# Season Long NFC North Discussion Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514 "2009-09-01T17:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 46
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/901 "2009-12-21T19:38:38Z")
Sports Illustrated recently went through and [redrafted](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/don_banks/12/15/redraft/index.html?eref=sihp)the first round from this past year. The Lions had 4 draft picks in the first round, if things were redone. I think that’s a splendid sign. Now we just have to crush the next 3 drafts. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/902 "2009-12-21T19:55:19Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Sports Illustrated recently went through and [redrafted](http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/don_banks/12/15/redraft/index.html?eref=sihp)the first round from this past year. The Lions had 4 draft picks in the first round, if things were redone. I think that’s a splendid sign. Now we just have to crush the next 3 drafts. Some of those are just bizarre. He has the Lions rebuilding by taking a LT instead of a QB, and, in the very next pick, has the Rams rebuilding by taking the QB before a LT. That’s just internally inconsistent. And Freeman and his 60 passer rating is still going in the middle of the first round, Austin Collie to the Packers makes no sense whatsoever, and injuries to the Smith LT twins and Donald Brown all but made them worthless. An intriguing idea, but really flawed. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/903 "2009-12-21T20:23:07Z")
Seriously, what the hell do the Packers want with Collie? They’ve got more young, promising wideouts than you can shake a stick at, although none of them seem to be possession types. Freeman has lived up to his draft slot and much more. The number are awful, but the pass protection and playcalling have been worse. I’ve been watching him all (half-)season and you haven’t - trust me, the kid’s really good. I was absolutely wrong about him, every bit as much as I was right about Sanchez. I also don’t understand why Jairus Byrd isn’t in the top 10. Guy’s unquestionably the ROTY. ---
**Author:** ![BuickGNX1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@BuickGNX1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuickGNX1987)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/904 "2009-12-21T20:24:50Z")
For the second time in three weeks, the Vikings offense has been completely shut down on the road. I’m not sure what is going on here. Favre was pressured by the Carolina defense, but there were more than a few times where he was able to slide around in the pocket and buy himself time, only to just hold onto the ball and get sacked. Are these defenses really keeping everyone covered or is Favre getting too slow to find the open guy and hit the window before it closes? If everyone is getting covered, how do they still manage to get stuffed on the run over and over? The Minnesota defense did well for the first 3 quarters but imploded in the 4th. This seems to be par for the course when an offense gets 0 or 1 first downs before punting over and over throughout the game. 1 for 10 on 3rd down doesn’t help either. Wasn’t this team tops in the league on 3rd down not too long ago? Now, instead of fighting for homefield advantage throughout, they have a fairly realistic chance to lose the second seed to Philadelphia. The way I figure, in all possibilities where the two teams manage to have a tied record at the end of the season, Philly will get the spot due to conference record. Finally, an interesting nugget: Minnesota has managed to only defeat one good team on the road this season and that is Green Bay. Minnesota’s other road victories are against the Browns, Rams, and Lions. Probably not a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/905 "2009-12-21T20:38:41Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Seriously, what the hell do the Packers want with Collie? They’ve got more young, promising wideouts than you can shake a stick at, although none of them seem to be possession types. > > Freeman has lived up to his draft slot and much more. The number are awful, but the pass protection and playcalling have been worse. I’ve been watching him all (half-)season and you haven’t - trust me, the kid’s really good. I was absolutely wrong about him, every bit as much as I was right about Sanchez. You are absolutely right, I haven’t seen him play (except against the Pack and he did look good there). And his stats aren’t all that worse than Sanchez or Stafford’s. Or Joey Harringtons’, David Carr’s, or JaMarcus’ Russells in their first year. Should be interesting to see where he is in a few years. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaijon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@Sinaijon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaijon)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/906 "2009-12-21T21:12:52Z")
> [@BuickGNX1987](#): > > For the second time in three weeks, the Vikings offense has been completely shut down on the road. I’m not sure what is going on here. Favre was pressured by the Carolina defense, but there were more than a few times where he was able to slide around in the pocket and buy himself time, only to just hold onto the ball and get sacked. The ‘8 men in the box’ meme about defending Peterson hasn’t panned out in reality because the pass protection has been so poor. When the pass protection has been up to snuff, the TE’s and RBs can head into routes immediately, or a slot receiver can head to the middle , making the defense pay for cheating up with the LBs. But both Carolina and Arizona were getting a lot pass pressure with just the d-line. That meant the TEs and RBs couldn’t head out into routes, or get delayed doing so. That gives the LBs extra time to get back into pass protection even though they were crowding the line at the snap. Favre’s bread and butter on 3rd down during his hot streak was routes over the middle of the field behind the line backers to Shiancoe and Harvin. ---
