My thoughts leading up to the game:
I'm not sure if there has ever been a regular season game with more media storylines in any sport. You see players move from team to team, but you still want to think that if they a longtime player for any team, their love for that team would prevent them from playing for their former rival. You even see it happen on a smaller scale with players like Johnny Damon, but Favre going to the Vikings doesn't have a comparison that I can think of.
For some Packers fans it was a complete gut-shot. I am basically numb to the point where I just ignore everything he does. He was the face of the franchise for 16 years, and now he is the de facto face for the rival franchise in his waning years. All these storylines are great, but for me Pack Vikes is enough of a storyline.
Two matchups that I think will be important in this game that haven't gotten the media coverage are the Packers right side of the offensive line vs. the williams family and whoever plays opposite Jared Allen. The packers have really struggled in run-blocking on the right side, but they have an advantage athletically. I expect the Packers to try to exploit this with toss plays away from Jared Allen. Also, expect some screen passes out of 2 TE sets which will help open up some run lanes later in the game.
Another mathcup that bears watching is how Charles Woodson jumps routes vs. Favre. Woodson knows how Favre likes to play, and he is the smartest and best defender they have. Favre has a tendency to throw to guys before they come out of breaks, and Woodson capitalizes on these types of throws.
1st quarter:
Packers start their first drive with a toss. This worked well in the home game vs. Minny two years ago as the packers gashed the vikings with Ryan Grant. Too bad the Vikings are better than two years ago.
(false start)
Allen Barbre cements his place as the worst starting lineman in the NFC with that false start. This guy gave up 6 sacks to antwan odom almost by himself. Defensive Ends must be paying him a percentage of the "not likely to be earned" incentives in their contracts.
(comeback route to Jennings against winfield)
One thing that Rodgers clearly does better than Favre is throw that deep comeback route. Same throw that Favre threw in the NFC championship, except Rodgers gets it outside the numbers with some zip. Maybe 4 or 5 QBs in the NFL now can make that throw with accuracy. Rivers, Peyton and McNabb are great at it. Most teams that run back shoulder throws in the middle of drives do that because their QB can't throw the deep comeback.
9:22 1st
And just as I start jerking him off, Rodgers goes down to a sack fumble by Jared Allen. Rodgers has shown an inability to do anything but run when under pressure. As soon as there is pressure, he will take off to his right or just run backwards and get sacked. Rodgers leads the league in sacks taken, and definitely is part of the problem himself. Dwight Freeney is the king of sack fumbles and he's often mentioned as a guy who goes for the ball. I'm not sure of any defensive end who doesn't go for the ball when they make a hit on the QB.
Commentators generally like to attribute sacks to the line and interceptions to QBs when probably half the time the sack is on the QB and the interception is on the WRs. So I guess it evens out in the end since QBs don't get blamed for dropped balls. Gruden is doing a good job of providing interesting commentary based on what he knows as a coach. This is the stuff Jaws used to do, but now Jaws gets lost in the back and forth banter rather than paying attention to the game.
One quote by Jaws: "there you go Jon, you sound like a real analyst!" Of course he does! All we want to hear is what the routes were and who missed their block or if the QB held it too long. There you go Jaws, you sound like a real idiot.
Packers are gonna go with 5 Linebackers on early downs to stop Peterson, and I think they had 6 on the field with that 2nd down play. The 3-4 Defense has always given Favre fits, and I like the idea of more linebackers to take on AP.
Gotta love the facial hair of Brad Childress. It connects to his regular hair even around his ears, except he doesn't have any on top of his head. Not the look you want, even if you live in Minnesota. He looks like he is wearing a bald yarmulke, like an incomplete bald cap.
Childress and Favre en route to a little town called Pedophilia(Following a Vikings drive, Favre hits Snakecock in the endzone for the TD)
Love play action to the TE at the goal line. Really it's about how well the TE sells it more than anything. Easy throw for any QB, and it's made all the easier when you have AP forcing the linebackers to crash the ball.
