Lombardi Ave » Steve Smith

A Head of Cheez: Week 13

djlombardi — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 15:12:03 +0000

It is officially panic mode for the Green Bay Packers. Every single second in every game left on the schedule has to be played all-out. One more loss and a playoff appearance doesn’t seem likely at all. Their Week 13 matchup was against the 8-3 Carolina Panthers. The weather forecast for the game at Lambeau Field was the typical Frozen Tundra weather around this time of the season–cold, and some snow. Everything had to be right for Green Bay to pull out a huge win.

Unfortunatley, things went wrong. The defense wasn’t stepping up at all. In the first quarter they let DeAngelo Williams take it in for six. 7-0. After a Mason Crosby field goal the Panthers went back down field and took it in from the one to go up 14-3. This gave the offense a huge challenge. They would have to score touchdowns to bail the defense out, because at that time they weren’t doing well at all. So Donald Driver scores a touchdown, only to see Williams run it in again to go into halftime up 21-10.

In the second half, Aaron Rodgers decided to take over and lead a comeback. With two touchdown passes and a drive that ended in a field goal, he gave his team a 28-21 lead. The cheeseheads were on their feet–this would be a huge win for a team that had to reach .500 to keep the title of a serious NFC North title contender. But, just as he did all game, Williams rained on their snowy parade.

The drive after Green Bay took the lead, Williams took it in for yet another touchdown. With two minutes left, Carolina made a great goaline stand and forced a Packer field goal. Lambeau was roaring again; there was two minutes left in the game and the home team was winning 31-28! What could possibly go wrong? Well, another drive was capped by a touchdown from–you guessed it–DeAngelo Williams. After a nice kick return, it took all of 27 seconds for the Panthers to strike again and take a 35-21 lead. With one minute and 30 seconds left, the Packers would have one last drive to take the lead and win the game.

That drive was shortened, though. On first down Rodgers threw a pass to far over the head of his target, and the ball flew out of bounds. On second down, Rodgers took the snap in the shotgun. There was penetration on the inside, and he scrambled out to the right side of the line. Out of the pocket and with a defender closing in, he could have thrown it out of bounds with no penalty and face a third-and-ten. Instead, he stepped forward and heaved a deep pass in the air. There was one Packer around the throw, but there were two Panthers guarding him. There were also two other Panthers playing a bit further away from the pass, so depending on how one looks at it, Rodgers threw into anywhere from 2-on-1 to 4-on-1 coverage. The ball was picked off, and Carolina ran out the clock for their ninth win of the season.

This game was a perfect example of the saying that the team with the fewest turnovers will win the game. At the end of the first half, Rodgers fumbled the football, turned it over to the Panthers, and Williams scored his second touchdown of the game. And, of course, there was that interception at the end of the game that guarenteed the Carolina victory. To the Packers defense, they did recover one fumble, but they still lost the turnover battle. Not only that, both of their turnovers cost them a lot; a touchdown and a last chance.

The spotlight will be on Williams for most of the recaps of this game, but let’s not forget the passing game for the blue-and-black. Jake Delhomme completed 12 passes, but he racked up 177 yards. Most of those yards were caught by Steve Smith, who had a huge game. With four catches, he topped the century mark and set up some of Williams’ runs. All in all, the offense looked like they were practicing against the scout team most of the game–running with ease, throwing with ease, and scoring with ease.

This comes as a shock for the Packers. Yes, they have a very bad run-defense, one of the worst in the league, and the 130 yards and four touchdowns given up on the ground may have been suspected. The four touchdowns should never happen, but a big running game from the other team should be expected. But nobody saw this coming for the pass-defense, who is fifth in the league at stopping the throwing game. Going up against a 22nd-ranked pass offense, the big game from Delhomme and Smith never seemed likely on paper, and it is still hard to believe they let them do that much damage in the game.

If there was one adjective that described the Packers accurately, it would have to be inconsistent. The 5-7 record shows some of that inconsistency, but it’s easier to see it when taking a closer look at the team. Ryan Grant is a great example. He just had games of 75, 145, and 67 yards, but on Sunday he only put up 39 yards, which marked his fourth game of less than 60 yards. He just had his second-worst running game of this season, and anymore it is hard to predict what he will put up, no matter what defense he goes up against.

Rodgers has also been inconsistent, but seeing that he is in his first year as the starting quarterback and he had a sprained shoulder, everyone should have saw this coming. Both sides of the defense can’t be relied on every game. No game is a guarenteed-win. One week it seems like the team hit it’s stride and was like it’s 2007-08 self (see: games against the Tennessee Titans and the Chicago Bears), in others they looked like a mediocre football team (see: second game against the Minnesota Vikings). Again, to sum it all up in one word, the Green Bay Packers are inconsistent.

With four games left in the season, it is literally do-or-die for this team. If they win out, they become 9-7 and will probably finish first in the division (possibly tied). Next Sunday is a matchup with the Houston Texans. On paper it seems like a win, but the last few games have looked far different on the field than on paper. After that it’s a game with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Their playoff hopes are down the drain, and a win is very possible here, too. Week 16 is between the Pack and the Bears, who might be trying to stay in the division chase depending on their record. This should be a tough game; nobody saw the blowout of the Bears in the first matchup between the two teams coming, and it could have been a fluke. To close out the season, Green Bay plays at home against the Detroit Lions, who had a chance at shocking the Packers early on in the season but gave the game away in the second half.

