♪ Chicken parm you taste go good… ♫ Going to Colorado for a Mile High experience. Denver’s D is ranked #1, but really they’re just 1-hit wonders. Manning will try moving the chains thinking that short passes will nickel and dime us. What have McCarthy and Capers baked up over the bye? Those injured resi’s will need to be scraped off the sides and put on the grass. Oh yeah, and my college roommate says you shouldn’t smoke beaners or you’ll get a headache, but I’m not sure what that has to do with the game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i3iEcgPo6A Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme Like the Packers, Denver has faced a bunch of bad offenses. Coach has no respect for Denver’s 6-0 record. …reality is that they were in really tight games against really bad teams. I know you can shoot holes in our 6-0 record, but some of those games have been with our severely depleted roster ...and opponents always gunning for us in hopes of a signature win. Good teams make the handful of difference-making plays to win when they only bring their B game, and we are capable of that (we’ve had some off days even during SB seasons). But Denver plays like they are only capable of a B game every week, so they barely win against really bad teams. Hopefully, they are drinking the media Kool-Aide (actually believing they are a really good team) and end up getting their stomach’s pumped by a GREAT Green Bay team on Sunday night. To be honest, Coach is not sold on the defensive statistics for either team. The Pack probably would have looked better vs. SD with more healthy bodies. I see this game against the Denver Jackasses as having the potential for a 14+ point win for GB. This assumes Adams and Raji stay on the field for 4 quarters and are contributors. Denver’s offense is much more limited than GB’s, probably because Peyton has slowed down in the past 2 years from smoking dime bags of pot that he buys at the local Pick ‘n Save store near his house. He’s ranked 31 in the league this year (Rodgers is ranked 2). GB’s defense needs to bring it, heat up Manning and force turnovers. Opportunities should be there for pick-six points. We know they will have a hard time beating us deep. It’s a D coordinator’s dream, and our D is tired of being thought of as the reason A-Rod doesn’t have more rings … they intend to send a message to the rest of the league that THEY are the #1 defense, not Denver. It wouldn’t hurt to make Cam Newton a little nervous for next week, too. San Diago’s dinking and dunking at linebacker depth was productive between the 20’s, and that is historically right up Manning’s alley, so look for more of the same until Dominic C unveils his trickeration D scheme to thwart Denver’s junior high school level film study. If Mathews starts unloading early on the geriatric QB like he did on Nick Foles, Manning will be eating through a straw next week and will make Stephen Hawking look like Mikhail Baryshnikov. Speaking of trickeration, I predict a backwards screen pass to Randall Cobb (the receiver, not the boxer) that he then forward-passes to a TE or even Aaron Rodgers (think Russell Wilson at UW). This play would likely be not too long AFTER a prior, similar screen-run play to Cobb executed to the other side of the field (as a setup for the future trick play). You bright ones out there will recall a similar play like this that Bubba “ball park” Franks caught-and-passed on to Donald Driver in 2002 for a 31-yard touchdown pass. What really helped to surprise the defense was that Bubba is left-handed, so the left-side screen throw toward him near the sidelines seemed like it could only be a run from there – great play call suggestion by the Assistant to the Offensive Coordinator for that game, Darrell Bevell. WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like Even Coach isn’t perfect… and as most good coach’s do, leading up to the bye week I did significant self-scouting and came to the conclusion that there MUST be SOMETHING that I could consider improving with this column. So, therefore, I asked for – and YOU provided, candid 360-degree feedback on the in-depth analysis that I provide each week, on the breadth of topics covered, on the accuracy of reporting, on the photos and links to other related information, and on the general entertainment value of the blog. Thanks to all who provided their forthright opinions. I truly appreciated all of your kind, and sometimes critical, comments. I just had to single out and share this particular video response, submitted by Dwight Fingerbang, which was probably the most insightful response to help me keep “binging it” each week for the average football fan, Packer fans, and Bears enthusiasts alike… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrWoG8IckyE The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof It will be a breezy Sunday in southern and western Wisconsin on Sunday. WBAY weatherman George Dukakis has already elevated the storm warning color level for Sunday from green to yellow (possible upgrade?) due to gale force northwesterly winds particularly strong along the I-94 corridor, obviously because of how bad the Bears suck and the Vikings blow. Of the 4 teams having a bye last week, only the Bears were not undefeated. In fact, they had 1 loss for each team that had a bye last week. If the Bears did play a game last week, they would have lost. They will lose in week 8 against the Vikings (unfortunately), and then they’ll lose to the Chargers, and then they’ll lose to the Rams, and then they’ll lose to the Broncos before they lose to the Packers on Thanksgiving night. Bears, you suck! Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground The Scarlet Knights are coming to town this week and this game is one of many snoozers on the Bucky’s schedule. Set the DVR and go bow hunting Saturday; the rut should be under way (Rut-gers, get it?). Your wife can take the kids trick or treating, and you can turn off your porch light. When you get home, you can go to the neighbor’s Halloween party … dressed as a deer hunter! Viola. You’re welcome. The only things making this game interesting are the many injuries that the Badgers are coping with and predicted rain, which could induce a few turnovers. Wisconsin will be starting 4 frosh OL, continuing their season long pattern of inconsistency. Although Corey Clement would be motivated to finally take the field against a team from his home state, he is firmly in redshirt territory if you assume that he will still be around for his senior season. I think chances are better than 50% that he will play four years at Wisconsin. Wheelright and Voltz are likely done for the year (sigh). Rutgers’ most impressive accomplishment this season has been putting up 52 points on Indiana. However, they gave up 55 points. There is nothing about Rugburns that should be feared. Stave puts up 300 yards (400 if you count drops and PI calls), unless it is raining sideways. “Why Stave, Bart Houston did more than just fill in vs. the fighting ILL.?” Well, sort off. He did fill up the stat sheet to the point that many feel there is now a quarterback controversy at Wisconsin. Here is why that is not the case. Paul Chryst was already in the process of making adjustments when Houston came on the field. IL was content to play a Dom Capers prevent defense, with their deep zone making it easy for Wisconsin to play pitch and catch regardless of who was at quarterback. Seeing that the pocket was an unsafe place for any QB to be hanging out, Stave or Houston would be rolling out the rest of the game. Stave too began to gash IL before he came out of the game for good. Stave was going to have another 300 yard game had he played for four quarters. If you are wondering why the highly touted Houston could not find the field under three different coaching staffs, let’s talk practice. Houston lost one year not learning the playbook. He still cannot read defenses and adjust plays at the LOS. At least twice, he failed to audible out of runs into the teeth of blitzes. In practice, he is a pick machine. He’s got a Tolzein windup that telegraphs where the ball is going. He threw two picks in the red zone vs. IL. At