Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings.
It looks like the wind is picking up at Lambeau and…….wait a minute! Kyle Cousineau just appeared on ESPN. That was cool.
Minnesotans are surprisingly optimistic about their team’s chances against the Packers tonight. Christian Ponder has given this fanbase some hope and the Vikings have shown signs of life since the rookie from Florida State took over as the starter. We’re about to find out if that optimism is warranted.
No surprises on the Packers inactive list: CB Davon House, LB Jamari Lattimore, LB Robert Francois, LB Frank Zombo, OL Ray Dominguez, LT Chad Clifton, DE Mike Neal.
First half:
Packers win the toss, defer to the second half, and force the Vikings to go three-and-out. This is just what the defense needed.
Who needs the NBA when you have Randall Cobb taking a punt to the house, then shooting a jump shot toward the referee. Cobb is becoming the Packers version of Percy Harvin.
So far Matthews has lined up only on his usual left side. It won’t matter much where he lines up if the Vikings keep trying to block him with Toby Gerhart.
Vikings punt again and we go to commercial with Megadeth playing in the background. Props to Monday Night Football for playing some metal this season. I’ve also heard Pantera and Lamb of God in previous games.
Asher Allen is wondering how Driver — a guy twice his age — just out-jumped him on that 3rd-down conversion.
Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings and the Packers lead 14-0. Now lets see if they can put a team away.
Wow. Nice throw by Ponder to Visanthe Shiance for 31 yards. Ponder stepped up in the pocket after Matthews went unblocked.
Rookie QBs are no match for Charles Woodson. He almost intercepts Ponder on 3rd down. Then the Vikings move early, erasing a Ryan Longwell field goal. Longwell misses the 52-yarder. Vikings fans hurl objects at their TVs.
Jared Allen sacks Rodgers and does his silly celebration. I’m all for keeping your emotions high regardless of the score, but wouldn’t celebrating with your teammates be more appropriate when you’re down 14-0 and getting dominated?
Woodson really strgggling to tackle so far tonight.
Williams gets a pick on a flea flicker, but the Packers offense again fails to deliver an early dagger. Rodgers needs to find his checkdown and quit taking so many hits. He checked down to Starks on a third-down play on the Packers’ first drive, but hasn’t looked to his checkdown since.
Percy Harvin might as well put on a Packers jersey on tonight.
Starks picks up a first down on 3rd and 10 from the Packers 2-yard line. Now lets see McCarthy and Rodgers work a two-minute drill.
The offensive line goes in the tank and the Packers aren’t able to deliver the knockout blow in the first half. Green Bay leads 17-0 at the half.
Second half:
Jordy Nelson abuses Cedric Griffin and the Packers go up 24-0 to start the second half. Nelson was Junior Dos Santos and Griffin was Cain Velasquez on that play.
Cobb muffs a punt, setting up an easy score for the Vikings. Actually it was too easy. BJ Raji and Ryan Pickett got destroyed on Peterson’s TD run. Packers lead 24-7.
Cobb with a nice return on the ensuing kickoff. I’ll sound like a homer here, but compare Cobb’s reaction after his big return to Allen’s reaction after his first-half sack. Cobb wasn’t about to call attention to himself after his fumble. Allen had no problem calling attention to himself even though his team was getting rolled.
The Packers march right down the field and make it 31-7. Rodgers found his checkdown option throughout the drive and connected with Kuhn for the TD.
Matthews sacks Ponder again. Matthews could line up in the Lambeau Field atrium and I don’t think it would matter tonight. He’s getting after it.
Woodson drops and easy pick-6. He undercut the pass to Shiancoe again. Ponder must be a slow learner since that’s about the 20th time Woodson has done that while guarding Shiancoe.
Rodgers to Nelson makes it 38-7. There’s really not much to say about this second half. Besides the Cobb fumble, total domination by the Packers.
It’s Matt Flynn time. Make some plays and earn yourself a nice contract for next season, Matt.
Flynn runs in for a score. Flynn has more fantasy football points than Jay Cutler this week.
Well, we have about 10 minutes to kill before this game ends. What should we talk about……
Besides the offensive line play in the second quarter and Cobb’s fumble, could this game have gone any better for the Packers? The defense played well, Matthews and Woodson generated a pass rush, Rodgers was his usual self and Cobb returned a punt for a TD.
Was this the most complete game the Packers have played this season? Probably. The Packers are head and shoulders above any other team in the NFL right now. We’ll see if that continues once the real season begins, after Thanksgiving.
Flynn got in for some cleanup duty and now it’s Vic So’oto’s turn on defense.
Flynn lines up in the victory formation and the Packers are 9-0. Bring on the Bucs.
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Adam Czech is a a freelance sports reporter living in the Twin Cities and a proud supporter of American corn farmers. When not working, Adam is usually writing about, thinking about or worrying about the Packers. Follow Adam on Twitter. Twitter .
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Why would it surprise you that Allen calls attention to himself? He did the same thing when they got rolled by the Bears and he forced a fumble. Also, apparently he likes to celebrate other people getting sacks after he whiffs (See the Winfield sack).
He may get the record, but as long as he’s in MN he’ll never have a ring.
A human playing QB would have mnelted under the Viking pressure last night. GB’s super-human QB took it in stride and just went happily forward destroying the Queenie D. The man is without doubt playing like no one ever has before.
If the D can play like they did last night for the remainder of the year, who knows how good this team will be. This is the D I’ve been wait for. A real great performance by all. Thanks for letting my ulcer rest for awhile, Dom.
On to the Bucs!
Now THAT was the D we’ve been waiting for! If that keeps up, rest of the league should give up now..
Well done to the defense, Capers, and his staff!
All people wanted to do was be patient and let the Packers work on what needed to work on to fix the defense. Its not like the whole entire team is a rag tag free agent splash, like the Eagles. They have been around for 3 years at least.
Fans who act like the ship is sinking just need to chill out, enjoy the game, and grab a brew because this stuff takes time.
Finally , the 2010 defence shows up to kick off the 2nd half of the season. That was the 1st game this year that all 11 players on D played aggressive, smart football for a full game. They took thier game to the vikings. They played on fire, they played with passion, they played with a chip on thier shoulder. And to think Neal will be back in a couple of weeks! Now let’s keep the intensity up for the Superbowl march! Go Pack!
After last night and reviewing the possibilities, I’m not ever talking undefeated, ever. The goal from now on is maintain the lead for home field. Let’s see the 9er’s are 8-1 the Pack is 9-0. Six of one a half dozen of the other? I guess there’s more than one way to skin a cat! GO PACK!
I’m hoping for playoffs and then #1 seed. Going undefeated is crazy talk. One game at a time…
Let’s go 1-0 this week
I also dislike allens antics, but you gotta admit the guy can frekin play. just think what it would be like if you had him and mathews on the same defense
Allen is a beast. There’s no question about that.
So where then hell was he last year? He was a non-entity. I don’t get that…
Newsome v. Clifton?
I meant all year, not just against the packers. he was invisible all season.
I believe the clinical term is “Getting Married Syndrome”.
It appears that Dom was holding back the D until the 2nd half of the season. Apparently MM is withholding some of the offensive playbook back also. I haven’t seen a screen play all year. Perhaps we’ll see those plays against the like of the Giants highly regarded pass rush.
Lions my friend. Lions.
If the defense shows up like last night and keeps playing like that, look out!!! If Capers and the guys can keep this up, our chances of a repeat are real!!!