Sunday, October 5, 2008

Pack Can't Win By Hook or Crook; OJ Guilty

The Green Bay Packers are a lot like OJ Simpson these days. They both just showed up to try to retrieve a little football glory. The only thing is is that miscues, penalties, bad decisions and mistakes brought them both down.

Though Simpson faces the stiffer consequence, a possible fifteen years to life in the slammer, the Packers it seems, like Simpson, will also have bigger, badder men dictating terms and conditions to them for a while to come in a harsh environment unless Coach McCarthy and Warden Ted Thompson can come up with some answers.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers played a decent game considering that he came back like a mini-me Iron Man, and Ryan Grant got some yards for a change, but once again the line was inconsistent and made lethal penalties. Donald Driver played like a rock star and proved that he is among the NFL's elite receivers in terms of concentration, skill and getting yards after the catch.

Defensively, the Packers played inspired football at times, but never found consistent answers to be able to stop the Atlanta Falcons running game or their passing game. A slippery field was to blame for some early Falcon big passing gains, but, of course, the turf was slippery for both teams as well. But the Packers secondary did have some nice plays including a key interception in Atlanta's end zone that made a momentum shift until a later Rodgers interception.

In the punting department, the wisdom of Ted Thompson is on display for the entire league to see. He cut a decent punter, John Ryan, for a guy who is not that good, Frost. Yet after several poor outings, Thompson continues to put Frost on the field. What could be more clear evidence that Thompson thinks he is always right and will let the ship go down to prove it. Frost again did not have a good day and now would be a good time to get rid of both Frost and Thompson. Nothing personal against Frost, he did his best, but it is Thompson's DUTY to put the best punter he can on the field. Thompson, therefore, is just as guilty as OJ.

So the NFL season does not get any easier. The Packers are getting punked week after week. Like OJ, there doesn't seem to be any way out of it this time. And also like OJ, the Packers better make sure that they don't drop the bar of soap in the shower.

Game Ball goes to: Donald Driver

1 comment:

MJ Kasprzak said...

Good piece, as usual. I love the OJ connection--you make it well. FYI: Ryan spells his first name "Jon." Obviously that was a horrible decision by someone, although I would put that more likely on McCarthy than Thompson. And trading Corey Williams (despite the stupid and blatantly false comments he made this week about the Giants--we didn't pay him for brains) looks especially dumb now, and while that COULD be on Mac, I'm guessing that was Ted.

BTW, props to your boy for asking his supporters to be respectful and recognize that while he disagrees with my boy, that doesn't make him a bad person that cannot be trusted. On my personal site, I'll be writing a blog entitled "The Real McCain" because he acted like the man the GOP nominated yesterday. This one might be worth you checking out, and you can get to it from my Bleacher Report report profile page link.