The Divisional Playoff Weekend
by Brandon on Jan 15, 2010 10:00 AM CST
in Green Bay Packers Analysis
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PrintI've almost woken up from my Green Bay Packer playoff loss induced sports coma. I hadn't watched ESPN or any other sports all week, until tonight when I finally watched a couple NBA games. I still don't feel up to watching any football, but I'm sure I'll be tempted to watch parts of this weekend's games.
First up is Arizona at New Orleans. Here's the SB Nation blog break down. I don't think I'll have the stomach to watch the Cardinals at all. But I don't expect they'll win either. The Cardinals had a minus 7 turnover margin during the regular season, while the Saints were plus 11. Neither defense has been great recently, but the Saints have the home field advantage and the Cardinals don't have the advantage of playing against the exact same defensive scheme they had seen one week earlier like the stupid Packers ran out against them. Saints win.
Then it's Baltimore at Indianapolis, and the SB Nation blog break down. This has the makings of a shoot out, but the Ravens are only bringing QB Joe Flacco to this fight and he's "hot" off his 4 for 10, 34 yards, and 1 INT performance last week in Foxboro. Unless the Colts repeat the Patriots game plan of throwing in the towel early, 3 turnovers in their first 4 possessions, I don't see how the Ravens can keep up. Colts win.
Dallas at Minnesota. The SB Nation blog break down. Though Madden 10 predicts a 24-20 Cowboys victory, I'm expecting the Vikings to win. They've beaten everyone they've faced in the Mall of America dome this season, and their offense has looked unstoppable at times when on their home turf. That said: I really like how the Cowboys have played down the stretch with few turnovers and great defense, so I wouldn't be surprised if they won either. Still, Vikings win.
NY Jets at San Diego. The SB Nation blog break down. Arguably the best pass offense against the pass defense, though I expect the matchup will find someway to disappoint. The Chargers will have to force some turnovers, QB Mark Sanchez didn't turn the ball over at all last week, to give their offense a short field to work with. Also, the Chargers were 6th best this season with a plus 8 turnover margin, and they've been good in the playoffs in recent years. Chargers win.
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Yeah, nothing takes the sting of that loss away, and I haven’t watched much sports stuff either. Even hoping the Vikings lose involves cheering for the Cowboys. ugh
I keep thinking stuff like “WHY did Rodgers overthrow Jennings in OT!?!” But, then again, why did Rackers crap the bed? We spotted them a lead, and didn’t settle down quick enough to get it back. The team has (I certainly hope) learned their lesson now. It may not seem worth it yet, but hopefully it will next year when the team adds focus to talent before big games. They’ve come out weird too many times. They’ve GOT to learn to play within themselves.
…and Capers has to learn that maybe the same game-plan two weeks in a row might NOT be the best idea after all. I mean, did they really think it was going to be that easy? Okay, okay… deep breaths…
I'm glad I'll be far away from any TV this weekend
because trying to figure out who to root for in Vikings-Cowboys would make my head explode. On a normal weekend, whoever is playing against the Cowboys is my second-favorite team, but I just can’t cheer for Favre in purple.
The best I’ve come up with is to hope that the Vikings win without (injury/illness) or despite (even more interceptions than usual) Favre.
silver lining?
I’ve heard that, after the final fumble return TD that ended the game, Mike McCarthy sank to his knees. It was good to hear that it stung him. This reminds me of a Vince Lombardi story I heard. In 1960, after a surprising and painful loss to Philadelphia in the playoffs, he went back to the locker room, looked around at all the dejected and heartbroken players, and said (I’m paraphrasing) “hurts, doesn’t it?” And he let that sink in for a second and then simply said, “Let’s make sure this NEVER happens to us again.”
Y’know, the whole “we’ll chase perfection and let greatness take care of itself” ethic doesn’t arise on a team through some sort of noble beatific vision. It arises because players and coaches have learned to hate and fear losing through painful experience.
The Packers had no right to expect a win in that game given how poorly they played early, but let’s just hope they learned their lesson. Did anyone else notice the graphic saying that Favre won his first playoff game, whereas Starr lost his first one? Could there be a connection there explaining why Favre only won 1 title, whereas Starr made a habit of it? I don’t know, but… here’s hopin’.
by Curly Lambeau on Jan 15, 2010 1:56 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
You can watch it here
http://www.nfl.com/videos/nfl-playoffs/09000d5d815b0e51/Wild-Card-weekend-Sounds-of-the-Game
Hey hey I got an idea. Lets play "I Never." You got to drink if you did the thing that the person says they never did...
