TRICK – OR TREAT?

Let the Hype Begin as Pack has Showdown in Denver

Here it is almost Halloween and the biggest, greatest, most spectacular and most important game ever in the history of the entire sporting universe is upon us. No, we’re not talking about the World Series or the opening of the NHL and NBA seasons. Nor are we speaking of the World Cup, the World Series of Poker or the World Tiddlywinks Championship.

But if one is of a mindset to buy into the media hype Sunday night’s nationally televised showdown between the unbeaten (6 - 0) Denver Broncos and the also unbeaten (6- 0) Green Bay Packers this is the Game of the Century. So Far. Yes, the matchup in Denver will pit two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Peyton Manning and both teams are legitimate Super Bowl contenders. Both teams have tremendous offenses but also both teams have impressive defenses.

But time for a reality check.

This is a game. It is only a game. If it had been an actual REALLY important game you would have

received instructions on where to go.

The column under ‘Wins’ and ‘Losses’ and ‘Ties’ in the agate scores and standings is miniscule. Two characters wide to be exact. There is no room for explanation or stats or whatever else one wants to read into it. Black and white, win or loss. It’s just that simple. It is but one more step out of 16 that moves a team towards the Big Party at the end of the season. By that point the solid defeat of Seattle and the last second nail-biting win over San Diego will have been rendered to the pile of plays that made up the season. It is far from a critical or crucial game and will have little to no bearing on the post season.

Keeping this game in perspective is what Mike McCarthy does best. The Packers are not only leading the league in win percentage, well, tied actually with Denver, Carolina, Cincinnati and New England and scoring defense Green Bay is also leading the league in man- games lost to injury. Jordy Nelson won’t play at all this year. Morgan Burnett has missed all but a handful if plays already. Eddie Lacy, Bryan Bulaga, Randall Cobb, David Bahktiari have all been out at one time or another. Sam Barrington is gone on defense, Burnett for all intents and purposes hasn’t even played yet and the list goes on and on and on.

Yet somehow so have the Packers. In spite of the injuries Green Bay has clearly established itself as

one of the Top 2 or 3 (at the most) teams in the NFL. Never in the history of the game have so many teams remained unbeaten at this juncture. Carolina in the NFC and the resurgent Cincinnati Bengals join the perennial powerhouse Patriots in the AFC while the Pack and the Pats have been swapping #1 rankings in the fun but frivolous Power Rankings each week.

It can no longer be said Denver is led by Peyton Manning. This year’s team is led by a ferocious, hard hitting and swarming defense that is on top in the NFL. The Broncos are first against the pass, 4^th against the run and 1^st overall in total yardage surrendered. While Green Bay’s numbers aren’t as spiffy the Pack’s D can lay claim to the fewest points allowed thus far, an even more important number.

Manning’s age is now showing and is has become very apparent the end of the line is quickly approaching. Manning no longer possesses enough arm strength to out throw a defender. It is painful to watch someone like Manning who has been so dominant for so long and done it with grace and class falter. The fan in all of us does not want to see our heroes fade and fail, but that is exactly what Manning is doing. The Broncos are not winning because of Manning; they are winning in spite of Manning.

Manning’s mind is as sharp as it ever was, maybe even more so now that he has all this accumulated

football data. His body is letting him down. Here is a sobering fact. Denver currently ranks 19^th overall in the passing game, 30^th overall in the running game and 29^th overall offensively. Manning is currently the 17^th rated QB and has thrown 10 INT’s to his 7 TD’s, hardly Hall of Fame numbers. Similar to Rodgers in Green Bay Manning lost a huge weapon when TE Julius Thomas left for Jacksonville in free agency. After Demarious Thomas (48 receptions/ 1 TD/ 4^th overall in catches) and Emmanuel Sanders (38/ 3/ #14) the pickings in Denver get thinner than the air in which both teams will compete on Sunday. RB’s Ronnie Hillman (323 yards/ 3 TD’s/ #22 overall) and C. J. Anderson (180/ 0/ #47 overall) are the only backs of merit on a Bronco’s paltry running game.

The strength of Denver is solidly in the defense. With Demarcus Ware, Von Miller, Brandon Marshall and Aqib Talib the Broncos lead the NFL in sacks with 26. But guess who is right behind the Broncos? Green Bay is currently tied for 2^nd at 23 sacks with St. Louis. Denver is tied for 4^th in INT’s with 9 but the Pack is right behind them with 8. Neither team will give much quarter in the defense department this year.

