
You want to know why I was oh so close to having a Monday morning hangover today? The three hour drive home from Lambeau Field to downtown Milwaukee. From Ridge Road until I cruised through the Malibu of the Midwest: Sheboygan, my speedometer never eclipsed 40 mph. The snow eventually turned into a rainy mix near Milwaukee, but a stiff cocktail was just what the doctor ordered after a three hour white knuckle trip of constant breaking and endless red taillights. But the Packers lost and I hate angry drinking, so I respectfully declined.
The Pack dropped yet another game that they won on paper. I did stats for the WTMJ AM620 broadcast and was unable to watch for quirky sideline happenings as I usually do, but I'm doubting a team ever held the time of possession advantage like GB did and lost. The Packers had the ball for 37:52 to the Panthers 22:08. For crying out loud the Pack sustained a 9:13 drive in the 4th quarter that resulted in getting stuffed at the goal line and settling for a Mason "the leg" Crosby 19-yard chip shot FG. That one drive nearly equaled half of the Panthers total time of possession.
The other instant observation I had is that seemingly the entire Packers roster left the game for injury reasons at one point: Atari Bigby, Scott Wells, William Blackmon, Ryan Grant, Jeremy Thompson, Kenny Pettway, Nick Collins. Sheesh. Aaron Rodgers and Brandon Jackson both stood out as the players that looked very impressive to me. After the Packers first few drives amounted to a whole lot of three and outs, Rodgers really found a groove. Jackson added an instant spark to the running game when he entered for Grant. It's too bad they will both be overshadowed by the loss. The Packers locker room was as silent as I've heard it since the loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game. The feeling that a game, a big game, slipped away just moments earlier was hanging over everyone. And there's nothing more disgusting than returning home after a tough loss, after an even worse drive and having to watch the Vikings duke it out with the Bears on national television while having Al Michaels constantly remind me that it's a game for "first place in the NFC North." The only good part of this game so far is hearing John Madden pad the number of times he says "Horse Collar" in a season. He even worked in, "That was a horse collar's horse collar right there." That's just impressive.
So where do the Packers go from here? If they are to finish the season at 9-7, a few things are for certain:
-The defense MUST get more pressure on the QB. 31 points against the Panthers should have been more than enough to win.
-The offense cannot continue to start games sputtering and collecting three and outs like Pacman Jones collects suspensions. Playoff teams simply don't take an entire quarter to "wake-up." Maybe that's the tell tale sign that this simply isn't a playoff team.
-Also, can we stop it with the Derrick Frost joke yet? No matter if you love Ted Thompson or think he's awful, he and his predecessor, Mike Sherman share one trait: They love going out of their way to employ horrific punters. Paging B.J. Sander...
The Green Bay Texans (Vonta Leach, Craig Nall, Chris White, Ahman Green (IR)) come to town next week and should (please?) get the team back into the W column. But I'm sadly starting to focus ever so slightly on the NFL Draft more and more with each passing day.
MUSIC ENDINGS: The Pack lost, so I'm going to delve into some musical notes instead of continuing to dig up bad memories from yesterday. Go and buy the new live album from Candlebox, you won't be disappointed. And while you're either downloading it or grabbing it off the CD rack, pick up the new discs by The Killers, Bloc Party and that band you may have heard of: Guns N' Roses. The Pack trotted out Craig Newsome before player introductions yesterday, so I trot out another 90s music vid, ah, screw it, let's go with the best music video every made! (
Editors note: Some may question your masculinity when they hear the music playing from this video, they won't however for the content. What does that mean? It's techno music and has a lot of barely clothed women)
My blog,
The Brew Town Beat will continue to offer up our insight and banter about our local sports teams. Hopefully we’ll get to write about a pro football team winning a game sometime soon.