Well, the reports are that Matthews is practicing and likely to play this weekend. We’ll still be without a good D Line rotation with both Pickett and Neal likely out. Poppinga had knee surgery this week, so he’ll be out for awhile, but we may get Chillar back, which would be a huge help (especially with Hawk’s groin bugging him). Al Harris and Atari Bigby are eligible to play, but it’s unclear if they’ll see the field this Sunday. But, given the desperation due to injuries though, we may see them.
It will be interesting to see the game Capers’ calls this weekend. Last year, he was dead set on stopping Adrian Peterson (they did a good job of that), but let Favre kill us through the air. It will be interesting to see what changes he makes in his calls. God I wish we had a healthy team for this one.
Dio, as bad as McKinney is (and I hate McKinney. God, he’s terrible), Loadholt is worse. If that’s even possible. When will the Vikings learn that big as a house does not a good tackle make. Please, let us get some talent in there.
I think the biggest problem the last 2 years has been the absence of Matt Birk. I think we underestimated his importance to the O-Line. That said, I haven’t been impressed with either of our Man Mountains.
Good game, packers. Brett almost played as bad as Cutler tonight, and we still had a chance to win it. With a game in Foxboro looming, I don’t see us playing any role in the playoffs but spoiler this year. We’ll have some fun if/when Rice gets back but we’re probably sunk.
Brett throwing 3 interceptions (two of them classic Bad Brett stupid throws) at Lambeau was very enjoyable indeed.
More importantly though was the fact the O Line didn’t give up a sack, which was huge. Clifton had a very good game, Bulaga recovered from last weeks bad outing, and they gave Rodgers enough time to make some nice throws. The O line had a good game, and if they can keep that up, their chances will be much better. Of course Rodgers’ two red zone interceptions could have been killers, but luckily Favre just gave it right back to us.
More injuries/problems on the D line. Cullen Jenkins pulled his calf muscle in warmups (after the inactives had to be listed) and Pickett’s ankle didn’t let him play much. With Mike Neal, Justin Harrell, and Johnny Jolly all already out, that left the Packers grasping for straws. They even had to have their backup O Lineman TJ Lang and OLB Frank Zombo both play on the D Line to compensate. But CJ Wilson had a very good game and Jarius Wynn played well too. And Raji was, once again, a silent beast. They gave up too many yards to AP, but I was impressed with the younguns and how they filled in in the clutch.
It’s a weak year this year, I wouldn’t count the Vikings out yet. Keep giving Peterson the ball, cut down on Favre’s mistakes, keep finding ways of feeding Harvin the ball, catch some lucky breaks/official’s calls and the Vikes can certainly make some noise.
And the Bears game … Whew. I didn’t get to watch it, but I had a great deal of fun following it online. It looks like that O Line can’t support Martz’s offense and Cutler is having problems. On the bright side, their defense played well again, and Forte actually got over 4 ypc, which is a nice little milestone for him.
The O Line actually played better than they have in recent weeks. In the second half the Bears offense was pretty damned efficient and the pass protection was reliable. Not sure if Washington called off the blitzes, if the Bears went into some max protect mode or if the guys just stepped up and played better but Cutler was able to move the offense reliably without getting hit. The O Line couldn’t handle Haynesworth when he decided to exert himself, but he only did that on about 5 plays all game. They still can’t seem to run block, but on screens and misdirections they were opening up big gains.
The biggest issue this week were between Cutler and the Receivers. Specifically Hester and Knox. Both guys, either due to inexperience, poor coaching or lack of size allowed 3 of those interceptions. They ran lazy routes, not coming out of breaks crisply and not driving back to the ball and/or came out of breaks too late allowing Hall to undercut those routes. Granted Cutler probably missed his target by a foot or so and left the ball too far inside but I think it’s on the receivers to win battles like this against single coverage. It’s tough to pin blame without knowing what the scheme and coaching dictates and where that ball is supposed to be. It’s pretty clear that someone was out of position since the reads were dead on.
It opens up debate about Martz though and the play calling. Is Martz stubbornly asking his young and undersized WRs to do something they can’t do? Is Martz asking Cutler to make pin point throws into tight coverage that’s unreasonable? Also, Hall was playing those guys close and jumping every break. Martz never exploited our guys speed advantage and forced him to bail out and he never tried to exploit him on a hitch and go. Perhaps the pass protection contributed to that but you have to keep those corners playing on an island like that guessing. Would running the ball and utilizing play action take pressure off of all parties involved?
I know that Aromashodu is in the dog house still but when I see Knox and Hester running lazy routes and rounding off cuts I wonder how much more serious DA’s crimes could be. Cutler seems to depend on help from WRs and bigger guys like DA give him margin for error and allow him to force the ball in on certain occasions. Time to get DA into some more games at least and see what happens. I’ve long argued that having Hester playing on the outside is an issue and it looked like it on some of those plays where he was unable to shield Hall from the ball.
