Welcome back to The Coach Clarahanson Show!!! In Coach’s Humble Opinion: Stadiums should have meaningful football names Green Bay Packers at Kansas City Chiefs. It’s what makes the NFL great. Not just because these are the two teams that represented their leagues in the very first Super Bowl, but because they are organizations that care slightly more about football than the money their owners make. Look no farther than the names of the venues these teams play in: Lambeau Field, and Arrowhead Stadium. Awesome. Sadly, there are only a few good football names left for NFL stadiums. The aforementioned ones for the Packers and Chiefs, Soldier Field in Chicago (owned by the city’s parks department), and Paul Brown stadium in Cincinnati. It is also worth noting that all four of these stadiums are outside venues, which Coach believes yields a superior product to the professional football fan. But that is a topic for another day, perhaps. Climate change aside, here are the stadiums that severely detract from the NFL experience…
Hey, I get it, someone’s got to pay the bills. In Green Bay and Kansas City, that burden falls primarily onto the fans. It works, though, because these stadiums are always sold out. That said, however, there is an inherent problem inasmuch as ticket prices need to increase at the rate of players’ salary increases, which is greater than the rate of yearly family income increases in these sparsely populated metropolitan areas. To be honest, I am not really all that against a stadium sponsor. Miller Park, for example, made a lot of sense for the BREWERS because Miller beer is made in Milwaukee. Let’s just hope they never change from that name to an obnoxious sell out name like for some lame insurance company! But I think we’re pretty safe there, right? Coach did some math, and by my calculations, with a meager $5 million donation to the Green Bay Packers, “Lambeau Field presented by Under Armour” would save me about $10 per ticket. For a franchise as frequently put on the national stage as the Packers, I believe a 4-year $100 million naming right should be near market value. That would save me roughly $50 for each regular season game ticket (and I would promise to reduce my frequency of screaming “Fire Murphy!” …not totally eliminate it, though. Hey, we’re negotiating here…). So, who should we recruit? Ideally, it would be a local business, and maybe something related to Packers. Under Armour is not local, and the ACME Meat Packing Company is no longer in business, so I went through the Chamber of Commerce brochure and found a few other local businesses for consideration... Coach never wants to see “Cellcom Stadium” hoisted above the name of the Green Bay Packers, but “Lambeau Field presented by Leinenkugal’s” would be a reasonable compromise to keep ticket prices in check. …at least, in my humble opinion. Create A Seam Here – X’s & O’s about the game or a scheme Rodgers Clearly Washed Up….
Oakland played decent run defense, holding the Pack to 2.6 yds/carry on 23 carries. Pass defense was another story! They got minimal pressure on Rodgers while primarily “playing coverage” and rushing only 3 or 4 and Rodgers tore them apart to the tune of a perfect passer rating. Coach can never remember a game like this, because, well, there never was a Packer game like this. Rodgers' 400 passing yards, five passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown has occured only two other times in league history: Rams quarterback Norm Van Brocklin (1951) and Redskins quarterback Mark Rypien (1991). Packer fans know that the Lambeau Leap was conceived by safety LeRoy Butler after scoring a defensive TD against the L.A. Raiders on December 26, 1993 (Reggie White recovered a fumble and lateraled to LeRoy). Coach was a little bit disappointed that not all of the TD’s against the Raiders were punctuated with by Lambeau Leaps and a nod to LeRoy and the ’93 Raiders game (yes, Coach is talking to you A-Rod). But hey, the whole day was a ton of fun anyway! The Offense continues to get better game after game as you can see in the graph below. It will be tough to match the 34.1 point/game season average of the 2011 Packers who went 15-1, but we are on the right track fer shure. So Coach, what changed this week? Well for starters we didn’t drop passes, so the drives stayed alive, AND, in a shock of all shockers, Jimmy Graham had his first good game of his 23-game tenure in Green Bay (4 catches, 63 yards and a TD). Can it keep going? Let’s hope so. Coach also predicted a Super Bowl II repeat score of 33-14. While the 42-24, 18-point beatdown wasn’t exactly the same, the game was truly