The Packers will likely have Eric Stokes and Carrington Valentine on the perimeter with Keisean Nixon as the slot corner against the Vikings.
Recipe for disaster….. somehow have to double team Jefferson and blitz our asses off
Could be another 300 plus career passing yards for another rookie/backup qb
😳👎

Alexander has been a seeming malcontent working for Barry for over 2 years.

He's not wrong to despise the failed DC's stubborn insistence to play prevent (the win) Defense, even though his players' strengths would point to a pressuring, attack style of play.

Barry is all about his hard-headed "play with a lead scheme" vs creating synergies with the men he is supposed to coach.

But Alexander is wrong to selfishly place himself ahead of the team. Very disappointing.

I get he wants to be showcased as a shutdown man CB. He's not a zone guy and it wastes his talent. Just like Josh Jackson was ill-suited to play man (better in zone)...Jaire is an ill fit in Barry Ball. Coach Gray agreed with him and left the Packers in silent disgust.

Still, Alexander's first loyalty is to his teammates and then to the team that pays him $millions to play a game.

I don’t think Alexander should have been out there last week. In fact that decision is one that bothers me more than the non-immediate benching and hence I therefore don’t see the fact that he will miss this week as being as shocking as some do. In any case, if we use our DBs like we did last week, it probably wouldn’t matter if we had 2 prime era Woodsons, so far from the ball and player.

So does this indicate a bigger problem in the locker room ? Is this a symptom of a bigger issue with the dysfunction on the defense.
I had mentioned a couple weeks ago that maybe the reason he's missed six straight games despite practicing might be that he's not on board with Joe Barry's philosophy/ scheme??
Whatever the reason is it was Jaire Alexander that suspended Jaire Alexander not the organization. Unacceptable behavior.
Please someone in that organization call Charles Woodson or Le Roy Butler to mentor this guy ASAP!!

May be more going on than meets the eye here, other than the Coin Toss Brain Fart. Did Lafleur not pay attention to who the Team Captains were on the field for the Coin Toss - equally as disturbing but no one is talking about it. Then as someone mentioned he isn't benched for at least 1 half of the current game or the whole game - there is a delayed reaction from above. Who is calling the shots on the field ? And is Alexander referencing his displeasure, like the entire fanbase, with the Charmin like defense of Joe Barry. At some point game changing players want to win and want to be put into a position to make an impact. I just think there is a deeper issue than a Coin Toss debacle and now lack of coaching oversight and awareness that has put this team again at a disadvantage in a Must Win Game. A failure on a lot of people's parts to let this spin like this.

Actions such as this simply add fuel to the fire to have a competent defensive coordinator who is innovative and will instill discipline in the team.

Let's keep beating a dead horse.

The next players need to step up for a division rival, and I think they will.

All the players know what's at stake.

If Jaire wanted to be out there that badly, all he probably had to do was ask if he could trot out there with a team captain. It's kind of dumb anyway because it's not like he wasn't going play in the game.

MLF on the suspension: "It's never one thing..." I never know what to believe when he speaks, but there's a lot of room for speculation. Maybe it will all be clarified once the season is over.

I would imagine there is a great deal of frustration with Barry's schemes and calls. Much of it is unspoken, but you know it's there. No matter how well compensated the players are or how willing they are to follow instructions, it hurts their pride to be ridiculed by the national media for the goofy predicaments they find themselves in the current defensive system. You know it's bad when Carrington Valentine finds himself at the end of a telescope in outer space. It's a young team, and that's probably one reason why some of the players haven't been more vocal about their dissatisfaction.

So under the present circumstances, it's perfectly natural that defensive unit seems to becoming unglued in a couple of places. There is no chemistry and there is no leadership here from MLF or Barry, and there doesn't seem to be much of it on the field, either. I don't think a punch-the-clock mentality has set in, but I wouldn't be surprised if were halfway there.

The decision to suspend Jaire with such an important game ahead is curious. I know he hasn't been a world-beater this season, but still....The last Stokes-Jefferson matchup resulted in 9 catches for 184 yards. Can Valentine handle Jefferson? The last time we played the Vikings, Jefferson was out. So if you want to look at the bright side, we get a real good chance to see how much we'll need to prioritize CB help in the off-season.

