My Official Green Bay Packers blog

As we get ready for the Packers playoff game against the Seahawks we’re certainly going to be thumped with the intertwined history of the two franchises and the stats of the two teams leading up to this game. I’ll give you nine quick hitters of my thoughts going into this game.

My tale of the tape.

1. It’s been 10 years since Holmgren was Favre’s coach. While Holmgren probably wants everyone to think he knows all there is to know about Favre and can be his puppet-master-daddy, Favre is ten years older and he and coach McCarthy are on a different page now. Holmgren has no better advantage than any other coach that’s watched Favre for the last 16 years.
2. I was thinking I’d prefer the Packers to face the Seahawks than the Giants because wow, the Giants had Garcia picking dirt from his teeth all game last week. I don’t know if Favre can take that same kind of beating. Then I looked at the stats - the Seahawks are almost as good at sacking the QB as the Giants are.
3. The Packers had the second best offense in yards per game in the regular season, up around 370. The Seahawks were around 340. Either one of those quantities can win you a game, but if Favre doesn’t go Bean because of the bigness of the game, nobody can defend 5 wideouts.
4. The Packers defense was about 10 yards per game better than Seattle in the regular season.
5. I don’t know that Hasselbeck has a tendency to get inside his own head and set up shop, but he has to be thinking about the last team he was in Lambeau in the playoffs. Does he get fired up to right the wrong from last time, or does he get so jacked he overshoots the landing, crashes and burns.
6. Holmgren can be a master motivator. He also sometimes sucks. We arguably had a better team in ‘97 than in ‘96 (I know Santana Dotson feels that way), but Holmgren miscalculated, thinking the pile of 50 large on a table was going to motivate his team to Superbowl duplication.* They make millions, Mike. It’s not about the extra “making it rain” money. It’s about making history. Which talent manager shows up Saturday may determine the outcome.
7. MCarthy seems to always shoot as straight as anyone. It’s too early to say if he’s a master motivator, but from appearances, everyone knows exactly where they stand with coach, and they know where he expects them to go. That can be as much motivation as is needed.
8. Seattle is better at home than on the road. The Packers are pretty damn good wherever they play, so long as they aren’t playing the Bears.
9. And of course, the Packers have bikini girls (more coming on the bikini girls - right now they’re on a trip south to improve their tans, so they can be ready for a deep playoff run). Is that Rich Gannon with the thumbs up?

Oddsmakers are picking the Packers by 7 1/2 - 8.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers, Seattle Seahawks, Playoffs

*It was reported that as a motivational tool, Holmgren put $50,000 in cash on a table and showed the team, explaining that that was what was up for grabs in the Superbowl.

So what is the deal? Are the Packers [starfuckers]? You know, Trent Reznor’s hit that includes the lyrics:

I have arrived and this time you should believe the hype

Did coach McCarthy issue green velvet sweats and a manicurist to the team when they reached 10-2?

I’ve double-checked the map. Green Bay is north of Chicago. So it’s colder in Green Bay. And we both play outdoors. So you’d think a cold weather game, at worst, would make us no worse off than the Bears.

And our punter? Jon Ryan? Y’know, the Canadian? From Canada? Where they make highways for semis right over frozen lakes? Where it’s so effing cold that even the outdoor CFL stadiums use articifial turf instead of grass because they can’t keep it alive up there in the winter? Ryan punted there. For some reason this guy, who comes from a place where the babies are born wearing tuques, couldn’t hang onto the ball down in temperate Chicago.

I guess this game answers the question “Why do you need a running game?” And “Is special teams that important?” In this kind of game where field position is your daddy, there are two ways to move the ball and win:

1. Use your running game to grind out a few yards at a time.
2. Outpunt the other guy, so with every pair of matching three-and-outs you gain field position.

Ryan Grant put up triple digit rushing stats but most of it came in one pop, for one TD. Our special teams have been serviceable, but they’ve never scared the crap out of anyone the way Chicago’s did yesterday.

Could we rely on Favre’s arm in this weather? Our racing stallion Greg Jennings, the big receiver for the day, had about 40 yards. Too cold to play catch, I guess.

It felt like we were trapped - we couldn’t move the ball when we had it, but we couldn’t punt it away for better field position either, because the thing might’ve been blocked. It’s like our best bet would have been to run 4 direct-snap running plays, then turn the ball over to the Bears, hoping our defense would do something amazing.

But even they didn’t have any tricks up their sleeves Sunday.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears, Football, Watch That Cuticle! Do You Know Who I Am?