For the Packers Rodgers and the offense have been, for them at least, in a bit of a funk lately. After opening the season with 10 TD’s and 0 INT’s Rodgers has thrown 5 TD’s but has yielded 3 picks, a very un-Rodgers-esque like stat. Not so coincidentally Eddie Lacy and Davante Adams have both been out with injuries in this stretch. But Green Bay is now winning those games when Rodgers isn’t forced to be Superman unlike years past. The defense has won a few games along the way (Seattle, San Francisco and the highlight reel deflection by rookie Damarious Randall against San Diego) to make the Packers a more rounded, better balanced team. Rodgers has won in a variety of ways and the offense continues to find stars to step up. After Nelson was lost James Jones was literally plucked off the waiver wire the next day. All Jones has done since being cut by both the Raiders and the Giants is to be tied for the NFL lead in TD grabs at 6 with Larry Fitzgerald and Allen Robinson (Jaguars).

Manning and Rodgers do not go head to head but in a game such as this it is hard to discount the

advantage Green Bay has at the single most important position on the field. Taking nothing away from Denver’s D Rodgers and the Pack’s offense stands to fare better against Denver’s defense than Manning does against Green Bay’s. Both D’s are ferocious and will try to bag the other team’s QB. In that matchup it is advantage Green Bay.

The bye week could not have come at a better time for the Packers as it has given them some time to rest and heal. Davante Adams and Lacy have both rolled ankles and Cobb hasn’t been right since the pre-season. The big key in this game is for Rodgers to simply be Rodgers and avoid turning the ball over. Talib and Chris Harris are a formidable duo in the Bronco secondary so avoiding the pick is at the top of Rodgers’ agenda. The Chargers humiliated Green Bay with a 38 minute to 22 minute time of possession battle, a battle the Pack has to rectify to beat the Broncs. Keeping Manning off the field at any age is still the most reliable formula to beat him.

One benchmark of Rodgers’ stellar career is he is not prone to long term stagnation. With a healthy compliment of wideouts Rodgers will have the targets. TE Richard Rodgers is slowly emerging as an option. If Lacy’s ankle has healed as he says it has both he and James Starks provide not just a 1 -2 punch but that’s a pair that packs a wallop. Starks ran wild and carried the Packers past the Chargers and has found the form he had when he carried the Pack all the way to the Super Bowl in his rookie campaign. But now Starks is added to the walking wounded with a hip injury that will keep him out for a while. Thankfully while surrendering yards the Packers defense is become a ready for prime time group of players and is establishing itself as more than capable.

Denver has dodged a few bullets along the way. So has Green Bay. In the showdown in the Wild

West look for the Packers to be a methodical, clock killing machine that will wear down Denver. If Green Bay can get up early and force Manning into more passing situations the field tips wildly in Green Bay’s favor. Manning will be facing a stiff test and Green Bay may just soon be applying to change the city name to Blitz Bay. Clay Matthews, Mike Daniels, B. J. Raji, Nick Perry and Datone Joes have all been a terror to opposing QB’s this year – and none of them were in their 40’s.

This is categorically not the most important game of the year. It is a mid-term test for both squads to see where they are and how they stack up against a quality opponent. Somebody comes out of this with their first loss of the year… but in reality little else.

Say it again – it is NOT the biggest game of the year. Given the parity laden weak sister competition this game is the really just the big game of the weekend.

 

 

 

 

  GREEN BAY  26 

 

 

 

  Denver  23  

RANDALL TO THE RESCUE

Rookie Randall Steps Up to Spoil Rivers’ Record Day

It was a case of ‘good news/ bad news’ for the San Diego Chargers on a beautiful Sunday in Green Bay. The good news – QB Philip Rivers turned in a record breaker performance by throwing a staggering 65 times and an even more staggering 503 yards, both setting records that blew Dan Fouts’ previous marks out of the water. The bad news?

It wasn’t enough to deliver a W.

Rivers had done a bit of foreshadowing the week prior to the matchup with the undefeated Packers by saying “We’re [San Diego] putting up a ton of yardage but we’re not putting enough points on the board.” It was a statement that rang true as the Pack staved off a last second, end of game heroic attempt by Rivers to walk out of Lambeau Field a winner.

Rookie CB Damarious Randall had other ideas. As Rivers attempted to throw an out route to RB

Danny Woodhead Randall showed exactly why he was nabbed with the Pack’s first pick. Randall slammed on the brakes and realizing all he had to do was to knock the ball away he did not go for the high risk pick. Instead he laid himself out and thrust the hand that carried the dagger in front of Rivers pass and ended the Chargers valiant effort to knock of the now 6- 0 Packers.

San Diego and Rivers dominated the stat sheet in almost every area. The time of possession battle Mike McCarthy uses as a measuring stick was tilted badly towards the west coast and San Diego. The Bolts held the ball a ridiculous 38 minutes to Green Bay’s paltry 22:00. McCarthy and Aaron Rodgers have both spoken about the Packers desire to run 65 – 70 plays. Rivers alone threw the ball 65 times. In the process the Chargers rolled up 548 total yards against what was, and still is, a pretty darn good defense.