The Jaire situation is really a minor drama in the larger scheme of things. Surely the front office realizes by now that the lack of competent leadership has created a potentially sour environment on the team that shouldn't have been allowed to go this far. Making the playoffs would certainly help alleviate the situation, but either way big changes need to be made if the organization wants to retain its credibility.

Sorry to be so long-winded.

Just saw that Vikings are starting rookie Jaren Hall. Sadly, I smell the start of the legend of Jaren Hall incoming based on the fact Joe Barry is our DC. Like he legend of Tommy Devito it will be a quick rise and fall. I mean you can’t play a team with a two man rush and DBs 5 yards behind the sticks every down. 🤌

It may be that Jaire's one-game suspension is just the tip of an iceberg called Head Coach Not In Control of Team. No accountability? No discipline? And then Gute suspends Jaire, not LaFleur. Makes LaFleur look weak. Bad messaging.

Maybe the inconsistency of play last season, and this season, is due not to the inexperience of the players but to the incompetency of the head coach. Like maybe the team of his first three highly successful years belonged to the coaching staff before him. Maybe LaFleur's hiring simply freed up Rodgers and the rest of the team to become as good as they already were. LaFleur's hiring got the team out from under the non-creative Mike McCarthy.

LaFleur is going to ax Barry after the season. If Jaire wanted input on the next hire he should have respected the organization and players who want to win a SB in GB.

Let’s see, Adams was offered more money by GB, but demanded a trade to the Raiders. Raiders failed him miserably.

Rodgers kept refusing to throw to wide open Lazard in playoffs and the last game against Lions in 2022. Result, Packers under achieved. He blamed everyone else. Was paid a fortune by Packers. He demanded trade to Jets. Jets signed everyone he wanted. 2023, Jets were expected to be a top 4 team in NFL. Instead they flopped.

Hire someone like Rex Ryan as DC. Need someone who is respected and a loud mouth to humiliate Alexander.

I think its funny as hell. I think he did it deliberately because he and LeFleur and Barry have been going at it and perhaps he was benched for a while and LeFleur didnt want people to know it so they made up an injury?
What if they said, okay you can play now if you behave and do as your told and he decided "screw you guys" how about I do the coin toss. Thats pretty puny.
If at the end of the year they look to trade him, I'm probably a dam good guesser then. I say we've seen the last of him IMO.

Anyone think some of this goes back to Murphy? He hired LaFleur but told him he had no say on DC. He had to keep Pettine and his staff. So MLF was basically offense only. 2 more years of Pettine failure and then he was fired.

Seems to be a lack of trust from Murphy. He should hire GM he trusts. GM hire HC he trusts. HC then hired coordinators and may have some input on other coaches.

Players see Murphys lack of trust.

Jaire is the new Jalen Ramsey. Becomes so toxic and problematic the team will be forced to trade him.

Check out this article a few days before the Panthers game, maybe this prodded the management team to suspend Alexander as it appears that is the perception of the organization per the press;

https://lombardiave.com/posts/packers-plague-franchise-lacking-accountab...

My guess is Alexander has been insubordinate more than once. They've clearly increased the punishment.
I really think the Packers are moving on from him; I feel he has character issues which are not easily overcome.

I actually have bo problem with jaire he is paid to be a tip flight cb following the other teams best wr yet they have never used him this way since lafraud hire berry . Yes this is lafraud problem berry didnt hire or retainn himself.

I am perplexed how gute has let this go on . He paid jaire big bucks and lafraud is making hom look bad.

I cam only assume murphy is behind this. Playoffs for this team until vikings put up 40 and lafraud says we need to improve lmao this is funnoer than lynn dickeys perm

People are acting like this is a huge loss but Jaire has been playing horrible football. He literally is playing with one arm right now and cannot tackle. Not touching the locker room controversy and other issues, but just Jaire the player, right now he is leaving much to be desired. Not having him out there right now is a good thing. If he were shadowing Jefferson, Jefferson would eat his lunch right now. The Vikings have no viable tight end, Addison likely does not play, but if he does, he hobbled on one ankle. Jefferson is the ONLY threat, other than maybe Hall's legs. Double him, bracket him, jam him, just do not let Jefferson go off. If Osborn or Powell beat you, just tip your cap.

