2017 Week 09

Packers 17 Aints 26

Last Sunday, prior to the game, they were asking the Fox guys for predictions.  Jimmy Johnson said, “I expect a valiant effort but Brett Hundley and the Packers will fall short and lose to the Saints.”  A rumble went through the crowd at Chiefs. It looked like that wasn’t going to happen.  Green Bay gets the ball first and we pound right down the field.  Touchdown Packers!
  The Saints get the kickoff and they’re driving.  Unstoppable.  Drew Brees drops back to throw, interception.  Touchback.  We go 3 and out, but we kept them from scoring so, we’re ok. 
Brees gets the ball again, and drives the Saints right back down the field.  Drops back to throw, INTERCEPTION!  Surely, the Packers will make them pay.  Nope 3 and out again.  We’re doing ok, we’re still winning.  The Saints get the ball again, and instead of passing all the time, Mark Ingram starts getting featured and they get a touchdown, tied it up. 
Green Bay gets their revenge though.  Brett tries to pass, he doesn’t do so great, but due to the Saints penalties, we drive down, Brett runs it in from 14 and we get a Touchdown.  We have the lead and we’re winning once again.  Despite this, the Packers are showing how vulnerable they are without “he who must not be named”.  Hopefully, Coach Mike can get the offense firing on all cylinders. 
Alas, it wasn’t to be.  The Saints pull ahead with a Touchdown, we do get some redemption by blocking the PAT.
We get the ball again and “drive”.  Mason kicks a loooong 46 yard field goal and we’re up by one again.  Will we hold on?  Will we win this game? 
Saints get the ball again.  Apparently there’s a rule that you have to kick it to them after you score.  It’s a good rule though.  They come down the field.  The defense stops them, kinda.  They kick a field goal though, so they’re winning again. 
Kickoff, Trevor Davis breaks one off.  45 yards up to the 40, so Brett will have a short field.  Not so fast! Holding brings the ball back to the 20.  We go three and out, Vogel kicks his usual 40 or so yards, and NO gets it at their 40 and drive right down.  Punching it in by Brees.  Now it’s 26-17.  Brett throws, gets picked.  Game over. 
What happened?  Well, our QB needs some coaching and he needs to be able to anticipate where his receivers are going to be.  He also needs to realize that Martysaurus Rex (Martellus Bennett’s Twitter Handle) is his Best Friend.  Dude is 6’6”, find him throw the ball to him.  Hand it off to Aaron Jones.  Let Jordy pull a double move on a safety and hit him deep.  That’s about it.  Let Davante and Randall dazzle defenses as well.  Sounds simple right?  All you need is time.  You don’t get much in the NFL during the regular season though, except for the bye week. 


Brett was 12 of 25 for just 87 yeards, he had 1 rushing TD, and one interception.   Despite the fact that we “drove” 2 times for scores, those were due to penalties.  I think this may have been deliberate by Sean Payton.  He dared Brett to get out and throw the ball.  We didn’t and those aren’t numbers that will beat Drew Brees.  The Saints don’t have a defense really.  They have, since winning their Superbowl relied on Brees throwing for 300+ yards and scoring over 30 points to win games. 
Brees wasn’t a world beater this outing, despite going 27 of 38 for 331 yards, 1 TD, and 2 Ints.  I still think this has more to do with the fact that our defense couldn’t catch a cold.  Don’t get me wrong, they try real hard, and the secondary is oppor-tunistic and will get turnovers.  But they don’t seem to be able to defend a pass, it’s either incomplete because of an errant throw or a coverage throw away.  I realize the rules have changed, but for the love of god, SOMEBODY get in, run in stride with somebody and break up a pass!!  I don’t like seeing a tackling demonstration after they catch the ball 25 yards down field. 
I’m not saying Mike should look elsewhere, yet.  We’ll see after the bye if we’ve made any changes.  The Lyins are a passing team also, they have no running game to speak of, so we will need a nickel and dime package that is running on all cylinders, and Brett will have to be prepared to take oppor-tunistic shots down the field.  I would still remember where Matt Flynn’s number is just in case.  
(Ken Hill)

Just Sayin’