The Packers came in with a what has become a weekly version of “1001 Ways to Die”. Since drafting Eddie Lacy the Packers have struck a much more balanced attack. Lacy provides the thump inside to keep defenses honest and Rodgers controls the airwaves. Remember when teams would drop 8 and rush 3 all but laughing at the Pack’s pungent running game? No more. Having Lacy has meant teams can no longer afford to ignore the run. So it would make perfect sense that the team that shuts down Lacy and can contain Rodgers and drops 500+ yards on the defense will beat the ever loving daylights out of the Packers, right?

Wrong.

Reaching into his bag of tricks as Lacy struggled to get going McCarthy turned to his #2 back in

James Starks and turned the big fella loose. After Rodgers staked the Packers to a 7- 0 lead scoring on the Pack’s first possession when Arod shoveled the ball to Starks for a 5 yard TD Starks ran wild. Literally.

On Green Bay’s next possession Starks took the handoff and started right. As the holes closed up on the right side of the line Starks alertly cut back against the grain and rather than explode he glided along the line until the hole he wanted opened up. The Charger OLB’s had grossly overcommitted to the inside leaving Starks an expanse of real estate that was uncovered and open far, wide, and deep. As Starks outran the startled Chargers he picked up a convoy block when Jeff Janis joined the mix and plowed the road for Starks to make it all the way home giving Green Bay a 14 -3 lead on his impressive 65 yard gallop.

Rivers responded by rallying the Chargers to and end of half TD when he hit WR Dontrelle Inman with 2 seconds left on the clock. The score narrowed the Packers lead to 17 – 10. The Packers took the second half kickoff but were stymied in their attempt to move the ball. In fact Green Bay had a wretched day converting only 3 of 9 3^rd down attempts. More disturbing were the number of 3 and outs, a stat not ordinarily attached to Rodgers and the Pack.

These Packers are being forged in the crucible of winning any way they can. They now possess

talent on both sides of the ball and are no longer a run n gun team that wins wild shootouts but is susceptible to a stout defense. Most telling was Aaron Rodgers comment after the game when he was asked if he felt the Packers deserved the win based on Rivers performance. “We’ll take them any way we can get them” said Rodgers knowing he had been outplayed by his counterpart.

Finding ways to win when the odds and the game are going against a team is what will forge an even tougher squad as the season grinds on. This Packers team is built for the challenge. While Rivers did not throw an INT he was limited when his best receiver Kennan Allen departed with an injury. For the day all Allen did was grab 14 of Rovers 15 throws good for 157 yards. But the most telling stat line is all that work yielded exactly 0 TD’s for the Rivers to Allen connection.

Both teams got dinged at the WR position in the game. Randall Cobb is still showing the effects of the strained shoulder he got in the preseason and has yet to break big. Davante Adams was also out and when rookie Ty Montgomery rolled an ankle he, too, joined the Pack’s walking wounded wideouts. James Jones was thankfully healthy.

After Rivers led the Chargers to a comeback tie when he hit TE LaDarius Green for a 19 yard TD Rodgers showed why he is the reigning MVP. Rivers put up numbers that were staggering, yes. But when a team needs a rally Rodgers is the guy any team wants to rally around. As the 3^rd  quarter closed out Rodgers led a 7 play, furious hurry up drive that covered 69 yards in just over 4 minutes that culminated in yet another Rodgers-to-James Jones strike from the 8 to secure the lead at 24 – 17.

As both teams swapped field goals it was up to Rivers to try some last minute, last second magic.

Last week Rivers had magnificently orchestrated what he and the Chargers thought was a game winning drive only to see Pittsburgh score on the very last play of the game to spoil Rivers’ heroics. Rivers is a competitive, fiery sort and he deserves a better team around him than he has had in his time in San Diego. As Mason Crosby put the Pack up 27 – 20 Rivers started the last drive with 2:22 left. 11 yards to TE Antonio Gates. Another 12 yards to Danny Woodhead on his next pass.

Operating exclusively out of the shotgun Rivers tested the resolve of a very tired defense that had been pushed to the brink but never quite over the edge. Consecutive throws to Gates netted 18 more yards as the clock wound down.

After a timeout Danny Woodhead, one of the most disruptive little men in the NFL took a short pass and ran for 12 yards to the Green Bay 27. A minute 14 left. The Packers D was trying to hang on as Rodgers implored them from the sidelines. Rivers to Gates over the middle good for 12 yards at the Green Bay 15. 33 seconds left. Another throw to another TE as Rivers hit Green at the 3. Datone Jones picked up a penalty for hands to the face that was declined but also stopped the clock.

Clay Matthews stepped up to stuff Woodhead as he tried to go over the left side at the 2. San Diego burns their 2^nd timeout with 28 nail-biting seconds left. An incomplete pass, a rare miss today for Rivers to Gates on the next play. Then Woodhead is shoved backwards at the 3, losing a yard to Datone Jones in the process.

