Packers Daily Links: Peppers Fined For Hit On Rodgers

Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers has reportedly been fined $10,000 for his hit on Aaron Rodgers. That and more in today's Daily Links...

Chicago Bears defensive end Julius Peppers will reportedly receive a fine for his play in last Sunday's game. "Peppers has been fined $10,000 by the NFL for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Aaron Rodgers in the NFC championship game that drew blood from the Green Bay quarterback," according to a report from the Associated Press.

The fine was laughable to Kris Burke of AllGreenBayPackers.com. "For a player who recently signed a huge free agent contract that could total $91.5 million, $10,000 is like pennies to you and me," writes Burke. "During the regular season, the NFL apparently made it crystal clear to teams and players that hits that involve the leading of the helmet would not be tolerated and would be met with stiff fines and possible suspensions."

The issue of the Super Bowl team photo has been resolved, and head coach Mike McCarthy gave final comment on it on Thursday. "McCarthy ... spent Monday and Tuesday setting up his schedule for the week, only to have quarterback Aaron Rodgers and cornerback Charles Woodson – two of the team’s playoff captains – come to his office after Barnett and Finley took their gripes to their legion of Twitter followers," writes Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin. "While McCarthy called Twitter 'the Twit-Tweeter,' you got the point that he was less than thrilled with the pair, and that he was ready to let the issue pass with an eye roll before the captains came to him." The official photo will be taken next Friday.

After McCarthy expressed his disappointment in Nick Barnett, Michael Rodney of Packer Update wrote that he doesn't think the inside linebacker will be back next season. "The thing I noticed right away was how much more physically the defense played without Barnett in the lineup," writes Rodney. "Instead of trying to run around blockers, Desmond Bishop and A.J. Hawk are far more willing to take them on. And instead of relying on sheer athleticism to keep up with backs and tight ends in coverage, the current starters are far more willing to pound on the receivers at the line of scrimmage or within five yards. It’s a mind-set that has served the entire defense well this season and one I’m pretty sure coordinator Dom Capers wants to carry into the future." I'm not 100% sold Barnett won't be back next season, but it's a possibility.

Green Bay's practice schedule for the Super Bowl has been set. "The team has played five weeks in a row [in must-win situations] and coach Mike McCarthy wanted to give his team as much time to recover as possible," writes Kareem Copeland of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "He also wanted all of the personal stuff — arranging tickets and hotel rooms — out of the way." The Steelers have been practicing since Wednesday, by comparison.

Yesterday's injury report is provided by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "The only players who were estimated not to have been able to practice were linebackers Erik Walden (ankle) and Frank Zombo (knee)," writes Silverstein. Unfortunately for the Packers, those two players man the same position. The outside linebacker spot opposite Clay Matthews is looking rather thin.

Former Packers general manager Ron Wolf was interviewed about this year's current team by Tom Silverstein. "Watching a 2010 Packers team that his one-time pupil, current general manager Ted Thompson, built, Wolf sees the talent worthy of being in Super Bowl XLV. Though he no longer studies league-wide personnel closely, he still knows talent and was willing to concede the Packers have a lot of... pluses."

Ron Wolf shared his thoughts on several Packers on this year's Super Bowl team.

Former Packers passed along words of advice to this year's edition in an article by Rob Demovsky of the Press-Gazette. “Don’t say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to let a lot of pressure get to me because I’ll be back here,’” LeRoy Butler said in the article. “I’m sure Dan Marino said the same thing.” Ryan Pickett learned the hard way that it's not easy to get back to the Super Bowl after making it his rookie year.

Sam Shields could have been a member of the Chicago Bears.

Pictures of the Super Bowl patch the players will be wearing comes from The Wearing of The Green (And Gold).

Did you know A.J. Hawk is an aviator?

James Starks is featured in a post by Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com.

An article about traffic and weather in Texas.

Want to purchase a luxury suite for the Super Bowl?

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Comments (21)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
Jayme Snowden's picture

January 28, 2011 at 08:46 am

Wonder if we could barter for that luxury suite. Looks like the best place to watch the game. Think we should pick up some lottery tickets.

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Franklin Hillside's picture

January 28, 2011 at 09:25 am

I've got $20 on a suite, Jayme.

"Our suites are all lower-level good suites. We don't deal with the junk upstairs," Segal said in a phone interview.

This Segal guy sounds like a prime candiadate for a punch in the face.

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CSS's picture

January 28, 2011 at 09:08 am

Barnett's status on next years roster will make for interesting off-season discussion for sure.

The notion/concept that the current defense was able to evolve into a more aggressive defense as a byproduct of Barnett's absence is laughable. I fail to see any cause and effect there.

There's a lot of OTHER factors that propelled this defense forward in 2010, but that one is silly.

