Thank God for the Seahawks

Ever since the Failed Mary I would never have thought I would be singing the praises of the Seattle Seahawks, but today I can truly say, “Thank God for the Seahawks”.

Now why would I say that? It’s very simple Seahawks General Manager John Schneider (a former Packer) and/or Head Coach Pete Carroll were the only people to want former Ted Thompson Aaron Rodgers heir apparent Brett Hundley and thank God they were desperate enough to want him.

Let the Games Begin

The start of the season is now upon us with the hated Seattle Seahawks coming to Lambeau Field for the doubleheader game on FOX on Sunday.

In the latest NFL Power Rankings on NFL.com the Seahawks are rated No. 1 and the Packers No. 4. I guess that is about right with the Seahawks ahead of the Packers, but I think the pickers aren’t thinking enough about the Packers defense being a liability and the Packers should be a bit lower.

Season And Future At A Crossroads This Week

I know I've said this before, but the game against the Seahawks at Lambeau Field will determine the future of the Green Bay Packers in the short term and the long term.

 

General Manager Ted Thompson and Head Coach Mike McCarthy have backed the Packers in a corner this season having to win the last six games in order to keep their playoff streak alive and, to be brutally honest, nothing more than that because Thompson has left the 2016 Packers without enough talent to seriously content for the Super Bowl.

 

After wins over the Eagles and Texans following four straight losses to teams the Packers should have been able to beat (Falcons, Colts, Titans and Redskins) and seeing the Packers Power Ranking drop to 24 and sitting not only behind the Lions, of all teams, but also behind the Vikings after letting the Vikings win the North Division with a victory over the Packers at Lambeau Field the current owners of the mantle of Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Ron Wolf and Mike Holmgren have put the Packers on a course the "Tedders" and Ask Vic have been afraid of.

 

The Proof Is In The Predictions

Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy Head Out The Gangway to Give Their
State of the Packers Address

The Trust in Ted folks scream every time someone says anything bad about General Manager Ted Thompson or even question his decisions, but maybe they should take off those blacked out glasses and open their eyes to see what's actually happening with the Packers and not this load of BS coming from Thompson and CEO Mark Murphy with their delusional statements coming from 1265 Lombardi Avenue.

Master of Their Domain

 

After Thursday's Miracle in Motown the Packer players had a weekend off to enjoy the win and prepare for the final month on the season. I also enjoyed the weekend with prep basketball games Friday and Saturday night won by the local teams and a very enjoyable Sunday starting with the Collapse in ChiTown and finishing with the Seahawk Slaughter before hosting the chili supper birthday party of my 94-year old uncle. It was a great weekend indeed.

Final Thoughts on Sherman and Crosby

I'm still loving it (sorry McDonald's) - the win over the Packers new BEF (Best Enemy Forever) - and before I move on the Monday Night Football against the Kansas City Chiefs a couple of observations.

It pays to target "The Mouth That Roars". The unwanted one - old man James Jones - beat Richard Sherman for the first touchdown of the game. Later on the disputed offside-flinch play Sherman was called for a 52-yard interference play setting up a Mason Crosby field goal.

Richard Sherman doing what he does so well

The previous two games against the Seahawks were highlighted by stroking Sherman's immense ego by totally ignoring him in the season opener last season and, for some odd reason, never throwing at him after he injured his arm in the playoff collapse.

Can You Say 2-0, Baby!!!!!!!!!!!!

The losing streak is over. The Seahawks have finally been plucked. The Bears (0-2) lost and the Lions (0-2) lost to the Vikings (1-1). After two games the Packers lead the North and are tied for the lead in the NFC and the NFL.

 

Full Disclosure up front. I predicted a 35-24 loss while wishing I was wrong. I got my wish, but you all have to understand something I'm the pessimist in our Packer Backer group while Timmer is the optimist and Andrew jumps off the couch and cusses as he blocks our view of the TV. We all do our jobs. I, of course, AM the "Pouring of the Beer" with help from Andrew, Andrew, the pouring machine.

 

The Green Bay Packers did a lot of good things Sunday night, including overcoming the glaring deficiency of Dom Capers not making adjustments at halftime and the opposing team always coming out and owning the third quarter.

 

However, this time the Packers fans, James Starks, Aaron Rodgers, Randall Cobb and my vote for game MVP Jayrone Elliott stepped up in the fourth quarter to bring the victory home.

 

Other big time contributors were right tackle Don Barclay (Turkey Leg), wide receiver Ty Montgomery (Turkey Leg), nose tackle B. J. Raji (Turkey Leg), wide receiver James Jones (Turkey Leg), tight end Richard Rodgers (Turkey Leg) and linebacker Nick Perry (Chicken Leg).

