Clay Matthews Blowing Up Plays

Happy Manlarn Day!

Although we have many loyal followers here at The Malnarn, few actually know the origin of the sites name. There was once a very dear friend to the creators of this blog that we commonly referred to as Malnarn. She was a very nice girl, and although we had a falling out these days, this website was named in her honor, and today is her Birthday!

This will be the first annual edition of The Malnarn Day Preseason Post, full of news, predictions, insight and pure poppycock.

The NFL Lockout is water under the bridge and football is back! The Packers are coming into the season as the team to beat and the favorite to win the Super Bowl, and with good reason as we have some key players coming back from injuries who certainly can improve the team. Much like Malnarn, these players are coming out of hiding in the swamps and are ready to pounce on their competition.

As is typical of the Pack, we did little through free agency this season to improve our squad, and may have arguably moved back a couple of steps with the departure of Cullen Jenkins and Darren Colledge. Jenkins leaves a big hole to fill at DE, and with the injury to Mike Neal, that hole is a glaring one to us at The Malnarn.

Several rookies will be expected to make an impact early in the season. Through two preseason games, Randall Cobb looks like lighting in a bottle. He is already a little banged up with a couple of bruised knees, but he has looked dynamic in the return game and could be dangerous anytime he gets the ball in his hands. I'm excited about Cobb and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do this season.

Alex Green is another skill position player who can positively effect our already potent offense. Green is going to be thrown into the running back mix with Ryan Grant and James Starks this season. The Packers seem to really like this kid and want to get him into the mix and get the ball in his hands.

Aaron Rodgers is going to have more weapons that he had last season and I don't think there is a team in the league that is going to be able to cover them all, especially with Finley back in the lineup.

There has been a lot of talk this week about Ryan Grant's future with the organization. I believe this is mostly speculation, but the emergence of James Starks last year in the playoffs and the ability of Alex Green could lead to Grant being less valuable to the Packers. Grant did restructure his contract earlier in the month, taking less money but getting it all guaranteed. This could be a sign that he has a home in Green Bay for at least the 2011/2012 season. We will just have to wait and see what happens as final cuts in the NFL will occur September 3rd.

When it comes to The Malnarn, there is always a lot of discussion about the Packers and the NFL in general between myself and my co-editor. We are often on the same page but there are times when we don't always see eye to eye on topics. For this reason, I am going to make some predictions for the upcoming season that he may not agree with.

#1: James Jones will take over Donald Driver's spot as the #2 WR. It was clear this offseason that Aaron Rodgers wanted to keep Jones around. James Jones has a ton of talent that last season was often trumped by dropped passes. I think that Jones is going to break out this season and show that he is on his way to being a very good wide receiver in this league. I expect him to step up and take over as the #2 WR on the team, and although I still think Driver is going to play a role in the offense and get his catches, I think that Jones will start to take some of his targets.

#2: Clay Matthews will lead the league in Sacks. Last season Clay had 6 sacks in the first two games. It came out earlier this preseason that last year Clay played with a stress fracture in his leg or foot, I don't remember which, but the bottom line is that when he is healthy, there is no stopping him.

#3: Alex Green takes a larger share of running back duties than you expect. One of my favorite things about the NFL is the NFL Draft. I always love watching the draft and waiting to see what the Pack does. I remember hearing a little about Green prior to the draft, but it was nothing compared to what i'm hearing coming out of Green Bay's training camp and what i've seen so far this preseason. The Packers are looking for ways to get the ball into Green's hands and I think that is whats going to happen during the season. We here at the Malnarn see the Pack going with a true "running back by committee" strategy this season and we expect Alex Green to be a surprise this season and prove to be a great draft pick.

#4: The Bears will still suck. Regardless of how the Bears were last season, making it to the NFC Championship, they will always suck. I continue to hate the Bear Nation with a passion and I continue to bash them with every chance I get. Watching Jay Cutler cry on the sidelines to end their season was one of the greatest gives I've ever received. This season the Bears have made some serious moves in Free Agency...just kidding, they got Roy Williams and Marion Barber. This is so laughable because everyone in Chicago thinks that Roy Williams is going to lead the league in receiving, all because out of his lackluster seasons that compile an average at best NFL career, his best season was under Mike Martz, now offensive coordinator for the bears. So obviously, it makes complete sense that after doing nothing in Dallas for a couple years he will come into Chicago and be a top WR. Again, I'm completely kidding. The bears suck, Roy Williams sucks, and I smile everytime I think of him being the #1 receiver. I'm putting Chicago in the #2 spot in the division, but the Bears still suck.

That concludes my predictions for the start of the season. I would imagine they will all be correct. We now have less than two weeks until the Packers season debut against the Saints. All we can do now is sit back, relax, and get ready to defend our title!! That being said, happy birthday to Malnarn and stop back often for more award winning blogging from us at The Malnarn!