Are the 2023 Packers Being Disrespected?
By GilMartin
The Green Bay Packers start a new era in 2023, the post-Aaron Rodgers Era. Over the last 15 seasons with Rodgers as their starter, the Packers made the playoffs 11 times, reached five NFC Championship Games, and won one Super Bowl. Even in the years the team didn’t do well, the Packers almost always entered the season favored to be a playoff team and a Super Bowl contender.
But now, Rodgers is a New York Jet, and the unproven Jordan Love is the new starting quarterback. The Packers are also coming off a losing season after finishing 8-9 last year and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018.
Most experts are not expecting much from the 2023 Packers. Throughout the offseason, players have remarked that they feel disrespected by the national media who are mostly picking them to finish near the bottom of the NFC North standings and to miss the playoffs.
“I like it that way. This has been one of the first offseasons where we ain't really been getting the credit, getting the love,” defensive lineman Kenny Clark said during an interview on CBS radio earlier this week. “Everybody says Aaron determines whether we win or lose, so we love it. We're going to embrace it. When it comes to Week 1, when the season gets here, we'll see how everything stacks up. We're excited about it.”
The feeling runs through the organization. People are questioning whether head coach Matt LaFleur is a good coach, or he only won 13 games in each of his first three seasons with the Packers because he had a Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm who won back-to-back NFL MVPs.
On paper, the Packers still have plenty of talent. On offense, Aaron Jones has been to two Pro Bowls and is coming off a season that saw him set a new career-best in rushing yards.
The left side of the Packers offensive line features former All Pro David Bakhtiari at tackle and former Pro Bowl guard Elgton Jenkins.
The Packers have eight former first-round picks on their roster on defense which stocks every position. There are two along the defensive line, two at edge, one at ILB, two cornerbacks and one at safety.
Clark and cornerback Jaire Alexander have been to the Pro Bowl while inside linebacker De’Vondre Campbell earned All-Pro honors in 2021.
But the NFL remains a quarterback driven league in 2023. Unless a team has a truly elite defense, it is difficult to compete for a championship without getting good play from your signal caller.
The last five Super Bowl winning teams have had elite quarterbacks leading them with Tom Brady winning two, Patrick Mahomes two more and Matthew Stafford winning the other. Stafford tied a career-high with 41 touchdown passes the year his team won the Super Bowl.
The bottom line remains that the Packers still don’t know what they have in Love. Management and players have expressed confidence in the fourth-year man out of Utah State, but he still has only one NFL start under his belt. You can talk all you want about how Love has looked in practice or even in the preseason, but he still hasn’t proven he can get the job consistently during actual regular season games.
We may not have the answer right away. Almost all starting quarterbacks need time to learn how to win in the NFL. In his first season as the starter in 2008, Rodgers showed he could be the next great starter for the Packers. He threw for 4,038 yards and 28 touchdowns but he also threw a career-high 13 interceptions, a total he almost matched (with 12) last season.
The Packers put up some great individual numbers, but still went just 6-10 on the season and lost seven games by four points or less. Head coach Mike McCarthy reminded fans that Rodgers still needed time to improve his decision making in the red zone. A year later, the Packers finished 11-5 and made the playoffs and Rodgers earned a Pro Bowl berth for the first time in his career.
Until Love proves he can be a quality NFL starter, having doubts about the 2023 Packers makes sense. There is plenty of talent on the roster, but legitimate questions exist at the most important position on the field.
One thing appears certain: the 2023 Packers should be interesting to watch and feature more “unknowns” than the team has had in recent years.
The team is using the doubts as motivation. That’s what they’re supposed to do. Now, they need to go out and prove the doubters wrong.
PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHEESEHEAD NATION WEEKLY NEWSLETTER HERE.
__________________________
You can follow Gil Martin on Twitter @GilPackers
__________________________
Comments (18)
croatpackfan
July 22, 2023 at 12:32 pm
Gil, sometimes is OK to open the page where you are trying to post your article.
If you do so, you'll find that some other author just posted same theme before you. Now we have 2 articles on the same issue. What to comment further?
Hmmmm!
GilMartin
July 23, 2023 at 12:37 pm
Thanks for the comment, croatpackfan. I entered the article in the system Friday afternoon and I did look but no other article was posted at that time. I guess the quotes from Packers players that led me to write the article also inspired another writer. It happens sometimes although we try to avoid it. Thanks for commenting.
croatpackfan
July 24, 2023 at 05:38 am
Gil, it was just funny. But I already wrote my post on the question, so I had nothing to add. I read mostly all articles here, so it is not huge complaint. Just that I didn't have nothing to add.
Keep posting, your articles are good and give us opportunity to express our opinions.
SpikeHyzer
July 22, 2023 at 12:52 pm
Yes. They may have to most raw talent in the division and should rank high among the entire league (while having a top 3 coach).
The talent was ranked 6th at the beginning of last season. 11th by mid season. 16th at the end, but ludicrously dropped to 21st after trading Rodgers and then to 28th after the draft.
The roster hasn't changed that much just from trading Rodgers. QB may be most important, but it's like PFF is saying that Rodgers will return to the very top of the league and that Love will be just about the worst QB in the league.
Not happening. Love will be very good. The rest of the talent still features a massive amount of first round picks and great drafts both this year and last.
I expect that when the mid season rankings happen and the Pack are sitting at 7-1, that PFF will have to eat humble pie and rank them in the Top 10 again.
