I am no fan of Terrell Owens, but I took a chance on him this year on my fantasy team and he's paid off big time. My thesis was that Cincinnati was going to be good -- which obviously hasn't been the case. But it hasn't prevented him from putting up huge numbers. And by most accounts he has been a surprisingly un-disruptive, if not stabilizing, force in the locker room. Certainly no Randy Moss. But if there's one thing I can't get behind in T.O.'s late career resurgence, it's this mime celebration after one of his touchdowns in Monday night's game. The rope? The glass wall? Really???
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Monday, November 8, 2010
Will the Vikings Pick Up Harris?
Speculation has already begun that Al Harris, released earlier today by the Packers, could sign with the Vikings. A Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article asked the veteran cornerback if he thought another NFC North team would go after him, to which he replied: "Yeah, I do. I probably can't say who." And the Vikings, who never met a former Packer player they didn't sign, are the logical landing place.
Harris's comments in the article clearly indicate he feels slighted by Green Bay. "I guess they feel I'm not good enough to play on their team. That was shocking. They really caught me off guard with this one." The Vikings have need at the position, having lost cornerback Cedric Griffin for the year. Plus, there's the Favre and Longwell connection.
McCarthy, who was peppered with questions about the decision to let Harris go in his morning press conference today, defended the decision and contested the notion that Harris was caught off guard. "Al Harris was told point blank all the options. I’m not going to sit here and get into he said, she said. I have no qualms at all about the professionalism that we’ve dealt with throughout this whole process. And I’ve been thanked numerous times by Al throughout this process,” said McCarthy.
I'm disappointed by the decision to release him. By both McCarthy's and Harris's account, his rehab had gone well, so it doesn't seem to be an issue with his health (they would have put him on IR if he couldn't play). Surely there's some business motivation -- Harris has a $2.5 million base salary this year. But having a veteran presence like Harris is extremely valuable, even in a back-up position, which Harris had indicated he was willing to do.
I also question their depth at corner. I'm willing to believe that Tramon Williams is their best option as the starter across from Woodson now. The guy has been playing great. Sam Shields has been playing well too, and had some big plays last night. But he also got burned for some big plays and still has a lot to prove as an undrafted rookie. Even if you accept Shields as the nickel back, are you really saying Brandon Underwood, Pat Lee, and Jarrett Bush are all better options than Harris???
The other slightly surprising aspect of this move is why didn't they trade him a few weeks ago? That would have helped ensure he didn't end up landing on a division rival. Presumably they tested those waters before cutting him. There probably isn't a ton of demand for a 36-year old recovering from major knee surgery, but the guy has amazing integrity and played with incredible heart. I'd think there are a lot of teams (particularly the Vikings), looking for those personality traits right now.
In the not too distant future, this will be the right decision. But I'm sorry to see Harris go. His pick six against the Seahawks will forever be one of my favorite plays in Packer history.
Harris's comments in the article clearly indicate he feels slighted by Green Bay. "I guess they feel I'm not good enough to play on their team. That was shocking. They really caught me off guard with this one." The Vikings have need at the position, having lost cornerback Cedric Griffin for the year. Plus, there's the Favre and Longwell connection.
McCarthy, who was peppered with questions about the decision to let Harris go in his morning press conference today, defended the decision and contested the notion that Harris was caught off guard. "Al Harris was told point blank all the options. I’m not going to sit here and get into he said, she said. I have no qualms at all about the professionalism that we’ve dealt with throughout this whole process. And I’ve been thanked numerous times by Al throughout this process,” said McCarthy.
I'm disappointed by the decision to release him. By both McCarthy's and Harris's account, his rehab had gone well, so it doesn't seem to be an issue with his health (they would have put him on IR if he couldn't play). Surely there's some business motivation -- Harris has a $2.5 million base salary this year. But having a veteran presence like Harris is extremely valuable, even in a back-up position, which Harris had indicated he was willing to do.
