Big win goes to Packers

The Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins were two one loss teams trying to stake a claim to the upper level of the National Football Conference. While the game was not an instant classic in some minds, it was, nonetheless a classic defensive slugfest. The Packers faced their toughest defense to date this year and came out on top.

You can say the Packers only won because the Redskins fumbled and Charles Woodson took it to the house. But be sure to include that the Packers lost last week only because of two fumbles in Bear territory. Fair is fair in the NFL, even though I don’t like it at times.

The Redskins are who I thought there were (sorry, I couldn’t resist considering my prediction was so close), good defense but overrated offense that hadn’t beaten anybody good. The Packers don’t have to worry about that, however, but they did lose one to a team they should have beat in the Bears. That still hurts.

The win over the Redskins was one of the biggest regular season wins in at least three years for the Packers. Now the playoffs are a distinct possibility and a NFC North Division title is possibility as well. I’ll take the playoffs any way they can get them because I’m not about to put the Packers at the same level as the Colts or Patriots or even the Cowboys, but I will say this, the NFC is wide open and the Cowboys have major problems on defense.

I am a little worried about Brett Favre’s two or three misses on wide open receivers against the Redskins that would have been sure touchdowns. I know Brett just turned 38 and like my 15-year old cat, any sign of decline and the old “he’s over the hill” talk comes out. Favre will have an excellent chance to bounce back big against a bad Broncos’ team in two weeks. I expect it.

After watching the game again I am really impressed with the Packers’ defense in the fourth quarter. The ability to hold a 17-14 lead was nerve-wracking to say the least, they got the job done in spite of the offense’s inability to run out the clock.

No matter what, I am going to enjoy the bye week after a solid Packers’ win and another Bears’ loss. Sitting at 5-1 and on top of the NFC is certainly unexpected, but well deserved.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 15th, 2007 at 8:07 pm and is filed under Al Davis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Zaz-FL

    Impressive how the zebras called back one touchdown and didn’t call the force-out on another. The non-holding penalty on the Jones touchdown and the force-out non-call on the Bubba Franks catch (just the opposite of Olsen’s touchdown for the Bears vs. the Pack last week) would have had this game be a blowout and we would not have Favre trying to throw bombs against a good cover-2.

    A little troublesome, the number of balls #4 threw into the hands of Redskin defenders. This needs to be fixed too. 2 underthrows were fairly weak; if you’re going to put that much air under the ball, you actually have to LEAD the receiver and not have him stop his “GO” route to come back for a duck. Enough with throwing off the back foot already – step into the throw and get the ball there – I have a 15 year old cat too and he can still get the job done.

    It looked like the zebras were jobbing the Packers the whole game – the penalty yardage is absurd. I hope McCarthy has a long list of video clips for the league to review, because when the FOX #1 broadcast team announcers and spotters can’t see what the zebras are calling on 5 different replay angles, then someone needs a real talking to.

    Like you said (wrote) 5-1 is still an envious position to be in. Let’s get healthier and figure out how to make necessary corrections.

  • Greg Luze

    I thought Brett’s arm looked a little weak on the two deep interceptions. I wasn’t at the game, but heard it was wet. Could the ball have just slipped out on what was intended to be a deeper throw? Somebody who was there please?

    Thanks,

  • A A Macia

    After the first four wins I wrote here that the key to the win streak and future wins was Favre not throwing interceptions.

    Sure enough, against the Bears Favre threw two picks, the first one a stupid, really stupid, throw that gave the Bears the ball on the Green Bay 15 or so for an easy go-ahead touchdown. We lost.

    Against the Redskins he threw two more picks that almost cost us the game were it not for our defense.

    Favre CANNOT be throwing picks at a two-a-game clip. If he continues the Packers are done.

  • D C

    If people are going to pick on Favre, also point out that he called a fake audible that led to the Packers first score. Brett realized opposing teams know our audibles better than some rookies on the Packers.

    Packers can’t keep fumbling like this (3 straight horrible games, lucky to win).

    Favre had one bad pick against the Bears. The second pick was a desperation heave to try and tie the game. I’d rather see Brett throw a pick trying to tie the game with less than 10 seconds left, than to throw a completion.

    On both Favre picks this past weekend, the WRs never fought for the ball. They were not great passes, but the WRs had a 50/50 shot. Both times it looked like Ferguson out there. Thank goodness we finally got rid of him. There’s no room in green and gold for players who don’t act like the ball is theirs for the taking.