**Author:** ![BuickGNX1987](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b487fb/32.png) [@BuickGNX1987](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BuickGNX1987)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/907 "2009-12-21T21:43:21Z")
> [@Sinaijon](#): > > The ‘8 men in the box’ meme about defending Peterson hasn’t panned out in reality because the pass protection has been so poor. > > When the pass protection has been up to snuff, the TE’s and RBs can head into routes immediately, or a slot receiver can head to the middle , making the defense pay for cheating up with the LBs. But both Carolina and Arizona were getting a lot pass pressure with just the d-line. That meant the TEs and RBs couldn’t head out into routes, or get delayed doing so. That gives the LBs extra time to get back into pass protection even though they were crowding the line at the snap. > > Favre’s bread and butter on 3rd down during his hot streak was routes over the middle of the field behind the line backers to Shiancoe and Harvin This makes sense. I’m left wondering how or even if they can adjust to this. It seems like the Packers have found a way to get around weak pass protection from their offensive line, but I haven’t really seen them play since they lost to Minnesota. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/908 "2009-12-24T18:42:41Z")
Happy Holidays to all my NFC North comrades! ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/909 "2009-12-24T19:34:16Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > Happy Holidays to all my NFC North comrades! And to you also! ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/910 "2009-12-24T19:37:10Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Seriously, what the hell do the Packers want with Collie? They’ve got more young, promising wideouts than you can shake a stick at, although none of them seem to be possession types. > > Freeman has lived up to his draft slot and much more. The number are awful, but the pass protection and playcalling have been worse. I’ve been watching him all (half-)season and you haven’t - trust me, the kid’s really good. I was absolutely wrong about him, every bit as much as I was right about Sanchez. > > I also don’t understand why Jairus Byrd isn’t in the top 10. Guy’s unquestionably the ROTY. You misspelled Louis Delmas. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/911 "2009-12-24T19:38:52Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > You misspelled Louis Delmas. And you misspelled Clay Matthews. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/912 "2009-12-24T19:41:33Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > And you misspelled Clay Matthews. Clay Matthews has had a pretty good year so far, but I don’t know if he’s playing better than Delmas or Byrd. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/913 "2009-12-24T19:47:46Z")
Lions are starting Stanton this week. He is being exposed. He has been a back up for several years and has had a free ride. Since Daunte is gone next year ,the Lions finally want to see if Stanton can play. It will provide some interest. We won’t get to see the next game. It will be blacked out. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/914 "2009-12-24T20:23:02Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Lions are starting Stanton this week. He is being exposed. He has been a back up for several years and has had a free ride. Since Daunte is gone next year ,the Lions finally want to see if Stanton can play. It will provide some interest. We won’t get to see the next game. It will be blacked out. Nothing new there. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/915 "2009-12-24T21:06:42Z")
I doubt Daunte will ever be back. Too bad; he had such an astounding beginning as a starter, ended up in two pro bowls. Always seemed like a good-hearted (and big-hearted) guy to me. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/916 "2009-12-24T21:09:22Z")
He supports a lot of adoption agencies because he was adopted (by an old white lady; his mother was a crackhead). Fun fact: he was the only voter who self-identified as African-American to register as Republican in Orange County in 2004. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/917 "2009-12-24T21:32:41Z")
Yeah, he had a lot of promise, but he was never really able to come back after he shattered his knee. It was actually pretty remarkable that he was able to continue his career to any degree at all. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2009, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/918 "2009-12-24T21:38:46Z")
Last year Daunte was 300 lbs. He lost a bit of weight but his arm seems weaker. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 7:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/919 "2009-12-25T07:52:28Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > And you misspelled Clay Matthews. You misspelled Gilb…Alfa…Melt…Kno…Igles…Moo…Kind… Ah, fuck. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2009, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514/920 "2009-12-25T15:08:16Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > He supports a lot of adoption agencies because he was adopted (by an old white lady; his mother was a crackhead). Not that it matters but she wasn’t white. Daunte was the 15th and last child that she adopted. Her picture is in the middle of the second row [here.](http://www.lifeinlegacy.com/display.php?weekof=2007-05-05#D5970) She died in 2007. RIP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514.md?page=45) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/season-long-nfc-north-discussion-thread/508514.md?page=47)