Fackrell . Cannot sack-well. Coaches don't have good things to say about him. Our corners are a work in progress at best. The punter and kicker look good and the tight ends will be great. Of all the RBs Mays looks closest to being lacy 2.0 and Monty looks like our starter. As I have stated before I expect our offense to be great but the total of the defense not so much. It looks to me like it's up to the offense and special teams to do the heavy lifting for this team to make the playoffs. And I agree that we do have more speed overall teamwise. But on defense that speed is raw and inconsistent.

It is impossible to evaluate a running back in GB without going into pass blocking....and for that your experience does not matter idea could not be more wrong

last year Monty and RIP were terrible at identifying pressure and worse at picking it up, not average, not bad but terrible

IMHO it all comes down to our D in regards as to how far we go. They've disappointed big time year after year (except SB year) so it's time to finally put it all together. Easier said than done though.

The areas that I see improvements from compared to last year.

DL - Clark and Lowry look like they are going to give offenses issues this year. Also Francois I think will be an upgrade over Guion.

RB - The RB position was a mess until Montgomery became the guy. This year though adding 3 rookies in the draft definitely should ignite the position from a year ago. Williams could be very good early. Jones is explosive and Mays could be a good all around player.
I would not be surprised if all 3 rookies made it onto the 53.

TE - While Cook was good, he did miss a lot of time. And now they also brought in 2 guys who essentially can change the offense.

CB - Last year was a mess. Shields went out in the first game. Randall and Rollins both suffered injuries that required surgery's. The guy they used their IR designation to return on suffered a season ending injury only a few weeks after. Their 5th string guy was also lost for the year.
Randall and Rollins both returned to health. Rollins has been talking about having a very good camp. King and House are new guys and both of them are instant upgrades.

Punter - While I thought Schum was good last year, I think Vogel could be much better. He has a bigger leg, and seems to be really good at pinning teams inside the 20.

In the Eagles game we all saw a lot of blitzing but it seldom got home. Dom showed us that he doesn't expect the pass rush to work without a blitz. He has added the nitro package. He doesn't expect the base defense to get the job done. He now has some speed that he is tinkering with to see if he can improve the defense. He doesn't expect that our corners can be up to the task without help from a blitz. That does not bode well for them. Maybe things will look better later in the season.

No pass rush without blitzing means secondary hung out to dry, and no chance to get to the Super Bowl. Same old story. New season. Offensive firepower out the wazoo. But I also question how good this seasons offensive line is. They didn't look to good against the Beagles. Hope they look much improved against the Foreskins. If they don't, Rodgers will be running for his life again.

Other than getting to the Super Bowl, I would like to see this team have a drastic reduction in injuries.

I agree our running backs look improved, but I'm concerned as to whether our line can open consistent holes. Without holes, those running backs are worthless.

So far, I'm just not seeing it. But hey, it's early, so let's see how it goes Saturday.

The defensive line is NOT a strength. Not sure how many years of Packer football you've been watching, but this D-line will never be confused with Gilbert Brown, Santana Dotson, Reggie White and Shawn Jones.

Just a point of contention on the speed aspect of the article. Last years TE Cook ran a 4.5 at his combine, while Kendricks and Bennett were around or over 4.7 at theirs. Perillo was about the same as Kendricks. RR is a push. From a speed standpoint, GB got slower at TE not faster, but that doesn't mean the current group isn't better.

Plus in the heading; "D-Line transitions from asset to strength" the words asset and strength are more synonymous than contradictory. It might be like saying; "D-Line transitions from strength to strength."

I will say your three areas of improvement, team speed, overall RB talent and d-line are probably true. The key to me for d-line will be if M. Adams comes back healthy and is the beast some of his linemates think he is and subsequently creates interior pressure.

Improvement accross the board except on the O-line. The Pack was one of 4 teams standing at the end of the year and expect them to reach that or more this year.

David,

I like your upbeat, optimistic attitude.

I think we agree that the 2017 Packers will go as far as the defense takes them . I have a feeling TJ Watt will be defensive rookie of the year . We should have taken him .

Team speed at WR will be improved but only if McCaffrey, Yancey and Dupre make the team, which is not a given especially for Dupre and Yancey who are both hurt. Same with CBs if House doesn't recover. I'm concerned that our OLBs will be no better than last season if not worse when CM3 and Perry miss games with their annual injuries. As for ILBs the hybrid players may improve the position but now Josh Jones is hurt and we've had no update on his status. Expected DL improvement is all hype at this point. We won't know what we have until the real games begin. Same is true for the RBs. The depth may be better but that doesn't mean the results will be better. Again, wait for the real games. The only thing we are certain of at this point is that this season's hype may improve over previous seasons if it continues at this rate. Thanks, Since '61

I was going to quibble with the same things - but Mojo beat me to it.

The defense should be faster. And the CBs and DL are intriguing. The real question is if the LB's can avoid being such a dumpster fire that it submarines the entire unit?

We don't have that answer yet.

Oh, and an injury to an interior OL member would also be very very bad. I don't trust our depth at all right now.

Other than that, this team should win a lot of games. The NFCN is a given. 10-6 to 12-4. Ho hum.

It's January I'm worried about.

Let me preface this by stating the obvious....it's early. But while I do feel the Packers have improved through the free agent pickups, draft, young players getting stronger, smarter, and just plain being healthier, I am not sure we could still stop Ryan and the Falcon offense anymore today than then. House & Jones should help, Biegel and Adams might if they can get healthy, but we don't know what we got here. And remember how everybody expected our front 7 to pressure Ryan in the game? We got to him, but not enough to rattle him, and yet we're pretty much playing with the same cast this year. Here's hoping our D stays healthy and our youngsters are able to contribute and build a stronger D!

Based on the draft and moves, I too think we may have improved run game, pass game and pass d.
On the negative to counter this, the pass rush, Offensive line and inside linebacker may be weaker.
Right now go figure

If Monty fumbles in his next game and these rookies are looking good will coach McCarthy consider changing plans? Coaches hate fumbles.

If Monty fumbles in his next game and these rookies are looking good will coach McCarthy consider changing plans? Coaches hate fumbles.