Bearmeat
July 22, 2023 at 12:59 pm
Yes, they're being disrespected. I understand the Lions hype, but they have proven nothing either. And the Bears hype is just stupid. Fields sucks and while they got a good WR and two good ILBs, they're still a bad team...
This team can make the playoffs this year. But they WILL make it in 24.
Coldworld
July 23, 2023 at 11:36 am
“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”
Vince Lombardi.
We have yet to do anything. So don’t be surprised if we are disrespected, cherish it, for being disrespected gives us the best chance to laugh after the fact.
greengold
July 23, 2023 at 02:00 pm
I know, right? Enjoy the hell out of our Packers being under the radar. They’ve got to take it one week at a time in the regular season. Game 1 is huge because the Bears added players. They improved this offseason.
Starting Wednesday’s beginning of TC, it will be stacking success daily to make the 53. That’s the focus now. Looking forward to the battles!
splitpea1
July 22, 2023 at 01:00 pm
They're not being disrespected, but questions are just being acknowledged surrounding such a young team undergoing a rebuild of its passing game. The questions are fair, and any team in transition is going to get them until they prove they can succeed consistently.
Just as important, legitimate questions also surround the coaching staff, which are also fair. Can MLF successfully oversee the development of his offense with his new QB? And Barry, rightfully the subject of so much second-guessing? Back to MLF, does he have the assertiveness and take-control attitude necessary to succeed if something major goes awry?
Maybe having the "disrespect" chip on your shoulder translates into something of meaning, I don't know, but you would hope everyone would be playing with focus and intensity throughout the course of the season anyway. Execution on the field is what really matters, and for the younger players, it's just going to take a little experience--they'll get there. It will be fun watching the development, and a lot of those questions will be answered in the process.
Vachio
July 22, 2023 at 03:01 pm
That mirrors my thoughts, for the most part. There are plenty of reasonable questions surrounding the team that need answered during the season. We shall see. I'm cautiously optimistic.
Some of the national media members are taking it a step further and writing the team completely off and that's fine, too. If the voices get loud enough, maybe they can catch some teams napping early in the season.
HarryHodag
July 22, 2023 at 01:38 pm
Being disrespected is a good place to be. If the Packers make the playoffs yippee!
The only folks disrespecting the Packers are the national sports media dopes who grab onto the latest winner and pretend they knew it all along.
TheVOR
July 22, 2023 at 02:11 pm
Within the first 6-8 weeks of the season it will be painfully obvious they’re not being disrespected. They are exactly what they are, a very young rebuilding GREEN football team with an active QB search.
vin0770
July 22, 2023 at 03:36 pm
I would have a huge chip on my shoulder if I was a player. Nationally there is NO love for ANY of the roster, they’re all a bunch of jamokes. And if they are correct then Gute must go because he must not have any eye for talent.
I love this unknown team its like Christmas and you don’t know what presents you’re getting. Next year everyone will know what they are and I think someone is going to be WAY right or WAY wrong…fun!
beerandbrats
July 22, 2023 at 03:55 pm
Thought provoking and well written Gil! I too believe the QB position is that important. We are a totally unknown team at this point simply because we do not know what to expect from Jordan Love. We don't know and nobody else knows either.
It's kind of exciting!
It's also kinda scary because I have the fear of the unknown! It is thought provoking because when I look at our schedule, I would expect 14-15 wins if AR12 was still QB. I think we're all hoping for 10 wins with JL10...is it the QB or the team? And remember, Baltimore won a SB with Trent Dilfer!
GilMartin
July 23, 2023 at 12:39 pm
Thanks beerandbrats. Yes, Jordan Love is a big unknown although we'll start to find out more this season. Yes, the Packers can still make the playoffs with Love as quarterback if he can match the mediocre Rodgers performance of 2022. Thanks for the comment.
jhtobias
July 22, 2023 at 04:48 pm
I think they are being given more respect than they should.
Lafluer and his stupid decision to keep hoe berry earns them an f minus
On the bright side we get 18 weeks of lafluer saying we have to play better on defense that should be fun to hear for 5 months
Tundraboy
July 22, 2023 at 07:48 pm
To me the disrespect started with the loss to the Jets last season and until we respond otherwise in a physical dominating way, and until MLF exhibits some guts during a game, and drags his team to victory for a change. It's not going to change perception. That's reality and I begrudgingly accepted it, because I expect that the tide will turn at some point.
Let's see how the team and coaching staff respond this year.
The_Baloney_Stops_Here
July 22, 2023 at 10:42 pm
Who cares?
"Were nobody's underdog."
-Mike Mccarthy
PAPackerbacker
July 23, 2023 at 07:32 pm
I don't think the Packers are given enough credit. Jordan Love will take a few lumps, just like Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers did in their first seasons. Of course he will make mistakes. Even the seasoned veterans make mistakes. The ability to learn from mistakes and bounce back is the difference. And I think Jordan Love will do just that. He knows he has a lot to learn and he is up to the challenge. He is surrounded by talent. He is a smart player who will learn. He watched and learned from one of the best quarterbacks in the history of the game the last 3 years. He will do well. Jordan Love has the skills and the mind set to lead the Packers to success and remain a contender. Be patient. Give the man credit. He has accepted his role very well. He has been a patient student of the game. Now it's his time to lead the Packers to victory. Go! Pack! Go!