In the mass confusion that doubles as the NFL regular season gems of plays need to be gleaned

from the rubble of a season where noise reigns supreme. In the W column the game will only be one of however many the Pack ends up winning but those miniscule numbers never tell the true story.

Based on stats alone the Chargers kicked the ever loving crap out of the vaunted Packers. But stats can be manipulated into saying whatever the individual poring through them wants them to say. Stats have no room for heart, no room for character. There is no margin for a highlight reel play, one play out of the several thousand a team will execute throughout the year. A year’s worth of scouting reports mean zilch when a game is on the line and a promising rookie is tested.

Damarious Randall was taken with the Pack’s first pick. At the time Packer Nation was clamoring for an inside linebacker. Randall wasn’t even a popular choice by the pundits and talking heads. But maybe Ted Thompson and his scouting staff know a thing or two about who they are bringing to town. On the only 4^th down of the drive Rivers would face he tried to burn the rookie Randall.

As soon as Rivers brought his arm back Woodhead turned inside. Randall showed lightning reflexes by breaking immediately on the ball, laying himself out completely and deftly shoving his right hand out to swat away the ball and the star-crossed Chargers valiant last gasp. As Rivers lay flat on his back staring into the cool Wisconsin night sky he had to be wondering “What do I have to do to get a win?”

For their collective efforts the Packers get an extra week off. They’re going to need it. Next up are the equally undefeated Denver Broncos. The healing is well earned and a little bit easier to do when a W was somehow taken away from Rivers Herculean effort.

DEFENSE RISES UP

Packers Commitment to Youth and Development Bears Fruit on Improved Defense

 

 

What in the world is going on in Green Bay? Ordinarily after a game of substandard proportions along the lines Aaron Rodgers played last week (19/ 30/ 2TD’s/ 2 INT’s/ 1 fumble) the world would be justified in asking such a question.

But not today. The bigger question that is rapidly becoming a statement is the overall improved play of the defense. The Packers? Yeah, all offense and a Swiss cheese defense that can’t stop the run and gives up a ton of points. Rodgers just outscores the other team.

Not this year.

The defense has risen to become a ferocious, devastating group and it is a collaborative group effort

that has gotten them there. It begins with the coaching. Two years ago Mike McCarthy pronounced his defense would get better. It did. In the magical post Super Bowl undefeated run of 2011 the Packers were a prolific, record setting offensive juggernaut that scarcely needed a defense. So good was Aaron Rodgers aerial attack the Pack could simply count on outscoring teams and making a key turnover when needed.

It was a recipe for disaster.

As everyone knows the New York Giants exposed the Packers Achilles heel in the lack of a strong run game and turned the tables on Green bay forcing the defense to have to hold up their wend of the bargain. In the end it was one lone loss in the regular season and the start of one lone loss in the playoffs. That fact was not lost on McCarthy. The first step was to draft RB Eddie Lacy who has opened up the airwaves for Rodgers as defenses could no longer dare Rodgers to beat them and abandon any semblance of a run defense as the Giants did.

The next step was to invest heavily into a youth movement on defense. Clay Matthews and B.J. Raji

were already entrenched so there were few, if any, rookies on defense that stepped in and stepped up right away. But little by little over time the patience of McCarthy, Ted Thompson and Dom Capers has begun to pay off. Mike Neal was a sort of surprise 2^nd round pick who took almost 3 years to get healthy and develop. He also had to adjust to playing the OLB position as opposed to the defensive end he was at Purdue.

There were some busts along the way… former 1^st rounder Justin Harrell could never get healthy7 and was a wash. Jerel Worthy was the same as was Khiry Thornton. At first it was thought Nick Perry would join that group as well. But while there were some misses there were several others that were hits. Mike Daniels came in the 4^th round from Iowa and became a very vocal and very nasty leader of the group very quickly. UDFA Mike Pennel has been a pleasant surprise with his mobility and strength and has added to the line. FA Letroy Guion washed out in Minnesota but has found new life in Green Bay. Datone Jones raw talent was obvious and he too is beginning to become the disruptive force at the pro level he was in college.

Morgan Burnett stepped into fill a void at safety and Ha Ha Clinton- Dix did the same after a spotty

beginning. The back end of the D finally started to round into shape. There was a point in the not too distant past that the cornerback slot was a considerable area of weakness on the Pack’s defenses. Then Tramon Williams stepped up and Sam Shields began to gel. Add Micah Hyde, the unexpected ball hawking Casey Hayward and Davon House and the Pack’s corners were suddenly legit. When Williams and House departed in free agency in came rookies Damarious Randall and Quentin Rollins with the first 2 picks in the draft. Out of necessity and attrition both have stepped in and stepped up.

