PACKERS LOOK TO REBOUND AGAINST SAINTS

Before the season began this week’s game between the Packers and the Saints was one every football fan could easily look forward to. Two high powered offenses led by dynamic quarterbacks with two young defenses looking to reestablish some semblance of the defenses that carried each franchise to Super Bowl wins in the not too distant past. If anyone would have guessed that after 3 weeks and 6 collective games there would be but one scant win collectively between Green Bay and New Orleans that individual should get a reality show, or at least a seat in the nearest bookies’ parlor.

The Packers are stinging after the Monday Night debacle. Anyone who does not know what happened has to have been on the moon. The furor and rancor created after the replacements literally took the win earned by the Packers away has finally forced the NFL’s hand. The regular refs are welcomed back warts and all. How unusual will it be to see across the entire football landscape the crowds gathered  giving the guys in stripes a standing ovations for simply showing up to work? The honeymoon should last until the first flag is thrown against the home team.

Mike McCarthy becomes a better and better coach with every passing week. He has become a model of efficiency and control, and this week has put him and his team to the absolute limits of self-restraint Rather than sit on his players obvious rage over feeling cheated McCarthy allowed the boys to vent, get it out of their systems, and has rightfully brought them back together and focused on the next game. His post-game press conference barely concealed the anger he felt, his voice at times quivering as a man struggling to refrain from a tirade, but somehow McCarthy managed to compose himself enough to move on.

And that is the exact message he has sent to the team. Time to quit whining and move on. There’s nothing that can be done about it, and frankly, if the Packers had played better, especially in the first half when the beleaguered offensive line gave up 8 – EIGHT! – sacks the outcome would not have come down to one final play. Even the players themselves know it. The Packer offense has looked nothing looked the juggernaut that rang points up like a pinball machine last season and has yet to find its footing. Aaron Rodgers has been off his game and the receivers that many believe to be the best in the game have not established themselves. Much like a drunk waking from the hangover the cold realization of what the Packers have done – and more to the point not done – this season is a sobering thought.

The Saints are on an equally slippery slope. At 0-3 one more L and the Saints are an oblivious asterisk in the wake of the Bountygate scandal that tore the team into pieces. While the players won a court order against their suspensions their Head Coach has no such union affiliation to plead his case. Sean Payton’s season long ban along with GM Mickey Loomis has left the Saints rudderless, directionless, and floundering. As the 49ers and surprisingly strong Cardinals pull away at the quarter pole of the season New Orleans is in desperate straits. The importance of this game cannot be underscored.

The Packers are finding themselves in a similar spot. They currently occupy the cellar in the NFC North and must shake off the stink of the last game and get back at it. McCarthy’s influence on his team should do just that. All week long McCarthy has been beating a steady drum of move on, prepare for New Orleans. In the 2010 season he placed an empty frame of a team photo  on the wall of the Packers’ meeting room that is lined with every Packer Championship team in their illustrious history and told his team ‘THAT’S where YOUR picture will go'. Before a snap was made, he was planning ahead. When he had his players sized up for rings the night before the Super Bowl he was planning ahead.

So when he tells the media he is planning ahead for New Orleans you can damn well be sure his players are too.

The offensive line, a fairly competent part of the team last year has suddenly looked vulnerable, and at times awful. RT Bryan Bulaga may have played his worst game as a pro last week as he was thrown, out muscled, outrun and outplayed by the ‘Hawks stellar rookie Bruce Irvin. McCarthy admits to not making adjustments soon enough; after the half the Packers came out in 2 and 3 tight end sets and began to run the ball with authority and swagger. The most telling stats were the time of possession, plays run, and that the Pack gave up zero sacks after the adjustments. Up until the Seahawks final drive they were held to two measly 3-and-out series.

The defense is growing every week. Rookie Nick Perry collected his first sack as a pro and the D realistically gave up but 7 points. Following McCarthy’s lead there is no sense in pointing out that had LB Erik Walden not been flagged for a phantom roughing the passer call that led to a Jerron MacMillian interception the Packers would not have been in   the predicament they found themselves in. While it is difficult to say the Packers gave up 14 points the fact is with an offense as potentially potent as Green Bay’s the defense played a game that gave them the chance to win.

