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.
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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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