ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

2014 NFL Season Preview- Green Bay Packers

Updated on March 16, 2015

2013 Review

2013 marked the Green Bay Packers fifth straight playoff birth and third straight division title. However this season was plagued by many challenges and was a miracle they were able to win the NFC North.

During their eighth game of the season, quarterback Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone. The team would go 0-4-1 in their next five games and found themselves at the bottom half of the division. Backups Seneca Wallace and Scott Tolzien did nothing to bring life to the offense. But thanks to rookie running back Eddie Lacy, the team finally had a balanced offense they've lacked for the last three years.

The team then traded for Matt Flynn and he was able to bring life back into the passing game and led two comeback victories to keep the Packers in playoff contention. Aaron Rodgers was finally cleared to play during the regular season finale at Chicago. He led a comeback in the final minute throwing 48-yard touchdown on fourth and eight.

Eddie Lacy was the star of the rookie class and set team rookie records for yards and touchdowns. Lacy was also named the offensive and NFL Rookie of the year in 2013. Defensive end Datone Jones was injured early in the year and never contributed to the defense. Running back Jonathan Franklin retired after suffering a severe neck injury during the season.

Packers 2013 Rankings

Passing yds
Rushing yds
Opponent Passing yds
Opponent Rushing yds
Total Offense
Total Defense
266.8 ypg
133.5 ypg
247.3 ypg
125 ypg
400.2 ypg
372.2 ypg
NFL Rank- 6th
NFL Rank- 7th
NFL Rank- 24th
NFL Rank- 25th
NFL Rank- 3rd
NFL Rank- 25th

2014 Offseason

After a year of large injury casualties and barely missing the playoffs, head coach Miki McCarthy called 2013 his most challenging year in his eight season as coach. With the rest of the NFC north restocking talent, McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson know they have to keep this team healthy in order to remain dominant.

The team also went through a few coaching changes in the offseason. Alex Van Pelt became the teams new quarterback coach and linebackers coach Kevin Greene decided to leave coaching to spend time with his family.

Notable additions- DE Julius Peppers

Notable departures- WR James Jones, C Evan Dietrich-Smith, RB James Franklin

Eddie Lacy Highlights

2014 NFL Draft

With the 21st pick on the draft, Green Bay planned to address the voids of their team left by free agency. Primarily at safety and tight end.

Charles Woodson left the team during the 2013 offseason and the defense suffered because of it. The ranked towards the bottom in almost every statistic and the safeties failed to cause a single turnover during the year. The secondary needs a safety to play alongside Morgan Burnett and is able to be a play maker in the secondary.

Tight end Jermichael Finely suffered a severe neck and spinal injury during the season and his future is in serious doubt. The team needs a vertical threat tight end who can take away coverage down the middle and away from receivers Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb.

Green Bay decided to select Alabama safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix with the 21st pick. Clinton-Dix was considered the best free safety prospect and was praised for his great ball skills. He was mainly criticized for being fooled on misdirection plays and needs to do a better job of reading offenses.

The team also drafted notable wide receivers like Fresno State's Davante Adams in the second round and Wisconsin's Jared Abbrederis in the fifth round. Adams led the nation with 131 catches and was very productive in his two years of college football. His biggest weakness was his less than average speed and not being physical enough when fighting for yards. Abberderis was a great route runner at Wisconsin and was able to deceive defensive backs with his speed. He was critiqued for his lack of muscle definition and will have to bulk up if he wants to stand a chance against physical defenses.

Ha Ha Clinton-Dix Highlights

What to Expect

The additions of Davante Adams and Jared Abberderis will restock the talented receiving corps and give Aaron Rodgers more targets. Eddie Lacy will continue to provide physicality and balance to an offense not known for running the ball.

The defense will be rejuvenated with drafting of Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and other players returning from injuries. The team will expect Datone Jones to step up after losing Ryan Pickett to free agency. A.J. Hawk and Clay Matthews will lead the defense by providing pass rush and run support.

The big issue that kept this team from a better record in 2013 was injuries. With Aaron Rodgers out, his backups failed to carry the team and it put a lot of pressure on the injured defense. So as long as this team can stay healthy, they'll be able to rack up wins and remain at the top of the NFC North.

Best record they can hope for- 11-5

Packers 2014 Season

How will the Packers fair this season?

See results
working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)