O! - M! - F! - G! Jets, Jets, Jets!

Holy fucking shit. Brett Favre has been (or will be) traded to the New York Jets.

The Jets are an AFC team, which means I can follow them (or perhaps even wear a new jersey*) without feeling like a complete traitor. Look: I won't apologize for wanting to continue to pay attention to Favre and what he can accomplish on the field. As I've said before, that man has provided me with so many memories, it stands to reason that I would want to keep watching for more.

The other reason I'm using to justify that is the fact that the next time the Jets are scheduled to play play at Lambeau** is in 2014. I don't think Brett will still be playing then... but if he is, then upon his return to the Frozen Tundra he'll be starting*** like his 383rd consecutive game.

---

P.S. My prediction for the Post's headline tomorrow: "Broadway Brett!"

*HA! New jersey! Get it?!
**They will play at The Meadowlands in 2010.
***Even if Brett barely knows half of the plays in the Jets' repertoire by the time Week 1 kicks off, they'd damn well better plan on at least letting him start!

Mindsets Are Overrated

Today's update is far worse than I had hoped. Looks like it's all about Favre not being willing to give 100% to the Packers -- or at least what Coach Oblio identified as 100%, which involved watching game film on a Thursday night -- and the Packers organization not giving Favre enough of a welcome home for his liking. Holy fucking shit, what a nightmare.

Funny thing is, Jason Whitlock was totally right a couple of weeks ago when he posted this open letter to the main reason why Brett Favre is no longer going to be a Packer, Ted "Twatrocket" Thompson. Read that, then read it again.

Coach said in this afternoon's press conference that Brett was "not in the proper mindset" to be a Packer this season. Brett purportedly said that too many hurtful things were said and too much damage done for him to ignore/forget. I have no fucking idea what that means. I want to know who said what to whom and when, just so I can justify in my own mind whether saying something like that is even remotely defensible. (My bet is it was Thompson, in the library, with the lead pipe.)

Maybe we'll learn more about that in the near future. In the meantime, the fact that this isn't over and happily resolved for Brett, the Packers, and -- most importantly -- the fans just has me feeling really, really sad. The prospect of Favre wearing a new (pewter?) jersey on the field with a team other than the Packers next month just hurts. I just want to shake him and yell, "YOU RETIRED!" I'm having a really tough time understanding how he can feel the way he's feeling about the reception he received by management in Green Bay this week... mostly because it means the same guy who has given me so many amazing memories turns out to be just like any other selfish superstar.

Frankly, given that Thompson is such a colossal knucklefuck, I'd almost like to see him try to stay consistent and just ignore or decline any trades that come across his desk. Put Favre in his old #4 jersey, hand him a helmet, and have him sit on the sidelines unless and until he's needed in a game. Brett, you said you wanted one of three things: 1) Let me play, 2) trade me, or 3) release me unconditionally. I say let him play. As a Packer. Done.

Four More Years?

I'm breaking radio silence today because this is amazing. Today is the closest we've come to a culmination of all the shit that's been going on with Favre, and I need to comment.

First of all, I can't hate him. Lots of people report that they do now; that they're done with him and his prima donna attitude. Look: He's still easily one of the best QBs out there. According to him, he made a mistake by retiring back in March. Have you ever made a mistake? Ever regretted a decision? Yeah. So leave that alone. Is he blameless? No. It was stupid to give an interview to Fox News rather than work through things using the 'proper channels.' Then again, knowing how badly Ted Thompson has mismanaged things with Favre, I can understand his frustration. I don't hate Favre. I hate this situation. Since July 4th, I have had this pit in my stomach that just roils and twists every time I have thought about this because of all of the endless conjecture and possible scenarios, which necessarily have included talk of a trade from the Packers. That thought has actually made me physically ill.

Yesterday, Roger Goodell accepted Favre's request to be reinstated to the NFL's active roster, and today at noon, the Packers will officially welcome him back... although perhaps "welcome" isn't quite the right word. We'll see tonight at 8:15 what Coach Oblio says, but the news from ESPN is that Favre will be allowed to compete with A-Rodge for the starting QB position. Frankly, there's nothing I'd enjoy more than seeing #4 starting in the Packers' first (nationally-televised!) preseason game against Cincy one week from tonight. It will seem right, whereas watching A-Rodge start and knowing that in a month we'd be retiring that #4 at Lambeau was not going to. I would celebrate, but... well, it'd just be very not right. I'm all for postponing that for as long as we can.

But here's the thing (actually, there are two concerns I have): 1) This won't end up stopping the trading talk. If Favre is competing, he could lose. (Yes, even I can admit that he can fail.) If he does, he could still wind up as a Jet, a Buc, or [gulp] even a Bear or [gag] a Viking. But perhaps even worse, 2) he could win the position... and then wind up playing the way he's supposed to "at his age." Trust me, I want more than anything for there to be one more magical season like this last one was. The problem is, there can't be. The thing that made the 2007 season magical was that it was completely unexpected. This season will already always be mired by the circus that has preceded it. If anything, Favre will feel the need to work all that much harder to win the spot, then feel he has to work all that much harder during the season and wind up with an injury trying to play younger than he is or simply go back to playing slingball and forgetting all of the techniques he was able to perfect over the past couple of years, when he went back to school and really re-learned how to play the QB position. If he sees the job as a gift, he might play like next year doesn't matter and put his team and his teammates in jeopardy. We could be up for another mediocre season... or another 4-win season. If we were going to have one of those in 2008, I wanted it to be because it was A-Rodge's learning curve season, not because Favre didn't take the opportunity to quit while he was ahead.

But look at what I'm doing. It's all conjecture. We can't know what will happen. We have to let it. We have to see what transpires. Again: More than anything, I want Favre to be Superman. I want him to come out playing at the same level as he was able to achieve last year, and then continue to improve. I want the team to rally behind him and want him to do well so they all do well. (I worry that the circus has already soured his teammates' attitudes in that regard.) I want Brett to be the starting QB and talk to the Packers team before the opening Monday Night Football game and apologize, saying it really was stupid what he did, and that in the final analysis it was really just all about the football -- about Packers football -- and that they were going to go out there and leave everything on the field every week and never look back. I want that team to be a team, banded together, running out on that field and mangling their opponents, not coming off the adrenaline rush until an hour after the final gun. I want to be the team of destiny with the seasoned QB not willing to go quietly into the sunset but hungry to go all the way to Tampa on February 1, 2009.

One last thing. A friend said this weekend that if the team was in a position to bring Favre back, that they should really put him through the wringer, practice-wise -- enough so that he wants to quit all over again. I'm perfectly happy with making him earn the position, but not with the intention of breaking him. But if that is what were to happen, god dammit, I want Favre to jump through whatever hoops and barriers the organization puts up and come out of it as though it was just another practice. I want him to be the clear winner, not just so there are no hard feelings, but so that the team moves on and comes as close as they can to forgetting this whole mess ever transpired in the first place. I want Favre at his best, and -- call me a fool for believing it, but -- I honestly believe he can be the best. I want him proving that against the Colts on October 19th by facing Peyton Manning and making him look like a clueless child. BUT, if that does not happen -- if injury, hurt feelings, a trade, or any combination of the above are to occur -- let me remind you (and myself): Aaron Rodgers is a hell of a lot better than the plurality of the starting quarterbacks in the NFL today. He is twice the QB Rex Grossman will ever be, and Grossman was in the fucking Super Bowl two seasons ago.