a blowout after the first few minutes of the 3rd Quarter. While the Packers offense was great, the whole game really turned on one play… With the Packers up 14-10, a minute and 55 seconds left in the half, Derek Carr scrambled around right end. Proving an age-old adage, the slightly endowed Carr does not have big enough hands to hold a football with one hand. As a result, Carr fumbled the ball into the EZ which gave the Packers the ball at their 20 with 1:49 left in the 1st Half. Six plays later the Packers were at the Oakland 37 with 12 seconds left in the half. Time for one more play before Crosby kicks a FG to end the half…right? Hah! No. A-Rod to Kumerow put the Pack up 21-10. The Pack received the 2nd Half kick-off and turned that into a 5-play, 78-yard, drive to go up 28-10. In 4:33 of game time, Packers went from potentially being down 17-14 to being up 28-10 … game over … it was officially garbage time after that. However, not all was bright and shiny… …the punt and kickoff return game has been awful all year and it looks like Shepherd is a bust back there. We are not playing at playoff level. …speaking of not playing at a playoff level, the Defense really did not inspire confidence as Oakland ran up and down the field all day on the Pack (5yds/carry for 115 yards) and their TE’s were unstoppable (11 catches, 172 yards), for a total yardage that was greater than the Pack. We are now giving up 381 yards per game and rank 26th in the NFL. For those keeping score at home, this is not good. It also is eerily similar to 2011. Just sayin. So, Coach, all-is-lost and we didn’t really win? Well no Johnny, there is hope after all. The two turnovers we got and only 3 penalties kept us in the game – and, we actually rank 4th in turnover differential per game at 0.9. Getting the ball more than the other guys keeps them from scoring points and it helps us score more points. That is a good thing. To put this in a bit more perspective, Coach has compiled stats from the last 30 Super Bowl winners. The chart above looks at Defensive Points Allowed, Offensive Points Scored and Point Differential over the course of the Regular Season for each of the 30 SB winners. The important rows are the blue one (90% cutoff) and the green one (2019 Packers through Wk 7). The good news is that after 7 weeks we are just at the 90% cutoff on Defense and Point Differential and the Offense has a bit more cushion. What does this mean? Well nothing really, other than we are legitimately in the SB contender discussion, but the Defense is just on the cusp of dropping out…. The biggest problem is that the Defense is weak up the middle, some of that is due to the scheme, some of that is that nobody is doing much (besides Kenny Clark). Martinez is leading the league in tackles, but BFD when most of those are 5-7 yards downfield. But there are signs for hope!! On the last play of the 3rd Qtr, with the Raiders at the GB 36, they had a 1st down and were making good yards on every play. Raiders rookie Josh Jacobs goes around left for no gain. No. 97, Kenny Clark, is credited with the tackle, but the play is really made by Za’darius Smith and Montravius Adams. Smith holds the edge and turns the play back inside and Adams holds up LG Richie Incognito. If we start to play like this against the run, we can be pretty good. Unfortunately, seven plays later we have to defend 4th and Goal at the one-yard line…TD for sure, right?. But wait!! Josh Jacobs dives for the goal line and Jaire Alexander (23) crashes down to start him spinning… …and mystery man BJ Goodson arrives to pop him and wind the calendar back a week or so for Mr. Jacobs. That was a fantastic old school goal line stand…Coach loves it!! Backed up in the shadow of the South End Zone goal posts, the Pack didn’t do anything and punted the ball away. Oakland immediately started driving and had a huge 36-yard pass play to Marcell Ateman. This catch was the rookie’s first as a pro…tell me, which guy looks like he really wants the ball. Hint, it’s not “shoulders” Kevin King. Thank goodness King has the proverbial “short memory”, on the very next play he snuffs out another drive. And just for fun, Coach thought you might like to see Gruden in his press conference after the game. You don’t really need to hear the audio to know that he is complaining about the officials. “If you can’t win, entertain them” is Coach Chucky’s motto. But who can blame him? He’s the one with a $100 million, 10-year contract. Tell me again who the smart one is? The Defense is driving Coach crazy, but two turnovers in the end zone and a successful goal line stand are really, really impressive. Here’s