this week and during the bye or should they play him if he can go in a limited role?
This might be the plan, not that the Packers will acknowledge it. The original report of Aaron Jones' MCL sprain put him on a 1-2 week recovery timetable, and with the bye week hitting just beyond that range, it always seemed like Green Bay's famously conservative medical staff would prefer to give him three weeks to fully overcome the injury.
Still, if Jones has recovered on the earlier end of the spectrum, the Packers could push it. They have done so in the past with stars with some success (Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams) and some missteps (Za'Darius Smith earlier this year).
Do we not talk enough about how much this team misses Corey Linsley? The run game was noticeably worse last year when he was hurt and he obviously helped with all the protection calls, which hasn’t been a strong suit of the team this year.
Missing Linsley to set protections is less an issue when you have Aaron Rodgers because even if they bust a protection, Rodgers knows where the pressure is coming from and can make throws anyway.
But not having Josh Myers, as Jason notes, has also been a factor especially in the run game where he’s an ass kicker
The Packers always knew there would be a drop-off from Corey Linsley to Josh Myers or whomever they used as a replacement. The larger issue for the offensive line is they had to replace more than originally anticipated (David Bakhtiari's delayed recovery, Elgton Jenkins' season-ending injury).
Still, if/when Bakhtiari returns to left tackle and Myers finds his way back from his knee injury, the unit can still have some life. That might not take place until a month from now or more, however.
Loving The Leap! I read most posts before I get out of bed and it’s a great way to start the day. I’m a born and raised Cheesehead from Oshkosh, WI living in Sandy, OR. Home for the holiday and headed to GB on Saturday with my best friend from high school and our wives for the Lambeau tour and some Brett Favre steak and potatoes to celebrate being a new share-owner of an NFL franchise! We have two tickets to the Pack vs Rams game on Sunday. Pretty much a dream weekend if we can come away with a win. My question is should we buy into a prepared tailgate party (if so which one) or should we bring the grill and cooler and make our own beer & bratwurst magic in the parking lot?
If you have the equipment, doing your own grill is probably the better move. You can customize your sides/drinks better than anyone else can.
Happy Thanksgiving all! Over here in the UK, the Packers have a huge fanbase. Favre and Rodgers have ensured the Packers games have been must show on Sky for the last 30 years, making them one of the best supported teams here. Other teams with large fanbases in the UK include the Patriots, Steelers and Giants, teams that have been good and on TV since the NFL really started taking off over here. Yet, in the US, all teams have equal ish (bar the Cowboys) coverage. So why do the Packers have such good support? Every game - regardless of where it is played - there is a strong Packers contingent, which feels quite unique. Is this again down to the Favre/Rodgers effect?
Love The Leap guys, thanks for the great content. GoPackGo.
Peter can probably provide a better answer to this given his work hosting the biggest Packers podcast on the internet. But the simple explanation is teams with extended runs of success tend to create massive fan bases that extend beyond their original geographic borders. Pittsburgh isn't a huge city, but the Steelers' run in the 1970s made them one of the NFL's premier attractions. The same happened with the Packers during the Vince Lombardi era, allowing them to maintain a huge footprint even during the lean 1980s seasons. The past three decades of Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers pushed that influence wider, and now there aren't many sports franchises with wider appeal.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! My question is with Jones practicing today, should they just let him rest this week and during the bye or should they play him if he can go in a limited role?
This might be the plan, not that the Packers will acknowledge it. The original report of Aaron Jones' MCL sprain put him on a 1-2 week recovery timetable, and with the bye week hitting just beyond that range, it always seemed like Green Bay's famously conservative medical staff would prefer to give him three weeks to fully overcome the injury.
Still, if Jones has recovered on the earlier end of the spectrum, the Packers could push it. They have done so in the past with stars with some success (Aaron Rodgers, Davante Adams) and some missteps (Za'Darius Smith earlier this year).
Mac and cheese is the most overrated food. I said what I said.
Daniel.
I'm sorry. Providing great Packers won't shield you from the truth.
It's a side so pure that its name is the recipe. How can anyone hate that?
It's cheese ruining perfectly good pasta, and pasta ruining perfectly good cheese. I like cheese as much as the next guy, but this is not it.
Do we not talk enough about how much this team misses Corey Linsley? The run game was noticeably worse last year when he was hurt and he obviously helped with all the protection calls, which hasn’t been a strong suit of the team this year.
Missing Linsley to set protections is less an issue when you have Aaron Rodgers because even if they bust a protection, Rodgers knows where the pressure is coming from and can make throws anyway.
But not having Josh Myers, as Jason notes, has also been a factor especially in the run game where he’s an ass kicker
The Packers always knew there would be a drop-off from Corey Linsley to Josh Myers or whomever they used as a replacement. The larger issue for the offensive line is they had to replace more than originally anticipated (David Bakhtiari's delayed recovery, Elgton Jenkins' season-ending injury).
Still, if/when Bakhtiari returns to left tackle and Myers finds his way back from his knee injury, the unit can still have some life. That might not take place until a month from now or more, however.