Needless to say this is a team with a shitload of mismatched parts.
Some more injury updates. Favre has “an evulsion fracture and stress fracture” in his ankle. It won’t require surgery, but he may not be able to play this weekend. That may actually be good news for the Vikings.
And the Packers lose two more players to season ending injury. Backup LB Brady Poppinga and rotational DL Mike Neal will have surgery and are likely done for the year. sigh
And Matthew Stafford and DeAndra Levy are likely back for the Lions after their bye week.
The Bears are heading into a Bye week and need to do some serious retooling and regrouping. Injuries aren’t a serious issue, though getting Briggs and Bowman healthy will have a positive impact and we might finally see if Major Wright is anything to get excited about. Offensively we’re pretty healthy but maybe Cutler has some dings and aches that effect him and contribute to the recent turn of sloppy play after a solid start.
Lovie historically has never been capable of making adjustments. It’s probably a combination of retardation and stubbornness, but I have little hope that any drastic changes will come about in the 2 week break. Martz however might be able to conjure up something effective from this offense in the break, perhaps some direction from Tice and Lovie will at least generate a short term increase in rushing. I am assured that he’ll resort to flicking the ball all over the yard before too long but against the Bills we might actually rush the ball. The offensive line needs the bye the most. We’ve gotten a pair of starts from the current group and the extra week of practice can hopefully correct some of the learning issues thus far. Perhaps they can gel and sort out their blitz pick ups. We’ll see if Garza gets back into the mix at LG or not when healthy, I’m not sure he’s an improvement that justifies another reshuffling.
Eh, who knows, the Bears might very well leave the Bye week in 3rd place after entering it alone in 1st. I’m not quite ready to start the Lovie/Jerry/Martz firing countdown and start pining for a top 10 draft pick just yet, but it’s close.
Anyone care to offer up a new round of predictions on the final records and standings of the NFC North teams after 7 weeks? The Bears have 4 wins they probably don’t deserve and a tough schedule ahead of them, still their defense and special teams will probably garner some wins. The Vikings are completely up in the air with Favre’s injury status a mystery, he could be back next week and play the remaining 10 games or he could retire in 2 weeks. Green Bay looks to be the most stable of the teams but with injuries and no running game they are by no means a safe bet. Anyone willing to pick Detroit to finish anywhere but last?
Heard on the radio this morning a couple different things. One station reported that Favre had removed his walking boot and was intending to practice in order to play on Sunday. On the Mike & Mike show, they reported the decision on Favre was going to be Childress’s to make, which seems obvious at face value. They had Ron Jaworski on, and he acted as if it would be a travesty to bench Favre. Jaws said he went over the game film specifically to watch how Favre played, and, although Favre was visibly hobbled a bit after his injury in the 3rd quarter, he still was able to move around. He said something like, “Favre obviously made some mistakes, but he also made some throws to keep the Vikings in the game that I’m not sure any other QB in the league can make.”
Despite the fact that Favre has yet to have a good game this year, I still feel we stand a better chance with him at the helm than Jackson. I fell less strongly about this each week, however. I still think we should have drafted a QB for Favre to mentor on his way out.
The Lions, according to me, are still slated for 3-5 wins. There’s a game against Buffalo on the docket still. I think they can beat Tampa and maybe get another win at home, possibly this week against the Redskins. If not the Redskins, the Vikings might be it on the last game of the season.
Fun fact: the Lions have lost 24 straight road games. It’s the second time this decade they’ve accomplished that feat.
The Lions come off their bye week and get the Redskins. Megatron and Best should be healthier, and they get Stafford back under center. I really don’t know what to make of this game, both teams are kinda inconsistent. If Stafford can knock the rust off quickly and the front 4 can stop Torain and get to McNabb, I like their chances.
The 1-5 Vikings get to go and get their asses handed to them by the 5-1 Patriots. The Vikings are a much better team than they’ve been playing like. They may pull the “trapped rat in a corner” and play well, but the Patriots at home will be tough to beat.
The Bears get a bye week to sort out their offensive problems. Each week, it seems the Martz offense and the Bears’ players are simply not a good match. We’ll see whether Martz’s ego will let him adjust to the Bears. Still, they’re tops in the NFC North, and won’t lose this week.
The Packers have to travel to play the JETS. I don’t like their chances this week. With their D Line in tatters (I doubt Pickett and Jenkins will be able to play), and the strong JETS O line, I expect LT and Greene to pile up the yards, control the time of possession, and keep the Packers offense off the field. I don’t think the Packers can go toe to toe. They’ll have to get the turnovers, pressure on Sanchez, avoid mistakes, and have Rodgers have a good game to get a win. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening. Still, I’d love to be surprised.