How Will The Packers Play The Cardinals?
by Brandon on Dec 29, 2009 10:00 AM CST
in Green Bay Packers News
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PrintIn non-Packer related news, the Wisconsin Badgers are playing in the Champs Bowl tonight on ESPN for those alums (such as myself) who are interested. Bucky's 5th Quarter has done a great series of breakdowns leading up to the game.
Mike McCarthy handed out game balls and CB Jarrett Bush didn't get one for grabbing his first career INT (on QB Matt Hasselbeck's "37th interception of the day"):
With Brandon Jackson's performance Sunday, would you like to see him get more touches?
Brandon Jackson played very well yesterday. He played exceptional also in the Pittsburgh game. As far as opportunities, we feel we're fortunate with our whole perimeter group. You just spread the ball around and you like to see guys like Brandon when they get the opportunity take advantage of it. Brandon is going to receive the game ball on offense this week, so I was excited with his performance.
Who got the other game balls?
Atari Bigby, Spencer Havner on special teams, Jarius Wynn also got the 'Big Hit' award on special teams, and I think Johnny Jolly.
A fantastic catch by Greg Bedard on the Packers' game plan against the Cardinals. McCarthy has been evasive in his last couple press conferences about whether the starters will play. He tracked down McCarthy's comments before the week 17 game in 2007, and compared them to the actual lineup that played:
The pertinent question is, will either team show their whole game plan in the finale? Of course not. It's just McCarthy won't admit that because he thinks it somehow compromise a competitive advantage.
This is the same guy who said going into the 2007 meaningless season finale against the Detroit Lions:
As far as our plan for Detroit, we're going to play to win the game. We will start the football game just like we have every single week up until now. Now, how it will unfold during the course of the game, that has not been decided yet.
What happened? Seven starters were inactive: Charles Woodson, Korey Hall, Aaron Kampman, Ryan Pickett, Donald Driver, Greg Jennings and Donald Lee. Brett Favre played one quarter and two plays until Packers had a 21-3 lead.
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for those of you who wanted to see
your Flynn to Williams highlight reel, my guess is we’ll get to see it.
Then again, if the Vikes lose the early game and Arizona decides they still have something to play for, do we respond? Or let them show us their A game while Rodgers, Woodson, and co. get a day off?
The time for reckoning has come, and we already have the answer
If the Vikings win their 1 PM game as widely expected...
…our playoff matchup in Arizona becomes a certainty, regardless of the outcome of our game or Eagles-Cowboys. Should the Vikings lose, we will certainly play to win in Arizona as only a win will guarantee a playoff matchup in Arizona. The better scenario is Vikings win their game, so we don’t have to play our starters.
The playoff game in Arizona has several advantages: first, the Cards IMO are the weakest of the trio (Cowboys, Vikings, Cards), and second, GB doesn’t have to travel. I am assuming we will stay there the whole week and not travel back and forth if we play Arizona in the first round.
by Rodgers_for_MVP on Dec 29, 2009 11:32 AM CST reply actions
I read somewhere yesterday that MM has already stated
he didn’t intend on having the team stay in AZ for the week should we play the Cards back to back.
by River Fenix on Dec 29, 2009 11:51 AM CST up reply actions
would that be wise?
I know it’s only a few hours of flight but why? They will have less time to practice…
by Rodgers_for_MVP on Dec 29, 2009 12:10 PM CST up reply actions
why change the team's routine
in the first week of the playoffs?
by CheezeconQueso on Dec 29, 2009 7:37 PM CST up reply actions
cards may be the weakest of the trio, but they are NOT who I want to play.
Their depth at wide receiver and our surplus of inadequate corner backs scares me to death.
The time for reckoning has come, and we already have the answer
would you rather play....
in Dallas against one of the hottest teams right now or in Minnesota who has already beaten you twice? It’s pick your poison but I think we match up better with the Cards
by Rodgers_for_MVP on Dec 29, 2009 12:15 PM CST up reply actions
I concede the point.
Luckily somewhere people are saying the same things about the pack.
The time for reckoning has come, and we already have the answer
for sure…lol…I wouldn’t wanna play us the way we’re playing…knock knock
I’m expecting great things…the NFC suddenly don’t look as scary as it did a month ago
by Rodgers_for_MVP on Dec 29, 2009 12:23 PM CST up reply actions
Truthfully
I want Minnesota. It’s tough to beat a team three times in a season (ask the 2004-2005 Packers), Minnesota is struggling on deep throws, pass protection, and deep covers – I think we can take advantage of those weaknesses to mask one of our own (deep covers) and exploit the others to great advantage.
