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!

Injury Update: Alex Green

Rookie RB Alex Green sustained a season-ending knee injury on the opening kickoff against the Vikings. Green did not contribute much to the offense, but has been improving weekly in special teams play. I do not forsee this as being a huge hit to the team so long as the health of Ryan Grant and James Starks remains intact. The Packers are weighing all options to replace Green on the roster. My best guess is that they would re-sign Dmitri Nance who was cut at the end of the preseason.

Packers Outplay Bears, Move to 3-0

It's always nerve racking for me leading up to the Packers-Bears matchup. Especially the one at Soldier Field. There aren't many things that can slow down the Packers' potent offense, but the bears defense and the crappy field in Chicago seem to do a decent job every year.

But it seemed like McCarthy and the Packers had a great gameplan ready this time to kill the bears...Here are my thoughts:

WHAT I LIKED:

JerMichael Finley - This is the most obvious of anything that we saw in the game. Finley finally showed the dominance we have been expecting of him all season. I expect this to be a trend that will continue and the Packers' offense will only get better the more that Finley is involved in it.

Ryan Grant - Grant put up 89 yards on 15 carries. We had thought up until yesterday that Starks was starting to move into the featured back role for the Packers, but seeing Grant play well is a good sign for us.

Matt Forte - We have agreed all week that the Packers' focus needed to be to stop RB Matt Forte and that if the defense could do that, it would be a W for the green and gold. Forte had 2 yards on 9 carries and only a couple of catches for minimal yardage...impressive.

Morgan Burnett - With the loss of Nick Collins, someone in the secondary needed to step up. Burnett looked great yesterday with 2 INTs. Let's hope this continues.

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:

Charlie Peprah - I understand that Peprah is a significant downgrade from 3-time Pro Bowl Safety Nick Collins, but Charlie was out of position, missed tackles, and was the reason for several big plays for the Bears. I expect him to improve, but we are lucky that it didn't result in a closer game or a loss.

Penalties - Thankfully none of these killed us like they did in the Packers-Bears game last October, but there were too many false starts and delay of games. Simple mental errors that can easily be avoided.

Bryan Bulaga - Bulaga's injury raises concerns with our already shake offensive line. Marshall Newhouse is the backup, and while he didn't make any glaring errors that I saw, I have a feeling that if Bulaga's injury is lingering we may be in for some trouble.

Pass Rush - The Pack's D amassed 3 sacks and a few more hits on Cutler, but I was not impressed. With the Bears depleted offensive line, I was expecting Jay to be on his back all afternoon. This needs to improve for the Packers to get to Super Bowl XLVI.

Special Teams - The crazy play the end of the game concerned me, we got lucky with the holding call. But I just don't understand why we would kick the ball to Hester at all. Crosby needs to kick touchbacks every time and Masthay should just kick the ball out of bounds.

All in all, I am very happy with the win and it's great to be on top of the division (in a tie with the LIONS?! Crazy!). I feel a lot better after the win yesterday than I did before. Bring on the Broncos! GO PACK!

Starks vs. Grant

To begin the 2011 Regular Season, Mike McCarthy and the Packers came out with a true two-headed running attack with both James Starks and Ryan Grant splitting carries. In the first game, the Packers started with Ryan Grant getting the majority of the first half carries and Starks taking over as the game went along.

Ryan Grant finished the game with 9 carries for 40 yards, averaging 4.4 yards per carry. Starks had about the same workload and similar results carrying the ball 12 times for 57 yards and 4.8 yards per carry.

First of all, the Packers are the defending Champs. Last season the leading rusher on the team was Brandon Jackson, and now, we not only have 1 healthy and talented running back, but two!! And they are competing for the top spot!! This is great news to me, and aside from trying to figure out which one I want on my Fantasy Football team, I don't care who gets more carries at this point, because they are both better than Brandon Jackson.

After watching the first game, I would have to give Starks the edge, just based on his impressive touchdown run and his strength and size. I think that either of these guys can carry a larger load for the Packers, but one thing is for certain...We are a completely different team with a running game, so everyone else better watch out, because this is a better team than the one that won the Super Bowl back in February!

1-0! A Solid Start to a Title Defense...