If there was one unaddressed area it was at the inside linebacker position, a position that was exposed in the epic collapse against Seattle in last year’s NFC Championship game. Much has been written and said but the inescapable conclusion was self-evident. Former first rounder and #5 overall pick A.J. Hawk was becoming more of a liability than an asset particularly in the passing game. Hawk was never fleet of foot and his biggest crime was although he was taken at the right spot at #5 he never really become a #5 overall type of high impact game changer as Clay Matthews had become. Hawk and fellow ILB Brad Jones were both largely responsible for the fake field goal TD scored by Seattle that ignited the furious last minute comeback. On a routine, chip shot field goal Jones tried for a high risk/ low reward attempt to block the kick. In the process he lost G Garry Gilliam who outran Hawk for the 19 yard fake FG TD that was the beginning of the end.

Give McCarthy credit for having the cajones to clean house as he did. Jones had been resigned to a multi-year multi-million dollar deal as did Hawk and McCarthy pulled the trigger and released both.

The outside linebackers were a considered strength of the Packers and it wasn’t until Capers

decided to move Matthews inside that the defense as a whole began to take off. Last year Matthews was the reluctant company man and agreed to go along with the plan. Sort of. His heart and talent was in the outside rushing the passer form the blind side and piling up the hits and sacks. Inside was more laborious and more taking on the running backs and big uglies in the trenches. Matthews began somewhat tentatively in the new position. Gradually he began to get a feel for it. As loathe as Thompson is to import free agents the addition of Julius Peppers was the move that made Matthews going inside possible. Matthews replaced the slower Hawk and Sam Barrington began to come on.

Now in year 2 of the grand plan switch Matthews is not only more comfortable he is in the mix for the  Defensive Player of the Year Award, and trophy he’ll likely not see as long as a certain J.J. Watt toils in the Texas heat and out of contention. But it has been Matthews' move inside and his obvious comfort in the new role that has helped spark and reinvigorate the defense. While the defense is still susceptible to giving up big yardage on the ground occasionally it is now a Top 10 defense in sacks, points allowed, pass defense, turnovers and overall defense.

McCarthy and Capers most simple explanation of why they moved Matthews, their unquestioned

best player and passer rusher inside was they wanted to get their best players on the field, not just the best player in the singular form. Matthews move opened up opportunities for Perry, Neal Andy Mulamba and now newcomer Jayrone Elliot to also join the pack of wild dogs chasing down QB’s. Elliott is making it impossible for the coaches to keep him and his ‘hair-on-fire’ style of play off the field.

Just as Aaron Rodgers is the catalyst to the offense Matthews has the same impact on the defense. Offenses no longer have the luxury of knowing not only where but when Matthews will be coming. Matthews has wrought havoc in opposing backfields by exploding in with his cat like quickness. Last week Nick Foles dropped back 33 times and was hit or sacked 12 of those times and picked off 4 other times. Those hits begin to take a toll and it becomes a process that energizes and inspires the defense to be even more tenacious.

Since the latter half of last year when Matthews first made the switch the Packers stock has risen. This year the defense is now capable of winning a game when Rodgers is not Rodgers and is playing at a more human level. As opposing teams now face the Packers it is a team with few visible weaknesses and strengths that run wide, deep, and across both sides of the ball. This year’s Packers team has every element in place to be poised for another long, deep run. The scars of last year have healed but they still burn. As McCarthy has driven his team to “Start fast/ finish faster” the Packers have responded in kind.

Philip Rivers and the San Diego Chargers, the perennial bridesmaids of the NFL now take a swing at the Pack. Fresh off a game winning drive engineered by Rovers in the last minutes of their Monday night matchup against Pittsburgh the ‘Bolts were stunned when the Steelers, led by the legs and arm of Michael Vick and LeVeon Bell countered with the very last second of the game walk off TD to steal the game right out f Rivers’ grasp.

As a reward the reeling Chargers now get to face the Packers, a team unlike Pittsburgh that is hitting on all cylinders.

Rivers and co. may be looking for the busses out of town by halftime.

 

 

 

 GREEN BAY 37  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   San Diego  17  

 

 

 



ROLLINS ROLLS RAMS

Rookie Rollins Pick 6 Leads Pack over Rams

Quick… when was the last time the defense won a game and carried the offense for the Green Bay Packers on Aaron Rodgers’ watch? Or when was the last time Rodgers was intercepted at home? Or when Rodgers personally turned the ball over an ugly three times?

So he is human after all. The Packers offense is a stunning array of talent across the board and Rodgers is the biggest jewel in the crown. But Rodgers had (for him at least) a very pedestrian day going 19 for 3o good for 241 yards, 2 TD’s but 2 very ugly picks and 1 fumble on a strip sack. Eddie Lacy was largely contained as he was limited to 27 yards on 13 carries while the Packers as a whole ran for a measly 86 yards. The Rams however, behind their budding superstar Todd Gurley ran wild over Green Bay. Gurley put up an eye popping 159 yards on the ground but the Pack’s ever improving defense kept him out of the end zone.

