While the Packers first half offense stumbled, fumbled and picked their way to half time, the second half had gritty plays by both the offense and defense providing a thrilling victory for Lambeau Field fans of the Green and Gold. While the 27-24 winning play was Mason Crosby’s 31 yard field goal in overtime, and the win seemed a minimal victory, the Packers made some big advances on their quest to compete with the best in the NFL.
Yes, Aaron Rodgers threw a capital U- UGLY pick six to crush any momentum for the Packers going into half time. Yes, the Packers were down at half 10-7. Yes, the defense gave up two second half TD’s to a rookie QB playing his first meaningful minutes in the NFL. With all that ugly, the team hung together and won the game. That pick six by Rodgers could have crushed this team. The 4th quarter score by the Pats to retake the lead had the same potential.
JACK JONES PICK-SIX ON AARON RODGERS 😮
📺: CBS, Paramount+pic.twitter.com/Ri2PASW08T
— NFL on CBS 🏈 (@NFLonCBS) October 2, 2022
Packer fans have seen three other Rodger’s pick sixes over the years. Two led to team implosions against Tampa. The other a 2017 comeback win in Cincinnati that ended with an identical 27-24 score. Like it or not, momentum in football is real. The mental attitude of players can effect the outcome. This Packer team did not flinch. In the third quarter the Packers were staring at third and ten at their 19. Rodgers first down pass to Watson sailed over his head.
The next attempt to Doubs was deflected away by the Patriot defense. On third down Rodgers threw a dart to Allen Lazard that was in one of the tightest of windows. Lazard had a defender’s arm on his shoulder the whole route, but he caught the ball and readied himself for the next play. All business. The Packers would later face a fourth and one in field goal range at the 28. LaFleur decide to go for it and his play call was a gem.
The pitch to Aaron Jones went outside for 17 yards. But adversity was still ahead. A phantom holding call on Bakhtiari cost the Packers ten yards in the red zone. On the ensuing second and nineteen Rodgers looked the safety off and tossed a money throw to Tonyan for a 20 yard touchdown.
The Packers were in the lead but New England would answer behind 3rd string rookie QB Bailey Zappe. Zappe only threw for a game total of 99 yards with 10 receptions but he did not throw an interception and managed a balanced attack that ran for 167 yards against the Packer defense.
After going down 14-10, Zappe started the comeback drive with a short pass to Bourne for 16. When the defense thought they had a sack on the next play, a penalty on Kenny Clark gave the Pats a free 15 yards and another first down at the 50 yard line. Zappe bookended the drive with his second pass, a 25 yarder to DeVante Parker for the go ahead touchdown. The score was 17-14 New England, and the Pats weren’t finished.
Rodgers led a nice drive of eight plays for 59 yards that stalled on 3rd and 4 when Rodgers was flushed from the pocket and could not find an open receiver. Crosby tied the game but the defense could not stop New England’s run game. Six running plays and one pass for 21 yards scorched the defense again. New score: 24-17 Patriots in the 4th quarter.
Give New England credit. They had a game plan that was working against the Packer defense. The Packer linebackers were getting caught on inside runs, not penetrating to get to the line of scrimmage. On outside run plays, New England prevented both outside linebackers from maintaining the edge.
To win, the Packers would have to come back in the 4th quarter. And come back they did. Rodgers led the offense on a nine play 75 yard drive that took five minutes off the clock. Clutch catches by Randall Cobb, who is earning his paycheck this year, and Doubs capped off two double digit runs by A.J. Dillon. Doubs made a truly professional adjustment on a back shoulder throw from Rodgers for the touchdown. The defense would then force a quick punt giving Rodgers time to win the game. Number 12 threw the game winning 40 yard perfect pass to Doubs for the …..drop in the end zone. All the fans knew the rookie wideouts would need time. Easy to say, harder to watch.