The Packers defense and gambles of playing up to 4 rookies at once is already paying off. On the other hand the Saints find themselves in a position the Packers did a year ago. Potent offense, stinko defense. Drew Brees is still capable of leading a furious charge. The Saints have been very sloppy on offense. Dropped passes, penalties, turnovers and some suspect play calling has made them at best inconsistent.

The Saints defense has been in a word awful. They cannot stop anyone and have not stopped anyone all year. The Saints D has politely moved the Packers D out of the cellar as they now occupy the bottom in almost every statistical category defensively. They cannot stop the rush, the pass rush is non-existent, the linebackers are slow to react, and everyone can now throw on the Saints defensive backs. This is a far cry from their glory days where the D steamrolled anyone in their path. Almost everyone knows what the problem is, and the Saints simply no longer have the personnel to fix it and are without a GM to go get it or a coach to teach it.

Offensively Brees’ arm and smarts are still something to fear. Brees is an excellent leader and is now looking to kick the Pack while they’re down. Mark Ingram is going through a sophomore slump and has yet to break out of it and has dropped to 3^rd on the depth chart behind Pierre Thomas and Darren Sproles. The Saints may just rely on Sproles to confound and confuse the Packers young guns. Sproles is elusive and is the Randall Cobb X-Factor on the Saints. Brees still has All World TE Jimmy Graham as a target as well as Marcus Colston, Devery Henderson and Lance Moore, but, like the Packers, Brees has been constantly harassed as his offensive line has sprung too many leaks for a big arm to plug.

The Pack needs this game. So do the Saints. But these are two teams headed in opposite directions. As Green Bay’s defense continues to improve the offense has far too much talent to stay dormant forever. A healthy Greg Jennings will help. Playing against a porous defense may get Rodgers back into the MVP form of last year. Cedric Benson should be able to pound the ball and finally open up the options that should make Rodgers even more dangerous. Unlike the Saints the Packers do have the personnel in place to right the ship. That personnel should finally get untracked against a shaky secondary.

The defense is eager and anxious to get back on the field and tear into someone. That someone is New Orleans and the Packers will look to avenge their robbery against the first team to cross their paths. Look for the Packers to play with a white hot fury that McCarthy has channeled into this game.

Adversity has a funny way of motivating a team. Even good teams need a kick in the pants occasionally to see how they respond. McCarthy should be pleased after this one.

After all, he’s already planned for it.

       GREEN BAY  34  

  New Orleans  17  

T. J. LANG FOR PRESIDENT!!

Packer Guard Shatters Twitter Record

 

 

 

In the instant media social net we now live in, leave to outspoken Packer T.J. Lang to blow up the Twitter world.

 

After having a victory taken from them by the incompetence of the replacement referees in the Monday Night disgrace Lang, as well as fellow Packers G Josh Sitton, TE Jermichael Finley and Tom Crabtree, took to the airwaves to voice their displeasure.

 

Of all of them it was Lang's comments that drew the most attention. His raw, naked emotions still burning, his first post on Twitter after the game was the now famous "Got f***ed by the refs. Embarassing. Thanks, NFL." drew immediate attention. He later followed up with the classic Tweet "If any player/ coach on Seattle thinks they won that game then they have no integrity as a man and should be embarassed."

 

But it was his last Tweet that shattered the previous Twitter record of re-Tweets that knocked the meter off the scale. Justin Bieber was the reigning champ with almost 88,000 re-Tweets of his "I'M SEXY AND I KNOW IT" Tweet. Lang's now immortal post read "F*** it NFL.. Fine me and use the money to pay the regular refs."

 

At last count Lang's comment had drawn almost 100,000 re-Tweets. In a separate but truly generous act the NFL has also decided to not fine the Packers for their public comments.

AT LAST!!!

 

NFL ENDS STALEMATE, REAL REFS RETURN

 

It's all good now. Ed Hochuli and company are BACK!!!

The NFL in all their arrogant glory has finally seen the light and the too long lockout of the officials is now over. After the disaster in Seattle that cost the Packers a victory that was witnessed by millions and replayed endlessly around the clock and around the world the NFL finally had the tipping point of incompetence it could no longer ignore.

 

We also would wager that most would never see the day that the refs would receive a standing ovation as they take the field.

