Inbox: The players who make it adjust quickly

Kathryn from Greenville, WI

Every season we see the players come with new hairstyles. Will we see new doo's for Mike and Wes?

I'm sure my gray continues to spread. Doo with that what you will.

Bruce from Travelers Rest, SC

"But we don't adjust a player's weight on the official roster unless the personnel department alerts us to a change." I like this approach. I can tell my wife I still weigh the 170 pounds I did when she and I first met.

Good luck there.

William from Dallas, TX

I know one former Cowboy who was 6-9 and considered "Too Tall." He made it to the Hall of Fame. Ballers ball.

"Too Tall" Jones is not in Canton, but he was the No. 1 overall pick in the '74 draft. His height did not deter the Cowboys from making a massive investment in him.

Ben from McFarland, WI

Would you say that LaFleur's creativity was best captured in Malik Willis' first start? That game was astounding.

I'd say that game plan was more about short-notice adaptability than creativity, honestly.

Ryan from Center Hall, PA

Wait, hold up. Falling bricks? Are we talking a standard red clay brick? From what height was it dropped? This is information the world needs to know.

If I recall correctly, Getsy introduced a drill for the wide receivers whereby they'd hold a standard brick at shoulder height, palm facing down. They'd let it go and have to snag it with that same hand, palm still down, before it hit the ground.

Scotty from Lombard, IL

Bill from Las Vegas brought up a great point about Paul Hornung and the single-season scoring record. In 1960, the Packers played 12 regular-season games, in which The Golden Boy scored 176 points. Project that performance over 18 games, and No. 5 would have scored 264 points! The next year he played 12 out of 14 games, Hornung scored 146 points, just to show 1960 was not a fluke. He also led the league in scoring in 1959.

Weird fact I learned perusing Hornung's scoring records – he scored exactly 86 kicking points with the same number of makes of each kick (41 PAT, 15 FG) in both '60 and '61.

Troy from Houston, TX

I have fully supported the tush push ban for many of the reasons you did. However, I can see concern with the proposal to expand it to all instances of assisting the runner, even downfield. That rule was revoked for a reason (too difficult to officiate). We can't bring a difficult-to-officiate rule back and expect the overall level of officiating, which we all have grievances with, to improve, can we?

I've never believed it was that difficult to officiate. As Wes pointed out the other day, that one's a piece of cake compared to what officials are asked to adjudicate now.

Gary from Cross Plains, WI

If the league really wants to rein in the tush push, maybe officiating is the way to go. Not only be more diligent with the false start calls, but the refs could be quicker on the whistle for the end of forward progress. If the progress isn't from the runner's own actions, blow the whistle. Yes, it may be a tough judgment call, but as our esteemed II writers have stated, the rules are full of those, so why not this too.

Exactly.

Matt from Gig Harbor, WA

In regard to "the downfield scrums" to assist the runner, oftentimes, the runner is "stood up" by the defense while they try to force the ball out to get a turnover. Could the downfield scrum partially be compensation for that defensive motive? If they take the assisting the runner away (which I believe they should), should the refs be ready to blow the play dead sooner? Is the defense standing up the runner also not considered a football move?

I could live with that, though I have less problem with a player getting the ball stripped by "the second guy" than all the extra yards gained by pushing the pile downfield. No one is helpless when it comes to protecting the football. The defense is a bit helpless in those movable piles.

Grant from Green Bay, WI

Not to beat a tush push conversation to death, but I just want to say how odd it is that the league requires 75% of teams to approve rule changes. In this case, only 10 teams wanted to keep it (versus 22, representing more than two out of every three teams), so those 10 teams get what they want. I understand that the high threshold is intended to limit rule changes, but in this case, it feels like they're rewarding the overwhelming minority.

When I was a kid, I always complained to my dad when something wasn't fair. His response was always, "Who said life was fair?"

Ted from Findlay, OH

Old-school perspective here, but contrast an 18-game schedule with the 12-, 14- or 16-game schedules factoring the amount of contact that used to take place during training camp and regular-season practices. Does this even things out to some degree? Seems like the Lombardi practices were extremely brutal.

Apples and orangutans. Back then there was no formal offseason workout program, players held other offseason jobs to make ends meet, and the extensive two-a-days in training camp were used to get players in shape for the season, as well as weed out those who weren't up to it. A long haul then as now, but in very different forms and fashions.

Kurtis from Macungie, PA

With a possible 18-game schedule, I'd like to see a return to the AFL/NFL program. Teams would play the three teams in their division twice, and every other team in the conference once. Then the playoffs would stay in their conference until the top AFC and NFC teams would meet in the Super Bowl.

