Packers 27 Stealers 17
I’m not right about a lot of things, just ask Linda, but when I am, I want to be sure to make a point of it. Last week I wrote that these were two teams headed in opposite directions, and I WAS RIGHT! Packers won, Stealer’s didn’t. True Stealer fans know this to be true; something is just not quite right in Pittsburg. There was a lot written this week that Big Ben needs to go; that his lack of mobility and diminished arm strength is hurting the team. Armchair Coaches can afford to be like that, but in truth, the Stealer’s problems are deeper than that. Watching the two teams last Sunday, one could see the difference in level of talent throughout the roster.
That’s not to say they are a bad team. I’ve always admired their coaches. From Noll to Cowher to Tomlin, they have a combined record of 487-316-3, they know how to get the best out their players and they know how to exploit the weaknesses of a team. There is no better point than the Field goal try at halftime. They flooded the right side of the line and got the inside guy free to the kicker, blocking the kick and returning it for a TD… but wait, offsides Pittsburg. Whether that was true is debatable. I think they lined up offsides and got a jump on the snap. How did they get that jump? This is where the Stealer’s exploited our weakness. They watched the holder, when he lifted his hand for the snap the ball, the defense took off. I guess we need to do some type of hard hand count now. There must be more examples, but this gives you an idea why, even in tough years, the Stealer’s are always there.
The Packers success is in their depth. Again, without Bakhtiari and Jenkins, Turner and Nijman keep Air-ron protected most of the day. Aaron Jones, nursing a sore ankle and Dillion fills in nicely. Za’Darious Smith maybe out for the season, but Rashan Gary showed his worth sacking Big Ben by reaching over the lineman, grabbing Ben and taking both down. Eric Stokes looks to be ready to take Kings job away permanently and with Jaire’s shoulder injury there is a possibility Eric will be the man for several weeks, King or no King. Next man up attitude… that was the way the Packers won their last superbowl and looks like it will work again. Of course, the season is still young, but it does look better than it did after week 1, at least from the Packers point of view.
An interesting note was the meeting at midfield after the game with Air-ron and Tomlin. It seemed too friendly, the video went viral, and it appears to me Air-ron handed Tomlin two pieces of paper. One with his name on it, the other with Davante’s name... resumes perhaps? There are rumors in Pittsburg of Rodgers wearing Black & Gold next year, but then again, it is the same rumor the other 30 teams in the league have. I guess we will have to watch to see if Zac Taylor (Bagel’s HC) & Air-ron have one of those “Friendly” conversation after the Bagel’s game next week. Maybe a trade, Aaron for Joe... who knows?
As Marge would say, thick is always better, and it doesn’t get any thicker than when we…
Bleed Green My Friends!
(Packer John)
Just Sayin’
Well, it’s nice to know that Aaron Rodgers and Matt LaFleur read our newsletter. While I highly doubt that, I wonder if someone brought to their attention that since it was one of AR12’s “requests” that the Packers trade for Randall Cobb after he himself came back into the Packers fold, maybe they should actually think about using Cobb out on the field to catch passes. For the first 3 games this season, Cobb had caught 4 passes for 46 yards. Against the Steelers, he had 5 catches for 69 yards and 2 TDs. Wasn’t that a genius of an idea, trade for a wide receiver, or a slot guy, and then actually use him in a game. WOW ! ! Someone drank a 5 hour energy drink and had a moment. On the bad side, we apparently will be without MVS for 2 – 4 more weeks as he was put on Injured Reserve. If I understand correctly how things are currently working, being placed on IR is a 3 week minimum that a player will be out. Za’Darius Smith has been on IR since the start of the season. Recently, he underwent some type of back surgery, so he is out indefinitely. In all reality, maybe Z has already played his last game as a Packer. He is approaching 30 years old. He will be coming off back surgery and his cap hit for next year, as it stands now, is in the $28M range. And do you restructure his contract for more years to reduce the cap figure? Or do you use the old Ted Thompson adage of “better to let a player go a year too early than a year too late.”? And on top of those 2, we may be without Jaire Alexander for a week or 2. If he is out, we may see Kevin King back on the field. But he has missed the last 2 games being in concussion protocol. I guess we will know at kickoff what the defensive backfield will look like.