Luckily, the defense was able to shut down the Patriots late and in overtime, allowing Rodgers to drive 12 plays from their own 10 yard line to New Englands 13 to set up Crosby’s hero kick. The Packers faced adversity on every level on Sunday but stayed focus and executed when they needed to score to win the game. Sure, call it ugly, as ugly as a Belichick press conference after a playoff loss. But it was a win. A win where the wideouts, especially Doubs, Cobbs, and Lazard, made big catches. Next up, the NY Giants and Saquon Barkley. Let’s hope the run defense takes a leap over the pond in London next week. Set your alarm clocks!
Packers have not fared well travelling long distances to play prime time football games. Im very worried about this Sunday’s game. Barkley is running like a mad man and Jones can run the ball too, something the Packers also struggle with.
All that being said, although I was disappointed in the overall performance of the game last week, I do appreciate the positive vibe to this article.
Barkley has to face the elite Packers top 5 defense, they’ll keep him under under 65 yards, nobody runs for many yards against Campbell, Walker, Clark, Reed, and 1st round pick Wyatt (if he can get more than 5 snaps).
The Giants don’t have a chance.
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Packers 62- 3
The Giants will always have a chance if Rodgers continues to throw second half pics with the game on the line. One of these times the defense won’t actually bail him out…..
You mean like when Malcom Butler and the defense bailed out the Patriots in SB 49? Oh I forgot, that was Tom Brady that intercepted the ball on the goal line. Brady never throws interceptions, he only catches them. Aaron Rodgers on the other hand, this was his fourth pick six of his career. This guy better shape up quick or he’s gonna be on the bench.
LMAO…yea!!
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Rodgers needs to learn that throwing so many interceptions in his career won’t be tolerated, that boy needs a come to Jesus moment.
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One or two more pics and i’ll probably be reading about how Rodgers career is over, like the ones i read back in 2015, Kato, Deep, and Rebel know what i’m talking about.
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I heard some nonsense about Rodgers TD/Int ratio being like 4:1….see….thats where stats are bullshit…ain’t dat right Tommi?
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Listen up Rodgers….You keep throwing pics and your career will be over in a flash.
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Throw cleaner passes like Favre did, and you to can last 20 seasons in this league. Or, throw more picks and you’ll be benched, and then maybe you can learn something watching Jordan Love.
Straighten up fk’r!! 😣
Who got the Patriots to the SB Cheese? It sure as shit wasn’t Malcom Butler. It was Tom Brady. Malcom Butler isn’t the hero without Brady doing the heavy lifting and getting them there. Desmond Howard was SB MVP because Brett Favre and Reggie White got him to the big dance for his 15 minutes of fame. Just like Malcom Butler, he didn’t do much after. Of course you want to compare Aaron Rodgers regular season games to Tom Brady’s Super Bowls. Because Rodgers can’t get to the SB so you have to cherish these regular season wins. Pretend they mean more than they actually do. But that’s OK, it’s not Rodgers fault, it’s never his fault, right ladies?
Deflect, deflect, deflect. I mention a game where the defense bailed Brady out and you respond with “well, if not for these other games…” Doesn’t matter. The defense bailed Tom Brady out in SB49. FACT.
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“Malcom Butler isn’t the hero without Brady doing the heavy lifting and getting them there.”
Tom Brady doesn’t win the SB without Malcolm Butler and the defense making those plays at the end of the game. FACT.
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Desmond Howard won the MVP because that’s who was voted for. Many people felt that the MVP should have went to Reggie White (3 sacks) or Brett Favre (2 passing TD’s, 1 rushing TD). Howard scored one touchdown. The Packers won that game by 14 points. If the Patriots defense doesn’t hold up against Seattle at the end of that game Tom Brady loses. FACT. Tom Brady got BAILED OUT.
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“Just like Malcom Butler, he didn’t do much after.”
Deflect, deflect, deflect. It doesn’t matter what that player does or doesn’t do before that game, or afterwards. It doesn’t matter what way you want to twist it. The defense and Malcom Butler bailed Tom Brady out in SB49. FACT.
