We Need a Running Back

It's now 10 days since Ryan Grant blew out his ankle and went on IR, and the silence from the Packers' front office about making any sort of trade at running back is deafening.  Last Sunday, for me, confirmed that our running game is going to be anemic at best relying on Brandon Jackson to carry the load.  It's not that I have anything against Jackson -- I just think he's a better third-down, change-of-pace guy rather than a work-horse kind of guy.  Is Dimitri Nance really all Ted Thompson intends to do to try to back fill our backfield?

Comrade Dimitri

I'll admit I'm abnormally hung up on the Dimitri thing.  Particularly his name -- it's just not a football name.  If I want to hack a computer mainframe, give me a Dimitri.  If I'm casting villains for the next Iron Man movie, double down on Dimitri and throw in a Boris.  If I need to invade a failed state in Central Asia to take over their oil reserves, give me an army of Dimitris.  If I'm setting up a Brezhnev-era puppet dictatorship a la Cuba, Comrade Dimitri would make perfect sense.  But I'm having a hard time getting comfortable with a Dimitri as our running back.  I am secretly hoping that by mercilessly satirizing the guy that he will make me eat crow and turn out to be a stud, just like Ryan Grant turned out to be when we picked him up off the Giants' practice squad.  But the likelihood of that is low.

Even if the guy eventually develops into a great player, we need someone who can make an impact now.  Hasn't Thompson read the newspapers?  It's the Packers manifest destiny to go to the Super Bowl this season, and he's going to let it slip away because he won't pony up for a legit running back??  Thompson is great at scouting young talent, but he is obviously inept at doing trades.  In his 5 years as GM, Thompson has been crazy stingy with the trades.  Besides Ryan Grant (acquired in a trade with the Giants for a 6th-round pick in 2007) the only player Thompson has traded for who is still on the Packers' roster is safety Derrick Martin, who, by the way, is riding the bench.

Greg Wolfley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel posted a recent column about former Packers official Andrew Brandt's account of the organization's attempts to sign Randy Moss back in 2007.  It gives a pretty interesting window into Thompson's mindset, and makes me less optimistic about him engineering a trade than a box of Krispy Kremes at a Weight Watchers meeting.  Thompson seems to just myopically focus on building the team through youth -- the more raw and inexperienced the better.  He's probably at a Texas junior high right now scouting players for the 2018 team.

The Packers' front office has also been stingy on salaries.  Last year, the Packers had the fourth-lowest median salary in the league.  This is, in part, because of the team's proclivity for young players, who don't cost much.  We draft them, we develop them, and then they sign with the Vikings.  Let's break out some of that stock-piled cash and sign ourselves a legitimate running back!

Meanwhile, in terms of trade bait, the two names I've heard suggested most are A.J. Hawk, particularly after his public disgruntlement over not playing last week, and Donald Lee.  The Buffalo News speculated about a possible Hawk-Lynch deal now that the teams have faced each other.  I happen to like both those guys a lot, but we have depth at both linebacker and tight end.  So I would probably deal either of them for an impact guy at running back.  My preference would be to do a deal in exchange for future draft picks, but Ted holds onto those tighter than a Vikings fan gripping a deep-fried Twinkie.  So I don't see that happening.

My best guess is that Thompson is taking a "wait and see" approach -- hoping that the Jackson-Kuhn tandem will be effective enough, or, perhaps, gambling that injured rookie James Starks will make a difference when he returns from the PUP on October 18.  The risk in that philosophy is that any running back worth trading for will already be gone.  As happens most seasons, the injuries are mounting around the league, and a lot of teams will be shopping for running backs.  Consider:

• Saints have lost Reggie Bush for at least 6 weeks and are reportedly working out free-agent running back Ladell Betts.
• Patriots' Kevin Faulk tore his ACL and will likely be put on IR.
• Falcons' back-up running back Jerious Norwood has a torn ACL and is on IR.
• Giants' Brandon Jacobs is throwing temper tantrums and throwing his helmet into the stands.  Wouldn't be surprised to see the Giants look for a new back.

These teams and more who are just underwhelmed with their starters or are looking to add depth will all be on the market for any potential trade at running back.  Regardless, the clock is ticking, with the October 19 trade deadline looming.  Bottom line, I hope someone at Packers' headquarters has something up their sleeve, or we could look back at this season as the one that got away.

