The Green Bay Packers this week: Bits and pieces
The Green Bay Packers enter today’s Week 12 matchup at Minnesota with a chance to stay atop the NFC North Division.
So what are some of the happenings of the past week that have gotten us to this point?
Read on … we’ll take you there …
BIG GUNS EARLY ~ BIG BUCKS EQUALS BIG PLAYS
Aaron Rodgers has a passer rating of 133, if you count only his first 10 passes each game.
He’s completed an unmatched 73 percent for 1,038 yards for 8 TDs and zero interceptions.
During these, he’s had 13 go more than 20 yards, averaging 10.5 yards per throw. The recent contract given to Rodgers has him throwing the ball to a more expensive receiver, relying on more points to win games, than most other times.
His 132.8 rating is ahead of the Super Bowl seasons 112.9 rate, or the next 2011: 15-1 season, at 126.7 rating that earned an MVP. Rodgers leads the league in this “1st ten passes” ranking; followed by Philip Rivers (115.9), Peyton Manning (106.9), and Tom Brady (99.5).
It’s no wonder why teams seem to give up when the Packers can pull ahead with those kind of rates in passing.
THEY DON’T MAKE HEROES LIKE THAT ANYMORE
For the week’s biggest brightest spot, Packers all-time great Bart Starr was released from hospital care and is continuing his comeback comfortably at home with his wife and family in Arizona.
Starr was stricken with a ischemic stroke on Sept. 2, followed by a hemorrhagic stroke and heart attack five days later. The Lombardi era Packers quarterback remained hospitalized until his this week. We pray for Bart’s recovery as well as for strength to his family in maintaining a swift return to their pleasures in retirement, to prosperity and well-being.
Bart Starr, to many mature fans (old guys) approaching or recently retired, Bart was an icon in decency, not only for the Packers, but all NFL. The one player who always seemed to win when it came down to it all being on the line. He could come up with that proverbial ace in the hole to win.
His winning ways were treasured, and beyond his approach to the game of football, his community involvement, strong family values, brought on through deep commitments, put him on a plane seemingly alone .
Many younger fans remember Starr only on what most fans consider the greatest moment in NFL history, winning the Ice Bowl.
They say ARodg is better, just look at all his numbers. Rodgers is great in his time, but there never will be a time as great as the Lombardi era again, or a few of the most treasured players we had in Green Bay, like Bart Starr … the greatest there ever was.
THE BIG PICTURE
Taking a look the old way, the pre-Bill Gates world of no PCs: I open my spiral notebook and compare this Packers team to their opponents.
This is the method recipe for calling odds, in a nutshell. Now it’s a different game. We see the same thing used back in he 1970s ands, but it doesn’t show properly.
RUSHING FIRST DOWNS: GB 52 … OPP. 80
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS: GB 212 … OPP. 231
TOTAL YARDS GAINED: GB 3,695 … OPP. 3,774
RUSH-PLAYS/AVE YARDS: GB 251/4.1 … OPP. 312/4.5
PASS-COMP/ATT/INT/AV: GB 216/328/14/8.6 … OPP. 220/359/14/7
As we see here (above) the Green Bay haven’t dominated and actually have worse statistics in most cases than the opponents. That was once the true meaning of how well the team was doing. This was used year after year by experts to rank games, to see who was winning. The only thing GB is ahead on is interceptions and touchdown passes. This can be a big factor, since the final element to winning is scoring. Let’s find other statistics to point out how and what factors are relevant to the winning season we are moving through.
INTERCEPTIONS: GB 14 … OPP. 4
SACKS: GB 25 … OPP. 22
TOUCHDOWNS: GB 41 …OPP. 26
FIELD GOALS: GB 15/17 … OPP. 13-14
TURNOVER RATIO: GB+14 … OPP. +/- 00
The last thing we saw on top was touchdown passes, which are relied on heavily for Green Bay’s domination. The interceptions brought on this season are another key. Now we add pics, sacks, TDs, Field Goals and Turnovers.
I’m tempted to put an OMG on here. OK, OMG, look at that, plus-14 turnovers, which is like 1,400 extra yards, as the old school used to teach?
There must be some truth to it. The Packers record does agree.