Packers 42 - Saints 34. The opening game of the 2011 NFL season was nothing short of a thriller. In fact, it came down to the last play of the game where the Packers' worn out defense made a crucial stop on the goal line to bring home the victory and start the season off 1-0. There were a lot of positives in the game, and a few negatives. Here's my take:

THINGS I LIKED-
Randall Cobb - Easily the biggest surprise of the game, the rookie WR out of Kentucky dazzled us all with his 2 touchdown performance. He took in a 35 yard catch and run on a slant (which he admitted after the game was a mistake in that he ran the wrong route) and brought back the first kick return TD for the Packers in over 10 years from 108 yards deep (which he admitted after the game, by team rules, he should have knelt). In spite of these 2 "mistakes", Cobb proved to be another valuable weapon in the arsenal that is the Packers' potent offense.

Aaron Rodgers - Rodgers came out of the gates firing on all cylinders, throwing 3 touchdowns in the first quarter. Granted, he slowed down after that and missed a few throws. But all in all, Rodgers looked sharp and is poised for a great season.

JerMichael Finley - Finley was not as involved as I anticipated he would be, and McCarthy could be easing him back in due to his minor injuries. But when he was on the field, he was impossible for the saints to cover. There is no team in the league that can cover the Packers' receiving corps.

Offensive Line - I will admit that I was concerned about the line going into the season because of the issues I noticed in the pre-season. Even though they gave up a few sacks, I thought that overall they did a pretty good job of protecting Rodgers and opening up running lanes. I believe that they will continue to improve going forward.

Running Backs - It was hard to determine who was the better RB last night. Grant started off the game well, and just when it seemed like he was the sure fire starter, James Starks took over and looked even better. I think that this will cause problems for opposing defenses knowing that they can't just try to cover the pass anymore and will have to deal with the Packers' in 2 different dimensions.

THINGS I DID NOT LIKE-

Missed Tackles - I don't have the exact number, but I'm guessing it was somewhere in the teens. There were several occasions where the defense looked like they were going to make a stop, they were in position, and then bounced off of the ball carrier. This is actually the reason why Tramon Williams is now injured. If AJ Hawk makes the tackle, Tramon is still healthy...This will need to be improved upon if the Packers are going to be successful this year.

Tramon Williams' Injury - The worst part about this is that it could have been completely avoided. We do not know how serious it is yet, but it could potentially have a big impact on the season. Jarrett Bush is a decent CB, but is a significant drop off from Williams. We will keep our fingers crossed that Tramon will be back on the field soon.

3rd Downs - It seemed the defense could not get off the field on 3rd downs. They either missed a tackle or let a receiver get wide open. Granted the saints offense is good and Brees is an elite QB, but elite defenses need to be able to make stops more often than the Packers did last night.

There you have it. My thoughts. It was a great win for the Packers and all-in-all I think the things I didn't like are fixable and will be addressed and improved upon in the coming weeks. For now I am going to enjoy being 1-0 and watching football the rest of the weekend! GO PACK!

Happy Manlarn Day!

Although we have many loyal followers here at The Malnarn, few actually know the origin of the sites name. There was once a very dear friend to the creators of this blog that we commonly referred to as Malnarn. She was a very nice girl, and although we had a falling out these days, this website was named in her honor, and today is her Birthday!

This will be the first annual edition of The Malnarn Day Preseason Post, full of news, predictions, insight and pure poppycock.

The NFL Lockout is water under the bridge and football is back! The Packers are coming into the season as the team to beat and the favorite to win the Super Bowl, and with good reason as we have some key players coming back from injuries who certainly can improve the team. Much like Malnarn, these players are coming out of hiding in the swamps and are ready to pounce on their competition.

As is typical of the Pack, we did little through free agency this season to improve our squad, and may have arguably moved back a couple of steps with the departure of Cullen Jenkins and Darren Colledge. Jenkins leaves a big hole to fill at DE, and with the injury to Mike Neal, that hole is a glaring one to us at The Malnarn.

Several rookies will be expected to make an impact early in the season. Through two preseason games, Randall Cobb looks like lighting in a bottle. He is already a little banged up with a couple of bruised knees, but he has looked dynamic in the return game and could be dangerous anytime he gets the ball in his hands. I'm excited about Cobb and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do this season.

Alex Green is another skill position player who can positively effect our already potent offense. Green is going to be thrown into the running back mix with Ryan Grant and James Starks this season. The Packers seem to really like this kid and want to get him into the mix and get the ball in his hands.

Aaron Rodgers is going to have more weapons that he had last season and I don't think there is a team in the league that is going to be able to cover them all, especially with Finley back in the lineup.