Allegiances of Our Offspring

As a father of two young boys, the sports allegiances of my children is a topic upon which I've spent quite a bit of thought.  Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, my kids have naturally developed early loyalties for local teams -- the San Jose Earthquakes for soccer, the San Francisco Giants to the extent they care about baseball (which is minimal), the Golden State Warriors and/or Los Angeles Lakers for basketball (though more often the latter since the former is so consistently underwhelming), and Cal for college football.  That's all fine.  I'm not a big enough Brewers or Bucks fan to care.

However, as a native Wisconsinite living in California, professional football is the one area I cannot afford to passively sit back and allow geographic proximity to determine their fan loyalty.  Fortunately, both my boys have been natural Packers fans from their earliest days -- as evidenced by this triumphant presentation of Clay Matthews' rookie card by my youngest.  I'm a proud dad.  But, let's face it, it's obvious where this kind of fan devotion comes from.  What possibly could have turned a couple of California kids into Packer fans?  What influences are they exposed to that would steer them that way?  It's not from their friends, who mostly like other teams.  It's not from attending the games (though both will go to their first game at Lambeau in two weeks).  It's not because they see Packer paraphernalia at every Shopko and Copps in town.  No, there's only one un-deniable influence that has clearly shaped their allegiance to the Packers: the LIBERAL MEDIA!!!

Although I might be pleased with the outcome, I'm sick of bureaucrats in Washington DC telling my children who they should root for on Sundays.  This conspiracy has reached the highest levels of the sports media establishment.  The Packers are veritable media darlings.  Commentators from Fox to CBS slather praise on Green Bay.  Sports Illustrated puts Aaron Rodgers on the cover.  ESPN has 7 of 7 analysts predicting the Packers will go to the Super Bowl.  Are we supposed to believe these things are coincidences!?  There's no telling how far this thing goes.

Imagery of Packers on kids' bikes like this one perpetuate a left-wing stereotype that Green Bay is a wholesome, Norman Rockwell-esque small town to be emulated.  Subtly, subliminally, big media is shoving the Packers down America's collective throats!  Our kids are losing their own free will.  Sure, I might not mind it when this communist media machine is cranking out Packers fans.  But what happens when they point their hype-meisters and spin doctors at another team!?  What if they started brainwashing our kids into rooting for the Dallas Cowboys?  Or the Chicago Bears?  Or, heaven forbid, the Minnesota Vikings!?

If we don't fight this big media conspiracy now, it will be too late.  A nation of Vikings fans is a risk we can't afford to take.  That is why I, for one, am taking the establishment head-on by indoctrinating my kids early and often with good old-fashioned football values.  I'm not going to let the liberal media decide my kids' football loyalties... I'm going to decide their football loyalties!  There is no Packers jersey I won't buy.  There is no green and gold accoutrement I won't acquire.  There is no cheese-shaped foam object I won't don.  I won't rest until I'm certain that the depth of my childrens' loyalty to the Packers can endure the here-today-gone-tomorrow vagaries of the media establishment.  I hope you do the same.

Buffalo Rolls

Sunday Special: Trent Edwards Buffalo Rolls

Mmmmm.... wings.  Or more like rolls -- as in rolling the Buffaloes.  The first half wasn't quite the beat down we all expected, but three touchdowns in the second half was exactly the smorgasbord the Lambeau home field crowd was craving, with celery sticks and blue cheese dressing on the side.

There's one Buffalo Roll for each of Clay Matthews' sacks.  That guy is a certifiable beast.  The player my youngest son still refers to as "the Rookie Matthews" is on pace for a 48-sack season -- double the current single-season record of 22.5 logged by the Giants' Michael Strahan in a gimme sack allowed by our very own Brett Favre back in 2001.

Obviously Bills Offensive Line Coach Joe D'Alessandris didn't study enough game film in preparation for this week, because leaving Matthews un-blocked, as his unit did several times Sunday, is a recipe for getting your quarterback's head ripped off.  Given Trent Edwards' performance, it's possible the Buffalo coaches hoped Matthews would do what he did to Kevin Kolb last week.  You can bet your ass D'Alessandris knows who #52 is now -- as does every other offensive coach the Packers will face this season.  Buffalo team doctors reported after the game that D'Alessandris may require season-ending plastic surgery to remove this expression of shock and awe off his face after Matthews recorded his third sack today.  Facing unrelenting pressure, Edwards passed for only 102 yards, two interceptions, and a QB rating of 37.0.  Those are Jay Cutler-esque numbers.

