PACKERS TAME LIONS; CLAIM 1ST

Defense, More Newcomers Rally Pack Past Detroit

 

A division rival. Football in December. Lambeau Field. And, a snowstorm. It has all the elements of what makes football so great. As the players breath is visible as they huff and pant the fans wrap up in parkas, ski masks, gloves and whatever form of liquid warmth they can either purchase or smuggle in. These are the types of games about which writers create whimsy.

Call it Bloody Sunday in the NFL. The underdog was all the talk Monday morning as so many rose up in a last valiant effort to be respectable. Start with the matchup between Atlanta and Carolina. Atlanta is the current flavor-of-the-month as the new darlings of the NFL but the Panthers and Cam Newton smacked them up and down the field in every capacity. Newton finally regained his form of his rookie campaign and looked more like, well, Cam Newton as the Panthers unceremoniously dumped the Falcons 30 20 in a game the led from wire to wire. This year’s version of Cam Newton, Robert Griffin III in DC goes out with an ugly leg-whipping knee injury and in steps fellow rookie Kirk Cousins who promptly takes the reins and summarily the wind out of the sails of the fading Ravens, whose stock is falling as fast as a Bernie Madoff hedge fund.

The NFL was littered with upsets. The Chargers have performed yet another ‘too little too late’ performance in a season that will most likely cost Norv Turner his job as they upended the return from injury Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers, the Cowboys somehow slid past the Bengals, the Nick Foles era is officially underway as Michael Vick just became Michael Who? as Foles led the Eagles over the Bucs with a 381 yard passing day.

And finally the game that turned every Packer fan into an honest to gosh full blown purple wearin’, horn tootin’ Vikings fan at least for a day as the Vikings hosted NFC North leader Chicago. Minnesota and Chicago. The Vikings ate up the Bears in the trap game as Chicago may have been peeking ahead to next week’s monster mash with the Packers. The Bears were toast before the game even began, falling behind by a count of 14- 0 and they not only never led, they looked as if they didn’t even make the trip. QB Jay Cutler was roughed up and took a high low hit from Jared Allen that may affect his performance in next week’s huge game against the Packers.

And in following the script laid out all day the Packers took the field knowing full well in advance that they now control every element of their post season with this game. The Packers came out in the snow fired up, high from knowing the Bears had been knocked off and ready to claim the North again and… laid a monstrous first half egg.

The offense was MIA throughout the first half as the Lions opened by marching right down the field and scoring on a fake by QB Matthew Stafford as he executed a perfect naked bootleg off the trickery and could have fallen down and rolled into the end zone. Stafford has been up and down in his career. At times he looks and plays like the first pick he once was of the Lions. At other times he is scattershot, spraying the ball all over the field and not necessarily to his receivers. But Stafford started this game in the arctic cold red hot as the snow swirled around him. The Lions followed the script of the underdog to a T as Aaron Rodgers marched the Pack down the field but was hit from behind by Lawrence Jackson at the Lions 21 yard line forcing the ball out of Rodgers hand where it was scooped up by Stephen Tullock.

Stafford marched Detroit right back up the field and the drive ended when Stafford hit TE Tony Scheffler on a 3 yard toss to stake Detroit to an early 14-0 lead. The upset monster packed its bags and was just settling into a seat at Lambeau, ready for yet another out of contention team to smoke a legit playoff contender.

To be fair the Pack was missing many key players. Clay Matthews, Jordy Nelson, James Starks, Bryan Bulaga, T.J. Lang and Charles Woodson were all scratched again. Greg Jennings made a return but the offense was sputtering through the first half. Mason Crosby made a field goal of 49 yards and the faithful who had begun to lose faith in Crosby let of an anxious sigh of relief.

And Stafford came out and was leading yet another attack on the Pack when lightning finally struck. As Stafford dropped back and began to throw the ball squirted from his hand and it bounced into the eager hands of Packer DE rookie Mike Daniels who almost fell at the sight of it. But Daniels oversized backside collided with a falling Lion offensive lineman and righted Daniels’ listing ship as Daniels regained his footing and it was off to the races, and even a man 300+ lbs. can win this race. Suddenly, while the offense was inconsistent the Packers were right back in the game on Daniels’ first career TD run of 43 yards.

Daniels was not alone in making big plays for the defense. Sam Shields very quietly returned to the lineup but announced his presence loudly when he picked off Stafford late in the 2^nd quarter that ended another Lion drive. Shields grabbed the errant ball and took off, wisely sliding over the midfield stripe rather than take any more pounding. While the stagnant offense couldn’t punch the ticket for a score Shields pick did help to swing the momentum Detroit enjoyed back to the Packers side.

