See My previous post The Vikes are who we thought they were. Holding Adrian Peterson to 100 yards is game winning defense. The Vikes are a one trick pony offense. Wait till INDY pops a 40 burger on them. Tavaris is a thrower not a passer.
Will Blackmon adds a frightening dimension to this team. Just think this time last year, Packers with Brett Favre had no offensive touchdowns and no running game.
My only problem with the game was the defense got WAY to conservative when it became a 2 score lead. Call the dogs out when you have a QB like Jackson back there.

Correct business decisions made this game so sweet. Long season to go but this team is built on a young OL (w/OTs in place for a couple more seasons), excellent D (w/corners in same situation) and Special Teams we have not enjoyed for a long, long time. Allen cost Vikes a 1st, (2) 3rds and 30mil contract, while we have nucleous and 30mil to spend in place. Hats off to MM and TT so far. These are the days that make being a Packer Backer so great. Also, keep in mind that most of those penalties were against the long time vets not the kids. The future is now, after 3yrs rebuilding in place.

The Packers are lucky that Jackson didn’t pass to Peterson more.

The Field Goal crap at the end of the half ticked me off.

You play to win…and they sort of thing was like playing not to lose.

2 things that bugged me, 3rd down defense, and MM Conservative approach at the end. For pete sake if Rogers is the man let him go get you a first down to end the game. I can’t stand when coaches try not to lose a game, just finish them. Pass the ball if you have to.

Packers looked good with the exceptions of penalties, but we’ve been through that plenty of times.

Our D-line stepped up and did a good job against Petersen. That was my biggest concern for this team.

I hate to say it, but I was wrong about Grant. Seeing him last night, he’s the real deal and I’m glad we showed him the money.

Vikings are clearly no better at pass defense than the have been for the last 2 years.

This week, we get to to pick apart another terrible pass defense from the Lions. We need to keep the confidence high. After the Lions, we’ll be playing legitimate NFL teams for awhile.

It’s only one game but I must admit it was reassuring to see how good Rodgers looked last night. If we get the field goal at the end of the half and that huge play to Driver wasn’t called back, we win going away. It was also nice to see the dimension that Rodgers adds from time to time with his legs. Even in his best years that wasn’t Favre’s biggest strength.

On the other hand, I almost feel like we beat a team fighting with one hand tied behind it’s back. The Vikings are so one dimensional with Jackson it kind of disturbs me that Peterson was able to gash us a couple of times.

Also, our inability to run the ball is a concern. Take away Grant’s big run and I don’t think we had much. I like the big runs, but I’d almost rather see the ability to pound the ball with consistency for moderate gains rather than this feast or famine running that I remember from last year.

Having big play capability from the special teams is a delight. How many years were we lifeless in that department? Finally having the ability to produce big plays again from special teams is huge.

All in all, a big home win, and a comforting one (for me anyway!) at that. Seeing all three phases contribute is heartening. Obviously we have room for improvement, but we’re still in contention to win the division. Bring on the Lions!

I don’t know who is was, but at one point one of the announcers mentioned that a run game gets graded on consistency too. He was addressing Peterson and not the Packers, but I think it holds. The frequent 0, 1 or 2 yard rushes really hurt – both teams.

Last year (and last night) the big runs statistically mask the fact that our O-line frequently gets overwhelmed. We can hit the big one once in a while, but we can’t consistently get 4-5 yards. This was painfully obvious at the end of the NFC Championship and painfully obvious at the end of last night when we couldn’t get one freakin’ first down to seal the game.

Yes, the play calling sucked, and it will help to get Wells back, but it really doesn’t seem like the guys playing guard are getting any better.

As far as the Vikings playing with one hand tied behind their backs, let’s be honest. If Jackson doesn’t screw up and throw that interception, there’s a strong chance we lose that game by two. It wouldn’t change the fact the Rodgers and Grant played well, but the game could very, very easily be in the other column.

Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with the congratulations and playoff predictions.

Well, I was less then thrilled with two of the coaching decision – at the end of the half and then again at the end of the game. Both times it seemed like ol’ Mikey was playing not to loose instead of playing to win.

Other then that, I was really happy with most phases of the game. The OL needs to settle it down, I think they were a little over amped in the first quarter causing a bunch of penalties but I also think the officiating crew was a little ticky tacky. Watched the Broncos game right after and you could see a definite difference in the officiating between those two crews.