While Gurley ran wild the rest of the Rams struggled against a ferocious Packer’s defense that was

swarming and attacked Nick Foles relentlessly. The NFL is now a passing league and for all Gurley’s exploits he couldn’t dent the goal line. Rookie Quentin Rollins made a huge impact with very large splash plays with his 2 INT;’s of Foles, one of which he took to the house early in the contest for his first pick 6 of his young career. The Rams lone TD came on a reverse with Tavon Austin who darted around the left side and into the end zone giving the Rams their only touchdown for the day.

It was expected that the front 7 would make a huge push and pressure the QB all day. What was not expected was it would be Green Bay’s front 7 that was the bully pushing the Rams all over the lot. Clay Matthews was a one man wrecking crew and was seemingly in the backfield before Rams QB Nick Foles could even hand the ball off. Foles was under constant pressure and his stat line was an embarrassing 11 of 30 for 141 yards but Foles also tossed 4 INT’s for the day. Compounding the felony Rams K Greg ‘The Leg’ Zuerlein missed 3 FG attempts. While Zuerlein’s misses were all from 50+ yards the Rams left a considerable amount of points of the field.

The Packers once again opened the scoring early when Rodgers found rookie Ty Montgomery on a

nifty 31 yard catch and run for 6. Montgomery’s role has been expanding weekly as the Pack deals with the inevitable injuries that will hit. Davante Adams was a scratch and Randall Cobb is still nursing a sore shoulder and Montgomery is stepping up when and where he is needed and he is consistently answering the bell. James Jones put in another stellar performance and he also found the end zone on a 65 yard catch and carry that ended when as he was hit near the goal line Jones launched himself forward. Realizing he may hit the turf before he crossed the goal line with the ball jones deftly planted his left hand down and gave himself a little extra ‘Oomph!’ that carried his momentum just enough to plant the ball on the stripe for 6. Jones’ contributions and value to the offense cannot be overstated. In his return to Green Bay from the scrap heap of the NFL he has been nothing short of spectacular in his return.

On draft day when the Pack’s first 3 picks were announced there were many left scratching their heads and even more scrambling to look up Damarious Randall, Quentin Rollins and Ty Montgomery. All 3 have already contributed mightily through the first 5 games of the season. After Rodgers staked the Packers to a 7- 0 lead as the 1^st period drew to an end Foles dropped back and as he was being hounded in what would become a game long theme he underthrew his target and Rollins, playing in the nickel slot, jumped the route, grabbed the ball and was off to the races. 45 yards later the Packers were up 14 – 0, Rollins had his first pick, first TD and first game ball of his career.

Foles would not fare much better throughout the day. Rollins added another pick late to seal the

deal. The Rams woes were exemplified by their inability to finish a drive deep in Packer territory. On consecutive drives late Foles was intercepted by Micah Hyde and Ha Ha Clinton Dix who grabbed the bouncing ball as it was deflected. Clinton- Dix’s pick was the dagger to dash the hopes of the Rams who had ridden Gurley’s ground pounding day to the brink of scoring only to come away empty handed.

The Rams dearth of receivers makes it difficult for them to get into a shootout. Rodgers, even on his worst days, is capable of beating anyone, anywhere, anytime under any circumstances. After Green Bay was up 14 – 0 it took trickery to dent the end zone on Austin’s reverse, a play that was aided when CB Casey Hayward lost Austin as he went in motion from the right side. It was one of the few miscues posted by the Packers defense.

The return of Letroy Guion cannot be undervalued in any form. The Packers lack the star power of their counterparts in St. Louis and can’t match them talent-wise. But they are becoming a far more ferocious group and have been playing at a high level since the latter part of last season. Dom Capers has become a genius again with his deployment of blitzes, zone blitzes and disguised coverages. Of course, now having the horses Capers can execute the schemes he employs knowing with the likes of Clay Matthews, B.J. Raji, Julius Peppers et. al. the likelihood of success is much higher.

Not enough can be said about the Packs’ top 3 picks in the draft. Damarious Randall, Quentin Rollins

and Ty Montgomery have all stepped in and have been delivering far sooner than expected. When Jordy Nelson was lost for the year the head-scratching pick of Montgomery suddenly became far more relevant. Now withy Adams ailing Montgomery has earned Aaron Rodgers’ trust so much so he has become an integral part of the team’s offense. Not enough can be said about the steady development of tight end orchard Rodgers who alos is seeing an expanded role in the aerial game. Rodgers led all Packers receivers with 4 catches on Sunday. And James Jones has done nothing expect be magnificent is his return to Green Bay. As Rodgers hit Jones on a post route Jones turned on the jets and cut across the field for the corner pylon. Showing an atypical burst of speed Jones’ lunge will make the highlight reel in Titletown for many years to come.

Randall has seen much more playing time than initially expected but he has yet to shy away from the demands. He has been routinely used in nickel and dime packages and now Rollins is also joining the mix. He opened eyes not only in Green Bay but across the league with his pick 6. Rollins followed that up with another key INT that kept the Rams and Foles frustrated.