2:27 1st Quarter (0:55 in above video)
Great protection as the packers throw from 2TE. Vikings only rush 4, but the rush overloads the left side leaving easy throwing lanes to the right. Rodgers could have run for the first, but it's encouraging to see him keep his eyes downfield. Jortsmichael Finley with the long score!!!! This guy is an asset when he doesn't have to block.
Vikings take over
Lets see if the vikings can commit to the run here. Even if they have to give chester taylor 15 carries and AP 30, keep shoving it down the packers throats and you are gonna burn them for a big gain on a zone blitz.
And they do exactly the opposite. Why manufacture a running game with receiver screens when you have one already? Teams like the Pats and Jets love to throw WR screens to supplement the run since their WRs are great in space. But AP is better with the ball anywhere on the field than Percy Harvin is in space. Horrible play calling on that drive. WR screens are basically a race, whereas RB and TE screens are a deception play to get the D-line moving the wrong way. Brad Childress is the only person on the vikings who can lose them this game.
0:57 1st Quarter
Passes to the TEs have opened up some running lanes. Antoine Winfield is getting off the snap and into the backfield on every running play. If the packers can get a ground game going, I expect them to spring Jennings deep via play action.
Start 2nd Quarter
Booth guys love to talk about the vaunted vikes run D and how great it has been for years, but part of that run D for most of the time was a horrible pass D. Teams don't need to run it if they pass for 400 yards.
(3rd down pass to Driver broken up, tipped to Jennings who grabs it)
Horrible call by childress on the no-challenge. It doesn't matter what the guys upstairs say, you challenge a play like that on 4th down. Goofy play on the tip drill.
(Winfield picks off Rodgers on a curl)
Great play by Winfield on that pick. They got him once already on a deeper comeback, and he was definitely ready this time. Easy to ask after the fact why you would throw it again, but all in all it's just a good defensive play. Vikings take over deep in their own territory.
Good drive put together by one Peterson run and a bunch of Favre lasers. Packers playing good D on first and second down stuffing Peterson, but they can't get any pressure on 3rd down even in obvious passing situations. Favre did very well when the packers ran cover 2; he showed no difficulty in hitting Berrian straight up the sideline between the corner and safety. Favre makes the throw of the half though on a strike to Sidney Rice. Falling backwards and across his body on 3rd and 11. Those are picks for normal qbs, but not the way Favre is dealing tonight.
Good defensive pressure by the Vikings on that 3 and out. Jared Allen is getting a lot of the credit for the pressures, but the pressure up the middle has been equally disruptive. Middle pressure leads to bad throws, tipped balls and bad decisions. Packers need a stop here or they are in trouble
(AP fumbles on a stretch play to the left side followed by a defensive TD)
And the strip fumble TD will do it. Nice shots of AP looking like he needs to visit the dentist as he grinds his teeth. Turns out he doesn't have nike battle armor after all.
The packers linebackers all have stupidly long hair. Matthews, Chillar, Hawk (who looks like a neanderthal), and even Barnett (some budding dreds) have shoulder length hair. They look like they belong in an Iowa truck stop rather than a front seven in the NFL.
(long strike to Percy Harvin down the seam to the 1 yard line)
Breakdown in the secondary on a pretty standard play is followed by poor tackling. The safeties are playing poorly for the Packers, and Favre is exploiting them. Two injuries at the safety spot have definitely caught up to them; this guy Derrick Martin is just chasing on D like Butters at wildwood. Both are biting hard on how Favre looks them off then comes back to a receiver.
(Woodson Picks off Favre but it's negated by penalty)
Horrible penalty call on the pass interference, but they were offsides anyways. Seems dumb to go to the play action again on the goaline. Chuck didn't bite and it almost cost the vikings 6. Penalties have hurt the packers, and they have a holding penalty on every return play.
(Peterson walks in on the next play)
For all the breakdowns in the secondary and lack of a pass rush, the Packers have been doing a great job against Peterson.
21-14 Vikings at the half.
