NFC Championship Post Mortem

I fully agree with the sentiments of Aaron Rodgers. The Packers should be celebrating today after dismantling the Seahawks, but instead coached and stupided their way out of the game. This should hurt for a long, long time.

 



Otto Greule Jr./Getty Images

First, Coach Mike McCarthy should fire the man who calls the plays for the Packer offense. I have said this for years and will continue to stress this point until someone else, anyone else, takes over the offense. I also blame Rodgers for not changing the plays when they were obviously the wrong call for the wrong time in the game.
 

I have two problems (actually I have more, but two big ones and I've had it for a long time) with McCarthy's play calling. First, in the fourth quarter when a first down would have sealed the win when the Packers were leading 19-7 after the strange sit down by Morgan Burnett I said and I quote, "They will run the ball three times and punt." And run and punt they did. I hated to be right, but if I could have gotten someone to bet with me I could have set up my retirement account. No one, but a Packerbacker who has watched his strange play calling over the years, would have said he would take the ball out of the best quarterback in the game and give up. But he does this every time.

No better, no worse

I guess that's the best prognosis we could expect from Aaron Rodgers' calf injury. I was so worried he would forget his injury and take off running and tear it completely. But he kept his head about him and even pulled back when he started to run on the TD pass to Andrew Quarless. Aaron Rodgers is a special player, both physically and mentally.

By all rights the season ends Sunday. The Packers weren't in the same league as the Seahawks in the season opener and that was when the Seahawks were not good.

The game plan - I fully believe the game plan was to avoid Richard Sherman, no matter what Coach McCarthy says - was the first problem. McCarthy tends to over-think his game plans.

I can just see him going through this progression. The Packer offense was cranking coming out the pre-season, so in McCarthy's mind the Seahawk defense would be ready, so he changed everything. We had the great Jordy Nelson - who doesn't back down from anybody - essentially back down from the blowhard Richard Sherman. How good did that work?

Going into that game Sherman was spouting off. He was the toast of the town being interviewed every day. He went from that loud mouth last season to an expert on every subject. The media - I don't like how they feed into the ego of some of the most obnoxious stupid players - would ask him opinion on topics other than football and he would answer. It then became if they didn't ask about world affairs, or the Pope, or President Obama, he would offer his thoughts on those matters. WHO CARES WHAT YOU THINK? Or is it just me who doesn't care and wished he would shut up?
My recollection of the first Super Bowl holds a good example of Sherman. The Chiefs had a cornerback named Fred "The Hammer" Williamson. He was Richard Sherman of his day with a big mouth. He boasted of bringing his hammer down on Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale.
Boyd Dowler got injured, but not because of "The Hammer's" hammer. His replacement, a hung over, seldom used, older and getting older by the minute, Max Gee became the hero of the game with 7 catches for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Dale finished with four catches for 58 yards.
Williamson finished with three tackles and no interceptions or knockouts. However, he did get knocked out the game himself. I remember it being from a Donny Anderson power sweep behind Fuzzy Thurston and Jerry Kramer. He suffered a concussion and a broken arm. He doesn't remember the play to this day.

Humm, wouldn't it be nice to dust off the old Lombardi Power Sweep and run over Mr. Sherman and knock him and his mouth out the game? Won't happen, but I can wish. My first wish is....

We now know Eddie Lacy sat out the first half because of an asthma attack and he still gained 101 yards. Great runner.

Well, those are my thoughts on the great matters of Tuesday. Later.

Ice Bowl II Was A Success

I have to be truthful that I was worried. After holding the Cowboys to a punt and scoring on the first drive things went south for the rest of the first half. My worry about the Cowboys lighting it up in the second was unfounded, thank God, but I wonder if it was something Dom Capers did at halftime (which I said earlier never happens) or was something the Cowboys did like over-coaching.

Whatever it was the second half was great until the catch-no catch. I was not confident we would get the call after Coach McCarthy threw the red challenge flag. Or did he? It seems McCarthy has to just show the refs the flag and not really throw it. I think he still hates to throw that flag, so he doesn't in real terms. But enough of me going off on tangents. The Packers never get calls go for them, but this time the rules ruled, so to speak. I think a reading of the rule left the only solution was to call it a no-catch. Fine with me.