 Here come the Lions. There used to be a game show on TV many moons ago called To Tell The Truth. In the game, there was one person who professed to be someone of particular talent. There were also 2 imposters. A panel would ask all 3 questions and try to determine which of the 3 was the real “X” person and which 2 were imposters. We are going to be playing a version of that game on Monday night. Will we see the “real” Mike McCarthy, the coach who has labeled himself “Let’s just state the facts, I’m a highly successful NFL head coach,”, or will we see the NFL coach who has been riding Aaron Rodgers’ coattails for several years now? My optimistic side hopes we see the former, but my realistic side is afraid we might see the latter. Mr. Wizard will have had 2 weeks to prepare the team for the Lions game. He should field a team that should be as healthy as any NFL team could at this juncture of the season. There should be only 1 missing starter in the lineup, including offense, defense and special teams. The one missing starter is surely the most important one, especially for the Packers offense. But the offense should be able to run fairly smoothly after having 2 weeks preparation time. And if the offense tanks and appears to be somewhat incompetent, Mr. Wizard’s seat needs to heat up really fast.
On another note, concerning John’s editorial, let me relate a short story. About 3 or 4 years ago, I sent John in a short little story about me getting the SC personalized license plate that I got back in about 1988 or so.
The tag with PACKERS on it, along with a picture. From that little input came my weekly article Just Sayin’. Aside from a couple of folks who tell me personally, I have no idea if anyone reads or likes the articles I send in. If you have just a few minutes, send something into John if the notion strikes you, I mean about anything. Have you ever been to Green Bay? How about an away Packers game? Have you ever struck up a conversation with a complete stranger because they were wearing PACKERS apparel? Tell us about it. Let’s try to get our club back on the rise… 
Just Sayin’
(Jimmy Smith)


 The Chief’s / GPB Report

Finally get a 1:00 and they still put it on local TV.  Head count was around 45 for Packer Fans but about 70 for the Bill’s Fans.  Time to take our house back.
14 prizes were handed out, here are some of the winners: 501 Louis Depes a License Plate Frame and a Car magnets to 156 Phil Bender & 221 Barb Gambrell, 185 Ken Hill a new wallet, 445 Sharon Dandelske a car flag, sunglasses went to 342 Chris Gossett & 324 Larry Schilz, 113 Russ Larson wanted a new cap and 341 Kathie Gossett took some socks.
Winner of the Trivia contest this week and a $25 gift card for our friends at Chief’s was: 373 Candice Curran.
Only one $1 pool again this week. The four winners were: 501 Louis Depes, 369 Don Dandelske (aka 169), 373 Candice Curran & 106 Packer John.
Let’s give a warm Packer welcome to our newest member to join our little club:
501  Louis Depes
As the Tidbits said, this week is yet another night game, Monday to be exact.  By then we should have our clocks set to the right time.  I know late night is tough on us older folk but I think a lot of us can make it to half time.  That will give you a chance to get in on the pools, enter the Trivia Contest and possibly win some of the new prizes that came to my doorstep this week.  All that plus a chance to 
BLEED GREEN MY FRIENDS!  (P J)