There has been a lot of talk this week about Ryan Grant's future with the organization. I believe this is mostly speculation, but the emergence of James Starks last year in the playoffs and the ability of Alex Green could lead to Grant being less valuable to the Packers. Grant did restructure his contract earlier in the month, taking less money but getting it all guaranteed. This could be a sign that he has a home in Green Bay for at least the 2011/2012 season. We will just have to wait and see what happens as final cuts in the NFL will occur September 3rd.

When it comes to The Malnarn, there is always a lot of discussion about the Packers and the NFL in general between myself and my co-editor. We are often on the same page but there are times when we don't always see eye to eye on topics. For this reason, I am going to make some predictions for the upcoming season that he may not agree with.

#1: James Jones will take over Donald Driver's spot as the #2 WR. It was clear this offseason that Aaron Rodgers wanted to keep Jones around. James Jones has a ton of talent that last season was often trumped by dropped passes. I think that Jones is going to break out this season and show that he is on his way to being a very good wide receiver in this league. I expect him to step up and take over as the #2 WR on the team, and although I still think Driver is going to play a role in the offense and get his catches, I think that Jones will start to take some of his targets.

#2: Clay Matthews will lead the league in Sacks. Last season Clay had 6 sacks in the first two games. It came out earlier this preseason that last year Clay played with a stress fracture in his leg or foot, I don't remember which, but the bottom line is that when he is healthy, there is no stopping him.

#3: Alex Green takes a larger share of running back duties than you expect. One of my favorite things about the NFL is the NFL Draft. I always love watching the draft and waiting to see what the Pack does. I remember hearing a little about Green prior to the draft, but it was nothing compared to what i'm hearing coming out of Green Bay's training camp and what i've seen so far this preseason. The Packers are looking for ways to get the ball into Green's hands and I think that is whats going to happen during the season. We here at the Malnarn see the Pack going with a true "running back by committee" strategy this season and we expect Alex Green to be a surprise this season and prove to be a great draft pick.

#4: The Bears will still suck. Regardless of how the Bears were last season, making it to the NFC Championship, they will always suck. I continue to hate the Bear Nation with a passion and I continue to bash them with every chance I get. Watching Jay Cutler cry on the sidelines to end their season was one of the greatest gives I've ever received. This season the Bears have made some serious moves in Free Agency...just kidding, they got Roy Williams and Marion Barber. This is so laughable because everyone in Chicago thinks that Roy Williams is going to lead the league in receiving, all because out of his lackluster seasons that compile an average at best NFL career, his best season was under Mike Martz, now offensive coordinator for the bears. So obviously, it makes complete sense that after doing nothing in Dallas for a couple years he will come into Chicago and be a top WR. Again, I'm completely kidding. The bears suck, Roy Williams sucks, and I smile everytime I think of him being the #1 receiver. I'm putting Chicago in the #2 spot in the division, but the Bears still suck.

That concludes my predictions for the start of the season. I would imagine they will all be correct. We now have less than two weeks until the Packers season debut against the Saints. All we can do now is sit back, relax, and get ready to defend our title!! That being said, happy birthday to Malnarn and stop back often for more award winning blogging from us at The Malnarn!

About What We Expected...

The Bills are probably the worst team in the NFL, so the 34-7 victory comes as no surprise. Here are my notes:

Clay Matthews = still awesome (Defensive Player of the Week)

Ryan Grant = missed. Jackson and Kuhn are not going to cut it, Thompson will have to break out of his comfort zone and trade for someone who can get the job done.

Chad Clifton = getting old. This is also not new news, but Bulaga saw some significant playing time against the Bills. I like that he's starting to see the field, but it's not a good sign if Clifton is injured.

This week we travel to Soldier Field to take on da bears. Cutler and the offense have looked much more impressive so far this season under Mike Martz's direction. I think that Chef Dom has a special recipe cooked up for that attack though. GO PACK!

The Claymaker Strikes!

It was ugly…but it counts! The Pack looked like the better team during the first half on Sunday vs the Eagles, but the 2nd half was a different story. Michael Vick looked like the Pro Bowl QB for the Atlanta Falcons that seems like such a distant memory, and almost pulled the comeback victory that would have certainly won him the starting job in Philly (if it hasn’t already). But a win is a win, and we’re in 1-0.

Here is what I noticed in the game:

CLAY MATTHEWS IS AWESOME! He looked like a pro bowler. If he continues play like that, he will certainly be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year for 2010.