The OL is still playing fairly well, despite playing a 3rd stringer, 2 rookies and 2nd year guy. We definitely have some good coaching there. But there also has been some help here and there by the backs and TEs. How about that Rashan Gary, sacking Ben Rothelisberger AND one of his linemen at the same time. With Z out of action, we sure need Gary to keep his game on. OK, so the Bengals are coming up. This is the same Bengals team that was leading Green Bay 17 – 0 at halftime in September 1992. So Mike Holmgren benched Don Majkowski and put in that young kid Brett Favre. And we have been pretty good at the QB position for almost 30 years now…
GPB In Our SPARE TIME
A great time was had by members, guests, and visitors as Packer backers got together to cheer on our team at Spare Time. We filled the patio and then started working on the restaurant side of the bar. We had so many supporters that Clark couldn’t count that high! We’re “guestimating” about a hundred! Help us welcome new member 629 Chad Teasley and make him feel at home with us. We also hosted several visitors thanks to Packers Everywhere and Facebook! The Vena family, Mike, Terry, and Sara were visiting. They have been Packer fans for a long time. Mike and Sara will be at Lambeau for the Viqueens game. Also visiting were Jim and Claire Tapscott. They have an interesting connection to the Green and Gold. Their daughter is RG #70 Royce Newman’s girlfriend. How exciting! All our guests commented on how outgoing and friendly our group is. They gave us an A+ in hospitality!
And now on to the prizes… We owed a prize to 189 Don Ranson. He chose a thermal cup. 600 Joe Lanteigne chose a yard flag to let all his neighbors know his allegiance. 628 Mary Fletcher will snuggle under her blanket. Mike Vena chose a shawl with a bedazzled G. 615 Hayley Kirsch will enjoy the fruit of the vine in her thermal wine cup and 589 Kathy McGrew will stay hydrated using her water bottle. 120 Neil Petersen gifted his prize to Sara Vena who chose a thermal cup. Half-time was special, thanks to our good friends at Spare Time who treated us to a huge tray of nachos—YUM! We also continue to sell raffle tickets for the autographed football during halftime. Don’t miss out on your chance. 5/$20 for members or $5 each for anyone else who would like a chance.
We filled 2 $1 boards and a 1 $2 board for the football pool. Winners of $25 from the $1 boards were 617 Mary Palash, 611 Cat Resendiz, 262 Tom Zumbach (2), 120 Neil Petersen (2), 127 Kent Sargent, and 241 Tiffany Bailey. Winning $50 on the $2 board were 600 Joe Lanteigne, 618 Mike Palash (2), and 220 Jimmy Smith. The correct answer to the Trivia Question was submitted by 612 Jonathan Smiley. He won a $25 gift card compliments of our friends at Spare Time.
And on Sunday, October 10, the Pack will FINALLY play a 1 o’clock game at the Cincinnati Bagels. I just know Spare Time will be packed, with our loud cheering heard for miles! I wish I could be there with you, but I can’t. Be nice to 106 Packer John and 105 Linda as they take over my duties for the day. I’ll be thinking of y’all and cheering for my team for sure. Keep the thick coming and staying on track.
(Marge 328)
Packer’s vs. Bagel’s
But actually, I am not that confident about this week’s game. Perhaps I am still shell-shocked about the season opener against the Saints. I wish we could call that Aaron Rodgers’ meaningless “preseason” game, but I am afraid that loss will come back and haunt us during the playoff positioning later this year. Regardless, it should serve as a reminder about how bad things can go for the Packers on any given Sunday. Or maybe the Packers just got the stinker game out of the way early this season (remember last year’s mid-season loss to the Buccaneers 10-38?). But it just seems like the Packers can’t quite put a complete game package together. Yes, they have won three in a row, but imagine how the Steelers game would have gone if a younger Roethlisberger did not overthrow two open TD passes, or the blocked FG return for a Steeler touchdown would have stood. Bottom line: this week two 3-1 teams who are still trying to figure things out will make this game a dogfight.
