I think I am still in slight disbelief that the Green Bay Packers thumped the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday.
When I was making my prediction, I kept thinking to myself that the Packers could win this game. I felt like the absence of Earl Thomas would be huge and knew that if the Packers stopped the run, they’d have Seattle’s offense in trouble. But I wasn’t going to pick the Packers because they have just been all over the place this year.
The common sense pick was the Seahawks. I mean, let’s be honest. None of us would have been the least bit surprised if the score were 38-10 in favor of Seattle.
Maybe they’ve finally pulled it together. Maybe…
Here are five more notes on the big win.
The MVP is Back
Yes, okay, Aaron Rodgers has been “back” for a while now. He’s been playing at his MVP level for a while now. About four games, to be exact. In the last four games, Rodgers has not thrown an interception, his quarterback rating has been over 100 each time (with a low of 108.9) and, with the exception of the Houston game, his yards per attempt has been above 8. Three things immediately jump out from the Seattle stat line — the 150.8 rating, the 10.7 yards per attempt and the 78.3 completion percentage. All of those represent season highs. Rodgers hasn’t always played well against the Seahawks in the past. He sure as hell came up big this time, though.
The F-You Touchdown
The Packers didn’t really need to score a touchdown with 5:43 left in the game up 31-10. Sure, they had the ball at Seattle’s 19 after a Micah Hyde interception. A lot of coaches would have just ran into the line three times and kicked a field goal. Not Fat Mike, not on this day. He whips out the Jeff Janis reverse. Not the time and situation in which you’d normally run a trick play. But these are the Seattle Seahawks. They needed to be thoroughly demoralized. A one-play, seven-second drive for the fuck-you touchdown. I certainly did not agree with all Buffoon decisions on this day, but this one was tremendous.
Burnett and Thomas Over Ryan
I wasn’t too fond of this move at the time, but I guess it worked fine and I do understand the rationale. The Packers replaced Jake Ryan — their best inside linebacker — early in the game. He was replaced by safety Morgan Burnett. That left the Packers with Burnett and the undersized Joe Thomas in the middle. One, Burnett is having a great season — at least recently. He was great on Sunday — eight tackles (second on the team), a pass defended and that pick that set the tone early. Thomas, on the other hand, I have my issues with. He’s constantly getting blown out in the running game. He’s a liability there. Thomas Rawls rushed 12 times for 67 yards. That’s a 5.6 average and a lot of the time, you could see Rawls carrying Joe Thomas on his back or running right through him. If Russell Wilson hadn’t kept throwing picks, this would have been a drastically different game. Seattle would have obviously been able to commit to Rawls, who probably would have taken Joe Thomas for a ride to the tune of about 120 yards. The Packers were lucky that the Seahawks were forced to pass almost exclusively for a large portion of the game. Thomas is decent in coverage, but he might have killed the Packers’ defense with his play in the running game if the score were closer.
Stepping Up
We thought the loss of Nick Perry was going to be huge for the Packers. To make up for it, some guys had to step up and some guys did. First of all, Mike Daniels. Daniels obviously came to play on this day — five tackles and a QB hit. More importantly, he played with emotion and was disruptive. It would be great if he did that every week. Second, Jayrone Elliott. We were just criticizing him last week for not actually doing anything on the field this year, but he comes to play against Seattle for whatever reason. Five tackles, 1.5 for loss, a sack and a QB hit. He obviously got more playing time with Perry sidelined and he actually did something with it. That’s exactly what the Packers needed. Third, Dean Lowry. The rookie has sacks in consecutive weeks, his first two of the season. On Sunday, two tackles, one for loss, a sack and a QB hit. And finally, Datone Jones. Datone does boneheaded stuff sometimes, like the personal foul he picked up in the first half. However, he was the Packers’ most consistent rusher on Sunday, notching a team high five QB hits. Another guy who got more PT with Perry out and did something with it.
Nagging Injuries Disappearing?
