We’ve ignored this simply because there are so many guys playing awful football on the Green Bay Packers offense. Well, there’s someone playing awful football on the Green Bay Packers defense as well. He’s the same guy that’s been playing awful football since he’s been in the lineup.
We’re speaking of inside linebacker Nate Palmer.
Palmer was at it again against Chicago. Out there, sucking it up, giving us A.J. Hawk flashbacks.
That’s been par for the course.
A few weeks ago, the Packers actually did something about this. They benched Palmer against the Panthers and played rookie Jake Ryan.
Ryan played 38 defensive snaps to Palmer’s 23 against Carolina.
Ryan turned in a team-leading 10 tackles and we thought, “Oh, good. We’ve finally seen the last of Nate Fucking Palmer.”
But no.
The Green Bay Packers don’t operate with any sort of logic.
Because logic dictates that when you have a veteran player who sucks, you replace him with a youngster. You watch that youngster take his lumps simply because his upside is higher and he will make your team better in the long run. Sometimes that happens right in front of your eyes.
Guys learn on the job all the time.
It’s not as if Ryan has shown us that he’s a game-changer when he’s been out there on defense. It’s simply that there’s no world where he’s a bigger liability than Nate Palmer and, as we mentioned, Ryan has a much higher upside.
You let him play.
Well, if you’re any other football team than the Green Bay Packers, you let him play.
Where has Ryan been since that flash in Carolina? Relegated right back to special teams.
Ryan played a grand total of one defensive snap against Detroit and Minnesota.
Meanwhile, Palmer had the second-highest snap count among linebackers on the team during those two games. He’s second to only Clay Matthews.
It’s not as if the Packers defense has been playing badly, but Palmer has been playing badly.
Is making the switch to Ryan going to lower the overall level of the defense’s play?
No.
So, seriously, what the hell?
Who’s running this goddam clown show? Let’s make the switch already.