If the Packers do win out, things should be looking great. 7-5 and division-leading Minnesota has a probable win against Detroit next, but after that things get ugly. There will be a close matchup with the Arizona Cardinals, a shootout with Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons, and a Week 17 matchup with the New York Giants, who are the best team in the whole NFC. Anything from Green Bay taking a nosedive to kill its chances at the postseason to winning the division can happen, but they basically have to win out. If things work out right, we may even see Episode Two of The Packers Making the Playoffs Instead of the Vikings in Week 17. Every Packer fan remembers Episode One, when Josh McCown threw a touchdown to Nate Poole on the final play of the 2003 season, beating the Vikings and tossing the Packers into the postseason.

But right now playoffs shouldn’t be on anyone’s minds. There are four weeks left, and one loss will ruin it. As cliche as it is, the Packers need to take it one week at a time. They also have to become consistent.

Where’s He Going to Go?

djlombardi — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:19:02 +0000

Presumably, the Packers don’t really want Favre back after all that’s happened. Essentially, their message is they aren’t going to free him to sign with any of the league’s other 31 teams — especially not NFC North division rivals Minnesota, Chicago or Detroit — and he won’t be given his starting job back if he returns to Green Bay.

The most likely scenario would have Favre petitioning the league for reinstatement and the Packers trading him to an AFC team, or at least an NFC team outside the division. Among the teams that fit that profile are the Miami Dolphins, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, New York Jets, Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Washington Redskins.

The Packers’ best-case scenario, in which Favre would’ve simply stayed retired, almost certainly won’t happen. The Packers went so far as to send an intermediary down to Mississippi last week to try to talk Favre into staying retired, but their attempt failed.

The Wisconsin State Journal’s article puts serious contenders for Favre out there for the first time in a while. But would these really help Brett Favre? He obviously wants to go to a contender and the Minnesota Vikings are rumored to be his top choice (which means he’s looking to follow Darren Sharper and Ryan Longwell), but Minnesota most likely isn’t going to happen. Do these really give Favre a chance to be a winner though?

The Miami Dolphins were 1-15 last year and are starting from the ground up. They have a new coach in Tony Sparano and a new head man in Bill Parcells. If Favre wants to win, Miami would probably not be the best option. Parcells and Sparano are getting reputations as strictly business, given their run-in with superstar-turned-wanna-be-actor Jason Taylor. A Taylor-for-Favre swap is pretty intriguing, but I don’t think that’s what Taylor wants and Favre wants a winner, but I don’t see the Dolphins turning into playoff contenders right away. Right now, John Beck, Chad Henne, and Josh McCown are the quarterbacks on the roster for the Dolphins. Beck started last year and had a lot of trouble adjusting to the pro-game. He could have been Cam Cameron‘s quarterback of the future, but with Parcells coming in, his future is up in the air. Parcells used a high draft pick on Henne, who could be Parcells’ “guy” while McCown is the veteran in the mix. McCown also happens to be a friend of the Packers family, along with Nathan Poole, for knocking the Vikings out and Packers into the playoffs in (I think) 2003. God, I love opening old wounds. So the Dolphins do not look that likely if Favre wants to win. If he wants to play and end up on MediCare, he can go for it.

The Baltimore Ravens would be the worst situation for me besides an NFC North team. I may be in the Baltimore area, but I do not like the Ravens. Besides the personal anguish this would cost me, the Ravens cannot quite afford Favre. Right now the Packers have 2008 first round pick Joe Flacco, 2006 Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith, and bust Kyle Boller. The Ravens are also reeling from the Steve McNair-era where they were at the mercy of an aging quarterback on the downside of his career. I have read many columnists in the Baltimore-area newspapers, and it’s clear they do not want Favre. They know that on the heels of a 5-11 season that they need to rebuild and devote time and confidence to either Flacco or Smith, something they did not do with Boller. The only way to get their quarterbacks better and to put themselves in a position to win in the future would be to let Flacco and Smith play and become experienced.

I pretty much covered the Chiefs, one of the most inept franchises in history. But they can still have fantasies. Like this one. And this one. And finally this one.

The Jets are intriguing. Favre is older than head coach Eric Mangini. Kellen Clemens looks like he could be a good quarterback if he is given time to play, which wouldn’t happen if Favre joined the team. Chad Pennington is still on the team and he has had some pretty good moments in his time in the Big Apple. I’m no Jets expert, but this scenario is pretty mysterious. Who knows here. I just don’t know whether Favre would want to play for a team coming off a losing season.

It seems like every year Sports Illustrated picks the Panthers to win the Super Bowl. But it doesn’t happen. They are mired in the .500-ball heave that is the NFC South. The team does not have many offensive weapons outside of Steve Smith and at times last year, it seemed like they could not do anything right. Sure, they played in Super Bowl XXXVIII. But that feels like ancient history. Also, the Panthers seems set with Jake Delhomme as their signal caller.

Tampa Bay is quarterback heaven. Jon Gruden is apparently tight with Favre because of the days of the Holmgren regime. But seriously, how many quarterbacks on the roster? Jeff Garcia, Brian Griese, Luke McCown, Chris Simms, and rookie Josh Johnson. They’ve got about every type in there. Let’s add aging-gunslinger to that category. The Bucs won the division in 2007, but the fact that they won it at 9-7 leaves no guarantee for them to be a winner in 2008. Not seeing Favre here.

The Redskins are another interesting possibility. They’ve got plenty of money (aka Dan Snyder) and a young quarterback in Jason Campbell. The Redskins know what they are doing with Campbell by letting him play last year. The only reason a player can get better is by playing. And he got better as the season went on before he got hurt and Todd Collins led the team to the playoffs. The Skins have been down this road before with Mark Brunell. I don’t think that worked too well.

So there we have it. I’d say Favre doesn’t have any really good options out there. Anywhere he went (Minnesota included) he would get in the way of the development of a team.