After watching that Pittsburg game on NFL replay yesterday I’m praying the Pack doesn’t get the injury bug again this year. Man that still hurt even knowing what the outcome was going to be.

Maybe Bishop deserves some time to prove himself but if I had to make the decision who to start in week 1, I’m not sure I would be playing Bishop over Hawk either. I know in blogger world saying that Hawk is better then Bishop is the minority viewpoint but I think Hawk gets too much grief given 5th pick expectations and I think Bishop is more of a case of the grass is always greener….

We can set the ground rule here and agree that we will stick with these repsective names so as to not confuse AWH and SFH. (I know, an easy thing to do….much love Andy and Steve!)

Anyways, Bishop doesn’t seem like the guy who would go around bitching about his situation. He actually seems like a very well conducted man, who has a lot of character and class. I think he’s just trying to work hard every day and fight for that chance. And if he gets it, I hope he never lets it go.

It’s very possible though, because even though he may seem that way, it may not be the case. He could be a crude bitch behind the scenes, and that could be the whole thing going on here. Unlikely, but can’t rule it out haha.

Being on the list is an actually very possible situation that may of happened, and that would not be good. Like we all say, it’s the first impression that counts, and its very tough to change a first impression. In that situation, he basically needs someone to get hurt, to play, and then prove he can play, and prove that he won’t do whatever he did that got him in this mess in the first place. All in all, not a very good situation if that is the case.

If only we could just know the answers to so many questions..

Is there some other situation in addition to performance that is holding him back that we are not privy to? Is he walking around loudly bitching about not playing in the confines of the locker room, practice, etc? Or did he at some point get on someone’s “list” early on and mistakes he makes now (the blown coverage example provided in the original post) get magnified 100x because of that history? Basically, short of walking on water, he will never get out of some people’s dog house.

Just another unanswered question.

All the talk last year, after his pre season outing, and if he performs well again, they will have to do something. If it’s true, that someone who makes the big decisions (MM, TT) is preventing Bishop from getting a chance, could end up seeing him being traded. Or release him, whatever it might be.

But here’s a thought. With all the talk, may actually persuade, per say, MM or TT to give Bishop a chance. If people continue to bash Hawk (somewhat) and Brady Poppinga, MM or TT may give in. They couldn’t really ask for a better time or reason if, for a second straight year, Bishop has a great pre season, and we continue to see some poor play from the other starters.

You just have to figure something eventually will happen soon.. I hope he performs very well again in exhibition. I want this kid to have a chance, and see if he can do it. I think he deserves a chance, and deserves a chance to prove what he can do.

And from now on I’m campaigning the idea of this could be a great way of altering Hawks salary. I don’t think he’s performed up to his salary. He has been consistent, and I think he is a good player, but he still is lacking, meanwhile, his contract is not.

Throwing Bishop in over Hawk gives the Packers leverage in Hawks contract. Not sure when his is up, but whether were talking about restructuring it, or signing a new deal, it would be nice for him to get a paycut (and a paycut may actually make Hawk play much better, because he’ll have to earn a better check).

Bottom line, it should be a very interesting year at LB. Many questions and hopefully a lot of great things come out if all.

Is Jones going to be able to hold his own, and be enough of a complement to Matthews?

Is Matthews going to continue to dominate and be a huge impact player for this defense?

2 years after his acl (I think?) tear, is Barnett going to be another key player to our core, with a year in the system and body feeling much healthier? Also getting his knees “cleaned up” in the off season may allow him to be much more athletic.

What about the other LBs? Hawk, Poppinga, Chillar, Bishop. UDFA? Can we put together a monster starting four linebackers? Picture this.. Matthews and Jones on the outside (w/ Jones pulling his weight), and Barnett and Bishop inside (w/ Bishop proving to be an impact player in games that count). I’d love to see that, that could actually be a monster linebacker group, WITH backups that contain Hawk, Chillar, and Poppinga (finally!). Having that go with our Dline would make this defense even more exciting this year.

Alright, I’ll stop writing, just getting way too excited for this year. All the potential we got, hope everything goes our way!