So nobody from the NFC would play anybody from the AFC, ever, except in the Super Bowl? Baseball figured out a while ago that type of scheduling only deprives fans and players.

Nathan from Williamstown, MA

At the risk of bringing math into Inbox, does anyone care to explain how an eight-team playoff bracket with two teams getting first-round byes would work? Whom would the remaining wild-card winner even play?

I wondered the same thing when I read that.

Paul from South Yorkshire, UK

I have an idea to ease your concerns over an 18-game season and expanded playoffs. Add an extra week but make it the playoffs' first round. In each conference, four wild-card teams play each other and the losers go out, four divisional champs play each other with winners gaining a bye, and the losers play the wild-card winners in the second round. This way two wild-card teams must go out in Round 1 and all the divisional champs will make it to at least Round 2. The league gets an extra meaningful week. Yes?

No. I don't want to see the NFL playing postseason games that aren't one-and-done/do-or-die for every team involved. Hard pass.

Yohay from Kfar Saba, Israel

Hey guys, great job as always keeping us entertained through the dead season. Scheduling question – is there a chance the Packers-Ravens game will be flexed to Monday? My brother (Ravens fan) and I (Packers fan) are considering coming to the game, but it being so far away, we need to know what are the possible dates for the game. If I recall, I initially saw it could be only Saturday or Sunday, but I just wanted to confirm. Go Pack Go!

As of now, the Week 17 game vs. the Ravens is listed as Saturday or Sunday, but my reading of the flex scheduling guidelines indicates it would also be in play for Monday night if the league decided to move Rams at Falcons – currently slated for Monday, Dec. 29 – back to Sunday.

Mike from Baraboo, WI

How will the Favre documentary impact his legacy?

That's for any individual fan to decide. For me, there wasn't much new ground broken in that film. It's all been out there.

Matty from Durango, CO

How much advantage does a draftee from a top-five school have at training camp versus a Division III rookie? The Georgia/Alabama/Ohio State players are already playing against and with NFL-caliber opponents/teammates. A North Dakota State player has probably never encountered a really fast and big opponent until the Senior Bowl.

The players who make it adjust quickly, and that goes for both. Whether a power conference player or an FCS prospect, they all spend days on an NFL practice field getting their hindquarters whipped by seasoned pros. How they handle it and recover from it has more to do with whether they make it than where they played previously.

Wayne from Stevens Point, WI

I have been defending Kenny Clark's performance this last year explaining that he had an injured big toe. Today I read that he said he was injured in the game against the Eagles on the first tush push. It ruined an entire season for him. How would the Packers' season have gone without that injury?

Perhaps we'll find out this year.

Paul from Ledgeview, WI

Mike, one question for OTAs I did not see was the composition of the DL. I am interested in how the Packers replace Slaton's snaps and whether they can improve both the run defense and the rush. That to me is the center of gravity for this defense. Who is the first part of sorting that out.

I guess I don't see a whole lot to sort out, personnel-wise, at least not yet. I'm expecting the starters on the D-line to be Clark and Devonte Wyatt on the interior, with Rashan Gary and Lukas Van Ness on the edges, and then numerous rotational pieces for depth and different packages. "Center of gravity" yes, and how exactly they proceed scheme-wise still somewhat fluid. But the personnel at the top of the depth chart seems obvious at this point.

Caleb from Knoxville, TN

What's one thing teams work on in OTAs that might surprise fans?

The players have a rather busy meeting schedule during OTAs outside of the on-field practice work. It's not quite as extensive as training camp, but they're in the classroom a lot.

Sean from Boulder, CO

How did "rapidly expanding the postseason" work for MLB? Rapidly is a bit hyperbolic but I would think MLB is ecstatic to have meaningful games late into September versus the ho-hum of divisions being settled and nothing to play for at the end. Ultimately, you can bang the drum for one note or the other but there is no perfect option. Someone will either get gifted a short path or have to face a battle they didn't necessarily deserve. The beauty of sports.

True that. But there's no denying the trend across all sports is producing a devaluation of the regular season, and personally I feel that's unfortunate.

Markus from Aurora, CO

Insiders, finding the right mix of curiosity for news and relaxing for the news to come to me is hard. June will give the opportunity for a break before things slowly start heating up. Michael and Weston, enjoy the calm before the storm.

T-minus 16 days and counting until the dead zone officially arrives.

Eric from Fuquay Varina, NC

I lost to a lower ranked competitor in a skeet shooting competition. When asked how this happened nobody chuckled when I said it must have been a trap game. Obviously none of them are II readers...

Serenity now. Happy Wednesday.

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