AND A CHILD SHALL LEAD THEM

Scott Tolzien Gets First Start in New York

Fortunes can change in the NFL as quick as a hiccup. A month ago Scott Tolzien was without a team. 3 weeks ago he was picked up by Green Bay and assigned to their practice squad. 2 weeks ago the Cleveland Browns offered him a contract and a spot on their 53 man roster, an offer the Packers would match. Tolzien chose to stay put.

And last week, after Seneca Wallace went out with a groin injury it was Tolzien taking the field to lead the Pack. This week Tolzien is prepping for his first career start against the Giants in New York. Kid – welcome to the show.

The matchup against the Giants without Aaron Rodgers couldn’t come at a better time for New

York. Eli Manning has had a wretched first half in leading the NFL in interceptions with 16. The G-Men lost every game to open the season and the buzz around the league was “What’s wrong in New York?”

The vaunted Giant running game had disappeared altogether. Manning was heaving up picks in every oddball fashion. The corners couldn’t cover and the lineman couldn’t block. That was then; this is now. The Giants come in on a 3 game winning streak and have suddenly found themselves right back in the thick of the hunt in the NFC Least. The East is such a putrid division that 7 – 9 or 8 -8 could conceivably win the division.

And right now the Eagles, by virtue of their win over the Packers, hold the advantage in a tie breaker situation. And right now the Bears, by virtue of their win over the Packers, hold the advantage in a tie breaker situation in the division. And right now the Lions, by virtue of their win over the Bears, hold the lead in the NFC North. And right now Carolina, by virtue of their win over the 49ers holds the advantage in a tie breaker situation for the wild card.

That’s an awful lot of right now’s for a 3^rd string kid facing his first start. Matt Flynn has been signed as a backup, a position he never dreamed he’d find himself in after he found big money but not starters spot in the free agency market. The talk around Flynn has been the elbow in his throwing arm; talk Flynn is quick to dispel claiming his arm is fine. Those expecting Flynn to come in and step in and repeat his performance against the Lions when he shattered the Packers single season game passing record are whistling Dixie. As Mike McCarthy so adamantly stated at the end of last week’s loss to the Eagles “Scott Tolzien will be our starter…” in this week’s game in the Meadowlands.

The Giants are getting hot and righting their sinking ship at the right time. Green Bay is floundering

and struggling on defense. The tackling this season has regressed and the big play turnovers are just not there. The Packers are at the bottom of the heap in turnovers created with only 3 picks to show for the year. The sacks are there; the Pack has 31 and counting, but the pressure needed to force the bad throw into coverage has been sporadic at best.

Even when the Packers hold a man on man advantage the big plays are not only not being made they are being allowed to an opponent. Morgan Burnett and Tramon Williams double up on DeSean Jackson and essentially eliminate each other while Jackson bounces into the end zone. Nick Foles underthrows Riley Cooper who has to come back 7 yards to make a diving, rolling, stumbling catch that results in 6 points. Take a look at the tape and you’ll see a consistent theme of Packers getting their hands on the ball but failing to come away with it.

Rodgers has been the cosmetic cover up for a defense that is now struggling. The tackling has been invisible and the big plays allowed are killing the Pack. It would be easy yet disingenuous to blame the rash of injuries the Pack has sustained. The Packers lost their 2 biggest guns on each side of the ball when Rodgers and Clay Matthews were sidelined simultaneously. Matthews tried to play last week with a club on his surgically repaired thumb but was largely ineffective. Nick Perry had been having a breakout year when he broke a bone in his foot. Perry came back and re-injured the same foot and the Pack’s premier pressure players have become spectators to a train wreck.

Clearly the Pack is up against it and clearly this game has large implications. Green Bay and New York were bumped from a scheduled prime time duel in favor of the juicy matchup between the upstart Kansas City Chiefs and high flying Denver Broncos. While an unbeaten team going against a 1 loss team is the better matchup on paper the Packers showdown with the Giants may be more compelling because each team is facing a potentially early elimination from the playoff hunt with a loss. Neither can afford any giveaway games and the Packers must keep themselves within 1 game of Detroit until the Thanksgiving Day game.

The Giants are on a streak due less to their level of play than the quality of their opponents. Minnesota, Raiders and the pre-Nick Foles’ emergence Eagles have been less than stellar and when each team faced New York they were sporting losing records. Manning has been wildly erratic this season in spraying the field for 16 picks. Rookie RB David Wilson began the year with a bad case of fumbleitis and a worse case of Tom Coughlin’s doghouse. As New York’s offensive line went down with injuries the losses mounted causing the surly Coughlin to become almost defensive about his battered team.

As this season begins to eerily resemble the Packers 2010 season that everyone knows how it ended history will say the turning point in that injury-filled campaign began in earnest with a blowout win over New York. Over the course of the past 3 season the Giants and Manning have been a nasty thorn in the side of the Packers. The Giants sent them home after a 15-1 year and have been annoying McCarthy ever since.

Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks have been strangely quiet this year, a fact not lost on the carnivorous New York media. But with Manning unable to hit a blue shirt it only stands to reason his standout wideout would be lost in the shuffle. Injuries factor largely into this game Jason Pierre-Paul, the playmaking DE for New York has not practiced all week with a bad shoulder. Both CB’s – Corey Webster and Terrell Thomas – have been out. They will all be game day decisions on their participation.

Tolzien has weapons still and now has to utilize them McCarthy has praised his young QB’s work ethic. “He was here (at the practice facility) until almost 9:30 working on the game plan and preparing” for his start in New York said McCarthy. The young man has the look if an NFL QB and has the arm to play a long time in the show. He has a bad case of the rookie’s natural instinct to stare down a receiver and allow opposing defensive backs to adjust. A full week of practice with the 1’s will help, but it is still a lot to ask of a UDFA to lead a team to a much needed win.

One big plus will be Eddie Lacy. Lacy’s steadily improving play and confidence grows each passing week. He will help to take the load off Tolzien but Tolzien will have to make some throws somewhere along the line. No less important to the packers success will be picking Manning off. As Dom Capers has said “The turnovers have to start coming.” How a team like Green Bay with a DC like Capers has plummeted so rapidly in the turnover department is a league-wide head scratcher. Getting the ball back will be huge to help the young Tolzien over the hump.

Mason Crosby had one bad kick and one other miss and he cannot afford to leave any points on the

field. Matthews will attempt to play in a modified brace with his fingers exposed. Taking Matthews’ hands away from him is like “…Shaving the whiskers off a cat. The cat losses its balance and struggles to just get around…” said Matthews in describing playing with a club. There are few players whose hands and hand strength is as vital to his success as Matthews.

Last week the Packers were dinged hard in the loss. Wallace is out for the year, and Don Barclay, Evan Dietrich-Smith, Johnny Jolly, Ryan Pickett, Casey Hayward, Mike Neal, Andy Mulamba and Nick Perry are all ailing along with Rodgers. In a game of ‘If Only’ it would have been far better for the Packers to have played against the Giants a few weeks ago when the Big Blue was still struggling. The fortunes have reversed and now it is the Packers struggling, injured and needing a rookie to pull one - or two - out to keep their playoff shot alive.

That may be too tall an order.

 

 

 

 Green Bay 17  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  NEW YORK  24