Protecting Aaron Rodgers on the blindside from players like Jared Allen (mullet or no mullet) will be key to the Packers success in 2013.
Raymond T. Rivard photograph

In May of 2010 the sports world was shocked to hear that Jared Allen made the decision to cut off his mullet. Now, three years later, there has been an announcement on his twitter account that he is growing it back

He cut off the locks in advance of his wedding, thus meeting a key requirement for all long-term and healthy marriages. It is a well-known fact that I just made up that 80 percent of all failed marriages involve at least one mullet. This fabricated statistic is made even worse when one includes the mulletted gentlemen that lure women away from otherwise mulletless marriages.

Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen sacks Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

Allen’s decision to cut the mullet was obviously made with the quality and longevity of his marriage in mind, though on the surface it appeared at the time to be a clear betrayal of self and team. After all, it was then feared that his numbers would decline under the theory that his strength was housed in his hair. Another theory suggested that Allen’s soul resided in his mullet, and that after his de-mulletting he would become a flesh eating monster, slogging through the upper Midwest with an insatiable hunger for human meat.

The latter theory proved to be at least partially untrue. But what of the former? Will Allen suddenly regain lost strength and speed with the cultivation of his back-head fur? And if so, what does this mean for the Packers in terms of strategy?

Fortunately, the Packers have already been shifting quality bodies over to Allen’s side of the line (this was announced in advance of the Allen declaration, suggesting that the Packers may have some good intelligence operatives in place over there, so keep that under your hat — loose lips sink ships, and stuff).

With McCarthy recently moving Brian Bulaga and Josh Sitton (the strength of the offensive line) over to cover Aaron Rodgers’s blindside, Rodgers should hopefully have a bit more time to unload the ball. It is also possible that if the Packers do place a bit more emphasis on the run game (as it now appears), or at least show more home run ability from the running back position, opportunities for pass rushing may decline on the Viking’s side of the ball.

Green Bay Packers tackle Bryan Bulaga. Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

Is this enough to counter the Vikings’ strategy of growing out their hair?

I, for one, am too concerned about looking foolish and uninformed to hazard a guess. We will just have to wait and see.

For the record, and not that anyone should be surprised, Allen’s numbers average out pretty well with or without the mullet. During his Vikings years, he averaged 14.5 sacks a year with the mullet, and 15 without. He accounted for 38 percent of team sacks with the mullet, and 35 percent without. The team averaged 39.5 sacks per year with, and 41.7 without.

These differences are statistically insignificant. It turns out the hair does not make the man’s sack numbers. While we will have to wait and see about Allen regrowing his soul, from a performance standpoint (unfortunately) it will likely be the same old Jared Allen.

At least we can rest assured that the Packers current plan makes more sense than my suggestion: suiting up Marshal Newhouse in a pair of acid washed mom jeans (1987’s toughest jeans) to counteract 1987’s most powerful hairstyle.

Jarrett Bush said it best when describing the Vikings as "hungry." Raymond T. Rivard photograph

Can we draw comparisons between the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers team of two years ago that was led by a then-rookie making his first start (Josh Freeman) with the 1-5 Vikings being led by another rookie making his first start this coming Sunday (Christian Ponder)?

We all know what happened in that Tampa Bay game … They upset the Packers and upset Packers nation so badly that there were calls for Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson’s heads.

Well, we can make the leap an compare the two situations or we can listen to a veteran tell us about it … according to Ryan Pickett, who was interviewed this week about that scenario by JSonline, it’s a different time and a different place.

“Mentally, we’ve grown. We’ve been playing defense a lot differently around here since that game two years ago. So we take no one lightly — rookie, 15 years in the league, it doesn’t matter. It’s about how we prepare and how we get ready ourselves. That’s how we look at it.”
(more…)

Are you for real Roger Goodell? Why on God’s green earth would you even entertain the thought of helping the Minnesota Vikings get a new stadium?  This isn’t your battle, this is between the Vikings and the people who live in Minnesota who want the new taxes or don’t and the Minnesota state legislation!

If there’s that kind of money in the NFL’s budget to bail out the cry baby Vikings organization, why the hell are we going through a Lockout?

Just take the millions of dollars you think you can give the Vikes and split it up amongst the NFL owners and players and let’s get back to football.  And if the Vikings can’t muster up the votes they need to get the deal done in Minnesota, so be it.  No one else really cares if they reside in the land of lakes or elsewhere.

Per a very unscientific poll of the few Vikings fans that I know, they don’t live in Minnesota and really don’t care if they move to another state.  They will continue to follow their team regardless. (As a true fan should.)

Let them figure it out for themselves.  Wilf is rich, he can throw as much money into the stadium as he wants, just like he does with every other decision they make.

(more…)

A dream that the Minnesota Vikings team comes to Lambeau Field and is dominated by the Green Bay Packers.

I have a dream that the Minnesota QB Brett Favre is greeted with boo’s for his final showdown at the not-yet-frozen tundra. My dream includes several interceptions that includes a “pick six”.

I have a dream that Aaron Rodgers has a great night.  A night with few errors, great accuracy, excellent decision making and no sacks.

I have a dream of few penalties and good officiating. I have a dream that the Packers are able to help the Vikings continue their road game losing streak.

I believe in the Green Bay Packers.  I believe in the players, I believe in the fans.

I have a dream that the Packers will once again lead the NFC North.

The game was, as always a nail-biter.  My stress level was high, my blood pressure, even higher.

It was probably one of the best football games I’ve seen all year.  But the best part, MY DREAM CAME TRUE!

The Packers beat Brett Favre and the Vikings in Lambeau.  This was a critical game, the Packers NEEDED this win.  Not just for their record, not just for the division, but also to get that monkey off of Rodgers’ back!

Rodgers ended the night with 21-34, 295 yds, 2 TDs, 2 INTs while Favre had 212 yds, 1 TD and 3 INT’s. (more…)