An earmark of a balanced and deadly team is a

team that can win ugly and win when their best effort isn’t out there. For his part Rodgers was visibly upset at himself and the offense. In his post-game press conference Rodgers looked like he was delivering an apologetic eulogy instead of his usual winners’ casual air. “We’ve got to play better (offensively)” said Rodgers. “"We didn't run it very well. They kind of challenged us in the box and then challenged us outside, and we didn't get open enough and didn't throw it well enough.

"We got bailed out by our defense."

I can’t turn the ball over. Some guys will sleep well tonight but I know I won’t.” His 3 turnovers will only add fuel to an already smoldering fire and somehow Rodgers will turn his play into something that will make some other poor team pay the price. Rodgers can take some solace knowing that while he committed 3 turnovers his defense not only picked off Foles 4 times the defense also either sacked or hit Nick Foles on 12 of his 33 pass attempts. Matthews may take a hit to his wallet for the hit laid on Foles in one of those sacks that wasn’t flagged on the fi8eldm but may get reviewed in the league offices.

At 5- 0 Green Bay is on top of the NFC. The NFC North has a huge gap between the Pack and the

Vikings, Bears and Lions. Chicago and Minnesota both have 3 losses and the Lions have yet to put up a W. While it is far too early to anoint the Packers with their 5^th NFC North crown they certainly are in the catbird’s seat. As for the rest of the NFC yes, Atlanta and Carolina are also undefeated but the smart money is on the Packers. Eventually Green Bay will lose a game or two but they now have a team with talent on both sides of the ball. Even when they beat themselves the defense is finding ways to carry the team. How far can this team go?

It is far too early to speculate but thus far it has been all systems go, go, go.

THESE ARE THE GOOD OLD DAYS

Time to Appreciate the Beauty of Rodgers' Game

 

The long grind of the 2015- 16 NFL campaign is now underway in earnest. At the quarter pole the Green Bay Packers are 4- 0 with a highlight reel offense, the best player on the planet, and a defense that is fiercely improving with every week and making a strong case for itself. These are heady times indeed and it is in these moments that history is being written.

The tendency is to simply assume greatness and with that comes the expectation of another Lombardi Trophy in the case at the end of the rainbow. Let’s hurry up and get there so we can enjoy it all off season. Never mind with the October stuff or November. Heck, forget about the playoffs – the Super Bowl is the only barometer by which a team is measured and anything else is a dress rehearsal and a moot point. Let’s anoint the Pack, grab the trophy and call it a day. After all Green Bay is the best, or at least one of the best, teams in the NFL right now with the best, or at least one of the best, quarterbacks of all time.

It is for those very reasons time should slow itself down to enjoy these moments. History

remembers Lombardi’s Packers of the ‘60’s as an indomitable intimidating and dominating franchise. As time passes and memory fades and photographs yellow those glory years are looked back upon with a certain wistfulness and nostalgia. We want to remember those years as a time when the Packers were simply unbeatable. And we want to see this year’s version join that august group.

But to simply pin the entire season on one game at the end of it all is to deny oneself of bearing witness to a moment in time that will only grow in the retelling many years down the road. Aaron Rodgers is at the apex of all his abilities and talents and we get to have a front row seat to watch it. His singular mastery of the game, his craft and position is a marvel to behold. There is not a single area in which Rodgers is deficient. His arm? Everything thought Brett Favre had a rocket launcher for an arm and he did. But with Favre those bombs he launched would alos oft times explode in the wrong spot. Favre once held the NFL honors of most TD’s tossed. And he also holds the record for the most interceptions of all time as well. But Rodgers has every bit as big an arm as Favre with one noted exception.

Aaron Rodgers hates throwing interceptions. Favre accepted the INT’s as a byproduct of being a gunslinger.

Rodgers loves throwing an interception the same way Donald Trump enjoys having Rosie O’Donnell over for coffee. Favre was reckless with his arm. Rodgers is not. Yes, Favre was a gunslinger. But Rodgers is an assassin and this season is a growing testament to that fact. Rodgers has thrown 11 TD’s in his first 4 games with 0 picks. Only Tom Brady can say the same. Rodgers leads the NFL in QB rating at 125.9. His football IQ is off the charts. He is the reigning MVP and has all the earmarks of another one or three yet to come.

And somehow we all want to bypass simply watching a man at the top of his craft for the reward at the end of it all.

The Pack is rolling now and all the elements are coming together. The offense is a well-documented

squad that scares the devil out of any team. But the defense is now becoming a force in its own right. Ever since Clay Matthews moved inside the Pack‘s defense has done nothing but improve. As Matthews becomes more familiar and astute within the context of being an inside linebacker he becomes more terrifying to quarterbacks every week. No longer limited to the outside, his stock in trade, Matthews has become so adept at anticipating the snap count he is oft times in the backfield before the running back has the ball.

