PURPLE DAZED

Pack Pounds and Picks Ponder and Vikings

by: Michael Filipelli

Aaron Rodgers wasn’t kidding.

When Rodgers took to the airwaves after the Green Bay Packers had been humbled by the Detroit Lions 19 – 7 Rodgers spelled it out for all to hear. While the Packer faithful was wringing their collective hands in angst and clamoring for something, anything to hang on to Rodgers spelled it out in big, bold, letters.

In a slow, deliberate pace he said “R-E-L-A-X. Relax…we (the Packers) got this.” A 1-2 start isn’t what was expected of this years’ Pack. An opening night loss to the defending Super Bowl Champs Seattle and the beat down administered by Detroit sandwiched a win over the now woeful Jets with their awful secondary and putrid offense made the faithful and a little more than uneasy. Packer fans have come to expect too much perhaps. The patience waiting for Green Bay to bust loose and turn the offense on the opponent was causing a few grey hairs to sprout.

 

Yet in the middle of it all sat a man who has made a career of getting even with his doubters and detractors. When Rodgers now famously said “Relax” the rest of the league took a collective gulp. One thing about Rodgers – don’t make the mistake of underestimating or doubting him. He will cram that notion right down your throat. The loose translation for Rodgers’ “Relax” is something along the lines of “I got a chip on my shoulder… anyone wanna try and knock it off?”

The Chicago Bears tried first. After giving the Bears hope in a back-and-forth first half the Bears were met by a steamroller in the second half as Green Bay rolled over the Bears. The chip on Rodgers shoulder is typically the size of a lumber yard. When Rodgers is slighted, doubted, or challenged he has the uncanny ability to step up and in the process makes his detractors and doubters shut up.

In the last of the early season games against their divisional rivals the Packers mopped the floor with the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday night 42 - 10 in a game that was nowhere near as close as the score might indicate. So complete was the Pack’s pounding of the Vikes that Rodgers was done after 3 quarters and “only” had 12 of 17 for 156 yards and 3 TD’s, 66 of which came on a perfectly timed bomb dropping into Jordy Nelson’s arms in a play where Nelson never once broke stride as Rodgers dropped the ball into the bucket to blow the game wide open.

Randall Cobb joins Nelson at the top of the NFL in TD catches and added to his total with an 8 yard strike. Rodgers was far from the only Packer deserving praise in this contest. RB Eddie Lacy had his breakout game of the season eclipsing the 100 yard mark for the first time this year. Lacy ran through holes the size of which a bus could fit as he gashed the Vikings with his bruising style. Lacy got going early and had a few long gainers and a few more Vikings left with ice bags on their heads.

Lacy scored from 11 and 10 yards, the latter being when Lacy attempted to go to the left and found nothing. As he cut his run back he completely reversed field and bolted into the end zone with little challenge. Lacy’s inside running kept the Vikings from loading up against the pass as Detroit had done so successfully. As Lacy gets untracked it will only make teams more susceptible to Rodgers mastery of play-action and the Pack’s now deadly passing attack. Rookie Davante Adams got into the act with his first TD as a pro but may not end up with the ball as a souvenir as it was also Rodgers’ 200^th TD pass of his career.

The notion that Julius Peppers has nothing left in the tank was dispelled after Peppers grabbed a tipped ball and took it to the house from the 49 to leave the Vikings battered and beaten halfway through the second quarter. The ball was tipped by Luther Robinson, signed from the practice squad to fill in for Josh Boyd. At the OLB position Peppers may have earned the nickname Ponce de Leon as he has found the fountain of youth and is settling very nicely into his new role. Dom Capers lobbied hard for Peppers in the off season and also deserves credit for seeing something in Peppers the Bears as well as the rest of the NFL did not see anymore. Capers and the Pack’s defense – especially and specifically the run defense – had been the talk of them pundits all season.

Then Rodgers told everyone to R-E-L-A-X.

The Packers had gone on a 66 -0 tear since blowing the Bears out. This was also a game for the unsung and the oft-maligned to shine. Morgan Burnett had become the token whipping boy for all the Packers’ ails and woes a season ago at the safety position. But it was Burnett who time and again found the ball carrier like a heat seeking missile as he led the Pack in tackles for the game with 12 total, 9 of which were solo efforts. Burnett also added a punch out forced fumble to round out his stellar showing. Burnett’s fearless and reckless style is beginning to blend well with rookie Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and the transplanted Micah Hyde. Knowing that Clinton- Dix now has his back Burnett has been turned loose and helped to fortify a D that gave up just 111 yards on the ground, a huge uptick from their bottom-of-the-barrel 176 yards/ game so far.

ILB Jamari Lattimore, subbing for the injured Brad Jones, also had his first pick as he snagged an ill-advised attempt from the Vikes former 1st rounder Christian Ponder. Ponder’s stock has fallen so far he has been relegated to #3 on the depth charts behind the unimpressive journeyman Matt Cassell and the Vikes new flavor of the month QB and this year’s 1^st rounder in Teddy Bridgewater who sat out with a bum ankle.

It did not matter. The Vikings could have had Teddy Roosevelt up their San Juan Hill at Lambeau and the Packers would have denied him too. Lattimore has played like his hair was on fire since Jones went out with a quad injury. Poor Brad Jones. He may soon have to change his name to Wally Pipp as Lattimore has made the most of his time on the field and has clearly outplayed Jones thus far. Even when Jones becomes healthy he will be hard pressed to unseat Lattimore for his old job. The NFL is all about ‘what have you done for me lately’ and unless or until Lattimore’s production slips or he gets dinged don’t look for Jones any time soon.

Green Bay and their defense dominated and were greatly helped by another unsung hero. P Tim Masthay’s booming kicks pinned the Vikings back all night. If there is any knock to place on the Packers performance it was the number of 3-and-outs they had. Against the Vikings they could get away with it. But Masthay played a large part in dropping his kicks inside the 20. 5 of his 6 punts put the Vikes in a terrible hole, a one that Rodgers and the offense filled quickly with an avalanche of points. Against Chicago Masthay didn’t even have to leave the bench. Against Minnesota he was a key component in winning the battle of field position.

The Packers off-season acquisition of DT Letroy Guion was beginning to look suspect. Guion is a former 1^st rounder who never quite impressed enough to stay in the Twin Cities. As a Packer he could have been a candidate for the witness protection program as he had been largely invisible this season. But Guion had a monster game registering 1 ½ sacks and along with the Pack’s version of the Tasmanian Devil in Mike Daniels continuously collapsed the pocket and hounded and harassed Ponder all game. Daniels took the Vikings starting LT Matt Kalil and undressed him in this game so much so that there were whispers of ‘what’s wrong with Kalil?’ afterwards. Even Nick Perry got into the act with 2 sacks of his own.

The Pack now enjoys a mini-bye as they now prepare to head south into the steamy Florida heat next week to face their former offensive coordinator and Dolphins Head Coach Joe Philbin. The Dolphins have been an up and down outfit this year and are the embodiment of average. But the Packers aren’t sweating the Dolphins or the Miami heat yet.

They’ll take the extra days off and follow Rodgers’ advice and just R-E-L-A-X.