Welcome back to The Coach Clarahanson Show!!! Congrats to this week's contest winner, Neal Enbob of Mukwonago, for correctly guessing a whopping six of Coach's top ten hotties! For his good taste and astute gift of observation, Neal wins a pair Brown County resident tickets in the standing level of the south end zone for next year's Bishop's Charities game! Here are the picks (I rated them in a manner that, should any of these lovelies take exception to a chick ranked better than her, a cat fight might break out)... 10. Channel West Coast 9. Elizabeth Banks 8. Megyn Kelly 7. “Hippie Jenny” from Forrest Gump 6. Daphne Blake 5. Carrie Underwood 4. That chick from Dead Pool 3. Halle Berry 2. Mila Kunas 1. Megan Fox You’re welcome. Now let’s talk some football! Create a seam here - X's & O's about the game or a scheme Wow, what a beat down? 35-14, eh? Just another typical Bears game… AR passed for 313 yards and 3 TDs for 102.6 rating. Just a few days earlier, he got his 1st career OT win and, with 303 career TD passes, he surpassed John Elway for 10th most TD’s all-time. Not bad for a week’s work. Lest we get too giddy about the big win, let’s be clear, the Bears were down 14-0 and the game was essentially over the by the time those losers had their 2nd play from scrimmage in the 1st Qtr. That allowed us to run the ball and Coach also recalls that we were 3-1 at this point last year and everyone was extolling the defense. “So, is there anything we should look to improve Coach?” Glad you asked. Well, in the good ole’ days of Vince, Curly, hell even Mike H., when a player got seriously out of line they were cut by the team. In Coach’s opinion, the Packer’s 2015 First Round Draft Pick Damarious Candle needs to be cut, or at least sent home to watch a couple of weeks of football on TV. To be fair, Randall was benched after Bears receiver Kendall Wright caught an 8-yard touchdown pass over him late in the first half. After the play, Randall acted as if he expected coverage help from another member of the secondary. Secondary Coach Joe Whitt replaced Randall with second-year pro Josh Hawkins and Randall was seated alone on the bench as the rest of the defense was either on the field or standing on the sideline. By the end of the game, Randall was nowhere to be seen on the bench and there were conflicting reports about whether he left on his own or was kicked out, and whether he left the stadium before the game was over, or not. Coach doesn’t give a rip about those juicy tidbits, the main thing is that he got his ass beat and he was a punk about it…which means good bye. Watch this video (Click on Link) and pay attention at the 6-8 second mark and then again in the 38-42 second mark where it’s replayed from another angle. Randall’s reaction -- that he thought he had help -- does match the video evidence. Look at the sequence of screen shots below from the video and decide for yourself. In the first shot it’s clear that there is no other help for Randall. There are 7 guys up crowding the line-of-scrimmage and Randall is the deepest DB. Just before the snap he looks left and right, so there is no question that he knows that the 4 DB’s are 1:1 with receivers. Just after the snap, at about 8 seconds on the video, Wright makes a shoulder move to the inside and Randall bites on the fake. Unrelated, I chose a really bad font color to point this out... Randall immediately tries to recover from his misstep, but you can see in his body language that he is crapping his shorts because he knows he’s by himself. It all happens in about a second of real time, but the result is a wide-open Wright who catches the easy TD. Not pretty, not acceptable, not on Coach’s team. Here’s hoping the “Leadership Team” grows a pair and lances this boil before it gets any worse. But back to the positive, there were so many cool story lines in this game that Coach could go on and on and on and on….. ….we now lead the all-time series 95-94-6 against the Bears, our first lead in the series since 1933 and we are ahead 3,370 to 3,345 on points scored. ….our top 5 tackles can’t play so the starting offensive line was comprised of four guards and a center and they played really well (two starters injured and the next three are all on IR). ….our top two running backs, Ty Montgomery and Jamall Williams, got knocked out of the game and Aaron Jones finishes the game looking like he’s the best of the three. ….oh, yeah, and there’s that cheap shot by Bear’s linebacker Danny Trevathan that concussed Davante “Where’s my mouthguard?” Adams. ….Dom “the Big Legume” Capers actually ran the base 3-4 for the majority of the game. That’s right, Dom actually had 3 D-linemen in for most of the game….and shocker here…they shut down the run!! ….we beat Bears D-Coordinator Vic Fangio, again. Coach thinks Vic is evil incarnate because he has bedeviled the MM/AR Offenses when he was at SF and now in Chicago. Anyways, the W will come in handy. WTF - the Coach's take on football news that’s messed up Does anyone else think "color rush" Thursday night games should involve teams with uniforms that don't display as black versus white? Just sayin. Rodgers: “I think I can play into my 70’s” GREEN