In an effort to make more money, the Village of Ashwaubenon (aka “Green Bay”) secretly lobbied NFL officials for a 3rd round bye and 2 road games to start the 2016 season so that the Milwaukee crowd would spend like drunk sailors during the weekend of the Giants game. You see, the so called “Gold Package” games are the tickets originally designated for season ticket holders at the now-razed Milwaukee County stadium. Bob Harlan and Packers Board of Directors decided that those tickets holders would get the 2nd and 5th home game in Lambeau each year (with a “bonus” / penalty of having to also buy the 1st home preseason game ticket). This tradition has been a financial bonanza for the local taverns, retail shops and hotels on the 2nd and 5th home game weekends (and less so for the 1st preseason home game). And this year, with the 2nd game being a Sunday night event, our fan friends following 43 from Franklin will be spending an extra night at the Fairfield Inn. With the new Lodge Kohler hotel opening soon across from Lambeau, Coach expects many more of these financially convenient game schedules to occur each year from now on. Pure genius, Lloyd. Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme Hmmmm … what to watch, Packers v. Giants or Donald v. Hillary, Round 2? Unlike last time, I’m pretty sure America will be tuned into the match up on the grid iron. Monday Night Football, Saints v. Falcons, brought in only 8 million viewers as it was scheduled at the same time as the 1st presidential debate. That is the lowest MNF audience ever. Ever! In contrast, over 80 million people watched the debate, and it turns out 99.99999% of them regretted it. Are you ready for some football?... As Coach accurately reported last week, Aaron R looked much better in Week 3 against the Lions, planting his front foot on 63.7% of his passes compared to 47.26% over the previous 14 games. And Coach is excited to report that AR is likely to continue to improve…and has proof why! In documents purloined from the U.S. Government A.L.L. (Alternate-Lifeform-Lab) in Roswell, N.M. it has been revealed that Aaron Charles Rodgers is actually an experimental war droid. The droid was conceived to throw intermediate range concussive devices and released to the NFL for prototype optimization. The very rare photo below of a DARPA technician adjusting Rodgers during a TV timeout was captured late in the 4th quarter during the Week 2 Vikings game. The documents go on to reveal that DARPA plans to set Rodgers front-plant-foot-setting to 90% for the rest of 2016, so we should be in good shape from here on out. And you were worried. In unrelated news, Coach has denied accusations that he jumped-the-shark (look it up). The D will get better, too – we certainly hope anyway. (as if you read other publications…) Local bald newspaper sports hack and part-time 1265 suck-up Pete Dougherty points out that the Packers are again the youngest team in the league (yawn) and amazingly played 7 rookies on D against the Kitty Kats in Week 3 because of injuries to Matthews, Burnett, Shields, Datone Jones, Guion and also the suspension of Pennel. Thank God someone did a story on that! One can only assume the D will get better over the coming weeks as the injuries heal and the abnormally high numbers of starting rookies get more experienced. [Coach saves that line and republishes it in Week 5 every year.] We all love to have a look at the Power Rankings each week to see where we stack up against the rest of the NFL. I know, I know -- they don’t mean a damned thing, but Coach still looks at it! Last week we explored the important concept of scoring more points than the other team as being a critical element of winning games. Our current 2-1 record projects to an 11-5 record…but our offensive points scored and defensive points allowed predict a 9-7 Season. To be fair it is early in the 2016 season and again this year we have the youngest team in the league, so we have a lot of room to move upward…but Coach don’t like being mediocre and that’s what it is so far. Other folks, who are smarter than you, and who frankly have too much time on their hands (like guys who write lengthy blogs into the late evening hours for no pay in the hopes that the coupla dozen guys that usually read it continue to do so even if the Dumb and Dumber quotes are wearing thin), have done lots of mathematical ciphering and guzinta’s on the correlation between scoring more points than the opposition. Coach will spare you the details of the "Pythagorean expectation" (Click on Link), but can’t wait to share a few observations about the Pack under the M-T-M Legume Regime:·
