I have been an avid reader here on Packer Chatters for 3-4 years now and always am amazed at the people who complain about every decision that is made.... they are angry or unhappy no matter what!! I see this in all walks of life, but this is well illustrated when following all the opinions here on the draft and Ted Thompson.

When Ted became GM of the Packers he made radical changes to the roster via the draft, not resigning certain players, and adding lesser named free agents and people where unhappy. His draft philosophy was to get multiple picks in each of his drafts and infuse his roster with young talent that his new coaching staff (young and talented) could mold into a championship team. In 3 years the team that Ted took over was 1 game away from the Super Bowl. Now some would argue this happened despite Ted Thompson, but none the less, it is a fact that the Packers where one game away from the Super Bowl, and Ted was named Executive of the Year by the NFL.

My point here is not to have this degrade into a I love/Hate Ted Thompson post, but to dig a little deeper and to find out what makes Packer fans happy?

The NFL is a league of trends; one team finds success doing something and inevitably every team tries to copy it in order find that success.....after all only 1 team out of 32 is truly deemed successful each year. I found it interesting at the amount of teams this year trading down to accumulate extra picks, and build their roster with young players; Cleveland, New England, and Dallas all traded back in the draft to obtain additional picks. If the league is truly a copy cat league wouldn't you prefer to be the one being copied?

I enjoy forums like this because it allows people to argue and debate....I love to argue and debate!! But I most enjoy it when it is reasoned and well thought out, and is why I throughly enjoy, and always look forward to reading the posts of people here like Bruce and Patty. I think everyone has a right to their opinion, but the posters who are constantly negative about everything (you know who you are), sit back and ask yourself....what makes you happy?

I am happy because it is a rainy gloomy day in April, and I am thinking and talking football even though the season is 5 months away!! Lets be grateful that we added 2 talented young men to our Packer team that should help our defense improve next year. Lets realize there is a lot to be happy about as a Packer fan, and acknowledge it.

For those of you who need to complain and be angry all the time....I feel sorry for you, I hope you find something to be happy about.

I'm very happy with The Pack's day one. Two starters for Caper's Defense. Excellent. Hats off to Thompson.

Great post Traderrob! I too am happy with how yesterday went. I am excited to watch this defense in action!

Most here offer constructive criticism. It's offered sometimes with sarcasm, which upsets some. We tend as a group to take extremes in defending views, trying to group people holding diffent views, which isn't the case. Currently I'm in the I don't like TT camp before last year I was in the I can tolerate TT camp. If TT serves the Packers well I will move back to the TT is ok camp. I will never be a fan of his even if he wins the SB. Just one fans feelings.
I like both draft picks. I find it humorous that the last time we drafted high the 49ers drafted right behind us and we got Hawk and they got Davis, now we got Raji and they got crabtree. I feel crabtree will be a problem child. I hope we will all laugh about this in a couple years.

I honestly did not see any anger but I view the threads through different eyes.

Ray,

I would not say I see anger in the posts....more that I read people complain no matter what is done. I understand and appreciate other peoples views, I am in the I think Ted is doing an overall good job camp. But then again I have always been a "the glass is half full" type of guy.

I also got a kick out of the 49ers pick. I was thinking how great it would be to have another dynamic WR like Crabtree to go with our already talented WR's. Then I came back to reality and remembered that football is the ultimate team sport, and his potential destruction to the locker room was not worth it.

Good luck Mike Singletary!!

Ive pissed and moaned for years about Ted but Ill be the first to admit I like what he did yesterday. It was the agressive approach to this team that many of us have been waiting for since he got to GB.

I read a post yesterday ( cant remember from who) that said he thought the trade smacked of desperation because Ted thought he was on the chopping block.

I couldnt disagree more with more that assesment. I think he finally has some guys in GB ( Capers and Greene) who know how a defense works and knows what pieces of the puzzle need to be added and thats why we got what we got yesterday.

I think yesterday's draft offered a little something for everybody. Most are excited to get two guy with the potential to be impact players for our new defense for years to come. A lot of people who were concerned that Ted Thompson plays it too safe and is afraid to make an aggressive move had their fears put to rest. And for the true Thompson hater, they had their opportunity to complain when we supposedly paid too much. So everyone's happy!

Let's look at some facts. When Thompson became GM of the Packers, the team had gone 13 seasons without a losing record including 12 winning seasons. During the 4 seasons before Thompson became GM, Green Bay had a regular season record of 44-20. They had won 3 consecutive division titles. Their record during the playoffs, however, was only 2-4 although they did make the playoffs all four years.

During the 4 years Thompson has been GM, the Packers have had only 1 winning season. Their regular season record has been 31-33.Without the 13-3 season, their record would be 18-30. They have been 2-1 in the playoffs. However, they only made the playoffs once.

In 1995 the Packers nearly made the Super Bowl. They actually were leading Dallas in the 4th quarter in the NFC Championship Game. Before the next season, Ron Wolf made many moves to improve the team. As a result, the next year they won the Super Bowl. By comparison, Thompson appeared to do very little if anything to improve the team after their overtime loss to the Giants. We all know the Packers went from 13-3 to 6-10.
Do the facts show that the Packers have become a better or a worse team since Thompson took over?

I believe that as Packer stockholders we have a right to question the decisions of our "employee." For example, in my opinion Harrell was worth no more than a 3rd round selection because of his lack of production and injury record while in college. As far as the trade for Clay Matthews, I believe Thompson gave up far too much to make this deal. The draft value chart certainly supports this belief. Also, I question whether it was worth trading up to draft Matthews. I believe Thompson could have drafted a OLB of nearly similar ability at #41 and kept the two 3rd round picks.