Packer’s     vs.      Lyin’s


I can’t bring myself to hate the Lyins.  They’ve beaten us in years past, but other than the anomaly that was 2015, the Lions hadn’t beaten us at Lambeau since the Bush administration…the George H.W. Bush administration.  He’s the first one, btw.  The year was 1992.  The quarterbacks name was Brett…Favre.  Let’s hope that history doesn’t repeat itself.
The Lions though, don’t generate my hatred, unlike the Viqueens.  They don’t poach our players.  They’ve never made it to a Superbowl, and of course, they had Matt Millen as a GM.  That inspires pity, not ire.
Like I mentioned in my Ain’ts review, the Lions don’t really have a running game.  They went 22 times on the ground and got 71 yards, and that was 3.2 yards average.  The Packers have a running game.  Aaron Jones is bucking for Rookie of the Year and was honored for the second week in a row as the Rookie of the Week, despite a losing effort.  He went 131 yards by himself.  Brett added 44.  Ty added 6.  That’s 181 yards for those of you keeping score at home, and an average of 7.5 yards per carry. 
Unfortunately, they still have Matthew Stafford, the $35 Million Man.  He passed for 423 yards against the Stillers defense.  They have a better defense than we do, and they got toasted.  They have Ben Roethlisberger (17/31, 317 yards), and LeVeon Bell (25 carries, 76 yards).  Stillers won by the way. 
We had a bye week.  Normally, Coach sends the guys off and they scatter to the four winds.  I don’t know how much that happened this past week.  I’m also not sure what the CBA rules are for the bye week.  Hopefully Brett was throwing to Jordy and DaVante and showing tape to Coach Mike at least every other day.  He has to get a rapport with his receivers.  He’s got to learn not to stare down his target.  
So we’ve got Brett Hundley and Aaron Jones.  We also have a little bit of something…wait for it, it’s a surprise!  Aaron Rodgers is back in town!!  Aaron is in town for “recovery and rehab” and I’m sure he’s taking that seriously, but no one sees the field like Aaron.  He also gets to sit in meetings and watch the practices.  He also gets to study film and he and Brett can talk and compare notes while watching.  He’s been with Brett for the past 3 years, he can be that QB coach who knows his back-up like a brother.  That may be the difference. 
Also, it’s Lambeau Field.
John talked about the cheers we used to do.  Loren playing Hot Town when we scored a touchdown, and he’d do the “Go Pack GO!” tune also.  I would urge everyone to let the Spirit of the Green and Gold flow into you.  Years past, when the Packers scored, I used to cheer, “Yes!! FEEL THE POWER OF THE TUNDRA!!”  I will begin that again.  I also used to imitate the Claymaker Dance after a sack.  I will also begin that again. 
I always proudly proclaim my ownership of the Packers.  In my wife, Karen’s opinion, to an almost obnoxious degree.  That’s how proud I am that I own the True America’s Team!!
I urge all of you to come to Chief’s this Monday, and every Game Day.  We are the proud Owners and Fans of the 13-13-13 TIME WORLD CHAMPION GREEN BAY PACKERS!!!  We hold that record, no other team comes close!  We Feel The Power!
It’s Monday night and that means one thing:  It is once again, GAME DAY!!  So…
GET LOUD LAMBEAU!!!     
(Ken Hill)

Random Thoughts

I hated missing 2 games when I was on my trip to Poland.  I was hoping we’d find a sports bar in Warsaw for the Cowboys game (like we did in Dublin several years ago) – but no such luck.  And from what we heard about the game, I am so sorry I missed it.  There’s nothing I like better than a good win over Jerry Jones.
When we landed in Chicago on the evening of the Vikings game, my cousin turned on her phone and had a text waiting for her from her husband with the news of Aaron’s injury. That was horrible news to come home to – along with the loss to the ‘queens!
In my cube at work, I have a Packer calendar (purchased every Dec. 26th at the calendar kiosk at Southridge in Milwaukee for ½ price), a Packer towel, and a stuffed cheese wedge pennant.  Everyone here knows I’m a Packer fan and one guy asked if I’d sent Aaron a get well card. I had to say no, but I’m sending him “healing” thoughts every day!
I’m pretty sure I’ve said this before, but I learned loyalty from my father’s faithfulness to the Packers.  He told me and showed me that if you are a true fan, you never quit on your team – no matter what their win-loss record is. We slogged through the 70s & 80s & early 90s never missing a game. If we went to 12:15 Mass, we knew Father Al would fly though the service without a sermon so we’d be home by kick-off.  When the Pack won Super Bowl XXXI, my Dad was 72 years old. After the game (which we watched together), I asked him if he thought he might die before the Packers won another Super Bowl.  He admitted it had crossed his mind. One funny thing he used to do in the “Cardiac Pack” days was to switch to the AFC game for a few minutes in order to bring down his blood pressure – along with taking a walk around the house!  Alas he did pass away a week before the Packers won the NFC Championship in 2010, but I’m sure he had a great seat for the game.
I’ve been a member of the Greenville Packer Backers since 2009 and always come to the bar for the games (even when they’re on local TV including night games). I love watching with a group of fans, with our cheers and high-fives.  I feel more than being Packer Nation, we’re Packer Family.  In traveling around the country wearing a Packer tee-shirt or hat guarantees a “Go Pack!” from at least one stranger.  It’s like a secret handshake to a special club.
(Barbara Gambrell)