least part of the blame on the first goes to Wheelright for dropping a wide open TD pass on the play before, followed up with a poorly run route and failure to seal the defender with his body. On the second pick, I’m certain that Chryst told him to roll out, look for something safe and throw the ball away or run if nothing was available. Instead, Houston rolled right, stared down McEvoy and the defender who had him perfectly covered, then threw a strike to the defender. Houston also could have easily run for a first down. No wonder that the usually monotone Paul Chryst was all over him when he returned to the sidelines. Joel Stave has had a very good season with no OL and no running game, putting up good numbers throwing to receivers who are incapable of getting separation beyond 10 yards downfield and who have dropped far too many balls that hit them between the numbers. Stave has thrown many perfect balls to receivers who were well covered. There have been several pass interference calls and balls knocked away due also to lack of separation. Stave is a master at reading defenses and adjusting plays at the line of scrimmage. This is the least talented Wisconsin offense since 1991, but credit mediocre opposition and the brilliance of Paul Chryst for getting the most out of what he has to work with. Stave will never get the benefit of a doubt from fans who wrote him off after several under thrown balls to Abbrederus two years ago, for 3 picks against Northwestern last year or the many late throws to slow footed receivers who were open for only milliseconds due to failure to get separation. We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game Expect a playoff game atmosphere in Denver: - Two 6-0 teams meeting on Sunday night football. - Old Manning vs. Rodgers in his prime - 70,000 wasteoids stoned out of their gourds from tailgating into the evening with legalized marijuana - No. 1 Scoring Defense (Broncos) vs. No. 2 Scoring Defense (Packers) - Rematch(?) of SB XXXII (the Elway helicopter game) Coach doesn’t care about any of that. Coach remembers Mike Holmgren consistently saying about games like this, “…the game will be decided on turnovers and Special Teams play. Oh, and remind Andy that I want all of my staff to either look like me, or Wilford Brimley, or a walrus.” History tells us we need to be positive on T.O. ratio and we need at least one more big Special Teams play than Denver to win. Manning has been pilloried all year for lack of arm strength and cast as a shadow of his former self. So, much as George C. Scott explained that a night-time-winter-attack in the Ardennes was completely out of character for the depleted German Army in “Patton” --- and therefore they would attack – we should expect Manning to come out trying to sling the ball around the yard. Manning will want to show the world that he’s not washed up and that much as Elway, he has another SB win in him before retirement. With all those balls flying around the Packers DB’s should have at least 3 picks. The Denver/Kubiak formula has been to play ball control, conservative offense and play very aggressive defense. They generally run a base 3-4 D and, similar to what the Packers have seen in the last several weeks, they will crowd the box with 7 or 8 defenders and then rush 4 or 5. Coach likes the aggressive posture on defense; it has worked well for the Packers when they have deployed it this year. Unfortunately it has also worked extremely well against the Packers, so expect Denver and Wade Philips to continue the strategy. The advantage for the D is that they have players at the LOS to minimize the run and take away the quick slants, but obviously they need athletic LB’s & Safeties to drop into coverage. Denver has the athletes to play this way, so what does Coach recommend? AR said after the Rams game that “we need to stretch-the-field” to open up the offense. Coach believes that this has been a major focus over the bye week and healthy versions of Adams, Montgomery (questionable?) and Jones will attempt just that. On the other hand, the Devil’s Advocate would point out that Adams actually generated little production in the 2 games that he did play this year (other than maybe taking focus away from JJ?), and also happens to be the Packers slowest wide receiver. Sending him on a long pass route would be a good decoy to tire out DB’s, and then follow that up with an actual long pass to a fresh Jeff Janis – who can blow by a winded DB at 5,280’ elevation. On defense we cannot do what we did against SD. As coach explained last week, we line-up pre-snap with 5 or 6 players off of the LOS. Joan Rivers killed us with short passes and Manning will do the same if we give him that much room. Crowd the box and rush 4 or 5 with Matthews in the middle has worked extremely well for 5 games, it will work in Denver as well. The Broncos are favored by 3--- Coach disagrees: GB 27 – Denver 13 with the Packers going +2 on turnover ratio. For the Pack, we hope the reports of the M.A.S.H. unit of Lacy, Adams, Jones, Bulaga, Burnett, Raji and Hyde practicing all week means that they can play effectively on Sunday. Ty Montgomery and James Starks still did not practice as of Wednesday (all other eligible’s did). If we can get all those guys on the field and playing well, we could see a blowout. If so, the Pack will officially put the NFL on notice that we are on an unstoppable mission. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them Let’s reminisce… Green Bay at Denver, Monday Night Football, October 15th, 1984…hmmmmm…that must have been with commentators “dandy” Don Meredith and Howard Cosell, right? Well, not in 1984, as it was the first season of MNF without Howard Cosell “manning” (heh-heh) the booth. ABC released Cosell from MNF after he referred to a Washington Redskins player, or two, or three, as diminutive macaque fascicles during the ’83 season. (Ironic that Cosell was a racist bigot, eh?) Therefore, more clean-cut personalities were brought in by ABC to take over the booth, like…Frank Gifford, and…OJ Simpson. Smart! Anyways, on that night although the 5-1 Broncos were heavily favored going into the game, the 1-5 Packers dominated time of possession, out-gained the Broncos 423 yards to 193 and generally kicked Elway’s ass. On a balmy 32-degree night at Mile High Stadium, you can just imagine what fun a Wisconsin kid would have with several inches of snow on the ground before kickoff and with more falling during the game. Which takes us to this week’s “mediocre player from the 80’s” #31, Gerry (pronounced “Gary”) Ellis. While Gerry was reputedly fast and strong, he is shown below demonstrating his questionable ball handling technique; note how he has a firm grasp on the top ¼ of the ball. Gerry was a featured player on a really bad team and set the stage for a really, really inexcusable loss in Denver. A big win on MNF arguably could have turned around Coach Gregg’s first season as the GBP Head Coach. By all accounts Coach Gregg had the Pack well prepared, all contingencies were considered and the guys played well…with two exceptions. Green Bay received the opening kick-off and on the first play from scrimmage Gerry Ellis fumbled Lynn Dickey’s handoff and the Broncos went up 7-0. After the ensuing kick-off, Jessie Clark fumbled on the second play from scrimmage; the Broncos took it in for another score and were up 14-0, just seconds into the first quarter. Get ready to groan as you watch the first few plays of the game in the link below. The Packers ended up losing, 17-14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k_13YQUrAI “The Lesson”? When you’re pushing for a road win, whether it’s in a stall at Home Depot or on the gridiron a mile above sea level; no matter how good you are and no matter how well prepared you are – road wins are tough. And when referring specifically to football, you cannot win on the road with a net negative 4 on turnovers. As you can see below, in 1984 the Packers dominated Denver statistically in every category but one…fumbles. So Gerry, or Gary, or Jerry, or whatever the hell your name is, thanks for reminding us to hang onto the rock as we come back from vacation. We salute you!