OK, what makes me happy?

1. Spending time with the inimitable Mrs. ricky. First and foremost.

2. Hearing that TT had actually gotten Raji and traded up for Matthews. I am very hopeful these will be the beginning of another glorious era for the Packers.

3. Teaching. Most of the time, since I spend an inordinate amout of time with "classroom management" (in other words, keeping the jerks under control). And, quite simply, the number of jerks seems to be rising each year. Why is that?

Sorry, but you asked, so I answered.

agreed

There are more pessimists than optimists in this world. Also, because of his personality, Thompson is an easier guy to dislike/hate than Sherman for many here, so similar moves will bring out much more of the hostility.

Not saying this just to you TommMixx, but everyone. Please stop with the draft value chart. It is not used by teams on draft day other than to give a general idea. Teams do NOT sit there and figure out what makes this pick = to another group of picks. Thompson has even said he has a few different ones that he uses as general guidelines. Also, the "chart" changes every year. It's based on the depth of the top tiers of players, so the worse the class, the less the lower picks are worth, ie, the 2 thirds GB gave up this year aren't worth as much as an old chart would say they are because it is a very shallow draft of top level players.

A few links saying to just forget the draft chart this year as the class is so bad.

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/rav...alue_chart.html
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/04/16/...ft-is-lopsided/

To get a player of value you have to give up something of value. This is the Anti Mike "Pear Shaped Loser" Sherman MO. Sherman traded up numerous times to take bust after bust. These are the things that the anti TT group will not acknowledge.

The 13-3 to 6-10 has a lot of factors:

1. HOF QB quit playing football for the Packers
2. Injuries hit the defense
3. D-Coordinator vanilla scheme did not have adjustments in it when teams had it figured out by halftime of games.
4. Lost a lot of close games in the season.

Ron Wold did a great job in a different era of the NFL, teams understand the cap much better than they use to.

Mike Sherman had so much success that he lost the 1st two home playoff games in Packer history with one of the greatest QBs of the NFL.

Back to the original post, while a small minority will always complain, I suspect what really goes on is different people are complaining about different things.

I believe I have been mostly supportive of the decisions of the GM. I didn't really have faith that Sherman could win it all. He was a high character guy, likable, a good coach, but not a great one. The 2003 and 2004 drafts set us back, ending his time in Green Bay.

So I view Thompson's moves as a patient, deliberate process aimed at rebuilding the team, and have been supportive of the effort to get back to dominance. I feel it takes time.

That being said, I complain about the trade up. Its a gamble. You all may be right and Clay Matthews may be an all pro, which will make it worthwhile. If he is just average, this will set us back due to other lost opportunity.

I think what makes me happy is watching the process and seeing the team improve. I have a theory that one reason that there is unhappiness in some is that there isn't a hero on the team anymore. The whole Brett thing last year was as much about loss of a hero than about who should be playing. The need for a "big splash" is that it might provide a new face of the team. Rodgers hasn't had time to fill that role, so bringing in a high profile free agent would have given that.

On a board with 2000 members, there will always be disagreement. That's what makes it interesting and fun.

I agree that the draft chart is somewhat subjective and may not have much value in a given year. I only refer to it as a point of reference. IMO, however, trading an early 2nd, an early 3rd, and another 3rd round pick for a late 1st and a late 5th is too much to give up. I accept that I could be wrong. I appreciate the detailed and courteous manner in which you presented this information.

It's bit unreasonable to think that people won't "poke" at what happens. In some cases it's misguided TT-hate. In many cases it's just people looking at each situation individually and sometimes being happy with the situation, and sometimes not so much. Not terribly different from everyday life.

I find myself critical of TT at times for specific reasons and supportive for other reasons. That would be my personal hope for all fans, BUT I also recognize that not everyone works that way - different strokes for different folks. Some people like to form an opinion of a "person" and then allow that to drive how they view things about that person - generally all positive or all negative. It's not my perferred approach, but I don't argue too much - as my better half, who by the way makes me very happy, often takes that approach.

I do like that TT was willing to address the d-line with early round help. I criticize him for not realizing that this also is needed for the o-line. The combined neglect of Mike Sherman and TT is in my mind the root cause for a somewhat shaky o-line situation. While many think the "offense" is fine, this sucker could come down faster than a house of cards in a windstorm if we don't have solid OT play. Clifton looks like he might be OK this year, but I don't like the RT situation right now. While I'm glad we addressed the defense, I certainly hope this amount of effort is expended next year in getting the same level of talent on the o-line.

You may be correct about the personality factor. I have to admit that Thompson oftens makes Bud Grant and Tom Landry seem exciting by comparison. As far as a comparison between Thompson and Sherman, however, I was often critical of Sherman for trading up so often. I certainly wouldn't have liked the trade to acquire Matthews any better if Sherman had done it. Also, I was one of the few who believed from the beginning that Sherman had made a huge mistake signing DE Joe Jones. A difference, I believe, is that we learned to expect these moves from Sherman. Also, The Packers continued to win despite Sherman's drafts. They have not shown they can be a consistent winner with Thompson as GM.

You have made many excellent points. I also really didn't have faith that Sherman could win it all. I also agree about the Matthews trade. If he becomes an outstanding player, the trade will be worth its cost. Anything less, however, could set the team back. I also agree about the hero idea. I believe Driver and Kampman come the closest to being heroes. No one, however, comes close to Brett Favre or Reggie White.
Outstanding post.

What is this, the Dr. Phil Show?