I also question their depth at corner. I'm willing to believe that Tramon Williams is their best option as the starter across from Woodson now. The guy has been playing great. Sam Shields has been playing well too, and had some big plays last night. But he also got burned for some big plays and still has a lot to prove as an undrafted rookie. Even if you accept Shields as the nickel back, are you really saying Brandon Underwood, Pat Lee, and Jarrett Bush are all better options than Harris???
The other slightly surprising aspect of this move is why didn't they trade him a few weeks ago? That would have helped ensure he didn't end up landing on a division rival. Presumably they tested those waters before cutting him. There probably isn't a ton of demand for a 36-year old recovering from major knee surgery, but the guy has amazing integrity and played with incredible heart. I'd think there are a lot of teams (particularly the Vikings), looking for those personality traits right now.
In the not too distant future, this will be the right decision. But I'm sorry to see Harris go. His pick six against the Seahawks will forever be one of my favorite plays in Packer history.
Packer Offense Still Stuck in Fourth Gear
Green Bay’s offensive woes continued Sunday night against the lowly Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field. After a scoreless first quarter featuring a blocked 54-yard field goal attempt by Mason Crosby, the Packers went on to score only 31 points on offense. Like last week against the Jets, the defense had to bail out the Packers’ offense again – contributing two touchdowns and enabling Green Bay to stymie a Dallas rally and hold on for a 45-7 win.
“That’s just not Packer football,” said a dejected Mike McCarthy in the post-game press conference. “For Aaron to go 27/34 with seven incompletions and only a 131.5 passer rating!? We need better execution than that. Period. I’m not taking any more questions.”
Once again, the Packers were held to under 500 yards of total offense. Rodgers admitted after his lackluster performance of 289 yards, 3 touchdowns, no interceptions, and 41 rushing yards, “I have to get better. Plain and simple. I gave up one sack tonight – that’s unacceptable. And I wasn’t able to contribute any rushing touchdowns of my own. I apologized to my teammates in the locker room after the game.”
“I mean c’mon – Rodgers has all the weapons,” commented NBC’s Cris Collinsworth during the broadcast. “Well… except for Ryan Grant. He doesn’t have that weapon. Or Jermichael Finley – that weapon is also lost for the season. And Donald Driver isn’t available as a weapon tonight. But he still has one of his original four skill position starters as a weapon. Plus, he has John Kuhn. Well, he’s really more of a blunt object than an actual weapon. But there are other, new weapons – guys like Bob Crabtree and Brent Schwain. Another thing about Rodgers is he’s not Jerry Jones. Speaking of Jerry Jones, let’s talk about him some more.”
Rodgers’ outing was so sub-par that offensive coordinator Joe Philbin opted to bench the third-year starter at a critical juncture in the fourth quarter in favor of back-up Matt Flynn. “I felt Flynn just runs the two-minute offense better,” said Philbin after the game. Unfortunately, Flynn’s night was over after the Packers offense failed to pick up a crucial 4th and 3 with 4:43 left in regulation. “That play was a real turning point in the game and enabled us to recapture the momentum,” said Dallas head coach Wade Phillips, whose team rallied for a 12-play, 59-yard drive resulting in no score. The defense came up with a big stop – sacking Kitna on the final play to preserve the victory.
“The defense had to come up big again on that last drive,” said linebacker Clay Matthews who added a sack and an interception return for a touchdown to his application for defensive player of the year. “I’m not sure what would have happened if C.J. [Wilson] hadn’t come up with that last sack – that was huge.”
The Packers go into their bye week at 6-3, just a half game ahead of the Bears who got a huge 22-19 win over the Buffalo Bills in Toronto on Sunday. “I just hope we can use the bye week to get our offense corrected,” Philbin said. “We have a lot of work to do.” Until then, there will be a lot of skeptics still asking what's wrong with the Packers' offense?
