Greenville Packer Backers: 2017 Week 02

Packers 17 Seahack's 9

If you watched NFL Pregame on Fox, all of the talking heads had Seattle beating Green Bay in an “upset”. Well, it’s nice to be thought of as the favorite when one of the taglines of the sport is, “Any Given Sunday”.

I think we should maybe re-think how we do preseason games. Nobody wants to see their franchise quarterbacks hurt, and preseason games are kind of a scrimmage, the result doesn’t matter, so maybe have the quarterbacks wear the red jerseys? Just a thought, but when neither Quarterback breaks 100 in Passer ratings and the QBs in question are named Rodgers and Wilson, that says “rusty” to me.

Aaron was rusty and it showed, Russell was rusty and it showed. Aaron went 28 of 42 for 311 yards, 1 TD and 1 Int. His rating was 86.5 AND when is the last time he threw an interception? Funny you should ask…Aaron Rodgers last threw a regular-season interception back in October of 2016 against the Tennessee Titans. That’s seven straight games without a pick! Russell Wilson didn’t throw a pick but he lost a key fumble that led to the Packers first score. Yes, our first Touchdown of the season was a rushing TD courtesy Ty Montgomery. Wilson went 14 of 27 for 158 yards, no TD’s, no INTs, the fumble lost, and a rating of 69.7.

This wasn’t the way I wanted this game to go. I wanted to BEAT the Seahags. I wanted to beat them so bad that Pete Carroll swallowed his gum! That didn’t happen, but it was kinda fun seeing him stalk off the field stone-faced, no doubt to call the league offices and give them a piece of his mind on some questionable calls by the referee but hey, Pete, that’s football!

The Packers have made a focus of upping the ante on defense. It showed this past Sunday, and my bladder was mad about it. Normally when the defense is on the field I can go to the restroom! Not this past Sunday! I felt like my kidneys would explode and Mike Daniels kept exploding the Seattle line every snap. It wasn’t just the sacks, because there were only 3 total (1.5 for Mike, 1.5 for Nick Perry), it was the energy he brought to the defensive unit. He was flying all over the place 5 solo tackles, 2 assists, Damarius Randall 6 tackles, Quinten Rollins for 4, Ha-Ha had 4. The Packers proved that letting Eddie Lacy go was a wise decision. He had 5 rushes for a total of 3 yards, that’s .6 yards per carry. His longest rush was 6 yards, so his other 4 were tackles behind the line of scrimmage! So I’m fine with not being able to yell, “ROLL TIDE!” for now.

Ty Montgomery was our leading rusher, 19 rushes for 54 yards, his longest was 8, but when Bryan Bulaga gets back, he may be able to make that a bigger number both in total yards and his longest, he of course did have the season’s first touchdown, the Packers first rushing touchdown last season came in Week 12.

Jordy Nelson proved that Davante Adams hasn’t cornered the market on circus catches as he caught a TD sliding in the endzone to give the Packers all the points they would need, but we didn’t breathe easy until it was more than a one score game thanks to Mason Crosby making a 40 yard field goal in a perfect but windy day at Lambeau field.

Packers WIN, so fly the W! 17-9. It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it, and hopefully Mike and OC Edgar Bennett can get the offense firing on all cylinders. We’ll need it this Sunday night!

(Ken Hill)

Just Sayin’

Dom Capers showed what kind of coach he can be against Seattle. When he has the players, he can put a good game plan together. Let me also say that this was just ONE game. While the defense played good, I’m not ready to anoint them as a top defense, just yet. And, one must also take into consideration that the OL of Seattle is one of their weakest links. Despite the last couple of sentences you just read, it looks like there have been some improvements on the defensive side of the ball in Green Bay. The Defensive Line looks they went to “Defensive Line Academy” while the other parts of the defense went to their respective schools, The College Of Linebacking” and “Secondary University”. Nick Perry and Mike Daniels picked up where they left off last season. The secondary picked up too. They picked their collective butts up off the turf, went to school and apparently it has paid off. There again, it’s just one game. I think they will have a much stiffer test this week down in Atlanta.

As far as the offense goes, let’s hope they started off slow like they have the last few years; because if that was slow, things could get really exciting. While Rodgers got that first interception out of the way kind of early, he settled down and played pretty well against one of the leagues’ better defenses. Bennett has already started to get in sync with Rodgers. Cobb has started the season looking better than he has in a while. Adams should have a great year. After all, he is in the final year of his contract and will be looking for the big payday. And Jordy was . . . . well, Jordy. The OL gave up 4 sacks, but they are playing with a new right side. So there is going to be some adjustment time there. It depends how long Bulaga is out. Now, he could be back anytime, even this week. But personally, I think they need to let him sit till the ankle heals. That does 2 things. Let’s him heal, and gives Kyle Murphy needed experience. I think I read where 2 of the sacks Rodgers took came at the hands of Murphy. McCarthy can work around that situation with the play calling. The running game was nothing to boast about, but good enough to make the defense at least consider it. Montgomery ran hard against what is considered by many to be the best front 7 in the league.