A couple guys seem to be playing better lately than they have all year. Those guys are cornerbacks Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins. I can’t say for sure, but it seems like they were sent out on the field before they were fully healthy and they have really only become healthy and rounded back into form in the past two or three weeks. There have been times when both guys have been downright terrible this season. We haven’t seen that same level of terrible play from the secondary at all lately. Maybe it’s not health related. Maybe it was preparation or rust or communication-related. I don’t know, but the secondary doesn’t appear to be the liability it once was this season. That bodes well for a strong finish.
It’s amazing how Dean Lowry is actually out playing kenny clark. It’s almost as if nobody told him hes a fourth round pick.
As a football nerd I find nothing more exciting in the NFL then seeing young player start to come into their own. It just means the defense will get all the better for it. Hopefully what we’ve seen from him is not some kind of fluke.
Here’s a thought. If the Packers win the division they will likely face the Giants in Green Bay in the divisional round.
Regarding the F-You touchdown:
1. It shows the kind of poor sport Buffoon is.
2. That Monty (a.k.a. PF4L, a.k.a. Piffle, a.k.a. Mordecai) supports it shows the poor sport buffoon he is.
3. That said it did add to the Seahawks defense point total allowed which knocks them out of 1st in that category and down to 4th… just behind the Vikings in 3rd. But I’d rather earn it the old fashioned way instead of depending on Packer poor sportsmanship. Wait… maybe that is the old fashioned way since cheating and low-minded tactics are such a part of Packer tradition!
Lol. Ok.
LMFAO…..I got this Kato……killer….Why the fuck, in the whole wide world, would the queens have to worry about defensive points given up? Do they get an extra draft pick for that? Do they get a special banner? Does someone from the NFL fly to Minn. and give Zygi a hug?
Listen….the queens just won their 2nd game in 9 weeks. Don’t worry about a F-you TD that has nothing to do with your team. Worry about starting 5-0, than self destructing quicker than an NFL RB beating the shit out of his son, on his annual summer visit to his bastard children.
As a matter of fact Nancy…leave the football talk to men.
Now waddle your ass into the kitchen and make me a sammich.
Hahaha this
Besides, these are adults playing a game. Running up the score on a team isnt that big of a deal, these aren’t 6th graders that have the emotional caps of a tea spoon. If they don’t want the score run up on them, then stop them. Besides, if these two teams were to play in the playoffs, it has a psychological effect on both teams. The packers will have a lot of confidence, where Seattle will remember getting their asses handed to them.
Of course the caveot is leaving top players in once the game gets out of hand, you are risking a possible injury, especially against a team with a bunch of hotheads getting embarrassed like the Seahawks….
Which reminds me, if Mathews is so hurt, what was he doing playing into the 4th quarter?
Disagree with that point completely, I don’t see how it shows poor sportsmanship at all. Obviously the way it is phrased in this article makes you believe that it was a dick move but to me it makes perfect sense. Taking the foot off the gas has been one of our biggest problems, especially against the Seahawks in that NFC championship game. We had a Hunley in, who maybe couldn’t make the kind of passes that Aaron Rodgers can in the red-zone, the defence expects run, so give them a trick play, that we never run. They don’t expect it and it goes for a touchdown.
To me at least, that is not poor sportsmanship. If someone pulls that play on me and scores I’m thinking, “Shit, we can’t even defend the jet sweep, we deserve to get beat up.”
Besides, no one is going to cry for Pete Carroll and the Seahawks.
We have all complained that McCarthy has made some games more interesting that they should have been, by letting the rival catch up. I am backing him on this one for keeping the game well out of reach for SEA, who are notoriously resilient and able to mount comebacks.
What I find most interesting is there is usually 3x the comments on wrapups when the pack loses than when they win. It’s almost as if people would rather complain. I myself am still fairly pessimistic of them making the playoffs much less mounting a championship run, don’t know that the team has the talent to do so.
Not that people would rather complain. More like when the Packers are losing consecutive games, or many games over a significant period of time and look like a bunch of assclowns doing so. I’ll own up to the fact that I felt Adams was shit, as have many others here as well, and the jury is still out on him but it is getting easier to believe he has turned a corner. I didn’t go so far as to claim Rodgers was finished, unlike many others here. Let those that said Rodgers was finished own up to that.
