I was watching form the bar and could not follow him all that well. How did he look?

I would guess the fact that you didn't notice him would mean he didn't do much to stand out, but at least he got on the field and didn't have any setbacks with the injury. We need him in the lineup next week in a big way.

delete

If anybody's expecting anything from Raji this year should just go ahead and throw that dream away.

For anyone to miss everything that Raji did this off-season, it's almost impossible for him to be effective this season. He's way behind everyone else but let's hope he soaks up a lot of things, starts putting it together at the end of the season and hopefully compete for a starting spot next year.

What you would like to see from Raji this year is no injuries and coach's having nothing but good things to say about him. Anything else is being unrealistic.

I'll take even a little of what I saw out of him in the preseason next week. Anything The Pack can add on D against Peterson and Favre couldn't hurt.

i don't see any reason why he can't get caught up over the next month, especially with the bye week. he was at OTAs, and even though he missed several practices, it was still only a few weeks. i would think he knows most of the playbook, so to speak. we could have a budding playmaker on our hands down the stretch.

I agree. Playbook? Knock down the guy with the football in his hand. A simple game really. I thought he looked excellent in the preseason.

I can't think of any rookie in recent years that's missed basically the whole off-season and almost all of the pre-season and still be effective in the regular season.

too me it looked as though he played low and with good power, but there were a couple of times he got out of place and jackson made a cut back and got outside on him. The power that he plays with is impressive, but he needs to play within the defense and let the plays come to him, which is tough for a lot of rookies.

Except that's not what happened with Raji.

I think Raji will play plenty this year if he's physically able. Isn't Pickett in a contract year? There's going to have to be a decision made in regards to him. They will want to know all they can about what they have with Raji.

Well what else are we talking about here? Sure, OTA/Mini Camps are learning what's in store for the up coming season but training camp and preseason is what defines the off-season. It's when what you've been preaching, starts to all come together.

And our #1 draft pick missed training camp plus 1/2 the preseason. It may not sound like much, but their time there is very valuable, which is why it's mandatory.

I will be surprised to see Raji actually make a difference this year. This year will be a year where his goals will be to keep healthy, learn the defense and make lots of noise next season. Anything else will be beyond my expectations. I would love for me to be wrong, but there's no way I can see it happening.

If healthy Raji is basically the back up for all 3 lineman spots in the 3-4. Probably not going to be the defensive rookie of the year, but still he will impact this team. He missed time getting in but that was largely due to GB taking their time in signing him. Think will be seeing a fair amount of him this week against Minny...

It's silly to argue this, but he participated in everything pre-training camp. He missed two weeks of training camp at the beginning, one week at the end. He's been practicing since the Friday before the first game.

He hasn't missed that much time. But it's still a good chunk. With the play of Jenkins and Jolly, we're not in desperate need of him to make an impact. He'll start showing up as the season goes on, though.

Raji wasn't good, but he wasn't bad. Hard to judge him in that game.

EXACTLY!!!!!!

You were watching form the bar?....dude, you still there?

Umm you couldn't be more wrong. What does offseason mean? Really, think about it. This is just plain common sense man. Training camp and preseason is NOT the offseason. It is the start of the football season. Raji didn't miss the entire offseason. I think you are going overboard in saying Raji's entire season is lost because he missed one preseason game. Sure he is going to have a slow start but he will get better as the season goes on. I don't expect him to play particularly well in his first few games given that he missed so much of training camp and preseason but the guy was not AWOL all offseason like you are saying. You have to worry about guys like Andre Smith who, while holding out dont' do squat. Raji was a good citizen and kept himself in shape while the negotiations were playing out. He even stayed in town for most of that time. The guy missed the first few weeks of training camp and the first preseason game. He did not miss the offseason.

He wasn't good. No penetration, not able to chase anyone to the edge, etc. I'll reserve judgement, but I hope he cans tep it up soon- starting with the Vikings game.

I won't accept "wait until next year." He was a high first round pick, and those guys need to be special the very first year.

Really? Green Bay was just taking their time? Michael Crabtree sabotaged the entire slotting process this year. Raji was signed at about the same time other picks in that part of 1st round signed. It wasn't just the Packers playing around and wasting time. It was actually the agents of picks #8-12 waiting around to see what happened with Crabtree, who by the way is still not signed.

Yes that was part of it... Still TT and company definitely had a hand in it as well. They made a point not to criticize Raji as they were not pushing hard to get him signed quickly either, they were being cautious in order not to over pay.

It was his very first NFL game coming off several weeks of not seeing the field due to an injury. What I'm saying is that there's a very remote possibility that it's a little early to start forming opinions about his overall ability.

I often wonder if people actually READ a post before responding to it. I clearly said I'LL RESERVE JUDGEMENT. With that said, I don't think it's ever too early to start forming opinions. I haven't seen anyone calling him a bust, but the question was asked how he did yesterday- period. And he didn't play very well.

On the contrary, I did read your post and I do think it's a bit early to start forming opinions largely due to the "coming off an injury" aspect. Players never perform up to their potential when they're knocking off rust.

My opinion, of course.

Raji looked ok out there for a rookie that missed time. He drew a holding penalty and while not exactly blowing up the backfield wasn't getting pushed back either.

One stigma that seems to persist about rookie d-lineman is that it takes a year or so for them to get strong enough to handle NFL o-lineman.

The way I look at it is that it bodes well that he isn't getting blown off the line of scrimmage. Which tells me that most of his foibles are technique and that can be corrected during the season.

