RANDOM THOUGHTS

Our Take on the State of the NFL

Now that the Green Bay Packers let their best shot (and the football) fall through their fingers last week against Buffalo, we take some time to take stock of the NFL. They face Tampa Bay this week and see nothing that says the Pack won’t roll them like a wino in an alley.

The Bills are for real on defense. Don’t laugh but the Packers are capable as well. The D held the Bills to 0 TD’s. Too bad the offense was stuck in the hotel in a blizzard because what showed up damn sure wasn’t the Packers everyone has come to know and fear.

Tampa Bay has an opportunity on Sunday. Lose and you’re in the hunt for the #1 pick in the draft (translation: Marcus Mariota, the Heiman QB from Oregon). Just don’t screw up the shot by winning boys. One interesting sidebar is if Oakland or Jacksonville gets the #1 pick – and they are right in the running – do they take Mariota, who is being seen as a potential star in a very weak draft class or trade the pick and let him go to another team? After Oakland took David Carr and the Jags snagged Blake Bortles last year it does present an interesting dilemma. Look at it this way: what if the Packers HADN’T taken Aaron Rodgers when they did? At #24 don’t you think there are a few teams kicking themselves now for what they passed over? And had the Packers not selected him with Brett Favre still playing well now they’d have the unenviable task of playing against him.

In a move that surprises no one Jay Cutler of the Bears is about to be yanked and benched. In the immortal words of Sir Edmund Hilary “what took you so long?” Don’t be surprised for a serious cut and gut in the Windy City. We genuinely feel bad for Cutler but his atrocious play will cost him as well as much of the coaching staff in the off season.

Even from the bench Cutler managed to throw two interceptions.

The annual “Coaches on the Hot Seat” bonanza is officially under way. The locks for pink slips are Marc Trestman, Jim Harbaugh, and Rex Ryan and maybe even Mike Smith. Trestman couldn’t help Cutler but then again neither could a trip to Lourdes. Da Bears will also likely gas their offensive and defensive coordinators, blow up the team and start from scratch. Harbaugh’s yelling and screaming and histrionics are great for a young team but wears thin on the vets – and management. He’ll land in Michigan where it’s a constant turnover of young players every 4 years. Ryan has been zooming backwards for a few years now. Someone must owe him something big as he should have been done years ago.

Don’t knock Rex too hard, though. After all the Jets still have Geno Smith and the “…guy that will knock your face in…” Ryan passed on the Packers Ha Ha Clinton Dix for Calvin Prior. When the Pack faced Rexxie and the Jets it was Prior who ended up with a faceful of Lambeau after Jordy faked him right out of his jockstrap. Guess who is laughing last? Yeah, ha ha indeed.

Don’t look now but the newest hottest team in the NFL is the Seattle Seahawks. It’s time to acknowledge Russell Wilson is a pretty darn good QB. His presence, decision making, ability to run and his arm are the real deal. To top it all off he’s a genuinely humble guy who spends much of his free time being… well… a good guy. He visits hospitals and spends time with sick and ailing children and is always a great interview. Kinda hard to hate the guy. But we hate the little creep when the Pack plays the Hawks.

It’s also time to acknowledge that Colin Kaepernick is a pretty darn awful pocket passer. How many boo birds can fill the stadium by the bay? Now that teams have figured him out he can’t make a throw to save his life or Jim Harbaugh’s job. We predicted San Francisco was on the verge of implosion in our pre-season picks and now that pigeon has come home to roost.

Don’t look over your shoulder or ahead too far. The Detroit Lions are playing with verve, swagger, confidence and for the first time since the Truman era discipline. No more bonehead penalties have the Lions right up with Seattle and Buffalo as a top notch defensive unit. Jim Caldwell has done a coach of the year type job with them. And the Lions have discovered some grit. The number of last second, heart stopping wins is mounting.  And instead of finding clever ways to blow the game they are now winning them. Complain all you want but Detroit has feasted on winning the close ones. Now they’ll have to answer the question “Can they win the big ones”? We’ll find out next week.