 

I also want to give a complete Butterball Turkey dinner to the Packers special teams. Mason Crosby didn't come close to missing a kick from every distance going 4-for-4 on field goals (54, 44, 21, 18) and 1-for-1 on extra points (33). The kickoff coverage team had the Seahawks bottled up inside their 20 on six of his seven kickoffs. Punter Tim Masthay had a good night. Finally and more importantly there was not a penalty on special teams.

I have noticed over the years that the Packer fans at Lambeau Field aren't very vocal and it seemed Coach Mike McCarthy did too, because he made a point during the week to ask for some noise Sunday night. Lambeau Field was rocking, except for the third quarter, but they came back in the fourth quarter when the Packers needed them the most. TWO THUMBS UP WITH A BEER BELLY CHASER.

Final Thoughts and Prediction on Seahawks Week

Packer Cheerleaders

I was sent an article about how Aaron Rodgers was the top quarterback in the league as decided by some pundit as though his opinion meant something to me. If I want someone's opinion the only people I would like to see what their opinion of Rodgers is Vince Lombardi (and he isn't talking these days) and Bart Starr (and sadly he isn't either). Beyond them the only opinion I care about is mine and I hope you feel the same.

 

I don't look at the subjective rankings by the 100 ex-football players that populate the airways these days because that is just their opinion based on nothing. Most of them just talk bullshit, especially Michael Irvin and Deion Sanders, who don't even get up to BS most of the time, just shit.

 

Aaron Rodgers. If I were to rank Rodgers right now I would look at cold hard stats, but after just one week even the stats don't mean anything because they are clouded by who they played in the only game that has been played.

Countdown to Seahawks

The dreaded Seahawks are coming to town to play on NBC's Sunday Night Football and besides having to play a team that seems to have the Packers' number lately (Failed Mary, the opening season 36-16 loss the next year and the worst collapse in NFL playoff history in terms of time it took) we have to suffer through the over-bloviations (I know that's an over exaggeration of the term which means to discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner) of Chris Collinsworth, who has never seen a player on either team at any position that wasn't the best in football. I live in Southern Illinois and can't get any other play-by-play that isn't somehow ahead of the TV or behind the TV by a few seconds. I am doomed to suffer the slings and arrows of not only Collinsworth, but, I fear, another loss to the pompous and boastful Seahawks.

Winning TD over Tramon Williams in the playoffs

The Packers are coming off an uneven effort against the Bears, which if they had played another team that didn't have Cutler on it probably would have lost. Take that Ask Vic. In your eye with an apple pie. It gripes my butt (and I have a thing on it I'm about will have removed to prove it) to be scolded by insecure fans when us (I've been a Packer Backer since 1965) who have been through the Wilderness Years and didn't jump ship point out the deficiencies of the current Ted Thompson teams (yes, I said it, you Trust in Ted sycophants).

New Packer Coaching Staff

The off-season of our discontent finally bore fruit today when Coach Mike McCarthy unveiled his 2015-16 coaching staff. I can't say I'm very excited about the moves, but...well, let's leave it at that for the moment.

First let's look at my checklist for the coaching staff this off-season.

1. Fire Special Teams Coach Shawn Slocum. (Check). This needed to be
   done years ago. While I'm more than happy Slocum is gone, I'm less than
   happy his assistant has been elevated to the job. Mmmmm, I think I've
   seen this movie before. When was it? Mmmmmm, Oh, yeh. It was on Jan.
   13, 2009 when a certain Shawn Slocum was promoted to take over for the
   retired or fired Bob Stock after spending three years as his assistant. Ron
   Zook has only been Slocum's assistant for one season, so maybe his
   incompetence hasn't stuck on him yet. My opinion is just making a change
   at the top is not enough. Someone from outside is needed to replace a terrible special teams unit that has been bad for a decade. (Uncheck).
2. Fire Mike McCarthy play caller. (Check). McCarthy's second half conservatism has irked me for many years. I can literally tell what will happen after halftime and I've been right. When the offense has been on afterburners in the first half it grinds to a halt in the second half - not because of defensive adjustments, but because of McCarthy starting to run out the clock on the first offensive series of the third quarter. Hooray!!!!
   Tom Clements taking over may or may not be a good thing, but I'll give him a chance. (Still check).
3. Fire Dom Capers. (Uncheck). PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE make it 3-for-3. I'm waiting, but I'm not holding my breath. If Capers was to fired t then we would know it. But adding a new assistant coach and no announcement means I will end up 2-for-3. I hate being 2-for-3. (Future no
   check).

 

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.