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6-0, Baby!!! The Packers are awesome and they are deepening their stranglehold on the rest of the division. Two other undefeated teams loom next on the Pack’s schedule: Denver (also on a bye this week), and Carolina (already had a bye). Irrelevant, but coincidentally, the undefeated Bungles also have a bye this week. Perhaps we will meet them on February 7 if “Little Orphan Andy” Dalton can win a playoff game for once – would LOVE to run over Cincinnati’s AJ Hawk in the Super Bowl and hopefully see camera close-ups of his ultra-hot wife in the crowd (but not her douche bag brother, Brady Quinn). But I digress… Two-weeks of anticipation for that Sunday night game at Denver is exciting for football fans and media pundits alike (and extra exciting for this Coach, because NBC coverage starts with heartland hottie, Carrie Underwood!), but in the big scheme of things it has little bearing on the Packers’ ability to secure home field advantage in the playoffs. With Atlanta having already lost in the conference, our beating Carolina will be a more important win en route to having the NFC path to Super Bowl L go through Green Bay. Oh, and after Carolina, we then roll through 4 straight victories against division foes. It’s gonna be sweet! Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme Coach has had to think a lot about how to feel about the Chargers game. It’s probably about the same as everyone else’s thoughts (we bent, but didn’t break…Randall looks like the real deal…Lacy is still gimpy…Rodgers has no open receivers…San Diego is the German term for a whale’s vagina...etc.). The Packers are no doubt focusing on the following problems during the bye: Offense - Aaron doesn’t trust the new guys. It was obvious in the San Diego game that AR was waiting until guys were clearly open before throwing the ball. Normally he throws much earlier, to a spot where only our guy can catch the ball. By throwing later the risk of an INT is reduced, but drives the passing offense out of sync and it looks ugly. Credit the OL for really good protection or we would have a lot more sacks. The last 3 weeks defenses have crowded the box with 8 players on the majority of downs and then rushed 4 or 3 and dropped 7 or 8 into coverage. This Defensive alignment has been kryptonite to MM/AR for virtually the entire time they’ve been together. This Defensive formation has taken away the run and the quick slant; we need to get some downfield passing to open things up. Defense – gotta stop playing prevent. The SD game was awfully bad offal (look it up). We played in a nickel formation/cover-2 D for almost the whole game (Coach can’t remember one play of base defense and at no point did we push 7 or 8 players in the box pre-snap to confuse SD). In theory we had 3 DB’s with press man coverage on the receivers, but no one seemed to get a jam at the line of scrimmage and the LB’s did not drop into the middle zone at the proper depth. The net result is that with the safeties deep in cover-2, the short to intermediate passing zone was open all day and SD was relentless in marching down the field with 7-10 yard passes. In theory it was a good defensive plan….but playing vanilla D did not confuse Rivers at all. What has worked in recent weeks is crowding the box pre-snap with 8 players and then dropping back into coverage at the snap (like they were doing to us for creiminy sakes, hey!). WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like I’m gonna give the refs a break this week. I seriously doubt they will fail to provide WTF material after the bye. San Diego QB Joan Rivers through for over 500-yards Sunday (as you probably heard a thousand times already), but did you know that was the 17th such achievement in NFL history and, more eye-opening, 3 of those 17 have been against the Packers with Dom Capers as Defensive Coordinator? … possible theme emerging here… Tom Clements also needs to put his head in a bucket of ice and wake up. Downfield heaves on more than a couple of 3rd and manageable situations? Should have been content with the plenty-o-2nd-down bombs that were attempted, since the goal was merely to back off the Chargers' clutter in the box. As a doubly negative: just because the downfield bombs didn’t work doesn’t mean you should do it more on 3rd down to force the issue. If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. The running game was working great, why abandon it in the 2nd and 3rd Q’s? Take what they give you, man. Thank goodness we went back to Starks in the 4th Q to chew up yards and clock. Maybe McCarthy, relieved of play calling duties, recognized this issue and course corrected in time, rather than let his assistants metaphorically send Brandon Bostick in for another odd-side kick blocking assignment. The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Go Bears Go, and take the Cubs with you! Well, what did you expect…that the Bears would actually beat the lowly Lions - a team that hadn’t won yet this year? To give credit where credit is due, the Bears did take the only winless team left in the league to overtime. Yet, da Bears proved once again that they are the mildly retarded bastard stepchild of the National Football League by being the only team to lose to hapless Detroit. Too big to fail? Detroit maybe, but not Chicago. And now for something completely different... It must be hard to remain faithful to such an inept organization as the Chicago Bears. I saw this guy at Lambeau on Sunday … in a Ditka jersey … that his lady-friend was puking on ... while the Packers were playing against the Chargers. Apparently it was Mike Ditka’s birthday on Sunday and this guy showed up in full Bear battle array at the place where his team repeatedly gets their ass kicked. Respect. And a happy 76th birthday shout out to Mike Ditka … you old fart! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk9WqTeyAys Related, as we get ready for Denver, I can’t help but think of a game in the 80’s(ish) when the Packers outlasted the Broncos at Lambeau (recall the “D” and horse on their helmets?). To be honest, I barely remember the details of that game, or if it was even the Broncos we were playing, because I was so young (obviously) – or drunk – maybe both, but the 1 thing I do remember unequivocally is the chant of the remaining crowd after the game during on-field interviews with opposing team’s players: “The Bears still suck! The Bears still suck!” The Denver(?) players were so perplexed by the fans’ message being belted out in perfect cadence that they sheepishly smiled and asked the reporter why Packers fans were cheering against the Bears even though the Packers didn’t play the Bears that day. The look on their faces was priceless, and I’ll never forget it. Most important, though, is that the message has stood the test of time - and we Green & Gold loyalists faithfully recite this creed with our little linebackers and cheerleaders at home each week (even bye weeks) because it rings so true: “The Bears still suck!” Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground Bucky had a characteristically routine win over Purdue in an uncharacteristic way. With no run game to speak of, Joel "Montana" Stave rolled up over 300 yards passing in a 24-7 win over the Boil-Lancers. Note that Stave was robbed of even bigger numbers by a handful of pass interference calls and one which should have been called on a pass to the end zone. Pur-duh mysteriously played back to prevent the non-existent deep threat (maybe they have advice from Capers). Enough said on that. Wisconsin’s frosh inside linebackers continue to impress, with TJ Edwards racking up 16 tackles. This game should have been a blowout and was on its way to being one until Stave threw a pick in the red zone. The crowd was amped up with Corey Clement’s introduction, a homecoming buzz, expectations of exceeding the 23 point spread and anticipation of Northwestern defeating Iowa. Stave’s pick, coinciding with an early score showing Iowa leading Northwestern let the air out of the stadium. Instead of a two score lead, the Badgers found themselves in a grinder. The crowd became flat, struggling even to muster enough energy to give the basketball team a proper acknowledgement of what they had accomplished the last two seasons (and this team could appear in its third straight Final Four). But let’s leave the analysis of last week’s contest in Madison on a positive note: Purdue unquestionably has the hottest water girl in the Big Ten. Wooo-ee! Speaking of the Big Ten, Sparty pulled one out of their pooper with a last second punt block for TD to beat their big brother Loserines which some say will be one of the most memorable plays ever. The look on the faces of the loyal maize and blue (not to be confused with the similar pantone navy and gold of Packers throwback uni’s originally modeled after Notre Dame – Curly Lambeau’s alma mater), was priceless. It reminds us all of the famous "Oh Sh!#" looks from the Goofers fans in the 2005 Paul Bunyan Axe game at the Triple-H Metrodome (not to be confused with Triple-H of WWE fame). Iowa remains unbeaten, and may win out despite a rash of injuries. We predict the "are they for real?" stories to start in a week or two, gag. The Hackeyes will still go down in flames in the Big Ten Championship should they make it that far. Looking ahead to Saturday, we feel a trap game in the making. The FIBS have beaten Nebraska and lost to Iowa; sound familiar? They are coming off a bye week. Their defense is good, with an athletic front seven. Their QB is capable of making things difficult for WI. Despite firing their head coach days before their season opener, IL is playing good ball. WI will be without DL Goldberg, which could prove really problematic for their 3-4 defense. Corey Clement is questionable. If he sits out this game and they lose, expect a redshirt. A redshirt may still happen if they win. Assuming Clement does not play, expect more of the short passing game from Air Stave. WI receivers will again have difficulty getting separation deep and the running game will still struggle. This is a game where they cannot afford the un-forced drops that we have seen in recent weeks. Without Goldberg, the defense will not dominate to the extent we have seen. Expect Bucky to win this one in a nail biter if we play a clean game offensively; maybe 17-14. We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game Going out on a limb here… we will remain undefeated after week 7. It’s a bye week, so the rest of the league gets a break while we take one. If I were a Bears fan, I would have said something lame like “I predict we won’t lose another game during the bye week” or “I like toll roads!” We’re currently the number one seed in the NFC. Historically this is fantastic for Green Bay, as six out of the seven previous 6-0 starts led to an NFL Championship. Not that it means much to Coach, but Vegas considers it a two-horse race to win the Super Bowl, with the New Eviland PatCheaters and Green Bay Packers as huge co-favorites (+300), and they continue to distance themselves from the rest of the league. Three of the top four teams in the futures come from the affable AFC with the Cincinnati Bungles (+900) and the Denver Jackasses (+1000) joining the androgynous Pats. To stymie other concerns that fans had going into season: Aaron Rodgers has actually thrown passes in Jeff Janis’ direction; Special Teams continue to improve, particularly the coverage units who have not given up any damaging returns this year; and regular season injuries haven’t cost us a game, but the timing for the bye (although a little early) is actually pretty good to heal the dinged up playmakers. If you were told in June that we would: - lose our #1, All-Pro Receiver, have significant injuries and lost time to our #2-#5 receivers so that #6 and #7 were getting significant playing time - and – - lose our #1 TE – and – - have significant injuries to our #1, Pro-Bowl running back – and – - have injuries and lost playing time with 4 out of the 5 starting lineman – and – If you were told in June that we would: - lose our “D Coordinator on the field” (Burnett) and best run stuffer for 5 of 6 games – and – - give significant playing time to two rookie corners –and – - lose a starting ILB – and – - sign a guy from the Dallas practice squad to be our MLB in Dime D – and – - lose 5 games of defensive linemen due to suspension – and – - lose a dominant D lineman for an unknown number of games – and – If you were told in June that with all of those injures we would: - play 3 of the NFC West Teams in the first 6 games (the division that has dominated the NFL and won the last three NFC titles) – and - play 2 of the AFC West Teams in the first 6 games, a dominant division in the AFC… What would you have predicted the record to be? Well, this Coach (and a few other truly faithful Packer backers) expect us to be undefeated all the time, so I would have said 6-0. But non-believers, and fair weather fans, and “reasonable people” would not have said 6-0, so you can suck it. Punks. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them The Providence Steam Rollers have been a dominant team since winning the Championship in ’28 and this season is no different. But the Packers have started strong as well and I look for Wuert Engelman to have a breakout game this Sunday at City Stadium. Coaches Prediction: Green Bay Packers 48, Providence Steam Rollers 20. Whaaat? Ok, a little flashback to football on a previous Sunday, October 25th……1931. Most ardent football fans know about the 13 Championships won by the Green Bay Packers, but did you know that we have been offensive innovators since the inception of the League? In 1931 football was mainly 3 yards and a cloud of dust, but Curly Lambeau and the Boys were among the most creative teams. Against the mighty Providence Steam Rollers the relatively unknown Wuert Engelman broke the game wide-open with an 85 yard kickoff return and two receiving touchdowns of over 70 yards! Yes, two receiving touchdowns, thrown by the Packers Hall-of-Famer halfback Red Dunn. Lavvie Dilweg, Mule Wilson and Bo Molenda would add rushing TD’s, and Rodger Grove finished the Packer scoring with a 40 yard passing TD from Bo Molenda. Have a gander at the box score below and just imagine the game. No different from today, getting out to a strong start gets the game in hand early …and having wicked cool gangster-like names such as Wuert, Lavvie, Mule, Red and Bo, mixed with a few Old Fashioneds for the ladies in Appleton, is a surefire way to score! Unfortunately, when it came time to pair up, Rodger more often than not got stuck with the fat friend.
