Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Bucky Five: Good, Not Great

1. Seven Minutes of Heaven - It was a foregone conclusion that the Packers were going to beat the Lions on Sunday, and they did successfully by shutting them out 26-0. How they were going to beat them was the question, and things looked very, very promising after the first seven or so minutes when the Packers stormed out to a 14-0 lead. In that span, Rodgers hooked up with James Jones and John Kuhn for touchdowns, while Cullen Jenkins had an interception as well. After that though, things stalled a little bit. The defense held up their end of the bargain even though the offense didn't score another touchdown the rest of the game. Mason Crosby was the beneficiary of that, knocking in four field goals throughout the course of the game. The offense just stalled way too often in the red zone, and Rodgers turned over the ball a couple of times as well. It wasn't the best offensive performance, but it was good enough to beat the Lions. Hell, it will probably be good enough to beat the Browns next week, but it won't be good enough to be the Vikings in two weeks. So we should probably work on that.

2. Donald Driver Makes History - Driver Meal had a huge game on Sunday in a variety of aspects, but the most memorable being his 596th catch with the Green Bay Packers, which tied Sterling Sharpe for the Packers franchise record. The catch itself wasn't that remarkable, but being at the game on Sunday, I have to say the image of Driver saluting the crowd after his standing ovation is one I'll never forget. Driver finished with seven catches for 107 yards, and now has 602 career receptions, which is pretty impressive for a guy who wasn't even supposed to be drafted.

3. Um, The Offensive Line Still Isn't Very Good - The Detroit Lions aren't very good, but even the Detroit Lions managed to get five sacks on the Packers, bringing the total to 25 sacks against for the season. This is the one area that I can't really defend when I'm forced to defend the Packers against all these pseudo-Vikings fans that run around Lambeau nowadays. Clifton messed up his ankle again, so who knows how long he'll be out for (actually, we'll find out Monday). T.J. Lang did alright in relief, but overall that line is strugglesworth right now.

4. Clay Matthews > A.J. Hawk - This statement may be true, it may not be, but fact of the matter is we haven't seen Hawk have a game as good as Clay Matthews turned in against Detroit. Couple that with his touchdown strip against the Vikings two weeks ago, and it's easy to see that this guy is having one hell of a rookie campaign. He's making the impact that we thought Hawk would have made when he was first drafted. Not saying that Hawk isn't good, because I think he is, but Matthews is quickly becoming the star of that linebacking core right now. And that includes Barnett.

5. Random Fan Observations - Like I said, I went to the Lions game as kind of a precursor to our annual away Packers road trip, as we're headed to The Cleve next week. As fun as away games are, it's always nice to be at home and hang out with the Lambeau faithful. That being said, there were still way too many people wearing Favre jerseys there. Now, wearing a Packers Favre jersey is acceptable if it's the only Packers jersey you own and you are a chick. But everyone else, time to get some new apparel. ESPECIALLY if you're coming to a Packers/Lions game sporting a Vikings, Jets, or New York Titans Favre jersey (although I do give props to the guy who made a Lions Favre jersey out of markers and a plain white t-shirt, only to put "Favre in 2010?" on the back as well. Classic.)

I've come to the point in this whole Favre thing that if you still like the guy, then whatever for you. That's fine. But why wear his jersey to a Packers game? Is that some kind of protest? You're still coming to the game, paying for parking, buying a ticket, paying for food, beer, and whatever else you pick up that day. Plus, people throw shit at you and constantly berate you. Is that really worth it?

No one gets worse accolades though than this one guy I know, a guy who grew up a Packers fan. After Favre left, he bought any jersey available, first the Jets jersey and then the Vikings. In fact, when he went to the game at the Metrodome two Mondays ago he wore a non-Favre Packers jersey but wore a Vikings hat, even though that made no sense. Then, this weekend, he went out and bought a Calvin Johnson jersey so he could wear it to the Packers game. Just who exactly are you rooting for guy? What kind of statement are you trying to make? This is why I don't like Favre fans, they are all just a bunch of mysterious third prongs.

Anyways, it was a fun game, even though the outcome could have been a lot better. Other highlights included massive booing when Favre Vikings highlights came through on Tundra Vision, as well as the longest Lambeau Field fan created wave ever. Not a bad weekend, but definitely looking forward to The Cleve.

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