It was nice to see AR making throws that were somewhat Favre-esq. The run game was hit or miss. I still can’t understand why they would replace Grant at running back with Jackson when we needed to get yards to seal the game. Jackson really hadn’t done squat all game and now they were resting the closing of the game on him carrying the ball? Not sure about that decision. Put your money on the field and play like you WANT to win I say. But then again, I’d probably suck as a coach .

Oh, and the Bears played well against a rusty Payton Manning so don’t put too much stock in the Bears being anything more then mediocre. They were NOT a complete team, they just slowed down an already slowed down team in the Colts. Manning looked hesitant on many plays unlike what we’re used to seeing. He had many open receivers but missed the throws – the score could have easily gone completely the other direction had Manning been ready to play.

Great, exciting game, down to the wire. I was impressed with our run defense, special teams, Rodgers, Grant (he was correctly held to fewer carries, it’s a long season), Jennings, pass blocking, and play calling exept for the end of both halves. The O-line can be much better once they settle on a starting 5 for a few games in a row. TT seems to know what he’s doing getting us help at the last minute with a new holder, snapper and punter. We can be much better, can the rest of the division?

Rodgers looked very good – and the O-line (while not run blocking very well most of the night) generally did a good job of keeping the D-line away from him. Job #1 – Protect your quarterback. I can live with the occasional rush-free game; a guy like Grant who can bust one 50 yards if you screw up has to be respected by the linebackers and such, but if we’re to have any shot at all this year, Rodgers has to be protected.

(That’s one thing I don’t think Grant gets enough credit for – simply because he’s there, and they know he can break it loose, it changes what defenses can do against us somewhat.)

Rodgers’s rushes were smart – staying to the sidelines and not getting clobbered.
His passes were, in the main, on target and lacking in much interception risk.
The long bomb was really more about Jennings going and getting it than Rodgers throwing it perfectly, but I’m happy with his arm strength. The kid can chuck the ball.
The TD pass was a little dicey – but just as I always gave Favre credit for guts-ing up trying to make a play, you gotta hand it to the young man.

As I’ve said in the past – I really don’t think QB is anything close to the biggest question on this team.

GO PACK GO!

Less sad about this stuff than I have been in a while. Now I have two contenders to root for. If Arod can stay healthy, the Pack can go far this season.

I agree with the above comments that we were one big run away from a nonexistent ground game, but that was often the case last year too. I don’t believe that Grant is the genuine article, but he’ll do for now. With better play on the line, I think we can be consistent, if not scintilating. Again, similar to last year.

My real question is, how good were the Vikings? We’ve been hearing all year about how sweet they are, especially their D. But they looked only marginally improved from last year, and their passing game looked significantly worse. If they are all hype, then we’ll have to wait to really measure our team. If not, my prediction is 12-4.

Other question, I know that MM likes to sneak Arod, and I’m betting it’s because the sneak had disappeared under Brett. But given that Arod is never going to be a Culpepper/Vick style power running QB, and that the guys behind him on the depth chart are not ready to start, is it really wise to use this as a regular part of the offense?

Lastly, Greg Jennings is TEH SHIZZLE! JENNINGS! JENNINGS! JENNINGS!

Go Pack!

The Lions game will determine where our ground game is at this point in the season. The Vikings had the #1 ranked run defense last year and nothing has changed, so they should have one of the top run defenses this year. They were 28th (??) against the pass. Teams knew they couldn’t run so they passed on them because they knew they could. Atlanta churned out huge yardage agains the Lions last week. Some were long gains, but still a lot of yards and, as MM says, they all count. If you’re going to count the -1 yard runs you have to count the 50 yard runs too, every run can’t be for exactly the 4.6 yard average or whatever we expect . I’m hoping MM and company keep the Packers on edge and avoid a let down against a wounded team. The Vikings run defense is stout, let’s give them some credit and not get too down on ourselves.

I agree with Larry. Stats are nice to look at and analyze, but the bottom-line is WINS , and that’s what we’ve been getting since the middle of ’06 with this team, coach, and GM.

Jordy Nelson had no stats. Was he in at all? Did anyone notice?

I’ll be honest, I’m a little concerned and I hope Ted Thompson was a genius with that pick, DeSean Jackson (WR picked soon after Nelson) looks like he might be the rookie of the year.

Jennings-Driver-Jackson would have been lethal, but I’ll give Jordy a shot. I just want to see him in the game.

Keyword: might.

Also, I was right after Game 1 with Mr. Peterson, perhaps I am this year.

The point of the comment was assessing Jordy Nelson, sorry you missed that.

So based on Donovan McNabb’s performance this past Sunday he might be the MVP this year….LOL