“That’s just not Packer football,” said a dejected Mike McCarthy in the post-game press conference. “For Aaron to go 27/34 with seven incompletions and only a 131.5 passer rating!? We need better execution than that. Period. I’m not taking any more questions.”
Once again, the Packers were held to under 500 yards of total offense. Rodgers admitted after his lackluster performance of 289 yards, 3 touchdowns, no interceptions, and 41 rushing yards, “I have to get better. Plain and simple. I gave up one sack tonight – that’s unacceptable. And I wasn’t able to contribute any rushing touchdowns of my own. I apologized to my teammates in the locker room after the game.”
“I mean c’mon – Rodgers has all the weapons,” commented NBC’s Cris Collinsworth during the broadcast. “Well… except for Ryan Grant. He doesn’t have that weapon. Or Jermichael Finley – that weapon is also lost for the season. And Donald Driver isn’t available as a weapon tonight. But he still has one of his original four skill position starters as a weapon. Plus, he has John Kuhn. Well, he’s really more of a blunt object than an actual weapon. But there are other, new weapons – guys like Bob Crabtree and Brent Schwain. Another thing about Rodgers is he’s not Jerry Jones. Speaking of Jerry Jones, let’s talk about him some more.”
Rodgers’ outing was so sub-par that offensive coordinator Joe Philbin opted to bench the third-year starter at a critical juncture in the fourth quarter in favor of back-up Matt Flynn. “I felt Flynn just runs the two-minute offense better,” said Philbin after the game. Unfortunately, Flynn’s night was over after the Packers offense failed to pick up a crucial 4th and 3 with 4:43 left in regulation. “That play was a real turning point in the game and enabled us to recapture the momentum,” said Dallas head coach Wade Phillips, whose team rallied for a 12-play, 59-yard drive resulting in no score. The defense came up with a big stop – sacking Kitna on the final play to preserve the victory.
“The defense had to come up big again on that last drive,” said linebacker Clay Matthews who added a sack and an interception return for a touchdown to his application for defensive player of the year. “I’m not sure what would have happened if C.J. [Wilson] hadn’t come up with that last sack – that was huge.”
The Packers go into their bye week at 6-3, just a half game ahead of the Bears who got a huge 22-19 win over the Buffalo Bills in Toronto on Sunday. “I just hope we can use the bye week to get our offense corrected,” Philbin said. “We have a lot of work to do.” Until then, there will be a lot of skeptics still asking what's wrong with the Packers' offense?
Friday, November 5, 2010
What’s Wrong with the Packers’ Offense?
If I hear this question one more time, I’m going to throw my mouse at someone. Half way through the Packers’ season, this question (complaint?) is a favorite hook of the sports media. From the Green Bay Press Gazette to the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, every sports writer who covers the Packers is “perplexed” by their “inconsistent offense.”
Unlike these other guys, I don’t make my living by covering the Packers… yet. But is it really that complicated? Or are they just trying to sell newspapers? “What’s wrong with the Packers’ offense?” Really??? Let me break it down for you.
First, in case you missed it, the offense has suffered two key, season-ending injuries in Ryan Grant and Jermichael Finley. Donald Driver will be sitting this week as well. I know we’d all like to just gloss over that. Pretend it didn’t happen. But losing a multi-year 1,200+-yard rusher and a tight end who was emerging as a Pro Bowler is going to affect your offensive production. The loss of both a running back and a tight end is particularly detrimental because it allows safeties to move into double coverage, cornerbacks to cheat slant routes, and linebackers to blitz. Everything else the Packers like to do – short passes, screens, draws, etc. – stems from their talent at the RB and TE positions, and both the starters at those positions are gone for the season. With those personnel changes, it just simply isn't the same offense it was last year.
Second, is the offense really struggling that much? I know we all expect 50-point performances every week, and the Packers expect that of themselves. But the offense right now ranks 7th in the NFL in total points at 176. Not bad. And Rodgers is 5th in the league in passing yards at 2,011 – putting him on pace for another 4,000-yard season. The statistics that are the most “off” from last year are in three areas:
From my perspective, however, all these stats stem from the lack of a credible threat at running back and tight end. When a defense can drop 8 into coverage without worrying about a run threat, they are going to come up with interceptions, shut down long gains, and stop you on third down. These are consequences, not causes.