Jaire made a mistake. There should be repercussions for his actions and there was. He is relatively young guy at 26 and his action was quite childish. He still deserves a chance to learn from it.

I don't consider him a cancer on the team. That's JB. These guys go out there and play hard and get injured when they know the passive system won't work. That grates on everyone except maybe the new rookies just happy to be playing in nfl.

Smart players would have said No comment-
Smart players would have issued a statement.
Smart players would have apologized to the team.
D None of the above.

The Packers are choosing to go into their biggest game of the year without Alexander, who has missed quite a few games already. The fact that we'd rather play without him than with him really says it all, IMO. He'll either rebound and be a solid corner for us to move forward with, or he won't, in which case we'd have to arrange a trade.

The problem with trading him is they won't get much in return due to this sub-par season. Plus, they probably structured his contract so they would still be stuck with yet another big dead money cap hit.
They're big believers in kicking salary hits down the road.
Then to top it all off, it shows the rest of the locker room you can get rewarded (traded) for bad behavior, and still cash in big $$$.

Running out to take part in the coin toss seems like an awfully strange way to express one's displeasure in the coaching staff. It seems more likely that he was just overly exuberant about playing a game in his hometown, and with his massive NFL star ego, he figured, "Why not?" His ignorance of the coin toss rules is proof that he simply didn't know what he was doing. I'm sure there are other issues, as LaFleur implied, but none of those have caused an obvious disruption on game day.

For now, I'm thinking of this as an anomaly. The Packers have not had a lot of disciplinary issues under LaFleur.

Sigh.

There's a difference between swagger and distraction. I love Ja's swagger: he usually backs it up with his play on the field.

I wonder like some of you others if this has more to do with frustration over being injured, combined with frustration with Barry's defensive scheme.

Hope we get back to "normal" with him.

Rasul Douglas...gone. Campbell...not punished. Alexander suspended. All of them spoke out. I wonder if there's a problem with the players and how the defense is run? Duh.

What Alexander did was stupid and he deserved it. But it comes at a time when there are a lot of unhappy people concerning how the defense is run.

If the Packers want to improve in 2024 they can't trot out Barry and expect the fans to get behind it.

This defense has been a hot mess all year long and Barry, LaFleur & Gute can all share some blame. First of all I think the HC's decision retain Barry was mistake #1 as he is obviously in over his head and it should have been obvious by the end of last season.

Jim Leonard was available, opportunity missed.

Gute did his part by trading away their best CB Rasul Douglass (not Jaire IMO) to move up a paltry two picks in the draft (looks like a great deal for the Bills) and in the process demoralize his defensive players even more. IMO the problem with Alexander probably stems from frustration over injuries this year and the obvious disconnect he has with the DC where Barry loves to play a lot of loose zone while Jaire prefers man on man tighter coverage. There could be more to this but it looks obvious to me that this is a problem of the Packers own making and one that now bites them for not dealing with it sooner, instead letting it fester, only to explode at a very crucial point in the season. If they don't salvage this game and their season somehow, I could see more then just Barry being shown the door after the season is over.

The fact that all of this has been going on when a very attainable playoff position was there for the taking is not good. Maybe MLF hasn’t lost the team, but he sure doesn’t have them laser focused either. I for one have seen enough.

We all know Jaire and other players have a problem with the defensive scheme. No doubt this was a cause of his acting out. That said, how does benching him for what could be a playoff game help the Packers win? How do the rest of the players feel about this draconian move by management? Does anyone think this will actually improve morale amongst the defense? If anyone should be benched it should be a coach or two. When healthy Jaire is the best CB on the team which already has a weak secondary. The mode of punishment should fit the crime You don't punish the whole team for the sins of one player. I suggest management take al look at them selves before casting the first stone. Lombardi would have found a better way of handling the situation that would not hurt the morale and the winning chances for a game. If the Pack loses against the Vikings the loss is on management. I know a lot of others feel the same way but don't want to say it.

For comparison:

Ja would save $3 MM by cutting him, with a cap hit of $24 MM next season. He doesn't hit FA til 2027.

Rasul Douglas saved $6.6MM by giving him away for nothing, and still has a cap hit next season of $5MM.

Hopefully Ja plays for GB for a long time ...