Sunday, September 30, 2012

Real Refs Suck Too, But Packers Win




After spending all day Tuesday dialing NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's phone number and cheering the return of the real NFL referees to Lambeau on Sunday, Packer fans were rewarded by getting burned on  big-play missed calls yet again.

Certainly Goodell's  answering machine must have blown up, the phone lines to his office melted and his secretary shipped off to the padded cells which once housed poor shell-shocked WWI veterans. And though he offered a lame reason for the sudden contract agreement with the real officials and a limp apology to Packer fans we all know that it was cheese heat that forced his hand.

However, the real refs picked up right where the replacements left off by at least three critical and grossly obvious errors which nearly cost the Packers the game against the reeling New Orleans Saints. One of these was even challenged by coach Mike McCarthy and they still got it wrong. But it was the last one, a New Orleans fumble on a kickoff which was mis-called and was almost too much for the Packers to overcome.

In fact, after a late New Orleans missed field goal it took James Jones to make a blind, one-handed impossible reception to seal the game for Green Bay and bring them to a 2-2 record in another game that felt like a playoff game.

The Lambeau fans, fed up with the incompetency of officials, protested loudly again with several long minutes of extended boos aimed at the rusty refs on two or three different occasions after the blown calls.

Despite getting the shaft instead of the gold mine once again, Green Bay played strong enough in most aspects of the game to squeak this one out, 28-27. Aaron Rodgers threw for four touchdowns, two to James Jones, and the Packers played stubborn run defense. The defense, however, failed to put a lot of pressure on Saints quarterback Drew Bees and also neglected ti bump the Saints' receivers at the line of scrimmage.

What the NFL needs are rules which can overturn blatant, obvious terrible calls for the current 'reviewable plays' and coaching challenge system is not working. With all the camera angles available now the NFL needs a system to be able to get the calls right whenever possible, even if those plays are not currently reviewable.

For if the second place Packers were not generally strong, the missed calls would have already really put their season in jeopardy.

Having come too close to disaster the second week in a row,  it seems like their playoff run has already begun.

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

McCarthy Needs to Talk to a Chair



Mike McCarthy now feels like the rest sane America after his Green Bay Packers were on the losing end of incompetence.

For in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter in Seattle, he sat there helpless as the authorities made phantom calls (roughing the passer), and let offenders off while punishing the innocent (pass interference on the team that did not do the interfering).

But the most egregious moment came when the authorities took from a guy who possessed something and gave it to one who did not possess it (interception in end zone given to offense) even after the false recipient had flagrantly violated the rules immediately prior (pushing defender Sam Shields onto the ground to get him away from making the catch.)

You also may easily call the replacement referees of that Monday Night NFL game, so inept to lead and make accurate, solid and correct decisions: Obama, Holder, Reid and Pelosi. For these inept jokers in Washington continue to make the same type of stupid, wrong, unfair and inaccurate decisions just like the replacement refs.

Yes, just like the rest of America, fed up with incompetence, bad judgement and injustice, coach Mike McCarthy needs to talk to a chair.

And to the NFL commissioner, here's this: if the man can't do his job, he has to be replaced.

Not taking anything away from the fierce defense and solid football team Pete Carroll has built in Seattle; they owned the Packers in the first half with an avalanche of sacks on Aaron Rodgers.

However, more credit should go to coach McCarthy and the Packers offense who came out and ran the ball down the Seahawks throats with Cedric Benson and a number of short hitch passes. Very clever and creative for McCarthy who found a way to get it done.

And the Green Bay defense also seems to be for real. They were solid and stubborn. The Seahawks are for real, but the Packers are the real deal.

And just as the cheaters in Washington have galvanized the majority of responsible Americans to go forward with one will toward getting rid of the incompetent, so this loss and the way the Packers were cheated out of this win will galvanize this Packers team who will be impossible to beat the rest of the year.

The Green Bay Packers will win the Super Bowl, and Obama will finally be sent to the toilet bowl. Both deservedly so.

Friday, September 14, 2012

The Bears Suck on Thursdays Too



You know why Jay Cutler wears jersey number six? Because that's how old he acts...when he isn't acting like he's three. Like the rest of the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field on Thursday night, he totally sucked.

His sniveling and whining to his offensive linemen was shameful, and at one point he even bumped into his left tackle on the sidelines to express his disgust. The poor lineman, a guy 6'5" plus, and 300 plus, should have crushed baby Cutler like a Dixie cup.

And when he wasn't devouring his own team mates for being imperfect, he was tossing picks to the Green Bay defense. Cutler had more picks than a czar-seeking Obama would make at a Communist Party convention. If Lambeau had been giving out free hotdogs for every Cutler interception, there wouldn't be a cow left in the Dairy State.

And why does Clay Matthews wear jersey number fifty-two? Because that's about how many times he sacked Cutler. Matthews, certainly playing inspired football so far this year, was ferocious, unstoppable and was in Cutler's grill like hamburgers in B.J. Raji's Weber.

So often was Cutler being punished by a charging Matthews, that he will likely have nightmares about it all weekend; and by Monday, in Cutler's mind, Matthews sack total will probably be up to about a thousand. By then Cutler will be more willing to date Democratic hag Nancy Pelosi than to take a snap opposite a snarling Clay Matthews. (But, please don't think about that Pelosi-Cutler scenario very long, for there are limits to the amount of horror a human imagination can handle. But it would be a good debate about which individual was slumming more...)

As for Green Bay's offense, it was nice to see that Mike McCarthy could call a play other than 'give it to Randall Cobb.' In fact the Packers seem to have the peach fuzz of a running game emerging. Cedric Benson stayed on his feet long enough that we could see he has a juke or two left in him, which also helped in the play action passing game.

Aaron Rodgers played well, but was not as sharp as we have come to expect him to be, missing crucial throws by inches and tossing a few to the Bears. It was no help that some of his receivers seem to forget that their job is to actually catch the ball instead of simply touching it.

But besides Tramon Williams' multiple-interception evening, and Mathews' memorable sack-attack, my favorite play of the game was when Rodgers found number 80 in the end zone! Donald Driver isn't seeing much playing time, but it is fitting that when he gets in there they dial him up for a touchdown.

And he does seem to have an improved, finely-honed touchdown dance this year, doesn't he?