Third, the Packers have played some pretty solid defenses. The Jets and the Bears, in particular, are the #2 and #3 defenses in the league, respectively, in fewest points allowed. Of the eight teams the Packers have faced so far this season, three are top-10 defenses – the Bears (#6), Jets (#7), and Dolphins (#8) – and two are top-15 – the Vikings (#12) and Eagles (#13). The only below-average defenses they have played are the Lions (#21), Bills (#29), and Redskins (#31), and they won two out of three of those games. If you look at how many points the Packers have scored against each opponent and compare it to that team’s average points given up per game (see chart below), you can see they’ve performed better than average against pretty much every team except the Redskins, who they lost to in overtime, and the Jets, who they beat.
There was a time at the mid-point last season, after the loss to the Buccaneers in week 9, when everyone was asking the same question: “What’s wrong with the Packers’ offense?” They gave up six sacks and three interceptions that day. It felt unlikely, if not impossible, that they would beat the visiting Cowboys the next weekend. Not only did they win that game, but they proceeded to go 7-1 for the second half of the season.
I’m not prepared to predict they will repeat that performance the second half of this season. There are certainly tough games ahead – including 4 out of 5 games on the road after their bye, and contests against the Vikings, Falcons, Patriots, Giants, and Bears. Not to mention a Dallas team this week that was predicted by many to be a Super Bowl contender. But I hope they can replicate the mindset that got them those wins last year. Quit the counter-productive self-doubt of asking “what’s wrong with us?” for underperforming the lofty expectations placed on them by fans and the media, and just play. Despite the injuries, they still have the talent to answer the question decisively: "Nothing is wrong with us."
Unlike these other guys, I don’t make my living by covering the Packers… yet. But is it really that complicated? Or are they just trying to sell newspapers? “What’s wrong with the Packers’ offense?” Really??? Let me break it down for you.
First, in case you missed it, the offense has suffered two key, season-ending injuries in Ryan Grant and Jermichael Finley. Donald Driver will be sitting this week as well. I know we’d all like to just gloss over that. Pretend it didn’t happen. But losing a multi-year 1,200+-yard rusher and a tight end who was emerging as a Pro Bowler is going to affect your offensive production. The loss of both a running back and a tight end is particularly detrimental because it allows safeties to move into double coverage, cornerbacks to cheat slant routes, and linebackers to blitz. Everything else the Packers like to do – short passes, screens, draws, etc. – stems from their talent at the RB and TE positions, and both the starters at those positions are gone for the season. With those personnel changes, it just simply isn't the same offense it was last year.
Second, is the offense really struggling that much? I know we all expect 50-point performances every week, and the Packers expect that of themselves. But the offense right now ranks 7th in the NFL in total points at 176. Not bad. And Rodgers is 5th in the league in passing yards at 2,011 – putting him on pace for another 4,000-yard season. The statistics that are the most “off” from last year are in three areas:
- Interceptions – Rodgers has thrown 9 already this year, compared to only 7 all of last season
- Lack of big plays – the Packers only have 4 plays of 40+ yards this year
- Poor 3rd-down conversion – the Packers rank 26th in 3rd-down conversions at just 35%
From my perspective, however, all these stats stem from the lack of a credible threat at running back and tight end. When a defense can drop 8 into coverage without worrying about a run threat, they are going to come up with interceptions, shut down long gains, and stop you on third down. These are consequences, not causes.
