First of all, Merry Christmas. If you’re reading this then that probably means you have nothing going on today like me or that you’re sick of your family.
Either way, whiskey is probably the answer.
Hey, nice early Christmas present yesterday. The Packers handled those dirtbag Minnesota Vikings and will now get the Detroit Lions for the NFC North.
Who would have thought that five weeks ago?
Not me.
Here are five more thoughts worth discussion from the Packers’ 38-25 over the Vikings.
Done with Damarious Randall?
The Green Bay Packers benched Damarious Randall last week. We assumed they’d send a message and return Randall to his starting cornerback spot against Minnesota. They did not. The Packers went with LaDarius Gunter and Quinten Rollins outside and Micah Hyde in the slot. That’s not really ideal, as Rollins is much better suited for the slot. Of course, as bad as Randall has been this season, I guess it’s worth it to keep him off the field at all costs. Unfortunately, Gunter’s injury pushed Randall back out there. The severity of that injury will say something about whether he stays there. Randall did knock down two passes on Saturday, so it wasn’t all bad.
Allison’s Ascendance
During the preseason, at least three of us wondered if Geronimo Allison might get a roster spot over Trevor Davis or even Davante Adams. In hindsight, he obviously wasn’t beating out Adams. However, Allison is now clearly the Packers’ No. 4 receiver, ahead of both Davis and Jeff Janis. With Randall Cobb out, Allison was the No. 3 and caught four for 66 yards. He also clearly has the trust of Aaron Rodgers. That should not only keep him around, but in the rotation going forward.
They Like Joe Thomas
We’ve had issues with linebacker Joe Thomas. He’s really good in coverage, but he’s too often seen getting pushed backwards or run over in run defense. The Packers apparently don’t have any issue with that though. Even though Blake Martinez has been healthy enough to play, the Packers have stuck with Thomas. They’ve even gone with Thomas over Jake Ryan at times. On Saturday, Thomas led the Packers with 10 tackles. I guess they’ve decided they’ll take Thomas’ coverage and let the chips fall where they may with the run. The Packers’ offense and their ability to score points likely has a lot to do with that.
Career Day, Part II
When the Packers met the Vikings the first time this year, Stefon Diggs put up a career day — 10 catches, 182 yards and a touchdown. The Packers held Diggs to four catches for 29 yards this time around. So they learned their lesson right? Nope! This time, the Packers’ secondary let the Vikings’ No. 2 receiver, Adam Thielen, post a career day — 12 catches, 202 yards and two touchdowns. The Packers’ secondary is GARBAGE!
No Rushing, No Matter
The Packers didn’t really need the running game on Saturday. They handed it off just 13 times. The interesting thing was the Vikings kept biting on play action, which opened up the passing game. What I have to wonder is if opposing defenses will continue to honor the run when Mike McCarthy seemingly has no intention of actually running the ball anymore. That performance by Ty Montgomery against the Bears will probably be an anomaly rather than something we can expect on a regular basis. And if that becomes the case, it could really slow down the passing game.
It looks like Jordy is also the best slot receiver on the Packer roster.
In order to fund the Billion dollar stadium for their feeble team, the State of Minnesota cut drastically funds to treat the seriously mentally ill who were involuntarily committed to their State hospitals. This from a governor who hates the police.
My congratulations to the Packers, and the Governor of Wisconsin.
Finally got to watch the game. Not happy with the secondary or the running game. They never tried to establish the run. Most of the early run plays went for modest gains (3 to 5 yards) and it appears that MM isn’t satisfied with that performance. If there isn’t a chunk of yards on the first or second run, the run plays fall to the bottom of the clipboard. I don’t know how far the team can go with our pass defense. It is a serious problem that must be addressed in the draft. I have been ragging on Matthews a lot lately and he really stepped up his game – well done!
Xmas dinner is almost ready, so Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.
Capers & crew need to find an answer for Bradford-Thielen….
Lions staff must be drooling over possibility of copying Queens’ playbook using Stafford-Tate (a much more lethal combo)….
Here’s a sixth afterthought. When kicking off from the 50 yd. line, why the hell would
you NOT on-side kick? At worst it doesn’t work and the Vikings get the ball on about
the 38-39. If you kick it (quite easily) out of the end zone they get the ball on the 25.
Question for DumbMike: is it not worth losing 10+yards for a possible 50/50 chance
of recovery?
Except for onside kicks only being recovered by the kicking team about 13% of the time, you’re spot on.
The onside kick question is a damned if you do / damned if you don’t thing. Maybe another option would be a pop-up kick to try and pin them deep.
News tonight is that next week’s Packers Lions game has been flexed to the night game!
You know they could have restocked the cupboard with a trade for a better corner and only given up a late round draft pick in the process…
You know we could all hit the Lotto tonight and wake up in a bed full of strippers too. I like our chances more than TT ever making a common sense move like that. He’s already has PTSD from the Christine Michael acquisition. lol
C’mon man!!….they don’t pick lotto #’s on Sunday night dude.
After careful consideration…i’m going to refrain from giving my thought’s on the game Saturday. some praise where deserved. Some critique where deserved.
But in the interest of Packer Nation harmony during a 5 game win streak, i’ll abstain as i’m not interested in crushing anyone’s dreams of what could (have been) be. I’ll save it for when fans start the 6th annual season end team meltdown.
If you think i’m “hinting” that this defense isn’t good enough to……….
Damn I was really looking forward to what reading what you had to say
Small correction Monty / Mordecai. In section 4 “Career Day, Part II” you wrote that Stefon Diggs had 10 catches for 182 yards and a TD when the Packers met the Vikings the first time this year. It was actually 9 catches for 182 yards and a TD. I know, I know, you are Human. I never said you were not. (though I perhaps have indicated you are subhuman….)
If you look at the catches by both Diggs in the 1st game and Thielen in the 2nd game you will see they were not easy. They were earned. They were perfect to near perfect passes going to the hands of focused, smart, athletic, amazing players. That first long pass (32 yards) to Thielen Gunter was in perfect coverage and arguably also engaging in pass interference (well, OK, not arguable, it just was pass interference). Thielen ran a great route, had great focus and great hands and Bradford delivered the strike perfectly in stride. The 24 yard Thielen catch vs. Rollins later on the other sideline was a thing of great beauty. Fantastic coverage but it was one of the best catches of the year in the entire league. And a great throw, too.
You could upgrade your secondary to best in the league and passes and catches like that would all still happen. Give your opponent the respect they deserve. It always amuses me that you would rather throw each and every member of your team and the coaching staff and the refs all under the bus before you ever give respect to opponents.
Killer, I didn’t bother reading your post because I still can’t figure out why you keep coming here but I did find this great article on FoxSports about the worst 9 picks of the 2016 draft. Congrats, your GM scored twice!! He’s super good, better than ours even. TT only got zero on this list of worst selections.
http://www.foxsports.com/nfl/gallery/nfl-draft-2016-picks-worst-selections-rookies-grade-rankings-122816
The one nice thing about teams like the vikings, that go 6-0, then 5-0 and miss the playoffs, is that they are a vital piece of the league. every league needs losing teams, and winning teams. We should appreciate the vikings filling that need of a losing team.
Its like nascar racing and baseball teams, you know the cars and the teams in the back half don’t have a chance of winning. But they need them there for television revenue. They are what is called…filler cars, filler teams. And that’s what the vikings are…a filler team.