BAY–Superstar NFL quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, Aaron Rodgers, announced in an exclusive AARP/Sunset magazine interview that he believes he has discovered the secret to longevity and will play well past the government-mandated age of retirement. “It’s all about my conditioning and nutrition,” said Rodgers “much of which I learned from my good friend, Tom Brady.” And, much to the dismay of silver-haired reporter, Maxine Fishbeck, the virile 30-something eligible bachelor went on to espouse the performance enhancing effects of abstinence saying “My balls are bluer than Tim Tebow’s since I sent Oliva packing, but throwing an accurate football is an orgasm of its own in many respects.” When asked how long he thought he could play, Rodgers made no bones about his intent to break Brett Favre’s incredible consecutive games streak, suggesting he would more than double it even though his current streak began after his clavicle injury in 2013. Reacting to his QB’s bold assertion, Packers head coach Mike McCarthy said "I hope Aaron CAN last that long because we will need him. It's clear we are never getting rid of Capers, and God help us if he lives to be 100." ADVERTISEMENT–From GMG and Fireside pictures, comes a suspense-filled drama starring ex-NFL great Peyton Manning. She had a perfect family … an adoring husband … an ideal life … but she also had a dark secret … she liked to collect … football players. (Click for THE DARK SIDE trailer) MADISON–In case you didn’t hear about this… What’s with the Badgers student section at Camp Randall? Student tickets for football games typically sell out in minutes via an electronic lottery system, while drinking opportunities are available all weekend, every weekend. The student section normally does not fill up until early in the second quarter, which makes for bad TV optics. Last Saturday, however, it NEVER filled up and was half empty for the fourth quarter with a mass exodus following “Jump Around” and a 21-10 lead. The culprit was found a mere 20-yards west of the stadium on Breese Terrace. Advances in beer bong technology by the Breckonridge Fluid Power Institute at the University have improved capacity, flow and the ability to accommodate multiple participants simultaneously. Avoiding the crowd surge prior to and following the game, and the accompanying cut-over to bargain beer, have encouraged more in-game indulgence. Look for this trend to continue as beer sales and a drinking age exemption inside Camp Randall are not in the near-term future. The Bears Still Suck - the Coach has proof Yeah, beating the Bears (again) is obviously great (yawn), but let’s get to the important takeaway from the evening…the Bears really do suck!! Please recall (or if that’s too hard, scroll down) that last week Coach predicted: ...in the end the Packers, despite have Dom Legume at Defensive Coordinator, will beat an improving Bears team 21-17, because:
Back in the days of yore, George Halas was known as an innovator of creative football. “Papa Bear” can rest proudly in his grave knowing that Mike, master-of-his-domain, Glennon effectuated the first 15-yard knee-boot-fumble-rooski in NFL history. Please recall (or if that’s too hard, scroll down) that in the pre-season, Coach reported that Chicago Bears head coach, John Fox was: …developing an innovative new turnover for the 2017 season and advised skeptics to "forget everything they think they know about giving the ball away." Well, he succeeded. Ya just gotta watch this once, a coupletree tymz, hey (Click on Link). Come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing any $16 million passes from the arm of Mike Glennon on Thursday night. Man, this Glennon guy really reminds me of someone… Bring on Turdbiscuit! Udder Stuff – commentary from the Badger Underground Reflecting for a moment on the Northwestern game, their shaky offensive line was one of the deciding factors in the outcome. Thorson is among the conference’s top QB’s along with PSU’s McSorley, but too often found himself running for his life or attempting to shed Badgers tacklers who sacked him 8 times. Though RB Jackson is on track to break several conference rushing records, he was limited by a leg injury and Bucky’s KATN defense. Except for the prevent defense and resulting garbage points late in the game after the Badgers were up 31-10, Wisconsin’s defense relentlessly brought the heat for three quarters. Jim Leonhard unveiled several stunts and new defensive looks which confused NU’s OL. It was a huge day for safeties Dixon and Jamerson, and for LB’s Dooley & Connelly. WI won this game with one good quarter of complete football. Northwestern came into the season legitimately expecting to contend for the Big Ten West division title. They were among the more physical teams that Wisconsin has faced over the last two seasons. Wisconsin made this game closer than it should have been in the first half with extremely shaky ball security. Jazz Peavy, the vanishing man, got the bad mojo rolling on the first play from scrimmage with a careless fumble. A handful of other first half fumble opportunities fortunately did not result in turnovers. Throughout the game Badgers