I can't believe there's a quarterback controversy in Green Bay... that involves Brett Favre.

UPSET

Packers 20 - Giants 23 (OT)

That post title has a dual meaning tonight. It's Super Sunday -- not nearly as super as we'd hoped, unfortunately. That's meaning #1: Over the past two weeks, my disposition has been pretty much summed up with that five-letter word. I've been all over the lower end of the emotional map, actually. Hasn't been too fun. For me or anyone around me.

That all changed just a few minutes ago -- only slightly, mind you, but there has definitely been a palpable change. That's meaning #2: The Giants definitely upset us, but they did something much more important tonight. They just upset the until-now-undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl. I kept saying that, if they are going to beat us, they'd damn well better beat New England. I also kept saying that the chances of that happening were absolutely naught. My prediction for the final score of this game was like 56-10 Pats. The Giants just won 17-14. And there were three lead changes in the 4th quarter, so it seemed even way lower-scoring than that. But the point is that the fact that it wasn't Brett and the boys there with a shot at knocking the Pats off their high, conceited horse now hurts just a little bit less.

Our game against the Giants was also a low-scoring affair. It was cold. I think the third-coldest championship game ever played. All signs pointed to Eli Manning not being able to brave the cold, and -- come on -- we're the Packers. The team that plays at a place they call the Frozen Tundra all the time.

But then again, the last time Brett played in cold like this was in the loss to the Bears at Soldier Field. And the Giants had won 9 road games in a row coming into Lambeau. Hm. Yeah, all of the damn stats were conflicting, confusing, and distracting. Perhaps that's what went wrong. Actually, several things went wrong on both sides of the ball, and for both teams. It's just that more went wrong for us than for them. And, actually, in a couple of cases, the shit that went wrong for us was thanks to horrible calls from an officiating crew that had no place working a Playoff game! If the Playoffs' crews are supposed to be the best in the league just like the teams playing in those games... then the only explanation for the presence of Terry McAulay and his boys is that they had something juicy on Roger Goodell. Inexcusable.

The most exhilarating play was a 90-yard TD pass to Double D, who got jammed at the line by Corey Webster but then caught the pass in stride and beat him big time (and high-stepped past the safety) early in the 2nd quarter. One would have hoped it would spark the offense into finally relaxing into some semblance of consistency, but, alas, it didn't work out that way. That play was the longest offensive play in Packers postseason history... but it was also 34% of their offensive output in the entire game. A week after Ryan Grant ran for 201, we only earned 63 more yards than that as a team. Grant ran only 13 times, and ten of those were for two yards or less. Sigh. We couldn't convert 3rd downs -- we were 1-for-10. It led to a choppy-feeling game with no chance to set the tempo.

A roller coaster moment came early in the 4th quarter, when Favre escaped the pass rush but then had his pass intercepted. "Dorsey" had a heads-up defensive play, though, when he knocked the ball out and it squirted right into Tausch's arms. Instead of getting the ball into the end zone for the lead, though, we ended up having to settle for the tying field goal. The defense was just okay. (The Giants' D was impressive.) This was unfortunately one of those games in which Al Harris just didn't play shut-down corner. It was reminiscent of his play in Dallas. Plaxico Burress had a monster game, which meant Eli Manning's numbers looked pretty great.

Even when a couple of things went right -- specifically, Lawrence Tynes missing not one but two field goals, our winning the toss for possession in overtime -- we weren't able to get it together and take over. Another big shoulda'-coulda'-woulda' play came in a 4th quarter punt return, when we knocked the ball out of McQuarters' grasp, but then neither Bush nor Poppinga, both of whom got their mitts on the ball, was able to hang onto it for us. The absolutely most excruciating moment was Brett Favre's last pass in the game -- and, ultimately, the season -- which was supposedly going to Driver but was picked off by Webster. It was only the second play of the extra quarter. Devastating.

But after a couple of weeks, it's a little more tolerable. And after watching the team that beat us go all the way to win the Super Bowl over a team that hadn't lost a game all season, it was even a little more therapeutic. Don't get me wrong, though. It should have been us.

Looking back over this past season, and especially comparing it with the record we managed just two seasons earlier, only two words come to me as a Packers fan: Thank you!

NFC Championship Sunday!

First, some catch-up:

Packers 33 - Rams 14

I got to watch this one on a widescreen rear-projection TV, but with my in-laws muttering on and constantly razzing me in the background. You know when people know you enjoy something and they deliberately feign interest or condescend with the sole intention of getting a reaction from you? Yeah. Three hours of that. And the first half was enough of a question mark to make each comment cut twice as deep. Luckily, as we've done in several games this year, the Pack came back having made some good adjustments at the half and finished strong. We kept St. Louis scoreless in the 2nd half.

And it was one of Bigby's waxing games. As much as he pisses me off with his missed assignments or cocky attitude or sometimes just being a rookie, I can't throw much hate his way when he has a game like this. Two INTs and several decent tackles made this one of the good games. The interception late in the first half was a momentum-changer that kept the Packers up by three at the half. The other driving force in this game was the special teams play of Koren Robinson and Will Blackmon, who combined for over 100 return yards on just three returns. And if special teams is playing well (OBTW, Crosby was 4-4 kicking field goals), then if either the offense or the defense is playing well, you know the likely outcome. Well, let's leave aside for the moment that on offense we have Brett Favre (after all, even though he passed Marino in total passing yards, he threw two INTs). In this game, the defense stepped up and took over. After two games with no sacks, we got four against the Rams. Nick Barnett had two, and Kampman and Hawk both had one.

Packers 7 - Bears 35

The most remarkable thing about this game was where I was when I watched it -- at the ESPN Club at the Boardwalk at Walt Disney World in Orlando. 50+ high def flat screens, each with a tag underneath them indicating which game would be playing at 1pm. There were a dozen Favre jerseys within my line-of-sight... and two Bears fans.

So we got to commiserate. The weather in Orlando was in the 80s and sunny. Not so in Chi-town, where the winds were whipping and the temps were in the teens. Favre's passes were blowing all over the place. He was 2-of-7 in the first half, so we obviously needed to rely on the running game, which was okay on a couple of plays. The most important one came in the 2nd Quarter, when Dorsey Grant ran 66 yards for a TD. Unlike last week's game, though, the special teams play was HORRID. Jon Ryan ended a not-well-publicized streak of 12 years and 929 punts without a block in the 2nd Quarter... and then followed that up with another one in the 3rd. Not only that, but he dropped a snap and wound up with a 9-yard punt, too.

The most perplexing thing was our defense's lackluster play. The Bears had one offensive play in their playbook: Run up the middle. How could we not adjust and come up with a solution for that one? And how was it that, in the same weather, Orton only had 6 incomplete passes?

