I had the opportunity to go to the game at Lambeau today and thought I'd shed some mediocre insight:
* Great, great, win by a very resilient team.
* Phuck, it was cold.
* MM - master play designer. While Flynn had a good day statistically, it's incredibly obvious to see how much of an impact missing AR12 at the controls is. WRs were open consistently in the 1st half and either Flynn would miss the read or the split-second delay in recognizing the defensive alignment combined with the difference in arm strength between #10 and #12 stifled completions. With AR12 at the helm against this crappy Atlanta defense, the game would have been over at halftime.
* More Flynn - he's got decent command of the offense (especially for a guy that has been on the roster for about a month) - a very admirable job by a guy that was able to make up the difference for two BS TDs from the turnovers.
* OL - after blowing the block that got Flynn killed causing the fumble, the unit played pretty well. Helps no Newhouse in the game. Scary how scary the offense could be if brittle-Bulaga, shrapnel-leg Sherrod, and Tretter can make meaningful contributions to build a wall in front of AR12 and Lacy.
* Lacy - the guy is just ridiculously nimble for a man that big - the Bettis comparisons could be spot on if his body holds up.
* WR play - Jordy is crazy good and so is Jones. Jones ran some fantastic routes early in the game that would have been 20+ yard-gainers with AR12 at the helm (mentioned in MM bullet above). Boykin did not want to be out there.
* TE play - while J-Fin is a ridiculously lethal weapon to have, MM schemes with the current TEs well enough to keep defenses honest - I wouldn't spend a high pick at the position (and wouldn't break the bank to keep him at crazy $$).
* DL - Jolly is playing with incredible energy - if Raji could feed off 1/2 of that, the DL could be really stout. Pickett is a rock-solid vs. the run, but provides nothing vs. the pass.
* OLB - cmiii was getting chipped by Gonzo a lot today - probably a big reason for why gonzo was relatively silent today. I get it, it's tough when you are constantly getting double-teamed, but he gives up the edge waaaaayyyyy too frequently. If Mike Smith had any intelligence, he would have run outside cmiii all day. Perry needs to be more productive to take some of these double-teams away from the $50M man.
* ILB - Hawk/Jones combo were ok, but they seemed somewhat slow to recoginize run blocking vs. pass blocking - need to work on the read-react drill from high school.
* Richardson - it was AWESOME to see a safety actually come up and attack a ball-carrier. Not sure about his coverage skills, but hopefully he starts the rest of the year so he can be evaluated - can't be any worse than Jennings.
* Burnett - there were plays where he lined up 30 yards off the ball - and this was early second half - almost a prevent defense. Ryan appeared to call audibles multiple times Atlanta picked up easy yardage - very strange alignment that didn't last too long.
* - Jarrett Bush - he was the man out there today; he could have had the catalyst block on a really nice punt return, but for some idiotic reason, Micah Hyde called a fair catch. Played well on defense too.
* CBs - not sure what happened on the long TD pass, but other than that, they held up pretty well.
* K - Crosby - back to being automatic - great to see.
* P - Mathsay - I love our ginger!
* Halftime - if fans booing is scorned upon, what other rules should be applied to my spending of hundreds of dollars to attend the game? I'd just like to know as it's always good to know about these type of things.
Super-cool to see Dave Robinson come out to the field at halftime to have his name added to the ring of honor. Crap, he's still a mountain of a man and he proudly strolled out to the podium with the HOF gold jacket on - completely oblivious to the fact that he was wearing clothes that were weather-appropriate for 50-degrees, not 10-degrees. To see the pride that glistened in his pinkish, tear-welled eyes - I could only imagine how many times Vince Lombardi referred to guys like Johnny "Blood" McNally as a player during motivational pre-game dialogue and to think that now he is added to fellow mates Starr, Nitschke, Willie Wood, and all the other greats - I can't imagine a career more fulfilled. Simply awesome.
