The Green Bay Packers did just enough to beat the New England Patriots on Sunday, in what was the marquee game of the NFL season thus far.
Both teams are now 9-3. The Patriots remain the No. 1 seed in the AFC and the Packers remain No. 2 in the NFC, although that’s only because of a tiebreaker. They have the same record as the No. 1 seed, the Arizona Cardinals, and a hell of a lot more momentum.
This is the kind of game that measures where you are as a team. Assuming they are a real contender, the Packers SHOULD have won because they were playing at home. They did and they are.
Here are five more thoughts on the game.
Great game plan
Not sure if we’ve ever uttered that phrase as long as Mike McCarthy has been in town. Yes, it’s true. We like to beat up on McCarthy. We like to call him Buffoon. We think his decision making is usually questionable at best. If you don’t like that, then you can fuck right off. However, we’re also happy to give credit where credit is due. Like if A.J. Hawk ever made a play, we’d be the first to say, “A.J. Hawk, nice fuckin’ play, buddy!” But that will never happen, so we don’t have to worry about that. So, Mike — nice fuckin’ game plan, buddy!
Wow. That still sounds totally weird. However, the Packers did exactly what they needed to do to beat the Patriots on Sunday and they went away from their usual M.O. in doing so. They didn’t rely on the big play. They put together methodical drives and controlled the clock. They ground out a 13-minute time of possession advantage. They ran the ball 29 times. That has to be some kind of record for a McCarthy team.
Amazingly, the best coach on the field on Sunday was Mike Fuckin’ McCarthy. Unbelievable.
Offensively, what’s better?
Would you rather be the team that can move the football at will, but can’t get in the end zone or the team that scores a TD every time they penetrate the red zone? Well, the Packers were the former team on Sunday and the Patriots the latter. The Packers had four trips to the red zone and came away with no touchdowns. The Patriots had three and came away with three.
We said it yesterday, but this game should have been a blowout in favor of the Packers. Of course, settling for field goals inside the 20 will keep the other team in it. The Packers only punted once in the game. Looking at the scoreboard, you would have no idea that was the case.
I suppose you could make a case either way for what’s better, but that’s not the point here. If the Packers have as much trouble scoring touchdowns inside the 20 in the playoffs as they did on Sunday, they probably aren’t going to win many playoff games.
Uh, A.J.?
Could this be the merciful beginning of the end for our favorite whipping boy A.J. Hawk? We doubt that is the case, but we can dream!
Seriously, I’ve literally dreamed of the day A.J. Hawk no longer plays linebacker for the Packers.
We bring this up because, where the hell was Hawk on Sunday? I mean, he never does anything of note, but usually you notice him on the field, whether he’s getting run over by a running back, diving on a pile after the whistle or losing his helmet for the league-leading 54th time. Hawk only had one tackle on Sunday.
Although the Packers started Clay Matthews at outside linebacker, he did play extensively inside. It certainly seemed as if Sam Barrington was standing next to Matthews on the inside more often than not. No one mentioned an injury, which leads us to believe maybe Hawk finally got benched.
Good enough on Gronk
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was one of the keys to this game. He’s a man-child and he’s nearly impossible to tackle, which you probably noticed on occasion on Sunday. The guy is much bigger and stronger than the guys trying to bring him down, which are usually defensive backs.
The Packers used multiple defensive backs to cover Gronk on Sunday. The primary guy seemed to be safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, but there were other guys, including cornerback Tramon Williams, who drew the matchup. Gronkowski had seven catches for 98 yards, but the Packers made sure he didn’t dominate the game. They kept him out of the end zone and gang tackled him when he did get the ball. That’s a win for Green Bay.
Smoke and mirrors
The Packers defense held the highest-scoring team in the NFL to 21 points. They also held Tom Brady under 300 yards passing and the Patriots as a whole to 84 yards rushing. That’s all pretty great.
