November 2006 Archives
11/28/2006 Let's put the Seattle game behind us with a few post game links: GB Press Gazette and Seattle Post-Intelligencer game summaries. JSOnline's Bob McGinn and Madison.com's Madison.com's Jason Wilde columns. Also... McCarthy's post game press conference and Packers.com game notes. |
 |
|
| A quick summary of the Field Position Game. Before last night's game, Packers opponents had scored 66% of the time when they started at their own 40 or closer, but only scored 22% when starting at their own 39 or farther. More information from an earlier post. Seattle scored last night on drives from their own 20, 50, 38, 34,49 and the Packers' 44. Basically, Shauwn Alexander destroyed my theory that the Pack win when dominante the field position game. Seattle drives vs. Pack: Sea 25 - INT Sea 18 - INT Sea 28 - FG Sea 20 - INT Sea 20 - FG GNB 44 - FG Sea 37 - INT Sea 50 - FG Sea 22 - Punt Sea 38 - TD Sea 23 - TD Sea 49 - TD Sea 27 - Punt Sea 39 - Punt |
|
|
11/27/2006 "No question they have some players at the skilled positions... some great talent at receiver. You get some offensive line help, some defensive line and they might be in the hunt next year... we laughed at Brett when he said that they had some talented players." |
|
|
| Packers couldn't stop the run and tried to pass on just about every down in the second half. They drop their second straight and fall to 4-7. ESPN's Recap here and box score here. And...For once, ONCE, I agree with Joe Theisman. "Tony Corrente's call changed the complexity of this game," cried Theisman about the 3rd down helmet hit by Jenkins. I think Joe meant "composition". |
|
|
| My cousin Fitz is possibly god's gift to Madden; Give him Mike Vick and you have no chance. The only way I've learned to keep it close is to make him go the full field to score. It may help to have McCarthy play a little Madden against Fitz, because after reviewing the opponent's field position of our 2006 Packers, McCarthy should be punting the ball when he's near mid-field. Example: the week 4 loss to Philadelphia. Halfway through the third quarter, the Pack was down 10-9 and McCarthy went for a 60 yard field goal. The Pack lost 31-9. McCarthy should know that when opponents start on their own 40, or closer to the Packer's endzone, they have scored 66% of the time. But, when they start on their own 39 or further, they score only 22% of the time. Also: So when you watch tonight, and McCarthy decides to kick a 50 yard field goal, YELL REALLY LOUD AT THE TV. When they miss, the Seahawks are going to score. *** I reviewed the other team's drives from every game this season except for the lopsided losses to New England and Chicago. I've attached a spreadsheet with the details. |
|
|
11/26/2006 All reports seem to show that despite being listed as "questionable", Favre will be ready and in good shape on Monday night. It's his Ulnar nerve (aka the Funny Bone) and it is causing weakness in his pinky and ring finger on the throwing hand. According to John Clayton, this could hurt his accuracy, which was actually an issue vs. Patriots, before the injury. Luckily, the Seattle defense ain't great. They are 17th vs. the run and 18th vs. the pass. They gave up 262 yards rushing last week in a loss against San Francisco. Other Packer injuries: Chad Clifton returns, but... Nick Barnett is out, which means Hodge will get his first start. For Seattle, Shaun Alexander returned last week and, according to Holmgren, Hasselbeck will play on Monday. |
|
|
11/22/2006 WBAY is reporting that Favre participated in practice this morning. No official injury report has been filed by the Pack to the NFL. |
|
|
11/20/2006 Brett is now better, but Rodgers is done for the season with a broken foot. Packers.com has more info on the injuries. Is Don Majikowski available? No? Well, number 7 may play again this season. That's the number backup-backup Ingle Martin wears. |
|
|
11/19/2006
A couple of notes from Packerdom... What's with the size of the Hot Dogs at Lambeau? As a heterosexual, I felt awkward. Terrific exchange between fans: Fan 1 (drunk, slurring words): "Come on, Sherman. Throw the [fbomb] flag!" Fan 2 (sober): [pause] "Ah... Sherman?" Fan 3 (soberish): "Come on, Lombardi. Throw the flag!" Photo gallery here. | ||
| ||
| ||
Is Favre's injury serious? I guess we'll know more on Monday. However, TMJ4 in Milwaukee did some lip reading between McCarthy and Belichek during the handshake. McCarthy said he "thought he'd be ok". Favre is currently questionable for the Monday nighter versus Seattle. | ||
| ||
|
11/16/2006 It's a rematch of the 1997 Superbowl: Pack and Pats. New England is undefeated on the road; The Pack has only one win at home. And the Pats are a 5 point favorite. JSonline's preview here. Game time is Noon (central) and it's on CBS. So you Milwaukee High-Def Directv viewers that didn't pay the extra $99 for superfan? No HighDef packer game for you because CBS 58 is too cheap to spring for a HD feed. The GB Press Gazette on Brady and the Boston Globe on Favre. Jason Wilde explores more about why Favre's came back for '06. Meanwhile, Belichek lurks. The Globe's Pats blog really gets into the head of Belichek and his gameplan. Like this nugget: "We’re going to have to play a good football game on Sunday, we know that." Wow. No wonder this guy has got three rings. Injuries? Tauscher is out this weekend with an obscure groin injury. Tony Moll is going to take his place. The Packers continue to be pretty beat-up. But Morency and Miree are back. For the Pats, Rodney Harrison is still out. |
|
|
| Got to hand it to McCarthy. At 4-5, with one home victory, he thinks the Pack could be in the playoff hunt. Meanwhile, his Wednesday press conference had a few notables: |
