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- Messages
- 10,811
- Name
- Scott
Well said.
Seahawks - Packers - GDT
- Thread starter Sum1
- Start date
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RamzFanz
Damnit
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Messages
- 9,029
RamzFanz
Damnit
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Messages
- 9,029
You have $40,000 ROD dollars and the bet is up. Click on SPORTSBOOK and have at it.
ZigZagRam
Pro Bowler
- Joined
- May 12, 2014
- Messages
- 1,846
Good stuff. I was hoping the NFL games would be posted.
RamzFanz
Damnit
- Joined
- Jun 4, 2013
- Messages
- 9,029
I got promoted because I whined too much about them not being up.
(don't whine too much around here!)
It's on the second page of the bets.
RaminExile
Hall of Fame
- Joined
- Sep 29, 2013
- Messages
- 3,065
Go Pack Go!! A Rod will carve them up. Gonna be a good start to the year along with a Rams W.
Athos
Legend
- Joined
- May 19, 2014
- Messages
- 5,933
Frack 'em indeed!
There won't be any BS INT that never was to save the ChickenDicks this time.
I predict Eddie Lacey follows through on the Madden curse and pounds Sherman into the dirt when he gets in his way.
Nah. Make that Cobb. That'd be hilarious.
There won't be any BS INT that never was to save the ChickenDicks this time.
I predict Eddie Lacey follows through on the Madden curse and pounds Sherman into the dirt when he gets in his way.
Nah. Make that Cobb. That'd be hilarious.
Ram Quixote
Knight Errant
- Joined
- Jul 10, 2010
- Messages
- 2,923
- Name
- Tim
Every morning, after my second hit of the snooze button, I turn on the TV to the news. Only this morning, there was no news. Everything revolved around the game tonight. I mean EVERYTHING--traffic, weather. They had an interview with Dan Patrick, even got him to say "Go Hawks."
Anyway, I get out of the shower and they've got this guy their interviewing who wrote a book about Russell Wilson. Not about his college life. Not about him growing up. Just about his 2 years with the Seahawks. During this I'm getting dressed and the remote is on the other side of the bed. I couldn't hit the mute button fast enough.
Anyway, I get out of the shower and they've got this guy their interviewing who wrote a book about Russell Wilson. Not about his college life. Not about him growing up. Just about his 2 years with the Seahawks. During this I'm getting dressed and the remote is on the other side of the bed. I couldn't hit the mute button fast enough.
RAM's-NWST
UDFA
- Joined
- Jun 19, 2014
- Messages
- 80
I predict a Julius Pepper strip sack for a Clay Mathews touchdown is the difference. Starting Rogers and Nelson for my fantasy team tonight...extra motivation to
PrometheusFaulk
Starter
- Joined
- May 25, 2013
- Messages
- 618
The best way for the Pack to win tonight, IMO, is to do what no one is expecting them to and beat Seattle at their own game. Ride Lacy. Stay committed to the running game even if it isn't working. It'll piss off all the people who drafted the Packers passing weapons this week, but you don't want to be throwing into that buzzsaw.
Throw only when they have to, and even then, make it a high percentage type deal. Play sound run defense, stay in your lane against Lynch. Then unleash Peppers and Matthews on Wilson on 3rd down.
They can be beat. Heck the Rams nearly beat them with KC using this formula. You just have to not be too proud in thinking you've got the answer for their secondary.
Throw only when they have to, and even then, make it a high percentage type deal. Play sound run defense, stay in your lane against Lynch. Then unleash Peppers and Matthews on Wilson on 3rd down.
They can be beat. Heck the Rams nearly beat them with KC using this formula. You just have to not be too proud in thinking you've got the answer for their secondary.
- Joined
- Feb 9, 2014
- Messages
- 20,922
- Name
- Peter
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/09/04/seattle-seahawks-green-bay-packers-john-schneider-ted-thompson/
John Froschauer/AP || Joe Robbins/Getty Images
The Masterminds Behind the Mayhem
The Seahawks and Packers kick off a new NFL season tonight in a marquee matchup. The men who built the rosters, Seattle’s John Schneider and Green Bay’s Ted Thompson, share a common background but couldn’t be more different
By Andrew Brandt
The 2014 NFL season begins tonight with a matchup of two heavyweights, the Packers and the Seahawks. Behind the impressive array of talent on the field—including A-listers such as Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Russell Wilson and Richard Sherman—are the two men most responsible for assembling such talent. Ted Thompson and John Schneider are proficient talent evaluators who honed their skills under the tutelage of longtime Packers general manager Ron Wolf. And although they share some similar traits, there are stark differences between Thompson and Schneider in their personalities and team-building philosophies.
