Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001

Updating his résumé

Packers WR Bill Schroeder has added ‘consistent scorer’ to his job description

By Jeff Agrest, Senior editor

Packers WR Bill Schroeder entered this season with a career high of five TD catches, set in 1999. That year he had 1,051 yards receiving. Last season Schroeder caught four TD passes to go with 999 yards. This season, through eight games, Schroeder already has five scores, and his three 100-yard games equal his 2000 total.

Schroeder’s importance to the offense was no more clear than in the two games previous to Sunday’s win over Chicago. Against Minnesota and Tampa Bay, the Packers’ offense sputtered badly, recording its two lowest yardage outputs of the season. Something was missing, it seemed, and that something was Schroeder, who was out with a badly sprained ankle.

The sixth-year pro always has had great speed, but he’s long been criticized for being timid over the middle. One could argue, it doesn’t matter how timid you are over the middle if you often don’t catch passes over the middle. Sure enough, the Packers use Schroeder to his strength, and that’s running away from defenders downfield.

Against the Bears on Sunday, Schroeder blew through the secondary and caught a 41-yard TD pass from QB Brett Favre. That’s bonus points in the PFW league (three points for touchdowns scored of 40 yards or more). In fact, entering the game, Schroeder had averaged 20.3 yards per reception. He finished the game with four catches for 100 yards (25.0-yard average).

And he did it with an ankle at less than 100 percent.

Not bad for a receiver who’s allegedly timid over the middle.

So how can Schroeder’s emergence as a scoring threat be explained? Start with WR Antonio Freeman, who isn’t the same player he was during the Packers’ Super Bowl years. Favre needs other options, and Schroeder has stepped his game up a notch. Also, offensive coordinator Tom Rossley’s system calls for the ball to be spread around. That’s why Freeman also caught a TD pass Sunday. That’s why TE Bubba Franks has six TD catches. Everyone is part of the act.

But don’t view such ball distribution as a negative for Schroeder. Remember, he was never really a scoring threat to begin with. This is uncharted waters for him. Besides, few fantasy owners can quibble with five touchdowns through eight team games. We say "team" games because Schroeder missed those two before the Bears games. So that’s really five scores in six games, a pace that would leave him with 13 at season’s end.

Of course, if you don’t believe Schroeder can maintain this pace, you can try to peddle him and sell high. But we think you’d be misguided. Schroeder is for real, and that was proved Sunday when he returned to action and made an immediate impact.

"This week a lot of the players were saying, ‘Bill, we need you this week,’ " Schroeder said. "Me coming back, maybe it gave a spark to the team."

And not just the Packers, but fantasy teams everywhere.

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2001 - 2002 Season