Two Thoughts

Peppers Blew It Again

Heading into the overtime the Packer defense was spent. It had played a good three quarters, but reverted to old habits in the fourth quarter leaving receivers wide open and not getting pressure on Carson Palmer. Andrew asked me if I thought we would win it in overtime and I didn't hesitate to say, "NO".

Our only chance was to get the ball and go down and score a touchdown. However, the Packers aren't that lucky, so the result of the "flip" was probably going to be in the Cardinals favor. If the defense was first on the field the game was over and, of course, it was.

How can anyone with a brain cell left firing could leave Larry Fitzgerald uncovered in overtime? On that play Julius Peppers was out of position by breaking coverage when he should have been in between Palmer and Fitzgerald.

Mike McCarthy said simply, 'blown coverage". If Peppers held his assignment he could have intercepted the long slow cross field pass or tipped it or forced Palmer to stop scrambling to square up and throw the ball over Peppers and if Palmer did do that then Mike Daniels would have hit him or sacked him or Palmer would have just kept running and I will assure you he would not have run 75 yards down field. If given a choice between covering an immobile Palmer or a wide receiver, who would you choose?

Peppers' decision making will not earn him a spot on the recruiting list for Mensa. He was the genius who told Morgan Burnett to sit down after he intercepted Russell Wilson in last year's Seattle Collapse instead of continuing to run and try to score the game-clinching touchdown which many people showed he would have done.

So once again, once again, once again, once again (get my drift) Dom Capers' defense was found lacking at crunch time. First, the Packers can't play coverage. NEVER. Second, the Packers can't tackle downfield. NEVER.

The only hope was to hold the Cardinals to a field goal on a 1st and Goal from the five, but Bruce Arians had the momentum against a stunned defense and he grabbed that momentum by the horns. He immediately called a play that worked and I guarantee you Mike McCarthy would have called a play that lost yards or would have taken a timeout instead of taking advantage of the momentum giving the defense time to regroup.

Who's The Offensive Genius Now

My second thought is why can't the Packers call plays like Bruce Arians. Our plays in the flat gain no or negative yards while theirs gain 8 or more. Mike McCarthy needs to watch this tape very closely to see how a real offensive genius calls plays that are designed to gain yards and not waste early downs.

“I play to win,” Arians said and Mike McCarthy plays not to lose. You can see which approach wins ballgames.

Rodgers Does It Again

Aaron Rodgers did everything he could to win this ballgame. He threw a couple weird passes and two interceptions he shouldn't have (I still think something is wrong with him and I hope it's physical, so it can be healed), but he is our best player and he kept us in the game and he should have been allowed to win the game.

Mike McCarthy blew the only chance the Packers had to win when he elected to go to overtime, instead of hitting the stunned Cardinals defense in the mouth by going for the win with a two-point conversion.

McCarthy has shone over the past two seasons he has a lack of confidence in Rodgers being able to win a game. He has taken the ball out of his hands at crucial moments and did again at the end of regulation yesterday. He should have immediately sent Rodgers and the offense back on that field to go for the win. He did the exact same thing last year at the end of regulation of the Seattle Collapse when he elected to play for the game-tying field goal instead of going for the win. Then the same thing happened in that overtime period.

Yogi Berra said it best even though he wasn't talking about McCarthy and Dom Capers, "Déjà vu all over again."

Moments like that are when legends are made. Sadly Rodgers never got the chance to have his either last year or yesterday. As Klingon officer Kor once said, "A shame. It would have been glorious."