The fact still remains that McCarthy, as the head coach, has yet to deliver on his promises of multiple championships after 11 years. As long as he gets yet another reprieve for this late “rally” on what has turned out to be another unfulfilled season under his expert tutelage, all the criticism bestowed upon him is well deserved. Hopefully McCarthy’s tenure doesn’t end up being Jeff Fisheresque in length, because there is only 1 measure of success at the end of the season. Lots of winning seasons with only 1 SB appearance and win isn’t exactly a stellar postseason coaching performance or the mark of a highly successful NFL head coach, especially while riding the coattails of 2 HoF QBs.
Kato….People have a lot more to say when the Packers lose, simply because they are venting, it’s a healthy thing, plus it shows passion and most of the time intelligence of understanding football. I can tell you this, as simple as it sounds…If there were a lot less meltdowns, and stupid ass mistakes made over the years, there would be a lot less venting and a lot more celebrating.
Bitch, bitch, bitch. I bet you complain about getting a free cup of coffee.
I don’t drink coffee, so no.
EMPACADOR, brilliant man. Great post and spot on!
It is a lot easier for us dumb assesses to bitch about a loss.
The MVP is back, but can his calf and hammy last for 7 more games? I understand that the game was not yet put away, and most of us have complained about the lack of killer instinct this year, but maybe Hundley should have played before the 4th quarter.
The F-you TD play should have not been called. I really don’t like Pete Carroll and I am glad that he got his nose rubbed in a pile of do-do, but save that play for a better time. It was on film once, no need to show it again.
Linebackers are still a concern. Matthews should be inside and I am amazed that Seattle didn’t try to run the ball more in his direction. MM still doesn’t tell him where to go (I am sure lots of you want to tell me where to go).
Why has it taken so long for some of the guys that Monty mentioned to step up? Where were they during the Atlanta, Indianapolis, Tennessee, or Washington games? If anyone had stepped up in those games, the outcomes could easily have been different.
Nagging injuries? Yeah, some defensive backs are coming on (finally), but Rodgers’ hammy and now his calf are quickly becoming nagging injuries.
Now my biggest complaint is that I don’t want to get sucked into the “we can win it all” crowd just to have another game like the Tennessee or Washington game. If the team falls back into that funk (especially it it happens in the post season) then TT and MM surely must get canned.
And bitch, and bitch, and bitch. I bet you’d complain about free trip to Hawaii.
Look who’s bitching about people bitching. It’s almost like trying to repress free speech or something.
When do we leave?
Randall and Rollins may be improving in the health department. The team needs to keep Rollins at the slot corner. That is Rollins best spot.
The defense has held teams to fewer points the last three weeks. I will not be sold on the D until I see them perform well against a team with a quality offensive line and quarterback. That game will not occur until the Detroit game. Hopefully the Front seven can keep improving and get healthy, because the defensive backs need pass rush pressure to cover their pass coverage deficiencies.
OMG! Somebody on Total TMZ Packers complaing after a blowout win in December against arguably the best team in the NFC?
Heck, I bet you complained about a face full of boobies.
But don’t you worry, I bet you and the circle jerk gang will let us all know that it’s time to fire everybody if the Packers don’t win the Super Bowl! Riiiiiight?
mike ditka’s momma is so football stupid she believes an onside kick is dinner she scrapes off the road while it is still moving.
The fact that idiot thinks the Seahawks are the best team in the NFC is all you need to know about his football acumen. Look who is bitching about people bitching. LOL
No shit, I guess the Cowboys and their 12 or so in a row takes a backseat to a clown team with a tie. Mike shitka, we got it your team quitting by September leaves a hole of boredom for your fall/winter, but perhaps posting comments isn’t your calling? Perhaps try Sodoku or something….chump.
The late score was not an F-U. Seattle scored 3 times in the last 2 minutes and overtime in the NFC championship. At 31-10, Seattle was 3 scores behind.
Who gives a fuck, just enjoy the performance and win.