How can I put this delicately?
Y’all are a bunch of whiners.
Some other, much worse (IMO) playoff losses:
- January 9, 2005: Got smoked by the Vikings (!!!) at Lambeau 31-17
- January 4, 2004: Lost to the Eagles because the defense couldn’t stop the Eagles on 4th and 26
- January 4, 2003: Got smoked by the Falcons at Lambeau 27-7. The Packers first home playoff loss, ever.
- January 20, 2002: Got smoked by the Rams 45-17 in an ugly, ugly game
The “4th and 26” game was the only one of those I could bear to watch past the first quarter. I watched Sunday’s game all the way through. For some reason, even when they were down by 21 points, I never felt like the Packers were out of the game.
Depends on how you measure the losses
1-9-05: Was midflight (ironically, to Green Bay) during the game, only say the last 3 minutes of the game, so this one didn’t mean much to me other than going to a very sullen Curly’s Pub the following day.
1-4-04: The 4th and 26, and ensuing Favre “throw the ball up and hope one of our receivers nabs it” pick, occurred at the end of the game, so the pain was about the same for me as the Cards game.
1-4-03: I watched this one with the same attitude that I watched the Cards game. We could chip away and come back, but slowly it became clear that we wouldn’t be able to. This one didn’t hurt as much because it was more gradual.
1-20-02: In college, and my roommate was a Rams fan. I left the dorm and went for a drive at some point in the 3rd quarter. But the writing was on the wall when the Packers couldn’t hold on to the ball to start the game and I knew something bad was going to happen. Again, a terrible performance by everyone (including cough BF cough), but again, it was more gradual. The halftime score was the same as the Cards game.
In fact, the more I look at it and remember, this game is pretty much THE analog for the Cards game, but instead of the offense coming out and saying “We have to win this game” in the second half, everyone just kind of surrenders.
Most of the people were traumatized simply because we were in it to the end, and in about 3 seconds we weren’t in it. No 40 yard drive for a figgie or anything, a 3 second fumble recover and run for 6 yards. It’s the difference between a girl/guy dumping you on the spot vs. slowly cutting the cord over the course of a few weeks. Both suck in their own way.
Time
I’d agree with those first 3 games. I expected to win all of them, and the 4th and 26 was worst (but it wasn’t the actual end of the game either so it was somewhat different at the time). But time has taken most of the sting out of those losses, as it will to the Arizona loss.
I never had any expectations of winning in 2002 against the Greatest Show on Turf. They were a juggernaut and I was just glad to see the Packers get over the Ray Rhodes error era and win one playoff game.
Don't forget
That Sherman went for it on 4th and goal early in the game and got stuffed-coming away with no points…a field goal would have been huge later in the game because it would have forced the Iggles to score a TD. And late in the 4th Favre tucked it and ran some sort of naked bootleg to the right on 3rd and 3 (I think, but my memory sucks) got stopped short and Sherman punted from the Philly 35 on 4th and 1 (I think it was the 35, but my memory still sucks)….if they had converted and made a 1st down the game was OVER.
Hey hey I got an idea. Lets play "I Never." You got to drink if you did the thing that the person says they never did...
I have to say..
Sherman’s decision to punt the ball was probably the most assenine call of that game. we started that drive from our own 20, and mr 1800+yards Ahman Green and our Offenisve line were absolutely blowing the Eagles off the ball. They were dead. They would not have stopped us on 4th and 1. But oh well.
ANd Supposedly our offensive linemen were mighty pissed that Sherman didn’t go for it.
Ah.
You can call it whining, I say it's theraputic for us to vent our spleens...
It’s sucks when you lose because of a referees incompetence, not understanding the frickin rules, indecisiveness or just being crooked…and if you don’t think a few of the NFL refs have a Coke problem, owe money and have “worked” it off-you’re very naive….
Hey hey I got an idea. Lets play "I Never." You got to drink if you did the thing that the person says they never did...
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