Friday Cheese Curds: 2021 Packers drawing comparisons to 2010 team with new additions

Signing veterans in-seasons pushed the Packers to Super Bowl XLV. Can the 2021 team duplicate the feat?

We’ve seen this story unfold before, but the ending is far from certain.

As the Green Bay Packers continue to weather injuries while also winning games, inevitable comparisons are being drawn to the 2010 team that won Super Bowl XLV despite being extremely beat up as well.

While it’s only Week 7 and there’s plenty of season left, it’s not just the injury similarities that have people thinking about the Super Bowl but also how the 2010 team and this year’s team overcame and are trying to overcome those injuries. Both teams added veteran players during the season that helped fill holes and perhaps even improve the team.

The 2010 team saw the addition of Howard Green, whose tipped pass in the Super Bowl allowed Nick Collins to break the game open with an interception return for a touchdown. He also helped anchor a line with an ascendant B.J. Raji and Cullen Jenkins. They also added Erik Walden among others as their linebacker unit was decimated by season-ending injuries.

Looking at this year’s team, you see a similar trend. Jaylon Smith saw his first action last week after being signed and this week the Packers added former Texans defensive end/EDGE Whitney Mercilus. Their contributions remain to be seen but these are the moves the team made in 2010 that helped put them over the top. Is the same thing in the offering for the 2021 team.

Time will tell and no matter how this season ends, you cannot legitimately fault the Packers for at least trying and swinging for the fences.

Packers overcame injuries to win in 2010, but there’s one key difference this season—PackersNews.com

One thing to note that is different between the two seasons: this year has been more about who has been hurt whereas 2010 was about how many were hurt.

Packers continue to jump at opportunities to improve roster—Packers.com

So far the Packers have been lucky to avoid anything super long-term to a big name player (Jaire Alexander’s fate still pending) so if they get their regular guys back plus these new additions, Joe Barry will have all kinds of options.

Defensively, Packers Feeling Blue About Yellow in Red Zone—Packer Central

This is the week the Green Bay defense gets a stop in the red zone. It has to be, right? RIGHT?!

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers explains inconsistency with deep passes—Packers Wire

The offense has been super efficient since the opening week dud, but the deep passing game has yet to approach last year’s results. Rodgers chalks that up to missing Marquez Valdes-Scantling, so we will have to see when MVS returns how true that really is.

Self-driving Waymo cars gather in a San Francisco neighborhood, confusing residents—NPR

I don’t care what the article says. This is something out of a science fiction movie and God help us all if the cars try to take over.