Third, the Packers have played some pretty solid defenses. The Jets and the Bears, in particular, are the #2 and #3 defenses in the league, respectively, in fewest points allowed. Of the eight teams the Packers have faced so far this season, three are top-10 defenses – the Bears (#6), Jets (#7), and Dolphins (#8) – and two are top-15 – the Vikings (#12) and Eagles (#13). The only below-average defenses they have played are the Lions (#21), Bills (#29), and Redskins (#31), and they won two out of three of those games. If you look at how many points the Packers have scored against each opponent and compare it to that team’s average points given up per game (see chart below), you can see they’ve performed better than average against pretty much every team except the Redskins, who they lost to in overtime, and the Jets, who they beat.
There was a time at the mid-point last season, after the loss to the Buccaneers in week 9, when everyone was asking the same question: “What’s wrong with the Packers’ offense?” They gave up six sacks and three interceptions that day. It felt unlikely, if not impossible, that they would beat the visiting Cowboys the next weekend. Not only did they win that game, but they proceeded to go 7-1 for the second half of the season.
I’m not prepared to predict they will repeat that performance the second half of this season. There are certainly tough games ahead – including 4 out of 5 games on the road after their bye, and contests against the Vikings, Falcons, Patriots, Giants, and Bears. Not to mention a Dallas team this week that was predicted by many to be a Super Bowl contender. But I hope they can replicate the mindset that got them those wins last year. Quit the counter-productive self-doubt of asking “what’s wrong with us?” for underperforming the lofty expectations placed on them by fans and the media, and just play. Despite the injuries, they still have the talent to answer the question decisively: "Nothing is wrong with us."
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Randy Moss Experiment Over
I like this take on the disaster that is Randy Moss. I had a glimmer of concern when the Vikings picked him up, but I figured there must be a good reason why Belichick and the Pats would let the guy go. By all accounts, it looks like he has snapped mentally and is clearly a cancer in any locker room. Even Favre, after pining away for him back in '07, realizes that now. The fact that the Vikings wasted a third-round draft pick in exchange for four games from Randy Moss just makes me giggle. Hard to rebuild with no draft choices. These mistakes could haunt Minnesota for years to come.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
The Audacity of Optimism
This has been a year of international travel for me – 3 trips out of the US in the last 6 months. With this latest trip, I find myself compelled to confront the inescapable observation that Americans are a bunch of complainers. Maybe it's the flip side of our eternal optimism. We not only want things to go right for us, we expect it. And when everything doesn’t go perfectly, we complain about it.
I found myself falling into this rhetorical bad habit after a trip to Paris this summer. When asked “how was it?” I was as apt to recount our kids getting food poisoning or the long wait to get into the Eiffel Tower as I was to share the countless wonderful memories of our time there. I partly blame it on Seinfeld. Bitching about stuff that goes wrong has become a favorite conversational tactic. Our petty grievances have become what we feel most comfortable sharing, and what we find most interesting to hear from others. It’s what elicits sympathy and shared understanding – “Wow, I can’t believe you had to wait 30 minutes for your massage. That sucks!”
These types of conversations break down, however, when you’re talking to someone from a country where they don’t expect things to go right. When you’ve experienced triple-digit inflation, violent political coups, and suppression by your own government, you’re not as sympathetic about what a pain in the ass it must have been that the airline ran out of vegan meals in first class. Frankly, it gets tiresome really fast.
No place is this cult of bitching more apparent than in politics. On the eve of Tuesday’s mid-term elections, I’m bracing myself for a wave of pundits declaring a “sea change”, a “repudiation”, a “mandate.” But really I think we’ve just honed the art of complaining to a sharp edge. In the true spectrum of politics, modern Democrats and Republicans in America look virtually identical. But you'd never know it from our rhetoric. Our political discourse is no longer “pro” anything – it’s all just anti, anti, anti. Anti-war, anti-abortion, anti-terrorism. Any political wonk will tell you that going negative is the most effective way to move the poll numbers. Just like in a one-to-one conversation, people get bored of hearing all the good, positive things you plan to do. But tell them why the other guy is an evil asshole and they’ll start picketing in the streets.
