Wednesday, September 07, 2011

You Always Need A Good Backup

A good team always has a capable backup in all positions, which is what benefitted the Packers in 2010. In the latter years of the Lombardi Era, Bart Starr had a quite capable reinforcement in Edmund Raymond “Zeke” Bratkowski, a former All-American quarterback at the University of Georgia from 1952 to 1953. He also had a fourteen-year career in the N.F.L. with the Chicago Bears, L.A. Rams and Green Bay. This playing career was followed by a 26-year coaching career.

Bratkowski became quarterback coach/offensive coordinator for Chicago, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Philadelphia and with the New York Jets. He was also a quarterbacks coach with Cleveland and the Jets and worked two stints as a Packers assistant as well as the Baltimore Ravens. He was inducted into the State of Georgia Sports Hall of Fame in 1980, and the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1989.