Packers will be fine

The Green Bay Packers lost their key NFC matchup last night to the Dallas Cowboys and home field advantage along with it, but certainly not all is lost. The Packers took their “B” team in into Big D and even after losing Brett Favre to injury, they had a chance to win. In fact, if not for two highly questionable interference calls and missed call on an interception by Al Harris, the Packers likely would have won the game. One thing is still the same since the last time the Packers played in Dallas, the refs still favor the self-proclaimed “America’s Team”. Just ask Michael Irvin.

The Packers played without three starters and a key backup on defense and it showed with the inability to get pressure on quarterback Tony Romo. It also left huge holes in the middle of the line for Cowboy running backs. The Packers’ defense will be healthy if they can earn themselves a rematch in Dallas in January. Then we’ll see what happens.

The Packers finally were able to see backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a meaningful game and the results were very positive. Rodgers led the Packers to 17 points and with a little help from his defense he may have pulled off the comeback. Rodgers showed great poise, which is remarkable considering the magnitude of the game and his inexperience. In this game only, Rodgers outperformed the great Brett Favre, who seemed determined to hit the big play even when it wasn’t there. We saw this only one other time this year and that was against the Redskins when the sadly recently departed Sean Taylor picked off Favre twice, and could have had two more.

Much has been said about Favre’s poor first quarter, but remember the Packers only had seven total yards of offense after one quarter against the Lions last week and put up 37 points and almost 500 yards of offense. Favre has a history of slow starts and had he played the whole game last night the Packers probably would have had a better chance to win it. Rodgers did fantastic for his first real action and Packers’ fans can take comfort knowing there might be life beyond Brett.

The Packers need to bounce back next week and get a big win over the Raiders in Lambeau because another two-game road trip awaits with dates against the Rams and Bears. Both of those games scare me. The Bears have already beaten the Packers and the Rams’ offense is coming to life since getting healthy. That is exactly what the Packers need to do – get healthy! When Johnny Jolly, KGB, and Charles Woodson come back, the Packers defense will look more like the Packers defense.

The Packers need to focus on the task at hand and that is beating the Raiders and getting in the playoffs. We’ll worry about the Cowboys later if they get that far.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 30th, 2007 at 6:16 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.

  • Michael Legat

    Good analysis, Al. Watching last night’s game was definitely a “what might have been” experience. Not sure why all of the analysts seem to presume that Favre wouldn’t have turned his game around if he hadn’t been knocked out. Still, the offense was hair-raising, mostly due to Tauscher running on fumes and College stinking it up. I was tense every single snap. The O-line definitely needs to heal and mature quickly – they’re as much of a concern as the injuries on defense. (I’d also really like Bigby to stop tackling people by their helmets – it’s frowned upon by officiating crews as it turns out.)

    That said, I love how all of the talking heads are now lining up to jump off of the Green Bay bandwagon – most of them were uncomfortable riding on it to begin with. “Clearly the Cowboys are the best team in the NFC” seems to be the quote of the day. We’ll see…

    I think the one thing that impressed me most about this Packer team is that being down 27-10 and watching the heart and soul of the team go down with an injury, nobody quit. 90% of today’s NFL teams would pout and sulk and count the minutes until they could get on the team bus and go home, but Green Bay didn’t give up. I don’t know if this collective mentality takes us all the way this year, but it will pay off and pay off big in the not-too-distant future.

  • Pete H

    Good analysis, but I think that more than anything the Packers learned that if they just do what they do, instead of being dictated to, they can hang with anyone. Also, I think the loss of Rouse may be just as important as KGB, Jolly, maybe even Woodson. With Collins back, the Packers have to be looking to get Rouse in at strong safety and getting our latest in a line of useless strong safeties on the bench. Bigby does two things well; get beat deep when he IS the deep help, and commit a penalty whenever possible!

  • Boothie

    While I agree with most of your analysis, I think it’s a stretch to say that the Packers would have won the game if they had gotten those two outrageous calls.

    I think it would have been more accurate to state that the ending may have been different… more favorable to us.

  • Jeff

    I think it is clear that the Cowboys were just a little better – that’s not to say we couldn’t have beaten them had things gone our way.

    I see inexperience with the DBs, an O-line that either isn’t getting it or just got whipped by superior athletes and a depleted D-line that couldn’t get pressure when needed against a very good Dallas line.

