Green Bay Packers vs. Minnesota Vikings:
My unfitered game day running blog post of comments, observations and first impressions.
Inactive for Packers today: CB Charles Woodson, RB Johnny White, CB Sam Shields, LB Clay Matthews, LB Terrell Manning, WR Donald Driver, DL CJ Wilson
Inactive for Vikings today: WR Percy Harvin, QB McLeod Bethel-Thompson, CB Brandon Burton, LB Audie Cole, G Mark Asper, TE Allen Reisner, DE D’Aundre Reed.
Game Notes:
Greg Jennings returns to the field for the first time in 8 games.
Today’s captains are Josh Sitton, BJ Raji and Jarrett Bush
First of three straight NFC North games for the Packers; currently they’ve won nine straight games against division opponents.
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Mike McCarthy Pregame Show on 620 WTMJ:
Noon game at home: A great day for football…
Control destiny: Any week you line up and have the ability to achieve your goals you set for the year, it’s a great thing.
Loss a motivator: No doubt, any time you take a shot like we did, it’s an opportunity. Like Paul’s 2nd letter to the Corinthians. I’m glad of weaknesses, for when I am weak I am strong.
Jennings: Will have to work him in the flow. Decision was made medically – we’re going to be smart with him. We’re taking him more as a situational and we’ll evaluate more at halftime.
Peterson: What he’s been able to accomplish is a credit to his work ethic, his genetics, the medical staff at Minnesota.
Ponder: He has big play ability. Athletic – can make plays in and out of the pocket. Very good player with his feet.
Minny pass rush: It’s a key matchup today. We have to establish ourselves in the run and the play action.
OLine: You gotta play football. It’s starts with running the football, off of that play action. Sometimes guys have to win one on ones.
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Packers vs. Vikings – First Impressions – First Half:
Vikings win the toss and defer. Unusual for Packers to start the game on offense this year.
Packers showing a good amout of three-wide on the first series – Jennings is not in.
James Jones: ball thief…
Packers favorite play is without a doubt the free play…
Actually, I have a feeling this is the game Crosby gets back on track to being an average NFL kicker.
Aikman: “McCarthy is one of the most underrated play callers in the league.” Did you see last week, Troy? He has his ups and downs.
Jordy Nelson injures hamstring: Well maybe the number of “situations” Jennings will be used in just increased…
End of First Quarter: Packers 10 Vikings 0
If Brad Jones is paying attention, he stops that TD to Rudolph…
You mean we’re really not any better than handing off to Kuhn on 3rd and one again? SMH…
Instead of dumping off to Kuhn for 1st Down, Rodgers has to throw downfield and now the Packers punt. Rodgers Achilles heel, if he has one.
Peterson runs through the Packers defense and now the Vikes are up 14-10. I guess the “care level” wasn’t there on that play…
Things were looking so bright at 10-0. Packers their own worst enemies again…
Nothing drives me nuttier than the Packers giving the ball to the other team because they can’t run a decent third and short play.
Randall Cobb needs to stop looking to go backwards on punt returns.
Remember the slant pass? Vaguely, right? Will we ever see one again?
End of second quarter: Packers 14 Vikings 10
Packers vs. Vikings – First Impressions – Second Half:
After another horrible tackling display, Ponder gifts the Packers an INT in the end zone. So… needed… that…
This game has done nothing to change my complaint all year about this offense. Packers keep giving the ball back to other teams instead of making short first downs. Throwing downfield instead of throwing for the first.
How can there be nobody getting open when Rodgers has the ball for 6-8 seconds? beyond me…
I’ve officially had enough of the Kuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhn.. 1st and 20 handoff to the fullback?
Crosby makes one! I guarantee you, Mason Crosby just saved his job.. (then again, there’s still game left…)
Did House actually get there too soon on that blocked punt attempt? Looked liked the ball went behind his left hand…
When was the last time you saw a #Packers RB with a 20+ yd TD run?
This “defenseless receiver” stuff is just out of control. This isn’t football anymore.
End of third Quarter: Packers 20 Vikings 14
Packers running game best it’s been in a year. Consistent of all things…
Finally: A drive where the Packers are throwing just far enough to make the first downs on 3rd down. Result: Eating the clock.
This 11 minute drive is why you don’t keep taking shots downfield on 3rd downs. Just make the firsts, keep the ball, eat clock, let your D rest.
James Starks upended and his leg flys into a position legs are not supposed to. Would think he pulled something on that, but he seems OK.
Packers DL did it’s job today. Only successes by Peterson were missed tackles by the DBs if he got outside.
Packers should have another 2-3 interceptions. Seems like I say that every game.
Not a big fan of blitzing DBs into the middle of the line…
Wait, Packers aren’t the only team with kicker issues? (Vikings kicker misses field goal with 2 min left).
Final Score: Packers 23 Vikings 14
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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.
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I say KEEP Barclay at ORT and when possible move Lang back to left guard. I DO NOT want to see a lame handoff to Khun up the middle of the line on third and short.