 

We are realtively certain it will be a short honeymoon with the REAL refs, but we join in with the coaches, players, and fans who are all saying collectively now "Wow, we missed you! Welcome back! Great to see you. It hasn't been the same without you.



OUTRAGE!!!!!!

Replacements Cost Pack Win

 

 

Strangely, we called it.

In our previous article our preview the Packers/ Hawks turned into a full blown rant on the state of affairs with regard to the replacement officials. In closing we even said the replacements could muddy the water.
 

And it happened in the most unimaginable of ways.
 

Remember baseball umpire Jim Joyce? He was the ump that inexplicably called a runner safe and ruined the Tigers’ Armando Gallaraga’s perfect game with 2 outs in the 9^th?
 

In the immortal words of Jim Joyce when asked afterwards he said “I just s*it all over the play. That kid (Gallaraga) pitched a perfect game and I just s*it all over it.”
 

The horrendous product the NFL has been endorsing and supporting all along had the worst weekend in NFL history and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been blithely saying the officials are doing a good job. But the league has been holding its collective breath and crossing their fingers hoping that the replacements would not cost a team a game.
 

Then – the unthinkable.
 

It has finally happened. The replacement officials, the Keystone Kops of the NFL, have finally cost an NFL team a game. That team is the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks literally stole the game after the morons dressed up for Halloween in referee stripes have finally blown a game so badly there are no words to describe the magnitude of this black eye embarrassment to the NFL.

 

After throwing almost 3 dozen flags throughout the game the final drive of the Seahawks featuring an absolutely horrible flag thrown for pass interference against Sam Shields that cost the Pack 32 yards and kept the final drive of the Seahawks alive. As the shorter Shields gained position on the much taller Sidney Rice it was Rice grabbing, holding and yanking at Shields who turned his head, put up his hand and knocked the ball away. It kept the Hawks’ hopes and drive alive.
 

And then - the idiots in stripes finally blew a game with the entire world watching and there is little
argument on that fact.
 

On the final play of the game, in a play that will last into eternity as one of the most bizarre, unbelievable and outrageous plays Seattle QB Russell Wilson had 6 seconds left when he launched a Hail Mary towards the left corner of the end zone prior to being rocked as Clay Matthews planted Wilson onto his back.
 

 At this point time stops and logic and common sense are suspended. As the ball hung in the air, Seattle WR Golden Tate shoved Packer CB Sam Shields from behind in the most egregious example of offensive pass interference ever seen. The flagrancy of the interference should be saved and shown in the future as to what offensive pass interference looks like.
 

 Tate went up for the ball among a sea of arms and Packer Safety M.D. Jennings got above Tate, grabbed the ball and Tate got his hands under Jennings. But wait – upon further review Tate only got ONE hand on the ball as Jennings gained control by holding the ball to his chest. As Jennings landed on top of Tate he then rolled his arm on top of Jennings as a swarm of bodies pile on. From every conceivable angle it looked for all the world as if Jennings had, in fact, intercepted the ball. He caught it, Tate shoved his hand over top of it, they landed in a heap and Tate tried to roll over only to have Jennings rip the ball away.
 

Cue the calliope to full blast. Into the center ring of the big top is the boss clown in stripes.
 

In what can only be called one of the worst call in the history of sports the erstwhile Mr. Elliott came out with his proclamation “After further review, the call on the field stands, touchdown, Seattle”.
 

HUH??????? WHAT did he say??????????????? TOUCHDOWN?????????
 

The everlasting image that will resonate for years beyond this game will be captured by one replacement, Side Judge Lance Easley – whose glowing resume includes working high school and junior college games - signaling touchdown by raising his arms the other – Back Judge Derrick Rhone-Dunn - giving the wash out to signal a touchback was coming by virtue of the interception. The madness and incompetence of the replacements sunk to new depths as neither official was positioned to make the call. The lead official, Wayne Elliott, the referee who wears the white hat, never called his crew together as even the best veterans crews in the NFL will do. The opportunity to get his crew together and simply say “What did you see?” was missed and blown. The NFL has instituted a review of every scoring play, so the Packers hopes lay in the eyes and hands of the on field Referee Elliott who went under the hood to take a closer look. Even after looking at it in the replay booth Elliott determined it was still a touchdown, all evidence to the contrary.
 