WTF - The Coach's take on a bad ref call or a bad play call or the like Coach was musky fishing all day Saturday (hint: soak a sucker out the back of your boat when you’re casting in case a big girl follows your bucktail … she might go for that oily rough fish if she’s too shy to bite on your figure 8), so I watched the Badger game on the radio while retrieving double cowgirls and untangling bird’s nests. For those of us blessed enough to get to listen to Matt Lepay on the Learfield Sports radio network, it’s better than coverage on TV. (Same goes for his play-by-play of Badgers basketball games.) Lepay describes the plays so well, you’re afraid to watch it on TV because you might miss something (plus, no Michigan / Notre Dame / tOSU / SEC major network bias). …He’s a straight shooter – good or bad for Bucky, he calls it like it is. So, when he says TJ Watt was held twice on key 3rd down conversions during Michigan’s 11-play, 77-yard drive that spanned 4:41 in the middle of the 1st half, there’s no doubt in my mind that was the case. In my mind I pretended to hear Mr. Lepay exclaim “WTF refs!” over the speakers. One wonders how things would have turned out if UM went scoreless on every drive in the 1st half. That said, UM’s kicker did miss a couple of gimme FG’s plus a 3rd opportunity, so that kinda makes up for it. (Not really.) Also, Coach would rather see a missed call than a mistake call that is so bad the ref has no business being on the field. (Actually, Coach will stand for neither.) Badger wins matter, but if we’re gonna lose 1 or 2 games… doing so to a top 4 team, on the road, in the opposite division, ain’t so bad. In fact, we could face Michigan again in the Big Ten championship game in Indy this year – beat them, and go to the playoff final four. Then again, we could beat them in the Big Ten championship game, and NOT get invited to the playoff in lieu of both Michigan and Ohio State. Stay tuned for that WTF. BTW, Matt Lepay graduated from Ohio State. Huh, that’s weird. During the bye week, Coach had opportunity to study up on NFL film footage from around the league. Recall Packers players will no longer don the backpack microphone (WTF?) because it caused Randall Cobb a collapsed lung in the divisional playoff game last year, so I focused mostly on chatter from players and coaches on other teams in order to see and share what this year’s football trends will be on the field. Here are the team recordings (Click on Link) that I spliced together to get you up to speed quickly. Pretty cool stuff. And now you know how Coach gets much of his sagacious football wisdom. The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Holy crap, the Bears won a game! 17-14 against the Lions. It’s true. Look it up. That means a perfect storm of 3 things congruently coalesced conveniently for Cutler: (1) he did not play; (2) Chicago faced one of the worst teams in football, at home; and (3) the opponent turned the ball over several times leaving the Bears in scoring position. Yes, all that played out, allowing the team from Shitcago to squeeze out a victory turd. Noteworthy, the Bears narrowly escaped losing 7 in a row to the feeble Lions, perhaps screwing up their only chance at consistency. At this rate they’ll be 4-12 or, what Bears fans call, “a winning season.” Bears head coach John Fox learned late this week, though, that last year’s 1st round pick, WR Kevin White – who missed all of his rookie season due to an injury, is out for the rest of this year, too (broken fibula). Determined to not let that drag the team down farther (if that is even possible), Fox reflected on the perfect Bears storm and confirmed that Jay Cutler will not be taking another snap as a Bear. That’s bad news for us, potentially. Maybe they’ll turn things around? Maybe they found the silver bullet? …but after further review of John Fox’s comments following the game, there’s probably no need to worry: "The problem in the first three games was that we didn't execute for 60 minutes. It helps when you do that." That’s right up there with Buccaneers former head coach John McKay’s quote when asked about his team’s execution; he said, “I’m for it.” By the way, if you’re the jackass with the lavender/beige-ish colored Ram 2500 (Is that your girlfriend's truck?) who was parked next to me and backed out into my truck at the Buffalo Wild Wings on Oneida Street this week, you’re a piece of shit for that hit and run, you dickless douche bag. My son was with me (we shared the garlic fried mushrooms, he gets the traditional wings with honey BBQ and I get the boneless medium-hot buffalo with a Sam Adams Oktoberfest, FWIW) and he asked if I thought it was a drunk that hit us. I explained it was a drunk from Illinois. He said, how do you know that? I told him it was obvious:
Udder stuff - commentary from the Badger Underground The Badgers hanged tough and beat the spread versus the weasels. Hanging tough and losing close games to favored opponents doesn’t cut it anymore, though, like it used to during the Dave McClain or Steve Yoder eras. Last year’s giveaway to Iowa and takeaway versus Northwestern messed up what should have been a much more memorable regular season. Badger Underground could sense late in the 1st quarter against Michigan that we were going to lose. UM looked like the better team and was beginning to gash our defense. Why did Michigan look like the better team? In part because we killed our own drives early, late and throughout the game by dropping easily catchable passes like a 6th grade youth football team. Then the defense put on a show for the remainder of the game, marred only by dropped interceptions and a well-executed pass & catch late to put MI up 14-7. TJ Watt stepped up and showed that he was not just riding the coattails of offenses having to game plan around minimizing Vince Biegel’s disruptive play. Dooley settled down and put in a strong three quarters. WI’s defense played bad-ass physical, laying the wood frequently. Yes, Michigan missed three FG’s which would have changed the game. Two of the attempts, however, were ill-gotten. The first followed a couple of dropped interceptions, the second of which probably would not have gone for 100 yards the other way. The third followed a bad call on a punt for knocking down the upright center and a phantom defensive holding penalty which instead should have been an offensive holding penalty. WI blew an opportunity to go up 14-7 as Hornibrook Bart Houstoned a pass over the head of a wide open Jazz Peavey. And Bucky’s final drive ended with a Wheelright drop, a Fumagalli drop and an underthrown ball to Rushing. The defender had his left arm wrapped around Rushing as he rode him away from the ball. There’s no way we should expect to get that call on the road with an underthrown pass and an athletic one-hand interception catch. Had Rushing made more of an effort to come back to the ball, the story might be a bit different. Again, it needs to be reiterated that this is the third straight year of sub-par receiver play. Lack of speed, lack of separation and too many drops have cost us some big wins. Erickson failed to get much separation last year and the year before, but he did not drop the ball like Wheelright and Peavey do. Hopefully, one or two of the talented freshmen emerge in the coming weeks—preferably against tOSU. Hornibrook looked like a talented redshirt freshman QB. The backup center and RG were beaten often by a talented UM front 7, causing rushed and inaccurate throws. Harbaugh sent blitzes often. Had the drops not began in the first quarter and we made them pay for blitzing, another defender would have stayed back, our offense would have stayed on the field longer and we would have had more of a running game. Michigan had no respect for our receivers and blitzed away while we couldn’t beat single coverage. Though it pains Badger Underground to do so, we must admit that Michigan is a talented, well-coached team on both sides of the ball. There is talent everywhere on the field. I do take satisfaction, however, in Peppers and Butt being taken out of making big plays to beat us. More importantly, however, our cheerleaders are much better looking than those varmints across the pond… Looking past this weekend’s bye, we take on Ohio State, a surprisingly weak Iowa team, an overrated Nebraska squad and some potential letdown games against mediocre teams. Though our secondary has performed much better than expected in our three big games, Ohio State could light them up. This is a game where we will miss Jamerson, the speedy 3rd CB. Unfortunately, he and Biegel likely will not return until the following week. Our best hope is that inexperience on tOSU OL allows us to disrupt their passing game. For the first time since the Akron game, we should have all the starters back on our OL. Find a way to win tOSU game, and everything is on the table--including a potential playoff berth. Lose this game, we could still end up in the Big Ten championship game if we run the table. There is no way that the Cornholers, with their rock-skipping passing game, are going to beat us in Madison or tOSU in Columbus. The Hogeyes are a mess and playing them at their place doesn’t worry the Badger Underground like it used to. We often find a way to lose at Evanston, but I don’t see that happening again this year. Fingers crossed. We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game Weather report: New York will be directly in the path of Hurricane Matthews come Sunday night. Related, a tropical storm will begin riding up the mid-Atlantic seaboard by Wednesday and could impart significant damage to residential dwellings that it leaves in its wake. There will be no safe haven for the Giants this weekend. The Packers and Giants have a long and storied tradition. The Mara family (current owners) formed the N.Y. football Giants in 1925. Following the tradition of the day in bigger cities, the Giants adopted the name of the local baseball team (NY Giants, Pittsburgh Pirates, etc.). Almost immediately a rivalry developed, with the Giants from the biggest city in the league and Packers from the smallest city. That’s amazing if you consider the record of the Packers, who were always on the brink of financial collapse during the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.
