Packers-Giants Divisional Playoff Preview

If any of you don't know, whether it's because you stumbled upon this by mistake or because you are one of our Chinese followers and don't get American football news, the Giants defeated the Falcons 24-2 on Sunday and advanced to the NFC Divisional Playoff round. They will go to Green Bay to face the Packers at 4:30 EST (3:30 CST) on Sunday, January 15th.

The Giants have the look of that team that gets hot at the end of the year and nobody wants to play. Much like the Packers were last season. We here at the Malnarn agree that we would have rather played the Falcons, but I am confident that the Packers have what it takes to win this game. Here are some things to watch for.

1. Packers O-line vs Giants' Pass Rush - Rodgers is one of the best QBs in the league against the blitz. The problem here is that the Giants have possibly the best defensive line in the NFL and do not need to blitz much. This allows them to focus more on coverage. The Packers offensive line will be as healthy as they have been all season with the return of Bryan Bulaga and Chad Clifton. If they can keep Aaron clean, the game will be lopsided in the Packers' favor.

2. Giants Receivers vs Packers' Secondary - We really miss Nick Collins. To me it's the biggest reason for the Packers' last place passing defense. The Giants have very good WRs as well (not as good as the Packers, but that's beside the point). Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz have been lighting it up the past 4 weeks. Tramon Williams and Sam Shields will need to pick their game up and become lock down corners.

3. The Return of Greg Jennings - Jennings missed the final 3 games of the season with a torn MCL in his left knee. He has since returned to practice and is expected to be close to full strength against the Giants. The Packers proved that the offense can function without him, but the margin of improvement from James Jones to Greg Jennings is significant. Every Packer fan will be happy to see #85 back on the field.

4. Clay Matthews and Dom Capers - The Packers have thrived on forcing turnovers this season. It's been the one redeeming factor in an otherwise loose defense. Turnovers almost always start with pressure on the opposing QB, especially in Capers' 3-4 scheme. Will Dom bring back the psycho defense and add some new wrinkles to get Clay more opportunities? I hope so. We all know that Eli is prone to mistakes when he's under duress.

5. Running Game - This is something to watch for on both sides of the ball. James Starks' status is still in question for the game and the Packers have been neglecting the run ever since he went down with an ankle injury several weeks ago. Can he return and give the Packers' run game a boost like he did in 2010? If we can run the ball and control the clock, it will help the defense to rest and be absolutely huge for the offense. On the flip side, the Giants' RBs have been phenomenal as of late. The return of Ahmad Bradshaw gave them a new look on offense and that honestly scares me a little. We will need Raji and Pickett to be dominant up front to close any holes that the Giants' o-line opens up.

6. Special Teams - On a cold day at Lambeau, special teams could be the difference. I don't anticipate either team punting too often, but when they do they will be trying to flip the field. I also don't anticipate many field goals being attempted, but at the end of the 1st half and at the end of the game last second field goals could be the difference...much like the meeting in the regular season between these 2 teams.

The Packers are favored in this game, but I think that the Giants match up really well with us. I think if the offense can execute and the defense can come up with a handful of stops that the Packers will win by 10+. But if the offense struggles and the defense shows no improvement then it's going to come down to a last second field goal. We'll all hope for the former! GO PACK!

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!

It's Playoff Time!

It's been a bumpy road since we last posted, but we made it! The Packers squeezed into the playoffs as the #6 seed, edging out the Giants and Buccaneers with a 10-6 home win against the Bears. The game will be in Philadelphia on Sunday afternoon against the Eagles. I think that this is a winnable game for the Pack, but it could be a very tough one. Here are my keys to the game:

#1 - The offense has to get into a groove early. When McCarthy calls plays in the first quarter to get Aaron Rodgers comfortable, he flourishes and the Packers generally win when they score a bunch of points.

#2 - Contain Vick. I'm not concerned about Michael Vick's arm. We have played good passing QBs this year and have won those games. It's his legs that scare me. When a 3rd and 14 play breaks down due to good coverage and the Pack only rushed 3, Vick runs for 20 yards. We need to avoid plays like that.

#3 - Tackle well. The Eagles are one of the best teams in the league at picking up Yards After the Catch. DeSean Jackson and LeSean McCoy are especially good at this.

#4 - Solid play on Special Teams. Special Teams play has been the downfall of the Packers in at least a few of the close losses this season. It was much improved last week against a dangerous Bears Special Teams with the likes of Devin Hester and Daniel Manning.

If the Pack can abide by those 4 keys, I think they advance to Atlanta to take on the Falcons next weekend. Go Pack!

Packers-Colts: Preseason Game 3 Recap

Peyton Manning and the Colts came out firing on all cylinders and scored an easy touchdown within the first 30 seconds of the game. It may have been nerves, but it may still be due to injuries, but whatever it is...the Pack can't let that happen in the regular season.

Although the offense looked great, as expected, and the defense did calm down and start to play more soundly, there are just too many question marks to take too much away from the Packers' 59-24 trouncing of the Colts.

Jester's Biggest Concerns:

1. Special Teams - Even though they came up with what would be a huge play in a meaningful game by scoring a TD on a muffed punt, the rest of the game was not impressive by any means in any of the aspects of the Packers' Special Teams. They may be "short bus" special this year. Something needs to change here.

2. Pressure - Although I did see Peyton have to move around in the pocket some to avoid pressure, on most of those instances he still found a wide open receiver. Granted it is preseason and it was Peyton Manning and the Colts, but if we can't stop the good QBs from lighting us up, then the season is a bust.

3. Greg Jennings - I'm not sure why he didn't play, and I'm hoping it was just for precautionary reasons. But if this turns out to be a serious injury, it could be a huge blow to the receiving corps.

Now on to the things I liked...

1. Aaron Rodgers - He and the entire offense looked sharp in the first half. I have no issues with the way they're playing.

2. JerMichael Finley - The guy is a beast. Wouldnt surprise me at all to see him become the #1 fantasy Tight End this year.

3. Morgan Burnett - He looked solid. Came up with an INT and I didnt see him blow any major coverages. I think he will be a solid player going forward, although i do anticipate some rookie mistakes.

All in all it was a good showing. The Pack shut down the Colts' second and third team offenses, but that's of little value. What I took from the first half is that we can be competitive with the best teams in the league. It will just come down to answering the question, "Can the defense come up with the necessary stops in the big games?"

GO PACK!

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!