Afterwards Tate was interviewed and ducked and dodged the question about his pushing Shields off as deftly as a politician being pressed about his birth certificate or tax returns. “I don’t know what you’re talking about” said Tate in the postgame on field interview. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” In fact, he sounded more like Gary Coleman caught with his hand in the cookie jar and he knew it. All that was missing to emphasize his guilt was adding the name ‘Willis’ at the end of each utterance. When asked if he did, in fact, catch the ball Tate said “All I know is what we’re taught around her and that’s to keep on competing, and that’s what I did. I kept competing”.
 

Translation: Look at the tape. I didn’t catch the damn ball.
 

The confusion and chaos that surrounded the turmoil had an eerie, surreal feel. Many Packers exited with a stunned look of what the hell just happened here. Even the normally unflappable Aaron Rodgers was clearly ticked when he shoved a camera away. The Packers tweets have blown Twitter sky high, fines for speaking out be damned. LG T.J. Lang was vitriolic in his Tweets saying “If any player/coach in Seattle really thinks they won that game has zero integrity as a man and should be embarrassed.” Last week’s hero TE Tom Crabtree had a much simpler but accurate Tweet. “The 13^th man beat us tonight”, a reference to Seattle’s famed ‘12^th Man’ of the crowd as its decibel level is among the highest in sports.
 

 Before this game was even played Saints QB Drew Brees, one of the most respected players in the league, came out and teed off on the officiating. In a pair of scathing Tweets he said “I love this league and I love the game of football, but tonight’s debacle hurts me greatly. This is NOT the league we’re supposed to represent” and “Ironic that out league punishes those based on conduct detrimental. Whose CODUCT is DETRIEMNTAL now?” If the league is hell-bent on imposing fines there is going to be a long line outside the principal’s office on Park Place. The coaches can no longer contain themselves. At this writing Denver’s John Fox and Jack Del Rio have both been fined along with the Ravens John Harbaugh. Even the least likely coach to melt down, the Patriots Bill Belichick, will be hauled in for grabbing the arm of an official as they ran off the field.
 

 Credit must be given for an obviously livid Mike McCarthy who opened his post-game press conference by flatly stating “Don’t ask me a question about the officials, so we’ll just cut to the chase right there”. MM was seething as he opened the interview and somehow managed to contain his anger. McCarthy was patient in answering the media’s questions but anyone with a pair of eyes could see MM steaming under the surface. QB Aaron Rodgers also said tersely “Look at the replay” when asked if he thought it was an interception and a simple “It was awful” when asked his feelings about the call. Rodgers also shook his head in disdain when he added “and the fact that it was reviewed” in regard to the call on the field as he added a dismissive shrug of his shoulders knowing there is little that can be done.
 

On the flip side the smug arrogance of the Seahawks’ Head Coach Pete Carroll who whooped it up on the field when the call was made but his post-game comments rang hollow when he said “Good call.” Many Packers fumed on Twitter about the call openly. In reality the Hawks earn no respect in claiming victory.
 

Both Rodgers and McCarthy came out and were holding their tongues and tempers just under the surface “We never should have put ourselves in the position” Rodgers said when asked about the end call.
 

And he is right.  Rodgers was chased, harassed, hurried, hit and sacked 8 times in the first half as the Pack hung a goose egg on the scoreboard while Seattle took a 7-0 lead in by way of a Wilson bomb to Tate for 41 yards as Tramon Williams and Charles Woodson were caught flat footed as Tate broke his deep route to the post. The Seattle defense was ready for ARod and company, DE Chris Clemons had a career day with 4 sacks and the rest of the swarming Hawks D stifled the Packers.
 

MM made some necessary adjustments at half time as the Packers came out and methodically pounded the ball as the OLine began to get push and RB Cedric Benson repeatedly hammered the ball inside. The Packers dominated the 2^nd half and were relentless in moving the ball. But there were offensive miscues. Dropped passes by the receiving corps along with ghost calls but the goofballs…replacements… continue to plague the pack. After MM successfully challenged the spot of the ball Benson finally punched it in from the 1 to give the Packers the lead.

 

In the comedy of errors that has become this season league wide Rodgers also said that he was throwing a “…kicking ball…” on the 2 point attempt. For the uninformed there really ARE two different types of balls used. The ‘Kicking Ball’ is inflated slightly more than a Game Ball to give the kickers more control and to allow the quarterback a firmer grip. But the Packers still did not execute when it mattered most.
 

