My review of the game

[Jules]

I'm re-watching the Niner-Saints game right now.
My review is simple and no where near as eloquent as Bogart's.

JOY! - JOY! - Disapointment - JOY! - Desperation - JOY! - Dejection - JOY!!!
That's called a damn good football game.

*beats him with stick*

This weekend sucks.

I know the refs might want Pats/Giants though which worries me. They love them some Brady and Eli in the big game. Then they can show Peyton every 6 seconds in the big game too if by chance Peyton makes a cameo.

I want Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh now. Let's do it. Let's get the brotherly love going. BTW when Jim Harbaugh was young he was hot. He was hot on the Colts.

I love a Harbaugh as an underdog though. I think this is a decent spot for the Ravens. But, I forgot THE TIGHT ENDS ohhhhhh the tight ends. Ohhhh wonderful loving tight end glory!!!!!!

 

[LombardiChick]

*beats him with stick*



I want Harbaugh vs. Harbaugh now. Let's do it. Let's get the brotherly love going.

LOL Jules...you mean "Let's get the nap going."

 

[Jules]

LOL Jules...you mean "Let's get the nap going."

Since the Packers are out the nap is underway.

And a nickname for Indianapolis has always been "naptown", ironically.

 

[Texas9erFan]

*beats him with stick*

Ow! My eye!! lol

I kinda hate to be so happy when so many Packer fans are rightfully not happy. I'm disappointed that the Packers aren't playing the Niners. But I'm also kinda not because the game is at the 'Stick. I'm totally STOKED for this weekend's games.

It's kinda strange that the Niner/Giant rivalry isn't what it should be. They've faced each other a lot in the post season. And I think that the Giants have the edge in victories. Like 4 games to 3 or something like that.

But I'm looking forward to puttin a whoopin on "I'm elite too" Eli.

KILL KILL KILL!!!

 

[Jules]

Ow! My eye!! lol

I kinda hate to be so happy when so many Packer fans are rightfully not happy. I'm disappointed that the Packers aren't playing the Niners. But I'm also kinda not because the game is at the 'Stick. I'm totally STOKED for this weekend's games.

It's kinda strange that the Niner/Giant rivalry isn't what it should be. They've faced each other a lot in the post season. And I think that the Giants have the edge in victories. Like 4 games to 3 or something like that.

But I'm looking forward to puttin a whoopin on "I'm elite too" Eli.

KILL KILL KILL!!!

The Giants D is still a bit of an enigma to me. I realize all year they were not usually completely healthy but they also had some terrible games against some bad QBs. But, they also showed up at times and big. They did manage to give Brady fits again in NE but then again NE's run game is nothing to worry about either. I suspect the Giants might play to the level of their competition.

The pass rushers are there and all.

You can't run the ball on the Niners anyway. This game will be on Eli. Elite Eli.

And from what I hear the Ravens might as well not even make the trip to NE to view the Pats rebirth of the dynasty welcome back party. Actually the more I watch the Pats this year the more I am not shocked so many found the Colts irritating in their prime. The sense of entitlement can be annoying. The "Our QB rules and yours sucks so go home" mentality is not unfamiliar to me.

 

[Texas9erFan]

Hey doc, another bottle of kool-aid for the I.V. please.

 

[Jules]

Hey doc, another bottle of kool-aid for the I.V. please.

I will tell you this. Early this season I got a feeling on the Niners. I was one of the few saying they had lasting power this season of people I know. A Colts fan told me that the Niners reminded him a bit of the 2001 Pats and Alex Smith morping into 2001 Brady. For those that remember those Pats teams early on were not all about the QB and passing game. It was a balanced team effort.

Rookie HCs don't tend to win SBs but then again Jim Harbaugh is no rookie HC. He makes his own rules.

I would be absolutely satisfied seeing either Harbaugh win it all but I am pulling more for Baltimore due to aging vets on defense and Ray Ray is just too freaking awesome.

 

[longtimefan]

Very well done BOG...You took the time to explain your points in a clear manner..

Few points.....

Not sure who said it but--- the Packers were 50% on 4th downs in the season, not really struggling in my eyes...Good enough for 8th place in % made...

http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/team/_/stat/downs/seasontype/2

Bye week- who really knows? I dont think that is the reason for the way they played..They played the same way on offense during the KC game...I think the death of Joe's son had more to do with the "rust"

Defense did suck all year and the offense bailed them out all year..So this game shouldnt have been a surprise..Yet people think it would have been different..I am under impression that Dom's hands were tied, and he only had a few options as to who to play...I personally cant fault him at all

I think that MM did get out coached..I do agree that the onside kick was him panicking...But it also would have been a huge boost if they got it..But hindsight is great...I didnt like it at the time as you stated, it was stil early and the score was still manageable.

Fumbles and drops...I dont care if Kuhn hadnt fumbled in 20 years...If anytime was important, that was it...No one should have fumbled..The drops make no sense...Are the drops a by product of Edgar being the Wr coach?? Not sure, but as RB coach his guys werent fumblers..

Rodgers had a few moments of being below average, but other than Driver, Rodgers was the best player for the Pack that day..

We have discussed the booing..I would have boo'd that hail mary as well..

I found out that it makes me classless, and not a real fan..but so be it.....You dont want to boo the team, ever, which is your right....We will have to disagree on our views for this..

 

[ExpatPacker]

The Defense and Overconfidence and being one-dimensional

These three things fed off one another in a potentially dangerous way that finally hit home against the Giants.

So many were confident that our offense could take care of the defense's shortcomings and that we lost to KC simply because our offense was flat. WRONG.