I left the Club when Urlacher picked off a deflected Favre pass and ran it back 85 yards to reach what would be the final score of 35-7. 11 minutes remained in the game at that time. They may have beaten us both times this season, but the Bears still suck.

Packers 34 - Lions 13

That's more like it. If the Bears are going to beat us twice, we're sure as hell going to have to own the Lions in both our games against them this season. We rested Double D, the Jennerator, Woody, Kampman, Lee, and Pickett. The last thing we want is injuries going into the Divisional Playoff game two weeks later. (Cut to me worried as both Will Blackmon and Dorsey Grant go out with injuries in this game.) Favre played (the consecutive start streak stays alive at 253), but only for three series... for three touchdowns. He was 9-of-11 for 99 yards and two TD passes, and OBTW a 21-yard run. Then dark horse Craig Nall came in to clean up for the rest of the game. He got to throw a TD pass for the first time in three seasons -- good for him.

The last time the Lions won a game in Wisconsin was in 1991, which means they've never beaten Favre here. Also, our final-game winning percentage is the best in the NFL since 1994 -- we're now 13-1. Right behind us with a record of 11-3 are the Washington Redskins... who beat the Cowboys on this day. Yes, that means if we had beaten the Bears last week we would own home field advantage over Dallas throughout the Playoffs... but I digress.

As we would discover just 14 days later, it wouldn't matter.

13 DAYS LATER...

Packers 42 - Seahawks 20

Holy crap, was this game amazing. It was magical. The snow falling from the sky was the angels spitting their approval down on Lambeau and the Packer Nation -- "cherubim spittle," it was dubbed, willing us to the NFC Championship game. (My video of this trip to follow.) The first four minutes were disquieting, but Brett didn't get desperate -- there was after all plenty of time left on the clock. And he and his young team were deliberate about moving down the field. Young Ryan Grant -- who earned the right to be called by his own name after his performance in this game -- more than made up for his errors in those opening minutes. He ran for 201 yards and scored three TDs, more (on both counts) than anyone in Packers postseason history. Our 42 points were the most ever for us, too. Same for our 25 first downs. It was meant to be.

Never in all of my games at Lambeau have I seen it, heard it, or felt it quite like that. The game a week before that last glorious Seahawks playoff game four years ago -- when we played the Broncos -- was close on the eerie-feel scale. That was the game in the trailing minutes of which the Cardinals had scored against the Vikings to pull within 5 and then gotten the on-side kick with under 2:00 left to play in Arizona. People in the stands were listening to that game on their radios, and you could tell who had a radio by these 'pockets' of activity throughout the stadium. When the Cards would get a first down, little concentric circles of excitement would erupt. We spent quite a bit of time near the end of the 4th quarter turning around behind us to see what the folks in the luxury boxes were seeing on TV. When Arizona got that TD that was ruled a forceout to pull them up by one point against Minnesota, the place went nuts. Then we heard it was being challenged, and it was eerily silent as we awaited word from the radio- and TV-clad fans among us. Once the TD was verified -- I think it was right at the 2:00 warning of our game -- the lid came off and everyone was celebrating the fact that we’d backed our way into the Playoffs and would be hosting another game the next week.

Best of all, check out the sky earlier that evening. We were being smiled upon in that game much like we were in the snow last Saturday. It happened to be 11 years to the day after the last NFC Championship game we’d hosted against Carolina before SB XXXI. The difference in last Saturday’s game vs. that Broncos game was that the feeling was there almost the whole time last week… I mean, minus the first four minutes. I don’t remember sitting down for more than two or three minutes the entire game. Amazing. Almost unbelievable. We said that many times during the game: "Unbelievable." But we do believe. Boy, do we believe.

So today, thanks to the Giants beating the Cowboys, we're mere hours away from hosting one more home playoff game at Lambeau. And it's time for the Packers' Prayer:

Our Favre, who art at Lambeau,
Hallowed be thine arm.
The Bowl will come.
It will be won,
In Phoenix as it was in New Orleans.
Give us this Sunday our weekly win.
And give us many touchdown passes,
But do not let others pass against us.
And lead us not into frustration,
But deliver us to the valley of the sun.
For thine is the MVP,
The best of the NFC, and the glory of the Cheeseheads,
For ever and ever.
AMEN!!!

Go Pack Go!

Breaking News

I know I have some games to catch up on -- I will -- but this warrants an immediate stop-press.

Yesterday, we rocked it in the snow at Lambeau against the Seahawks.

That got us a place in the NFC Championship game for the first time in ten years.


Today, we were rooting for the Giants to beat the recently less-than-stellar Cowboys so that we could host one more game at the sure-to-be-Frozen Tundra (given that it would be the latest game ever played there) rather than having to travel back to Dallas.

Less than 30 minutes ago, all of the pieces fell into place:

We will be playing in front of our home crowd for the right to go back to the Super Bowl one week from right now.

So there are four teams left in the hunt: Packers, Giants, Patriots, Chargers. Should the highest-seeded teams win next Sunday, it'll be a Packers-Pats rematch in Arizona.

WE DO.

Chumps to Champs

Packers 38 - Raiders 7

I escorted Bob and Bob, Jr. up to the Tundra for the game. Here it is in a nutshell:

The damned battery on the videocam sapped itself somehow (perhaps we should blame Warren Sapp) the night before, so I didn't grab much footage during the game. Here's the only play I did snag:

That was Will Blackmon recovering a forced fumble on a punt and jumping in the stands with about 5:00 left in the 3rd Quarter. The officials said that the Oakland player was down by contact before he lost the ball, but Oblio challenged it and Ed Hochuli got the call right -- the ball was fumbled and clearly recovered by Blackmon 8 yards deep in the end zone. That meant it was Blackmon's second special teams TD of the game. It's been over 20 years since we've had two special teams TDs in the same game... and in this game it was the same player! His first one was coming right at us in the 2nd Quarter, when he caught a punt on the run and ran it back 57 yards into the end zone. We didn't discover until later that there was some controversy surrounding the play and that Sapp was moaning on the sidelines that Will had stepped out of bounds before taking it all the way. No challenge, though, so it stayed on the scoreboard.

In the end, as you can see on the video above, we walked away as official champions of the NFC North. The other excitement happening in the stadium was due to the fact that the score of the Lions-Cowboys game kept flashing up, and Detroit was owning Dallas. Unfortunately, on the walk back to the car, we heard the news that Romo and the 'boys made a game of it in the last minute and wound up with the victory. The Lions fail to help us out once again.

Two years ago, we were 4-12. We're now 11-2. This has already been a magical season, and I am thrilled to have been able to see this particular game. Lambeau was slightly more electric than it's been in a few seasons, although it always does have that special mystique. It really is "home."

Blame Game

Packers 27 - Cowboys 37

There were just too many things that went wrong a couple of Thursdays ago. Taken individually, none of them should have led to a defeat. All together, though, they sealed our fate.

1. Injuries. Yes, this would have been #1 if we'd won, too. The Packers beat the Cowboys even without Woody, Rouse, Bubba, Jolly, and KGB?! How underrated are they?! In this case, I think both Woodson and KGB would have made a difference if they'd been on the field. Al Harris may be one of the league's best corners, but when he was asked to shift into slots normally covered by Woody, his uncertainty was pretty clear, and Dallas exploited it. Oh, and by the way, Brett Favre had to leave the game with about ten minutes left in the first half... and he didn't return.
   
