Packers Stomp Raiders, Easily Move to 13-0...

The Packers quietly moved to 13-0 in the wake of the Bears collapse against the Broncos. The boys in green and gold are 1 win away from clinching home-field advantage. They have already clinched the NFC North Division Title and a 1st round bye. All it will take now is one more victory against either the Chiefs, Bears, or Lions to seal the deal. 46-16 is pretty impressive, here's my analysis:

Things I Liked

DEFENSE - I was shocked to see how well the defense played. True to their form, they picked off Palmer 4 times and forced and recovered a fumble to total 5 turnovers for the game. They also put significant pressure on Palmer, even though they were only able to record 1 sack it was enough to have an effect on the game.

RYAN GRANT - Grant looked like his old self for the first time all season recording 85 yards on 10 carries and 2 TDs. Hopefully he can be consistent and the Packers' running attack will be at full force going into the playoffs.

JORDY NELSON - Jordy has scored a touchdown in every home game so far this season. With Greg Jennings' knee in question, he will be expected to step up even more.

MASON CROSBY - Mason carried his weight yesterday by converting all of his Field Goals. It made me wish i had him on my fantasy team.

Things I Didn't Like

INJURIES - Greg Jennings and Brandon Saine were both injured in the 3rd quarter. Jennings' injury was to his left knee and could be serious. His status is still in question. Saine's looked to be concussion-like and I am not too concerned. I also noticed Ryan Pickett walking to the locker room but don't have any information on that. I noticed that McCarthy quickly pulled Rodgers after that and Matt Flynn finished the rest of the game.

The only other thing I thought i might want to write about here was the offensive line as they gave up 3 more sacks. But I noticed that Derek Sherrod (2011 1st round pick)was getting reps at Left Tackle. So this could end up being a good thing and I will hope for the best on the Packers o-line front. There you have it, my analysis. Next week the Pack travel to Kansas City to take on the now head-coachless Chiefs. GO PACK!

Packers Dominate Broncos - Remain Undefeated

The defending Super Bowl champions looked like a well-oiled machine against the now 1-3 Denver Broncos, pummeling them with a score of 49-23. Here are my game notes:

Things I Liked

Aaron Rodgers - Anytime a QB throws for 400+ yards, 4 TDs, and runs for another 2...it impresses me. Rodgers has moved into elite status this year to join the likes of Tom Brady and Drew Brees, and I don't think I would even take one of those guys over him.

Mike McCarthy - We have been critical of McCarthy here at the Malnarn regarding his play calling. He tends to get conservative to try to protect a lead rather than building on it. Mike kept his foot on the gas against the Broncs and drove them into the frozen tundra!

Motivation - This team looks motivated to repeat. I don't see any complacency or apathy in the game. They want to win and are motivated to do what it takes to do it.

Things I Didn't Like

Pass Defense - Again, the pass defense gave up too many big plays. The Broncos aren't a good deep passing team and yet, the secondary still allowed them to gash them with big gains on several occasions.

Dom Capers - It seems to me that he has become the conservative playcaller. I don't know if it's that he's lazy or that opposing offenses are figuring out his schemes, but I'm not seeing the multiple-look dynamics that he used over the past 2 seasons.

That's really it. Not much can be said about a 49-23 blowout except that the Packers were obviously the better team and I don't think it will be long before Brady Quinn or Tim Tebow replaces Kyle Orton as the starter in Denver. Bring on the Falcons on Sunday night! GO PACK!

Tramon Williams Injury Update

It was a scary moment on Thursday night watching the replay of Tramon getting his arm squished in between two players. At that moment the thoughts running through my head were something like this:

"Oh no! Not again. There goes one of our best defensive players and his arm is going to be broken and he will be out for the season."

Well, it turns out that its looking like only a bruised shoulder. We are unsure at this point if he will miss any game time, but Coach Mike McCarthy is scheduled to discuss Tramon's status during Wednesday's press conference.

Also, if any of you are like me and looking for something to take up some time today, check out playerwives.com. Their site provided the image for this post. 

Who's to Blame?

After coming off a disappointing loss to the Queens making the Pack 4-3, it was reasonable to think that we would enter the second half of the season with a winning record. Even with 10 minutes left in the 4th quarter it looked like it was in the bag. The score was 28-17 when the Packers' special teams buckled for the second time in the game giving up a huge return which would result in a quick buccaneers' TD cutting the score back to 3. From there, the offense could not move the ball, and the defense could not stop Josh Freeman (rookie QB making his first start) ultimately ending in a loss, a 4-4 record, and a shower of Gatorade for Bucs' coach Raheem Morris' first NFL win. So, who's to blame for the loss? For the mediocre record? For the disappointing season thus far?

My vote...EVERYONE! The fact is that this team is just not as good as all packer fans thought during the pre-season. The defense still gets no pressure on the QB (the fact is that we're even worse than we were in 2008). The offense is productive, but can't move the ball when it really needs to. The O-line is still having trouble protecting Rodgers and Aaron is still having trouble getting rid of the ball quick enough. And don't even get me started on the special teams, I believe that they had the most to do with both of the last 2 losses. I think it all comes back to coaching.

Packers' President Mark Murphy has publicly come out and said that both Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson are being watched more closely now. And if they don't make the necessary changes in the final 8 games, I believe that at least 1 of them will be looking for a job come February.

I believe the talent is there and that we have the players to be a good team (we're only 5 starters different from the 2007 NFC Championship team). For some reason we just aren't able to put a 4-quarter game together on the field. Let's hope for some improvement this week against the Cowboys. I believe it will make or break the season. GO PACK!