Ordinarily we preview the Packers coming game and opponent. All we can find is the Muscle Hamster, RB Doug Martin. He hates the nickname but we don’t. The Bucs are Muscle Hamster left, Muscle Hamster right, Muscle Hamster up the gut and punt. If there isn’t a turnover. Martin may hate the nickname but we love it. Say it with us – Muscle Hamster, Muscle Hamster, Muscle Hamster.

Isn’t it time to publicly say Mike McCarthy is a great coach? We know it but do the rest of the NFL scribes? McCarthy’s low key, well organized style has been a perfect fit in Titletown. His marriage to GM Ted Thompson has produced a terrific run of consistent playoff appearances that others in the division can only envy. Right, Chicago? Right, Minnesota? Right, Detroit? At some point he deserves a coach of the year award.

We don’t get the criticism of Ted Thompson and his reluctance to mortgage the future in going after the big name free agents. The big lament in the off season was not going after S Jarius Byrd of the Bills. Byrd spent his season ending up on the IR and with Ryan got for the (sometimes) big hitter in Prior Clinton-Dix landed in Green Bay’s lap where TT took him at #21. Who wants to crow about that Byrd?

The 2 free agent signings of DT Letroy Guion and DE/LB Julius Peppers may be the best pickups in the off season. The Bears figured that Peppers had nothing in the tank and went after Minnesota’s Jared Allen who had his worst season as a pro. Chi-town figured wrong. Minnesota gave up on its’ former first rounder in Guion. Instead of old Packers going to the NFL’s LaBrea Tar Pits in Minnesota to die both Guion and Peppers have enjoyed stellar years in green and gold. With B.J. Raji out for the year Guion’s play has not gone unnoticed.

Has anybody noticed that TT hit the jackpot not once but twice in the past 2 years with late pick Offensive Linemen? Last year 4^th rounder David Bahktiari stepped in when LT Bryan Bulaga went out and ended up with the job permanently. Now Ohio State alum 5^th rounder C Corey Linsley filled the gap left by Evan Dietrich Smith (FA/ Tampa Bay) and JC Tretter (knee injury). Once is lucky, twice is a pattern. Add in 4^th and 5^th rounders Josh Sitton and TJ Lang and that’s some mighty fine picking.

One thing that has been noticed is how little A.J. Hawk is seeing the field these days in favor of Sam Barrington. Hawk’s notorious lack of foot speed and troubles dropping into coverage has finally caught up to him. Better start looking at who the late first round ILB’s will be in next year’s draft.

We are saddened by the loss of Fuzzy Thurston. One half of the Packers famed pulling guards on the power sweep with Jerry Kramer Fuzzy was one of the best ever. And we also wish nothing but the best for Bart Starr who suffered a stroke earlier this year. Both are great players who are better men in life.

Could a Cutler for RGIII trade work? Both have been disappointments and will likely be gone as soon as the season ends. For Griffith he has never been able to recapture the sizzle since his knee was injured, which is a shame because the NFL desperately needs some class guys amid the off field idiots these days.

His huge drop in Buffalo aside is there any better deep threat combo than Jordy Nelson and Aaron Rodgers? Even Nelson was stunned when he dropped the ball. Don’t bet the Kansas farm on that ever happening again. Nelson is a class act among the prima donna divas of the NFL that populate the WR position. Catch the ball, get into the end zone, flip it to the ref, do your quickie Lambeau Leap and get back to the sidelines. And Nelson makes the impossible look so easy.

Memo to NFL - whatever credibility you may think you have will take a hit when you are about to allow a team maybe as bad as 6 – 10 into the playoffs and send someone more deserving (Arizona, Philly) to the golf course. So, in theory, a team could be so bad it makes the playoffs AND gets a top 12 pick in the draft. This isn’t parity. It’s rewarding mediocrity. Fix this. It stinks.