Coach saying that the D will get better from this point forward, we are a play-off team and a legitimate SB Contender. It’s science. ... Go Pack Go … WTF – Coach’s take on football news that’s messed up TV Announcer Just Going To Go Ahead And Count Stray Cats In Detroit Attendance Figure DETROIT—With both teams posting only 4 wins combined so far this year, the home team Lions are not expecting many fans to show up for the 1pm EDT game this Sunday against the New York Giants. In a preemptive move for the NFL to save face, the Fox TV announcer calling the game, Kevin Burkhardt, has agreed to make as positive of a spin “as possible” during the matchup at Ford Field. Although the season has already reached its half-way point, both teams will be battling to see which squad can reach 3 wins first. The Giants are actually on an upswing since replacing 2019-winless 2-time Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning with rookie QB Daniel Jones. On the other hand, the Lions appear to be on schedule for their annual mid-season implosion, which began at Lambeau field mid-way through the 2nd quarter a week ago Monday, and will likely continue until their annual Thanksgiving upset. The Bears Still Suck – Coach has proof The Bears haven’t won a game in 3 weeks. It must have been embarrassing getting blown out by the hardknocks Raiders in London, and then having to stew on that loss over their bye week. But at least they got rested up and got to start out with a home game … which they LOST! Each conference puts 6 teams in their playoff tournament. Right now, of the 16 teams in the NFC, the Bears are either in 9th or 10th position, depending upon how the Cardinals’ tie will factor in at the end. That’s right, the CARDINALS. …BTW, the Cardinals starting quarterback Kyler Murray is a rookie, and he is the 14th ranked QB so far this year. Not bad. Aaron Rodgers is ranked 4th, but that is not really all that surprising for the sure-thing 1st ballot HOF’er. Russell Wilson is ranked #1, and obviously having an amazing year. Can you guess the quarterbacks who are ranked #2 and #3? Here’s a hint … “the Bears suck.” That’s right, the #2 and #3 quarterbacks this year are the QB’s drafted right AFTER the Bears moved up from the 3-spot to the 2-spot in the 2017 draft to take Mitchell Trubisky: Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson! And where is our favorite Turdbiscut sitting on this NFL list? Comfortably at #28, right behind Andy Dalton (27) of the 0-7 Bengals and right before Ryan Tannehill (29) of the AFC South bottom dwelling Titans. Just in case you’re wondering, here are some other noteworthy quarterbacks ranked ahead of Mitchell Trubisky this year: Giants rookie Daniel Jones (25), Panthers backup Kyle Allen (Who? … IDK, but he’s 22!), the Colts’ Jacoby Brissett (16) as proxy for surprise retiree Andrew Luck, and Uncle Rico look-alike Gardner Minshew (17) of the Jacksonville Jaguars. It appears the Bears will again be drafting a quarterback in the 1st round next year. Probably again in the top 10, and they will undoubted screw that pick up, too. It’s what they do, because they suck. Udder Stuff – Commentary from the Badger Underground Bucky Craps the Bed in Champaign: Ruins Playoff Hopes, Power Index Ranking, and Fox Ratings Forecast for 11 AM Kickoff vs. Ohio State. Game Flexed to Friday Night on ESPN 8, The Ocho. Blown 2-score 4th quarter leads since ‘93: Illinois 2019 LSU 2014 Michigan 2008 Michigan State 2008 Iowa 2004 (Barry’s last game at CR) Indiana 2002 Like an old man scourging “Get off my lawn!” last week we admonished Bucky to not F it up and to take care of business. Unfortunately, Bucky did F it up. The short story is JT dropped the rock and Coan threw a putrid INT. Due to silly play call and a snoozing OL we could not get a TD from 1st and goal at the 3. The D forgot how to tackle and cover in the 4th quarter. We at BU have seen our fair share of trap games. We see them coming and we know what they look like as they unfold. We watch for the signs during the coin flip, despite being declared 31-point favorites. Coaches see them coming as well and hopefully say the right things to pre-empt 17-21 year-old players from taking perceived lesser opponents lightly. History lessons might seem appropriate, but are likely to be discounted since some took place before current players were in eighth grade or before they were even born. Any reference to the South Carolina’s upset of Georgia only a week earlier apparently failed to make an impression. Let’s start first with the sugar-coated glass half-full angle. Making the playoffs would have probably meant