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“Of course you want to compare Aaron Rodgers regular season games to Tom Brady’s Super Bowls. Because Rodgers can’t get to the SB so you have to cherish these regular season wins.”
Of course you want to blame an individual player for a lack of team accomplishments, while accrediting multiple team accomplishments to a single player. All while ignoring situations that had nothing to do with Tom Brady like the one I just mentioned. Yet on the flipside, everything is Rodgers fault and gets credit for nothing.
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Child please…
Longtime Cheesheads have all seen this scenario play out before :
1) Playing a struggling team (Patriots) at home in ideal weather
2) Find out Pats young phenom QB is on IR
3) They knock out his backup early in game
This all equates to the team playing with, what seems like, over-confidence, lower game motivation and already focusing on the next game (especially when its a big one, like NYG in London). By the time they realize its not gonna be a cakewalk its too late to up the game from half-tempo…. they were truly fortunate to have won. Zappe nearly outplayed QB1 and credit to the Pats for going into this game the motivation that GB lacked……
Agree w rebelgb – the London game is not a gimme….
The Packers are undefeated in London.
Who was the ST player who got the flag for the pushing and shoving match way back at the point of the punt late in the game? Who went full idiot on low impulse control and got a stupid ass penalty for something completely unrelated to where the actual play was happening? I get way more upset about seeing that undisciplined crap than almost anything else on the field. I hope the ST coach sees it the same way and cracks down hard on that stuff because going from horrible to just bad isn’t good enough for that unit.
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The pick 6 was probably one of the worst Aaron Rodgers interceptions I think I ever witnessed. There was no reason to be throwing that ball at that time in the process of the game. It was just a really bad decision. The good thing is I don’t think we’ll see that again for a long time to come. He’s too seasoned of a pro and and too self-disciplined to let it happen again like that.
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Christian Watson needs to take some time and review the footage of the impressive one-handed catch made by George Pickens a couple games back. Yes Christian, it is possible for a rookie to catch a non perfect ball that doesn’t tickle all ten fingers. Focus, focus, focus and work harder. Everyone knows you’re a project. Just stop demonstrating you’re a very large project. We still want to believe all the great press from camp regardless of what the eye test (and scouting reports) is showing. I was very happy to see him get his touchdown. Maybe it is a big building block in confidence and things go up from here.
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Where oh where did the run defense decide to go off and hide for such a long time during that game?
Tariq Carpenter was the instigator.
For all the complaining about the defense, they’re averaging 15.5 points per game when you take away the pick 6 they had nothing to do with. Even less than that if you exclude Rodgers other INT in Packer territory that resulted in a FG at Tampa. If you recall, Rodgers didn’t really play all that well until about week 10 last year. It’s not surprising then he’s off to a slow start at his age. The run game is there, the defense will be fine. The OL will only get better as Bakhtiari and Jenkins settle in. Romeo Doubs is a playmaker who’s already replaced Sammy Watkins as starter opposite Lazard. LaFleur will get creative with Watson. While far from perfect, with work to be done, you want to peak in December and January, not October.
So entertaining 😊
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So lets see…should we adjust all the other 31 teams scoring defense by taking away all their pick 6’s, all their turnovers they got scored on after, maybe all the 3 n outs they got scored on after?
Figure all that out Princess and give us all the adjusted scoring defense totals for the rest of the league ok pumpkin?.
For someone who doesn’t talk stats…………
(Thanks for trying sweetheart) 🥱
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Yea…4 games in and the defense has been tested, the hapless Bears, the Bucs with no receivers, and a 3rd string QB, who actually played well….i heard Jordan Love was envious..