Lombardi's hat off to our rookies Davante Adams and Richard Rodgers. Adams didn't let a rough first half get to him and he came through when it counted the most. Rodgers' catch for the TD started with a great route and a great catch. Thumbs up.

Lombardi's hat off to Eddie Lacy. 101 yards on a cold day and clutch runs makes him a solid runner and not just a flash in the pan. The season started slow for him, but he is really running on all cylinders - most of the time.

Lombardi's hat off to Randall Cobb. Clutch and solid describe him. Sign him soon. Let's not nickle and dime him. He deserves to be rewarded. Get the job done.

Lombardi's hat off to Aaron Rodgers, one leg and all. Clutch again. I hate to sound like Chris Collingsworth, but I just might believe he is the best quarterback in all of football. I hate Collingsworth, but more on that later, unless I forget.

Other thoughts on Sunday's win over the dreaded Cowboys later. So I will end by giving the game a big THUMBS UP.

Live from Lombardi's Den

Honestly, I go into every Packer game with a lot of dread. It was only during the year we went 15-1 that I was a little more optimistic about a win each week, but not completely.

 

Today, I should be happy we're playing the Cowboys because the Cowboys don't have a great defense and the Packers have a great offense, especially at Lambeau Field. But once again I don't feel good about this game and I should.

 

Aaron Rodgers at Lambeau Field has been unbeatable this year. But today we won't have that Aaron Rodgers. We will have a hobbled Aaron Rodgers, which could mean he won't have the ability to get out of trouble and do what he normally does to extend plays and find open receivers. The way to beat Rodgers and ground this offense is to trap him in the pocket and sack him or hurry him. I'm worried.

 

The other key to the game is Tony Romo and the Packers defense. I would be lying if I said I had any faith in the coaching of Dom Capers. I DO NOT. He is a very flawed coordinator.

Welcome to Lombardi's Den

It's playoff time again and our Green Bay Packers will host Ice Bowl II. Hopefully, it won't be 35 below and take a quarterback sneak by a one-legged Aaron Rodgers to win the game, but I'll take a win any way we can get it. But a blowout would be nice. I'm not a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.

 

This is my inaugural blog as I enter the arena of the Packers blogosphere that is populated by more local and more intelligent observers than myself, but I think (being a legend in my own mind) I have something to offer and hopefully my thoughts will generate some comments that lead to a lively discussion of all that is Green Bay Packers.
 

A little bit about myself. I am a freelance sports writer in Southern Illinois that has never lived and only visited twice in Green Bay. By all rights I guess I should have been St. Louis Cardinals or Chicago Bears (heaven forbid) fan, but fate made we a fan of the greatest sports franchise in the history of sports. I can't imagine rooting for any other football team.

I'm in my early 60's and became a Packerbacker on Sunday, December 19, 1965 when I was 12. We had come into town for Sunday dinner with my mother's parents, my grandparents, and at some point I asked my Grandpa who's the best team in the NFL. He pointed to the TV and said, "That one right there," as the Packers were playing the San Francisco 49ers in the doubleheader game.

I don't remember if a bolt of lightning hit me or I had an epiphany. I only remember that the result of that act made me a lifelong Packerbacker. By the way, I prefer Packerbacker, instead of Packer Nation. Every team, pro and college, is a nation of some sort, so to my mind Packer Nation is just one of a 1000 similar groups of fans. However, the name Packerbacker is an unique as the Packers fans themselves. I like the idea of being unique.

I was lucky to have been a Packerbacker for the last years of the Lombardi Era and the first two Super Bowls and not so lucky to have gone through the Wilderness Years when the Packers became a joke and a threat by coaches and general managers to keep their players in line or they would be traded to Green Bay as a punishment.

I've never wavered. I watched games when I could and read everything I could including subscribing to Packer Report. Remember this was all before the internet and where I live is Cardinal (now Rams) and Bear country. In fact, I live in a college town where over half of the student population are from Chicago. It can be rough on game days back in the day when the only games you could watch at the bars were the Packer-Bears games. There is a story about that I will post later.

I've been a working sports writer since the fall of 1998 and a regular on a sports radio show, so I think I do have some professional prospective to offer my opinions. And I do have opinions on the current state of the Green Bay Packers.

So welcome aboard and share your opinions on my opinions and others. But remember be respectful (even to Bears' fans even though they are never respectful to us) and lets have some fun.