Blogs

Statement from Packers GM Ted Thompson on John Dorsey

“I would like to thank John Dorsey for his 27 years of service to the Green Bay Packers. First as a player, and later as a member of the personnel department, John has been a loyal member of the Packers family and the Green Bay community for more than half of his life. The Chiefs have hired a good man and John has earned this opportunity. We wish John and his family all the best.”

Packers coaching staff to coach NFC in Pro Bowl again

For the second straight year, the Packers coaching staff will coach the NFC in the Pro Bowl.

This year’s game will take place on Sunday, Jan. 27, at Aloha Stadium in Hawaii. Last year, the AFC beat the NFC, 59-41, after which Packers QB Aaron Rodgers criticized a lack of effort by players on both sides.

The Packers coaching staff got the assignment by virtue of being the highest-seeded NFC team to lose in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Packers were the No. 3 seed. The top two seeds, Atlanta and San Francisco, are playing next weekend for the NFC Championship. Last year, the Packers were the NFC’s top seed but also lost in the divisional round.

The Broncos were the AFC’s top seed this year but lost in double overtime last weekend, so Denver’s coaching staff, led by John Fox, will coach the AFC squad.

This will be Mike McCarthy’s third time as the head coach of the NFC. He also coached the squad following the 2007 season, after the Packers lost in the NFC Championship. Back then, the Pro Bowl was played one week after the Super Bowl, and the coaching staffs of the teams that lost in the conference title games coached the Pro Bowl. Now, the game is played the week before the Super Bowl.

The Packers have three players on this year’s NFC Pro Bowl roster — QB Aaron Rodgers, who is the starter, plus LB Clay Matthews and C Jeff Saturday. Other Packers still have a chance to make it as alternates because players from the teams participating in the Super Bowl do not go to the Pro Bowl, and others drop out for injuries and various additional reasons.

G Josh Sitton is a first alternate, and San Francisco G Mike Iupati is the NFC starter at the position. If the 49ers reach the Super Bowl, Sitton will be added to the NFC roster. Packers KR Randall Cobb is also a first alternate, though Seattle’s Leon Washington was the NFC selection at that position and the Seahawks were eliminated this past weekend.

Other Packers named alternates were FB John Kuhn, DL B.J. Raji, CB Tramon Williams and DB Charles Woodson.

Packers will pick 26th in first round of draft

The Packers will have the 26th pick in the upcoming April draft.

The four divisional-round playoff losers are slotted for the 25th through 28th picks based on reverse order of regular-season records. So the Broncos (13-3) will pick 28th and the Texans (12-4) are 27th.

The Packers and Seahawks both finished 11-5, and the tiebreaker for the draft order is strength of schedule. Green Bay’s strength of schedule — the collective winning percentage of all of a team’s opponents — in 2012 (.508) was slightly better than Seattle’s (.504), so the Seahawks will pick 25th, one spot ahead of the Packers at 26th.

The fact that the Seahawks won the head-to-head meeting with the Packers in the regular season had no bearing on the tiebreaker. The head-to-head result only would have come into play had the two teams’ strength of schedules been equal.

The same tiebreaker was used for the draft order of the losing teams in the wild-card round. The wild-card losers are slotted for the 21st through 24th picks. Indianapolis had the best regular-season record at 11-5 and will pick 24th. The other three teams — Cincinnati, Washington and Minnesota — were all 10-6. The Bengals had the worst strength of schedule (.438) and will pick 21st. Washington (.494) is next at 22nd (though the pick is owned by St. Louis via last year’s draft trade), followed by Minnesota (.520) at 23rd.

Much like the Green Bay-Seattle situation, Washington’s regular-season win over Minnesota had no bearing on the tiebreaker. Strength of schedule broke it.

Regarding the rest of the NFC North, Detroit (4-12) will pick fifth and Chicago (10-6) will pick 20th. The Bears had the best record of the 20 teams that did not qualify for the postseason and therefore will get the 20th pick.