For a guy that ran his mouth as much as Jermichael Finley did last year, you’d think confidence wouldn’t have been an issue. Apparently, it was.
Green Bay Packers tight ends coach Jerry Fontenot pointed to that as the reason why Finley struggled in the first half of the season.
“(Finley’s) confidence level was probably at an all-time low (the first half of last year),” Fontenot said. “Our main focus was to try to make football fun and make it a game. Now that we’ve established some confidence there, our next step is to really get fine tuned as far as how we’re running our routes, not just being where we’re supposed to be (and) when we’re supposed to be there, but the way we’re going to do it getting there.”
What we remember from the 2012 season is a bunch of dropped passes and a constant yammering about a lack of chemistry with Aaron Rodgers.
Then Finley finally started to come on in the latter part of the season. Word is, that helped him save his job. Now Finley is entering his contract year and seems to have figured out he needs to shut up and play.
“Physically, he’s put on a few pounds from last year, so he looks a little bigger, a little faster, a little stronger than last year,” Fontenot said. “Physically the guy has talent. We still have a ways to go in some areas of his game. We’re kind of happy with where we are, but we still need to get better.”
We’re guessing he’s referring to the mental aspects of the game there.
If this guy can manage not to be a pouty head case this season, there’s no reason not to expect big things.