PACKERS CLINCH NFC NORTH! At 5-0, and with the ensuing automatic 5 wins against the Bears, Viking and Lions, the Packers have clinched the NFC North division title for the 23rd time and 5th consecutive year. After the victory over St. Louis, a ho-hum Mike McCarthy said "One of our goals each year, on our way to winning the Super Bowl, is to win the division before the bye week. This year we did it 1 week ahead of schedule. Has D-troit won a game yet?" With 4 non-division games already in the win column, it is mathematically impossible for the Packers to not win the division. The only question now is will they have 1 or 2 home playoff games before they win the Super Bowl, which will depend upon records of other NFC teams that the Packers do not play this year (Hotlanta, Cam-o-lina) and obscure NFL tie-breaker rules that never favor small TV market teams in cold weather climates. Coach Mike McCarthy suggested in a lunchtime statement Monday from Kroll's West that he "likely won't start sitting players until the Super Bowl is confirmed to go through Green Bay." He then added, "Damn, that's a good hamburger!" and "I really like the pickles in these Bloody Mary's...is that a dill? What's the deal with the Vlassic stork? Are pickles supposed to be like babies or something? I don't get it. Maybe Dom knows - Eliot, remind me to ask Dom that later." Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme What can be said that hasn’t already been said by the Packers beat writers like Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and all the other fulltime media that cover the Packers? Well maybe not too much, but let’s give it a shot… Bleacher Report and virtually everyone else is giving our team a #2 ranking behind the New Eviland PatCheaters. Good. Coach likes a #2 ranking; it keeps a chip on the shoulder of McCarthy, Rodgers & Co. I agree the defending champs are still the best in the AFC. The Defense was dominant again. Well, was it? ...the 4 interceptions and 12 sacks/knockdowns created plenty of Foles Follies and a very loud “ohhhhh” in the stadium when #52 crushed his ribs into powder and planted him like an onion bulb. In-spite of playing inspired D most of the day, the Pack gave up a long pass and a long run in garbage time when they reverted to their “prevent nothing” defense, with 6 men in the box in their nickel alignment. It didn't help that BJ (hee hee) Raji had to leave the game for a big groin issue (pun intended). The sacks, QB hits and interceptions were fantastic, but we’re not perfect yet. Special Teams played pretty well, although Crosby missed one (in the same direction that the Rams missed a long FG). Cover units didn’t have much to cover as Crosby was booming them out of the end-zone and the punts were mainly short. "Oh, but they got burned by that fake punt!" you say... "Fire Zook!" you say... The company line rebuttal regarding the fake punt was that we were ready, but one of the defenders slipped - leaving a receiver open for the wounded duck pass. That is consistent with my take from the film review Sunday night. Much has been made of “the Streak” and “the Interceptions”…..fooey, who cares. Coach likes that the pressure is off and now maybe #12 will feel more comfortable trying to stretch the field with the fans’ Hall of Famer, Jeff Janis. With no real deep threat, the Rams put 8 men in the box on 90% of the plays, yet blitzed very infrequently. Enough guys to stop the run and 4 to drop into short zone pass coverage. We are now 5 weeks into the season and we beat 5 very good defenses. Throw the rankings out the window guys…we are an undefeated legitimate SB contender and we are getting the very best shot our opponents have to offer. We also have faced some very strong D Lines/Front 7’s that allow the D Coordinators to wave kryptonite in our faces….rush 4 and drop 7 into coverage is the formula that has beaten us consistently. Let’s not forget 4 of our last 6 Playoff Losses have come against the NFC West, and we have now beaten 3 of those 4!! We are bringing it! WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like Man, the refs really STINK this year. Did I happen to miss an announcement of a replay-referee strike this year? Sign the contract and dump these replacement-replay-refs before THEY cost us a home playoff game, too. Three brutal examples of horrendous refereeing from the game Sunday: 1. The 1st really bad call was when the replay ref overruled the correct call on the field after Jeff Janis downed a Masthay punt on the 1-yd line. Janis properly re-established himself in the field of play by placing his hand outside of the end zone before touching the ball. That is as acceptable as using 2 feet - same as a catch at the sidelines. As John Madden used to say "One hand is worth 2 feet." 2. The 2nd Aaron Rodgers "interception" actually bounced off of the carpet and popped up into the defender's hands. It was plain as day to see on the slo-mo replay. Again, the replay ref blew the call … in this case by NOT overturning the call on the field. Again, I defer to a John Madden rule - "If 5 guys in a bar agree it's not a catch, then it's not a catch." 3. The Jones TD was marked down at 1-yd line even though he never had a knee on the ground. Replay video shows the field ref RIGHT THERE AT THE GOAL LINE yet he still got the call wrong! What's worse, the replay shows that the field ref never even looked at Jones' legs/knee to see where he might have been down. The ref just assumed it wasn't a touchdown even though he did watch the ball cross the plane! WTF! Thankfully the replay ref finally got that one right. Me and the gang celebrated that touchdown with a bowl of John Madden’s favorite hot buttery popcorn... http://youtu.be/2iPuxHnSUKE The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Our furry foes of feces to the south played the KC Chiefs on Sunday. Since they were being completely dominated in the Show Me state, several members of the classless Bears defense went Jeff Gillooly on Jamaal Charles to get him out of the game (and now out of the league, as he'll have to retire) so they could stand a chance of competing in the 2nd half. The Bears' version of Tweaker Harding, Jay Cutler, still almost lost the game at the end by dropping the shotgun snap on the 5-yd line, but he accidentally swatted it forward and then it fortuitously landed in his WR's arms in the end zone as time expired. I'm sooooo looking forward to seeing Cutler on TV in 20 years when he's 140-LB's overweight and broke, doing paid interviews for Inside Edition like Tonya Harding in order to scrape up enough cash to buy a hit of crystal meth. Here's the brutal attack on Jamal Charles' knee (watch the D linemen closely)... http://youtu.be/voUMQrLy_uY Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground DREW BREES DECLARED ELIGIBLE FOR UW-Purdue GAME Like Chicago, Illinois, the city of West Lafayette, Indiana, has no professional football team. With that fact, in a surprise move it was determined via some arcane NCAA rule regarding small-town college football teams with uniform colors in common with NFL teams, that Drew Brees will be eligible to play in one more football game for his alma mater, Purdon't University. Digging deeper, because Brees never graduated nor transferred to another college or university, and since both the Saints and the BoilLancers have like uniforms, and they oddly enough have their byes on the same weekend (24-25 October), and his wife is hot by Indiana standards, Drew has the option to play out another college game this weekend after the Aints play on Thursday night against the rejuvenated Atlanta FowlCons. Said a pumped-up Brees, "Hey, why not? The Saints suck this year, and Purdue has a bit of mojo after putting a scare into Sparty. I am going to have some fun with this, so What the heck?" Obviously, the Brees development brings a whole new wrinkle to the 1-1 Badgers' game planning. Should they study his latest NFL game tape, or footage from his days in West Lafayette? Here is a lighter clip of Drew Brees from yesteryear as the focus of attention in a Purdue Homecoming tradition... http://youtu.be/LJ7OITjk5zU The Badgers beat Nebraska Saturday in spite of themselves on a FG with 4 seconds to go from Rafael Choke-lianone. Coach has never seen so many dropped passes or dearth of open receivers – even in years when we were an all run, no pass offense. The problem is that we have a weak run game and O-line to go with the slow, stone handed receiving corps. It makes one wonder what Stave would do with some talent around him. He tends to take the rap for poor productivity, but he has made some darn good passes when he is not running for his life or expected to throw a deep ball. The saving grace this year is the defense which, bless their heart, will give us a chance to make it to Indy for the opportunity to get spanked by the East Division winner (see last year's result). On Saturday, though, expect big numbers both running and passing from Bucky. Purdue is that bad. Hopefully, Stave targets Jazz Peavy and Troy Fumigalli since they have cool names. As we get ready for Purdon’t and reflect on many fond memories of this rivalry... One of my personal faves is the time I took a Purdue friend to see his team play Bucky. I was a gracious host even though the black-and-gold and DBrees throttled Bucky on Homecoming. Wide eyed at the spectacle of a full-on party before an 11 AM kick-off, and complete with pro level beer pong, he was quite impressed with the marching band playing through all the major bars (The Grid, Jingles, etc). The post-game shenanigans were a blur not worth chronicling here The next morning he was in for a treat. With a Big Ten hangover in tow, we trundled off to Bennett's on Park Street for their famous Smut-N-Eggs. What better a hangover cure than 14 color screens of XXX, a big slimy plate of eggs Benne-dick, a pint of PBR, a Bloody Mary, and of course Packers pre-game! Perhaps the most notable thing about this story was a similarly hungover Mr. Bennett behind the bar wearing a phallic hat and showing off his ventriloquism skill with a very real looking pet goose telling gut busting jokes. (Think of an AFLAC commercial gone bad.) Good times, good times. http://bit.ly/1G3MB1Y We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game San Diego looked very anemic losing to the Michael “Dog Piñata Party” Vick Steelers on Monday night, but don’t expect an easy game come Sunday. The AFC West has been just about as tough as the NFC West and Coach expects the Bolts to come out on fire. It will be a warm welcome back for MG3, and he will be eager to strut his stuff for his posse that he bought visiting team tickets for. In addition to Melvin Gordon III, the Bolts have a legit QB and a defense; they were embarrassed and are hungry. Prediction: Coach’s long standing theory is that teams losing on Monday night tend to win the following Sunday and, conversely, teams that win on Monday night tend to lose the following week. Well, that was the Coach’s pre-NBC Sunday Night Football theory anyway – which was totally accurate and then completely obliterated later by the surprise unloading of cable v. network ratings shakeups and resultant overplayed commercialized primetime sporting events that lured us in with smokin' hot sideline reporters like Melissa Stark and Erin Andrews (and now, Olivia Harlan!) even though they have nothing of value to add to the game diagnostics or outcome – other than laughs if you happen to be at the game watching drunk guys screaming wedding proposals at said hotties as they trot along the edge of the stands to go from one team’s sidelines to the other’s. But I digress… The Packers have more injuries than Coach has fingers, and rookies and practice squad guys playing in several key positions; wow, really bad? No!! The Packers are playing outstanding as a team, and look for Abbrederis or Janis to start going over the top. Proceed directly to Park Place and collect your $200 as you pass Go: Pack by 14 (coach doesn’t know or care what the line is). Oh yeah, the Pack is 9-1 vs SD all time. Just sayin. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them Da-da-da-da… da da-da, da, da-da (drums, horns)… With the San Diego Super Chargers coming to town, I can’t help but think of the great intro song to Mundane Night Football starring Howard Cosell, Dandy Don Meredith, Frank Gifford, and the guy who murdered Nicole Brown and her platonic friend, Ronald Goldman, in front of her Brentwood, California condo circa June 1994. In 1983, the Packers had the most prolific offense in the NFL, thanks to QB Lynn Dickey, TE Paul Coffman, WR James Lofton, and of course the offspring of San Diego’s “Air Coryell” armada, WR John Jefferson! And that year, they scored more points on a Monday Night game than ever before (and long since). So this week we pay tribute to a guy that made it ok to leave a perennial playoff team for a fledgling franchise in the frozen tundra, creating a Renaissance for Green Bay football and paving the way for lesser known free agents in subsequent years such as obscure talents like Reggie White (he was a defensive end), Andre Rison (he was a wide receiver), and Charles Woodson (he played defense, I think) to sign with the Green and Gold. Due to a contract dispute with the Chargers, #83 Jefferson was traded to the Green Bay Packers in 1981. With JJ making acrobatic catches, and sporting his famous albeit outdated single-bar facemask, the Packers made it to a second-round playoff appearance (despite the worst defense in the NFL) during the strike-shortened 1982 season. John Jefferson was a stand-up guy, and the razzle-dazzle of the team, which gave them an edgy positive attitude and legitimacy as a force to be reckoned with by opposing defenses. Future Packer Darren Sharper said of Jefferson, “I really liked that Packer team and I always looked up to him when I was a young boy dreaming of becoming an NFL star, but maybe not as much as I admired James Lofton.”
