TCB’ing

Taking care of business. Like my recently departed buddy used to say, “nothing special” or “you take the good with the bad”. Indeed the Green Bay Packers did indeed improve to 9-1 on the season but in doing so they left plenty of proof they are not yet hitting on all cylinders. After thrashing the Minnesota Vikings last week the Packers did jump out to a 28-3 lead over the Panthers, but it wasn’t as easy as the score would indicate. The Packers took advantage of a punt return for touchdown and turned a 67-yard kickoff return into another touchdown to account for 14 or their 31 points.

To me, seeing the Packers’ defense close up Sunday, it appeared the defense was gassed. If that was not the case, then they just got lazy knowing the game was in hand. I hope that approach doesn’t hurt them when they have to play to the final snap, which may be the case as soon as Thursday against the Lions. In fact, while the Packers won handily, neither the offense or defense played especially well. The offense didn’t light anybody up and the defense was adequate at best against a injury depleted Panthers. If the Packers want to win the next two games they will need to play much better than they did Sunday.

I’m not trying to be negative because this team has done nothing to indicate they are about to lay an egg, but like Brett Favre says every week, they have not accomplished anything yet, either. What I love is the way the team from the coach on down to practice squad players are keeping an even keel and playing them one at a time. I think the Packers were a tad flat against the Panthers but were still that much better. I think if the Packers play like they did in eight out of the first nine games they will smoke the Lions Thursday. The Lions are slumping and they have a worse running game than the Packers, who have actually shown real signs of improvement in that area since Ryan Grant became the full-time starter.

The next two games will determine whether the Packers will be serious contenders in the NFC playoffs. Win both and the road to play New England in the Super Bowl goes through Lambeau. Lose both and the number two seed in the NFC could even be jeopardy.

I will say this. At this point last season we were wondering what draft pick the Packers would get, now we are hoping to get a win Thursday that will pretty much wrap up the division title. Props to the powers that be, but now that we are this far lets finish the thing.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 9:20 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.

  • cody

    Amen!
    The Pack looked a little flat, but they still played affective football. They even had a little fun lining Favre up as a wide out (to bad Driver didn’t throw it to him!) and still look to be having fun. This game should be a fun one as well. But looking back at the Pack’s turkey day games at detroit, this could be close. Our record wasn’t ever good when the lions really sucked. Now they have a good team that has lost a few games and is hoping for a rebound. This is not the week for there rebound because the Pack will dominate. That said, i say Packers win big (don’t i always?!) 44-21

  • simon

    they took it easy
    whats the point playing hard when you got the game won and you got a game thursday?

  • Jeff

    Short week – division game – on the road

    I hope our guys are absolutely cranked up. Do something fast, put ‘em down early, and get after Kitna. I don’t think the Lions can beat us on the ground, but if the offense doesn’t move the ball, Kitna and those wideouts could make it closer than it should be.

    I loved seeing the return game light up – YES!! Big returns are such back breakers.

  • Steve

    Quote “I’m not trying to be negative”

    You would never appear negative… except for every article you write on here. With a 28 to 3 lead they against a team that has trouble putting points on the board we should be conservative. Should the Pack run the score up on every team like some team from NE that fans everywhere are starting to dislike? …. No

    Steve

  • JeffN

    Going flat was probably part of the game plan. Run a bunch of vanilla/conservative plays and don’t give other teams good film to look at. I think Detroit has used up a lot of their film plays already and teams have them figured out. Although everyone still seems a little worried about going to Detroit on Thanks Giving and for good reason. Although if Sherman was still around I would be a lot more concerned than with Mc Carthy about going to Detroit. Mc Carthy has these guys focused and Kitna has problems when you put pressure on him. I’m sure Mc Carthy has the game plan figured out. I’m excited for Thursdays game! Heck these games get more exciting every week!

  • Mel

    The Packers are learning how to do what Mike Shermans teams could not do and thats finish well. Its one of the hardest things to do in sports win the games that you are supposed to win. Look at the Steelers vs the Jets. Mike Mcarthy says all the right things in public but in private he plans to beat the opposition soundly.
    Carolina flat out bored the Packers. There was no hope of them coming back.
    Detroit is Key, Dallas would be icing on the cake.

  • Michael Legat

    Yes, the game wasn’t quite as pretty as the Vikings’ game, but I agree that:

    a. considering the short week they have
    b. considering the 3rd quarter 28-3 lead they gathered
    c. considering an 11 point victory on a day that other, supposedly “better” teams laid an egg (ie Steelers)

    the result was rather satisfying.

    Outside of the Pats, and maybe the Cowboys, nobody is playing more consistent football. Other teams lose games like the Redskins game, Broncos game, Chiefs game, etc. Green Bay keeps finding ways to win, and outside of Week One, the wins have not been given to them.

  • snyz

    with a below average running game, 28-3 usually can’t turn into 42-3. The defense is good but we’re still not getting enough pressure on the QB. i would consider the panthers game “average” ie par for the course this year. great passing, solid D, serviceable running.

    big concern over jolly’s and cully’s injuries. depth and rotation on that D-line is what makes the difference for us. this is the “stretch run,” it has come together for some start to finish wins recently, this is now the stretch run, so the next couple weeks will hopefully bring more of the same.

    again, some tingling on the wedding tackle.

  • Reid

    The Packers are doing what they haven’t been able to do the past few years, win games in more than 1 way. This year we have Special Teams wins, Defensive wins, and Offensive wins. A good team is multi-dimensional and able to win different ways. Heck, the running game even showed up and was a big contributor in a few games. Does anyone remember how HORRIBLE our special teams used to be? Kudos to Thompson and McCarthy for getting the right people on the bus and helping them find their seats.

  • TRIP

    I agree with most of the comments thus far.

    With a short week ahead and a 25 pt. lead, there is no need to play your heart out versus the lowly Panthers. McCarthy had them to do the right thing. Win and be done. If they suffer injuries, Belichick might pay for his “blowout” game plan, week in and week out.

    I trust McCarthy to have this team focused and ready for the Lions game. I’m hoping they’ll make Kitna their sack turkey! lol…

    And they definitely should continue to build upon that 5-WR set versus the Lions. If successful, they’ll give the Cowboys more to work on and possibly help them have an edge over a highly-balanced offense.

    It doesn’t get much better than this, folks!