Bring on the Vikings, I say. Of course, the only way that happens is:
Eagles W, Vikings L, Cardinals W, Cowboys L, Packers L
Hat tip: Bush League All Star
"Who ever heard of the Cubs losing a game they had to have?" -Frank Chance
"If [Ruth] had [called his shot], I would have knocked him down with the next pitch." -Charlie Root
No problem. :)
Looking to buy: General Manager Deputy Badge
by Bush League All Star on Dec 29, 2009 7:46 PM CST up reply actions
Be careful what you wish for...
I too want to play Minny, but not THAT bad. Yes, their secondary has been exposed, but let’s not act like our secondary is the be all to end all. Not sure if you saw the second half of last night’s game when Chilly let Favre remove the fledgling testicles he grew in the first half.
How many of those passes were over 20 yards in the air?
Cutler’s game-winner outstripped anything Favre threw in the second half by far. The Pack doesn’t play a whole lot of Cover-2 – we like our receivers up close, personal, and preferably reeling from a shot at the LOS.
"Who ever heard of the Cubs losing a game they had to have?" -Frank Chance
"If [Ruth] had [called his shot], I would have knocked him down with the next pitch." -Charlie Root
Yeah
Where Favre hurt us in our two earlier matchups was on some more intermediate throws. If we can actually get a pass rush against him it will make things more difficult. To be completely honest our secondary didn’t play that bad in either of the first two games. We just could not get any pressure on Favre and he was able to sit back there for 5+ seconds and wait for something to open up.
by packallday555 on Dec 31, 2009 7:29 PM CST up reply actions
How do they not scare you...
I keep having nightmares of Jarrett Bush having to cover one of their receivers and getting burned all day. I’m not saying I don’t think we can beat them, but I am at least a little scared with the current state of our secondary. Looking good against Hasselback and the pathetic Seahawks is one thing, but doing it against a talented team like the Cardinals is another. We really haven’t beat any good quarterbacks yet except for Romo…
by tmoneyttime1 on Dec 29, 2009 6:12 PM CST up reply actions
Probably because they have looked pretty mediocore as of late. Of course they should scare people to a degree. How couldn’t they with Fitz and Boldin? Their o-line has been shaky though, and so has their defense (the Lions just put up 21 on them). The one time I DO NOT want to play round 1 is the Eagles and I’m pretty sure that can’t happen. Right?
by packallday555 on Dec 29, 2009 8:42 PM CST up reply actions
Right
Whatever team we play in the playoffs is going to have a good passing attack. The Cardinals passing attack is probably most dangerous when they click, but things haven’t been clicking on them and when you can get pressure on Warner (which I think we can do. Especially with their starting LT out.) things don’t always look so good for them. Their defense has also been iffy as of late and obviously that bodes well for us.
by packallday555 on Dec 29, 2009 1:44 PM CST up reply actions
Completely agree
now excuse me while I go knock on every inch of wood I can find in my friend’s house.
The time for reckoning has come, and we already have the answer
Regardless...
I’d like to see the Pack give some more play time to Brandon Jackson and Ahman Green. They looked good against Seattle, but some more pratice against a team whose more than likely going to be their first round opponent would be great. Especially since the Cards run defense is pretty good.
As for possible opponents, I think the Cards are the scariest of the bunch, actually. Let’s not forget no one expected them to do much last year. These guys can play clutch. The Eagles have young receivers who might not hold up under this kind of intensity and Dallas has shown that their run game can be shut down and good as Miles Austin is, I see him more as a Wes Welker type who can give the team a huge boost but isn’t a close-out receiver.
"Show me a good loser, and I'll show you a loser." - Vince Lombardi
To be completely honest,
I think the Packers are a safe pick to move onto the second round no matter who they play. I’m not sold on any of these teams anymore. I thought I could put some stock in the Saints and Vikings but they have proved me wrong.
Green and Gold / Black and White
True
Really every team we could possibly play has their weaknesses, and I think we can beat any team we would possibly play too. I think the team I least want to play is Dallas because their offense has been clicking and there defense continues to look better and better with Ware and Spencer coming off the edges. Their also probably the most balanced offense of any of the teams we could play, which makes things more difficult.