beating Ohio State twice and let’s be honest, that’s not going to happen. All more realistic goals, including a Rose Bowl appearance, are still in front of this team. Offensively, we outgained Illinois 420-315, possessed the ball for 41 minutes, were in the red zone 7 times and were 9-for-17 on third down. Before his disastrous interception, Coan was 9-for-9 on third downs. He ended 24-for-32 for 264 yards with 1 TD and 1 int. The play of all our receivers (and Ferguson) was a real positive. Up until we had to settle for a 3rd quarter FG and 23-14 lead after having first & goal on their 3, Illinois’ offense was just ok and the game was basically won if you don't turn the ball over twice in the closing minutes. The most head-scratching calls were consecutive fullback dives on 2nd & 3rd down. No Taylor for a stretch play, misdirection or even play action. Chryst has a handful of play calls that yield easy touchdowns, but obviously didn’t want to show them and was saving them for the big matchup of top 10 undefeateds this Saturday at Columbus. Yeah, you had to kick the FG to go up 2 scores. The JT fumble was another key play that lost the game. If he holds on to the ball there, we basically kill 3 more minutes and kick a FG at worst. Even if Larsh missed, we're still probably OK. This game basically came down to red zone execution and a couple key turnovers. The bulk of the game was normal Paul Chryst don't let the inferior team beat you but let them hang around approach. WTF happened to our defense? Throughout this season and up until hitting the self-destruct button in the 4th quarter, this group was fundamentally solid and often dominating at all three levels. One dirty little secret about Leonhard’s defense is that often the corners are put on an island. One blown coverage on a double move or a missed tackle by the safety and you can beat them. Illinois also ran at Noah Burks (or away from Baun) all day long and he got absolutely toasted. He’s actually had a good year but did not play well at all Saturday. Better figure that out quickly as tOSU no doubt is going to test him. On a side note, CB Deron Harrell, and NT Keanu Benton also sat out this game. Along with starting O-lineman Erdmann, neither appeared on the injury report. Harrell started most of the games this season and is one of the team’s biggest corners. Credit Illinois with actually leveraging their athleticism on both sides of the ball. We let them hang around, they began believing in themselves and Lovie didn’t mess it up. OK let’s think about other things such as Bucky’s field trip to the Whore Shoe this Saturday to play the Bucknuts. As we are looking forward to Saturday’s tilt vs. Ohio State, you may be taking comfort that we have pulled off two wins, one tie and one late loss vs. Ohio State following devastating defeats. The first example was the 1993 Alvarez Rose Bowl team that went to Minnesota undefeated for a comparable trap game, only to see Darrell Bevell get picked five times. The following week at Camp Randall, they settled for a tie by neglecting to block Ohio State’s edge rusher on the game-winning FG attempt. A few years later, following a 1999 home loss to a Tom Brady-led Michigan team, the Badgers went into Columbus and quickly found themselves down 17-0 in the first quarter in Brooks Bollinger’s first start. They rallied for 42 un-answered points and won 42-17. Ron Dayne carved up Ohio State for 161 yards and four touchdowns. Later that season, that team yielded 525 yards passing to Purdue’s Drew Brees, but won on a Jamar Fletcher pick six. They also beat UCLA in the Rose Bowl that year. Two years later, a week after losing to Indiana 63-32, we spotted tOSU a 17-0 lead and won 20-17. This Ohio State game does not have the same feel as those other three games. The Urban Meyer era has opened up a talent disparity between them and the rest of the conference, one that didn’t exist in 1993, 1999, and so on. Their QB is the second coming of Russell Wilson, but bigger, faster & stronger. He is being mentioned as a #1 NFL draft pick. They have elite athleticism across the board, even down to the kicker, punter and water boy. Cephus might not even start for this Ohio State squad. Both RB’s are averaging 7 yards per carry. They are going to shut down our receivers and don’t need to respect our deep passing game. Don’t be surprised to see them own both sides of the line of scrimmage. It feels like Paul Chryst has only 98 cents in his pocket on dollar beer night and the condoms he bought at the gas station are too big. Our prediction (hoping to be wrong a second week in a row) is to lose 31-17. After all, the