I find a lot about this to be preposterous, but then, I found this whole thing to be totally and completely idiotic during the season as well. I’m speaking of Eddie Lacy’s weight issue.
Let’s do a quick recap.
All season long, the shitbirds who cover the Green Bay Packers were pushing out stories about how Lacy was overweight. Some of these idiots pushed out more than one such story.
We railed on them then because that narrative was not only stupid, but obviously overdone.
Why was it stupid?
Because fat or not, Lacy could still show up on Sunday run over some motherfuckers for 100-plus yards. Just like he did against Minnesota, Chicago and Dallas late in the season, when he was supposedly bathing in gravy.
In hindsight, it has become pretty obvious that the underlying issue here was that people on the team didn’t believe Lacy was taking his job seriously enough.
Thus, their brilliant plans to motivate Lacy included demoting him in favor of James Starks, benching him after missing curfew (even though he was in the team hotel) and planting stories in the media about him being fat.
Don’t kid yourselves. Those constant moronic stories didn’t keep showing up by accident. Someone in the Packers organization strongly encouraged someone in the media to write them.
Did anything change?
Clearly it did not, as evidenced by Mike McCarthy’s openly stating the Lacy needed to lose weight during his season-ending press conference.
And why are we going over all this?
Because the Packers are just as much to blame here as Lacy is. In fact, I’d say they’re more to blame.
Take this nugget from a Bob McGinn chat, earlier this week.
Yes, (the Packers) have weigh-ins weekly. I think they are on Thursday. McCarthy and his people knew Lacy’s weight all along. They just hid the truth. I’m sure Lacy has been counseled, hassled, ripped, ridiculed and everything in between about his weight. But you’ve still got to want to do it.
Certainly true that you’ve got to want to do it.
If someone doesn’t want to act like a grown man, then he’s probably not going to act like a grown man.
False, however, that they hid the truth. The Packers pretended they didn’t know about Lacy’s weight when asked by the media, but then they went behind his back and secretly tipped off the media that Lacy was overweight.
And I have a hard time getting over the ham-fisted manner in which that was handled.
Do you know how many strength and conditioning guys the Packers have on staff?
Four.
What the hell were those guys doing all season?
If you need to have one of them follow Ed around town, then have one of them follow Ed around town.
Do you know who else the Packers employ?
A full-time nutritionist. That position was created in the summer of 2014.
What the hell was that person doing all season?
It seems to me the Packers should have had the team in place to remedy this situation, but instead they stooped to trying to shame Lacy through the media.
Sound strategy.
Apparently, the same accountability that’s in place for guys who coach running backs or tight ends isn’t in place for the people who are supposed to keep everyone in top shape.
If a player doesn’t give a shit about the weight advices (coaches, strength and conditioning guys and the nutritionist), there’s nothing else to do, except public shaming…
This isn’t the military or a corporation where you have an endless supply of like-talented people to fill the job of a worker not meeting expectations. There is no luxury of having a system where a its one size fits all. Public shaming works for some people but I guarantee you it won’t work for Eddie, not given his personality and background.
The Pack had a uniquely talented, though flawed (who isn’t), RB fall in their laps in second round. If you are a smart organization, you have to be more nimble thinking than to just say, well, if he doesn’t respond to efforts to make him feel like shit, next guy in line take his place. Here’s the catch: there is no next guy. Maybe 10 RBs in world right now have the innate talent of Eddie.
Fair or not, pro sports teams that succeed have different rules and approaches for different players. Someone with a brain has to figure out how to get Eddie in top form. They have to figure out how to get him to want it. Just saying “Eddie do it or else” is stupid, because Ahman Green ain’t second on the depth chart.
Holy shit you’d think Eddie Lacy is the second coming of Jim Brown. Let’s not get carried away. The offensive line he’s running behind is a big part of his success. Furthermore, I personally think Lacy’s instincts in the hole and on the field in general are below average. He’s really big and has been a decent back for the Packers.