|
|
11/13/2006 Allow me to avoid thinking about upcoming Pats game (losers Sunday to the Jets), just for one more post. The Packers are 4-5. They lost close games to New Orleans, St. Louis and Buffalo. If they had pulled out 2 of those three, they'd be 6-3 and tied for second place in the NFC. I still have them going 7-9... But 9-7 and a wildcard is not that outlandish of an dream. You gotta win: > at San Fran > vs Detroit > vs Viqueens And take 2 of 3: > vs Pats > at Seattle > vs. Jets *** WARNING: Dreaming about Packer-What-If scenarios usually leads to disappointment, anger, pain and sometimes large holes in dry-wall. | ||
| ||
| ||
Box score here and game summary here. Driver had a career day, going 191 yards and a TD. Favre and his offensive line are gelling - no sacks on Sunday. However, Tauscher suffered an injury to his right leg and didn't return. I'll find an update on Monday. Mccarthy in his post game press conference: I thought Brett played very well today. When you're throwing the ball 40-plus times, that's tough for a quarterback. You're putting a lot on his shoulders, and I thought he made clean decisions. I thought he had a good performance. Don't miss the GB Press Gazette's photos located here. | ||
| ||
|
11/9/2006 We're not the only ones who hate the 'Queens. Minnesota-ians don't like the 2006 team, either. Some Week 10 Viking news clippings: Mankato Press: "It hurts to watch the Vikings offense." The Pioneer Press thinks "You can't put lipstick on a pig and expect a miracle." Brad Johnson might have saved the 'queens in 2005, but they hate him this year. Antoine Winfield doesn't even like his own team. He called the 'Queens "predictable" and "unacceptable". Meanwhile, Darren Sharper had no comment. |
|
|
| The Bears suck. I cannot stand Tampa Bay and Dallas. But the Viqueens are the worst. I have a friend whose grandmother won't talk to her granddaughters because they married Vikings' fans. It's that kind of relationship. So in the spirit of hating the viqueens, here are a few quality Minnesota-hating links... (You betcha.) Get your official Vikings Suck gear here. The "Sex Boat" revisited on Deadspin.com. Yahoo Answers(tm) tries to come to answer why the Vikings Suck. And from YouTube... |
|
|
11/7/2006 If you don't live in Wisconsin or don't listen to local Wisconsin sports talk, you might not realize what a big deal that first-and-goal play has become. In a nutshell, everyone seems to think McCarthy is a dweeb for calling a slant play instead of letting Ahman punch it in. McCarthy even offered an apology this week. However, we kicked it up a notch tonight with some rumors that are circling cheeseland. According to some conspiracy theorists, this red-zone-pass-emphasis is intended to get Favre more TDs. More TDs this season would present Favre with an opportunity to break Marino's all-time TD pass record. Marino's record is 420; Favre is at 407. Why? Because McCarthy wants Favre to retire and wants Rodgers as the 2007 QB. |
|
|
11/5/2006 Turnovers and field position wreck the Pack's chance at making it back to .500. They're now 3 and 5 with a tough next game vs. the ViQueens. ESPN's game cap here and boxscore here. JSOnline.com Bob McGinn headline: "Hard to believe - Loss defies logic". McCarthy's post-game press conference addressed that goal line play: Q: On first-and-goal, what was the thinking in passing? Injuries? Woodson played and did fine. Jennings re-injured his bad ankle. Nick Collins left in the third with a back problem. It could be bad... stay tuned. Not a great day in Packerland. |
|
|
11/3/2006 Jennings practiced Thursday but Woodson did not. So it looks like we'll have Jennings on Sunday and Woodson will be deactivated. |
|
|
| Packers vs. Bills - Noon Game on Fox. INJURIES: Packers: Out: Morency Doubtful: Miree, Woodson Questionable: Hodge, DT Jenkins, Jennings Probable: Green, DT Jolly, DT Williams Woodson is most likely out of the game after suffering a knee injury vs. Arizona. He landed weird on a defensive play. Buffalo Questionable: WR Sam Aiken, DE Ryan Denney, G Tutan Reyes SCOUTING: PackerInsider's Buffalo scouting report (reg required). ESPN's preview. JSonline's preview. |
|
|
| Some recent articles of interest: Good longish article about Aaron Kampman by Tom Silverstein. A moving article about Punter Jon Ryan and his terminally ill father. Jason Wilde on ex-Favre backup and current Bill Craig Nall. Buffalo News.com on JP Losman's love of some Favre. |
|
|
11/2/2006 I know that I care way more about Greg Jennings than most people. This is because I'm a true Packer Backer and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I have Greg on my fantasy league. So here's the latest... he didn't practice on Wednesday and is currently listed as "Questionable" for the Buffalo game. McCarthy said that he may be able to get a full practice on Thursday or Friday. If so, he'll be ready to go on Sunday. If he doesn't practice during the week, then he'll probably be out again. |
|
|
11/1/2006 When I heard that Brett could set some sort of record this weekend for consecutive games without an interception, I knew I shouldn't post about it - because I'll surely jinx him. But unfortunately, there are bunch of articles about this "streak" so I guess I have to jinx poor Brett and post about it. Turns out he's thrown 106 passes and gone three whole games since his last INT. But his passer rating has not improved much. He's still 19th behind Brunell, Alex Smith, Kurt Warner, Jon Kitna, Damon Huard... Ah, hello? maybe someone needs to update the formula used in the passer rating? DAMON HUARD? |