As someone who worked alongside both for many years, and as someone who was also hired by and worked under Wolf, here are insights into the two architects of the products we’ll watch in the NFL’s season-opening act.
Slow and steady
When I reported for work on my first day in Green Bay in February 1999, Wolf walked me down the hall to an office I would be sharing with one of his key scouting lieutenants: a quiet, white-haired man named Ted Thompson. We shared that office for a year, although Ted was out scouting much of the time. He left after the season to take a position with the Seahawks in 2000, only to return to Green Bay as general manager five years later.
Ted is most content watching, analyzing and scouting football players. He finds comfort in the process, and the dark room where he studiously watches tape of prospects is his sanctuary. He spends most of the NFL season scouting college practices and games, and then meeting up with the team on weekends for games. He accepts and dutifully performs the necessary administrative and managerial responsibilities of being general manager, but in his heart he is and always will be a scout.
During my time working with Ted, we never had a cross word; we just never had a lot of words. Ted prefers short private conversations and bland and unrevealing public comments, with his default topic always football players. In the rare times I was able to engage Ted on other subjects—the stock market, bike riding, or tales from his time playing for the Oilers—I usually sensed I was going too far and quit while I was ahead.
I especially remember our team psychologist, who would have annual meetings with all employees, emerging from a meeting with Ted clearly discouraged and agitated, saying in a huff, “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’ve never seen someone as closed and emotionally unavailable in my life!”
Ted’s cool demeanor can be frustrating, but I always sensed that it was 1) who he was, and 2) a demeanor he felt necessary for a job that requires constant separation from players. His lack of warmth certainly angered Brett Favre and his family, who were used to a more receptive and responsive tone from previous regimes in Green Bay. Ted would not court Brett to return as past team leaders had, always saying, “It’s his choice.”
As for philosophy, it is no secret that Ted is enamored with building the infrastructure of the team through the draft and always having a pipeline ready to replace older or underachieving veterans. The occasional forays into free agency—netting players such as Charles Woodson and Julius Peppers—occur only if the market for them is lower than had been projected.
Ted and I shared the trepidation about the dangerous waters of free agency. His concern was stunting the development of young players; I was wary of paying premium prices for players who were not wanted by their incumbent teams (meaning, most likely, that they were no longer premium talents). When Ted was brought back as Green Bay’s general manager, a colleague came into my office and said, “You are going to love Ted’s view of free agency, same as you!”
That colleague was John Schneider.
Big swings
In contrast to Ted’s introverted personality and social shyness, John is extroverted and gregarious. He is quick to engage with either a disarming observation to lighten the mood or a direct remark to intensify it. While Ted avoids conflicts and uncomfortable conversations, John embraces them.
John’s youth belies his extensive NFL experience. He combines knowledge gleaned from mentors such as Marty Schottenheimer and Ron Wolf with his own principles and self-motivation. Like Ted, John is a scout at heart, spending countless hours on the road and in the film room trying to discover talent.
Unlike Ted, however, taking big swings to improve the team energizes John. There were some times at the Packers when John would gently (or not-so-gently) push against Ted’s conservative nature to make more aggressive pushes for players. It is not surprising to see the Seahawks active in free agency (Zach Miller, Sidney Rice, Michael Bennett, etc.) and trades (Marshawn Lynch, Percy Harvin, etc.). John also tried to take a big swing and land Peyton Manning in 2012. Unable to even get into the batter’s box there, he ended up signing Matt Flynn.
Both Ted and John believe in “churning”—that is, constantly shuffling players through the bottom of the roster and the practice squad in the never-ending search for better talent. The Packers and Seahawks are always league leaders in number of players brought through their facility for Tuesday (the season’s off-day) tryouts.
Wolf legacy
The wisdom and impact of Ron Wolf is clearly found in both Ted and John. With Ron, it was all about the players. He would regularly recite our roster by position and compare the talent to other rosters—primarily our division opponents—to see where we needed improvement.
Ted exemplifies Wolf’s trust in the scouting process. I especially remember watching Ted in the co-pilot seat next to Ron during the draft one year. As Ron debated selecting one of two players, Ted simply said, “Well, what do we always say? Trust the board!” Ron nodded, and picked the slightly higher-rated player on the draft board. That was the first time I heard that phrase, a mantra of the Packers’ (and many other teams’) draft strategy. Ted, as Ron did, places great emphasis on college scouting and (even more than Ron) faithfully believes in a draft-and-develop team-building philosophy.