http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-19/sports Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme Before getting into the upcoming battle with the Lambs, let's reflect on the game last week... It was another resounding victory for the Green Bay, Wisconsin ACME Meat Packing Company's "Packers" Professional Football Team on Sunday, beating the 49ers 17-3. Notably, the Packers are one of only a handful of NFL teams without a mascot. It was reported by anonymous sources that there were several individuals from a long-standing activist group in San Francisco that offered to create and become a "Packer" mascot, but Mark Murphy was said to be "uncomfortable" by what the shirtless gentlemen in leather chaps had proposed. Apparently, members of this same organization made a similar offer to become the mascot of the former Houston "Oilers" franchise several years ago, following a game they attended via complementary tickets from then Line Backer, Ted Thompson. So yeah, yeah, yeah, the offense was pedestrian and the defense looked like superhero's when Colon Polypnick threw nose-diving footballs at the feet of his receivers. Blah, blah, blah. See the Press-Gazette for more drivel like that. The Coach will cut to the chase: “Looking Back” – What do we know so far about the 2015 Packers? The 2015 Packers have matched the starts of the two most recent 4-0 undefeated teams --- the 2007 & 2011 squads. Are we excited about two road wins and two home wins? You bet we are excited. But is this team any different than the two that produced heart wrenching playoff losses to mediocre Giant’s teams? Well, we won’t really know until January, but Coach is pretty excited about the 96th edition of the Green & Gold… M&M’s or Capers?…I never liked Capers, in fact I’m allergic to legumes so it’s actually a genetic rejection of peas, lima beans and Dom Capers -- but this edition of the Packers is the most balance I remember since the 1996 Season:
http://www.sportingcharts.com/nfl/stats/team-yards-per-play-differential/2015/ WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like And the doctor said, “Rectum… It nearly killed ’m!” C’mon, Clay -- No need to kiss your bicep when dropping Kapernick in the backfield. I think your other sack celebration was much more upsetting to him (pictured below). Is that a new move that you learned in San Francisco? Now for my favorite target – the ref’s: Wow, they were BAAAAAAAAD on Sunday. For the 1st time I can ever recall, though, they were bad in a way that actually favored the Packers. Usually we are getting rear-ended in San Francisco by the ref's (graphic photos to jog your memory below). We unbelievably got several fortuitous calls in the early stages of this past Sunday's game (for example, BJ Raji jumping offsides and slaming his fist in disgust, only to have the penalty assigned to Kapernick). Since there was not much scoring in the latter part of the game, I think the ref’s “blowing it” in our favor early contributed in some small way to the victory. The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Now that the Bears ditched their best 2 defensive players, they actually won a game. Figures. Jay Gutless looked bad (as always) against the lowly Raiders, but the Cubs' mildly retarded step-brothers, da Bears, were able to still squeak one into the win column to stay slightly ahead of those juggernaut Detroit Cry-on's ... looking forward to Thanksgiving Day (a.k.a. "Lions Super Bowl"), when we have the night game on NFL Network to humiliate Cutler once again and retire Brett Hundley's #7 jersey. By the way, I had to drive to Chicago for other business on Tuesday. That sucked. What's weird is that they are so bass-ackward there that the speed limit goes down from 70mph to 65mph when you cross the border, but everyone with Illinois plates increases their speed from 79mph to 85mph. What a bunch of jag-offs. They can't do anything right. Oh yeah, Tollways ... that's fun - great idea, FIB's. I hope you appreciate our FREEways when you come up north to spend a fortune enjoying our nature. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm3JodBR-vs Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground An elimination game looms Saturday for Wisconsin and Nebraska. The dropsies for Wisconsin began against Hawaii and worsened during the Iowa game. Wheelright's drop late cost 3-7 points before the Stave fumble took another 3-7 points off the board. Wasted was Schobert's career day on defense. Wisconsin was without its top two pass catchers against Iowa and may be without them vs Nebraska. Offensively, this is Wisconsin's weakest OL, receiver group and tailback cast since 1991. Blame goes to Gary Anderson burning bridges with state HS coaches and WI's 4th year admissions czar. Our athletic program has the second highest admission standards, surpassed only by Stanford. Ranking #2 in engineering, business or stem cell research is important. Ranking #2 in athlete admissions, ahead of Northwestern and Michigan is downright foolish. At a time when the FB and BB programs are finally attracting blue chip talent, we cannot get them in the door. We will face the gem of our recruiting class on Saturday--an academic non-qualifier who plays RB for the Cornholers. Nebraska doesn't play D like Iowa did and cannot run the ball. Their QB may find himself throwing 30 times, 5 of them one-hoppers. Look for a big day for Schobert and Biegel. We win this game with our defense. Our only flaw will be DB's not turning around for the ball and exploiting the many pick opportunities that come their way. Our receivers will again be unable to get separation--a negative that has plagued them since Abbrederis graduated. We may finally make some hay throwing to backs. I expect a better game from Fumagali, another week removed from returning from a broken hand. Don't let this season come down to a Stave-led rally or having to make a FG Saturday. Speaking of Schobert, he was signed to attend North Dakota State. Bielema saw him put up defensive MVP numbers at the HS all star game in Oshkosh, which prompted the question to his D coordinator "How did we miss this guy?" Schobert was offered to walk on at WI following the game. He will play Sunday's in the NFL. We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game First of all, it should be noted that a Ram is technically a male bighorn sheep, which doesn't sound too scary until you realize they can weigh over 300-lbs and run a 4.2/40 en route to knocking you senseless. If you are female, a friendly Ram will say,"Hey, ewe!" But enough about nature, ... How will we beat the Rams? To be honest, this game is not a slam dunk - but we can do it by following the game plan this coach is doling out: - McCarthy’s influence on special teams is making week-by-week improvement. That will help – it might be a key reason we win. Need to contain Tavon Austin and other undersized quick guys with weird combinations of nonsensical first names (see also DeAnthony Thomas, Jarvis Landry, Cordarrelle Patterson, etc.). - M&M’s influence on the big legume (Capers) is palpable, we now have many, many more snaps with 6, 7 and even 8 defenders in the box, and this is a noticeable improvement over previous years. We will need that to stop not-so-girly Gurley. - Players, players, players…..our Draft-Day investment in the D over the last few years seems to be paying off and we now have the most talented and motivated D-Line in the last 20 years. Raji, Guion and Daniels are playing for contracts, Datone Jones wants to be noticed and the massive and athletic #64 (Pennel) is doing something every time he gets on the field. Matthews is a monster at Middle LB and he now understands the D, #53 Perry is finally contributing, Mike Neal is healthy, Peppers is ageless and Jaaaayroan Elliot is a kid on fire….the DB’s are playing solidly and even the rookies seem to know how to play. We need to be at least equal to St. Louie's defensive effort. - Sadistically, the injury to Jordy may be helping, with the offense taking yards in little chunks the TOP is almost 33 minutes and the D is playing more rested. It might make 40-point games fewer and farther between, but it also makes you better against good offenses, physical defenses and opponents in January. For historical reference, see the explosive (but 8-8) 1983 Packers. espn.go.com/abcsports/mnf/s/gbwashclassic.html - All of that is interesting, but what we really know is that we have the best quarterback in the history of the League. Rodgers' impact is inestimable (O’Reilly’s word of the day yesterday ... I just HAD to use it!). This is a much better team than the 2013 version and could probably be a little better than 0.500 with Tolzien at the helm, but Rodgers is clearly the difference. Having said that, I cringed a bit because the same thing was being written in 2013 by poser pundits a few days before Rodgers broke his collarbone. …turns out the Pack didn’t have the supporting cast that was suggested, although several other injuries (Cobb) also hit mid-season. What to look for with the Lambs --- they have an outstanding front 4 and will use the same formula all teams have tried the last few years that have beaten the Packers --- they will rush 4 and play coverage with 7. They will play solid special teams and will ram Gurley down our throat. Once every 6 or 7 plays Foles will take a downfield shot (and why not? ...it worked for him at Lambeau when he was an Eagle). The Pack will counter by taking away Gurley and letting Foles have a few long ones. Look for Alonzo Harris to get 5-8 carries and a TD, Aaron to throw two TD’s and unfortunately one pick. The game will ultimately boil down to turnover ratio and special teams mistakes. In a Lambeau Divisional Round Playoff preview: Packers 27, Rams 24 thanks to a couple of timely picks by Hayward and Randall. