Nick Barnett is going to please his owners this season. Barnett enters his 5^th season in GB having compiled tackles, sacks, and pick totals of 109-1.5-2 in 2003, 121-3-1 in 2004, 139-2-1 in 2005, and 105-1.5-2 in 2006. He's demonstrated consistency as a LBer. Last season saw his solo tackle numbers dip. It may well have bee the A.J. Hawk factor, but I propose we delve a little deeper.

Enter Dr. Landon House. "Differential please on Nick Barnett." He heads to the white board and writes while speaking, "We know that last season-"

Dr. Cameron speaks, "Nick Barnett, white male, age 21, has played four season of professional football-"

Dr. Landon House interrupts and shoots out to Chase, "You do know we're speaking about American football, not soccer right?"

Dr. Chase refrains from rolling his eyes and merely picks up the Barnett thread. "Barnett is a talented MLB in Green --not Matilda- Bay. Potential owners are questioning of Barnett's talent has suddenly dropped, but I should note that he very quietly had strong performances in 5 of his first 7 games.. Further, Barnett-"

"Yea, yea, yea! Barnett is talented!" Shouts Dr. Landon House at the ceiling. "We know this. What don't we know?"

Dr. Foreman speaks, "Nick's most recent season was a tale of two halves for Barnett. There were the pre-injury stats where he compiled 53 total tackles, 1 sack, 2 interceptions, and had 6 defended passes before breaking his hand; and there were the post injury stats where his production dropped to 45 total tackles, half a sack, zero interceptions, and only 1 defended pass. In my example, I threw out week 9 stats because I wanted to look at the same window of play (7 games) for each half. "

Dr. House: "Now see? Was that so hard? More of you need to be suck-ups like Foreman if you want to bask in my glow of appreciation. Foreman's analysis is the kind that speaks volumes to me."

"Well then, what about the recent battery charges against Barnett. Won't that have some impact on his stats?" notes Dr. Chase.

"Ah yes, I knew there was some reason I kept you around aside from hearing that Aussie accent and down-under pithy wit of yours." Dr. Landon House continues, "Chase is right, if Barnett is guilty of battery his stats could suffer. So what do we believe? Is Barnett losing opportunity to Hawk? Will the pending trial hurt Barnett's chances? Doesn't anyone want to mention that GB must see something in this guy because they signed him for 35 million over the next 6 years!"

Foreman tries to speak. "House. This is a complicated decision here. Barnett-"

Dr. House slams his cane on the whiteboard, "Differential people! We need a decision. Vote now."

Dr. Cameron, "I say he's a risk for 2007."

Dr. Chase, "I agree."

Dr. Foreman, "I think he's got some life to him yet."

Dr. House, "Hmm.. two-to-one against Barnett. Good thing this isn't a democracy. Barnett is not a risk going forward. Lawyers will be lawyers and get this guy on the field, and with a mended hand there's nothing to stop Barnett from producing out of the MLB spot in GB. Look at those totals people. He's a winner. Let's get him outta here and check out Dr. Cutty's low-cut top for the week."

There you have it. Irrefutable evidence as presented by Dr. House, Dr. Landon House.

Cecil's 2nd Opinion

Gosh, that was entertaining. And I haven't even seen House. But it was convincing enough for me to almost revise my opinion on Barnett.

Almost.

I decided to revisit those stats Dr. Landon was tossing around. And the results reminded me why I don't use total tackles, instead separating solo tackles from assists.

Barnett's unassisted tackles dropped dramatically, from 91 in 2005 to 62 in 2006. And the broken hand had nothing to do with it.

Why? In the pre-Hawk days of 2005, Barnett was a dominating tackler, with 11 games of 6 or more solo tackles. But in 2006, Barnett only had 3 such games. And 2 of them came after he had the broken hand!

For years, Barnett took advantage of the fact that Green Bay's defense was so weak that no one else made tackles. I remember a Monday night game when Barnett was tackling all over the field, but after the runner gained 5 to 10 yards. Now Hawk is one reason why those downfield tackle opportunities have dried up. Other reasons: Cullen Jenkins is a better run defender than Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Brady Poppinga is stouter than his SLB predecessors, Aaron Kampman has come on strong, and...

You get the picture. Barnett's cheap tackles days are over. And his IDP stock should drop.