I Feel Sorry For Carson Palmer, But It Could Have Been Worse

Carson Palmer's Worst Nightmare Came True

Tick, Tock, the clock is running out for Carson Palmer and yesterday facing the biggest game of his professional career he laid an egg. Unlike the "man-child" that bested him Palmer is a class act and I felt sorry for him as the interceptions mounted and his chance for a Super Bowl may have gone by the boards forever.

Palmer threw 4 interceptions and lost two fumbles in the debacle, but if misery loves company then he has plenty of company with 15 other quarterbacks having worse days, including 6 Hall of Famers.

Another Thought on the Final Game

Someone In Arizona Was Happy And It Wasn't Olivia Munn

The final two games of the 2015 season left hope that the future won't be so bleak, but also left a bad taste in my mouth as old problems and tendencies raised their ugly heads with another early exit from the playoffs when the Packers should have been playing at the Panthers this week for another chance to return to the Super Bowl, despite having a team that is NOT really Super Bowl quality.

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?

Hopefully There Will Be a Redemption in the Rematch in the Desert

Looking For 'The Redemption in the Rematch in the Desert'

Three weeks ago the Packers were riding high on a three-game winning streak having averaged 28 points a game heading to Glendale, Arizona to face one of the strongest teams in the league - the Arizona Cardinals. Three hours later Aaron Rodgers was pulled from the game mercifully after being sacked 8 times and the Packers were embarrassed with a 38-8 loss.

The game hurt the Packers psyche so much they let the hated Minnesota Vikings not only beat them at Lambeau Field, but take away the North title the Packers have held for four straight seasons.

Last week The Hangover of the Disaster in the Desert was still being felt for another quarter as the Packers fell behind 11-0 to another team that was coming on late in the season - the Washington Redskins.

Mojo is Back

The Smiles and Mojo Were Back

I didn't get a chance to see the Packers win over Washington until Monday because I was covering a women's college basketball game and didn't get over to the game until the score was 32-18 in the fourth quarter.

Aaron Rodgers addressed what had happened and who am I to say anything different, “This is huge for us, it really is. I talked a lot the last couple of weeks about being able to turn it on. A lot of you probably thought that this was lip service. But we just needed a game like this to get our mojo back. We got our confidence going. I said this week, it just takes one — one performance to get us going back in the right direction and believing we can make a run.”

Offensive mojo has been lacking since Week 3 of the season and team mojo has been lacking since coming back from the Bye Week. I finally watched the entire game and it seemed to me several things were going on.

There's No More Time to Wait

The Scene of a Crime or a Resurgence?

The playoffs are here and so are the Packers for the seventh season in a row, but this is not your father's Green Bay Packers playing today and not even your cousin's Packers of last season.

The Packers limp in with a myriad of problems, mainly on the offense, while the Washington Redskins, perennial sad sacks of the league, as the hot team, especially at home, and in most cases the favorite. The final word on predictions by NFL.com has the Redskins winning 27-17.

Another NFL.com predictor has the Packers winning if certain stars align and the world is not topsy-turvy. But the world is topsy-turvy with Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins, of all people, having a better season than the best quarterback in the NFL Aaron Rodgers. More this prediction at the end.

Two Areas of Concern Heading Into The Playoffs

'Mr. Rodgers'

Besides Aaron Rodgers looking more like Mr. Rogers and Eddie Lacy like Eddie "The Eagle" the most disappointing areas of the 2015 Packers offense are the offensive line and the wide receivers.

A Tale of Two Players

The Season of Our Discontent

This season of our discontent can best be reflected by the play of two key players on the offense, quarterback Aaron Rodgers and running back Eddie Lacy.

Aaron Rodgers Confident in the Pocket Against the Seahawks

Something is wrong with Rodgers and it's not Olivia Munn or a shoulder injury. Mentally he is screwed up. He was candid about being scared at the end of the Panther game explaining why he missed seeing a wide open Randall Cobb in the endzone (that may have been the last time Cobb was open this season).

Sad State of Affairs

As Always Aaron Rodgers is the Key to Victory

The Packer season has at least two games left with the Packers assured of the third seed or the fifth seed in next week's playoffs.

If the Packers win then they host the wild card playoff game against the sixth seed, which would be against the Vikings if the Seahawks beat the Cardinals or against the Seahawks if Seattle loses. If the Packers lose then they hit the road against the fourth seed Washington.

The best scenario might be to lose and go to Washington that hosting either Seattle or Minnesota. It's sad to think about how far the Packers have fallen under Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy when it would be better to play a road game than play at Lambeau Field.