A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
It is a place where I warned few would go if the Packers were to fall at home to the New York Giants, thus going one and done in the playoffs after a 15-1 regular season.
That is, how much of a distraction did the events involving the tragic loss of Offensive Coordinator Joe Philbin’s son play into preparing for the Divisional Playoff?
Update: Thanks to Twitter, this post caught the attention of Gatorade president Sarah Robb O’Hagan (@SarahRobbOh). She enjoyed our rundown of the funniest Gatorade baths ever, and she also sent me the wall mural from Gatorade’s headquarters with some of their favorite Gatorade baths of all-time. It’s very cool. You’ll see it at the end of the post.
The Gatorade bath is a tradition like few others in sports.
After most monumental wins in football – specifically Super Bowls, national championship games, especially important and/or meaningful bowl games, or season-ending victories over hated rivals – such a celebration can be expected. The tradition began with the New York Giants in the mid-1980s and continues into today with no signs of slowing down.
While the sentimental among us enjoy the Gatorade bath because it symbolizes the triumph of a team of men on the field of athletic battle and the ultimate moment of shared jubilation and respect between coach and player, I enjoy Gatorade baths for a far different reason.
During the Christmas edition of Sunday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers methodically dusted off the Chicago Bears 35-21. That shouldn’t have really been that difficult a job to start; as Ian Darke might say on Premier League Soccer, the Bears roster is currently loaded with a collection of ‘Poets, Passers, and Dreamers…’
This weekend I attended my very first professional football game.
I’ve been a fan my whole life, but as any fan of the Green Bay Packers knows, tickets are hard to come by. I came into the tickets through a friend’s uncle, which is the standard connection for getting tickets, I presume.
Whenever I told people last week that I was going to the game, the reaction was almost universally “That’s awesome! Where’d you get the tickets?” Sure you can buy them online, often for the small sum of an arm and a leg, but how fans go about acquiring their tickets is often a story in and of itself.
Charles Woodson was the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy – beating out none other than Peyton Manning to do it. He was picked #4 overall in the 1998 draft. He has been named to seven Pro Bowls, three All Pro First Teams, three All Pro Second Teams, and was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year in 2009.
Yet, despite all of these accomplishments, I’ve always felt that Woodson has been one of the most underrated football players of my lifetime.
Perhaps it is completely illogical and totally contradictory to list such a bevy of accomplishments and then in the next sentence claim that Charles Woodson is underrated. Perhaps. I think it’s more a testament to just how great Charles Woodson is that, at least in the consciousness of fans, as interpreted by me, his consistent greatness has been underappreciated.
Anyway, lauding Charles Woodson for his career achievements was not the original purpose of this post (although perhaps it should be the purpose of a future post…). Rather, the purpose of this post is to highlight a great post-game speech by Woodson on Sunday after the NFC Championship Game.
[With the preseason finally concluding in the NFL, it seems as good a time as any to finish previewing the upcoming season, mainly the division of most importance to me: the NFC North. This week: The Green Bay Packers.
Previous previews: Detroit Lions. Chicago Bears. Minnesota Vikings.]
Way back in January, I remember watching the Wild Card playoff game between the Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers alone in my house. I’m not sure exactly why I was alone, but there I was – just me and a stash of Leinenkugel’s Original beer.
I do not like Leinenkugel’s Original beer. That didn’t matter though after the Packers ended the first quarter with two turnovers, down 17-0. It also didn’t matter after a brief foray into a comeback that the Cardinals quickly shot down, as they went up 31-10 in the third.
No, at those points in the day, Leinie’s was my one and only true friend in this world. It might’ve been the only thing keeping my heart from punching its way out of my chest during the rest of that freaking game.
[Editor's note: I am happy to introduce yet another new writer to you. Kurt Allen is the latest to join the MSF team, and like Griffin Gotta is based in Wisconsin. Any more cheeseheads and we may just have to spin off a new site with coverage of the Packers.
Kurt has a lot of experience creating content online and will be covering a wide range of stories for us in the coming weeks and months. He is also an avid Tweeter and you can follow him here.
Enjoy his first piece below.]
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We now preempt regularly scheduled offseason programming to bring you the latest developments in the saga of Brett the Purple Dinosaur.
Well it sure took long enough.
In another major development a few weeks back, there were unconfirmed reports that Deanna Favre has renewed her membership at a Twin Cities area health club for another year. You could cue the Dragnet music on that, although I’m sure Mrs. Favre could afford to swallow her membership fee for a year if forced to do so.
But if you have spent the last week in a coma, which is probably the only way possible to avoid the Brett Favre newsfeed, really not much has changed.