receivers handled the ball as if they were begging to cough it up. Gotta clean that up. High & tight, boys. Speaking of cleaning things up, I don’t recall Badgers receivers winning a single 50/50 ball battle this season. Three such opportunities were thwarted by borderline PI from NU defenders, none of which were called since hand-fighting was going both ways. Despite that, Badgers receivers were not aggressive enough in going for the ball. Hornibrook took some hits in the second quarter, got wobbled and threw two picks. He came out stepping into passes with better results in the decisive third quarter. Play action passes were quite effective in the second half and should continue to present opportunities all season. Joel Willie Hornibrook’s lack of mobility is a liability that someone is going to make us pay for later this season. NU dared Wisconsin to pass with 9 men in the box, knowing that they didn’t need to account for TE Fumagalli. Despite that, this season Hornibrook is resisting the temptation to force the ball to the primary receiver (Fumagalli or Peavy) and is working through his progressions. Provided that the OL allows him the time to do so, there are big passing numbers to be had. The Badgers go into the Cornholers game Saturday night as 11.5 point favorites. Nebraska is deservedly getting no respect from Vegas for consecutive wins against bottom feeders Illinois and Rutgers. This game is being billed locally as a showdown for the West title. It is not. Gone for Nebraska are the days of lining up a bunch of roided-up corn boys and running the option. This is not 1974. Look for Nebraska to lose 5 or 6 of their last 7 games. Nebraska possesses a mediocre QB in Tanner Lee, who is at least as immobile as A-Horn, but with a more porous OL in front of him. NIU sacked him 3 times and racked up 5 TFL’s. Lee has thrown 9 picks so far this season, including 3 pick-six’s. Anticipate yet another feeding frenzy from the Badgers’ front seven. The Cornholers do not run the ball well, making them one-dimensional. BU predicts 11 sacks, 5 hurries and an evening full of intimidation. Nebraska does, however, possess a duo of elite receivers who will present challenges to the Wisconsin secondary. Look for the Badgers front seven to limit that exposure. Good news for Wisconsin is that star Tight-End Troy Fumagalli returned to practice on Friday. Though it was widely reported that he suffered a hamstring injury settling a 50-yard dash bet with David Bahktiari, the Underground can refute that assertion. Noticing that Fumagalli only has 9-fingers, and subsequently working around a myriad of HIPAA restrictions to follow that lead, BU staff uncovered that he lost a digit and was subsequently shot in the hamstring while wood-working up north during the bye week. (Click on Link) So only Wisconsin can defeat Wisconsin in this game. Consistently good defense can be counted on, which is key to winning on the road. Expect Nebraska and everyone else we play this season to load the box and make Wisconsin’s young receivers beat them. Wisconsin’s biggest risk is that the young receivers are intimidated by the blackshirts and disappear, drop passes or fumble in the flat. Saturday would be a good night for Jazz Peavy to resurface from the ranks of the missing. Lincoln is well established as one of the CFB game-day experiences, which could also adversely impact the focus of young Badgers receivers. Here is a sampling of the top picks from the locally inbred field of dreams (#hotbodyweirdface)… Look for Danny Davis III and the other young Badgers receivers to overcome these distractions and git ’er done. Badgers 35, Cornholers 13. We're gonna kick your a$$ - predictions for the next game Awright, off to Dallas this weekend. Green Bay leads the all-time series 18-17-0 and have dominated recently with 6 wins over last 7 games. Those wins include knocking Dallas out of playoffs in 2014 and 2016, so the Cowboys will be out for revenge. (worth it to Click on Link) With all the injuries we’ve had to the Offensive line you may be interested to know how our “alumni” have been doing with their new teams and how they might have helped had we kept them. Former pro-bowler Josh Sitton (cut at the end of 2016 Training Camp) has been a frequent flyer on the Bears injury list and 2017 free agent T.J. Lang is on a similar path with the Lions. Surprisingly JC Tretter (also 2017 free agent) has managed to stay off of the injury report in Cleveland. As much as any of these guys could have helped the 2017 Packers, the salary cap reality of the NFL means you can’t keep them all and two of the three have already been sitting out of games anyway. The Packers have had their share of injuries but they are not the most injured team in the NFL, that honor goes to 2-2 Baltimore. The chart below shows the number of games won vs. the number of “games lost due to injury” and shows that Green Bay has lost 30 player-games so far. As Coach has pointed out previously, both New England and Green Bay use the IR as an active roster management tool, so those two clubs consistently look to be among the most injured. Interestingly, Kansas City, the only remaining undefeated team at 