2. Pure, Unadulterated Desperation. While Favre was in, though, Oblio was calling all kinds of jailbreak plays, and absolutely none of them worked. There are games that Brett plays where he can almost do no wrong -- or at least if he does do wrong, the amount he's doing right easily eclipses whatever goes wrong. Then there are games like this one, where you feel like he gets into a kind of if I keep heaving things long, something's gotta' stick mentality. Thing is, he was either inaccurate or his receivers' routes weren't clean or he was just making poor decisions. One particularly frustrating play in the second quarter had him throwing into double coverage on Driver when Jennings was wide open shorter down the middle of the field. The only miracles happening on those plays were the fact that the passes weren't being intercepted. You know when Oblio's calling for an onside kick in the first quarter that all bets are off.
   
3. Crappy officiating. I thought we already had our dose for this season, but apparently it doesn't work that way. On the first pass thrown T.O.'s way, Al Harris took the ball away before Owens had demonstrated full possession and before he went out of bounds. In real time, it didn't look that way, so I was not surprised when it was first called a catch and then an out-of-bounds escort by Harris. But then a second later, another official came in signaling Green Bay's ball! Cue the replay:
   
   
   
   I don't get how they can get away with backing down like that! Forward progress was stopped? What the fuck is that? How is that possible in a play that happened so quickly? He didn't make enough of a football move to prove he even had possession, much less a failure to keep moving forward afterward. It was a chickenshit call to make up for the fact that one of the officials completely missed what was happening on the field, and ignoring the one who exhibited some competence.
   
   One more: This Pass Interference call was crap. Pay attention to the amount of time that passes between the play and the flag. Chickenshit.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Atari Bigby. Two things happened in the 4th quarter that kept us from winning this game. The first was that idiotic Pass Interference call that led to 7 points for the Cowgirls and the second was Bigby ripping Marion Barber's helmet off tacking on 15 yards, moving Dallas from the 46 to the 31 and leading to a field goal. We lost by 10. That's 10. Bigby couldn't tackle Witten, and he let both T.O. and Crayton make long receptions. Sure, he's had some exciting plays this year, but after this some veteran defensive leader should have sat him down and given him a good talking to, or else we should have just left him down in Big D.

To his credit, Aaron Rogers played Packers football the way we've been playing -- and winning -- all year, and he looked pretty awesome. He brought something to the game that Dallas hadn't prepared for: A running option. There were three impressive plays in which Rogers earned us first downs with his legs. He also got sacked and had balls batted, of course, but he had one string of 11 straight completions in between that, and he earned his first NFL TD.

Without the two turnovers, there wouldn't have been 14 points off them. But there were turnovers, and there were 14 points scored off them. Without Bigby's freshman behavior, we could have kept Dallas further away from scoring 3 more at the end. But he acted like an idiot. Without the piss poor officiating, we'd have had a chance to play in Dallas. But instead of responding to that adversity with stellar, praiseworthy execution, we sort of figuratively pouted at our shoes, kicked the ground, and admitted defeat. And it came.

Brett would be back to start ten days later, we knew. And we rallied behind him and his team, knowing that they have not really been far away from victory in either of their losses, and that they would respond with something much more definitive.

Carving Up the Thanksgiving Lions

Packers 37 - Lions 26

"I threw it. They caught it. Nothing spectacular."

You've gotta' love Brett Favre's humility this year. A year in which he's not only breaking Packers team records and NFL records, but one in which he's breaking personal records he set in his MVP years. At this point in the season, it's unfortunate that the Patriots are undefeated because it makes everyone take notice of a pretty regular QB in Tom Brady and naturally assume he's a shoo-in for this year's MVP. As a team, sure, the Pats are playing some amazingly consistent football. But is Tom Brady better than Brett Favre this year? No way. Not by a long shot. Again: He's playing better this year than in any of his previous years, and he has already been the NFL's MVP more times than any other player. If you improve on that greatness, how could you not be considered the MVP?

Of course, having said all that, the first play snapped to Favre in this game probably isn't exactly the representative play you want to put on your reel to make your case. He tripped as he pitched the ball back to "Dorsey" Grant and the Lions recovered with excellent field position. Then the D really tightened, though, and we held them to just a field goal. Kampman didn't have quite as many sacks as I had expected he would (just two), but his presence was definitely felt. KGB and Williams both got a sack in, too.

The excitement started just after we said our Thanksgiving dinner prayer (I say it much differently than most, especially when the Packers are playing). Aaron Rouse got a pick early in the second quarter and ran it back 34 yards to the 11. One play later, Favre and the Jennerator had chalked up another TD and we were up 7-6. We didn't really turn it off again after that until the fourth quarter. More on that in a moment.

The most remarkable thing about this game was probably the passing streak that Favre set up. In the two-minute drill at the end of the first half, he had seven straight. In the third quarter, he did not have an incompletion. By the beginning of the fourth, he had broken the Packers team record and the league's record was in sight. Two straight incomplete passes in the end zone meant that he stopped at an amazing 20 straight passes... and we had to settle for just 3 points on that drive. Meanwhile, though, the Lions had done nothing of consequence -- one field goal to our 20 points.

But the rest of the fourth quarter was a little unnerving. Perhaps the tryptophan of hundreds of thousands of fans on one side of the TV screen somehow reached the defense on the other, because all of a sudden, they had allowed Detroit to score touchdowns instead of field goals, and the lead was down to just 8 points. Same thing happened last week. I don't want that to become a habit. I don't know what's more stressful: Having to come from behind to win it or being up and going all conservative and having to hold on by the skin of our teeth. Now, an 11-point victory isn't skin-of-our-teeth close, but it should have been more like 20. We need to have that Patriots don't-just-plunge-the-dagger-into-their-hearts-but-twist-that-sucker-a-few-times-too mentality and just own these games. That's what I want to see happen tonight, anyway.

I have not been this giddy about a game in a loooooong time. Two 10-1 teams meeting on a national stage, both in the NFC, playing for what could end up meaning home-field advantage in the Playoffs. Holy fucking shit.

Here's hoping Romo's too distracted by Jessica Simpson's boobs to play well in the spotlight.

Wait, what was I saying?

OAQBs

Packers 31 - Panthers 17

The combined age of the starting QBs in today's game: 82. That's the same combined age as Greg Jennings, Donald Driver, and Cullen Jenkins... or two years younger than the combined age of the four people in my household (sorry, dere, Bob). Testaverde was the QB in Tampa Bay in the first game Favre played in for Green Bay (one week before the streak began, when he played a second-half relief role) in Florida in Week 3 of the 1992 season. FOX said Sunday afternoon that Vinnie had been to Green Bay to play against the Packers a total of 12 times... and 8 of those were before Favre started playing for us.