Are you being a Debbie Downer again Kevin? You should rejoice our Lord and Savior Aaron Rodgers is our QB! Why, the promised land and an early playoff exit awaits! Can I get an amen sisters? Let me ask you Kevin, how many defensive players were on the field during that ill advised throw that turned into a pick 6? Let me help you, the answer is ZERO! So of course it’s the fault of the defense. It certainly isn’t Erin’s fault. That would mean he’d have to take responsibility! He only threw the ball! And Erin’s shitty first half stats were right out of a Kurt Benkert preseason game. Let’s blame the defense for that too, right Kevin? Oh, but your a realist Kevin. Are you realizing Erin has lost it? The old grey mare just ain’t what she used to be? Of course not, your going to do what you always do. Blame others and look the other way when your hero screws up. I’ve been telling you since the first preseason game Romeo Doubs is a playmaker. Of course you’ll have none of it. Mostly because you couldn’t recognize talent if it were to bite you on your big, fat ass. See Rashan Gary. But more importantly Aaron Rodgers knows he’s a playmaker and despite being a rookie he’s going to be his go to receiver going forward. And Christian Watson won’t be far behind him. You love to talk about all that money we spent of defense. How about all that money we’ve spent on Erin. How many championships does he have? Oh, but it takes a team to win a championship, right Kevin? Sure it does! Now let’s go back to bitching about the run defense and what a shitty GM Brian Gutekunst is, right ladies? Let’s tell each other how smart we are and we’re the only ones who’s got this all figured out…..
It’s amazing Gutenkunst hasn’t won NFL executive of the year since taking over.
Maybe 2018 for getting rid of dead weight Jordy Nelson and signing Jimmy Graham and making him the highest paid tight end.Then drafting 3 wide receivers to ensure that wouldn’t become a future problem.
How about 2019 where all he had to spend was a years salary cap in free agency. Plus having the good sense in drafting tight end Jace Sternberger in the 3rd round. As great as Graham was working out, he got a new tight end to groom for Rodgers….Brilliant.
Then you had 2020, where we all witnessed the masterful move of avoiding the “so called” receiver rich draft.
Gute didn’t fall for it, and he decided to go another route, (in the best interest of the Packers) When Jordan Love FELL to him in the draft and he traded up for him.
Not to dismiss the offense, he brilliantly signed Devin Funchess.
In 2021 he made sure Rodgers had enough weapons by prioritizing receivers with the 3rd round pick of Amari Rodgers…a quick and slippery slot receiver who also excels at returning. Also pushing millions of dollars down the road to keep this SB caliber team together.
In 2022, who could ignore the impact 1st and 2nd round picks Wyatt and Watson have had on the field.
Even though the receiving room is already loaded Gute drafted what (looks to be) a promising player in fourth rounder Romeo Doubs.
Yes, the 4th round!!. Gute just doesn’t just rely on the 1st and 2nd round for starters, he shines when he starts drafting players in the 3rd – 7th round. That’s where the genius comes in, because he does the proper legwork leading up to the draft. Like he did with Jordan Love. Stealing him right under the noses of all the other GM’s.
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All that with no executive of the year award? There should be an investigation.
Hell, i might even start a petition.
What Brian Gutekunst got was a 5 year contract extension Kevin. He doesn’t give two shits about your dumbass petition. And he’s gonna be here long after Erin is gone. Don’t ever forget that…
Gute was signed to a 5 year deal by the NFL’s top management team?
YAY!!!!! That really says something….lol
Jimmy Graham was also signed to big money, Nick Perry also was signed to big money.
Ted was kept on too long from Packer upper management.
It was upper management’s decision’s that caused us over two decades of losing football caused mainly by mismanagement.
McCarthy was kept on too long, in fact he was given a secret contract (from upper management) even though, they were planning his termination.
Mike Sherman was signed by Packer upper management as both head coach and General Manager. We saw the disaster that it created.
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Ron Wolf came in and demanded that Packer upper management stay out of the football operations business.
He did that for a reason because they were running the Packers into the ground.
We saw what Ron Wolf accomplished.
We also saw the partial undoing of it with Mark Murphy retracting some of the bylaws that Ron Wolf implemented, just so….Murphy would have all final decisions, instead of the new General Manager they hired in 2018.