Regardless though, everybody has to be able to beat everybody if they want to make a run.
by packallday555 on Dec 29, 2009 2:28 PM CST up reply actions
Haha nice
I won one of my leagues and lost in the championship in the other. Unfortunately, I won the league that I’ll only get $80 in, and lost the one that I would have won $200 in. The Packers scoring 5 rushing TDs really killed me. I had Rodgers, Driver, and Finley in one league and they only got like 25 points for me. Plus the kid I played in the championship scored 140 points, which was the high on the year. Just my luck haha.
by packallday555 on Dec 29, 2009 3:57 PM CST up reply actions
A couple of things
I got out of watching the press conference ( IMO). MM already stated that they will NOT be spending 2 weeks in AZ if that senario happens. Then he went on about how keeping the same routine with the players is important and capers echoed it da da da, da da da. Then he went on to say that the 2007 senario was completly different. I’m thinking if they get a good lead then they pull some starters. BUT, because we use the 3-4 and have injuries in the secondary we basicly have to play everyone in the secondary anyway since we are already utilizing all the back-ups—-there are no back-ups behind the back-ups on the roster (LOL that as a mouthful) The LB’s and DL rotates and has rotated all season for different packages so I don’t see how pulling anyone or shifting anyone changes any more than what they have been doing all season. Here are a few more tidbits:
Larry Fitzgerald has 94 receptions for 1075 yards
Greg Jennings has 65 receptions for 1084 yards
Anquan Boldin has 81 receptions for 986 yards
Driver has 64 receptions for 996 yards
Steve Breaston has 52 receptions 696 yards
Jermichael Finley has 51 for 642 yards
By the top three receivers things would look pretty even….. However. 1) I like our QB better right now he is 4th in the league and Warner is 12th and we all know what his clutch 3rd down percentage is(Rodgers #1)
2) Yes, I like our pass defense better… we are 10th and the cards are 22nd. I will take Woodson over Dominique anyday (even with bush we are 10th LOL) 3) I like our total defense better we are 2nd and AZ is 20th.
All I can say is I have been hearing this and that about AZ receivers and how we should be worried. What about our guys? I like our chances.period. And after seeing Minnisota fall to da bears and the saints falling to the tampons - to put icing on the cake. even philly as good as they look got smoked by the raiders—- the raiders LOL. I guess I am optomistic and the playoffs have given me a fever but ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Go Pack
Nice to see you so optimistic Turd.
The game has the makings of being a total shootout, especially since its in a warm climate (AZ). I Think our running game is really clicking right now which might be the thing that makes the difference. AZ has been looking better as a running team but they’ve played some pretty cake rush D’s. I like our chances.
We definitely have a shot. We’re probably the 2nd or 3rd hottest team going in, and there will be no dominant teams that’ll we have to worry about facing. Our offense is just as explosive as the next one, and even though we struggle against good passing teams, we can always hope for a TO or two.
by packallday555 on Dec 29, 2009 4:05 PM CST up reply actions
That's pretty good
To quote Bill Belichick “stats are for losers”. You will need to forget about the stats when the “fun” begins. Fitz, Boldin and Breaston are more complete WR’s than the GB corps and this accounts greatly for the “lesser” stat lines of Cards WR’s. Different schemes and a different play caller (McCarthy is one of the better play callers). Looking forward to the game.
HUH? McCarthy is one of the better play callers? Really…I think a few people in here might take that up with you! haha
Haha
I was just about to say something about that. MM is actually a really poor play caller. Our WR corps is not at the same level as the Cardinals but I think we’re right up there. Probably the 2nd best with the emergence of Finley.
by packallday555 on Dec 29, 2009 8:43 PM CST up reply actions
Yeah our guys are very good but I would take Fitz or Boldin over either of our top two guys to be honest and I love Jennings and Driver. Finley should be quite the x factor for us though!!
It was a tongue in cheek statement
McCarthy is a good play caller when the protection is their for Rodgers. Lol. The same thing can be said for us as Whisenhunt leaves our average OT’s on the island alone way too much for my taste in the passing game.
How to play it
I think it has been proven time and time again to play every game the same no matter what the situation. Prepare for the game at hand and then what ever happens after that happens and you take it from there.
packer wannabe http://maxsportsplus.com
Cool for Matthews :)
Looking to buy: General Manager Deputy Badge
by Bush League All Star on Dec 29, 2009 7:49 PM CST up reply actions
The Pro Bowl is before the Super Bowl...
meaning we hope that the Packers players are not playing in the Pro Bowl. :)
Looking to buy: General Manager Deputy Badge
by Bush League All Star on Dec 29, 2009 8:29 PM CST reply actions
Preseason
Packers should play this like a preseason game. They have nothing to gain. Who cares about a 5 seed vs a 6 seed(Very unlikely that turns into a home game in the NFC Championship anyways)?
Let the Cardinals win while expending some energy on your scrubs, get the extra rest yourself.
Hopefully the Vikings lose and miss out on the first round bye. I would also love to play them in the first round. I think we would beat them this time around as the D and O-Line is much improved.
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