+/- vs. the Putzes

+ 

LS's reply in this thread I didn't read. Lengthly...nice effort.

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nothing other than a look of 'we can sleepwalk thru this' which they did. Ramp up for next weekend.

Of the things that were most surprising to me where:

Lack of pass rush (in general) against a bad Viking Oline

Viking wide receivers and tight ends having a lot of space around them

Penalties - Bak, Adams, Goodson

Not sure why we didn't use TE's more - if safeties are going to play deep, the TEs should have room underneath to work.

Paws:

Run D was sufficient.

Eddie with a huge day when we needed it.

Hyde.  Kinda Jeykell and Hyde but a some big plays.

Cobb with some big 3rd down plays.

Negs:

Zebras were bad.

Kick off unit.

Secondary out of synch, too many guys wide open.

Jones being added to the LB rotation.

Hawk is so slow.  Painful to watch.

And his pick opening night vs Seattle was off the hands of Jordy.

So, theoretically...

"How long have you been a black quarterback?"

AR: It's nice to be me, and to have crushed the Vikings.

Apropos considering he didn't watch the game. 

Hey, I wrote papers in college for classes I never went to.

Same thing.

Based on what I'm reading, Rodgers is apparently a big fan of grape soda. However, you just know that one of his offensive linemen dared him to do that (I'm looking at you TJ Lang and/or Josh Sitton).

I think it would be great if they did.

Because then it would be even funnier

Was thinking maybe George Teague. 

If you don't think AR hates Minnesota after Favre and Jennings you're not paying close enough attention to what drives him. AR despises that team. 

The biggest disappointment of today's game was the loss of confidence in the defense.

The last 2-3 games, they were trending up; pass rush was finding a groove, TO opportunities were becoming more frequent, and rush defense was vastly improving. So, I'm thinking they are coming together and playing well, and should "stack their successes".

Then a game like today...wth? All of a sudden, the DL can't win/exploit matchups, LBs disappeared, and if they made a big play, there was a dumbass penalty, whether by us or the refs.

No matter the scheme, the players, the calls, whatever, the last drive by the Vikes was embarrassing. 4 1st downs converted on second down plays, and their only 3rd down attempt was converted by penalty. Not to mention the TD that followed, or the 2 point conversion. Pretty much covered all the bases of suck.

Neal was entirely out of control that entire series, including a HUGE whiff on a Bridgewater scramble, his offsides penalty, and the PF. Might as well have had a purple jersey on.

The point is, how can anyone have any confidence they will play well vs the Patriots? I saw what Brees did to them, and he didn't have a healthy Jimmy Graham. Rush defense offers a glimmer of hope, but I'm not so sure they want to force Brady into 40+ pass attempts.

Getting Perry back, and Matthews and Jones healthy, will do wonders for the confidence.

This is a game MM and AR have wanted for years. 

I'm certain when Brady looks at the tape he won't exactly be filled with apprehension at facing the Packer defense. The Wizard better cook up some serious magic or Sunday could be a very long day. 

Belichick is as stubborn as Capers.

+ Won an away game vs a divisional opponent

- Too much negativity about the next opponent

- why does HHCD tackle like his arms are duct-taped to the sides of his body?

Message or not, Rodgers' thirst may cost him.  According to a Wall Street Journal report, the NFL has a giant sponsorship deal with PepsiCo to the tune of $2.3 billion, and the NFL doesn't take kindly to players displaying logos or products from companies that haven't paid up. Grape Crush is a product of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group.

 

Earlier this season, San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick was fined $10,000 for wearing 'Beats by Dre' headphones during a post game news conference. The league has a sponsorship deal with Bose, a competing headphone maker. So far neither the Green Bay Packers nor the NFL has responded to questions about Rodgers and the news conference.

That could be an expensive purple drink.

isn't that spelled 'drank'?

I wasn't able to watch closely yesterday but weren't CM's snaps limited?  Perry was also out, Datone out also.  I didn't get the impression the D was balls to the wall yesterday.

Brad Jones played and played quite a bit.  That alone should tell you all you need to know about how far into their depth they got on defense.  

All I remember seeing of the ILBs yesterday was CM's bat of the one pass and Hawk heading toward the sideline in cement shoes chasing the ball carrier.  It reminded me of playing pickup ball with the older guys and when one of them, looking like they were working hard trying keep up,  got beat and kind of "followed through" so it didn't look like he gave up.  

Hawk did that thing again, when a guy has the ball and he (Hawk) has a choice... attack the ball carrier or start to back peddle, and he always chooses back peddle for a 7 yard gain.  

I wouldn't harp on the guy so much if he just attacked.  Sometimes you make mistakes, but I would rather see mistakes that are aggressive (see HaHa) than this passive 7 yard gain bull****.

I expect Brad Jones will be asked to cover Gronk next week.  How closely the ref call defensive holding will dictate how well that goes.   

Exactly AKB. The last two weeks Hawk attacked, not yesterday. 

true, my use of the word "always" was wrong.  

Just be aggressive, be be agressive

CMIII said in PackerNews that he was limited in the first half but not in the second half. It felt better as he went along and he anticipates no problems for the Patriots game.

The run defense wasn't great against the Eagles or Bears, but the complete blowout masked their season-long deficiencies. The only improvement from Week 1 is that Matthews now plays inside and can penetrate the backfield up the middle. But everyone else is the same. 

Brad Jones being on the field didn't help, but the linemen still aren't great at penetrating except for Mike Daniels. Josh Boyd on Sunday got in a couple of times, too. 

The strength of the defense is taking away the big passes because the secondary is their best unit. The defense will continue to struggle stopping runs up the gut and "dinks and dunks" over the middle where AJ Hawk has to cover (or watch) receivers running through his territory. That is exactly how Minnesota moved the ball on their final scoring drive. 

Has Hawk always looked that slow or is he playing injured? I didn't remember him looking as slow as he did Sunday. But his lack of attacking guys with the ball has irritated me all season. 

One thing I forgot to mention was McCarthy's choice to decline the penalty that led to the Vikes first TD.  Instead of 3rd and 15, he opted for 4th and 5.

He obviously thought the Vikes would punt - but, why would they?  They have nothing to lose.  Instead, he gave them them a chance for a very makeable first down with all options in the playbook open (run or pass with only 5 yards to go). 

I'm hoping his questionable coaching decisions go out the door this week and we don't see Saints redux.  Can't afford errors from the sidelines against a good Pats club.

I think turning down the penalty was the right move.  

Take your chances with  a 4th and 5 any day.   Jesus ****

That is exactly what he said for this game.  Verbatim.

Just saying he repeats the party line as instructed.  Probably so teams run away from him even when he's hurt?

Whatever, you can tell when he's not 100%, and yesterday he was not.

Yeah. 4th and 5 isn't 4th and inches. That was the right call, IMO. 

I didn't re-watch, but there were a couple plays early in the game -- Lacy not getting spotted a first down; and the other right now I can't remember -- that I thought MM should have challenged in order to keep drives going. At the time I thought, "Maybe MM isn't challenging because he knows he sucks at challenges and promised himself he wouldn't throw the red flag that early in the game." 

I would prefer a rotation of Jayrone and Richardson at ILB at this point.  Hell, cobble all the safeties and OLBs and keep subbing them in at ILB.  Anything but that **** show at ILB.

The thing that was noticeable was outside of Hyde, Peppers and Hee Haw the defense looked sluggish half the time.  It was a tough game against the spermheads but they just didn't have that energy level.