But who cares? We're 9-1! This is our best start since 1962, when we started 10-0 (and won our 8th championship, BTW). The World Champion Indiana-noplace Colts have lost two games in a row (although they won this weekend), so we're ahead of them. We're still tied with the Cowgirls, and Bill Belicheat's Pats are still undefeated, so we're in very good company at the top of the league standings... and, for the first time in years, #3 in the Power Rankings. This weekend, both Dallas and New England had individual receivers catch four TDs (Owens and Moss, respectively -- not respectfully). Meanwhile, we're known for spreading the ball around. I'm fairly certain that Favre completed passes to 20 different receivers in this game. So if Driver or Jennings is catching four each, watch out, 'cuz the score's probably going to wind up something like 66-12. I'd be okay with that.

Actually, Favre's 3 TDs in this game meant he tied (with Marino again) the NFL record for most games with 3 or more. I'm hopeful that the Turkey Day outing will make #63 so he can put another record behind him.

One of the plays of the day came from Tramon Williams in the first quarter. It looked like Carolina would try a field goal after making it to the 34 yard line, but John Kasay did a pooch punt instead and Tramon was ready. He caught the ball and ran like a hot knife through the coverage's butter (with an escort by Jason Hunter -- the least he could do after nearly knocking Tramon down at the 25!) and 94 yards later the score was 7-zip.

The second quarter was an exciting 14-point affair, with TD passes to the Jennerator and Donald Lee. Lee then caught his second TD pass in the third quarter, which meant we were up 28-3. After keeping Minnesota scoreless, it would have been nice to have been able to keep the Panthers out of the end zone completely, but we did somehow allow them in not once but twice before the end of the match. Luckily we got 3 turnovers and gave up none. Also, if this is the only thing I can find to complain about, we're in pretty damn good shape.

The most-impressive-but-somehow-easily-forgotten play was the one that started the clock ticking in the second half. Koren Robinson returned the kickoff 67 yards to the Carolina 28. That was our longest kickoff return so far this year, and it set up Lee's second touchdown four plays later. Not forgotten at all was Favre's 47-yard completion to Double-D on a play fake that was so good the folks at FOX nearly missed it completely. That led to Jennings' TD five plays later.

The Lions are in second place in the NFC North, and if we win in Detroit on Thursday, we'll be four games ahead of them. My predictions for the game: The Lions are good at taking the ball away. Brett's probably due for a pick, so maybe they can get one on him. As long as we don't have bad turnover luck like we had in the Chicago game, though, I think we'll come through unscathed. In fact, given how bad Detroit's O-line is at protecting Kitna, and how awesome Kampman (and even KGB) has been doing, we may force twice as many turnovers as they could hope to.

Frankly, the thing I'm most immediately concerned about regarding this Thursday's game is having to watch it on my sister- and brother-in-laws' crap-ass console TV from 1972. Pass me the HDTV.

A Well-Balanced Shutout

Packers 34 - Vikings 0

You read that right. Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Bupkis. Et cetera. Look, I know how the Vikings "fans" feel. But damn if it don't feel good to me right now!

Things are going right for the Packers this year, where last year they were going very wrong. We kept losing the close games. Now we're doing what we need to do to win them. I was lamenting last week how we hadn't really just run away with a game yet. Even in our worst season, when we only won four in 2005, we absolutely killed the Saints.* I wasn't calling for a 52-pointer, but a game in which it felt like we could do no wrong would have been nice.

Enter the surprisingly-accommodating Vikings.

In this game, even when something bad was about to happen, it turned around in our favor. Two cases in point, both from the 4th quarter:

1. The Vikings take advantage of a roughing-the-passer penalty and string together some good pass plays and a run to get all the way down to the 7. On 1st-and-goal, Woody picks off Bollinger's pass at the 2, preserving the shutout.
2. On our possession following the INT, with just under 6:00 to play, Favre throws it to Ruvell Martin in the end zone on 3rd-and-5 from the 17. Cedric Griffin and Darren Sharper** both tried to pick it off, but collided. The ball popped up and landed safely in Ruvell's hands for his second TD of the game.

The other Packer to catch a TD pass was Donald Lee. His grab marked the 200th touchdown pass Favre has thrown at Lambeau Field. This was also the 250th consecutive regular-season sellout at the frozen tundra -- 264 if you count the playoffs (and you should). I've been to more than a dozen of those, of course, and Bob, Jeff, and Bob, Jr. will be making the pilgrimage together again for the Oakland game on December 9th for #266.

Along with the excellent defense, the run game made another resurgence in this game. The Packers ran for over 100 yards for the first time this season against the Broncos two weeks ago. This week, Ryan "Dorsey" Grant had already run for 81 yards by the end of the 1st quarter, including a 30-yard jaunt into the end zone to put us on the board. When he was done, he'd racked up 119 against a stingy defense, while the Vikings' rookie phenom Adrian Peterson had only 45 yards on 11 carries, and left the game with a boo-boo on his knee. We were expected to be able to run against Denver because their defense if the worst against the run in the NFL. Before this game, though, no one had been able to run for 100+ yards against the Vikings this season.

And of course the passing game didn't go away. In the 2nd quarter, Favre became the second QB in NFL history to pass for over 60,000 yards. He wound up with 351 on the day, which means he only needs 1,105 more to surpass Marino for that record.

One more stat: Favre wasn't sacked in this game, so kudos, too, to the O-line.

---

*This week's game was the second-highest margin of victory we've achieved since that Saints game. That was also the last time I got called out by Lisa for being a jerk to her... which also happened again this week. I have a penchant for unknowingly offending the people I love by either appearing to take them for granted... or by actually doing it. Frankly, I am always surprised by this when it happens because I can't imagine that someone would care that much about a lack of attention from me. Lisa just had a baby, and I couldn't be more thrilled for her and Nate.

When Brett was born six years ago, we were oblivious to the outside world. When I got the good news about baby Griffin, I was excited and anxious for Lisa, but didn't figure she'd give a shit whether I had anything to say about it or not. All of the cards and messages we'd gotten were nice and all, but I couldn't tell you who sent most of them or what they said. One thing I know for sure, though, is that Lisa sent us an awesome and very thoughtful care package. We always remembered that and we certainly wanted to repay that favor. We have prepared a care package, but part of it only just arrived, and now it's been almost a month, so we feel bad about not having sent it yet. Lisa, I'm sorry. I love you and I'm really thrilled about your growing family. Your care package is on the way, and I look forward to a play date sometime soon!

**Griffin (the Vikings player, not Lisa and Nate's son) and Sharper were also involved in another great Packers reception in the 3rd quarter, when they failed to beat the Jennerator to a 34-yard throw which led to Lee's TD two plays later. Thanks again, Darren!

K. C. Masterpiece

Packers 33 - Chiefs 22

Last week, Favre won in Denver for the first time. This week, he beat the only team he hadn't beat so far in the NFL, so he's now joined Manning and Brady in that regard. Those two managed to reach that milestone last week, but actually, since there have definitely been games in which Favre has caused the Packers to beat themselves, I'd argue that Brett Favre is the only QB to have beaten all 32 teams in the NFL.

So there.

