SPORTSLINE-Jen Lepkowski
Ignition! The regular NFL season begins for the brand-new Green Bay Packers.
After enjoying a weekend break, the Green Bay Packers return to the practice field resuming their preparations for the 2023 NFL season. The Packers had a productive preseason, providing ample opportunities for their starters to refine their skills, establish positive routines, and set the stage for what promises to be a promising 2023 season. Packers’ defensive coordinator Joe Barry finds himself on the hot seat as the season approaches. Since his arrival, his defensive units have consistently fallen short of expectations, prompting calls from fans for head coach Matt LaFleur to fire him. On paper, the Packers’ defense boasts talent across the board, except at safety. With Jordan Love now at the helm, leading a young and relatively inexperienced offense, the defense’s support becomes increasingly critical. Unfortunately, no one knows about Barry’s ability to rise to this challenge, and few have faith in him. Hopefully he surprises us all and helps bring home a spot in the playoffs. Some predict that the new starting quarterback Jordan Love will bring home the NFC North title and finish well ahead of the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings.
Through the first eight games, the Packers are set to face only one team that reached last year’s postseason. The three toughest opponents during that opening stretch must come to Lambeau Field. Hopefully this will help build Packer players’ self-esteem and set them up for success. Aaron Rogers has gone to New York, so Matt LaFluer once again gets to truly coach the team, unless Love is so great that he follows in the footsteps of Favre and Rogers (wonderful in the beginning, as team players, but total primadonnas in the end). From the look of Love during the pre-season, the man appears to be truly capable of stepping into the huge shoes of his predecessors. Does the basically ‘new team’ have the sand and talent to back his plays is probably a very cogent question at this point. Joe Barry, by the way, has one of the most impressive defensive coordinator track records in the NFL. That the offense fell into a hole during Aaron’s last couple of years was not his fault. By the way, that safety position, given a low score by many of the sports pundits, is occupied by Darnell Savage and Rudy Ford, combined 6 interceptions over the last two seasons.
Not half bad. Go Packers! Go Matt and go Joe!