No doubt much of the Packers' success on defense so far this season stems from Defensive Coordinator Dom Capers' creative schemes.  He has been able to move Matthews around, confusing quarterbacks with a variety of looks and blitzes.  My favorite is the "Psycho Package," which features only one defensive lineman, five linebackers and five defensive backs.  It's incredibly difficult for opposing offenses to handle because they aren't sure who is rushing and who is dropping back into coverage -- that, and it typically culminates in Clay Matthews bursting towards the quarterback with a hacking motion worthy of Norman Bates.  I love the Psycho Package.

On the offensive side of the ball, everyone was watching to see how Brandon Jackson would do in place of Ryan Grant.  The initial verdict is... "meh."  Jackson only rushed for 29 yards on 11 attempts, or 2.6 yards per carry, although he did have a touchdown.  But when your QB has almost as many rushing yards (20) as your starting RB, that's not a good sign.  More important than his stats, he doesn't look confident.  He frequently paused at the point of attack.  And his body language in the post-game interview looked dejected.  The Bills could do nothing to exploit it, but we will need more out of our running game.  Of note, Chad Clifton left the game with about six minutes left in the first half.  Not clear if it was due to injury (as asserted) or just mediocre play, but rookie Bryan Bulaga held his own as a replacement, except for one false start penalty.  The offensive line didn't give up a single sack on the day.

Other positives from the day:

• No turn-overs, although Kuhn put it on the ground once.
• Morgan Burnett got his first NFL INT with a big-time hit and pick-pocket on Roscoe Parrish.
• Sam Shields continues to quietly hold his own and had a great stop on third down just before the half.
• Special teams also played well in all aspects, with some nice returns by Jordy Nelson and no mistakes covering C.J. Spiller on kick/punt coverage.
• Buffalo made the unusual decision to feature Marshawn Lynch, despite his official status as their #3 back -- giving him 17 carries for 64 yards.  Whether they were riding the hot hand or trying to bid up his trade value remains to be seen.

Really, the only blemish on the day was Aaron Rodgers' Lambeau Leap.  Of the half-hearted attempt, Rodgers commented, “The guys were giving me a hard time on the sidelines, but I told them, ‘Look, I saw this asshole holding a beer in the front row and knew I was going to get doused.'"  Rodgers has to recognize, that's part of playing in Lambeau.

What's a Bill?

The Buffalo Bills “stampede” into Lambeau this weekend, and, as I touched on in my earlier post, I have no idea what a “Bill” is.  So I did some research to find out where the name Bills came from, and it’s a scintillating history exemplifying the proud American tradition of not knowing what the hell we’re talking about.  This is just the kind of knowledge you’re looking for when you come to TriggPack.

At first, it’s easy to forget that the name “Bills” doesn’t make any sense.  You assume from their name and logo that their mascot is actually a buffalo.  Well, sort of.  But the “Buffalo” part of their name actually refers to the city of Buffalo, not the mascot.  Although the mascot looks like a Buffalo, it’s actually a Bill.  So how did a small town in upstate New York come to be named after a majestic North American animal, that largely lived 2,000 miles away.  Turns out the term originally referred to an animal the immigrants to that area called a “Canadian Buffalo” which zoologists later identified has the same DNA footprint as a Guernsey cow.  The town elders, not wanting to admit their town was named after a dairy-producing bovine, insisted the animal was a buffalo and that eventually stuck as the name of the town.

Years later as football was gaining in popularity, the task of naming the local team was put to the descendents who named the town.  My assumption, not having given much thought to the team since the futility of the Jim Kelly years, was that “Bills” – like the Cleveland Browns – referred to some original founder, owner, or sponsor named Bill who, in the charming self-promotional vanity of the 1960's, named his newly founded club after himself.  (As an aside, I hate it when people name things, like books… or blogs, after themselves!)  Turns out, however, nobody named Bill had anything to do with the formation of the team.  The founder, Ralph Wilson, briefly considered the Buffalo Ralphs, but that name already had an unfortunate connotation from hung-over Niagara falls wedding parties.

