Mike Neal

Born on June 26, 1987, in Gary, Indiana, Mike Neal first love was basketball, but it was football that took him to Purdue on scholarship. A 6’3” 260-pound defensive end for the Boilermakers, Neal recorded 11 sacks and 21.5 tackles for loss over his junior and senior seasons. The Packers drafted him in the second round in 2010 and switched him to outside linebacker.

Over the next six seasons in Green Bay, Neal appeared in 68 games and started 29. In his last four seasons, he recorded 18 sacks and 29 tackles for loss, with a high of five sacks in 2013 and ten tackles for loss in 2015. In that 2015 season, Neal battled a bilateral hernia, but stayed in the lineup.

His best game came against Washington in the ’15 postseason when notched two sacks, a tackle for loss, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery in the victory over the Redskins. The next week, in a loss to the Cardinals, Mike racked up two more tackles for loss. It was his final game in the NFL.

The Packers did not offer Neal a contract in 2016, and his visits with the Lions and Seahawks were unsuccessful, so he retired and went into real estate. Over his six-year career, Neal recorded 19 sacks.

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The Replacement

We all have bad memories of the brief Packer career of quarterback T. J. Rubley. Rubley joined the Packers in 1995 and appeared in one game against the Vikings when both Brett Favre and Ty Detmer were injured. The Packers and Vikings were tied 24-24 with less than a minute to go, and the Packers had the ball on the Minnesota 38-yard line. On 3rd and 1, Coach Mike Holmgren called for a quarterback sneak. However, Rubley audibled to a pass play that was picked off by former Packer Jeff Brady to give Minnesota the chance to kick the winning field goal. Spoiler alert, they did, and Rubley was cut that week.

T.J., a native of Davenport, Iowa, was a 6’3” 212-pound quarterback at Tulsa from 1987-91, throwing for over 9,000 yards, 73 touchdowns and 54 interceptions. While the Golden Hurricanes overall record during his tenure was 24-25, they went 10-2 in his senior year with future NFL quarterback Gus Frerotte as his backup, and T.J. was drafted in the ninth round by the Rams. A year later, Rams’ Coach Chuck Knox benched starter Jim Everett for Rubley, and T.J. quarterbacked the Rams to a 2-5 record in that time.

Rubley’s one game record in Green Bay was 4-6 for 39 yards and the one interception. He spent the ’96 season as the Bronco’s third QB and then played with the Rhein Fire of the World League in 1997. He finished his career splitting the 1998 season between Winnipeg and Hamilton in the CFL, completing 59% of his passes for 1,504 yards, four touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Somewhat appropriately, Rubley served as technical advisor to the 2000 motion picture The Replacements, training actor Keanu Reeves how to act like a quarterback, or at least a strike-replacement one.

Rubley then settled in Colorado with his wife and growing family and has raised three sons to be quarterbacks, coaching each of them in high school: Ryan at Augustana, Brock at El Camino and Jake, now a red-shirted sophomore at Kansas State. So here’s to T.J…one stupid moment does not have to define a life.

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Closing the Books on Davante

In my one-thousandth blog post back on October 24, 2021, I looked at the statistical leaders in Packer history. I ran this table for receivers:

	Recept.	Yards	Avg	TDs
Donald Driver	743	10,137	13.6	61
Sterling Sharpe	595	8,134	13.7	65
Jordy Nelson	550	7,848	14.3	69
Davante Adams	546	6,568	12	62
James Lofton	530	9,656	18.2	49

With the conclusion of the 2021 season, we can fill in Adams’ final Green Bay totals in light of his departure to the Raiders:

	Recept.	Yards	Avg	TDs
Donald Driver	743	10,137	13.6	61
Davante Adams	669	8,121	12.1	73
Sterling Sharpe	595	8,134	13.7	65
Jordy Nelson	550	7,848	14.3	69
James Lofton	530	9,656	18.2	49

In team history, Adams ended up second in receptions, fourth in yards and second in TD catches (to Don Hutson’s 99.)

So what’s next? For Davante, I see him continuing as a top receiver, but dropping a tier from losing Rodgers at quarterback and from the aging process. For the Packers, it appears to be a transition to a situation where there is no number one receiver. New free agent Sammy Watkins has never been more than a supporting player. It is doubtful that second round draft pick Christian Watson will make a big splash as a rookie; Adams himself didn’t really make an impact until year three. Sophomore Amari Rodgers might take a leap forward, but even if that were the case, he’s a 5’9” slot guy whose best case is to replace Randall Cobb. Maybe there is more emphasis on tight end. Does Tonyan come back full strength? Does Deguara take a big step forward in year three? While Rodgers over-relied on Adams like Favre once did on Sterling Sharpe, I do not see present day versions of Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman on the roster. Success in 2022 will depend on a healthy refurbished line leading the way for Matt LaFleur’s run schemes to support a weakened passing attack.

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Nate Barragar

Born on June 3, 1907, in Dearing, Kansas, Nate Barragar moved with his family first to Yakima, Washington and then later to the Los Angeles area. Nate attended San Fernando High School and then starred at center for the USC Trojans under Coach Howard Jones. USC won the National Championship in 1928, and Barragar was team captain in ’29 as a senior.

The 6’1” 212-pound lineman signed with the Minneapolis Red Jackets in August 1930. As the franchise was going out of business that November, Barragar was one of ten Red Jackets who became Frankford Yellow Jackets for the remainder of the season. Nate continued with Frankford in 1931, but that franchise went under by the beginning of November. Barragar’s contract was sold to Green Bay, and Nate played the last seven games for the Packers’ third consecutive championship season.

Barragar, who had been named All-Pro in both his first two seasons, attained that honor again in 1932 in Green Bay. He took the following season off to try to grow his sporting goods store in Los Angeles but returned to play for Green Bay in 1934 and ’35, earning second team All Pro notice both seasons.

In 1936, Barragar stayed on the West Coast as a player/coach for the Hollywood Stars, but that concluded his football career. In the meantime, he married socialite Jeannette Edris in 1935, but the marriage lasted only three months before she left him and married a Rockefeller. Fortunately, Nate married again in 1937 to Dorothea Earle and that marriage would last 48 years until his death.

Barragar made a handful of appearances as an extra in Hollywood films in the 1930s. He served in the military as a Sergeant during World War ii, and then returned to the movie business. While he had served as the prop man for Gunga Din and once was an Associate Producer for the B-movie Street of Darkness in 1958, the bulk of his career in movies and television was as a production manager and as a second unit director, most notably for the TV series Gunsmoke and Bonanza.

Barragar was elected to the Packer Hall of Fame in 1979 and to the USC Athletic Hall in 2003. He died on August 10, 1985 in Santa Monica, California.

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