For the Green Bay Packers and coach (for now) Mike McCarthy, this is starting to feel like one of those star-crossed seasons that teams and coaches have during which things just seem to go wrong at every turn.
A story in yesterday’s Journal-Sentinel provides yet another example, and honestly doesn’t make a damn bit of sense from the Packers’ perspective.
A longtime Packers employee, Mike Wood, was fired by the Packers because McCarthy claimed that Wood told him not to “lay an egg” a couple of days before the epic Packers-Vikings game at Lambeau. Wood claims that he said nothing of the sort and merely told the coach to have the team ready to “kick some butt.”
I wonder why the hell it even matters, especially in relation to the employment of a loyal, 22-year employee.
Of course, this is the same coach who famously pushed for another longtime Packers employee to leave…but I digress.
As I sat in the Edward Jones Dome Sunday afternoon and watched the Green Bay Packers beat the hapless St. Louis Rams, I couldn’t stop a wandering eye from glancing up at the far side of the building.
There on the ring of honor, beside Rams greats like Marshall Faulk and Merlin Olsen, and other St. Louis football icons like Dan Dierdorf, were digital displays providing scores and stats from around the league.
Packers fans delighted in seeing the Minnesota Vikings trailing San Francisco late at home. Former Packers quarterback Brett Favre was having a yeoman’s day, completing 50 percent of his passes for a pedestrian 221 yards.
At the same time inside the Edward Jones Dome, new Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers was hitting big plays to Donald Driver and Greg Jennings, and leading the Packers to a 36-17 win.
Rodgers had a sparkling passer rating of 126.9 by virtue of his 13-for-23 day with 269 passing yards and touchdown tosses to Driver and fullback John Kuhn. Rodgers also ran for a score, and picked up another 38 yards with his legs.
What the thousands of Packers fans in St. Louis were unable to see was the switch in Favre’s head they had grown so accustomed to seeing for 16 seasons get flipped.
Something happened in Green Bay that has seriously destroyed the unity among the Packers players. It was evident Sunday in Jacksonville when the Packers added to the string of disappointment that has been the 2008 season. It became more than evident in Sunday’s loss to Jacksonville when players could be seen screaming at each other when they managed to screw up coverages, routes, formations, and another fourth quarter.
The first implosion I witnessed on Sunday came when the Packers had the chance to put a stranglehold on the game with a third and goal at the Jags’ 5 late in the 2nd quarter. And yet somehow, during a Jags timeout, the offense failed to relay to their tight end what play they were about to run. The ensuing disaster led to a sideline meltdown involving Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy and rookie Tight End Jermichael Finley and a chip shot field goal in lieu of a touchdown. It would prove to be a costly error in yet another close loss.
At the start of the second half, the wheels started to come off, this time on the defensive side of the ball. The Jags lined up on their second play from scrimmage, and the Packer defense left a wide open weak-side slot receiver. In the ensuing confusion, David Garrard managed to connect on a 35-yard completion, leaving the Green Bay defense only one option. Scream at each other.
Unfortunately, yelling at each other seemed to be the only answer the players could come up with on Sunday. The whole demeanor of the team seemed to say “This is not MY fault, this is YOUR fault.†It was such a heart wrenching sight to see, since the reality is, they should be saying “this is OUR fault.â€
Forget the lousy defense, forget Aaron Rodgers, forget the lack of short yardage grit, and forget the inability to close out games. This team stinks because they are not a team. At least, they don’t play like one and they sure as hell do not act like one. Come on fellas, this is December! This is when teams that have as much talent as you do are supposed to come together and get wins. Or at the very least, come together after your losses, find ways to mend, and learn HOW to win. At least that’s what the good ones are supposed to, and the last four weeks have more than exemplified that this team has no business calling itself good because they seem to have no idea how to win games.
Some people might say the residual effect of the Brett Favre drama is rearing its ugly head, but I would hate to believe that summer drama would manifest itself in November and December. This team had time to shake that debacle off, and move on. What they face now seems like an inner turmoil that has managed to break the team fr
om the inside like water frozen inside of a rock.
So what’s the cause and how can we fix it? Perhaps the close losses have begun to haunt the locker room and maybe all the finger pointing has reached its boiling point. Maybe the coaching staff isn’t doing it’s job or maybe injuries have stalled the team this year. While these are all contributing factors to the mediocrity, heck downright lousiness, of the 2008 season, the real cause of the Packers’ problems is a lack of leadership.
My only hope is that this was the high water mark for the Packers’ frustrations and what follows can be a turning point for the young Packers. As I recall, in 2006 the Packers started winning again after a 4-8 start led to a very similar spat of inner turmoil. We all knew who the leader was who pulled them out of that disaster but he can’t help us anymore. So, the only thing we can ask ourselves is who will it be now? Who can bring this talented young team together and get them back into the win column? I think we all know who it should be, but is #12 ready for it?
