Discount Double Check

I really hope to see both Rodgers and Raji doing this on Sunday afternoon...

Packers Do Enough to Squeak Past Bucs...10-0 and counting...

Thankfully, ugly wins count. It's the mark of a good team. When everything seems to go wrong and you still come away with a victory. The Packers did not look like an undefeated team yesterday against a sub-par Buccaneers squad, but a win is a win and the Pack are 1 step closer to making the playoffs. Here's my analysis:

Things I Liked

Jordy Nelson - He is becoming an excellent receiver, and just makes it that much harder for teams to defend the undefendable Packers' offense. I wish I had drafted him on my fantasy team.

BJ Raji - Raji didn't do anything special on Defense that I noticed. But it was fun to see him plow through the line on a 1 yard TD plunge for his 2nd career touchdown.

Tim Masthay - Masthay fumbled twice on the same play without being touched...normally this would be a bad thing. But anytime your punter scrambles for a 1st down rather than getting a punt blocked, it's a good thing. I laughed out loud, shook my head, and was happy when it happened. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

Donald Driver - Driver has quietly been having a solid season and is still an integral part of our offense. Didn't do anything spectacular, but had a few key catches that went relatively unnoticed. I think he deserves the credit for them.

Tramon Wiliams - Tramon came up with 2 Interceptions against the Bucs, making his season total 4. His 2nd also sealed the game for the Pack. As bad as this defense is, they seem to come up with a big play everytime it's needed.

Things I Did Not Like

Aaron Rodgers - Rodgers looked flustered and off target for a lot of the game. Granted he still threw for 299 yards and 3 TDs, but he also threw a costly INT. And when our defense plays that badly we can't afford for him to look bad at all.

Defense, defense, DEFENSE!!! - The defense was just flat out BAD. There is no excuse for there to be a wide open receiver on every play or for LeGarrett Blount to break 6 tackles and run for a 50+ yard TD. I keep expecting improvement, but it's just not happening.

Hopefully the defense comes to play on Thursday against the Lions. Happy Thanksgiving and GO PACK!

Catching Up - Sorry for the Delay

It’s been a while since our last post, but there is good news…IT’S FOOTBALL SEASON!!!! A lot has gone on in the past couple of months that we haven’t blogged about. Raji’s contract issues (resolved), injuries to offensive and defensive players, a traitor signed with the queens, 3 unbelievable pre-season games, a victory over da Bears (thank you Jay Cutler for those 4 ints), and an awful performance against the Bengals resulting in a loss.

In a nutshell, those are the major things that have happened since June. Sorry we missed them. Anyway, this season so far has been disappointing for me. The Pack gave us all visions of a division championship and hopes for a long play-off run during their domination in the preseason. The starting offense/defense outscored opponents 73-10. I don’t care who you are, that’s impressive! But something went seriously wrong when the regular season started, and I’m not sure what it is. I believe that the switch to 3-4 is transitioning just fine as can be seen by the 7 turnovers that they’ve forced in the first 2 games of the season. And when Raji enters the line-up I expect to see some noticeable improvement on the defensive side of the ball. The offense however, is a different story. They have no excuses. The line can’t protect Rodgers, the receivers are dropping balls that hit them in the hands, grant isn’t getting enough carries, and we’re ranked 25th in the NFL in passing offense. The truth is the Packers should have won the game against the Bears by a lot more than 6 points. Jay Cutler looked like Rex Grossman and gave the offense good field position and plenty of opportunities to score a ton of points, but the offense (other than a couple of good plays) didn’t look good at all. And against the Bengals Greg Jennings didn’t even have 1 catch. Rodgers has been hit and sacked way too many times. I think improved play from the o-line will do wonders for the offense. It will give Rodgers some confidence to step up in the pocket and not have to run for his life, and provide some stability for the running game. And if the receivers decide to stop dropping balls that would be a welcomed change as well.

I’m not out to bash the Pack, and I haven’t given up on the season like a lot of the nay-sayers whose comments I’ve read on other blogs. I think there’s a favorable schedule ahead for the Packers, and I believe that the offense will rebound this week against the Rams. Plus Raji should return for his first regular season NFL game this week, which should prove helpful in stopping the run. GO PACK!