That’s about it.
and i totally agree..just an average big guy, if a big hole is there, he’ll run through it….for a few yards till some defensive lineman catches him from behind….sure not such a big conspiracy that i can see…
Put on the tape of his rookie year and then watch his second season. He has great vision for a big back, just too heavy this year to hit the hole and cutback
While this is the packers fault for not keeping tabs on lacys conditioning, the mere suggestion that they were tipping off the media is fucking stupid. You could tell by looking at the guy he was carrying an extra 20lbs and was much slower to the hole. Anyone paying any kind of attention could see that. My guess is the packers didn’t want to create midseason drama by calling him out when his production waned, and he couldn’t play at his weight and waited till after the season to address it
Well when the douchebag obviously won’t listen, it’s time to run his name through the dirt. Packers dealt with this whole situation terribly, but if he actually showed a touch of professionalism, there would be no situation to deal with
I’m all for shaming him throughout the entire offseason
I have said previously what Monty said in his last 7 to 8 paragraphs. There are individuals on the staff (strength, conditioning, and Nutritionist) who should be accountable to perform their jobs at a championship level. Remember the players are around the team facilities for 7 to 8 months. Sure there could be 4 months a year you could lose track of players. I say Lacy, other players, and the staffs hired to condition the players are not performing their jobs.
In addition I believe this team in general is not as physically ( cardio) conditioned as it should be to reach a championship level. I have mentioned that specifically about the D and there habit of failing in the 4th quarter. I remembered someone else complaining about the same thing after a pre season game that I believe they attended, so I looked it up. Andrew Chitko whom many of you have read on this site said the following:
#9 written by Andrew Chitko
08/30/2015 – 7:20 pm
McCarthy needs to get the Packers on wind sprints in a big way. HaHa Clinton Dix won the award for “Hands on hips and breathing really hard all the time guy” award.
The team is out of shape. They know it. And when Philly started running plays every eight seconds, the Packers said fuuuuuuuck that. That’s what I really believe happened. “You think I’m going to run around like a damn fool every eight seconds and chase my guy around the field on crossing patterns? Hell no!”
Conditioning should be our biggest worry though. Get these guys running the stairs Big Mac!
That preseason game was after being in camp approximately 4 weeks. The strength, conditioning, and nutritionist staff on this team need to be accountable and or changes need to be made.
I said this earlier about other coaches on the Packer staff. Thompson wont fire a “true Packer.” Mark Lovat came up through the organization, his dad was a coach here. He’s at the bottom of the Ted Thompson shit list so he doesn’t have to worry about job security. Its easier to just fire Sam Gash who has no history in GB and was a recent hire. Its bull shit, but that’s how the Packers operate, that’s why nothing changes inside that organization until the shit hits the fan.
I’m not giving up on Lacy. Jerome Bettis did the same thing with the Rams. In his third year, Bettis ran for only 600 some odd yards. The Rams drafted a sure-thing running back in Lawrence Phillips, then traded Bettis to the Steelers.
Bettis went into the Hall of Fame last year. Phillips was murdered in prison just a couple weeks ago.
People do what they want to do. He may need some professional counseling to see what is going on in his head and why.
I read your site because the gutter humor somehow strikes my funny bone.
But, in your own language, this piece on Lacy is full of shit and conspiratorial supposition. Investigative reporting digs for enough info and Lacy’s pictorial didn’t need a CIA leak to affirm a judgement that he was not in shape, except for the next pizza eating contest.
The team should be applauded by trying to protect its players, not publicly castigating them in season. McCarthy’s year end presser was one of thinly veiled frustration over Lacy and others failure to deliver. GB has always been a admirable organization, attends its affairs professionally despite crap from trash mouth idiots as you.
The team should be applauded? FUCK THAT!
You got a guy who can’t make weight and isn’t owning up to his responsibilities to the team, you sit his fucking ass down on the bench… or better yet you deactivate him.
This is a team with Super Bowl ambitions and you’re going to allow some guy who put in a half-assed effort all offseason and then put him on the field? What kind of message does that send to the guys who busted ass in the offseason to improve themselves?
