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About a month after firing Mike McCarthy

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     Nazair Jones Color Rush Jersey , the Green Bay Packers have reportedly found a new head coach to run the ship and try to right the offense with Aaron Rodgers: former LA Rams and Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Matt LaFleur. At 39, LaFleur joins former boss Sean McVay as one of the few under-40 head coaches in the league and he’s the first new hire of 2019.LaFleur’s first NFL job came in 2008 as an offensive assistant with the Houston Texans where he worked under head coach Gary Kubiak and offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan. He then followed Shanahan to Washington in 2010 where he worked as quarterbacks coach, which is when he first worked with McVay, the tight ends coach. He spent four years at that position, which meant he was a key part of the development of 2012 offensive rookie of the year Robert Griffin III, but when the Shanahan’s were fired after the 2013 season, he took a job under Brian Kelly at Notre Dame. In 2015, Shanahan became offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons and again LaFleur was his QB coach, next helping Matt Ryan win MVP in 2016.After McVay became head coach for the Rams in 2017, LaFleur was his OC hire and he helped develop Jared Goff and the rest of the offense into viable scoring weapons one year after they finished last in points. The same could not be said about Marcus Mariota and the Titans in 2018, where LaFleur was coaching last season, as they were 27th in points and had just 16 passing touchdowns, but clearly there is a talent drop-off from LA to Tennessee.LaFleur should have a lot to work with in Green Bay, including Rodgers, Davante Adams, Jimmy Graham, Aaron Jones, and a fair bit of young talent recently invested in at the receiver position. The Seahawks beat the Packers 27-24 in 2018, essentially killing their playoff hopes at the time and McCarthy was fired sooner after. The two teams will not meet in the 2019 regular season, but Green Bay is obviously a foe of note and the NFC could see the Packers return to competitive play very soon if LaFleur turns out to be anything like his mentor in McVay. When the NFL announced its Pro Bowl rosters on Tuesday evening, only two members of the Seattle Seahawks made the squad, All Universe linebacker Bobby Wagner and rookie phenom punter Michael Dickson. Of the multiple Seahawks who made the team as alternates 12th Fan Color Rush Jersey , one of the players who received the most outcry about having been snubbed is Frank Clark, who is an alternate, but is not a starter. Thus, the question becomes, was he snubbed? Fans of the Hawks (and other teams) reacted on social media and elsewhere regarding the omission of Clark from the NFC squad. Here’s a sampling of some of the reaction on Twitter: So, obviously, multiple fans think Clark was snubbed, so let’s turn to the stats and see. There’s no doubt that Clark is easily having the best season of his young NFL career, as he has been a terror for opposing quarterbacks all season, recording 12 sacks and 21 quarterback hits. How does that compare to the three defensive ends that made the NFC Pro Bowl team? Frank Clark and Pro Bowl DEs rushing the passer in 2018PlayerSacksQB HitsTotal PressureSnaps PlayedPlayerSacksQB HitsTotal PressureSnaps PlayedSo, by those measures Clark is certainly in the discussion for being in place when it comes time for the Pro Bowl to announce the players who made it. However, these are obviously all numbers that are accumulated in the passing game, so the question follows, where does Clark stack up when it comes to making plays in the running game, and here we start to see some separation between Clark and the other players. Frank Clark and Pro Bowl DEs against the run in 2018PlayerTacklesTFLSnaps PlayedPlayerTacklesTFLSnaps PlayedThere is zero doubt that when looking at these from a run-stopping perspective, Frank Clark comes in below the other three. Thus, when combining the fact that the pass rushing numbers are largely the same for all four players, the fact that Clark’s contributions in stopping the run fall short of the other three leads me to believe that Pro Bowl selection process actually made the correct decision putting him as an alternate. Now, can an argument be made that Clark should have made the Pro Bowl? Absolutely. But in my opinion, the three guys who did make it, are the three guys who should have made it. Moving on to one of the other players for whom there have been some loud voices on social media, Tyler Lockett was also not selected to the Pro Bowl roster. This in spite of having recorded 800 yards and 9 touchdowns in an offense that throws the ball less often than any other offense in the NFL Tyler Lockett Color Rush Jersey , which appears to have been the problem. Yes, there is no doubt that Lockett is having a phenomenally efficient season, and that he has returned to health in 2018 to fill the void left by the departure of Paul Richardson and Jimmy Graham. However, players don’t make the Pro Bowl based on efficiency because fans still like big counting numbers. Thus, let’s go ahead and compare Lockett’s 2018 numbers to those players who did make the Pro Bowl: Julio Jones, Michael Thomas, Adam Thielen and Davante Adams. Tyler Lockett next to 2018 Pro Bowl WRsPlayerReceptionsTargetsCatch RateYardsYards/ReceptionTDPlayerReceptionsTargetsCatch RateYardsYards/ReceptionTDAs you see, the last row in the table is an anonymous player I’ve named the “Mystery Man” because if there is a wide receiver in the NFC who warrants having made the Pro Bowl roster over one of the four receivers that actually did make it, that would be my vote. Unfortunately, Mystery Man isn’t a real person, it’s the combined stats of Lockett and Doug Baldwin. So, yes, there is absolutely zero debate whatsoever that Lockett is having a phenomenal season, and that his phenomenal season is the result of a historically efficient season. At the end of the day Pro Bowl voters want big numbers, and no receiver in the current Seahawks offense is going to put up the kind of numbers necessary to make the Pro Bowl. Thus, if you have an issue with Lockett having been left off the Pro Bowl roster, it seems more appropriate to take it up with Pete Carroll and Brian Schottenheimer than it does to complain about the process or how Lockett never stood a chance in the offensive system in which he plays. Just to demonstrate how little the Seahawks actually throw the ball, and how few opportunities he actually gets as a receiver, here are Lockett’s numbers compared to the four Pro Bowl tight ends from both the AFC and the NFC. Tyler Lockett 2018 stats versus Pro Bowl TEsPlayerReceptionsTargetsCatch RateYardsYards/ReceptionTDPlayerReceptionsTargetsCatch RateYardsYards/ReceptionTDLooking at that, the only thing I can think of is to just imagine how good Eric Ebron could be if he had a real quarterback throwing the ball to him.
      August 13, 2019 11:13 PM PDT
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