This game was a back-and-forth affair, and that actually made it fun. (Well, okay, it's much easier to say that when we win....) The difference of 11 in the final score is misleading. That's thanks in large part to Mr. Charles "Woody" Woodson, who came alive in the 4th quarter. He started with a huge 27-yard punt return, and ended with a 46-yard pick-6. In fact, in the last 3 minutes, we scored 17 points. The first in that chunk was a deep-middle 60-yarder to the Jennerator. Amazing. That was his second, actually (all he does is catch touchdowns). His first was on one of my favorite crossing pattern plays at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Favre had a couple of interceptions in this game, and one was quite controversial. At the end of the half, the guy who wanders around on the sidelines with a headset and a laminated play sheet (I'll call him "Oblio") made an odd choice. Favre had thrown an almost-lateral pass on 2nd-and-2, and Morency wisely made sure the ball went out of bounds... by kicking it (and thus I learned that in a game called "football" it is actually illegal to use your foot to do that!). At the start of that play, there were about 40 seconds left in the half. Five minutes later, I think, the zebras had finally resolved that the throw was not a lateral but an incomplete forward pass, and there would not be a 10-yard illegal kick penalty on Morency... but there would be a 5-yard delay-of-game penalty on him. I think it was the damned zebras who were delaying the game, TYVM! Anyway, after all of that, with 35 seconds left, Oblio said, "Hey, let's throw the ball instead of safely running for the first" (yes, I know, the one time we actually want him to call a run), and Favre threw a pick. That led to a KC TD, meaning instead of going into halftime up by 6, we were down by 1.

At least the defense kept the Chiefs from earning their own first down on our half of the field until late in the game. I love how the D is playing this year. They're a very cohesive group. They're playing the way Green Bay defenses played when there was an emotional veteran player like Reggie or LeRoy leading them. We just have a strong group of guys. Kampmann and Barnett are class, Hawk is coming on (he had a pick in this game), and KGB has even made a difference this year. They just need to make sure guys like Bigby can keep their game honest and they'll own the NFL.

This is the youngest team in the league. They're 7-1, on pace with the Cowboys... and when we play one another the week after Thanksgiving, it's possible we'd both only have one loss. Not to get too far ahead of myself, but that game might just be a preview of the NFC Championship game. We beat them, it's bring on the Patriots for a Super Bowl XXXI rematch!

Okay, mommy says I need to go take my pills now.

Monday Night Magic III

Packers 19 - Broncos 13 (OT)

Man, the 'Brettrospectives' have really be flying around this season. FOX did one back in Week 4, when they had the Vikings game in which Favre was sure to crack Marino's TD record. Last week, it was ESPN showing all of his great moments from "MNF." Ah, memories.

In Monday night's game, Favre did not disappoint. He had two pass plays in this game that went for over 75 yards (has that ever happened?), and they both resulted in touchdowns. In fact, those two plays constituted 13 of the team's points, while the other six took the team 27 plays to earn! It was the last play of the game, though, that will be cemented in history as official 'Favre Monday night magic.' Greg Jennings -- originally dubbed on this blog as "The Jennerator" (so I have dibs once the merchandisers catch up, ahem) -- was on a double-go on the left side of the field, defended by Dré Bly. Favre threw a beautiful play action pass that dropped right into Jennings' arms. 82 yards later, we were going batshit crazy, yelling, hugging, and high-fiving in the basement (the kids somehow slept right through it), and the Packers were 6-for-6 in overtime games behind Brett Favre.

The first TD was a similar 79-yarder on the right side of the field to rookie Jimmy "JJ" Jones, who was being defended by Champ Bailey. All weekend long, those picking the game were going on and on about how Bly and Bailey were two of the best corners in the league. I think they probably are the best in the AFC. Favre's seen a lot of Bly over the years since he played for both the Rams and the Lions. Perhaps that helped, but there were tons of factors involved and many pieces that fell into place in order for that play to have succeeded the way it did. What a credit to Favre, Jones, and Jennings, though, that the two biggest offensive plays were against the two greatest players on the Broncos' roster.

Now, on the other side of the coin, we racked up a totally unacceptable number of penalties. For one thing, that led to points on the board for the Broncos, and for another, it kept us from scoring more points of our own. Denver's ability to march down the field was made possible in large part by our guys' stupid mistakes or poor choices. Atari Bigby made my blood boil; first, with an unnecessary roughness penalty and then a pass interference penalty, both on third downs in the Broncos' touchdown drive in the 1st quarter; next, on a stupid delay of game penalty in the 4th, when he kicked the ball in frustration; and finally, in one more interference call on the first play of the Broncos' last drive, when they were backed up on their own 7 yard line, and wound up tying the game. Bigby wasn't the only one at fault, though. After the 2:00 warning in the first half, we drove down to the Broncos' 1, but then false-started ourselves back to the 8 and had to kick a field goal.

Similarly, in one of the most unfortunate oddities of the game, at the beginning of the 2nd quarter, we had started a drive on our own 1 and made it all the way to the Broncos' 1, where we also had to settle for 3 points. How often do you see a 98-yard scoring drive wind up in only 3 points on the board?

But thanks to the one-play touchdown in overtime, we're 6-1, and Packers fans are enjoying a phenomenal (if back-and-forth and often heart-stopping) season.

An Open Letter to Terry McAulay

Packers 17 - Redskins 14

Dear Mr. McAulay,

I am writing to express my outrage at you and your officiating crew's deplorable conduct at the NFL competition between the Washington Redskins and the Green Bay Packers on October 14th, 2007.

Officially, the Packers won this game by only three points. Had you done your job correctly, the final score would have had the Packers winning by a margin of at least 15 points. You took two touchdowns -- TWO -- off the board.

First, with 4:03 left in the first half, Green Bay was 2nd-and-17 on the Washington 23 when Brett Favre threw a deep pass down the middle to James Jones for a touchdown. You nullified that play, however, by enforcing a totally perplexing offensive holding penalty called on Mark Tauscher. How could it be that you let the Redskins defenders absolutely shut Aaron Kampmann and Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila down -- at least once with a clear shot of Kampmann's jersey being stretched as he ran by -- without a penalty, and then, out of the blue and with zero visual evidence, call Tauscher for holding? Tauscher? Really? Check it again, Mr. Magoo... er, McAulay.

Second, with 10:06 left in the game, after the Packers recovered a fumble inside the Washington 10 yard line, Green Bay had a 2nd-and-goal on the 8 when Favre threw a strike to Bubba Franks in the back right corner of the end zone. Fred Smoot forced him out of bounds. Franks caught the ball and was shoved out -- shoved. The duo on your team on that part of the field didn't even need to focus on his second foot being down. His first foot went down in bounds after the shove. It is my understanding that it's now possible to enforce a penalty on such a play... I believe it's called a "force out." You need to look it up to be sure -- do some research -- but I'm fairly certain that type of play in the end zone is exactly what that penalty is meant to combat.

