What are Packer fans feeling now?  Joy?  Rage?  Disbelief?  Confusion?  Despair?  All of the above?  Can this season be saved, or is it time to start thinking about next year?  Which team will be showing up the rest of the season?  Let's take a look.

Titanic Defeat

It's never a good sign when reading a box score, as I did after the Titans game, to have to ask Mr. Walker, "wait, six turnovers, I thought the Packers only had five?" Simply having to ask that question is scary enough, but is made scarier by the answer.  Mr. Walker reminded me of the football-to-the-crotch turnover by Antonio Chatman on a punt return.  This is one of those good news/bad news situations.  The good news is that the Packers at least made the Titans punt once, but the bad news is that the return game is now getting into the self immolation routine.  Previously the kicking game had been stalwart, a bedrock of mediocrity, making it one of the few bright spots on the team--but now even they are coughing the ball up.  Good to see we're all on the same page now guys!

Let's go over just a few of the really bad plays by the Packers.  First quarter, 1st and ten at the Titan 23, Robert Ferguson runs about eight yards and just stops.  Samari Rolle, realizing where the play is going, runs down and nearly intercepts a pass to Javon Walker in the end zone.  I'm not a football coach, but I don't ever remember seeing a route where a guy is supposed to run a few yards and then stand still.  Still first quarter, on Chris Brown's second long run, Darren Sharper and Bhawoh Jue fully whiff and Brown, allowing the game to go to 14-0.  Sharper last year called out his highly paid teammates about midway through the year, and so far this year I've seen plenty of plays go by or through him.  What's Darren's paycheck these days?

But the strangest play of all in the game was more about the coaching than the playing. Tennessee leads 41-13 as the Packers take over the ball with 10:43 left on the clock.  An opposing team can run off roughly two minutes each possession, just by taking a knee and punting.  Needing four touchdowns just to tie, the game is effectively over.  The only even pie in the sky way to think the game could be salvaged was a fast touchdown, recover an onside kick, and then another fast touchdown.  Probably the smart thing to do as a coach is to put in Craig Nall and cry "uncle." However, Sherman chose to leave in the starters.  OK coach, you're dreaming a bit but it's good to see you believing in your guys and taking the initiative.  First snap from the shotgun, a pass to Donald Driver. Second snap is Ahman Green off tackle, third snap is Ahman Green up the middle.  Three plays that took almost two minutes off the clock.  If we're trying to win it, that's horrible play calling.  If we've given up, why on earth are Favre and Green anywhere near 300 pound defensive tackles who might roll onto a knee?  Mr. Walker and I were yelling at the TV on that one.  In general, I think more of Sherman the coach than most Packer fans, but that was one strange set of decisions considering the score and the clock.

Lion Tamers

But what a difference a week makes.  After being slapped around by the 1-3 Titans at home, the Packers go on the road and beat the daylights out of the seemingly rejuvenated Detroit Lions.  And while the Pack has had some great days beating up on the Lions in the past decade, playing Detroit in their stadium has often been a tough game for Green Bay. May I have last year's turkey day defeat entered into evidence?  Nearly everything that had been going wrong for the Packers started going right, on both sides of the ball, and the Packers looked like the kind of team that should be challenging as one of the best teams in the NFC.  We're still a ways from the playoffs, but Mr. Walker and I both said after the Lions win, "boy, we needed that."

I also came up with a new theory about the Packers on offense.  Yes, they run a lot, but in our opinion the single most important factor for the Packers on offense is receiver play. Any Packer fan knows that Favre will throw some dangerous passes, and a few just really stupid ones.  He just always thinks he can get the ball to his guy while avoiding the guys in other colored shirts.  Sometimes he's wrong, and when that happens his receivers need to bail him out.  When Green Bay receivers dive, scratch, and muscle their way to enough balls, the Packers should be almost unbeatable.  This is one of the reasons why I keep on carping about that OTHER Mr. Walker--the one named Javon.  When he was writhing on the field after a particularly tough hit, we were very very scared.  Luckily for us, Donald Driver suddenly remembered that he went to a Pro Bowl once and started playing like that guy again.  However, the Detroit win was not about any one or two players.  Tony Fisher, for example, had two nifty catches, one of which was for a touchdown.  It puts a lot of pressure on a defense when the third string running back can come in and catch 13 yard touchdown passes.  It was also impressive to see Najeh Davenport back in, knocking down linebackers and rolling over people.  He averaged 6.2 yards with ten carries, and I truly believe that he would start for well over half of the teams in the NFL.