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them It's about time we pay tribute to #5. Vince Ferragamo. Many of you thought that the Golden Domer's number was retired by Green Bay, but not so. "V-Fer" (as teammates affectionately called him) strapped on that number as a Packer in 1985 -- the only player to do so after Paul Hornung retired from the Packers. Ferragamo was originally drafted by the then Los Angeles Rams of Anaheim, California and eventually started for them in Super Bowl XIV, making him the 1st QB to ever start a Super Bowl in the same season as his first career start (lost to Steelers, 31-19). Ferragamo enjoyed his best statistical season the following year in which he threw for 30 touchdowns, tied for second most in the NFL, and the Rams again made the playoffs, but were defeated by Dallas, 34–13 in an NFC Wild Card Playoff game. He made brief pit stops in Montreal and Buffalo (both are CFL teams) before coming to Green Bay for an impressive preseason debut that landed him a 2-year stint. He started 3 games, sharing time with other back-ups to Randy Wright: Chuck Fusina and Joe Shield. But Vince wasn't the 1st big name QB that we got from the LA Rams... A decade earlier, after announcing that veteran QB Jack Concannon, Jerry Tagge's backup, would start Sunday against the Lions in Detroit, head coach Dan Devine obtained veteran John Hadl from the Los Angeles Rams for five (coincidence?) draft choices and waived the Packers' other quarterback, Dean Carlson. Hadl, 34, and in his 13th season of pro ball, was expensive. To get him, the Packers gave up first-, second- and third-round choices in the next draft, and a first and second choice in 1976. ...which basically was the 2nd worst trade in history, behind Minnesota giving 5 players and 6 draft picks to Dallas for Herschel Walker (including Jesse Solomon, Isiac Holt, Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Kevin Smith, and Darren Woodson.). So we salute you, number 5, Vince Ferragamo! John Hadl, you sucked. ...but not as bad as former Nebraska Cornholer, Jerry Tagge, though. Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme
PONTIFF PONTIFICATES ON PACKER PROWESS One of the most notable aspects of the game against Kansas City on Monday night was the attendance of Pope Francis (pictured above). When he heard of the spat between Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson regarding God’s will, the Holy Father immediately announced his intention to attend the soonest Packer game that he could in effort to remove all doubt that God is indeed and above all a Packer fan. Francis, an Argentinian by birth, scored a single game ticket for $735 on StubHub.com – near the northwest goal line up 24 rows, right on the aisle (pretty sweet, Padre!). As you probably viewed on mainstream elite media outlets, with pre-game time to kill leading up to Monday, the Pope figured he might as well make stops along the way earlier during the weekend to do some sightseeing in Washington and Philadelphia (great cheesesteaks!). He scoffed, shaking his head downward, when asked about a possible stop in Chicago: “I don’t play for that guy’s team...” he said in broken English. Post-game, his Eminence was engaged – perhaps a little too much, with followers at the Stadium View in a celebratory beer-laden stupor, where both devout and Christmas-&-Easter Catholics purportedly dodged his passive-aggressive finger pointing and verbal threats in slurred speech: “From now on, I want everybody to call me ‘Psycho’…any of you guys call me ‘Francis’ and I’ll kill ya!” www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OnpkDWbeJs Regarding the game itself, there were undeniably a ton of technical mistakes and the "prevent nothing" 4th Q Defense was borderline disgusting (whew, no Julio Jones this time), but: - 18 different players recorded tackles...I'm pretty sure every active defensive player saw the field for at least a couple of snaps. - Early in the game we played a lot of "46" Buddy Ryan D, but with undersized players in the DE & LB slots. Essentially it's a 4-4-3 that most high schools have as a staple for stopping the run. Nate Palmer played OK, Joe Thomas outstanding considering that he was on the Dallas practice squad a week ago. I think Clay Matthews is having his best year as a pro...he really knows how to time his blitzes and if he'd played his whole career at Mike, he could be in the conversation with a handful of all-time NFL greats like Nitschke (and a couple of guys south of Kenosha). - D Line was un be liev able ---Raji, Pennel and Daniels only had a few snaps together, but are in the conversation for "best 3 man front" … and Letroy G comes back from the Principal’s office this week for the 9'er game with his newly installed gold grill! However, my buddy, Buzz Killian, reminds me the bad news is that (other than Pennel) they all are in the last year of their contracts, along with Datone Jones. I say, let Datone go and do what you can to sign the other 3. Daniels will command big $ but we might get a hometown discount because he’s a decent guy, Raji will be kinda expensive but not command the cash that M-Dan will (we might need to sign him for longer than we want to get a manageable cap number), L-Guy will be the best value because he has an asterisk on his dope sheet – for actual dope. - Offense: Wow. Any question that Rodgers is MVP right now? If he gets another ring he's my vote for best ever. If not, he and Favre will have to split that title. It's hard to judge how good any of our other offensive players are -- we are loaded with good players, but everyone is a pro bowler with 12 at QB. Our Achilles heel has been with teams that can get home rushing 4 (See playoffs: AZ, 2x NY, 2x SF, Sea) and drop 7 into coverage. This year’s Pack feels like a slightly better team, though, like they’ve got something up their sleeve (Depth? Field smarts?) to overcome that weak tendon exposed in years past. - Special Teams: 2 top-10 kickers, cover units that can cover, and return units that are decent so far. Seems like ST could be just good enough with our O and D to win it all. If nothing else, let’s face it – Zook just sounds better than Slocum. - Injuries: It feels like we have the best depth we've ever had…not much drop off when guys go down (and thanks for coming back, James Jones). This year we have the injuries, but we look damn good training the rookies and first year players. - Plays: Tommy C-tone is (for the most part) making pretty good play calls. Not much drop-off from Magic Mike (sorry, bad visual), but I wouldn’t mind seeing a little more play-action check-down high-completion-percentage passes from Aaron to the fullbacks or TE’s in the 4 minute offense. I know incompletions would kill the clock (duh), BUT WE HAVE AARON RODGERS. 3 and outs suck in the 4Q, especially with our D eating Ezra Johnson hot dogs on the bench at that point in the game. This week there’s been much mention from sports analysts, and rightfully so, regarding the slot screen with 2 wideouts blocking within 5 yards of the LOS – yeah, that worked pretty well. But what I am much more impressed with is the DOWNFIELD blocking by our receivers. They are really in command of the d-backs with their physicality, enabling that extra yard or two to get 1st downs or sometimes even breaking big gains. I credit the Mudder, #34 Edgar Bennett, for emphasizing that aspect of the game when he was WR coach (now he’s assistant Offensive Coordinator – which means he’ll be Magic Mike's OC next year when Tom Clements becomes head coach of the Lions or Colts). WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like It was an EZ pick this week. With 3+ minutes left in regulation, and the Packers up by 16 points, the opposing coach, Andy Reid, was faced with 4th and long situation to keep his team’s hopes alive of making it game. The infamous Eagles “4th and 26” game still makes me tick between my neck and left eyeball once in a while, so I couldn’t help but think “No way, they CAN’T make it with 4th and 17! Not again!” And, they didn’t … we stopped them at least a yard short. But NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! The ref’s gave them an extra yard or two anyway – knowing that Green Bay had no more TO's/challenges left. WTF, ref! The poetic justice (besides the victory) that followed soon after was this timely TV broadcast... www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDBQr9rOVTo Runner up WTF this week goes to our friends at Pro Football Focus for their feeble attempt at assessing QB performance. To make a long story short (yes, we do occasionally have short stories), after his 5 TD, 0 INT game against one of the NFL’s most formidable defenses, Rodgers was ranked 17th amongst QB’s, tied with Teddy Bridgewater behind the likes of Blake Bortles, Jameis Winston and Tyrod Taylor. I’ll take my chances with our guy, thank you. PFF is like the Chicago Bears of NFL analytics websites. Speaking of segues… The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Really, are you kidding me? Seriously? This could be the suckiest of all suck jobs that the Bears ever sucked at. With a 0-3 start, they are already throwing in the towel! They traded away Jared Allen (eating his $11 million guaranteed bonus) and their most productive tackler, Jon Bostic, both for measly for 6th round picks. Can’t you guys even try to act like a professional football team? I mean, …seriously? Can’t you at least have the decency to pretend like you could win a few games? Maybe just wait until you’re 25% of the way through the season? I mean, think about it, the Lions might actually have a worse record than you losers this year, but they get to KEEP their good players. Shame. Chicago Mayor, Rahm Emanuel, commented late Monday that the trades seemed justifiable from his perspective, primarily because both players “…don’t have enough silent letters in their first names,” (referencing a poster that showed only 1 “r” in Jared, and no “h” in Jon) “so they aren’t good long term fits for the fans in Illinois.” He later suggested to media reporters that although a tax levy was expected to pass by year end – which would increase the city coffers by targeting each resident without at least 1 silent letter in their first name, that likelihood was in no way related to their hasty departure. Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground As has happened before during the week leading into the Big Ten opener, the ghost of Chris Farley was spotted near the site of the original Buck's Bar on Hamilton Street in Madison – one of his favorite haunts when he was alive. Stumbling through the halls of the nondescript building that now occupies the former favorite Madison hang out, a distraught and translucent Matt Foley was seen and heard to lament, "Hey Badgers, you better stinkin' win this weekend or I am gonna kick Bucky's-furry-little-ass so hard he won't know what hit him. You candy ass slackers let me down last year against NorthWorstern and it better not happen again against I-owe-a…! So you guys wiped the floor with Miami, Troy, and Hawaii? Whoop-dee-frickin-doo! This is life in the Big Ten, hot shots! O-Line, start looking like you not gonna suck, and Tyrod Deal ‘n … Ogawanakboulahey – don’t slack off in the running game. Shobert and Caputo, we are countin' on you! Hey STAH-VAY! I wanna see you nailing Wheelwright all day long downfield and none of this pussy ass “yips” stuff. You better not freakin stink up the place or you might find yerselves livin' in a van DOWN BY THE RIVER!" (By the way, it wasn’t easy writing all that down while the ghost was rambling on incessantly at a reasonably fast pace.) On related news, we obtained this actual clip from one of Paul Chryst's early recruiting trips... www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kb3bAB0xY3k We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game The Forty-Whiners look pretty weak this year, and they just got walloped by the former Racine Cardinals team in Arizona. Is this a “trap” game or a "let down" game? We’re not gonna let that happen. We will be 4-0. You see, the Coach used to live on the left coast, and attended the divisional playoff game on January 6, 1996 at Candlestick Park. The memories from that 27-17 victory almost 20-years ago still ignite a fire inside me that can permeate through my skin, down Packerland Drive, and then hang a right onto County Trunk VK and blow the gates wide open at 1265 Lombardi Avenue to inspire the players of today as they prepare for Sunday. …until, of course, they have to leave for the airport, which in that case my fire would actually take a left turn onto Hwy 172 off of Packerland and then go through the round-about (hopefully only once!) at the Oneida Casino and park in the special roped off area for the players’ vehicles just north of the airport parking exit gates. Regardless, it was an awesome game, filled with great memories to share... First, me and my band of drunkateers had to find out how to get Packer playoff tickets from Green Bay -- but we were living in LA at the time, for a game in San Francisco. That might not seem like a big deal today, but remember at that time there was no such thing as the world wide interweb (since Al Gore was too busy hiding Slick Willy’s co-ed pages from Hillary). I had Ma’s Yellow Book with me out west, so I let my fingers do the walking to Ticket King and bought tix ($175 each) to be sent FedEx, arriving Friday (for the Saturday game). Of course, when it was time for us all to road trip up the 5, no FedEx deliveries had arrived, yet – so we drove through LA suburbia that afternoon in pursuit of a specific FedEx truck identified to us by the local dispatcher, and actually stopped the driver to get the tix (true story). He did ask for proper ID, but that was it! … and he hated the 49ers, so it was a sweet send-off. When we got to the San Fran hotel that night, Packer players were coming in to beat their 10pm curfew... Sean Jones was signing autographs outside the Wyndham bar, when John Jurkovic came strolling in at 9:59pm through the sliding glass doors (all glassy-eyed himself). I said “Give'em hell tomorrow, Jurko!” and he replied, nodding with a smirk and a twinkle in his eye “We’re gonna try.” Right then I realized it was already over – the Packers KNEW they were going to win that next day. While tailgating in the parking lot Saturday, we got full of beer and covered in spray paint / brat mustard while making our posters in hopes of getting on TV (which, a couple of us did!). On the front of my poster it said “You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him. Favre 4 MVP” (and I don’t want to take all the credit here, but Brett did end up winning the MVP that year). On the back it said “Bend over 49ers, the Pack is coming!” Our seats were behind the south end zone, fortuitously right in front of the SF cheerleaders – they nudged each other and pointed at me when I held the back side of that sign up. They all were pretty hot, but they seemed like they were starved for attention in that town for some reason(?). Lucky - me. We had great seats...we were fortunate enough to be in a whole section of Packer fans that booked a charter package from Green Bay. The main guy in that group was a smiley old geezer sitting right behind us – a retired president of some large Green Bay bank. Everybody in that section knew him dearly (except us) and they all called him "Dad" - it wasn't long before we did, too. He made sure we always had a beer in each hand throughout the whole game; patting us on the back of the shoulder as he handed us one after another. What a great guy. 9'er fans in the rows behind us pelted us with sourdough as we cheered our great plays, held up our obnoxious signs, and jeered when the Forty-Whiners messed up. All in all I would have to say the San Fran fans were pretty good, though. In the parking lot after the game they said they wanted us to beat Dallas the following week (which happened to be the cheap-shot-to-Jurko‘s-leg game …the “greatest O-line in history” my ass!). Anyways, on San Fran’s 1st possession, Steve Young completed a sideways pass to the running back, Adam Walker, for -3 yards. Walker infamously fumbled, recovered by Craig Newsome and he returned it 31 yards for the touchdown – right in front of us!!! We went CRAZY. Because of my pregame poster preparation (alliteration intended), the San Fran cheerleaders already sorta “knew” me and immediately approached me after that score to tell me in jest how sick my sign was (back then, "sick" wasn’t a good thing); yet, they oddly seemed to enjoy my company because they kept coming back to make comments to me whenever big plays occurred (for either team). Pretty awesome. I think you know where this is going… So the rout was on: Already up 10-0 in the 1st Q, Brettext Favre completes a 3-yard pass to “The Announcer” Keith Jackson for another touchdown. Then midway through the 2nd Q, Brett completes a 13-yard touchdown pass to Mark “What’s your daughter’s name?” Chmura. A couple of Chris Jacke field goals and a couple of garbage-time TD’s by Strigham Young, and it’s over! A statement victory that re-established, and has sustained, Packer dominance in the NFL to this day. After the game in the parking lot I bumped into some college buddies from Wisconsin that I hadn’t seen for a couple of years – freaky coincidence. A few other guys from our roadtrip group drifted away while exiting the stadium and ended up storming the flagpole in the office park next to the ‘Stick. With their furry Packer helmets on, they ran up a Packer flag! Within seconds a counter attack of angry Forty-Whiner fans mounted. Being outnumbered (and reasonable cowards), my buddies retreated to the beer cooler. I recall seeing one kindred spirit consoling another as he puked vehemently into the large white rocks of the breakwater shoreline at the edge of the parking lot. The beautiful but winding PCH ride home the next day didn't help our hangovers one bit. Oh yeah, speaking of beautiful - what about the cheerleaders? They ignored me as time ran out and I stumbled toward the aisle with my 90-year old new best friend, blind from too much beer and cursed with bionic hiccups. It was still fun, though. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them I know you know who Bart Starr is, but If you don’t know who Lamar McHan is – you should… Lamar was the QB Lombardi wanted in 1959, and who he traded for from the Chicago [Racine] Cardinals in 1959, so that he wouldn't have to start the 1st round bust from 1952 (4th overall pick), gunslinger Babe Parilli, or the weak-armed, non-athletic 17th round draft pick from 1956, Bart Starr. I like commas. Lamar started the 1959 season with 3 wins to get the new head coach and the Packers off to a nice start following the 1-10-1 1958 season. As a consequence of injury, a 5 game losing streak, a hot temper and shooting his mouth off to Vince, McHan was permanently benched and eventually traded to the San Francisco 49'ers. Babe Parilli went to the Ottawa Rough Riders and Starr became the starter that led the Pack to a 4 game win streak, culminating in a season-ending win over the 49'ers at Kezar Stadium; which resulted in the Packers first winning season (7-5) in 12 years and launched an era of greatness. Also notable about the win over the 49'ers were the 36 unanswered points which overcame a 1st quarter 14 point deficit. The 14 point comeback is tied with 14 other games at 10th place on the all-time comeback list for the Pack. I am smart. |
Author"Coach" is the insightful collective brain and funny bone of a few legendary Packer fans who provide everything you need to know (and what Packers beat writers often plagiarize) about the Green & Gold, plus a weekly guest appearance by The Badger Underground. Archives
November 2022
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