I was in the stands for the 08 NFC Championship at Lambeau--(with great seats on the 40 yardline 14 rows up.) so I feel it necessary to vent, but vent using emperical data, over this debacle...

FIRST, THE BIG PERSPECTIVE:  This was a GOLDEN opportunity to re-establish the Lambeau field mystique.  Long suffering during the Mike Sherman era, where we continued to lose in the play-offs at home, this game could have made other teams dread the very thought of coming to Lambeau in January.  (The Seattle Game the previous week was fun to watch, but in my opinion everyone thought we would have to go to Dallas anyhow.)  So when the NFC Championship was dropped in our lap, the entire town and team got wayyyy ahead of ourselves/themselves.  The very fact that the Giants beat us at home, in temperatures that dire, breathed life into other teams' thoughts of beating the packers at Lambeau in the future.

SECOND, THE GAME ITSELF: Our horrendous gameplan reminded me of the Dallas Game where we came out and somehow got away from what we did well and started chucking the ball deep.  I didn't even realize until after the game that Ryan Grant only ran the ball 5 times in the 2nd half (including overtime!)  One would have thought that if we could not run the ball effectively we would go back to our bread and butter--the quick slant.  That never happened either.  Al Harris continues to basically not show up in the biggest games (he was also nowhere to be found in the Dallas game this year as well).  Now, considering the fact that we could not get pressure on Eli Manning with our front 4, I understand how a cornerback can give up chunks here and there...if you put a bad cornerback (let alone a pro bowl cornerback) out on an island having to cover a receiver who is 6 inches taller than them, you will give up plays.  But, I did not see one pass defended by him that night--Buress basically caught every ball and was tackled right away.  I may be the first person to say this, but we need a new, young and TALL shut down corner on our team.  Al Harris is getting old and the new breed of tall and physical receivers is going to make Harris look silly for the rest of his career.  You simply cannot give 6 inches in height when a corner is covering a receiver--this is that Randy Moss syndrome.  People marvel at Moss' ability to continually get open--but more often than not the DB covering him is way to short to begin with.  All you have to do is time a pass with a lot of air underneath it and allow a tall receiver to snag it out of the air.

THE COACHING: Mike McCarthy is a good coach I believe, but he flat out got out-coached in this one.  In his post-game press conference he blamed the execution, not the scheme on the end result.  That is a gentle euphamism for "I screwed up, but the players were the ones out there playing so I blame them".  Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it--again, he obviously didn't learn much from the Dallas Game.  It continues to amaze me that NFL coaches cannot and do not adjust properly at halftime.  Not having the talent to adjust accordingly is one thing, but having the talent and not adjusting is another thing entirely...in this case we had the latter--talented players.

FAVRE: All things considered, Favre did ok.  His interception in overtime has not been criticized enough by anyone--for this reason:  Favre is a 17 year veteran who is essentially a coach on the field.  He has played in the same offensive system his entire career in GB, and there is probably not one defensive scheme he has not run into.  With that said, his overall vision of the field during the Giants game was terrible--with the microcosym being the interception in overtime.  Ryan Grant was WIDE open on that play with no one near him within 15 yards--the fact that Favre did not see that in an NFC championship game, in overtime, deep in his own territory, is very disheartening.  Even if he didn't put the ball in the spot that he wanted when he threw to Driver, the decision to throw that pass at that time was simply unexcusable in my mind.

I think Favre will come back for another year.  At this point I am indifferent to the whole retirement media circus with him.  If he decides to retire we won't be good for a while--people who think Aaron Rodgers can simply step in and take over are delirious.   Each time Rodgers has shown flashes of brilliance he gets hurt during the following week (unless the injury reports are just media posturing and the organization doesn't want to risk a nagging injury with him)--correct me if I'm wrong, but you need to play in order to prove your worth in the NFL(?)

WHAT'S NEXT?  Kgb should be out the door...he shows flashes of brillance too, but 1 out 10 is 10% which is a pretty bad percentage when it comes to actually showing results.  Cullen Jenkins is solid, but just imagine what another powerful defensive end opposite Aaron Kampman would do to our defense!  Safety is a question mark too--I like Atari Bigby-alot.  He is a hitter, which is what we need, but too often he over pursues and misses tackles completely and he is a liability in pass coverage.  Nick Collins is average--but average in the nfl means you should be on the scout team.  I am really nervous about our Corners--Woodson is a gamer who plays through injuries, but that is going to catch up to him.  Al Harris is a physical, tough corner but continually becomes a no show in big games.  He will be 35 next year (or 36?) which is ancient in the NFL, just ask Brett Favre :)