On to Atlanta. I’ll tell ya, it sure would be sweet to extract a little revenge this week by handing Atlanta a loss in their first official game in their new stadium. Since the game is on Sunday night, I personally will miss the 2^nd half as it plays out. I hope I have plenty to watch on the ol’ DVR on Monday evening… Just Sayin’

(Jimmy Smith)

The Chief’s / GPB Report

What a start to a new season, 9 new members, 31 returning members, 156 Fans at Chief’s to watch the game, Neil turned 60 and oh yeah, the Packers won.

A total of 16 door prizes were won, here is just a sample of the prizes and their winners: The first prize of the year went to 220 Jimmy Smith who took a cap, Car Flag’s went to 498 Susie Hafeman, 467 Joshua Evans & 372 Sara Warpinski, 140 Erich Peschel liked the flip-flops, 324 Larry Schliz took a Packer DVD, a street sign went to 398 Bill Demuth, 387 Kathy Mann & 390 Grayson Mann both wanted the t-shirts and 127 Kent Sargent loves his little stuffed teddy bear.

Winner of this weeks Trivia Contest and $25 form our friends at Chief’s was:

474 Jim Comensoli.

Three pools to report this week. Winners on the 2 $1.00 boards were: 418 James Lanzer (twice), 431 Jan Zlebak, 398 Bill Demuth, 369 Don Dandelske, 221 Barb Gambrell, 101 Jamie Ware & 189 Don Ranson . On the 50¢ board, winner were: 328 Marge Bramlett (twice), 341 Kathie Gossett & 453 Leon Stenzel.

Welcome to our newest members:

489 Kelli Wolff

490 Nick Herman

491 Deb York

492 George Linn

493 Jon Pierce

494 Loren York

495 Chung York

496 Timothy York

497 Tom Hafeman

498 Susie Hafeman

And welcome back to a long lost member:

222 Michele Kwaterski

Another pajama party this week for the Pack, Sunday night @ 8:30. I know most of you work on Monday but I do encourage you to come down for at least the first half, not only to keep me company, but to enjoy the game with other Packer fans who, like you BLEED GREEN MY FRIENDS!

(Packer John)

Packer’s vs. Failcon’s

The coverage leading up to this collision has commonly billed it as a “rematch” of last year’s NFC Championship or potential “revenge” for the humiliation that ensued from it. It is neither. Those are rather trite and predictable summaries which actually and totally miss the mark.

This is an early-season, a new season, barometer for two teams who view themselves as championship caliber. Obviously, the Failcons were left after their epic Super Bowl collapse looking much like Saddam’s Republican Guard in Baghdad after the “Shock and Awe” campaign. They were so close, only to have the metaphoric sun, moon, stars, and mindboggling playcalling combine to derail the dream…

Sound familiar? I know I speak for all of us: We know that pain. Intimately and in High Definition. No matter what you guys or anyone says, it doesn’t go away. Ever. And it never will. The difference between us and them is they’ve only had it happen once. It’s happened to us countless times…

The newest Jewel of the South is Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. It cannot be worse than the Georgia Dome, although their fans are pretty cool and I can happily say that the Pack is undefeated in games that I’ve been to in that now “old” venue…

All the stats and analysis of Xs and Os have been broken down from dozens of angles by the pundits and the experts, so as you know I don’t often spend much of our collective time on that. The Falcons looked shaky and almost lost last week in Shitcago. The Packers looked great, especially in the second half when it started clicking. What does all of it add up to on Sunday night? Nothing. They will be sky high, their new stadium will be electric, and I hope the Packers find a way to match it. I get the vibe that if we can withstand the initial emotional momentum that they will have, we will have a great shot. Truth serum: As big as this game is, it’s just the second of sixteen chapters in what is almost always a long, strange trip for the Packers.

Which brings us to the heart of the matter for this season, much like the last decade: For the Green Bay Packers and our Nation, it is another St. Vince Trophy after a Super Bowl victory or Bust. Enough is enough. This team has (shockingly) aggressively addressed its biggest needs in the offseason and through the draft. The offensive line, although currently banged up, is among the best in the league, even with the recent singing of “Happy Trails” to Lang, Sitton, Tretter, etc. The defense has undoubtedly upgraded, to what extent we will soon learn. They looked pretty good against Seattle…

And we still have the Baddest ‘Bato in the game at Quarterback… Go, Pack, GO!!!

*(Post Script): Four Packers legends have been nominated for this year’s edition of the Hall of Fame: Driver, Sharpe, Butler, and Holmgren. All of them deserve it. Does anyone else feel old?

(Kraig Pringle)