However, over the last 20 years the Giants are 5-4 against the Packers, including the agonizing Playoff losses in 2007 and 2011. (Note – while the Ice Bowl and the 1997 NFC Championship games were officially colder; Coach has never felt as frozen as at the 2007 minus 1 degree game when you-know-who-dumbass-gunslinger threw an OT INT in the direction of the only receiver that wasn't wide open on that play, leading to the loss. (What’s happened? It used to the #4 F’ng it up in the playoffs, but now it’s the D!) There are some reasons we could lose the game on Sunday. Of course, none of them make sense so you’ll probably hear about them ad nauseum on TV pregame hype shows. Pay attention for these gems:
What will have an effect Sunday night? Well, we’ve had time to heal. The Giants will be playing on a short week, having to travel across the time zone twice in two consecutive weeks. The Giants have consistently self-destructed via the yellow flag this year, and teams don’t typically flip a switch to turn that off. Coach is predicting a 10+ point win for the Pack, we will be comfortably ahead the entire game and in the 2nd half we will have two INT’s to seal the deal. Let’s hope it’s a memorable game. Speaking of which… Remember 12 years ago (almost to the day), when Brett Favre got concussed against the Giants at Lambeau and threw a TD he didn’t remember? Coach took his mom to her first-ever game, sitting in the South EZ “Brown County” seats. Mom, a life-long Packer fan who unfortunately lives in Bear country, was delighted with her first game at Lambeau at age 72. What most people remember is that Brett was concussed in the 3rd Q by Giants DL William Joseph. Brett went staggering to the sideline and 2nd string back-up QB, and now Philly Head Coach Doug Pederson, came onto the field and began to call the next play in the huddle. A confused Pederson looked up to see Brett trotting back onto the field. Remember now, this was 2004 and the concussion protocol consisted of smelling salts, tape and a little bit of analgesics inside the jock strap, so Brett grabbed his helmet from the trainer and ran back into the game. Poor confused Doug looked at the sideline, shrugged and ran back off. Naturally, Super-Man chucked a TD pass to Javon Walker on 4th & 5 and then ran off the field where he stayed for the remainder of the game. (Ironically, Javon cannot correctly add 4 and 5.) After the game Brett had no recollection of the TD or much of anything else about the game. Alas, Pederson finished 7 of 17 for 86 yards with an interception. Before we depart this stroll down memory lane and the reasons why we’re gonna beat the Giants Sunday night, Coach would be remiss not to offer you a helpful tip as you play the game of life... If you’re gonna have kids, make sure you don’t use Giants WR’s names for your boys. For example, what young lad would be proud to say “Here!” during attendance when the teacher calls out “Amani?” or “Odell?” or “Tavarres?” Not that “Dvante” is a strong northeastern Wisconsin / western European name that gets beckoned at dawn for milking the cows, but it certainly glides off the tongue better than “Plaxico” doesn’t it? Shoot, around these parts, name your kid “Hakeem” and he might get killed. Remember these former Giants receivers?... Ramses Barden, Thabiti Davis, Omar Douglas, Edwin Lovelady (Coach’s personal favorite, just because of the surname), Mario Manningham, Sinorice Moss, Jamaar Taylor, Odessa Turner, Steve Smith (just kidding on that one). Try it … say the first name of a Giants wide receiver out loud, and then say your name last after it. Pretty stupid, huh? You’re welcome. JB - Packer players you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them Thinking about a cuppeltree guys that were both Packers and Giants… Robert Calvin “Cal” Hubbard was twice a New York football Giant, book ending his distinguished career as a Green Bay Packer between 1929 and 1936. As an amazing fact, Cal Hubbard is the only person to be enshrined in