Bucknuts players don’t go to tOSU to attend class, they go there to get drafted into the NFL… We’re Gonna Kick Your @$$ – predictions for the upcoming game Kan-sus-Ity, standard bearer of the American Football League, here we come! Coach, I’ve heard of the Chiefs, but where did they come from? During the 50’s the NFL started to rival MLB in popularity and the rising tide was lifting all boats, except for the Chicago Cardinals (see kids, it’s not only the Bears that still suck, it was true of the Chicago Football Cardinals as well). The Bidwell Family tried to peddle the failing franchise to Lamar Hunt, but the deal sucked (go ’figger) and while Hunt backed out, the whole effort left him with the football bug. So's Hunt and a buncha-other-guys approached NFL Commish Bert Bell about adding 12 expansion teams, which Bell quashed as too dilutive of the NFL mix. Not to be deterred, Hunt and his buncha-other-guys explored a lot of options throughout the 50’s that led to the chartering of the AFL on August 14, 1959. Memberships and bubble gum cards with were distributed to Dallas, New York, Houston, Denver, Los Angeles, and Minneapolis-Saint Paul. After a lot of squabbles and infighting among the founders of the AFL, many teams came and went before the league started play. The Minneapolis and Dallas teams never played in the AFL, they eventually withdrew from the AFL to become the NFL expansion Cowboys and Vikings. The AFL began regular season play in 1960 with eight teams in the league: • Boston Patriots (now the Hoody Patriots) • Buffalo Bills • Dallas Texans • Denver Broncos • Houston Oilers (now the Nashville Oilers) • Los Angeles Chargers (SD Chargers, now LA Chargers again) • New York Titans (now NY Jets) • Oakland Raiders (now the Oakland, LA, Oakland, Las Vegas Raiders). The Miami Fish and the Cincinnati Bungles joined the AFL in ’66 and ’68 respectively to round out the 10-Team AFL, which would merge with the NFL after the 1969 Season. In today’s NFL, the AFC East and AFC West are composed entirely of AFL Teams. During the 2019 NFL Season, the NFC Norris Division is paired with the AFL West Division, so we are playing all of those guys. In 1963 Dallas Texans owner Lamar Hunt announced that they were moving to Kansas City. Despite winning the league championship in 1962, the Texans could not sufficiently profit in the same market as the Dallas Cowboys; Kansas City mayor Harold Roe Bartle (nicknamed "Chief") was instrumental in his city's success in attracting the team. Partly to honor Bartle, the franchise officially became the Kansas City Chiefs … which begs the question, “Does that make the name less politically incorrect?” Life if too complicated these days. {Of local interest, in 1965, Milwaukee officials tried to lure an AFL expansion team to play at Milwaukee County Stadium after an unsuccessful attempt to lure the Packers there full-time. Packers head coach Vince Lombardi invoked the team's exclusive lease, and additionally, signed an extension to keep some home games in Milwaukee until 1976.} The upstart AFL had proposed a Championship game with the NFL starting in 1963 and the NFL eventually agreed. On January 15, 1967, the first-ever AFL-NFL Championship Game was played in Los Angeles (retroactively referred to as Super Bowl I). The NFL champion Packers kicked butt and overwhelmed the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs, 35–10. The loss reinforced the proven fact that the AFL was an inferior league. So, much like last week against the Raiders, we wanna win, but the Chiefs are just another friendly, mediocre team whose ass we will kick in a manner that will evoke mild sympathy with a hint of disdain and indifference amongst Packer fans. Like many teams, the Chiefs honor their traditions as much as possible. When the Head Coaching position opened-up a few years ago, the Chiefs asked their official greeter, Norman Bidwell, to lead the Search Committee. Norm was able to save the team a few bucks by recommending his cousin, Andy Reid. Andy follows in the storied tradition of Melissa McCarthy’s mentor, Marty Schottenheimer. Marty, Melissa and Andy all have admirable Regular Season records… …and then flame out in the playoffs. (Melissa McCarthy was on Marty’s staff and regularly referred to him as a model for coaching success.) Nothing breeds mediocrity like a good stay in Kansas City. After Super Bowl I, Vince Lombardi said "I do not think Kansas City is as good as the top teams in the National Football League." Vince’s assessment remains true today, as KC is 1-8 in their last 9 home playoff games. To get a little bit more insight on this weekend’s