    What’s the conclusion? We’re young especially in the secondary and at guard and had a couple key injuries. Dallas is a damn fine football team – well-coached, loaded with talent, playing at home and they got a couple breaks. Stacked up against that, sometimes you come out on the short end. So how do we respond to it?

    Success is a boon companion, but failure is the better teacher. Do the young DBs like Collins, Bigby, Bush and Williams just need coaching and experience, or are we lacking the athletes for the secondary to at least not be a liability? Same question on O-line? Is it growing pains, or were they simply out-classed?

  • cody

    I hate saying this (again…), but it seems like the refs just cant make good calls. The pass interference calls, the no-calls, and especially the no pick that harris had on Dallas’s first drive. Now, even with that, and mostly our backups playing, the Pack made it a good game. Favre would have made a huge difference, but so would Woodson, KGB, Rouse, and Jolly. Bush got burned several times, but he is young and inexperianced, which Woodson is not.
    I loved the way Rodgers played, and it relieves me a little because i think that he will do a fine job in the future with this young franchise. He did great with the short routes, which is what McCarthy should have been calling the entire game when favre was in there. Short, quick passes don’t give Favre long to hold the ball, so he (i know its a stretch to say) probably would not have gotten hurt. The short ball is what has been good to us all year, why change it up against Dallas. I hope Coach learned his lesson.
    Grant had another wonderful game, and if our O-Line could ever block, he could be one of the best in the league.
    I dont care what other people say, the turning point of that game came before Favre went out. It was when Harris stole the ball from TO, and the refs didn’t give it to him. That would have shaken both Romo and TO up for the remainder of the game, and given Harris a HUGE boost knowing that TO can’t do anything against him. It would have given all momentum to Favre and a very explosive offense.
    ANYWAYS, the Pack will look at the film, and they will know that they can beat Dallas in Dallas. If/when they get there in January, The table will be turned.

  • Mel e Mel

    Daryn Colledge is a waste of a draft choice. He is a left tackle trying to play left guard it was sad to watch and Dallas exposed him. Plays where we missed KGB the 3 and 19 from the Endzone. Lets not blame Tramon Williams blame the ref who screwed the Pack on that play.

  • GoPackGo

    Why are you scared of the Bear game? we gave that game to them in Green Bay and we own Soldier field. Nobody has a better record in December games since 1992 than the Packers do, they have been 4-0 almost every December in the Favre era 1996 , 1997, 2000 , 2002 , 2003 and 2006. Most of the years they were not 4-0 in December they were 3-1.

  • http://delta-pm.com snyz

    how about the random cover two we started to use? we never use that D and we used it almost the whole game. that was the difference. we switch our D based on injuries and opponent? not good.

  • TRIP

    The Packers need to focus on the Seahawks and the Lions. There is no need to fret. The lost to a Bears team in a game that the records are always thrown out. And they lost to a good Dallas team will their star players out. This good team is going to beat the teams they are suppose to beat and that includes, Oakland and St. Louis. They need to make sure they don’t give Seattle any slack and that they help the Lions miss the playoffs in Week 17. These are their games with playoff implications.

    And as for the Cowboys game, with a few minutes left in the 4th, this team was down 3 pts with their backup QB. That’s a great sign. Dallas played better, they were the better team. However, they were farrrrrrr from invincible and a healthy GB team can beat them.

    Besides, Green Bay, the youngest team in football, needed an eye-opener to get a taste of what championship contention is like. McCarthy won’t fail in preparing this team and they’ll be ready and healthy when it counts. Its good for this team to be an underdog in the playoffs. Go Pack!

  • http://delta-pm.com snyz

    oakland should be interesting. a complete change in styles than what were used to. moderate running game, controlled passing, solid D and good special teams. they just need an O-line and some skill positions and they’d be not bad.

    to me, this is the most important game of the stretch. a couple points to consider if we win big:

    1) lots of rookies winning in lambeau in december. the future needs to understand the importance and advantage of lambeau in the cold (hasn’t been the same since holmgren).

    2) we can rest our D with more room for locking up #2 seed.

    3) coaches can save their aces in the whole for the playoffs. don’t have to throw the kitchen sink at them to pull out wins.

    4) favre return from injury game, always good, GET YOUR POPCORN READY.

    excited to see a favre response from the injury. lambeau in december, it’s a good time of year.