Slightly hovering over the panic button, my finger is itching to make a move. Can someone please explain to me how it is the Badgers offense (lead by John freaking Stocco) can put up 50+ points in two consecutive weeks and yet the Packers can only put 3 on the board against an average defense at best?
It's frustrating, confusing, alarming, and just depressing. Packer fans two biggest concerns heading into this season were the offensive line and the defense. Those were really the only bright spots in yesterdays game.
The line looked a lot better than I expected, especially Whitticker and Klemm. They gave Favre enough time, and opened up enough holes for Green and the running game. Fault Mike Sherman for once again giving up on the run too quickly, which allowed the Lions to tee off on the line on nearly every possesion.
Considering what I saw last year on defense, I'd say the defense looked great. Al Harris shut Roy Williams down. SHUT HIM DOWN. Did any one know Williams was playing in the game yesterday? No, because Harris blanketed him.
Ahmad Carroll was heavily flagged yesterday (you don't say) but in fairness to him, a lot of the calls were BS calls. I think overall it was a poorly officiated game on both sides. Carroll had a legit hands to the face penalty, but after that it looked like the officials were just targeting him. Despite the bad calls, I was screaming at the tv in the second quarter "Take him out!" You just can't afford to have him on the field. Start Joey Thomas and give Mike Hawkins more playing time.
Mark Roman actually looked good, needless to say I was quite surprised. Maybe he really was injured most of last season. The other saftey starting was rookie Nick Collins. I didn't hear his name mentioned really at all, which I'll take. He didn't make any plays, but he didn't make any mistakes either.
The D-line used a lot of rotation, and I thought Cullen Jenkins looked really good. He used good angles (something Packer fans never saw last year) in pursuit, and showed a good burst off the line. KGB didn't look that bad either.
Now the bad. The linebackers. I thought the linebackers were horrible. Robert Thomas surprisingly got the start ahead of Roy Manning, and looked quick, but often times overmatched. Nick Barnett had a big roughing the passer penalty and made very little contributions otherwise, and Paris Lennon and the rest of the group allowed Marcus Pollard and the recievers to kill them over the middle.
The recievers I thought also did a poor job. No one seemed to ever get open, Robert Ferguson seemingly quit on the post route where Favre threw his first interception, and it goes without saying, but other than Bubba Franks the tight ends were non-existant.
I thought the play calling in general was horrible. How many swing passes did they throw? IT'S NOT WORKING, STOP THROWING THE 3 YARD DUMP PASS TO THE BACK OUT OF THE BACKFIELD! It didn't stop there, Sherman gave up on the run. How many times did they run on first down and gain 3 or 4 yards, and then attempt a 20 yard fly route on second down, only to see it fall incomplete and leave them with a third and long? TRY TO SUSTAIN A DRIVE MORON!
Favre didn't look that sharp either. Do I need to mention the red zone possesion where he could have walked into the endzone for a touchdown, but decided to throw a ball into double coverage for an incomplete pass forcing the Packers to settle for a field goal, which didn't happend because of the botched hold by Sander. On a side note, that was the deciding play of the game.
Top all of that off with the news that Javon Walker is lost for the season. Well, that's just great.
Here is what they need to do from here on out to be successful.
*Bring more pressure on defense. I'm sure they're still learing the Bates system, but the defense looked very vanilla at times yesterday. They need to cause some turnovers.
*Utilize Bubba Franks more. He is a valuable, and underutilized asset. You paid him like a top 10 tight end, now use him like one.
*Don't give up on the run. Try to run the ball like the Cheifs did yesterday. Use a mixture of Green and Davenport heavily througout games to wear other defenses down.
*Utilize Robert Ferguson. He said he wants to step up and get an expanded role on this offense, so give it to him. Now that Walker is down it's Ferguson's chance to shine.
*Stop making Brett Favre win games for you. He can still do it on an occassion, but make him the second option to the run. It makes him all the more deadly.
The good news is a bad Clevland team comes to town, and seemingly gives the Packers a good opportunity to rebound, and they expect to get N'ail Diggs back. The addition of Diggs and the play yesterday leaves me very optimistic about this defense and it's chances of contiually improving.
Look, are the Packers going to go to the Playoffs this year? No, they might not even finish better than 8-8 or god forbid worse, but this year was a long time coming. They haven't finished worse than 8-8 since Favre arrived. That's almost unheard of in the NFL. This year will help the young kids grow, and will probably net them a high draft choice in the draft which is something they really need. I'm prepared for the worst, but I'm expecting average.
Am I still the only one who's not a Mike Sherman fan, and is extremely perplexed by the contact extension?
It could be worse, we could be Vikings fans. Those sounds you heard were all of Wisconsin getting in a hearty laugh, and people jumping off the Vikings band wagon. The "Mikes Rule" really never fails. That rule:
Any team coached by one of the Mikes: Sherman, Tice, Shannahan and Martz (I'm leaving Mularkey and Nolan out because the jury's still out there, and they both won) will find a way to lose the game to inferrior talent because of poor coaching. Well boys, we went 4 for 4 yesterday.
The Bucaneers were one of those teams that intrigued me heading into the season. They still have a good defense and have some talent on offesne, they just need a second reciever. They could make the playoffs.
Everyone who said the Vikes won't miss Moss can officially shut up. Watch Thursday nights game and yesterday's Vikings game and tell me the same thing. There is a huge difference in facing a team with Randy Moss as opposed to facing a team with three or four good recievers. Moss takes over an entire side of the field, teams gameplan specifically for him. You can't say the same about Burleson, Robinson, Williamson (who I still think will be a bust), Taylor, or Robinson. Speaking of which, I can't wait till Onterrio Smith returns form his suspension and starts hanging out with Koren Robinson. As a Packer fan, that is going to be such a beautiful disaster.
Back to the Moss thing, realize this, it's all on Duante now. It's his team, and he doesn't have that fall back or Randy Moss, or the fall back excuse of Randy Moss. There's no denying his talent, but he has to lead this team now. I just don't think he can do it.
I was one of the few who picked the Dolphins upset, so I'm a bit pleased about that. I'll leave you with these few things. The Denver Broncos are going to be horrible, one of the worst five records in the NFL. You heard it here first. I don't trust Jake Plummer, I don't like the recievers, the defense is basically the Browns d-line with some aging, average linebackers (sans DJ Williams) and the secondary is bad (Champ is hurt, Lynch is old, and the others suck).
Secondly, the Jets are a bad team too. The O-line is getting old, Curtis Martin is getting old, Pennington has no arm left, the D-line has significantly downgraded over the years (it's pretty much just John Abraham now), Jonathon Vilma is good, but other than that the linebackers are average, and the secondary even with Ty Law stinks.
The Chiefs will win the AFC west, and Kyle Boller sucks. The Ravens have to start Anthony Wright if they want to win games. Thats it, and I'm out.