 This game needs little by way of analysis as the game itself is secondary to the big story of how the replacements cost the Packers a win. In the big picture this game could potentially have an impact on the playoffs. There are only 16 opportunities to get into the big dance, and when even 1 is taken, stolen, or blown it makes a difference. This game and play will forever be known simply as “The Call” as it will overshadow anything else around it including the game and last long into the future. It is a sad commentary that what is relevant in the NFL is no longer the game but the incompetence of the officials the league trots out to keep it fair and square.
 

 The two benchmarks of the NFL have been “Player Safety” and “The INTEGRITY” of the game. Both have been severely compromised and both are in serious jeopardy as long as the NFL keeps sending out crews that are clearly and obviously incapable of doing the job.



THE HAWKS, THE REFS AND ROGER

The NFL is becoming very full of itself. Roger Goodell oversees a $9 billion dollar enterprise and trumpets all the virtues of the NFL, the shield, the league and its players. He’ll pound the pulpit about ‘player safety’ and tell every fan how concerned he and the league is about the welfare of its’ players.

He’s full of baloney. Or something else.

Take a good. Close look at the schedule and ask yourself how this would impact player safety. The Packers open their season by playing on a Sunday, Thursday, and Monday and then finally back to Sundays. That’s a 4, then 11 the 6 day break between games. Then there’s the Baltimore Ravens, who play 4 games in 17 days. Yikes! Just who the hell is the NFL kidding? The league doesn’t give a damn about player safety; it is only concerned with how much revenue the players that make up the NFL can generate for 31 wealthy owners and a publicly owned team.

The NFL has become the pimp to the players’ whore. The NFL pimps their products and the NFLPA is powerless to do much about it. The inclusion of Thursday night football is going to be around for quite a while. Why? It makes money, pure, plain and simple. Whether or not the players have adequate rest time to heal their battered bodies is irrelevant. There is a group of fresh faced college kids out there ready to come in and take the jobs from the NFL vets eagerly. The cycle will be self-generating and on into perpetuity as long as the money train feeds the insatiable appetite of the pimp.

Thursday is yet another example of Goodell’s arrogance. It wasn’t enough to have a once-a-year event on Thanksgiving day. Nope, the pimp, as it always does, wants more. If the pimp wants a little more, it throws then whore out another night with they want to or not – they ain’t got a choice. I pay you millions while I make billions so you bet your jockstrap you’ll do what I tell you.

Football at its worst is a violent constant collision game. It is that very violence that dates as far back as the Roman Coliseum that attracts and draws fans. With the advent of ESPN, the NFL Network we are fed a steady diet of football and we can’t seem to get enough. The toll taken on the human body to participate in the pro game is immeasurable. If the average took just one shot from Ray Lewis or Clay Matthews or Brian Urlacher they’d need a couple weeks of bed rest before being able to return to work.

And yet the NFL, in all its brazen glory, throws them back on the field in 4 days, all in the name of a few more bucks.

Compounding the felony is the fact that Goodell and his poobah counterparts in the NFL have thrown replacement officials out on the field to control and maintain the chaos. The results have varied from amusing to outrageous to downright dangerous. NFL players are all college educated and a pretty bright group as a whole. Their minds are still intact and they won’t have to pay the bill for their on field exploits for another 20 or 30 years. They have figured out as the rest of the viewing world has that they can and will get away with as much as they possibly can and then some.

The replacements are in so far over their heads it defies description. The pimp truly believes they can take a lawyer, 2 accountants, a salesman , an ad ex, a contractor and a retired high school gym teacher right out of Division III ball, cram a rule book down their throats or up someplace else, dress then up in NFL clothes and call them “Game Day On field Officials”.

 

The NFL is full of baloney. Or something else. To catalogue the mix-ups, goof ups, screw ups, flub ups and mistakes would not only fill this column it would read like “War and Peace”. All anybody really has to do is to turn on the highlights and watch. Flags are thrown yet no penalties are called. Players tackle other players and flags are thrown. The rule book has been stepped on, tramped on, run over, ignored, misinterpreted, screwed up to point that it is laughably embarrassing to watch these well-meaning guys trying to keep pace. Games are running way over time, but it gives the networks a few more shots at commercials, and a few more bucks.

