I was at Lambeau Field on Sunday to see the Packers beat the Patriots. What a game. I’m not sure there’s much more to be said about the win that hasn’t already been said, but I’ll try and offer up a few more nuggets on what I observed from my seats in the south end zone, section 138, row 44, seat 18.
- Before packing up our tailgating supplies and walking to the stadium, a middle-aged guy approached us and asked if we had any lobster or marijuana. Unfortunately, we had neither.
- Not saying I told you so, but…..well, I told you so. Sam Barrington can play. Barrington delivered more hard hits in one game than A.J. Hawk has delivered in three years.
- Eddie Lacy misses some obvious holes. Too often, he chooses to bounce outside instead of making a hard cut and hitting the lane. Part of me wonders if he’s a little hesitant to put his head down and plow every single carry because of past concussions.
- I have no idea why teams don’t sit with two deep safeties against Green Bay 100 percent of the time. Whenever there’s only one safety deep, it’s not just Aaron Rodgers who gets excited. The entire stadium starts buzzing. It also feels like so much more of a struggle for the Packers against two-high safeties, even if they’re moving the ball.
- There was a middle-aged gentleman sitting in front of me who was about 100 pounds overweight and whose mustache connected directly with his nose hair. His family also referred to him as “Pud.” Heckuva nice guy. We high-fived after the Rodgers-to-Rodgers touchdown. Now I can tell people that I high-fived a guy named “Pud.”
- Rob Gronkowski is unbelievable to watch in-person. He’s unguardable. On a play deep in Packers’ territory, Gronk lined up wide one-on-one against Morgan Burnett, and before the ball was snapped, I knew what the result would be. Sure enough, Gronk beat Burnett, then ran over like eight Packers after the catch. Somehow the Packers dragged him down before he stomped into the end zone.
- If the Packers’ offensive line continues playing like this, Green Bay will win the Super Bowl.
- Hats off to Mike McCarthy. He really worked hard to get favorable matchups for Cobb and others and it showed. However, the first time Cobb lined up in the backfield, Darrelle Revis followed him and stood in the middle of the defense, waiting to track Cobb wherever he went. It spooked Aaron Rodgers, who called a time out. But Revis never followed Cobb out of the backfield again. Strange.
- Watching the Packers’ defense pre-snap reminds me of watching pre-schoolers during snack time. Just complete chaos and confusion. Everyone is pointing, yelling, moving, looking around, scattering. But hey, it worked, so perhaps all that chaos is by design.
- Tramon Williams blew a couple of coverages, but also made some great open-field tackles. Speaking of tackling, that was the best I’ve seen the Packers tackle against a quality opponent in a long time.
- Unfortunately, we could not hear Tom Brady’s barrage of F-bombs from our seats.
- The vibe in Lambeau was off-the-charts. People were amped up for this game, and rightfully so. During the Packers’ final drive, the offensive line and Jordy Nelson had to admonish the fans for cheering too loud.
- My wife and I have had the privilege of seeing Peyton Manning, Drew Brees and Tom Brady all play at Lambeau Field and get beat by the Packers. We’ve also seen the Packers beat Vinny Testaverde, Shaun Hill, Kyle Orton and Joe Webb at Lambeau. The one quarterback the Packers couldn’t beat with my wife and I in the stands? Christian Ponder. Go figure.
That’s all for my thoughts from the south end zone. Now where’d I put my lobster and marijuana…
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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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Barrington should get his shot in my opinion he played stellar ball..also Lacy needs to stop dancing he is a bruiser and needs to lower his shoulders and create holes if need be! When he tries to cut back and go east west is when he loses yards.
Lacy needs to put his concussion helmet back on and leading his head again. Good running in that game, but our opponents will only get tougher in the post-season. Well, unless of course we face Atlanta at home.
Very interesting observations. It helps to fill holes made by watching games on NFL GamePass for better experience. Thank you!
Spot on with every observation. Clay isn’t a natural at MLB but he isn’t identified as a mismatch like Hawk always is. Clay also looked healthy for the 1st time since Detroit.
Credit McCarthy for emptying the playbook and running just about every formation and concept the Packers run.
Peppers as an inside rusher should have been more effective due to his height and length. In future games I expect Peppers as an inside rusher to cause havoc on any pocket passer who can see over his outstretched arms (ala Manning/Brady/Brees)
I’m hoping that Barrington will continue to start at ILB. We need to start our best 11 players on every play. The defense is much more solid in the middle with CM3 and Barrington. As for Lacy the coaches need to be working with him to get him back to running with his old style and to hit the correct holes and makes his cuts at the appropriate time. He had some nice runs yesterday but he also left some yards on the field. It was a great win for the Packers, let’s keep it going versus Atlanta. Go Pack Go! Thanks, Since ’61
I agree about Barrington. I was glad to see him get the start and his impact was felt in the run defense. It’s nice to see a guy with size who can fill the hole and drop the guy in his tracks rather than getting dragged downfield for five yards like AJ Hawk…
I think it’s not immodest for Adam to call some attention to his prediction (made a long time ago) that Barrington could play.
Um, I wonder what “Pud” thinks about your anecdote! Is he basking in his 15 minutes of fame or hoping Santa brings him a gym membership and grooming devices?
The play of Sam Barrington was absolutely huge. Hawk was the one AND ONLY guy left on defense that was a liabililty physically due to his age and being a slow white guy. Mentally he’s probably the smartest player on defense.
Now it appears Capers took a gamble and went with braun (Barrington) over brains (Hawk) in this game. There appeared to be some mixups at times but overall Barrington’s physicality was a little better than Hawk’s intelligence and it paid off with only 21 pts. allowed by the defense.
What I propose is pretty simple. Bench Hawk and put him up in the booth with direct communications with Barrington and tell him what to do on each play. I think that would be utilizing Hawk’s superior intelligence and Sam’s playmaking ability to it’s fullest.
It’s a win win and both are contributing in different ways to help the team.. Yes, it’s like a guy cheating on a test getting the answers from another persons but Barrington still has to write down the answers.
Hawk is one hell of a communicator and Sam is a fierce attacking hitter. This will finally solidify our one weakness and make this defense a lean mean fighting machine.
If Hawk can swallow his pride and be a real true team player, he will realize he’s better as a coach of Barrington than as a player. I would think at this point in Hawk’s career that he can and will accept this role if they give it to him. I hope they do.
Tip of the hat to the dude seeking the weed and the lobster. There’s a lot of worse ways to spend a late Sunday afternoon than putting on a nice mellow buzz, munching out on some lobster and watching the Pack beat the Pats.
Makes me wonder how much more enjoyable his life might be for him if he just went out and secured the means to enjoy such indulgences without having to panhandle for them.
Great report Adam, glad you had a good time. What was the wind like in the SEZ? Seemed to be a tough place to kick into.
The parking lot guy’s second request was a lot more important than the first.
If I had known Hawk was going to be benched on early downs I would have picked the Pack to win. 🙂
Seriously, I think Belichick outsmarted himself rushing 3 and sometimes only 2 men.With all day to throw, AR was even more deadly than usual.
Congratulations to the Packers and all their fans for this signature win. It is time for me to stop criticizing and enjoy the rest of they season and the play-offs. Pack has as good a shot as anyone at this point!