This team needs major improvements to its defense, and that is going to be a multi-year project.

So many thought that we didn't need much of a running attack with our passing attack the way it was. WRONG.

This team never established a role for the running attack during the season. It was just an after-thought. A consistent offensive scheme that integrated a running attack that was based off the passing attack would have been a great asset to this offense and it never happened. When we needed to run the ball we couldn't. When someone broke off a good run, it didn't disrupt the opponent's defensive scheme for the rest of the game. They knew what we were going to do.

I will add one more thing. Even with our explosive passing attack, what I saw in terms of play-calling was so predictable, even I knew what kind of plays the Packers offense was going to run. I did not find MM's play-calling very good. That is also another shortcoming of being one-dimensional.

 

[fettpett]

If the Packer's defense is even just Average, they win that game. It was 13-10 with less than 3o sec in the 1st half. Their defense played enough to keep the Giants at that score. Rodgers hadn't badly missed Jennings on that play, Pack would have been up 14-13.

Rodgers played like crap. He was off for 3 weeks, had been starting to slow down since the Giants game, he didn't have that edge he had earlier in the season, the KC game didn't bring it back, not playing against the Lions hurt him as well. I personally thought it was idiotic not to play him the first half of that game, regardless of how well Flynn did. I also think he's been letting the media praise he's been getting all season get to his head, and got soft.

I think the Offenses inability to do jack-squat in the second half really hurt the defense. Drops by key players didn't help them at all, same with fumbles. They had a chance, even with 5 mins left in the game, Grants fumble killed that drive and put the Giants up for good.

 

[packerfan4ever]

I'm over the game just hope the off season they will get some good players from the draft,as for the weekend games 9ers defense will hurt the giants although Brees did show a weakness in the back field he was able to pass the ball and get points on the board,Ravens another good defense but Reed was takin off the field so that will hurt if he can't play against the pats,because brady will be able to get points,it is a toss up because 9ers ravens offense equally match q.b wise nither are that great edge Fllco because he can throw a good deep ball but like smith he panics when the run game is stalled.I feel 9ers raven s.b.

 

[Forget Favre]

If the Packer's defense is even just Average, they win that game. It was 13-10 with less than 3o sec in the 1st half. Their defense played enough to keep the Giants at that score. Rodgers hadn't badly missed Jennings on that play, Pack would have been up 14-13.

Rodgers played like crap. He was off for 3 weeks, had been starting to slow down since the Giants game, he didn't have that edge he had earlier in the season, the KC game didn't bring it back, not playing against the Lions hurt him as well. I personally thought it was idiotic not to play him the first half of that game, regardless of how well Flynn did. I also think he's been letting the media praise he's been getting all season get to his head, and got soft.

Rodgers wanted to prove Skip Bayless right.
He didn't want to hurt his ego.
Rodgers is just that much of a nice guy.

 

[Forget Favre]

I'm over the game just hope the off season they will get some good players from the draft,as for the weekend games 9ers defense will hurt the giants although Brees did show a weakness in the back field he was able to pass the ball and get points on the board,Ravens another good defense but Reed was takin off the field so that will hurt if he can't play against the pats,because brady will be able to get points,it is a toss up because 9ers ravens offense equally match q.b wise nither are that great edge Fllco because he can throw a good deep ball but like smith he panics when the run game is stalled.I feel 9ers raven s.b.

I like your avatar.
That looks real pretty.
Is it someplace you were?

 

[P-E-Z]

It wouldn't have mattered if this team was the 6th seed or the 1st seed, they weren't ranked 32nd on defense for nothing. Even if those guys made all those catches, that don't mask the problem entirely that the defense gave up over 404 yards and 37 points.

Offense sells tickets, defense wins championships.


The Packers learned 3 lessons I hope:

Rodgers can't do it all

Jermichael Finley is an over confident ego that needs to be let go after dropping his last pass

32nd ranked defense DOES matter...all year long the attitude was "we don't care, we get turnovers, give us a break"

As odd it it may sound had the Pack lost 4 or 5 games they may been forced address the defense.

 

[Jules]

I thought they just looked so damn soft against the Giants. ****.

I mean it's the playoffs. Win or go home. And they were playing patty cake. Christ.

 

[Jules]

If the Packer's defense is even just Average, they win that game. It was 13-10 with less than 3o sec in the 1st half. Their defense played enough to keep the Giants at that score. Rodgers hadn't badly missed Jennings on that play, Pack would have been up 14-13.

Rodgers played like crap. He was off for 3 weeks, had been starting to slow down since the Giants game, he didn't have that edge he had earlier in the season, the KC game didn't bring it back, not playing against the Lions hurt him as well. I personally thought it was idiotic not to play him the first half of that game, regardless of how well Flynn did. I also think he's been letting the media praise he's been getting all season get to his head, and got soft.

I think the Offenses inability to do jack-squat in the second half really hurt the defense. Drops by key players didn't help them at all, same with fumbles. They had a chance, even with 5 mins left in the game, Grants fumble killed that drive and put the Giants up for good.

Probably cause he got so exhausted carrying the Packers all year. We all got a "Rodgers must save us" mentality. Poor guy can only do so much.

 

[Bogart]

As odd it it may sound had the Pack lost 4 or 5 games they may been forced address the defense.

I agree...Other teams that lost a number of games other than 1 went back to make adjustments on the defense.

I had that feeling when they finally lost a game, maybe they would go back and rework the defense, but of course they didn't.

There's always next year, hopefully this serves as a pedestal of learning.