Well I guess that I was wrong, yet again. Green Bay lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars by 4 points on Sunday, their 6th loss by 4 points or less this season, ending all hopes of a playoff appearance. Green Bay needed to win out, which means they had to win their last 3 games, and Minnesota had to lose out their last 3. We needed a lot of help for the playoffs, but ultimately we screwed ourselves over.
Jacksonville started strong. They scored on their opening drive with a 30 yard touchdown pass to Dennis Northcut. Maurice Jones-Drew ran well on the dive and David Garrard, the Jags’ quarterback, looked comfortable in the pocket and was virtually under no pressure from the Green Bay defense.
The Packers’ first possession got off to a dismal start. However, Ryan Grant ran the ball well and James Jones had a huge reception, the first of the game for the Packers. In spite of Green Bay’s impressive red zone statistics, they were stopped and had to settle for a field goal attempt by Mason Crosby, which was good from 22 yards out.
Mike McCarthy, a coach who doesn’t use the challenge flag all that often, challenged a completed pass made by Jacksonville in the second quarter. The call was overturned, which set up a Jacksonville field goal attempt. The ball was 51 yards out, but hit the left upright and bounced back into the center of the field. Jacksonville
was still on top, 7-3.
Because of the missed field goal, Green Bay took over on downs. A personal foul (roughing the passer) against Clint Ingram of Jacksonville and good running by Grant put Green Bay in good field position. On this drive Ryan Grant had his first 1,000 yard rushing season. Aaron Rodgers connected with James Jones to put the Pack on top, 10-7.
Green Bay went into the locker room after the first half with a 13-7 lead.
The third quarter of the game was virtually defunct. Both teams handled the ball poorly and as a result, neither side scored. There was a positive for Green Bay, however. Their defensive line had not been doing so hot for most of the season, but during the third quarter, they were able to put pressure on Garrard.
The fourth quarter is where the Green Bay collapse finally happened. The Jags started out the quarter by stopping the Packers’ fourth down attempt. On Jacksonville’s subsequent drive, after taking over with good field position, Jones-Drew scored a touchdown, putting them on top of Green Bay, 14-13. The score was set up by a fourth down conversion by Garrard.
Green Bay answered by putting up 3 points late in the fourth. The Packers were unable march down the field with as much authority as they had earlier in the game. A few dropped passes and a sack of Rodgers made a try for 7 impossible for Green Bay. Crosby’s kick put the Packers up, 16-14.
Jones-Drew scored his third touchdown of the season just inside the two-minute warning. This fortuitous event was set up by a 40 yard pass to Northcut and aggressive running by Jones-Drew. The Jacksonville offense came alive in the fourth quarter and the Green Bay defense seemed to take a nap.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Aaron Rodgers has no two-minute drill poise. Sure, this loss was not entirely his fault, but he didn’t help. Driver and Jones both made good catches to keep the drive alive. However, Rodgers put a pass too high, and it was intercepted with only 40 seconds left in the game. The booth reviewed the call, but anyone with eyes could see that it was a spectacular interception of a poorly-thrown ball.
Jacksonville took their victory knee, sealing the Packers’ fate. There will be no appearance in the playoffs for the Packers. This game was as much of a disappointment as many others had been this season. However, some good things happened. It was the first time in a while that I had seen the entire team come together. The offense played with passion even though they could not translate that energy into points and the defense even found it in themselves to stop the run some of the time and put pressure on Garrard.
But I can’t help but die a little inside after watching so much promise vanish in the final 15 minutes. Even though Green Bay is first in the NFL in scoring fourth quarter points, past success could not inspire victory. Maybe I should ask Santa to give the Packers some fourth quarter courage. With the outcome of Sunday’s game, it really looks like they need it.
by Ryan Russell
After watching the latest press conference with Green Bay Packers head coach, Mike McCarthy, I have concluded that Brett Farve is, in fact, a gigantic tool (as many of the more intelligent NFL analysts have suggested).
Perhaps it’s because I have always thought that Brett Favre was vastly overrated, but I agree with both the decisions made & positions taken by McCarthy, Murphy, and the Packers organization in light of the drama that has unfolded.
Figuring out who the “asshole” is in this situation depends solely on what you believe. Did Favre decide to retire only to change his mind a few months later, or did he plan this entire clusterf#$k from the beginning? If you believe the latter, that his “retirement” press conference was a tear-soaked hoax designed to either relieve him of any offseason duties or simply to gather as much as much attention as humanly possible, then you must agree that Brett is the asshole.