I am aware that football fans are always at the ready to blame officiating crews when their team loses. Most of the time, though (admit it), you get away with one bad call against a team by peppering 'make-up' calls in their favor as the game progresses. And it is incredibly rare that a dunderhead call (or no-call) costs a team points. In this case, however, you managed to change the score by at least six points for one team not just once, but twice. I'll allow for the possibility that the first call against Tauscher was a make-up call in Washington's favor for a play earlier in the second quarter -- you allowed Charles Woodson to steal a ball from Santana Moss in what could be argued was a simultaneous possession play (which by rule should go to the offense). Even if we allowed you that one, though, I scoured the tape (which of course I legally made with the express written consent of both the National Football League and the Green Bay Packers) and could not find anything remotely deserving of a second touchdown denial.

In fact, there was even more unjust officiating which harmed the Packers, above and beyond the confounding ones detailed earlier. Greg Jennings got bumped off his route way beyond the five-yard mark, a flag was thrown for what was sure to be a good 45- to 50-yard penalty on Washington... and then the flag was picked up and the penalty was waved off. And here's another conundrum: If a defender, like, say, Charles Woodson, has a legitimate play on an errantly-thrown ball and the offensive receiver interferes with the defender's opportunity to catch the ball, should you or should you not call the defender for illegal contact? Feel free to check the tape, but I'll give you a hint: You should not. (Yet you did.)

Thank you for giving this letter and the countless others I'm sure you've received in the past couple of weeks their due merit. Someday soon, as you're hopefully enjoying an early retirement, I hope you'll take a moment to pen your own letter to the Packers and the crew at Lambeau Field, thanking them for allowing you the opportunity to learn so much about the game of football that day. Perhaps you will enjoy watching football just that much more, knowing that there are much better officiating crews keeping a watchful eye on the fields all around the country.

Sincerely,
Andy Stoffels
Oregon, Wisconsin

CC: Bruce Stritesky, Jim Mello, Mark Steinkerchner, Greg Gautreaux, Michael Banks, Steve Freeman, Roger Goodell

This game won't go down in history as a well-played match by both teams, of course. In fact, while the Pack had some absolutely phenomenal plays on both sides of the ball, the 'Skins easily had the most almost-plays in a game this season. Brett had his record-breaking interception in this game (so that wait is finally over), but if Washington's players could have actually caught a ball in this game, he might well have broken a different record -- for total interceptions in a game. In their defense, it was misting quite a bit, and they... oh, wait, they have an outdoor stadium. Never mind.

Going into the bye week, the Packers have a record of 5-1. This is the most fun I've had in a while. Next up: Monday Night Football from a mile up.

NOT Out-Coached

Packers 20 - Bears 27

I've heard more than once this week that we lost the game to the Bears because we were out-coached. I wholeheartedly disagree with that assertion because it presumes that we were coached.

The last time we played Chicago, it was a night game, airing on NBC. Same thing this time. The last time we played Chicago, we marched on to the field, then down it, scoring on our opening possession. Same thing this time. The last time we played Chicago, Rex Grossman sucked so bad, his QB rating was zero, and Brian Griese played. Same thing this time. Well, okay, Rex didn't even play. But that's 'cuz he sucks. And that means he had no QB rating. So same as last time.

But we won last time.

This time, Oblio stopped us from winning. Yes, yes, turnovers made a difference. Jimmy Jones lost two balls when we were marching and certain to score. The awesome first half (damn, it felt good!) would have been even awesomer if we'd have had the chance to keep those drives alive. We could have headed into halftime with 31 points instead of 17 (or 27 or, I suppose, 23). But in the second half, we went into a cocoon. Some of the most perplexedly conservative play calls were perpetrated for no good reason, and we only wound up scoring 3 more points while letting the Bears tally up 20. Worse yet, clock management became an issue, and it was incredibly poorly executed.

One: With three-and-a-half minutes left in the game, tied up at 20, Chicago had a 3rd down with 4 to go. Kampman made a tackle damn close to the marker and it was ruled a 1st down. Oblio challenged the first down ruling instead of the spot of the ball. They changed the spot of the ball but still measured it across the 1st down marker, losing us timeout #1 and, three plays later, leading to a TD for Chicago.

Two: About thirty seconds to go, and we're marching. We get a first down at the Chicago 41, and Brett hits Morency with a short pass in the middle for 9. Brett was hurrying and telling Oblio not to call the timeout because he can, you know, spike the ball. Oblio called the timeout.

And after that, of course, we had to try the hail mary pass into the end zone. Favre had already given the ball directly to Urlacher "trying to make something out of nothing" in the 3rd quarter. (A play later, the Bears had moved up to within 3 and the turnaround had begun in ernest.) Now, on what would either be the penultimate or the ultimate play, he was throwing into triple coverage. Hope soared for a millisecond as Double-D had both of his mitts on the ball... but when the players landed, Brandon McGowan had mechanical advantage in his favor and was able to wrest the ball from Driver's arms. It left a sour taste in my mouth, to say the least. After all, it tied Favre with George Blanda's NFL record 277 career INTs. (At least Brett blew that out in record time -- he did it in ten fewer seasons than Blanda did!)

In the final analysis, I'm still thrilled we're 4-1. It just would have been much nicer to have had four games up on the Bears. Historically, that's been considered an insurmountable lead. I like the sound of that. Honestly, I like the sound of "the four and one Green Bay Packers," too.

4-0

Packers 23 - Vikings 16

This may have been the first time I watched a game with the entire Weis clan since that great Monday night game against the Raiders near the magical end of the 2003 season. That was at our house. This one was at theirs -- in HD, baby.

What a way to watch Brett Favre set the record. #421 went to The Jennerator, who also caught #420. Late in the game, he threw another one to James Jones (his first in the NFL, and Brett's 43rd different TD receiver). The last six minutes of the game after that TD were still a little nerve-wracking. In four minutes, the Vikings, who are known more for not scoring touchdowns lately, pulled back up to within 7. For the second week in a row, though, Donald Driver caught the onside kick to preserve the lead. BUT WAIT! Two plays later, Ryan Grant missed the exchange on a running play and the Vikings recovered! After almost giving them another shot at the end zone, though, Atari Bigby -- whom I really enjoy watching -- picked off a deflected ball on the Packers' 24 to seal the win.

I've had my eye on Bigby since the preseason. Earlier in this game, he forced a fumble that Johnny Jolly picked up. That was the turnover that set Brett up for the 16-yard strike to Jennings. He actually left the game for a while after that with cramps (is that excusable in a dome?!), but came back with a vengeance to make sure the Pack left mini-noplace with a W.

Undefeated. =)

Way to go, Brett!

420 in 240

Packers 31 - Chargers 24

Dan Marino played 240 regular season games in the NFL, and he threw 420 TD passes in his career. On Sunday, Brett Favre played in his 240th consecutive regular season game and tied Marino's TD pass record. (Yeah, yeah, it took him two games longer to get there... whatever -- he's still playing next week, suckas.)

The NFL Network replayed the game Tuesday night, and I watched it all over again -- this time on satellite, with no static.

Personally, I'm thrilled that Greg Jennings caught #420 (on a slant!). Back in his opening game of the season after nursing a hamstring injury, he certainly showed no twinges of pain as he ran it 57 yards down the field with about two minutes left in the game. That was the first of two scores we'd have late in the game, thanks to Nick Barnett's heads-up play to intercept Philip Rivers. That would lead to a Brandon Jackson TD run. Yes, it would have been nice if Brett could've gotten #421 at home, but it'll be just that much sweeter in the Metrodome, where I'm hoping Donald Driver can quiet that lame-ass crowd of norse idiots (maybe on another slant!).

