Packers Weekly: The Oakland Raiders are Coming to town

Captain and Commander:
Rodgers and McCarthy

Let the dilemma begin in earnest.

The Green Bay Packers are the best team in football this season. They are on the verge of becoming the “D” word, but Head Coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t want to say so. The NFL landscape is littered with contenders and posers from every generation all claiming to be the next coming of the Packers (‘60s), Steelers (‘70’s), 49ers (’80’s), Cowboys (‘90’s) or Patriots (‘00’s). It’s a new decade and the face of that decade could be the Packers.

But don’t use the “D” word - yet.

To the victor go the spoils

To rank among the pantheon of the greatest teams in history the Packers have to do more than blow away the field as they have done this year. The Pack has travelled this road before, last year’s run hasn’t stopped and the Lombardi trophy resides in Green Bay. There has been no sneaking up on then unsuspecting or unaware or unprepared at all this year. When you have the title “defending Super Bowl champions” in front of your team name your reputation hits town long before the team.

Every game has been someone else’s mini-Super Bowl. If you can’t win the Super Bowl might as well knock off the team that did it and claim validation. Does anybody think the Saints aren’t champing at the bit, eager for a rematch after losing the season opener inn Green bay on a snuffed last minute drive? Think Bill Belichick wouldn’t mind knocking the grin off the Packers face, especially after he had his knocked off his face when Eli Manning and a well-used helmet stole a perfect season from him? Or the Steelers – what are the chances they want a rematch?

Every team in sports uses the previous champion as a bellwether to define itself. Last year the Dolphins and the Redskins had awful seasons, but their hurt was assuaged by the fact they knocked off Green Bay, so they enter this year with hope, the big intangible. Hope doesn’t represent talent or quality. This year has been more of the same and worse for the fins and ‘Skins, so that hope is misleading.

New Raider QB Carson Palmer
and Head Coach Hue Jackson

Now bring in the Oakland Raiders, they of the division leading AFC West for their turn at bat. For the Raiders this game is far more important than it is to the Packers. Hue Jackson now has Carson Palmer at the helm and a whole lot of penalties as well. The Raiders themselves were once a mini-dynasty, but of the years the ‘dy’ has fallen off leaving as team that is just plain ‘nasty’. The Raiders lead the league in personal fouls, and defensive captain Richard Seymour earned an ejection for his little tirade a few games ago.

Certain teams come armed with a mindset and a predisposition for nastiness. The Lions are one, and the Raiders? Well, it seems as if the ghost of Al Davis is still with them. The Raiders enjoy being flagged. They like the notoriety. It’s like the black clouds and cold winds that precede a storm. It is meant to force the weak and timid into battening down the hatches and preparing for the worst.

How effective will that be against the NFL’s hottest ticket?

Ask the Lions. Give Jim Schwartz a call and ask him how his game plan of bullying and bluster worked for him. The Packers are well prepared to meet the storms of their opponents this season.

A.J. Hawk looking to high step
back into the lineup

The Raiders also bring in one of the top running games in the business. RB’s Darren McFadden and Michael Bush have put up eye popping numbers this year and have helped to stabilize a listing ship. The Packers run D will be put to the test, and with A.J. Hawk, Desmond Bishop and Frank Zombo all nursing injuries it will be up to B.J. Raji, Mike Neal and Howard Green to stuff the interior of the line. Raji and Clay Matthews have seen a lifetime’s worth of double teams this season. They have earned it. Raji eats space like a Big Mac, but with the linebacking corps ailing the Raiders may have an idea they can steal this one away.

If the Giants did anything last week to stop the Pack it was to show other teams that a pounding running game and clock killing drives keep MVP-in-wait Aaron Rodgers in the place he can’t do any damage – right on the bench. Manning engineered the drives, but also shot himself in the foot when CM3 took an errant throw to the house.

He's still a beast! Matthews celebrates

The essential truth is whoever is attempting to KO the Packers will need to play a full 60 minutes. The Packers play all the way through, and whoever is attempting to KO the Packers cannot afford to make mistakes. They also cannot afford to leave points on the field or give ARod and his band of Merry Men a second bite at the apple.

Now let’s throw Carson Palmer in the mix. The Raiders paid a king’s ransom to get Palmer – some say overpaid – by shipping off 2 picks that will in all likelihood end up being 2 first rounders to the Bengals for the disgruntled former top draft pick in Palmer - when starting QB Jason Campbell went down for the year with an injury. Palmer is now assumed to be the gruntled leader of the Raiders while the Bengals are the true winners by having Andy Dalton leading the way with fellow rookie A.J. Green, a winning record and much to look forward to. The Raiders now have a dilemma and a soap opera brewing next season when Campbell, who was playing well for Oakland when he went out, is a bona fide starter and the silver and black will have the who’s starting at QB circus next year.

Palmer has looked less than brilliant with middling results and has been so-so in his starts. He has had big games but also stunk the joint out. The epic fail against the Dolphins was of a particular embarrassment. With the Tim Tebow led Broncos now running neck and neck with Oakland the Raiders now have to find a way to stop the runaway train the Packers have become to keep pace.

Cool under fire, a McCarthy trademark
as distinct as a Lombardi tirade

McCarthy has no intention of slowing down. When asked if he will go for perfection McCarthy flatly stated “We intend to keep our foot on the gas”, leaving little doubt about his intent. Very quietly last year McCarthy tweaked his team before the season began. In the Packers team meeting room 12 photos of past NFL champions hung proudly in frames displayed to the current team. McCarthy added a black frame, and told his team “This is where your picture will be.” If it was a moment of inspiration the stoked the fires in the bellies of his players, then having his team measured up for their rings the night before the Super Bowl was a moment of divine intervention. True to his word the players responded and McCarthy delivered.

The Legend with
Ray Nitschke

McCarthy is a savvy and excellent student of the game, and he is well aware he walks the literal same path where Lombardi once did. Lombardi pushed his team to be the first to win back to back to back NFL titles in the mid 60’s. He wanted it. He laid it out for his team. He pushed; they responded. McCarthy has a far more laid back style than the volatile Lombardi but shares the same intensity to win.

But Lombardi never had a perfect season.

Don’t think for a second these facts are lost on the uber-competitive McCarthy. His ‘one game at a time’ approach masks his desire to put an indelible stamp that bears his signature not just for this year but for the history books. There is little doubt that MM will not only lead and inspire, but turn the fire in each of his players into a raging inferno. As much as he doesn’t say it, he wants the “D” word associated with this team.

TE Andrew Quarless blew out a knee last week in an sickening non collision play and will be done for the season. With 5 TE’s on the roster how does McCarthy replace him? By bringing up QB Graham Harrell from the PS. The tip of the hand is subtle but simple. The Franchise will play only until he isn’t needed anymore and will turn the game over to Matt Flynn and Harrell will be the emergency 3^rd QB.

The Franchise

As for the Raiders they will not be afforded the luxury of mistakes or penalties. Rodgers has made a field day of punishing teams for their lack of discipline. The Raiders will do what most teams have done this year. Keep it close, keep it respectable but watch as the Packers luxury liner pulls away from the docks slowly, gains speed and disappears on the horizon once they gain momentum.

Palmer will learn the hard way to not test the Packers pass D. Rodgers? How can anyone not expect Rodgers to not have another 300+ yard game with 3 or 4 TD tosses and a QB rating around 121.5? Betting against Rodgers this year is a losing proposition.

The money is on The Franchise.

Don’t let McCarthy hear you or say it out loud but the Packers get even closer to the “D” word.