Besides politics, sports is the other area that most demonstrates the American proclivity for complaining. Listening to the string of callers on sports radio bitching about players, coaches, referees, etc. is practically intolerable. Everyone expects their team to win, and, when they don’t, can’t wait to drag their fat ass off the couch and whine and moan to anyone who will listen about how their team is under-performing or getting screwed, or both. I’ve certainly done my share of complaining on this blog, but overall I try not to just complain. I try to be solution-oriented. But, most of all, I try to keep it in perspective and make it humorous. That, to me, is what makes sports fun. It’s a game.
I think that’s why the San Francisco Giants were so compelling this season – nobody expected them to do anything. The constant din of complaining was diminished because it was hard to find something to complain about. First, many people couldn’t direct their complaints at anyone because they could barely name a member of the Giants roster at the start of the season. Second, with no expectations, every win they got felt like it was already over-achieving. And, third, they were just a likeable bunch of guys – unassuming, humble, fun-loving, respectful, self-deprecating, hard-working, accountable and accepting of their role. In short, everything that most professional athletes are not. As a fan, you could just sort of root for them with the unbridled optimism of a child. If they won, you were happy. If they lost, you didn’t have an aneurism. And they played with a similar looseness that ultimately won them a World Series.
Maybe it’s my time abroad. Maybe it’s the Giants victory. Maybe it’s just this two-game winning streak. But I’m feeling a renewed sense of optimism about the Packers. They won a game Sunday in a style and score that I didn’t think they could do. You can start to feel the team laying down the burden of the pre-season expectations, accepting the injuries, and gaining a sense of relief that many of the pundits had written them off. It’s like the recalibrated expectations after the rash of injuries and two overtime losses caused the swirling cloud of complaints to die down – enabled players, coaches and fans to look at everything else this season as glass half-full. Optimistically.
And Sunday’s game gave us a lot to be optimistic about. The defense played lights-out. The patchwork defensive line held up well against the second-best rushing attack in the league. At linebacker, Brandon Chillar is healthy and got a key sack, and Desmond Bishop has really been stepping up (10 tackles Sunday and another near INT). Our defensive secondary is playing great – Woodson and Collins are always solid, but Tramon Williams has really come into his own, and Charlie Peprah had a solid outing as well. Plus, Harris and Bigby should be back soon. On the offensive side, while a 237-yard, 9-point outing is nothing to brag about, they didn’t turn the ball over once and only had 3 penalties for 15 yards. They certainly missed some big plays, and I could quibble over McCarthy’s decision to run three consecutive running plays with 4 minutes left in the game, but it turned out to be the right call – the defense held, and Tim Masthay had been punting great all day.
It was a scrappy win, but they did what they had to do to get it. And I like the fact that a wide variety of guys on the team are stepping up to get these wins. This is how it is in the NFL. Any team can beat any other team. And you need a lot of intestinal fortitude to win the close ones and bounce back from the heart-breakers. To borrow a favorite phrase of Giants fans, watching them play was “torture.” Their pitching-centric style of play meant a lot of one- or two-run wins, but they were all wins just the same. And if the Packers can continue to play with that mindset, they just might surprise some people after all.
I found myself falling into this rhetorical bad habit after a trip to Paris this summer. When asked “how was it?” I was as apt to recount our kids getting food poisoning or the long wait to get into the Eiffel Tower as I was to share the countless wonderful memories of our time there. I partly blame it on Seinfeld. Bitching about stuff that goes wrong has become a favorite conversational tactic. Our petty grievances have become what we feel most comfortable sharing, and what we find most interesting to hear from others. It’s what elicits sympathy and shared understanding – “Wow, I can’t believe you had to wait 30 minutes for your massage. That sucks!”
These types of conversations break down, however, when you’re talking to someone from a country where they don’t expect things to go right. When you’ve experienced triple-digit inflation, violent political coups, and suppression by your own government, you’re not as sympathetic about what a pain in the ass it must have been that the airline ran out of vegan meals in first class. Frankly, it gets tiresome really fast.