I don't expect him to go hogwild out there but for now I am glad that he can spell Pickett and get some quality reps out there. To me, that can be a great asset is the depth he can provide.

At one point I noticed he still has a limp. He still showed the tools to be a very disruptrive player. Give him time to heal, and reps to get comfortable.

Yup. For those of us watching via TV, and not restudying the replays, that's pretty typical for a lot of d-linemen. If you're getting blown away (KGB in years past versus the run; or the line as a whole versus run last year), I notice. If you're stuffing guys in the backfield for losses, or sacking the QB, I notice. But most of the time d-linemen aren't making sacks or tackles for losses. Raji didn't seem to be really compressing the pocket, or tying up multiple blockers. Nothing noticably good. But neither did he seem to be getting blown away, or making obviously bad plays like Barbre or the o-linemen do.

We'll see how it goes.

Kind of the routine question as with so many defensive players. If you don't notice them much, is that a bad sign, that they aren't doing anything good? Or is that a good sign, that they aren't doing anything bad?

You notice Casey Hampton, and Richard Seymour in his prime. Even NT in 3-4 can be a disruptive presence. A DE in 3-4 (where Raji will get most snaps) has even more opportunities to make plays. Bottom line, you don't spend huge cap dollars on a high 1st round pick to just eat up a block.

With that said, again...it's only one game. But he does need to start producing sooner rather than later. We saw glimpses of this in the first pre-season game he played. THAT's what we need to see at some point this year.

Raji has plenty of value this season. He may not be a disruptive nightmare early in his first season, but he is a crucial component of the D line because he adds to the rotation without making the line significantly weaker when he is in. Later on this season, and next season, I hope he can make the line significantly stronger when he is in.

Maybe we even get Harrell as well next season, though to be honest, I've given up on him now. If he turns into anything, its a pleasant bonus.

Hey a rookie getting a key holding penalty is a start. Most vets dont get holding calls, hell Kampy gets dragged down by his facemask and does not get the call. Raji did all right for his first regular season game coming back from a sprained ankle.

If he can stay healthy he will be a important part of the D-line rotation.

He barely played, and he's rusty. Anything he gave us was a bonus. Besides, he didn't get completely washed out like Monty was when he was the backup so Raji played fine in my book considering the other option.

Raji missed the majority of the preseason that mattered. He showed up for all the no-pads drills and learned the playbook from a book. The preseason that matters is the preseason in pads. Many players look terrific in shorts (<cough>Jamal Reynolds <cough>). Just learning the playbook and not practicing with pads is like readin a math book and then taking a test without actually doing any problems, you won't do well. Add to that the fact that preseason is when Raji should have been getting in shape, instead of missing 75 percent of preseason and showing up overweight and out of shape (odd how late signees tend to get injuries huh?) and you have the recipe for a defensive tackle (i don't care where he's lined up, he's a tackle) to be a non-factor for at least the first half of the season.

As for the "stigma" of first round d-lineman who need a year or two to excel, the exception is speed rushers. Outside of that, you are putting a 21-22 year old kid who has never had a professional offseason to train and asking him to be able to handle the strength of a 28-34 year old man who has trained for years in a professional system. It's not the dlineman's fault, they just need the time to train.

Raji came in out of shape?

If I'm not mistake, wasn't one of the reasons the ravens drafted Haloti Nagata was to take up one or two blockers so that Lewis and the rest of the LB corps could get to the QB? While Raji is not specifically in this role, I think he could blend into the scheme to allow our LBs to become a bigger presence.

Not to the extent of Andre Smith, but the guy sat at home for a month before reporting to camp. He certainly wasn't in football shape. And yes, he went to BC to work out, but again, there is a difference in weight training and participating in two a days for a NT.

Okay, but saying he "came in out of shape" when we're talking about football implies that he reported overweight and out of shape, not that he missed camp. Let's not run down the guy's work ethic just because draft picks anywhere around Crabtree had trouble getting signed in time for camp.

I saw him make a tackle and draw a holding penalty, though he must not have played more than 10 snaps. Would be real nice if he plays like a beast next week, but I'm thinking it'll be more like 3-4 weeks for him to get in better shape and become an actual contributor in the rotation.

The Press-Gazzete had him at 23 snaps this week. Also commented that his ankle seems to be limiting his power. Hopefully he'll become more dominant if/when he gets back to 100%

Is this pretty much a lost year for Raji? Seems like another DT we have that can't seem to keep himself on the field...

I wouldn't say that, not yet at least. We might just see the opposite - someone who really starts to play like one hopes from a top draft choice. It sure would be nice to see that begin tonight, wouldn't it?

I'm pretty sure he's out tonight. He had another, "setback" on his ankle.

Fully participated in Saturday's practice... listed as probable for MNF. As is Greg Jennings, Cullen Jenkins, Johnny Jolly, and Charles Woodson.

http://www.packers.com/team/injury_list/

Well then, wewt

wewt?

Is that a combination of whew and w00t?

Maybe Heat has started the tailgate party already.

You know... like Newt.... mostly?

BJ looked good tonight against the Vikes. The run D did a pretty great job in general, just shocking that they could not get to the QB. I am very excited about the depth GB now seems to have in their D line rotation.

I still think that they need more bodies. I'm surprisingly pleased with how well Montgomery and Wynn have done, but the dropoff after Jenkins, Raji, Jolly and Pickett is severe. I wish they would have picked up a veteran guy to add to the rotation like Vonnie Holliday, Terdell Sands or Ikiaka Alama-Francis. I still think that 6 guys active is one too little for the D-Line rotation.

Just another variation of woot