  • Todd C

    It sure is funny how the Favre bashers start crawling out of the woodwork after 2 interceptions. If I am not mistaken Favre had his ankle rolled up on in the 2nd quarter and also on one sack came up grabbing his wrist or hand. Furthermore, it was WET. I saw the Redskins players dropping passes and I believe the weather was a key factor.

    Where were all the Favre bashers when he passed for over 300 yards 3 weeks in a row. Geez…

    The Packers are 5-1 going to the bye. Everyone gets a breather and several players get a chance to heal up. That includes 2 linemen that would have given Favre MORE TIME to set his feet on those passes. lol……

    Hey watch out, THE SKY IS FALLING!!!! :-)

  • A A Macia

    Pointing out fact is picking on Favre. I love Favre. But the fact remains that when he threw no (or one) INTs we cruised to three easy victories in games 2 through 4; and when he threw two interceptions each of the last two games (5 and 6) we had a loss and a near loss (3-point win), all at home. I see a connection there. The Packers simply are not good enough on offense to afford two or more interceptions per game. It’s not a comment on Favre; it’s a comment on the offense.

  • A A Macia

    Pointing out fact is NOT picking on Favre. I love Favre. But the fact remains that when he threw no (or one) INTs we cruised to three easy victories in games 2 through 4; and when he threw two interceptions each of the last two games (5 and 6) we had a loss and a near loss (3-point win), all at home. I see a connection there. The Packers simply are not good enough on offense to afford two or more interceptions per game. It’s not a comment on Favre; it’s a comment on the offense.

  • cody

    I am one of those people who is going to blame the refs for 85% of the packers troubles these past two weeks. The hold, the force out issue. Come on! this isn’t a pee wee football league! And the calls that these refs are/aren’t making makes me think that they were reffing a pee wee division 3 weeks ago! i know that some of it is on favre and the offense (thats the other 15%) but i say its mainly poor officiating.

  • Mark M

    I know that the asking price for Ahman Green in free agency was a little high considering his age and his recent injuries, but I think with the amount of cap room the Pack had/has it may have been wise to resign him,or get a vet in free agency, and use him along with these rookies to establish a run game. TT thought he could plug any running back into the system, but it is clear that it has not worked and will most likely cost the Pack a chance of going deep into the payoffs. The zone blocking scheme relies on the running back being able to cut back(Ahman very good) and the ability of the offensive line to cut block. The Pack has none of the above.They will win games against mediocre defenses but when they face a quality opponent they will melt down(Redskins,Bears).I can only hope that like last year the O-line will start to click.Brett will be Brett but if you put any QB in a box(no threat of a running game) you will most likely get worse results. Help the guy out, a good running game and good pass blocking will equal less picks. Could you imagine Farve running the Patriots O. I won’t go into my Brady is a pussy/premadonna rant it would take up too much space. Go Pack Go!

  • http://profootballtalk.com ACDC

    Looking at our running production it is easy for me to say that I miss Green too. But look at what he’s done this year. Through Week 7, he has 232 rushing yards and 1 TD. And he has already missed two games. I loved Ahman as much as anyone, and Houston is now my favorite AFC team (not saying tooo much) because of Green, but it was a good split for both sides. He got paid pretty well and we need to find a back for the future. And I don’t think that he would have had any more success this year in Green Bay, as our O-Line doesn’t get the hang of this ZBS, obviously.

    I like Wynn. He has shown the ability to make some guys miss, and he’s got some size. I believe our lack of running success comes down to three things: 1) Our O-Line is struggling to run-block. There are constantly one or two defenders in the backfield to meet the RB less than a second after he gets the ball. It would be hard for LT to pick up much with that blocking. 2) MM has not committed to running the ball. He commits to it in the early part of the game, but when the results are not good, he tends to get away from it. I would like to see us get an early lead in a game and run the ball at least half the time there-after. Start wearing the D-Line down. Our next game at Denver should be a good chance to try that out, as they give up 180 rushing yards a game. I think we could probably get 100?!?! 3) We have been playing some tough D-Lines. NYG has shown they have a great D-Line. SD has that troublesome 3-4. Minny is the best, and Chicago and Washington have great Ds.

    5-1 is a great start. Let’s keep it up and reclaim our NFC Central (North!?) crown.