So the game also reintroduced us to three Packers staples:

1. The slant!
2. The screen
3. Bubba Franks dropping the ball in the end zone

Hey, two out of three ain't bad. Actually, replace #3 above with "The KGB sack." He had two on Sunday, bringing him to within two of Reggie White's record of 68.5 for the Pack. Double D has the receptions-at-Lambeau record outright now. And the most impressive record of the week? The Packers are the first team in NFL history to start 3-0 winning against teams that all reached the playoffs in the previous year.

Did you notice? This season is different somehow. I mean, yeah, we're undefeated, so that certainly feels a lot better than 1-2, but Brett seems to be doing the same kind of amazing things as he was doing in the late '90s... and his teammates know how to help him! It's especially amazing considering we have the youngest team in the NFL. Where did all of these young bucks learn how to let Brett Favre make them look so good? My theory is that they learned it by growing up watching Brett Favre play.

Anyway, I have this different attitude as I watch the games, too. I don't know if it's just that I'm appreciating every play a little bit more or what. I know that when one announcer said in the post-game analysis on Sunday that, "Without Brett Favre, the Packers would not have won either of their last two games" by exclaiming at the TV, "But we DO HAVE Brett Favre!" Isn't that the point?

BTW, I noticed that, in the Texans game, Samkon Gado got a touchdown and Ahman Green left the game in the second quarter with a recurring knee injury.

But, all in all, despite Oblio's strange play calling from the sideline, the Packers came out victorious against Dave Barry's Chargers.

What a Wynn!

Packers 35 - Giants 13

I couldn't resist. Actually, Wynn's two TDs were just icing around Brett's three touchdown passes. I mean, I'm not quite ready to say "Ahman who?" just yet -- one 38-yard run to ice the game was about the only bright spot from the rushing standpoint. Luckily, Favre and the offense showed up in the second half. Brett was 18/21 for 147 yards in that half, completing the first 14 in a row. Exciting as hell to watch.

His three TDs in this game brought him to 417 (three away from Marino's record), and the win was his 149th, making him the all-time winningest QB in NFL history. While I'm certainly guilty of keeping close tabs on all of "his" records, even Brett admits that last one's not exactly as meaningful as it might seem:

I think it's unfair that the quarterback gets labeled with wins and losses. I think it's a team effort.

For my money, that's in the same vein as the "interception" that comes off another player's hands. I say that shouldn't count against the QB, so, for consistency's sake, I should probably also say the QB shouldn't be the only one given credit for his team's wins. But come on. It's Brett Favre!

Special teams were good again last weekend. It's plays like the forced fumble in our fourth quarter kickoff that makes differences in games. If we can count on 3-7 points per game off of special teams, we're in great shape.

Incidentally, these two wins to start the season means we won't be 1-4 this year!!! This is the first time we've started 2-0 since 2001. Actually, it means we've won our last six games in a row. Cool.

In other news, Bubba Franks returned. He caught his first TD pass since October of 2005. In fact, between him and Donald Lee, I think the tight ends were involved more in this game than they were in all of our games last year!

Oh, and that Mason Crosby kid is a total bust. What a loser. We should have kept Rayner.

I Almost Forgot

One of the best parts of Sunday's game showcased what we all love about Brett Favre (well, perhaps everyone except Eagles fans). The NYT wrote it up well:

For Favre and Packers, an Ugly Win Is Still a Win - New York Times:
The Eagles’ pass rush forced Favre to improvise, and his shining moment occurred during the third quarter, facing third-and-10. With a defender hanging on his leg, and other Eagles closing in for a potential sack, Favre deftly shoveled an underhand pass to DeShawn Wynn, who gained 18 yards to keep a drive alive, leading to a field goal. Asked about that play, Eagles safety Brian Dawkins complimented Favre. “A quarterback with not that much moxie would not complete that pass,” Dawkins said. “He’d have just taken the sack and gone down. But Brett has been there for so long, and he’s that gunslinger and he’s going to take those chances.”

I had toyed with calling the last post "What a Wynn!" but I am growing tired of pun-based post titles. Of course, having decided against that title, I forgot to mention it altogether.

A couple of plays later, Favre escaped another sack (to Philly's credit, they did get to Favre successfully four times) and completed a six-yarder to Donald Lee. Has Favre aged? Of course. Is he the most reliable 4th-quarter comeback QB he was a decade ago? Not so much. But do I want the ball in his hands any less now than I did ten -- or even 16 -- years ago? Nope. Magic.

Undefeated!

Packers 16 - Eagles 13

I'm hopeful that this victory will be a sign that this will be a year in which any last-second field goals will fall in our favor. Mason Crosby quickly became famous this week, thanks to literally kicking off his career as a Packer by booting a 53-yarder through the uprights to put the team up ten to zip in the first quarter... and then, oh, by the way, kicking a 42-yarder through with two seconds left to win the game. The last rookie kicker to win a game like that for the Pack? Same as the last Packer to boot a 53-yarder on opening day: A guy named Chris Jacke. In the end, yes, Crosby's just a kicker, and I'm sure I'll have a vitriolic rant about him on this blog eventually, but for now it's nice that he was able to lead us off with a victory the way he did.

The offense struggled in this game. The defense played solidly, although there's still room for them to improve -- the Philly offense should not have been allowed to catch back up to us by the end of the first half. The play by special teams was inspired. Over the past couple of seasons, I've lamented that we had no "x-factor" like we had in the late '90s. Our defense was amazing then -- and defense really does win championships -- but we also had Desmond Howard running kicks back into the end zone every once in a while. Last year, the Bears got to the Super Bowl, thanks in no small part to Devon Hester. Meanwhile, our average starting field position was probably at, like, the 15. We didn't run anything back on Sunday, but we did apparently scare the bejeezus out of their returners enough to make a difference. The first score of the season was a muff recovery in the end zone (thanks, Atari!). If that's an sign of things to come, I'm reading.

To make up for lost time, I expect Brett to throw at least four TD passes (and run one in -- why not?) this weekend at the Giants' place. In the meantime, Brett did reach his first milestone of the season in Game #1, tying John Elway with his 148th career win. Donald Driver also tied an important record on Sunday. He and Antonio Freeman both have 213 catches at Lambeau.

Beating the Eagles was huge. We haven't done that in a long time. Winning our home opener was equally as huge. It's been too long on that, too. Our contain was good on Brian Westbrook, and our pressure on McNabb was appropriately persistent. The only really weird trend I noticed in this game, which I hope was just an opening day fluke, was that it seemed to take us far too long to get the ball snapped and start the play. We had, I think, one delay-of-game penalty, but there was also one no-call I noticed, and otherwise it seemed we were snapping the ball with :01 on the clock with alarming frequency. We'll see if New York time is any different. Hope so.

Short version: I wish Rayner all the best (I guess), but we chose wisely with Crosby.