Ryan Grant out for the season. This is a HUGE blow to the offense. With Brandon Jackson and newly acquired Dimitri Somethingorother (who cares what his real name is), the running game will be suspect to say the least. Let’s hope that either Jackson will emerge as a great RB, or that Thompson will be willing to trade for a decent one (i.e. Marshawn Lynch, etc).

Tramon Williams looked solid. He looked like he deserved the be the starter. He didn’t give up any big plays or commit any pass interferences. Let’s hope that good play continues.

Morgan Burnett solid as well. Didn’t see anything that led me to believe that he wont be a good starter for years to come in the Green & Gold.

Sam Shields. This is definitely the weak spot on the defense. Sheilds is fast as lightning, but made a bunch of rookie mistakes, and the better QBs in the league will pick on him all year.

AJ Hawk did not play. With the nickel and dime defenses on the field the whole game, Hawk did not have a chance to get into the game at all. This will change against more run-heavy teams and I’m not concerned. It does say something about his value…especially for how much he’s being paid.

That’s a quick recap. Bring on the Bills! GO PACK!

Packers Sweep Da Bears Thanks to Defense!

After the dust settled, the Packers were 9-4 and in prime position for a wild-card playoff berth, while the Bears are now mathematically out of the playoff race. It wasn't pretty, but we've come a long way since the embarrassing loss to Tampa in November. Despite Ryan Grant's 137 yards rushing (with 2 TDs) and Rodgers throwing no INTs (even though he did have a screwy fumble that lead to the 2nd TD of the game for the bears), the Pack just couldnt seem to get anything going on the offensive side of the ball. The defense looked good again, with the exception of a couple of TD tosses by Cutler. 3 sacks, and 2 picks (and another 1 or 2 dropped) guaranteed a winning season for the boys from Green Bay.

Things I liked: Ryan Grant running tough. Pressure by the d-line and LBs. Improved play from Tramon Williams (with the exception of the 2nd quarter TD he gave up). The fact that the Bears gave up so much for a QB that isn't any better than Rex Grossman.

Things I didn't like: Mason Crosby missing another makeable FG (that's 6 out of the last 7 games that he's missed one). Rodgers holding the ball too long...again. Kicking FGs in the red zone.

All in all, it's a win and it was against Chicago so I'm happy. And with the flailing Steelers, the miserable Seahawks, and a Cardinals team that will likely be resting it's starters, the Pack are in good shape to make the playoffs this year! GO PACK!

Ahman Green & Gold

The Packers re-signed veteran and 2nd all-time leading rusher for the Green & Gold this week. I'm intrigued by the move, but I believe it's a good one...or at least the idea is good. The packers have had the youngest roster in the NFL for 4 years running and although it's a talented group, when someone gets hurt the youth of this team shows. I don't think that the impact of Ahman Green will be seen directly on the field on Sundays, but it does provide a solid 3rd down back with great hands coming out of the backfield and more importantly it provides veteran leadership to help develop young players like Brandon Jackson, DeSean Wynn, and even Ryan Grant.

The fact is that this team needs to make more moves like this and the signing of Tauscher. Not necessarily to start, but to provide depth and reliability. These guys aren't going to wow you with their play, but they've proven that they can do the job sufficiently enough.

There are still question marks on these guys (Green & Tauscher) as far as their health and ability to keep up with the game at their age (early to mid 30s). But regardless, I think it's good that Thompson is realizing that there is a need for veteran leadership on this team...even if it comes from the bench.

GO PACK!

Comments for an Un-Watched Packer Game

Well it turns out that they blacked out the Packer game yesterday so I didn't end up seeing it. I am going to make some comments based on what I heard though. So here goes...

Sounds like we started pounding the ball with our running game more against the Rams and it sounds like Ryan Grant is looking strong, not overly impressive, but strong. Once again it sounds like the main offensive issues are with the line. I am very nervous with the upcoming game against the Vikings and their extremely tough defensive line. Aaron Rodgers handled the pressure fairly well as he put up some good passing numbers. And FINALLY our recievers were catching the ball. Donald Driver leading the way and Jennings having a few grabs which is a step up from last game. I can't say enough how crucial Jennings is to our offense.

Defensively we played basically a 3-5 defense with 5 linebackers on the field and only 1 safety. I think that we got away with it because we were playing the Rams. We could really use Atari Bigby back and healthy. Overall, I think that the Pack have a long, long way to go before they are a legitimate playoff team like we should be.