This week, I wanted Barclay at RT, Lang back at LG and EDS taking over from Saturday at center. Well, we might have two of the three happening if Lang can make it back from an ankle sprain in the next week or two.
Sometimes I think it takes a disaster to force MM to make a change. Barclay may get more play on the back of this and I hope he does, he can be a mean SOB and we could do with some of that.
So who’s going to tell our friend Jeff that Peterson had 210 yards on 21 carries (10.0 ypc) and a TD today?
Not going to “go off” on grass… Don’t know what we’re talking about… yeah, ok.
Chad,
We should feel privileged! Jeff was wrong last week, and now he was wrong again this week- that’s two times he was wrong.
Since he’s right 95% of the time, that means we’ve just witnessed a statistical anomaly.. He’s going to be dead on the rest of the season- get your bookie on the phone, we’re going to make some money on the rest of the season!
+1
Call me a stat whore, but I was just so wishing that Ponder wouldn’t break 50 passing yards near the end of the game. Then he goes ahead and throws like 100 more. Urg….
Garbage yards. The fact that he didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver until the end of the fourth quarter was pretty awesome.
I wanna see the Packers in the top 10 in passing D. If they kept in under 50, they would have moved to the top 20.
Sorry, like I said, I’m a stat whore.
Well, the Packers are 6th in QB rating surrendered, does that help? That is up from 9th last year.
No matter the circumstances , Beating the Bi-Queens is always a wonderful thing. Love watching thier fans walk out of Lambeau with frowns.
Getting CM3, Wilson, Shields and Woodson back on D soon will be nice, Then the Pack will only be a O-line away from going deep in the playoffs.
Morgan Burnett won this game for the Packers..prevented a 21-10 deficit with an endzone INT which I’m not sure we would have over come and then stoped another potential TD drive with his 2nd INT.
Kudos to Barclay coming in cold and his block aiding the Starks TD run.
Yup, that hits on the main reasons for the win.
Am currently enjoying 670 the score, where Doug and OB are skewering Lovie and the Bears.
No doubt, that first INT was definitely the turning point of this game.
and saved the season
Packers are 10-0 in their last 10 division games. Pretty remarkable. Credit McCarthy and that coaching staff.
Nice to move on and get a win after that loss against the giants. Peterson ran all over the Packers but that was too be expected. Not many teams shut him down. The running game did enough to keep the chains moving, Crosby made the kicks he needed to make, and Finley got it going again. Three things that needed improvement and the Packers rose to the occasion.
10 out of last 10 div game wins is very impressive. I hope we can make it 13 for 13 to end this season.
It wasn’t pretty but hey a win is a win.
But imagine what would have happened with Quarless in the game.
I think the Packers would have won by 50.
That Burnett INT was really big; before that I started fading into draft mode. Now anything can happen. We’re not better than the Niners nor Giants right now,however we have a few aces in the hole that could enable us to defeat them. More dept on D,an improved running game,and a rested Matthews,Shields,Nelson.
Fading into “draft mode”? I hope you’re being facetious. But for an historically terrible call in Seattle you’re looking at the team with the 2nd best record in the NFC and therefore the 2nd seed. This against the 7th best SOV and the 4th best SOL (strength of victory and loss respectively). And this with a lot of injuries. Are the injuries alarming? To some extent. Would it be very nice to get as healthy as possible soon? Yes. Also throw in the easiest remaining schedule in the division and there’s a lot to look forward to. But to have the berries to say you’re thinking about next year down a few points when you’ve had the team with the 6th best QB rating surrendered in 2012? There is a reason they’re there at that level. The team that has been maintaining the best QB rating taken over given for a rather long time. It’s one thing to be a fair weather fan, and bad enough, but to act like it’s pouring rain when it’s just partly cloudy is even worse. This “if it’s not a shoo-in Super Bowl year, then f-it” attitude gets old. The Packers have had a tough schedule, a referee pooch-screw for the ages, and a nearly beyond tolerance level of injuries, and they are STILL the 3rd seed.
Please could you read my statement correctly! I have been one of the more positive Packer fans this year ,but I am also a realist and will not make excuses for this team . Take all your SOL ,SOV and other stats and throw them out the door. I’m talking about beating the best teams in our conference.However,if you read my whole paragraph you would know that it ends on a very POSITIVE note, and that with the aces I believe the Packers will be CHAMPS.
Didn’t watch the game (unusual circumstances). Can anyone answer if there were any slants called during the game?
a skinny slant to jennings for a 1st down. That was the only one thrown. For the rest of the game it was drag or china routes called
Finley is going to get a penalty for excessive celebration soon. Whether its a catch for 2 yards or 20 yards he acts like he just won the superbowl.wtf… When he dropped the first pass to him that seemed more of a natural response for Finley… We should see if Finley can kick fieldgoals.
James Jones is a much bigger asset than Finley…