Well that was an entertaining game to watch.
Both Favre and Rodgers are hella good. Favre just looked better since his o-line actually did their job and gave him plenty of time in the pocket while Rodgers o-line looked completely helpless. Props to Rodgers for a career high 384 passing yds despite the horrible protection.
Running games on both side of the ball were completely awful. Monday Night Football and the #1 greatest all time running back Adrian Peterson is held to 55 yds and gets stripped once? Practically matched yds with Ryan Grants 51 yds.
They can protect Favre all day long but they can’t open holes for Peterson?
Jared Allen was the real deal though. The guy is an animal.
Should make for an even more exciting November meeting at Lambeau if Rodgers o-line is healthy and Peterson pulls his head out of his ass.
The fact is that the Vikings did all the little things well and the Packers didn’t. First there are the penalties, which is a constant theme for McCarthy coached teams. Then there was the dropped pass by Lee. Then of course the Vikings were outstanding in the punt game, giving the Packers long fields to traverse all game long.
And of course the offensive line pass protection was horrible. Given that, I though Rodgers was outstanding.
I have not altered my opinon that McCarthy is not a coach to take this team to the next level. They are sloppy, very sloppy and that is on the coaches shoulders.
The outcome of the game, in my opinion, was sealed when Favre marched Minnehaha down the field for a touchdown immediately after the fumble return touchdown by the Packers late in the second quarter. Instead of being a momentum changer for the Pack, the Vikings got to go into halftime with the lead. And the really annoying part of that drive was the fact that Favre was the key to the whole thing, with three good passes in the middle of the drive taking the Vikes from deep in their own territory to the doorstep of the Packer endzone.
One of the things I used to like about Favre was that he can have a quite awesome result as a quarterback when he has the proper motivation, and gets himself all properly focused and revved up. It more than makes up for the times that he can’t seem to get himself truly focused, and ends up just being Brett, with all the stupid interceptions, the throws that are too hard, etc. I kind of figured I knew which Brett Favre was going to show up last night.
I think, on reflection, that Rodgers actually outplayed Favre. Considering the almost shocking disparity in field position and the fact that Favre had weeks to throw while Rodgers had seconds… I mean, if Favre had been playing behind that line and on those long fields he might have turned it over 5 times.
No question that the Vikes are the better team right now though.
It’s hard to say he outplayed Favre, simply because Favre played exactly as he needed to play. Sure Favre had an easier time of it, but he still played almost flawlessly (I just threw up in my mouth a little bit). They both played really well under different circumstances.
No, I mean if not for that throw I’d say Favre played equally good or better football, not that if not for it he’d have played almost flawlessly. I did see the qualifier.
I just can’t credit Favre with an “almost perfect” game if he turned it over despite being under no pressure and having no reason to throw that pass. It’s not like, say, Mark Sanchez’ last two interceptions on Sunday, where he had no time to throw and had to force the ball down the field.
Well that wasn’t an interception. I guess you can argue it was a bad call if you want (and I would disagree. Woodson did make contact and wasn’t looking back for the ball), but it was a free play anyway because the Packers were also offsides, so it’s a case where a QB is allowed to go ahead and try to force one in.
As an aside, I don’t think I’ve ever been as annoyed at the handling of the game. It seemed the entire first half and most of the second that I wasn’t watching a football game, but commercials with a bit of football thrown in as a teaser. Damn, it pissed me off. Almost as much as the idiotic blowing of the whistles (not by the refs the idiot fans), the ticky tack calls, and the bullshit “taunting” flag over jawing (what now they can’t even talk nasty to the Vikings? Damn wimps).
And Favre outplayed Rodgers. While his protection certainly sucked, Rodgers needed to get the ball out faster and not take those hits. He did a great job on the first drive of doing just that, but then he stopped and started taking hits.
At least ESPN isn’t doing that stupid Jay Leno style celebrity interview interview crap anymore. Nothing was more annoying than having to keep going away from game play to listen to Brad Garrett plug 'Til Death for 20 minutes.
Unfortunately, as a Packer fan, the result of the game was pretty much what I was expecting. The offensive line is a sieve right now, and I suspect it’s affecting Rodgers’ decision-making. He may also be starting to suffer from Favre-itis (the belief that you have to carry the team on your shoulders, which leads to poor decision-making).
One bright spot for the Packers was Jermichael Finley. He made some nice catches, and some nice moves after he caught the ball. I hope that he continues to develop.
I know you NFC North types like to wave your man cards around and stuff but you can’t really complain about that call. He was standing over a guy on the ground and jawing- that draws a flag every time.
It wasn’t a very demonstrative display when you watch the replay. Taunting calls are pretty rare in the NFL overall, especially in rivalry games. I’m guessing the guy said something especially nasty to the guy in ear shot of the ref, you have to wonder how much stock the refs put into the trash talk they hear on the field that we don’t. In this case I think the presumed verbal abuse had more to do with it than standing over him considering it was in the middle of the line of scrimmage.
There was a crap taunting call last week in the Dallas game IIRC that the announcers questioned and the officials defended on the NFL Network later in the week. Seems like it’s been a point of emphasis with the league meaning things that once were allowed to slip by are now being called.
The Green Bay call was probably warranted considering the ref was standing right there and probably had a good handle on what was happening. The Dallas one seemed a lot more dubious since no ref was near by and the hand gesture that they interpreted as being directed at the player was pretty open to interpretation when you see it on replay. Basically the guy got screwed because he did something out of earshot of a ref where there was room for interpretation. Obviously something so vague should not be called, but in the Packers case the ref was a foot away and you can probably trust his judgment.