Original Buffalo Bills Team Logo

The other logical name that was considered was the Buffalo Buffaloes, which sounds a bit like ordering chicken wings at Little Caesars.  But Wilson, who suffered from a stutter, was unable to pronounce the name, so it was rejected as well.  Later, the team historian who was always eager to point out that a Canadian Buffalo was actually a dairy cow, proposed the Buffalo Guernseys, and even came up with a logo.   But management rejected it as not having the necessary intimidation factor, and he was tragically beaten with soap and stuffed in a locker by the towel boys.  Wilson also lobbied his front office to name the team after his father, Richard Wilson – known to all as “Dick.”  But after several snickering meetings, the idea was shelved.  The team remained un-named.

Wilson, trusting in the collective wisdom of the largely un-educated backwater that is Upstate New York, put the task of naming the team to the people.  He organized a local contest allowing fans to submit suggestions and vote on a name for the club.  Some of the more colorful entries included the Buffalo Dance, Buffalo Wild Wings, Buffalo Shuffle Offs, Buffalo Skin Rugs, Buffalo Joes, and just “The Buffalo.”  All were rejected.

In an example of the stupidity of crowds that would bring a smile to Malcolm Gladwell’s face, the greater Buffalo community finally turned to plagiarism – naming the team after... the Buffalo Bills, a team in the long-since-defunct All-America Football Conference.  I believe that was the sister league of basketball’s Flint Michigan Tropics, masterfully portrayed by Will Ferrell in Semi-Pro.

The question remains, however, where did the name “Bills” come from?  Wasn’t there some guy named Bill involved at some point?  Yes, in fact, it was William Frederick Cody, popularly known as "Buffalo Bill", who was the inspiration for the name.  Naming the team after this prominent historical figure made perfect sense, since Cody was born in Iowa, lived in Kansas, and was apparently never within a 1,000 mile radius of the Buffalo, NY area.

But the misnomer and malapropisms didn’t stop there.  When asked to design a mascot for the team, they actually used a bison.  Some of you may remember back to your tours of the natural history museum that a buffalo and a bison are entirely different animals.  Though both are of the species bovidae, true buffaloes actually only live in Africa and parts of Asia.  Lesson to Mr. Wilson: don't let a bunch of drunks drive your naming and branding strategy.  At least the name has some alliteration.  And over the years, most people, like me until I did a little research, forgot that the name didn't make any sense.

This season, the Bills have added a motto to their name and logo: “Return to Mediocrity!”  With that rich history and rallying cry, the Bills will take the field on Sunday against the Packers.  Hopefully, Marshawn Lynch will stay behind and change jerseys.

"What's a Packer?"

This was the question posed to me by my 4-year old son recently.  My head whipped around, my eye twitched and after a long pause I gripped him by both shoulders and explained:

"A Packer is the pure, un-adulterated essence of football.  A Packer is what every boy who has ever tossed a pigskin aspires to become.  A Packer is the gridiron guardian of the hallowed halls of Lambeau Field.  A Packer is the embodiment of a proud tradition, carried through generations, that consummated and defined the entire sport of football.  A Packer is inextricably intertwined with the community, not only the city of Green Bay but the entire state of Wisconsin -- nay, the nation!  A Packer walks under the banners of 12 world championships and 3 Super Bowls.  A Packer is the beating heart of a champion with a commitment to excellence that doesn't accept anything less for his dedication than the triumphant placement of the Lombardi Trophy in its namesake's home!  A Packer is FOOTBALL!!!"

Snapping back to reality, I suddenly realized my voice had crescendoed to a decibel level that caused the entire family to stop what they were doing.  A neighbor's dog barked in the distance during the pregnant pause that followed.  Birds took flight in panic.  As I stared into my son's unblinking and slightly terrified eyes, he persisted with his inquiry, "Yeah... but what is a Packer?"

Ahh... the beautiful innocence of youth.  Of course, what he meant was what, physically speaking, is a "Packer."  A perfectly reasonable question, but an answer that requires more than a little explanation.  For a four-year-old, the team names that make most sense are animals.  They know what a Lion or Bear is.  As I pondered his question, it struck me that simply naming your NFL team after some fierce animal (e.g. Bengals, Jaguars, Panthers) or, worse, not-so-fierce animal (Dolphins, Rams) was a cop-out.  Animals are what you go with when you can't think of a better mascot.  Horses (Colts and Broncos) and, for some perplexing reason, birds (Cardinals, Ravens, Falcons, Eagles, Seahawks) are other species in the animal kingdom that somehow portray, at least in the mind of the namers, toughness, speed or determination.  I think they reflect a lack of creativity.

