The Milwaukee Post

September 13, 2013 • Milwaukee Post • 11 Packers show promise despite season-opening loss Season will be special if they don't meet the 49ers in the playoffs I like the 2013 Green Bay Packers. I like them so much I'm changing my mind about this season. It will be a special season as long as they don't face the San Francisco 49ers in the postseason. While the Packers lost to the 49ers last Sunday, they showed they will be much better in the trenches this season. They have the best quarterback in the league in Aaron Rodgers, but the offensive line was dominated too often last season as he was sacked 51 teams. There's no way the Packers will give up as many sacks this season. Rookie left tackle David Bakhtiari might be the best draft selection by general manager Ted Thompson since he picked Clay Matthews in the first round of the 2009 draft. Former Packers tight end Mark Chmura said on 540 ESPN Radio that Bakhtiari will be the starting left tackle for the next decade. Ten years might be pushing the point, but Bakhtiari is already better than Marshall Newhouse after only one game. The loss of Bryan Bulaga won't even be mentioned this season. Once head coach Mike McCarthy admits that switching sides was a mistake and puts Josh Sitton back at right guard and T.J. Lang at left guard, the offensive line will be good enough to cut the sack total by 10 to 20 sacks. In addition, the Packers will run the ball better because Eddie Lacy is much better than any runner the Packers have had since the prime of Ryan Grant. Lacy just needs the line to give him a hole, and he will prove to be another valuable weapon for Rodgers. He was outstanding in the fourth-quarter drive against San Francisco that gave the Packers a 28-24 lead. The Packers won't be a run-first team, but Lacy will improve the running game after it's set up by the passing game. While the safeties were horrific in the loss to the Niners, the defensive line was impressive in shutting down the San Francisco running game. In the previous two losses to Jim Harbaugh's team, the Packers gave up over 500 yards rushing. They were whipped on the line of scrimmage by the outstanding offensive line of the 49ers. It was exactly the opposite this past Sunday. The Packers limited the San Francisco running game to 90 yards. Johnny Jolly's return is a big plus, and they should be able to generate a better pass rush when they don't have to worry about keeping the quarterback in the pocket. They won't face a running quarterback as good as Colin Kaepernick because "RG3" (Robert Griffin III) is still less than 100 percent and playing in a pass-first mode. It's possible that the defensive backs could be a major problem all season, but I'm betting against it with the eventual return of Morgan Burnett. Jerron McMillian must be replaced. I put in the qualifier that the season will be special only if they don't play San Francisco in the playoffs because the Niners OWN the Packers. Dom Capers has no idea what to do because everything he has tried against the Niners has been a disastrous failure. Last year in the regular season game, Alex Smith had a quarterback rating of 125.6 as the Niners rushed for 186 yards. In the playoff game, Capers couldn't defend against the read option as "HOMER" on SPORTS STEVE "The HOMER" TRUE Kaepernick and the Niners' offense had 579 yards in total offense. Capers solved the read option in Sunday's game but San Francisco still had 494 yards in total offense. If it's necessary to beat the 49ers to get to the Super Bowl, then the Packers will need a new defensive coordinator. If the two teams play again and the Packers lose, then the change will be made for the 2014 season. If not, the Packers will be playing in the first-ever cold weather Super Bowl in New York City. (Steve "The Homer" True, host of "Homer and Thunder Show," heard from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays on 540 ESPN, can be reached at homer@espnmilwaukee.com.) Johnson: Obama should have gone ahead on Syria By ARTHUR THOMAS Conley News Service MILWAUKEE – President Barack Obama should have launched a military attack on Syria without going to Congress, Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said during a visit to Milwaukee on Sept. 6. "If his goal was to punish Assad, deter him and degrade his capability, he should have taken that decision. That's why we hired him, he's the commander in chief. He should have been decisive; he should have done that," Johnson said at a WisPolitics.com luncheon in Milwaukee. The Oshkosh Republican said he believes the president has the authority to take military action under the Constitution and the American people would have gotten behind the decision. "In the end, we invest a lot of power in the president, we also invest a lot of faith in him and, understanding that he knows a whole lot more about situations than the average citizen or a member of Congress, we end up giving him the benefit of the doubt and we support his action," he said. Obama told the nation Tuesday night in a televised speech that diplomacy suddenly holds "the potential to remove the threat of chemical weapons" in Syria without the use of force, but declared that the U.S. military will "be ready to respond" if other measures fail. As of press time, Obama said he had asked congressional leaders to postpone a Photo by Arthur Thomas/Conley News Service Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson talks with WisPolitics President Jeff Mayers at a luncheon in Milwaukee on Sept. 6. Johnson said he was surprised members of the Obama administration could not provide the number of moderates in the Syrian rebel forces during a public hearing in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 4. vote on legislation he has sought to authorize the use of military force against Syria. Prior to the speech, Johnson said Obama did not make the case to the American people, and the resolution authorizing military action would likely barely pass in the Senate and fail in the House of Representatives. Johnson said he has gotten the sense that his fellow lawmakers are "searching (their) souls" and the vote would not happen on partisan lines. He argued that if Obama lost the vote, it would damage the president's credibility, but not the country's. "American credibility can be restored in the election," he said, referencing the release of the Iranian hostages when Ronald Reagan came into office. Johnson voted against a resolution in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to authorize the strike. He said he does not like how the process has gone and felt it had been "inappropriately rushed," adding that a number of questions remain unanswered. "My concern is that an ineffective military action is worse than no military action at all," he said, adding that if the U.S. takes unilateral action, the world's focus would be on the military strike instead of Syrian President Bashar alAssad. Instead, Johnson, borrowing from New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, suggested the U.S. should take an "arm and shame" approach. That would call for arming moderate Syrian rebels and shaming "anybody, including Russia, possibly China, anybody that would show any ounce of support for Assad," Johnson said. No 'brinksmanship with the American economy' Johnson also discussed efforts to address looming issues around the coun- try's debt ceiling and funding the government. He has been part of a group meeting with the White House to work out a solution on fiscal issues. He said those talks are currently at an impasse, partially because of the focus on Syria. Some conservatives have suggested Republicans should use fiscal issues to defund Obamacare. Johnson said that approach would not work. "The problem with the whole defunding effort is it's impossible to do," he said, adding that there is too much mandatory spending involved. He said nobody in Congress wants to repeal or limit the president's signature law more than he does, but repeatedly said he does not "want to play brinksmanship with the American economy." His proposal, which he said he had suggested to the White House, would be to completely delay the implementation of Obamacare for a year in exchange for a one-year continuing resolution to fund the government and raising the debt ceiling. To have an impact on Obamacare, Johnson said, Republicans would need to focus on getting a supermajority of support from the American people in the 2014 elections. Contact Arthur Thomas athomas@conleynet.com (Post Editor Dwayne Butler contributed to this story.)

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