Daniels was not the only newcomer to step up. As the Packers have been decimated by injuries the “Next Man Up” philosophy has been stretched as this as it possibly can be. Lang was already out yet rookie fill in RT Don Barclay held his own most of the day. He did give up a sack to Ndamukong Suh, who was not looking to add any more jewels to his crown of dirty play. Even the ticky tack call of roughing the passer on Rodgers was not a big deal, but given that Rodgers had taken at least one step after releasing the ball Suh’s shove was more stupid and impetuous than is was cheap.

Something must have irritated the Packers at halftime. Trailing against the Lions knowing that the Bears had already lost heightened the sense of urgency. The Packers followed another familiar script in putting in a less than stellar half of football, especially from the offense’s perspective. At the start of the 3^rd quarter Aaron Rodgers resumed his title of Leader of the Pack in guiding Green Bay from the kickoff into scoring position. Rodgers used his legs, not his arm, to put the ball in the end zone with a drive ending 27 yard scramble that almost had Rodgers down. Rodgers wriggled free from the grasp of Cliff Avril, rolled to his right and froze the Lion backers with a pump fake. Seeing the field open up before him like the Red Sea before Moses Rodgers tucked the ball away and sprinted unmolested to give the Pack a lead they would not surrender. The 27 yarder was the longest run of Rodgers’ career5 and he was able to dust of his Championship Belt pose. Hopefully Rodgers won’t owe any royalties for his Double Check.

Rodgers’ running always puts a few more grey hairs on Mike McCarthy’s head. Rodgers now runs out of necessity and not design. The running back position has been hit so hard a desperate plea went out to last year’s forgotten man Ryan Grant. Grant has had a stellar career in Green Bay and only his untimely broken ankle against Philadelphia sent him packing. Grant remained a professionals professional throughout his exile. A free agent after last year Grant found no takers on a 30 year old RB coming off injuries. Washington tried him out but the sudden explosion of Alfred Morris made Grant expendable.

When James Starks went down with yet another injury the call was made to Grant who was more grateful than resentful of the opportunity. So highly regarded is Grant that upon his arrival in the Packers locker room Grant made a vain attempt to downplay his return with the media. His new/ old teammates were less obliging, giving the former 3 consecutive 1,200 yards rusher a standing ovation when he entered the dressing room again. Grant is no publicity stunt. He carried the ball for 13 yards on his lone carry, a dash that set up another last minute addition.

Rookie RB DuJuan Harris, a 5’9” dynamo gave Alex Green a breather and literally exploded through the holes piling up 31 yards on 7 carries. His longest run was 14 yards, a run that saw Harris run untouched in for his first NFL score. Harris is an unknown who has a working knowledge of the Packers offense as he was signed off the practice squad this week along with street free agent Grant after Starks was IR’d with a knee injury. Starks injury is frustrating as Starks was beginning to emerge as a true lead back and showed promise when combined with Alex Green in the running game.

Crosby missed another kick, this one from 51 yards. To his credit McCarthy is sticking to his guns and allowing Crosby to work out his kinks. There will come a point where McCarthy will run out of patience. Accepting 2 out of 3 successful field goals is not in McCarthy’s dialogue. He knows Crosby can be a big foot and he will need to get it right soon. Don’t look for the Packers to run out and sign a kicker either. This year Green Bay has its collective lot cast on Crosby. The pained look of “Not again” that crosses Crosby’s when he misses face gives great cause for doubt. As the weather gets worse and the temperatures colder scoring opportunities cannot be left uncollected on the field. McCarthy has been clear about Crosby being his kicker and needing him to do his job.

When Crosby hit a 41 yarder to give the Packers a 10 point cushion the reality of the day’s upsets hit home. When the books are closed on this week the Packers will be alone in first place in the NFC North for the first time all year. The matchup next week against the Bears is, in fact, a playoff game. The Packers have the advantage having beaten the Bears badly early in the year at Lambeau. Now they travel to Chicago and both teams know what is at stake. Green Bay is in control here. A win and the NFC North is theirs. A loss gives the Bears life and it will be a sprint to the finish. Given the number of injuries that the Pack has had to overcome clinching the division and getting a week off will be more than enough motivation to come out flying.

Now that Lions are behind them the Packers are focused on the next stop. It does not matter that Aaron Rodgers streak of 32 consecutive home games with a TD toss ended; Rodgers and the Packers needed the win more than they want the records. While the Bears looked past their opponent this week Green Bay took care of business. The table is set for a big one on Sunday. Make that THE Big One on Sunday in Chicago. With the Packers able to win without a Rodgers TD pass and now capable of make the big plays as well the home stretch of the season is beginning to shape up nicely.

A division rival. Football in December. Soldier Field. A playoff berth at stake. And, a snowstorm. It has all the elements of what makes football so great.