The game is just too damn fast, the players are too big, so how can anyone expect a lawyer, 2 accountants, a salesman, an ad ex, a contractor and a retired high school gym teacher to control the extra-curricular activities of some of the largest, strongest and toughest bad asses on the planet? The amount of hockey-like pushing and shoving after the whistle is escalating weekly. The players are taking advantage of the replacements inexperience. Authority? How can the replacements have authority when they don’t have the respect of the players. The coaches have been irate. Some like Denver’s John Fox, San Fran’s Jim Harbaugh and even New York’s Tom Coughlin are browbeating g these poor saps from the sidelines every chance they get. And they will continue to do so simply because they can. The pimp doesn’t give a damn about the ho as long as the ho keeps making the money.

The replacements themselves have been placed in a horrible spot. Imagine Bill, the hometown ex-jock who works a few games on the weekends for a few extra bucks reffing a game between East Armpit College of Lesser Knowledge and Muskalooga Technical getting ‘THE CALL’. “… Hello, Bill? Yeah, hi this is Roger Goodell of the NFL and we’ve been really impressed with your performance. No, really Bill… we’ve had our eye on you for some time and we think you are big game material. Whattaya say to maybe doing a few NFL games for more money than you’ll make in a lifetime? Hey, it’s a cool gig – nothing to worry about…these guys are all professionals and understand the deal. Yep, that’s right. You can be nose to nuts with some of your favorite players AND get some TV time. Sound good? GREAT!! Just sign right here, right after the part that says we own you lock stock and barrel and don’t worry about the fine print that says something about selling your soul. And just don’t wear your Saints jersey when you ref in the Superdome. Besides… no one will notice. Good luck Bill, and hey – my door is always open. We’re one big, happy family around here.”

And the poor sap has just been roped in and thrown blindly to the wolves. Now, to be fair, they did get three weeks of an intense crash course on a rule book that is more complex than hooking your analog VCR to your Hi Def Midi HDMI flat screen. Some of them look real good in NFL stripes. We’ll even concede the point that they are trying and they are doing their level best.

But their best is nowhere near good enough. Not for the players who are all bigger, faster, and stronger than anyone they’ve seen in the D – 3 ranks anyways. And not for the coaches who are a demanding, bullying lot who exploit that weakness and whose frustrations over the repeated incompetence are reaching a boiling point. And not for the fans who keep showing up week after week filling the stadiums and shelling out the lifeblood of the NFL, the raison d’etre for Roger and the moneymongers by forking over every dollar the NFL can convince them is to a worthy cause. The replacements have no authority and hence no control of the chaos because they have no respect from the players.

The Replacement Referees during a review

Oh, but they do have the endorsement from Roger and the misers that own the teams. “We’re pleased with the performance” goes the NFL when the topic of the replacements comes up. Roger at.al also saw fit to impose a gag on the coaches and players from commenting about the replacements, just like a pimp wants his ho to just shut up and keep handing over the money.

It won’t be until a player gets maimed as a result of the incompetence that something is done. Even then it will be too late. And yet the pimp keeps throwing the ho back out because, hey – it’s a tough world but we gotta keep the flow of cash going.

In a $9 billion – in actual numbers it looks $9,000,000,000.00 – industry the total amount to get the real refs back works out to roughly between 1 and 2 hundred thousand dollars – and that looks like $100-200,000 – it is an oversimplification but this strike is no longer about the money or the players. It’s about Roger wielding his mighty sword to show everyone who’s boss. After having his New Orleans Saints ‘Bountygate’ suspensions thrown back in his face don’t expect ol’ Rog look to capitulate anytime soon. The NFL and Roger need a win and pounding the Referees union is the small dog the bully thinks it can kick around.

While Roger and the other owners keep fiddling while their Roma Empire burns just don’t say they care about player safety. They don’t really give a damn about player safety; they are only concerned with keeping the players out on the field and the money rolling in.

Memo to Roger and the NFL: pay the refs and get them back on the field ASAP. The players want it, the coaches need it, and the fans deserve better.