This was another fail by McCarthy and company. The fact that they hid it at all is fucking disgusting to me. And all you people talking about fat shaming? PLEASE!
THE MAN IS A PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE PAID MILLIONS OF DOLLARS TO BE IN SHAPE.
Hahaha, wow, what a conspiracy…worse than “deflate gate” for sure!!!!! The Fat Lacy Files….and this stuff doesn’t happen on every NFL team??
Well said Hombre I agree these are professional players who know what it takes to perform at a professional level who the fuck needs a babysitter to tell you that you are over weight or playing like shit, this team for the last 5 years has only truly played about 15 minutes per game which is usually the forth quarter. There is no urgency in this team and that’s on the coaching staff
I haven’t read any post here yet. but i did read your moronic article.
First…the only time Lacy runs for a 100+ is when he’s playing a weak run defense and that doesn’t even guarantee success. Look at his yards other than those 3 teams, seriously embarrassing.
They should have someone follow him around? Even in the off season? So they should have someone shadow him 365 days a year, that’s your solution?…a babysitter? I can see Raji watching over him, while eating pizza.
This is where the problem starts. He doesn’t come into camp in shape. Yes, they use to make him do wind sprints, but this year they gave up when he came into camp so overweight.
You want to know what the four strength and conditioning coaches were doing? Maybe they were trying to help players that actually gave a fuck about being in shape. If Lacy didn’t give a fuck about himself or accept help, do you think they are gonna waste their fucking time? THINK!
If you don’t think the Packers have been trying to get
Lacy to be in shape since he joined them, you might be a moron. The PLAYER has got to be self motivated enough to eat right, workout out, do cardio.
Ever heard the expression..”Nobody can help you, if you don’t want to help yourself?”
You say it’s more the team’s fault than Lacy’s. You say the Packers should have done more. Sure, they could have fined him, benched him for more games, etc. But then you would have just bitched and whined that they’re shaming him. Well, which way do you want it?
Do you really think the Packers had to plant story’s that he was fat? lol……People didn’t already know he was fat?
Holy shit dude.
7 written by PF4L
01/27/2016 – 1:09 am
It’s not great if a player comes into camp in shape, it should be mandatory. or they need to be fined, and/or benched. The team has to show some backbone, and that clearly wasn’t the case with Lacy. As a matter of fact, according to ex Packer players, the Packers stopped trying with Lacy when he came into camp all bloated up.
#accountability
#3 written by PF4L
12/04/2015 – 8:28 pm
Well…when he did come in to play, he gave McCarthy no reason to keep giving him the rock.
I remember back when he was drafted, the scouting report on him was he wasn’t committed to football, or that was the sense they got.
I wrote once before, that the Packers are fed up with trying to get him, to get in shape. It’s no secret that he’s carrying an extra 25 lbs or more, ((look at the picture on top of this article).
He’s talented. but he doesn’t seem to have the self motivation to utilize the talent he has. If he doesn’t care, then we shouldn’t either i guess. He looks more like Raji, than a running back that has goals of being a impact player in the NFL. I mean, seriously, take the dreads away, slap the #90 on him, and who do you have?
Please RBs are a dime a dozen. If i was GM, you’d have Travis Kelce… Travis Fucking Kelce is way better of a team guy and athlete than Lacy. Period.
Crown me. Super GM (armchair)
Running backs a dime a dozen? Sorry, Not RBs with Lacy’s talent; that’s just a silly statement. I guess WRs are a dime a dozes too, but I don’t think I’ll take davante over Jordy.
Sorry, Starks at 100% < Lacy at 40%. Lacy needs to find it within himself to do it; I think he can. If the Packers want to succeed, they're going to bend over backward to help him do it. It's the height of stupidity to treat your truly exceptionally talented employees like the average ones. Unless it's a a union or some kind of socialist workers' paradise.
Lacy is an asset, and like any asset, you do what you can to maximize returns. Just toss him aside — after what we say I. His years one and 2 — is dumb. If you have to assign him a priest, wet nurse and a fluffed to make him be in shape, that's what you do.