LaFleur will present unscouted look

"Ask Vic" will publish on Mondays and Thursdays through the offseason.

Steve from Lake Stevens, WA
I realize all personnel decisions carry an element of risk, but do you think teams ever get so blinded by what they see as potential reward they take too much of a risk?
Try to catch lightning in a bottle? Yeah, teams do it, especially teams drafting at the bottom of the order and the talent available to them isn't likely to make an impact and may even have difficulty making it onto their talented roster. So, they leave their board and take a flier on a guy with big upside but who wasn't especially productive in college, or who was injured in college and there's limited information on him, or he's a small-college guy and poor competition pushed him down the board. I remember the Steelers drafting in the first round a running back from Baylor who missed his senior season due to a hip injury. They fell in love with his size, speed and upside. Did the Packers try to catch lightning in a bottle with Nick Perry? The Jaguars did it with R. Jay Soward. When you're drafting at the bottom, there's a tendency to reach because in most cases the safe pick isn't attractive.

Jerry from Grantsburg, WI
If both Savage and Gary live up to the expectations of their draft position, how good can the Packers' defense be?
Gary, Savage, Alexander, King, Jackson, Amos and the Smith Bros. are high-profile additions to that defense over the last three years. I think it's reasonable to have high hopes for the Packers defense.

Wade from Jacksonville, FL
My top 10 Vicisms over the years: 10. No cheering in the press box. 9. Get the big guys early. 8. Players, not plays. 7. Picks, not players. 6. Run the ball. 5. Stop the run. 4. Help is not on the way. 3. The QB must go down and the quarterback must go down hard. 2. Basketball on grass. 1. I like to watch. Are there new Vicisms you might add for today's game?
The quarterback must run and the quarterback must run fast.

Jono from Milwaukee, WI
Why don’t the Packers value the middle linebacker position? It feels like it has been forever since we have had a difference-maker at the position.
If you're playing the Seahawks you still have need for run-stuffers inside but, by and large, inside linebackers have been replaced by nickel and dime defensive backs.

Anthony from Milwaukee, WI
“There are so many to choose from.” Did you write that with a smile?
From which to choose, Anthony, from which to choose.

​Josh from Madison, WI
Thanks for not ending that sentence with a preposition, Vic.
OK.

Jim from Maple Grove, MN
Vic, what do you think of this division sandwich the Packers have been served, where they have one game against a division rival between mid-September and mid-December?
I'm not a big fan of division games early in the season, but the league has done a lot of intra-division scheduling in recent years and I think the intent might be to encourage teams to play their starters more in the preseason and reward the teams that do and penalize the teams that don't. It can help level the playing field between a young team that played its starters in the preseason vs. a veteran team that rested its starters in the preseason. In the Packers' case, I don't see a particular advantage or disadvantage in the first two games. If there is one, it's Matt LaFleur will present an unscouted look.

Sean from Brighton, MI
I get the feeling the Packers drafted Gary at 12 only because of his performance at the underwear Olympics. His stats at Michigan don’t jump out at you and he was considered by most Michigan fans as an underachiever. When you watch his tape, what do you see?
I see a powerful bull rush.

Wayne from Beavercreek, OH
Allison’s stats over the first four games of 2018 project to 76 receptions, 1,156 yards and eight touchdowns over a full season. Valdes-Scantling had the same number of catches as Davante Adams his rookie year with 130 more yards. Most importantly, both pass the eye test to me. When will you be excited?
I'm beginning to feel it.

Joe from Bloomington, IN
What do you see the Packers doing at inside linebacker?
Stopping the run on the way to the quarterback.

Benjamin from Jacksonville, FL
The recent discussion regarding the value of receivers leads me to ask: What was the problem with the Jaguars' receivers during the David Garrard era? If receivers are dime a dozen, then that would basically mean the team's scouting was just that bad, right? Or were there other factors contributing to the woes of the passing game?
The Jaguars over-drafted Reggie Williams and Matt Jones. They were trying to give Byron Leftwich the weapons he needed to be successful and they played fast and loose with their board. Some teams had a third-round grade on Williams. Jones was a classic lightning-in-a-bottle pick. He was making a position switch. They followed those two misses by drafting a tight end, who turned out to be a better blocker than he was a receiver. A good roster was wasted on bad decisions at wide receiver, including at least one senseless free agent acquisition, Jerry Porter.

Gordon from Fayetteville, NC
To underscore what you have said over the past several years, with all the additions to the defense the Packers have made recently, maybe the problem was not Dom Capers.
The problem was not Dom Capers.

Scott from Hamlin, NY
I was thinking about the article that said Rodgers would call as much as 80 percent of his own plays. Then I thought about the 2014 game against the Pats when their coach said something along the lines of he was out-coached by McCarthy. What if he was out-coached by Rodgers?
Bill Belichick was referring to Mike McCarthy's game plan that resulted in a matchup advantage (Davante Adams on a smallish defensive back) that was the difference in the outcome. Design and game plan are more important than play-calling.

Michael from Eau Claire, WI
Vic, I thought the induction of Ted Thompson into the Packers Hall of Fame was pretty sweet. Do you have any thoughts, reflections or stories worth sharing?
We weren't close; I wish that wasn't true. What I can tell you is I always respected the work he did. I agreed with his draft philosophy and defended it, and I think he is absolutely worth a place in the Packers Hall of Fame.