Packers Replay: 21-14 win at Chicago

Dec 14, 2009 ~ By Tom Silverstein, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

PLAYER OF THE GAME

This one is shared between safeties Nick Collins and Atari Bigby. As big as Ryan Grant’s 62-yard run was, these two played a huge role in saving the Packers the embarrassment of losing a game they once led, 13-0. The Packers trailed, 14-13, with 13 minutes 39 seconds left when Collins stepped in front of Jay Cutler’s pass to Johnny Knox and picked it off. Collins returned the ball 31 yards to the 11 and two plays later Grant scored from 1 yard out to account for the final touchdown.

"Nick couldn't play it any better, and the quarterback forces the throw," coach Mike McCarthy said

“Nick couldn’t play it any better, and the quarterback forces the throw,” coach Mike McCarthy said. Collins also had a strip of tight end Greg Olsen that broke up a long pass down the middle. While Collins was patrolling the middle, Bigby was handling business at the line of scrimmage. He had seven tackles, including a huge stop of Bears running back Matt Forte on third and 1 at the Packers 45 late in the third quarter. The rough-and-tumble game was Bigby’s cup of tea.

Full story here

Packers OL has Whole Offense out of Tune

What the writer fails to realize is: It starts up front, and a bad OL will bring down a good offense. You can have a great sports car, with brand new, top-of-the-line tires, gorgeous interior, etc. But if the engine loses a cylinder (Tauscher), or two (+Clifton), that will negatively affect the whole car’s performance. Does it mean those tires aren’t as good as we thought? No it does not.

Tom Silverstein, Journal Sentinel 
Oct. 18th, 2009

Green Bay — Coming out of the exhibition season, the Green Bay Packers’ offense looked primed to challenge the New Orleans Saints for supremacy in the points race.

The No. 1 offense scored touchdowns on nine of its 13 possessions, averaged 20 points in the first half of its four games and ran for a healthy 4.2 yards per carry. The Packers’ top four receivers averaged 18.4 yards a reception, and tight end Jermichael Finley looked like a star in waiting with two touchdown catches.  

When the QB has to dodge bullets most of the game, it will affect the timing of everything

And most encouraging, quarterback Aaron Rodgers wasn’t sacked once and finished with a passer rating of 147.9, just 10.4 points off the highest possible mark.

Four games into the regular season, the Packers don’t resemble that offense much.

Rodgers has a fine passer rating of 101.1 and has thrown only one interception, the running game is averaging 4.2 yards per carry and the receivers are averaging an NFL-high 14.3 yards per catch. But statistics don’t win division titles, victories do, and the Packers have cheated themselves out of possibly two more than they have because their offense can’t get in the end zone.

This Favre sounds unfamiliar to Packers

By Mike Hunt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
October 5th, 2009

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Now this was a different Brett Favre than we’ve all been accustomed to hearing. The nervous Brett. The defensive Brett. The Brett who had not sounded quite this awkward since his wooden “There’s Something About Mary” lines.       

The Brett with the odd inflection in his voice that made it apparent that the bizarre circumstances surrounding Monday night were not just background noise for him on this particular Thursday.

“For what?” was his response to the question of why he never has reached out to Aaron Rodgers.

Other than being a good teammate when the two were together, no reason.

Full story here

Whatever Happened To: The Packer Screen Pass

By Bob McGinn, Journal Sentinel
Posted: Oct. 5th, 2009

Screen scheme Neglected under McCarthy, as evidenced on the Field

The screen pass, a successful staple for the Green Bay Packers under coaches Mike Holmgren and Mike Sherman, has fallen into disuse and disrepair under Mike McCarthy.         

Rodgers is athletic and smart enough to execute the screen, but it takes the coaching staff's commitment, and the timing of the OL and downfield blockers for it to work, which would help negate a fierce purple pass rush

If, for some reason, McCarthy has been saving his best screens, this week wouldn’t be a bad time to break them out.

As sure as Packers fans like trashing Vikings fans, Minnesota’s fierce front four will fly off the ball hell-bent for Aaron Rodgers on Monday night when the border rivals meet at the Metrodome.

Slowing down that pass rush will test McCarthy’s mettle as an offensive tactician. Over the years, little has worked better toward that end than the little old screen pass.

“Yes, we’ve considered that,” offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said Friday. “We’ve considered everything.”

Full story from McGinn here

Linebackers’ Moment to Shine: Kampman, Matthews thrust into critical roles

By  Tom Silverstein, Journal Sentinel
Oct 5th, 2009

With every game he has played this season, Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre has been sacked fewer times than in the game before.

Four against Detroit, three against Cleveland and two against San Francisco.

If the Green Bay Packers have anything to do with it, that trend not only will end Monday night, but it will be turned on its head in the same fashion Favre is turned on his. It’s a great plan to have, but to really put the old man in his place, the Packers are going to need more production from their outside linebackers. 