Yes, Gute may be here longer than Rodgers….man, you’re smart!!
But do this…after Rodgers is gone…let me know how that worked out for Gute.
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Packer upper management: “I know, lets give this guy a 5 year deal, he got us to two NFCCG’s even though he lost. Plus, look at the good job he did with the receivers and tight end with having a HOF QB, then he went and found the future success of the Packers with Jordan Love….Guarantee him 5 more years of big money!!!”
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So if you want to tell us that Gute getting a new 5 year deal means anything at all, you’re sadly mistaken short bus.
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If you want to come at me, you better get up a lot earlier and learn something about the Packers before spewing your diatribe towards any of us.
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You keep pretending you’re a Packer fan Princess, and we’ll keep laughing at your ignorance.
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Now put on your Tom Brady jersey and go upstairs. I think your mac n cheese is ready.
Being as impartial as I can I will say Rodgers hasn’t looked great either. He hasn’t looked bad but he hasn’t looked super sharp in my opinion. And I rarely see him try to thread the needle on contested throws now. We’re not a playoff contender without him I’m sure, but I don’t think he’s playing to his potential either.
Combined with the special teams lack of faith, early overuse and reliance on our rbs, a non existent deep game, inconsistent line play and a defense that on paper should be shutting out the level of competition we’ve faced and I present to you a team that has every characteristic of any of our previous playoff teams that have lost for any combination of these reasons.
Just because…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3Ip1_ItIv4
I rewatched the final drive in OT and several things stood out. There were 11 plays. Only four of those were passes. One to Lazard, one to Cobb, and two to Doubs the rest were running plays. The DB was 10 yards off the line of scrimmage covering Doubs on both completions. Rodgers essentially threw it to him at the line of scrimmage. Doubs got 8 yards on the first catch , 9 yards the next. Putting the Packers well into Mason Crosby’s range. So why was the corner so far off the line? Because Doubs had just beat him on a 40 yard go route for a near TD at the two minute warning right before OT. That incompletion, that drop, set up the two big catches by Romeo Doubs in OT. The DB didn’t want to get beat deep again. It goes back to what I’ve been saying, you keep feeding the ball to your young playmaker even if he makes rookie mistakes. And Aaron Rodgers knows it. No posturing, no eye rolling and that’s a good thing. The other thing I’ve noticed Rodgers is finally running the ball more, less audibles. A balanced offense is a dangerous offense. Rodgers will play better, Bahktari and Jenkins will play better, Doubs and Watson will only get better the more experience they get. There’s reason for optimism here…
Cheese you’re getting as bad as Kevin. All you can do is quote me. No original thought, unable to defend yourself. Facts aren’t deflecting. Tom Brady, and I’m no fan, will go down in NFL history as the greatest QB for generations and it’s not even close. Why? Because that’s what the facts tell us. While Aaron Rodgers will be nothing but a distant memory. Replaced by other QB’s who collect stats and not much else. Those are facts Cheese. John Adams once said, “facts are stubborn things” Tom’s 7 rings with two teams to Erin’s 1 ring that was 12 years ago is all you need to know. Another fact. So you and Kevin tell each other how great Erin is because he beat Tampa without their three top WR’s and a LT. And still Tom was one play away from OT. Until Erin beats Tom in the playoffs, I’ll be unconvinced.
What Tommi is trying to say is, the fact that Brady has 7 rings, and Rodgers only has one, is entirely because Brady is just the better QB.
Tommi wants us to know that all those Championships Brady won, is only due to his talent and his talent alone. Those rings have nothing to do with any other aspect of the team. He would have won 7 rings regardless of the defense, special teams, coaching staff, GM, drafting.
The rest of the team had nothing to do with it Tommi tells us. Because Tom Brady….is a dreamboat.
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Conversely Tommi explains…Rodgers only winning one ring falls completely on him.
The defense, special teams, coaching staff, GM, and drafting had absolutely nothing to do with the failure of the Green Bay Packers.