As the Packers carousel  ride star to the season is winding down they fly into Seattle on 11 days rest to face the new look Seahawks. Most Packer fans and the Pack themselves expected to be facing old friend matt Flynn at QB as Flynn signed a huge deal with the Hawks in the off season. But Flynn will be occupying an all too familiar spot on the bench as he left his backup role in Green Bay to take a backup role in Seattle as Wilson’s clipboard holder. Wilson had a spectacular preseason in winning the starters job outright from Flynn and possess a big arm and some promising young talent around him. Now he has to prove it against the Pack.

After whipping the Bears and pounding Jay Cutler relentlessly with 7 sacks and 4 picks the Packers have rebounded from an opening day loss and now feel confident going into Seattle. The defense is beginning to take shape and now has to face the Beast in RB Marshawn ‘Skittles’ Lynch. The Packer D did an outstanding job in keeping the Bears from running and all but grounded the Bears new play toys for Cutler as they held WR’s Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffry to 3 catches and a puny 31 yards.

New Head Coach Pete Carroll is injecting his rah rah college approach into the previously dormant ‘Hawks but reality will smack them right in the chops. They will try to pound Lynch inside but will find much tougher sledding. The Packers counter with their own ground game with Cedric Benson. Benson’s ability to get yards opens up the airwaves for Aaron Rodgers.

The Packers offense still looks like it is finding its stride and this will be a great opportunity to right that ship. As Rodgers gets more comfortable with Benson carrying the ball it can only open up the play action possibilities he has not had before. WR Greg Jennings has a nagging groin injury and may not see much time, if any at all. James Jones has begun to find some space and he along with Jermichael Finley will be a great help if they can stop the drops.

Seattle is a teams on the rise. The Packers are there. The offense finds its legs and the ‘Hawks find out they aren’t ready to run with the big dogs.

Of course if the replacements get in the way again they could muddy the outcome.

    GREEN BAY    41  

 
    Seattle        13      

PACK SACKS SAD SACK CUTLER

Jay Cutler is a man of many emotions. He is trying to rehab his image after sulking on the sidelines in the playoff game against Green Bay. He wants to be the leader, the firebrand, the heart, soul, and voice of the Bears.

Jay Cutler wished the Packers secondary “good luck” in covering his receivers before the 1 – 0 Chicago Bears took the field against the Packers on Thursday night.

Turns out they didn’t need any luck. They had Cutler. “I know Jay’s excited about his receivers, but we didn’t need any luck tonight” said defensive leader Charles Woodson. “We had Jay. And he did what he always does – he threw the defense the ball. We know he’s going to come out and he’s going to throw picks. ”

Ouch.

Jay Cutler can also be the type of teammate to inspire his teammates. Witness LT Jamarcus Webb, all 6’ 5” and 320 lbs. of him being chewed in in a profanity laced tirade after Clay Matthews deposited Cutler onto his backside for the 3 third time last night, a tantrum that also included Cutler shoving his left tackle. Now, to be fair, the best effort Webb could muster against the suddenly resurgent wild man of the Packers was to be a matador to Matthews’ raging bull and yell “OLE!” every time Matthews blew past him. And as Cutler implodes he tends to behave much like a 6 year who didn’t get chocolate pudding.

For a Packer fan base that was dangerously close to jumping from the ledge this game came as a tonic at the right time. News flash: The Packers did not win it with offense last night. They did not have any home run strikes that Aaron Rodgers and his band of receivers have come to be known.  In fact, Rodgers like rather pedestrian and the Packers looked like a completely well rounded team. The Pack won the game against the Bears in the NFL’s oldest rivalry in a fitting fashion. They did it the old fashioned way, with defense and with a pounding running game.

 You read that right – the Packers won with defense and a running attack.

Former Bear Cedric Benson did not rip any huge gains off but he relentlessly hammered away at a Bears defense that began to show a lot of wear by the end of the game. Benson hauled the rock 20 times, a staggering number given Green Bay’s passing prowess. His 81 yards were hardly spectacular, but they were exactly what Mike McCarthy has been seeking for more than a couple years. Benson’s consistent 4, 5 and 6 yard runs thru the heart of the Bears defense drove a stake right through their heart. Cutler may have inadvertently awakened a slumbering giant as the entire Packers team played as complete a game in all 3 phases – offense, defense, and special teams as any Packer squad in recent memory. In this game the offense was the 3^rd of the 3 groups.