I don’t know about you, but I don’t enjoy the Packer blogs that drone on and on about the stats of a game or a season and what they might mean. After a big win or loss, we get that already with next-day sports talk radio, ESPN and the paper. And it’s written by professional writers, so it’s usually better than what most bloggers can offer.

I have a lot of things to get off my chest from Thursday night’s game. But I don’t want to do the thing I just said I don’t like. So here’s 10 Quick Hitters:

1. In Mike McCarthy’s young head coaching career, there have only been two games where there were big expectations for the Packers; the Chicago Bears game earlier this year and the Dallas Cowboys game two nights ago. In both cases fans who saw the game were left with a “What the hell was McCarthy’s gameplan?” feeling. My worry? We have a new version of Marty Schottenheimer coaching the Packers: a guy who gets the yips in big games. And guess what? McCarthy coached under Schottenheimer.
2. Did you ever see that Twilight Zone movie where the smoker was convinced to stop smoking by a “helpful” company who would cut off the fingers of your spouse if you were caught smoking? Favre played like he was the smoker, and if he didn’t throw bomb after bomb - >>snip<< Deanna’s fingers with a pair of tree loppers. He hasn’t looked that uncomfortable in years. It was almost as if he hadn’t ever won in Dallas before. Oh yeah.
3. In Al Harris’ defense, I don’t know that there are many corners that can cover Terrell Owens one-on-one. But on at least two occasions it looked like Harris was in full denial, playing the seldom successful “If I can’t see him he doesn’t exist” defense, turning his back to TO just as the ball was being set to flight. And closing his eyes. Squinting hard.
4. I’ve been wrong about how badly we need Charles Woodson. Tony Romo made the secondary look very foolish. This wouldn’t have happened with Woodson in the game. He may have given up one big play, but it’d only have been one. And he may have made up for it with one of his own.
5. Marion Barber and Julius Jones are really good, tough backs. We’d better figure out how to stop them when playoff time comes around.
6. Greg Jennings is really, really good. With his speed and freaky dekes, he seems to be able to take almost any 5-yard lob and turn it into 50+ yards.
7. If that telecast was the best the NFL Network has to offer, they should never be allowed to cover another game. Bryant Gumbel couldn’t decide if he was talking about the Packers or the Cowboys. The stat display at the top of the screen was modeled after Pong. Guys who couldn’t get jobs with real networks were working this game. $.80 per month per cable subscriber for about 8 games worth of amateur-level broadcasts? Cha, right.
8. Atari Bigby and Nick Barnett should have their hands put in casts in the second half of every game. The two have combined for what? 300 yards of facemask and other penalties late in games this year?
   • Week 13: 1-10-GB 44 (3:17) 24-M.Barber right tackle to GB 41 for 3 yards (74-A.Kampman). PENALTY on GB-20-A.Bigby, Face Mask (15 Yards), 15 yards, enforced at GB 41.
   • Week 12: 1-10-GB 30 (6:46) (No Huddle, Shotgun) 8-J.Kitna pass incomplete deep middle to 84-S.McDonald. PENALTY on GB-20-A.Bigby, Defensive Pass Interference, 29 yards, enforced at GB 30 - No Play.
   • Week 11: 1-10-CAR 36 (:41) (Shotgun) 16-V.Testaverde right end pushed ob at CAR 39 for 3 yards (56-N.Barnett). PENALTY on GB-56-N.Barnett, Unnecessary Roughness, 15 yards, enforced at CAR 39.
   • Week 8: 1-10-DEN 7 (2:27) (Shotgun) 6-J.Cutler pass incomplete deep right to 88-T.Scheffler (20-A.Bigby). PENALTY on GB-20-A.Bigby, Defensive Pass Interference, 17 yards, enforced at DEN 7 - No Play. I could go on.
9. Aaron Rodgers is like a Brett Favre with legs. But without the cannon arm. Rodgers did a better job running the offense than Favre did after he was injured. Favre knew it, too. Through all the high-fives and chest bumps Rodgers got after his successful drives, Favre was nowhere to be found. He was on the sideline, but apparently as far away from Rodgers as he could get. Is this a team game or not, Brett?
10. The Packers are 10-2, and in the driver’s seat for everything except home field throughout the playoffs. Pretty damn good. If we can get to the point that we need to travel back down to Big D for the NFC Championship, Favre and McCarthy will need to find where they left their swagger and cajones.

Technorati Tags: Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys, 10 Quick Hitters