Still, we have a hard time picking out any defenders who had great games. Clay Matthews was solid, with six tackles. Sam Barrington seemed to get in the mix here and there. Mike Neal created a very timely sack. Julius Peppers knocked down a couple passes.
Certainly no one punched a ticket to the Pro Bowl, though. You could say it was a team effort. You could also point to the time of possession, which kept the defense off the field. That certainly helped the situation. Whatever it was, it was effective, although not very comfortable to watch.
11 Comments
And all this with four rookies making big contributions to the win!
Pretty good performance all round. I think the red zone offence was summed up with that play when Rodgers had the ball for 15 seconds and had to throw it away. The coverage by the Patriots D was just too good, but all the same mistakes were not made and we took what they gave us. Perhaps they could have gone with lacy a few more times in the red zone to try and punch it it, but more often than not you want the ball in A-rods hands. Can’t complain, another great win.
Newsflash….Skip Bayless is still an idiot. I think he was in the huddle blowing Brady, he actually says we when referring to the Patriots while on ESPN. Get this guy off the air he’s too much of a homer. I’d rather listen to SAS and that is terrible.
Plus was it me of were the Patriots begging for penalty calls after every play? The one on Williams was BS. Adams did get away with a pushoff though.
I listened to Skip Brainless for years. Even after AR won the Super Bowl, Brainless just couldn’t give him the credit due. He got up and clapped for AR, but then went off about how he is no where close as good as Big Ben.
For years, and i mean for YEARS, Skip kept punching at AR for not having a come from behind victory. When AR beat the Dolphins in Marino-like fashing, he only further mocked him for all the stupid unnecessary and risky things he did on that drive.
Believe me when I say this. Brainless doesn’t believe a word that he says, he just says what he can to stay relevant in any way possible. The means either bashing or heavily supporting some of the biggest names in sports, including Rodgers, Lebron or Tebow.
Brainless once kept criticizing Chad Ochocinco, and Chad responded by coming unto the show to defend himself. Brainless didn’t even interview him in any manner, he just kept mocking him during the entire show and kept getting a reaction out of Chad.
It then occurred to me that that was Skip’s plan from the start, to get a big name star on the show to 1) increase ratings and 2) make himself more relevant.
Brainless either 1) is a liar who knows he lies but believes his own lies anyway, or 2) and a more likely explanation is that he is just trying to aggravate Rodgers to make him come unto the show and boost ratings. He has on a number of occasions demanded that Rodgers come on the show to defend himself.
Brainless is a hack, and while i admit I every once in a while I look at his Twitter account just to keep my blood boiling, I can assure you that he is NOT WORTH YOUR TIME!
I thought Barrington made more than a couple great plays, especially early on. I’d way rather see him in there than Hawk.
Who knew, Monty and Skip Bayless think he same way!
Yeah aj hawk is horrible yet he leads the team in stops and tackles every year and is always healthy fuck GB should get rid of that guy. You’re a fucking dumbass. Let’s start Barrington the under sized undrafted practice squad hero because he had one nice stop I’m sure he’s an all pro! Get the fuck outta here
Many of AJ’s tackles come when the runner has already picked up 8 yards. On the flip side, he has yet to meet the team doctors, since he is never injured.
AJ don’t you have better things to do right now than defend yourself online?
“stops”
Of all the things I read in this article, what stood out to me the most was hearing that Hawk’s day may FINALLY be numbered! Love him, or hate him, this is one of the most underwhelming players we have seen, and as he gets older we see more and more of him missing tackles, and allowing big plays.
IT. IS. TIME!
Knowing that Sam Barrington is actually starting to show some improvement in his development, that it is likely enough to bench Hawk at last, is as beautiful as having two Christmas’s at once.
“However, we’re also happy to give credit where credit is due.”
I guess it takes beating the best team in the NFL to finally give credit to McCarthy but at least you did it. Still nothing about Capers, though. Guess he’s getting fired at the end of the season.
Quick question, where you able to utter those words aloud and still refrain from punching yourself in the face?