both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Baseball Hall of Fame. (Not Jim Thorpe, not George Halas, not Deion Sanders, not Bo Jackson, not even Tim Tebow.) He is also a member of the College Football Hall of Fame (playing football at both Centenary College and Geneva College). Not too shabby. Much like Coach, Cal Hubbard was not a fan of big cities -- he didn't feel comfortable in New York and a 1928 road game in Green Bay led him to request a trade to the Packers, threatening to retire otherwise. As a Packer, Hubbard and the team won the NFL title in each of his first three years there (1929–1931). Head coach Curly Lambeau had Hubbard play in the line -- ending his days as a linebacker, and the 1929 team surrendered just 22 points. The NFL named its first official All-League team in 1931 with Cal Hubbard being one on that inaugural list. He was chosen for the honor again in 1932 and 1933. After football, Cal was an umpire in the American League (AL) from 1936 to 1951 until a friend shot him in the eye with a BB gun (your mother was right!), when he then became relegated to being an umpire supervisor until he retired in 1969. Kinda like your boss, who was probably put in that position because he sucked at what you are doing reasonably well, but kissed enough ass and had no problem firing people his boss didn’t like or know very well. Cal was a country boy at heart, growing up in rural Missouri and returning there in retirement until having to move to an even warmer climate for health reasons. Before dying of emphysema in St. Petersburg, FL he tutored promising talent (Click on Link) including the likes of both Keith Hernandez and Dave Parker. Probably the best player acquisition from the Giants was Don Chandler. He began his Pro career on the 1956 NFL champion New York Giants and ended it on the 1967 Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. In between he was one of the best punters and place-kickers of his era (note we said best player acquisition, not best player). Chandler was part of two pro football dynasties: the Giants of the late-50’s/early-60’s and on the 1965, ’66 and ‘67 Packers teams which were champions in Lombardi’s final three years. Over his 12-year career, he played in a whopping 9 championship games, including the overtime classic at Yankee Stadium in 1958, and the Ice Bowl nine years later. He’s perhaps best remembered for one crucial kick in 1965 that many, including Chandler, thought he missed. It remains the most controversial field goal in NFL history and the cause of the extension of the goal posts from 10 feet to 20 feet above the cross bar and the placement of two officials under the uprights for FG attempts. Leaving the best for last, the coaching acquisition of Vincent T. Lombardi -- who came from, you guessed it, the NY Giants! The NY Giants dynasty of the late 50’s had two of the best-ever coordinators, Vince Lombardi as Offensive Coordinator and Tom Landry as Defensive Coordinator (yes, he of Cowboy pride and bigot prejudice). The link below will take you to an excellent documentary on Vince’s life and the path that led him to the Head Coach position in GB. It’s interesting that the primary reason we got him was racism. The Mara’s, upstanding NY WASP’s, couldn’t fathom having an Italian Catholic as head of their team. So, despite the fact that the Mara’s recognized his superior talent, they released him to take a head coaching position that they couldn’t offer. Lombardi was not a social reformer, but he was a fierce defender of all of his players, particularly African-American players who faced discrimination. He went as far as refusing to play exhibition games in the South where his black players would not be allowed in white hotels. Watch the documentary and you’ll be even more proud of Your---Green---Bay---Packers!
A Football Life: Lombardi (Click on Link)
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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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