At this point, things are not looking up for the old man's Packers. They are selling out on D to stop the run, but favre is just picking them apart with too much time. When you look at the time that he is getting, it's truly amazing how bad Tavaris Jackson really was.
The vikings secondary looks vulnerable to the quick pass, but the O-Line can't even give Rodgers the time on a 3 step drop. In their defense, they are picking up the blitz very well. My comments from here on out are gonna be more sporadic since "The Last Naked Warrior" has plopped down next to me.
(Favre to Berrian down the sideline)
Either that was cover 2 and the safety was late (most likely), or Al Harris blew the coverage. Nice find by Favre to score what essentially could be a game sealing TD. With a 14 point lead, Jared Allen is going to make Daryn "Dance Moves" Colledge his bitch.
(1st and goal from the 7)
Ryan Grant shows some nice leg drive getting to the 1 on first down. Packers should run the ball twice. Instead they go to the fullback. They ran this play last week. Do they really think the other team didn't watch their goaline offense from the week before??? Horrible play call. 3rd down. You have to run. the. football. Nope, pass to the jorts man on a route outside of the endzone. This guy is 6-5 and a leaper and you throw to him running laterally outside of the endzone? Great tackle. 4th down drop by Donald Lee on a fastball from Rodgers. That may cost them the game. Under durress, Rodgers really whipped it at Lee. Should have been caught, but it's like whipping the disc to Prancer: he should catch it, but he's not going to.
Impressive and ballsy passing on 3rd down from their own 3 followed by poor defense (woodson blows flat responsibility) and tackling lead to a key 1st down. Vikings punt, but do a great job switching fields. They are killing the field position game.
(Vikings punt to the 2)
Jared Allen. Sack safety after review. What is the defensive end equivalent of the cycle? Sack fumble is the single, sack-fumble-recovery has to be the double, sack-fumble-recovery-TD (a la osi in week 1) is definitely the home run. The triple needs to be hard and also a rare play. I think sack safety is appropriate. Maybe it's an INT though? Regardless, Jared Allen now has a chance to hit for the cycle since he's facing this O-line -- the baseball equivalent of a little league pitcher.
Now down 16 instead of 21 the announcers try to decide whether the safety in the end was better for the Packers than the inevitable TD from the 1. Yes. They are down less points with more time on the clock. Seems simple enough.
On the safety punt, the packers bring out Mason Crosby. So either they don't actually understand what a safety means, or you are allowed to do a kickoff following a safety.
Ok I looked it up on wikipedia:
"After a safety, the team that gave up the points kicks off to the other team from its own 20-yard line (in American football) or 25-yard line (in Canadian football.) This is termed a free kick: the kicking team has the option of employing a punt, a drop kick, or a place kick from a teammate's hold. Unlike the kickoff, a kicking tee may not be used (NFL only, college kickers have the option of using a tee on the safety kick); however, punts are allowed, unlike on kickoffs. A punt is the most commonly chosen option, whereas a drop kick is virtually unheard-of in modern football."
Still unclear if they could have onside kicked it.
Despite the late TD to the current best white WR in the NFL Jordy Nelson, the Jared Allen experience has just rocked and bopped the Vikings to victory. Ok, I got depressed and stopped writing in the 4th quarter. When your 3rd string left tackle comes in, you are gonna lose the game. Whatever, Bill Simmons always tapers off at the end anyways. I'm no more a slacker than he is.
Postgame thoughts:
Sidney Rice recovered two onside kicks, both in leaping fashion. I wonder what the record is for onside kick recoveries for a team and for a player. The onside kicks from Crosby were impressive, especially considering that they already recovered one last week.
In the end, the packers shut down Peterson and made Favre beat them. And beat them he did.
The concept of Jared Allen's "motor" is pretty accurate. I would use the term engine since motor doesn't seem to be a strong enough word. Dude has a V6. At one point they mentioned that he played 95% of all snaps last year. That's absurd for any player, but insane for someone who undergoes that much contact on every play. While the Packers have a knack for making defensive lineman into NFC defensive players of the week, Allen proved to be a cut above the rest.
Sleazer....
OUT
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