Matthews’ move inside was borne of necessity last season. The Pack’s inside backers were underwhelming and only Sam Barrington distinguished himself at the position. While Matthews prefers the role of the outside pass rusher the Packers were becoming loaded with talent outside. Julius Peppers made Ted Thompson look like a genius when he signed as a free agent. Mike Neal finally began paying huge dividends. Now Nick Perry is playing the best he has since he was taken #1 by the Pack 3 years ago and newcomer Jayrone Elliott is forcing Mike McCarthy and Dom Capers to figure ways to keep Elliott on the field. Elliott has been nothing short of spectacular and while his body of work is small – 2 ½ games actually – he already has posted a forced fumble, an interception and has had 2 sacks. Some players go an entire season without that credibility so if there is a problem it is the type of problem Green Bay loves to have.

Vince Lombardi’s Packers were a defense-dominated offensively efficient group that most decidedly did not win every game. But one comment keeps popping up from the veterans left from that era. Many were fond of saying and kept saying it after the Pack lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the ’60 Championship “We didn’t lose – we just ran out of time.” History and memory collide as memory fades and history becomes nostalgia. There were some 60,000 hearty souls that braved the sub-arctic conditions to attend the famous Ice Bowl in ’65, but there are roughly another million or more that will have claimed to be there. In memory it wasn’t that cold and the Packers dominated. Such is the stuff of legends and folk lore.

Before it is too late it is time to simply step back and appreciate Aaron Rodgers and the artistic

beauty of a team that now weekly composes as an artistic with broad strokes punctuated by combining soft, finer strokes to create a masterpiece. We get to watch Michelangelo paint the Sistine Chapel from a front row pew. We are listening to Mozart compose “Orpheus”. We can see Rodin’s hammer and chisel every day take a worthless piece of granite and turn into something that will not only look stunning upon completion but will stand the test of time.

That is exactly what Aaron Charles Rodgers is doing right now. Clay Matthews and Eddie Lacy and Mike McCarthy all have a role in the master’s tour de force but with Rodgers every week he unveils another facet, another element, another level to his game, a game he and he alone plays. What Rodgers does not just with a football but within the confines of a game is a poetic, altruistic thing of beauty. He does what every other quarterback does; only he does it that much better. The “it” is any part of the game a quarterback must have. Vision, courage, accuracy, running, managing the clock, putting the ball where only his receivers can get it, processing multiple bits of information as 300 lb. behemoths swirl around him and in the eye of that hurricane, at the center of the demands on his time he remains nonplussed and unfazed.

Rodgers now has the credentials and hardware to ensure he will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. Should Rodgers produce another Super Bowl title or two or five that would instantly qualify him to be in the discussion of the greatest quarterback of all time. He has the Super Bowl MVP Favre lacks. He lacks the Super Bowl titles of Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman and Terry Bradshaw. With Rodgers all things seem possible. Now is not the time to ponder Rodgers place in history.

Rodgers is making history right now and we cannot get so consumed in the outcome we neglect to appreciate a genuine artistic genius simply do what he does. To be so consumed with the Super Bowl and nothing else would be to deny oneself of some incredible moments in NFL history. How about the ‘48’ play against Chicago… 4^th and 8, 46 seconds left on the Bears 48 and Chicago holding a lead? Rodgers throw to Randall Cobb was history, and we all saw it. How his ‘Sherman Takes Atlanta’ game in the playoffs leading up to the Super Bowl in ’10? Or the performance he delivered in a crushing defeat the year before against Arizona in the playoffs? How many times will Rodgers prove his detractors wrong before we just sit back and absorb his game? Or coming back on one leg to run Detroit out of the playoffs?

The Super Bowl is a mere blip on the horizon right now, a dot of light barely breaking the surface.

There is much football to be played. This campaign has all the indicators of something really special, something to be savored. The incoming St. Louis Rams with their ferocious front 4 of Aaron Donald, Robert Quinn, Chris Long and Michael Brockers are imposing and are as good a group as there is in the game today. They are charged with handling and containing Rodgers this week. And they are supported by an inconsistent offense that has been struggling to find receivers for Nick Foles. Rookie RB Todd Gurley looks like a star in the making but a certain Mr. Rodgers will have a thing or two to say about the outcome. The defense will continue to grow.

And we bear witness every week expecting a deep playoff run towards the Super Bowl while many teams are struggling to just win one (Philadelphia, Detroit, San Diego, Buffalo) and still even more trying to find one QB to lead them to the promised land.

These are the good old days. Many years from now we’ll be able to say with conviction we got to watch 2 of the greatest QB’s in the history of the NFL and for 30 years the Packers ruled the land to go along with Bart Starr and the ‘60’s Packers.

The Super Bowl can wait. Time to just sit back and enjoy the show.

 

 

 

  GREEN BAY 27 

 

 

 

 

  St. Louis  13