We don’t really give a damn about how long ago it was. It was a damned interception in Seattle and we hope that the reindeer leave skid marks around replacement ref Lance Easley’s tree. Toss a few lumps into his stocking for good measure.

We have noticed a growing trend. The fan is becoming more and more fanatical each year. It has become the norm to take a fan’s passion to absurd levels. Ergo we find absolutely nothing wrong with feeling Lance Easley should be permanently placed on the ‘Naughty” list or the above sentiment. Yes… we feel better.

What happened to the Falcons and Jets? Is it a “Hard Knocks” jinx? Man, have they stunk the joint out in the past couple of years. The Falcons and the Jets are both nose diving and can’t pull out of it. Those that once flew have fallen to crash and burn.

Not for one snowball in hell’s minute do we buy into any of the Johnny Manziel hype, promo, or trumpeting. There has been nothing to show he is ready to even able to take the reins in Cleveland. Forget Johnny Jam Boogie (groan) or Johnny Football – this kid is strictly Johnny Bench. And don’t think for a second every defensive lineman that buries him in his fire drill roll outs won’t get up and start rubbing their fingers together. We can’t wait for the genius who will put a bunch of $1 bills in his jersey and then shower Manziel with a money flurry while rubbing their fingers in Manziel’s face. The flag would be worth the price of admission.

We have a confession to make. We like the Aaron Rodgers with Hans and Franz “Pump – you up!” commercials. We secretly think the large, muscular blond whose hair Aaron is attempting to move is hot. VERY hot.

Memo to NFL #2 – Okay, enough with the flag fests already. We’re seeing more of the officials than we’ve heard Peyton Manning yelling “O –ma-ha!” Have ‘em put the hankies away and let ‘em play. Some of us have to be up the next morning.

Speaking of Manning is he annoying anyone else with his smarminess? Like the game against Tennessee when backup Brock Oelander grabbed his helmet in garbage time thinking he would go in with the Broncs holding a 41- 17 lead over the hapless Titans. Uh uh. Siddown, kid… Manning needs some numbers and you ain’t getting ‘em. Manning sounded just so snarky afterwards with his Elvis lip curling sneer and was less than convincing when he said hey ‘ he’s ‘only’ trying to win the game.’ His greed in stats is kinda off putting.

By comparison how many more TD’s would Aaron Rodgers have had he stayed in during their massacre games this year? Rodgers has probably missed a full game and maybe more from his early exits.

Rodgers receivers are making him look both brilliant and human at the same time. The TD catches and long bombs take your breath away but 4 of Rodgers 5 INT’s this year bounced off his receivers’ hands. Jordy Nelson, Andrew Quarless, Davante Adams and Jarrett Boykin have done the ol’ whoops a daisy with the ball too much.

It’s about time Jordy Nelson was recognized as an elite WR. He is finally in the mix at the popularity contest Pro Bowl and was just the cover boy for Sports Illustrated. Is it a weird coincidence that Nelson’s whiff came right on the heels of his SI appearance? Can you say “SI Curse?”

Memo to NFL #3 – If you really want to deal with the flag fest start with a reexamining of the shackles you’ve placed on DB’s. This is a bit of overkill and it is diluting the quality of the games throughout the league. Mel Blount is shaking his head in disgust somewhere.

Memo to NFL# 4 – Better take a good, long, hard look at the number of blowouts in the league. This is going to cost you viewers at some point on some level if these Xbox Madden-type numbers aren’t addressed.

It goes without saying that the Green Bay Packers are exempt for the above memo. They’re just so darn much fun to watch destroy teams.

And we close with a simple Christmas wish list. Dear Santa ~ all we want is a nice little 6 games winning streak, just like the one you brought us 4 years ago. Let’s start against the lowly Bucs.

And as we fly out of sight we wish a Merry Christmas to all and to all a big win tonight. Starting in Tampa Bay.

 

 

 

 

 

 

GREEN BAY 45

 

 

 

 

Tampa Bay 19