So here are the TOP TEN Things The Packers Should Focus On In Cincinnati: 10) Spread the targets amongst the receiving corps: Adams is awesome, but Cobb is back. Lazard has been making plays and since MVS is still injured, check out St. Brown or that Taylor guy. Plus we have those 62 Tight Ends. 9) Special Teams: don’t screw up. Enough said. 8) Get after Burrow. He was already a NCAA National Champion and an NFL #1 draft pick, so don’t make him an NFL Player of the Week. Bury his Ohio State-quitting ass in the filthy riverbank stadium silt. 7) Tonyan should legally change his name to Robert Ochocinco for this game. 6) Pound the ball with AJ Dillon. Have him run over the annoying “Who Dey” Bengal mascot while he is at it. 5) Turnover’s baby! Get that D-Train rolling! 4) Pregame warm-ups: the injury list is growing, and we can’t let that derail our season. 3) Play well enough to overcome poor officiating: we can count on the Bengals not being the only opponents in stripes on the field. 2) Aaron Jones doing the “Ickey Shuffle” after his first TD run. And the number 1) Thing The Packers Should Focus On In Cincinnati: Victory #4! King of the Norths (NFC and AFC)!
GO-PACK-GO!
(Bill Demuth)
Nik’s Negativity
We won on Sunday, at home, against a team with a losing record. We are supposed to. 3-1 at the almost quarter pole (17 game season) for a team with a reigning MVP for QB that has been the NFC champ game 2 years in a row is expected. Let’s not get too excited. We still have some major issues and they are getting harder and harder to cover up. Let me educate you on why you may not realize we could be in trouble.
Defense. Don’t let the stats get in the way of a good old fashioned negative bias. We still have major issues rushing the passer and stopping big plays. Thank the Steelers for sticking with Big Ben one year too long. He missed SOOOOO many throws. At least 2 TD plays were missed. He just flat out missed the throws. We played awful defense. Several times our CB missed tackles that would have prevented a first down. At least 2 times their receiver was wide open by 3 yards. Ben choked. Good for us last Sunday, bad for us when we play a QB that isn’t washed up. As the great mid-western American poet Robert Clark Seger says, “C’est la Vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell”. This, however, is a dangerous way to live on defense. Those throws do not get missed by playoff QBs. Injuries. Yes, our old nemesis is back after taking a year off. We were considerably healthy throughout the regular season last year. None of our star players really missed significant time. Obviously 69 blowing out his knee in practice before the playoffs hurt, but the rest of the big money players were on the field. Fast forward to 2021. Zsmith, MVS, Dbak (still), King, Barnes, Patrick, Lancaster, Jenkins, and now Jaire all missing games…and we aren’t even a quarter of the way through the season. We need veteran help on defense and we need it now. I mentioned it last week and the Bucs went and got Richard Sherman. The Chiefs signed Josh Gordon. It’s what championship teams do. They take chances. I can hear Clay, Snacks, Vernon, Beasley, Ansah, Short, Amukamura, etc all singing to the Packers……“I know its late, I know you’re weary…I know your plans don’t include me. We’ve got this year (tonight), who needs next year (tomorrow), Lets make it last…let’s find a way!!) Alas, I fear the Pack will stick to their habits of not bringing in help….and instead I will be left singing to the Packers “There you stood, everybody watched you play. I just turned and walked away. I had nothing left to say…’Cause you’re still the same. You’re still the same. Moving game to game, some things never change. You’re still the same”
Except the punter. He is not the same. He is still pretty darn good.
(Nik ~ One-Seventeen!)