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razzicc's picture

January 28, 2011 at 10:04 am

Agreed. Who says Barnett can't play physical? I hope he'll be back next season although Hawk, Bishop, Chillar and Barnett would make an awfully expensive ILB group.

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hyperRevue's picture

January 28, 2011 at 10:07 am

Don't forget to add Casey Matthews to the mix.

(A guy can dream, can't he?)

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CSS's picture

January 28, 2011 at 10:20 am

Casey Matthews isn't nearly as stout or big as his brother. He's been getting mauled in Senior Bowl practices and spending a lot of time on the ground in drills.

Great motor just like big bro, not nearly the same skill set or size.

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hyperRevue's picture

January 28, 2011 at 10:25 am

Thanks for pissing on my parade, CSS.

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CSS's picture

January 28, 2011 at 10:27 am

I'm here to please :)

The good news: Casey could be a value pick from mid 3rd round to the 5th round.

Good core special teams player, but I think he was just over 6' weighing in at only 232 lbs. He will be either a MLB (doubtful) or a weakside LB in a 4-3.

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NoWay Jose's picture

January 28, 2011 at 11:00 am

I don't know if the defense got more aggressive with Barnett out either... but I do think his absence is a reason it got better.

Barnett really seemed like he had lost a step to me this year before he went down. His game was always predicated on speed to a great extent and I doubt that he is ever going to recapture his best form at this point in his career.

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CSS's picture

January 28, 2011 at 11:09 am

Unless Barnett has some mutant gland that exhudes estrogen and impacts the rest of the teams ability to hit or be aggressive it's totally silly to say everybody the team needed his absence to hit harder.

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bomdad's picture

January 28, 2011 at 11:21 am

When it comes to Barnett, my first recollection is how he protested a potential move from the middle to the outside because his tackle total would go down and he wouldnt make enough money. I've warmed up to him since then because he displays some leadership but that is always in the back of my mind.
Now Bishop outshines him, and Hawk is better playing better too. His situation is becoming like Darren Sharper's.

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WoodyG's picture

January 28, 2011 at 11:41 am

Barnett is due $6 mil in 2011 ..... He's missed 19 of the last 48 reg season games over 3 seasons ..... He turns 30 yrs. old in May ..... He talks better than he plays ...... He's not one of TT's boys ..... (drafted by Sherman)

Would he be content as a BU LB & contributing on STs ? ...... I doubt it ..... First clue that Barnett may never play another down for GB is when GB rewrites AJ's contract sometime in the next several weeks .....

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Jordan's picture

January 28, 2011 at 02:16 pm

Yup, I think hawk has really shown out this year. However, as of now, I'd rather have Barnett than Chillar. I think he brings more physicality to the table. I would like to see what he could do from the outside opposite CM3. We all know the man can pass rush, he's proved he's good at that. That is all.

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bomdad's picture

January 28, 2011 at 11:24 am

Fines should have a multiplier applied for earnings and experience. Somebody like Zombo, $10 grand is still real money.

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jeremy's picture

January 28, 2011 at 12:33 pm

Right, Let's use a little math and some common sense. $10,000 is 0.1% of Peppers 9mil salary. So the average individual in the US makes $35,000 per year. 0.1% of $35,000 is $35

That's it! Basically a parking ticket. Goodell gave Peppers a parking ticket for his hit on Rodgers.

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NoWay Jose's picture

January 28, 2011 at 01:49 pm

This is a great point. If the league actually handed out suspensions for illegal hits (like it huffed and puffed about earlier this year), this would not be as much an issue. Players would miss a game check, which would naturally be in proportion to their salary.

More importantly, coaches would be strongly incentivized to control that behavior, lest they lose a player for a game. As it is now, coaches have nothing to lose. Do you think Lovie was very upset that Peppers was fined this week?

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cow42's picture

January 28, 2011 at 12:29 pm

2011 Nick Barnett = 2010 Al Harris.

Except Al wasn't a tool (as far as we know).

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hyperRevue's picture

January 28, 2011 at 03:16 pm

I think that's wrong on several levels.

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some guy's picture

January 28, 2011 at 05:14 pm

$10,000 for that his is a joke. makes no sense compared to other fines (cough, Nick Collins)

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Lynn Dickey 12's picture

January 29, 2011 at 01:28 am

Great article at SI.com about forgotten Packer Lynn Dickey, who led the Pack through what I call "the blackness":

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jeff_pearlman/01/28/lynn.d...

Lynn is in the Packers' HOF. Truly a class act.

GO PACK GO.

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Mark In Oklahoma's picture

January 29, 2011 at 10:46 am

What a great article! Lynn was a warrior, and when he had weapons around him (think 1981, 1982, 1983) he was awesome.

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