game, Coach asked Bobby Boucher to comment. Super Bowl I, Pack vs. Chiefs, seemed a lot like last weekend against the Raiders. The Pack went into Halftime up 14-10 and weren’t dominating on D. On their first drive of the second half the Chiefs advanced to their own 49-yard line, but on third-down a heavy blitz by linebackers Dave Robinson and Lee Roy Caffey collapsed the pocket. Robinson, tackle Henry Jordan, and Packer right end Lionel Aldridge converged on QB (and infamous Packers-hater) Len Dawson who threw weakly toward tight end Fred Arbanas. The wobbly pass was intercepted by Willie Wood, who raced 50 yards to Kansas City's five-yard line. This was "the biggest play of the game," wrote Starr later. On their first play after the turnover, running back Elijah Pitts scored a touchdown run off left tackle to give the Packers a 21–10 lead. Stram agreed that it was the critical point of the game. The Packers defense then dominated the Chiefs offense for the rest of the game, only allowing them to cross midfield once, and for just one play. So far in 2019 the Packers have not scored a TD on Defense nor on Special Teams. As you read above, we are generally stopping the other team from scoring, but it is not a “shut down D”. All that will change on Sunday Night in KC. Coach is declaring it here. In a game that would make Willy proud, the Packers D will dominate and have a Pick-6, and we will win 35-10. Book it!! Chevon McNuggets - G.O.A.T facts to chew on JB – Packers you forgot about, but stories you’ll remember about them This week’s tribute recognizes a Packer with a colorful background and is one of the true tough guys of the Lombardi Era, Ken Bowman. Born in Milan in 1942 to Gepeto and Fernedina Bowman, who ran the Vespa motorbike shop in town. Always fearless, Ken ran away from home at the age of 9 to join the Zoppé circus. Being extremely double jointed, he was able to parlay that ability to contort his body into a lucrative freak show. Circus flyers from the early 1950’s indicate that Bowman (actually, his given Italian name is Gaetano Bomano) was able to virtually detach limbs and put them back into place like a GI Joe (Soldato Giuseppe). Those talents obviously led him to America and the home of disjointed freaks, the Quad Cities, where he graduated from High School in 1959. Ken officially changed his name and made his way to the University of Wisconsin where he was the starting center for the Rose Bowl bound Badgers in 1962. Before long he got entangled in some off-the-field shenanigans (as young men in Madison often do), most notoriously at the Kollege Klub with Ron Vander Kellen and Pat Richter. This scene was infamously replicated at Cleo’s in Appleton with Max McGeee and Paul Hornung (not unlike Favre, Winters, and Chmura in later years). Back in the days when there were more than seven rounds, Ken was drafted in the eighth. He nevertheless beat out hall of famer Jim Ringo as starting center in his rookie season. In all, Bowman played ten NFL seasons, all with the Green Bay Packers. You undoubtedly saw footage of him as the center during the Ice Bowl in which Bart Starr scored the winning touchdown on a quarterback sneak in the final seconds for a third consecutive NFL title. That said, most of his teammates remember him more for his gutty performance a year earlier in Super Bowl I, when he played with a dislocated shoulder. “Fortunately, the shoulder popped out only once yesterday,” Lombardi said. “It was easily put back.” It happened on the field and Bowman forced his shoulder back in place between plays by pushing it against the body of one of his teammates. Upon seeing that freakish display, Kansas City defensive tackle Buck Buchanan purportedly threw up on the field where the ball was to be placed, and referees had to towel up the vomit in order to continue play. Bowman was a tough S.O.B., and never backed down from a fight. During the 1974 players' strike, Bowman was the NFL players' union representative for the Packers and was picketing the first preseason scrimmage against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. Along with a number of teammates, he was arrested, and the Packers placed him on injured reserve with a phantom back injury, forcing him to sit out the entire 1974 season before they released him the following April. …but those clowns running the Packers back then were not what we would refer to as “Packer people” today. Bowman was better than them.
So, Gaetano Bomano, ti salutiamo!
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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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