How about thinking outside the fauna box a little?  Large men (Giants and Titans) sound like good mascots.  Better yet, how about large men who beat the crap out of people?!?  Marauders are, in many ways, the perfect metaphor for an NFL team, embraced by the Raiders, Buccaneers and Vikings.  The Norse-ist undertones of the Minnesota mascot aside (c'mon, does every Scandinavian have blond hair and long mustaches?), these names convey a cool, take-no-prisoners, ass-kicking toughness that is exactly the intimidation factor you're looking for on the field and in the stands.  How can you get any cooler than these Raiders fans?  What's not to like about death, dismemberment and stuffed animals?  It's the perfect NFL mascot.

Trying to emulate the Raiders look when the team entered the league in 1976, the Buccaneers' marketing execs were slightly off the mark initially -- not only in their unfortunate choice of tangerine as the primary team color, but also in the off-putting eye wink of their original mascot (top).  After convening a focus group at Disneyland, the front office came up with their current Pirates of the Caribbean emblem (middle), but they recently decided to abandon that look too because players were being asked where the "It's a Small World After All" ride was.  So, unveiled for the first time here at TriggPack is the new Buccaneers logo (bottom) which they will be sporting in the 2011 season.

During a press conference previewing the new logo, team president Malcolm Glazer stated, "We're tired of being out-marauded by Raiders fans.  This new mascot will give meatheads across the state of Florida something they can dress up like on Sunday and feel cool about themselves until they pass out in a pool of their own vomit."

Close cousins of the marauder genre is the time-honored exploitation of Native Americans, with the Chiefs and Redskins.  Let's just say I'd feel a tad awkward wandering into the Oneida Casino up the road from Lambeau Field sporting a Redskins jersey.  Fortunately our game against them this year is away.  Maybe Washington could take a cue from the Buccaneers and revamp their mascot to something a little more contemporary that doesn't look like an artist's rendition of the Trail of Tears.  Leave it to D.C. to be politically incorrect.

Occupations have also been a popular inspiration for NFL teams.  The Steelers (blue collar heroes), Patriots (who doesn't want to fight for their country?), Cowboys (tamed the West), 49ers (opportunistic gold-diggers), and Saints (forgive me, Father) were all named after venerable professions.  And, finally, there are the out-dated and just non-sensical names, including the Bills (what the hell is a "Bill" anyway?), Jets (probably sounded cool when airplane flight was a novel concept), Browns (fortunately for Cleveland fans, Paul Brown's surname wasn't Steamer), Chargers (isn't a lightening bolt a dis-charge?), and Texans (your state really isn't that cool -- we could have been the Green Bay Wisconsinites).

Which brings me back to the Packers.  Fortunately, for the purposes of answering my son's question, I am in the midst of reading a mostly interesting (though at times tiresome) book called The Packer Legend: An Inside Look by John Torinus, who worked for George Calhoun -- the sports editor for the Green Bay Press-Gazette who collaborated with Curly Lambeau to found the team, served as its original manager, and was an ardent publicist for years.

The name "Packers", as any Wisconsin kid knows from countless WPNE Saturday afternoon replays of NFL films from the Lombardi years, is from the Indian Packing Company, a meat-packing company in Green Bay.  Lambeau himself worked there and convinced them to be the original sponsor of the team -- for $250 per month (about the cost of my DirecTV subscription to watch them today).  Why the company didn't insist on the Green Bay Indians (we could have used the Redskins' logo), instead going with the rather generic Green Bay Packers, is not documented.  The Indian Packing Company was acquired by the Acme Packing Company, of Wile E. Coyote fame, in 1921.

Meat packing doesn't exactly spring to mind as a major Northeastern Wisconsin industry these days, apart from bratwurst or venison.  I guess we should consider ourselves fortunate that the original sponsor wasn't a paper mill (the Green Bay Pulpers), insurance company (the Green Bay Auditors), or Hillshire Farms (the Green Bay Kielbasas).  It's also quite fortunate that, in the absence of a logical visual embodiment of a Packer, Green Bay fans adopted the cheesehead.  It's a little known fact that in addition to the now ubiquitous yellow foam cheesehead, early prototypes of fan headgear included the Packer meathead, shown here.  That design was ultimately rejected because fans would barbecue it at their tailgate parties before ever entering the stadium.  Strapping raw meat to your head was also identified as a health risk by the FDA, otherwise these things would be adorning the Packer Pro Shop.