I see the more active side of Ron in John. Ron would “run,” as he called it, players from time to time, aggressively pursuing them in free agency (Reggie White) or through trades (Brett Favre). Ron, as both Ted and John continue to do, put great trust in the contract and salary cap management people (Mike Reinfeldt and then myself) to structure contracts that would not leave the team hamstrung in the future. And John, as Ron did, does not give up on players he desires and believes in without a fight.
Both general managers, of course, have been and are highly respected, successful architects of Super Bowl champion teams. And both have abiding traits that bode well for future sustained success: they are driven scouts at heart who remain unchanged by success, perfectly content to allow others to share or take credit.
Another NFL season begins anew tonight, a matchup of Super Bowl contenders with marquee talents all over the field. High above it all, the watchful and knowing eyes of Ted Thompson and John Schneider won’t miss a thing.
John Froschauer/AP || Joe Robbins/Getty Images
The Masterminds Behind the Mayhem
The Seahawks and Packers kick off a new NFL season tonight in a marquee matchup. The men who built the rosters, Seattle’s John Schneider and Green Bay’s Ted Thompson, share a common background but couldn’t be more different
By Andrew Brandt
The 2014 NFL season begins tonight with a matchup of two heavyweights, the Packers and the Seahawks. Behind the impressive array of talent on the field—including A-listers such as Aaron Rodgers, Clay Matthews, Russell Wilson and Richard Sherman—are the two men most responsible for assembling such talent. Ted Thompson and John Schneider are proficient talent evaluators who honed their skills under the tutelage of longtime Packers general manager Ron Wolf. And although they share some similar traits, there are stark differences between Thompson and Schneider in their personalities and team-building philosophies.
As someone who worked alongside both for many years, and as someone who was also hired by and worked under Wolf, here are insights into the two architects of the products we’ll watch in the NFL’s season-opening act.
Slow and steady
When I reported for work on my first day in Green Bay in February 1999, Wolf walked me down the hall to an office I would be sharing with one of his key scouting lieutenants: a quiet, white-haired man named Ted Thompson. We shared that office for a year, although Ted was out scouting much of the time. He left after the season to take a position with the Seahawks in 2000, only to return to Green Bay as general manager five years later.
Ted is most content watching, analyzing and scouting football players. He finds comfort in the process, and the dark room where he studiously watches tape of prospects is his sanctuary. He spends most of the NFL season scouting college practices and games, and then meeting up with the team on weekends for games. He accepts and dutifully performs the necessary administrative and managerial responsibilities of being general manager, but in his heart he is and always will be a scout.
During my time working with Ted, we never had a cross word; we just never had a lot of words. Ted prefers short private conversations and bland and unrevealing public comments, with his default topic always football players. In the rare times I was able to engage Ted on other subjects—the stock market, bike riding, or tales from his time playing for the Oilers—I usually sensed I was going too far and quit while I was ahead.
I especially remember our team psychologist, who would have annual meetings with all employees, emerging from a meeting with Ted clearly discouraged and agitated, saying in a huff, “I’ve been doing this for 20 years, and I’ve never seen someone as closed and emotionally unavailable in my life!”
Ted’s cool demeanor can be frustrating, but I always sensed that it was 1) who he was, and 2) a demeanor he felt necessary for a job that requires constant separation from players. His lack of warmth certainly angered Brett Favre and his family, who were used to a more receptive and responsive tone from previous regimes in Green Bay. Ted would not court Brett to return as past team leaders had, always saying, “It’s his choice.”
As for philosophy, it is no secret that Ted is enamored with building the infrastructure of the team through the draft and always having a pipeline ready to replace older or underachieving veterans. The occasional forays into free agency—netting players such as Charles Woodson and Julius Peppers—occur only if the market for them is lower than had been projected.
Ted and I shared the trepidation about the dangerous waters of free agency. His concern was stunting the development of young players; I was wary of paying premium prices for players who were not wanted by their incumbent teams (meaning, most likely, that they were no longer premium talents). When Ted was brought back as Green Bay’s general manager, a colleague came into my office and said, “You are going to love Ted’s view of free agency, same as you!”
That colleague was John Schneider.