4-0, has had almost as many injuries as Green Bay. You can argue that the less injured teams are winning (Buffalo and Atlanta are examples of that) and that the more injured teams are losing (Indy and Chicago are examples off that), but overall there is not a strong correlation between injuries and winning or losing. The point is that unless your objective is winning another participation trophy this year we can’t whine about injuries, we just need to figure out how to get past them. So how are we doing? OK, to be sure, 3-1 is a good start, but that’s where we were last year before hitting a tough patch of losses. We’ve beaten the losing teams that we’ve played and we lost to the only team that had a winning record. To get a feel for how tough our schedule has been, Coach looked at the record of each or our opponents over the 6 games prior to when we played them. The teams we beat had a combined record of 6-12 and the Falcons were 5-1. Winning any game in the NFL is an accomplishment and we need to beat up on the losers…but we must beat the winning teams to get where we want to be at the end of the season. Dallas is another loser, but they won’t be pushovers. They are a strong rushing team and we’re going to need the Big Legume to play with 3 down linemen and make Zak Pisspot beat us with his arm. As we’ve seen through 4 weeks, especially in the loss to Atlanta, shutting down the run is critical to winning any game. We showed last week we can do it, now we have to shut down Ezekiel Elliott. You may recall that Coach is a firm believer that scoring more points than the other guys is a fundamental of winning football games. So how are we doing at the quarter point in the 2017 season? Not bad, OK, better than some, not as good as others. It’s still very early in the season to put too much weight on statistics (around Thanksgiving is a good time), but we’re averaging 5 more points than the opposition. While that’s not bad, most SB winners are in the +9 or greater range. Hopefully as we get the offensive line back together over the coming weeks we’ll see the point differential reflecting more dominant wins. While we are at number 8, Dallas is well down the list and basically is break-even, pretty much reflecting their 2-2 record. One thing Coach is not happy about is the Defense…. we are 15th in points allowed, giving up 20 points per game. Not good enough my friends, not good enough. While the Seattle game looked good at the time, they have shown themselves to be awful on Offense. And the Bear game, wow, in between Glennon handing us the ball we didn’t look that good against a very average Bears team. The Cowpokes have been playing well on Defense, but much like the Packers, they haven’t been getting any turnovers. The Pack climbed into 8th place on turnover differential with the Glennon-gift-package, but wasn’t getting much in the earlier games. So, what’s it gonna be this weekend? 31-24 Packers in a win fueled by at least one whacky special teams score. The week 3 Bears fiasco (the showboating on the blocked field goal that cost the Bears a TD) reminds Coach that the Cowpokes are very familiar with this kinda nonsense…in Super Bowl XXVII the Cowboy’s Leon Lett was on his way to guaranteed TD when the Bill’s Don Beebe (of Don Beebe’s House of Speed at Synergy Fields in Ashwaubenon) caught him from behind and knocked the ball away. Forced fumble JB - Packers you forgot about, but stories you'll remember about them Who is the top all time Packers special teams player named Travis? Arguably it is not Travis Jervey, who would be a pretty good guess. That Travis was well known for his reckless abandon on special teams in the mid-90’s. Now he is a surfer in Florida. Which Packer holds the team single season record for kickoff run backs for touchdown? Desmond Howard in 1996 would be a great guess, but wrong. Desmond was prolific that year in punt returns and of course had the really famous Super Bowl kickoff return for TD that was the dagger to the Pats and won him the Super Bowl MVP. Click here! Name two RB’s named Williams who were drafted by the Packers in the 4th round and hail from California. Here is a clue. One is Jamaal Williams. The other is this week’s feature player. Travis “The Roadrunner” Williams not only holds the Packer single season record for kickoff returns for touchdown, he holds the NFL record with 4 of them in his rookie season of 1967. He also holds the NFL single season kickoff return average of 41.1 yards! Like Desmond Howard in 1996, Williams contributed greatly to the drive to Super Bowl II.
Travis even had 2 kickoff returns for TD in one quarter! This was against the Cleveland Browns who actually did not suck back then. Coach Lombardi, genius that he was, pushed hard to draft Travis in the 4th round out of Arizona State. The insight paid off with Travis’ kickoff exploits even though he only had 1166 yards rushing in his 6 year career. After his injury shortened career, Travis fell on hard times, which is sad. Check out this video. Travis Williams, we salute you! Now let’s beat the Cowboys.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
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
Categories |