Give McCarthy credit for having the cajones to dare to try what he and special teams coach Shawn Slocum dared to try. Last night Mason Crosby lined up for a 45 yard field goal. The Bears tipped their hand by stuffing the middle of the field knowing it would be a low trajectory kick and they would make every effort to block it. But MM and the Packers had a little trickeration up their sleeves.

As the ball was snapped, Crosby immediately broke to his left. In doing so he pulled edge rusher CB Charles Tillman with him to cover Crosby in the flank as a receiver. TE Tom Crabtree then cut right under Crosby unnoticed and holder P Tim Masthay calmly flipped a short shovel pass into Crabtree’s hands. The casual nature of Masthay’s flip and its trajectory decoyed the mass of humanity in the middle of the line into thinking the ball had come from Crosby’s foot. The Bears committed all but Tillman, the only player on the field with enough speed to run down Crabtree from behind, to the center of the field allowing Evan Dietrich Smith and newcomer Don Barclay to plow the road ahead of Crabtree who then sprinted untouched into the end zone for the Packers first TD, opening up a 10 point margin.

The Packers defense, the much maligned Packers defense, a defense that ranked dead last a season ago and was one of the worst passing defenses in history is showing early dividends. LB Nick Perry has yet to register a sack, but he is not needed to do that. Perry did a great job in taking heat away from the double teams Matthews so routinely saw last year, and OLB Erik Walden returned from a 1 game suspension to add fuel to Matthews’ fire. The biggest weakness on the Bears is their porous offensive line, a line that saw no key additions in the off season. Webb had the misfortune of lining up across from Clay Matthews and is probably not sleeping well after Matthews ran under, around, and over him in dropping Cutler 3 ½ times and applying constant pressure all night. After 2 games Matthews leads the NFL with 6 sacks, the exact same total he had all of last year.

The off season mandate of the Packers couldn’t be any more obvious than the “G” on their helmets – improve the pass rush and improve the defense as a whole. One thing became perfectly clear last night. When – no longer ‘if’ – the Pack generates a pass rush their secondary is a hell of a lot better. Tramon Williams looked the All Pro he was 2 years ago in picking off Cutler twice. Williams also covered WR Brandon Marshall so closely the Marshall may have felt he had to peel Williams’ jersey off along with his own after the game. Marshall, the Bears’ new weapon of whom Cutler thought so much as to spit in the face of the Packers, had 2 insignificant catches and a very significant gaffe when he dropped an easy TD pass after Williams slipped in the only time he was truly open. Sir Charles, his pride deeply wounded by Cutler’s scathing assessment of the Packers secondary, also had a diving interception, putting him right behind the Raven’s Ed Reed for most picks among active players. Newcomer S Jerron MacMillian also joined the fun in grabbing a Cutler misfire.

The only term that can be applied to the Pack’s pass rush is relentless. 7 times Cutler was deposited onto his keister. The best news of all is how the newcomers joined the attack of the Pack. D.J. Smith, now playing full time for IR’d Desmond Bishop, had a sack early, Erik Walden was in on a Matthews body slam and rookies Jerel Worthy and Mike Daniels both registered sacks. As Worthy and Daniels get more comfortable in the pro game their talent will eventually rise. And as this game was a throwback in its old school approach how fitting was it that the only offensive touchdown came from a Rodgers strike over the middle of the field to the ageless Donald Driver, who showed off a few ‘Dancing with the Stars’ moves in the end zone.

This is a Packers team that should continue to grow especially on defense.

The defense is still a work in progress. The Bears, and especially Cutler, found out in a very painful way it is one thing to beat up on the weak sisters of the NFL in Indy and another thing altogether to think they’re ready to bang heads with one of the NFL’s elite teams.

Yes – the Packers are just that… an elite team. They no longer need to light up the scoreboard like a pinball machine. They are not singularly tied to Rodgers to win. They won’t need to win shootouts. This team is beginning to show signs that they are capable of winning almost any type of game. It’s good – very good – that San Francisco was first on the schedule. It served as a wakeup call and the Niners are also an elite team. This was a statement game and the Packers answered the bell as a team in all 3 phases.

There’s an old saying that goes never wake a sleeping Bear. In this case the Bear should have just kept his big yap shut.