No place is this cult of bitching more apparent than in politics. On the eve of Tuesday’s mid-term elections, I’m bracing myself for a wave of pundits declaring a “sea change”, a “repudiation”, a “mandate.” But really I think we’ve just honed the art of complaining to a sharp edge. In the true spectrum of politics, modern Democrats and Republicans in America look virtually identical. But you'd never know it from our rhetoric. Our political discourse is no longer “pro” anything – it’s all just anti, anti, anti. Anti-war, anti-abortion, anti-terrorism. Any political wonk will tell you that going negative is the most effective way to move the poll numbers. Just like in a one-to-one conversation, people get bored of hearing all the good, positive things you plan to do. But tell them why the other guy is an evil asshole and they’ll start picketing in the streets.
Besides politics, sports is the other area that most demonstrates the American proclivity for complaining. Listening to the string of callers on sports radio bitching about players, coaches, referees, etc. is practically intolerable. Everyone expects their team to win, and, when they don’t, can’t wait to drag their fat ass off the couch and whine and moan to anyone who will listen about how their team is under-performing or getting screwed, or both. I’ve certainly done my share of complaining on this blog, but overall I try not to just complain. I try to be solution-oriented. But, most of all, I try to keep it in perspective and make it humorous. That, to me, is what makes sports fun. It’s a game.
I think that’s why the San Francisco Giants were so compelling this season – nobody expected them to do anything. The constant din of complaining was diminished because it was hard to find something to complain about. First, many people couldn’t direct their complaints at anyone because they could barely name a member of the Giants roster at the start of the season. Second, with no expectations, every win they got felt like it was already over-achieving. And, third, they were just a likeable bunch of guys – unassuming, humble, fun-loving, respectful, self-deprecating, hard-working, accountable and accepting of their role. In short, everything that most professional athletes are not. As a fan, you could just sort of root for them with the unbridled optimism of a child. If they won, you were happy. If they lost, you didn’t have an aneurism. And they played with a similar looseness that ultimately won them a World Series.
Maybe it’s my time abroad. Maybe it’s the Giants victory. Maybe it’s just this two-game winning streak. But I’m feeling a renewed sense of optimism about the Packers. They won a game Sunday in a style and score that I didn’t think they could do. You can start to feel the team laying down the burden of the pre-season expectations, accepting the injuries, and gaining a sense of relief that many of the pundits had written them off. It’s like the recalibrated expectations after the rash of injuries and two overtime losses caused the swirling cloud of complaints to die down – enabled players, coaches and fans to look at everything else this season as glass half-full. Optimistically.
And Sunday’s game gave us a lot to be optimistic about. The defense played lights-out. The patchwork defensive line held up well against the second-best rushing attack in the league. At linebacker, Brandon Chillar is healthy and got a key sack, and Desmond Bishop has really been stepping up (10 tackles Sunday and another near INT). Our defensive secondary is playing great – Woodson and Collins are always solid, but Tramon Williams has really come into his own, and Charlie Peprah had a solid outing as well. Plus, Harris and Bigby should be back soon. On the offensive side, while a 237-yard, 9-point outing is nothing to brag about, they didn’t turn the ball over once and only had 3 penalties for 15 yards. They certainly missed some big plays, and I could quibble over McCarthy’s decision to run three consecutive running plays with 4 minutes left in the game, but it turned out to be the right call – the defense held, and Tim Masthay had been punting great all day.
It was a scrappy win, but they did what they had to do to get it. And I like the fact that a wide variety of guys on the team are stepping up to get these wins. This is how it is in the NFL. Any team can beat any other team. And you need a lot of intestinal fortitude to win the close ones and bounce back from the heart-breakers. To borrow a favorite phrase of Giants fans, watching them play was “torture.” Their pitching-centric style of play meant a lot of one- or two-run wins, but they were all wins just the same. And if the Packers can continue to play with that mindset, they just might surprise some people after all.
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