The name Packers, though technically referring to some dude stuffing animal meat into a can, stuck, and over the years lost its connection to its long defunct sponsor and took on the deeper emotional significance every fan feels.  The word Packer doesn't refer to something else.  It has no significance outside of the context Green Bay has given it.  And that is why it is a perfect mascot.

So there you go, son.  That is a Packer.

Rodgers Likes My Marshawn Lynch Idea

Greg Bedard on the JSOnline Packers blog is reporting that Aaron Rodgers responded "Bring him on!" in response to a question about a possible trade with the Bills for running back Marshawn Lynch, a suggestion broken on TriggPack yesterday. :-)

Yahoo! Sports writer Michael Silver makes a very compelling case for why a Lynch deal makes sense for both sides.  Definitely worth a read.  In it, he asserts that Buffalo has already turned down an offer of a third-round pick + another player for Lynch.  Not sure how much more than that I'd offer if I were Thompson, but this deal would be so sweet.  Bedard estimates the likelihood of a Lynch deal at 1%, but at least there's a chance.

To Replace Ryan Grant, Packers Sign... Dimitri Nance???

New Packers RB Dimitri Nance (FKA Yakov Smirnov)

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is reporting that the Packers have signed (drum roll please!)... Dimitri Nance!  This is such a typical Thompson move.  Why go out and get a proven running back -- like Willie Parker, who the Packers allegedly considered, or my speculation on Marshawn Lynch?  Ted might actually have to pay those guys more than the league minimum in salary.

Who the hell is this Dimitri of which you speak, you might ask?  Well, he is a non-drafted free agent from ASU who was on the Atlanta Falcons practice squad.  I don't know anything about the guy, but signing Falcons cast-offs doesn't get me excited (though I guess it worked with Favre).  Furthermore, what's with "Dimitri"?  I can't name very many dudes with Russian names (and dreadlocks) that have made it big in the NFL.  It's like we picked up Yakov Smirnov off waivers.

If you're going to sign someone off a practice squad, you'd theoretically pick up a back from your own practice squad.  Isn't that why you have a practice squad?  So you've got guys you can quickly sign who already know the playbook and are less likely to screw something up or be ineffective for weeks while they figure out where the toilets are???  The Packers have a back, James Johnson, on their practice squad.  Or why not re-sign Kregg Lumpkin who looked pretty good in the pre-season before the Packers cut him?  Oh, wait -- that's right.  He signed with the Bucs, while we kept 2 RBs on our roster and 4 TEs!

Presumably the Packers are betting that sixth-round draft pick James Starks, who is currently on the PUP list, will be able to contribute after he returns, hopefully in week 7.  But I'm not sure I put much more faith in him than Yakov.  He didn't show much in pre-season, and rookies who are struggling with injuries typically struggle on the field as well -- if they ever get on it.  I truly hope that the Packers management doesn't feel like this is an "answer" to the loss of Grant, but rather just a stop-gap measure until they figure out a longer term solution.  Given Thompson's proclivity for un-drafted rookie free agents, I'm not holding out a lot of hope.

I'm far from an expert in trades, contracts, or free agency, but there are several other teams and players I'd be talking to if I were Thompson.  Beyond my likely futile hope for Marshawn, the Broncos have quite a bit of depth at RB -- could see making a move for a LenDale White or Justin Fargas.  The Patriots also have a glut of serviceable backs, with Laurence Maroney, Kevin Faulk and Sammy Morris as theoretical possibilities.  Seattle has a crowded backfield as well, with Julius Jones evidently relegated to the third-string position they might be willing to deal him.  Former Packer flash-in-the-pan Samkon Gado is playing for the Titans, and could be worth a look.  Other possibilities to consider include Mike Bell in Philly (though he probably became more valuable to them after Leonard Weaver was lost for the season), Jerious Norwood in Atlanta (with Turner getting most of the touches), and even un-signed guys like the aforementioned Willie Parker, or even a Rudi Johnson or Jamal Lewis.  These guys might be a reach, but could bring some spark and seniority like Ahman Green did last year.  Again, I haven't really taken the time to research which of these potential moves are actually feasible -- more just a "top of mind" list.  Please post any other ideas in the comments below.

The other move the Packers announced today was to re-sign DE Jarius Wynn.  Wynn played for the Packers last year as a rookie but was cut this pre-season.  This move makes more sense to me.  At least Wynn comes in with some experience with the Packers defense.  Keeping my fingers crossed that these are the last free agent signings we hear about.