Big swings
In contrast to Ted’s introverted personality and social shyness, John is extroverted and gregarious. He is quick to engage with either a disarming observation to lighten the mood or a direct remark to intensify it. While Ted avoids conflicts and uncomfortable conversations, John embraces them.
John’s youth belies his extensive NFL experience. He combines knowledge gleaned from mentors such as Marty Schottenheimer and Ron Wolf with his own principles and self-motivation. Like Ted, John is a scout at heart, spending countless hours on the road and in the film room trying to discover talent.
Unlike Ted, however, taking big swings to improve the team energizes John. There were some times at the Packers when John would gently (or not-so-gently) push against Ted’s conservative nature to make more aggressive pushes for players. It is not surprising to see the Seahawks active in free agency (Zach Miller, Sidney Rice, Michael Bennett, etc.) and trades (Marshawn Lynch, Percy Harvin, etc.). John also tried to take a big swing and land Peyton Manning in 2012. Unable to even get into the batter’s box there, he ended up signing Matt Flynn.
Both Ted and John believe in “churning”—that is, constantly shuffling players through the bottom of the roster and the practice squad in the never-ending search for better talent. The Packers and Seahawks are always league leaders in number of players brought through their facility for Tuesday (the season’s off-day) tryouts.
Wolf legacy
The wisdom and impact of Ron Wolf is clearly found in both Ted and John. With Ron, it was all about the players. He would regularly recite our roster by position and compare the talent to other rosters—primarily our division opponents—to see where we needed improvement.
Ted exemplifies Wolf’s trust in the scouting process. I especially remember watching Ted in the co-pilot seat next to Ron during the draft one year. As Ron debated selecting one of two players, Ted simply said, “Well, what do we always say? Trust the board!” Ron nodded, and picked the slightly higher-rated player on the draft board. That was the first time I heard that phrase, a mantra of the Packers’ (and many other teams’) draft strategy. Ted, as Ron did, places great emphasis on college scouting and (even more than Ron) faithfully believes in a draft-and-develop team-building philosophy.
I see the more active side of Ron in John. Ron would “run,” as he called it, players from time to time, aggressively pursuing them in free agency (Reggie White) or through trades (Brett Favre). Ron, as both Ted and John continue to do, put great trust in the contract and salary cap management people (Mike Reinfeldt and then myself) to structure contracts that would not leave the team hamstrung in the future. And John, as Ron did, does not give up on players he desires and believes in without a fight.
Both general managers, of course, have been and are highly respected, successful architects of Super Bowl champion teams. And both have abiding traits that bode well for future sustained success: they are driven scouts at heart who remain unchanged by success, perfectly content to allow others to share or take credit.
Another NFL season begins anew tonight, a matchup of Super Bowl contenders with marquee talents all over the field. High above it all, the watchful and knowing eyes of Ted Thompson and John Schneider won’t miss a thing.
Orchid
Starter
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2014
- Messages
- 742
- Name
- Obert
Some final thoughts going into the game.
1. Seattle OL is thin and I believe weaker than most think.
2. Defense will be minus against the run.
3. CB oppsite Sherman will be exploited.
4. Have we ever sean an up tempo offense based on pound & ground? Not until tonight
5. A hybrid GB defense alignment(fewer OL and more LB) designed to stop the run
6. RW beating AR in a shootout (Mid 20s to Low 30s)
7. Pick um
Seattle OL and DL issues will be a continuing negative story this year. Despite this, the little M&^%$ F*&^%# (RW) will propel them to 10-6 worst case 11-5 best case.
1. Seattle OL is thin and I believe weaker than most think.
2. Defense will be minus against the run.
3. CB oppsite Sherman will be exploited.
4. Have we ever sean an up tempo offense based on pound & ground? Not until tonight
5. A hybrid GB defense alignment(fewer OL and more LB) designed to stop the run
6. RW beating AR in a shootout (Mid 20s to Low 30s)
7. Pick um
Seattle OL and DL issues will be a continuing negative story this year. Despite this, the little M&^%$ F*&^%# (RW) will propel them to 10-6 worst case 11-5 best case.
Orchid
Starter
- Joined
- Jul 28, 2014
- Messages
- 742
- Name
- Obert
A good site for depth chart info is OurLads NFL. Not the first with info but usually pretty accurate. Do not hold it against them for how they stack our RBs. Our FO is playing that close to the vest. Here is the link:
http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/
http://www.ourlads.com/nfldepthcharts/
-X-
Medium-sized Lebowski
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2010
- Messages
- 35,576
- Name
- The Dude
Seen worse running into the kicker calls not called