Whatever failure’s the Packers have had through the Rodgers years with Green Bay, fall completely on him.
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Please excuse me now as i had to dumb myself down to type that and i’m now getting light headed.
Thanks for reading.
Spot on PF4L.
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“All you can do is quote me. No original thought, unable to defend yourself.”
Lol. Don’t flatter yourself. I’m simply responding to what you said.
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“Tom Brady, and I’m no fan”
LOL. SMFH.
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“Because that’s what the facts tell us. While Aaron Rodgers will be nothing but a distant memory. Replaced by other QB’s who collect stats and not much else. Those are facts Cheese.”
Clearly those are facts and not your distorted biased opinion. Every quarterback in the NFL will eventually be a distant memory because they will never be Tom Brady. Lol.
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“John Adams once said, “facts are stubborn things””
Right, facts like Brady getting bailed out by Malcolm Butler.
Brady getting bailed out by the tuck rule.
Brady getting bailed out by Vinatieri’s leg.
Brady being incredibly fortunate to have complete teams around him year after year.
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“And still Tom was one play away from OT”
You’re still bragging about TB losing a regular season game? “hE aLmOsT TiEd iT.” LOL.
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Remember when Brady lost the Super Bowl to the Eagles back-up quarterback? Man, how embarrassing. Can’t even beat a second string QB in the biggest game of the year. I bet Brady wouldn’t have any Super Bowl rings if he had to face Eli Manning seven times. Someday, Tom Brady will be a distant memory and the only name in football that matters will be Eli Manning. #LEGEND
Yea…so entertaining
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Here’s another gem….
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Tom M 4 days ago
Rashan Gary now has 5 sacks in 4 games. Now, real men don’t talk stats, unless of course, when i’m doing it.
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As mentioned above, one of my new favorites….
“And still Tom was one play away from OT” – Barney
WOW! That’s just amazing! How does he do it?
Fucking Ragnar…he kills me 🙄
Right.
“B..B… But he had to deal with a back up left tackle and some back up WR’s. It wasn’t a fair playing field! He lead the troops and was still one play from tying the game! Rodgers could never dream of leading the troops and losing a game like Brady can!”
To Whom it may Concern:
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The Packer are playing the New York Giants on 10/9 in London England. If you’d like, feel free to post any pre-game articles on that game as you wish. I can guarantee, nobody will be upset.
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Also, thank you for the Oct 2nd and 3rd articles about Favre, and the two post game articles concerning the Patriot game. Today is Oct. 9th.
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Keep up the good work.
*Oct 8th
Can you imagine had Rodgers gone to Denver with Hackett? Erin would be rolled up in a fetal position right now sucking on Kevin’s thumb or whatever else he had to offer. And Cheese would be right behind him as “next man up” ready to console his wounded and fragile hero. Aaron Rodgers has an emerging star in Romeo Doubs, a defense that’s giving up 15 points a game, a dominant run game, and for the first time in over a year two healthy tackles. The old man needs to get it the fuck done and win a SB. No more bullshit! No more excuses! Kevin and Cheese can jerk each other off telling each other how wonderful Erin is and how he’s the best ever. Until he proves it with a SB win, he isn’t.
As mentioned above, one of my new favorites….
“And still Tom was one play away from OT” – Barney
WOW! That’s just amazing! How does he do it?
Fucking Ragnar…he kills me 🙄
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Never stop trying Scooby 😃
Tom M 5 hours ago
Can you imagine had Rodgers gone to Denver with Hackett?
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Ummmmmm…according to you back in the offseason, you told us that was a done deal
You told us that about 20 times (as usual)
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Wrong again Sparky!! (as usual)
The list of failures is much too long, so let’s hand out some game balls:
Darnell Savage: absolutely atrocious in coverage. Couldn’t cover his gramama without her walker. Royce Newman: Pathetic excuse for a football player and should not even be sniffing the field, much less starting.