Brady Poppinga and the Packers LBers will be critical in both containing the NFL's best RB, and getting pressure on the NFL's oldest QB

The 3-4 defense showcases the outside rushers, particularly the one on the right side, who generally gets to attack the weak side of the formation and the quarterback’s blind side. Every successful 3-4 defense has a James Harrison, DeMarcus Ware, Shawne Merriman or Terrell Suggs putting the fear of Lombardi into opposing backfields.

Some, like the Pittsburgh Steelers, have another outstanding outside linebacker like Lamar Woodley to complement Harrison.  

The Packers?

Well, they have a former 4-3 pass-rushing end at left outside linebacker and a rookie still getting his feet wet on the right side. Aaron Kampman and Clay Matthews have been a solid duo on passing downs, combining for two sacks, a forced fumble and three other quarterback hits.

But calling them the linchpins of coordinator Dom Capers’ pressure package would be an overstatement.

“Where we are right now, we’re still trying to find out what our best combination of people are,” Capers said Friday.

Full Story from Tommy here

Brett Favre Isn’t as Clutch as you Think

By David Fleming, ESPN Magazine
Oct 5th, 2009

Pushing 40, with a sore right foot, a gimpy knee, two bad shoulders and a stiff neck, Brett Favre bounced from the pocket and ripped a 32-yard game-winning laser to a blanketed Greg Lewis streaking across the back of the 49ers’ end zone. And when the tiny rubber FieldTurf pellets gave off their telltale rooster tail, indicating that, yes, Lewis had gotten his right toe down in bounds, the entire football world seemed to celebrate the fact that Favre had worked his gritty kind of magic one more time.

Full article here

Favre draws Ire of Ex-Packers

By ESPN.com’s Kevin Seifert
Oct 5th, 2009

“Brett Favre wearing a Vikings uniform playing the Packers? That’s about as bad as it gets.” Packers Great Jerry Kramer

How do ex-Green Bay Packers who played on the team’s Super Bowl winners feel about Brett Favre donning the purple and gold of the archrival Minnesota Vikings and facing his former team?  

"When you switch to the Vikings, that's the one team you hate and hate's a strong word," said former Packer great LeRoy Butler

“Sorry Brett. You’re on the other side now,” said LeRoy Butler, who played with Favre on the 1996 Super Bowl winners, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.   

“It’s not just another person that walked away, it’s Brett, whom we all loved and admired and thought the world of, and now he’s on the dastardly Vikings,” added Jerry Kramer, a guard on Vince Lombardi’s back-to-back Super Bowl winners, according to the report.

Full Story from ESPN here

Favre’s Flip-Flop Fuels Bitter Packers-Vikings Rivalry

It’s more polite than the East Coast, but this is a true story: An angry Vikings fan was once arrested for trying to light a Packers backer on fire.

Only Aaron Rodgers has been sacked more this season than Brett Favre.

So when Brett Favre called off retirement for a second straight summer and did the unthinkable by signing with the Vikings, that loathing toward the NFL’s all-time leading passer formally shifted east to Wisconsin.

On Monday night, Minnesota will host Green Bay at the Metrodome in Favre’s first game against his old team.

 Full Story from Slam Sports here

Favre to Packer Fans: Move On

By Bob Wolfley, Journal Sentinel
Oct 4th, 2009

A portion of an interview ESPN’s Jon Gruden did with Vikings quarterback Brett Favre aired this morning on “Sunday NFL Countdown,” the network’s pre-game show.

Gruden: “What do you say to all the Packers fans? They’ve got to be confused.”

Favre: “It was 16 great years. I hope they enjoyed it, they appreciated that run as much as I did. You can’t take that away. You just have to let it go and just move on.”    

Brett Favre, seen crying back in early 2008 following his first official retirement, faces his old team Monday night

Gruden: “How much of this is really personal? How much do you really just want to beat them?”

Favre: “I want to beat them. I have a lot of friends on that team. You know, the way things went down, I’m not going to sit here and lie to you. It was disappointing. For both sides. I still want to prove that I’m worthy. I think that is human nature. Believe me, I want to win the game.”

Full Story Here

Like it or Not, this Game was a Gimme

By Mike Vandermouse, Green Bay Press Gazette
Sep 28, 2009

ST. LOUIS — They would never admit it publicly, but the Green Bay Packers are grateful they played the lowly St. Louis Rams on Sunday.

This is an NFL doormat that has lost 13 games in a row, suffered through a miserable 2-14 season in 2008, and can’t seem to get out of its own way.

The Packers turned in an uneven performance and displayed some of the same old nagging ailments that plagued them in their first two games this season. But thanks to both a weak and generous opponent, the Packers prevailed, 36-17, at the Edward Jones Dome.    

Packers FB John Kuhn races into the end zone for one of his two TD's on the day

Full Story from MVM here

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