On defense, the Packers played well enough to put up very impressive stats against what had previously been a pretty solid offense.  Mr. Walker always notes injuries, and the Lions clearly missed their budding superstar receiving duo of Charles Rogers and Roy Williams.  It's funny, by the way, looking at the box scores and seeing some familiar names.  Who is the third string QB for Detroit?  Our old friend Rick Mirer, still drawing a paycheck by holding a clipboard.  Great work if you can get it, eh?  The first half was comparatively close, the Packers only lead by 7 points at the break, but hidden in that stat was that the Lions also only had five first downs by then.  More amazingly, the Lions would not get another one for the rest of the game, finishing with only those five times moving the chains while converting one of eleven third downs.  How much of this was the result of poor play by the Lions offense, and how much was the result of a hopefully improving Packer defense is a bit hard to say yet.  Ahmad Carroll gave up a few but played well in his first start.  The defensive line kept the Lions to only 2.1 yards per rush. If the Packers can put together a few defensive stat lines like this in a row, Mr. Walker and I will start thinking the team may have turned a corner, but for now we are withholding judgment.

Funny also that many of the same people calling for Sherman's head on a cheese platter are now petrified he will give up calling the offensive plays.  Never mind that he doesn't want to and can ask for a play whenever he wants, and that coordinator Tom Rossley has called some spectacular games.  Many in Packerland now want him to take on even more responsibility for the team's success and failure.

Cowboy Up

Remember when this was the real Grade A Packer rivalry?  Remember Thanksgiving day, when third string Princeton grad Jason Garret carved up the early Holmgren era Packers like he was Dan Fouts?  Remember when the Packers said they didn't want to win a Super Bowl unless they beat Dallas on the way there?  Now the Parcells Cowboys bring their 2- 3 record to Lambeau, to take on the 2-4 Packers.  Not exactly Aikman vs.  Reggie White, eh?

The Boys have not had much going on at all on offense.  They are averaging just over 17 points per game and just over 100 yards rushing, while the Packers are averaging almost 23 points.  The run game for the Boys has been particularly disappointing--Eddie George leads the team with 209 yards rushing on only a 3.5 yards per rush average.  For better or for worse, the Cowboys have been forced to rely on Vinny Testaverde.  Vinny can still throw, but is Marino level immobile these days, and it's hard to keep an AARP member upright when he's sacked five times per game, as the Steelers did this past week.  Taking the low yardage averaged per rush, and those kinds of sack totals, and one has to be suspect of the line play up front for the Cowboys.  Vinny is pitching the ball primarily to Keyshawn Johnson and Terry Glenn, both of whom love to play for Parcells and both of whom are having very solid years so far.  I always thought Glenn was not treated well by Packer fans, here's hoping he doesn't decide to take some revenge on his old team, because having seen one and a half Cowboys games so far this year, he can still freaking play.

One piece of good news for the Packers is that it looks like Grady Jackson and James Lee have a chance to be back in the lineup this week.  Playing Cullen Jenkins and Cletidus Hunt at the nose certainly hasn't helped the Packers this year.  However, the defense is going to be tested more this week by Vinny than they were last week by Joey Harrington. The corners should match up reasonably well.  Keyshawn can't run away from anyone, so Al Harris should be able to do a reasonably good job on him.  Glenn is still wicked fast, but he's not huge, giving Ahmad Carroll a player he should have a shot at defending. We're a little worried, by the way, about when Randy Moss lines up across from Carroll, especially since officials seem to have granted Moss the unique privilege of pushing off nearly at will.  As good as Glenn is, though, he's not Randy Moss.

However, this is going to be a difficult game for Green Bay, certainly more so than the Cowboys record would suggest.  This past Sunday, the Steelers needed a lucky fumble on a sack and some sterling late game QB play to win a game they probably should have lost.  Dallas racked up 348 yards of total offense against a very good defense and lost a 10 point fourth quarter lead.  I'm sure Parcells has had a few things to say about THAT this week in practice.  Nevertheless, it's almost impossible to imagine the Packers losing four in a row at home.  Also, while Vinny still has more than enough arm to do the job, it's always been possible to confuse him.  Pair that up with some subpar line play and my guess is Slowik goes after him from the start.  We think the Packers win the turnover battle +2 and win a close one, 27-24.

Random Thoughts

The Patriots have beaten exactly two good teams this year.  The Colts, a game they should have lost, and the Seahawks, who look to have been vastly overrated.  Beyond that they've played Buffalo, Miami, and Arizona.  Their next three games are Jets, at Steelers, and at Rams.  I don't think we'll be hearing about their 20+ win streak too much longer. Finally, for no really good reason, watched part of a Houston Texans game.  I knew Andre Johnson was a good young receiver, but I had no idea he was this good and that fast.  He's one of those "WOW" guys.

After the Cowboys, the Packers play at the Redskins, their second NFC East opponent in two weeks.  Both the Skins and the Boys are like the Packers, teams that were expected to be better than this.  It's not impossible to imagine two of these three teams in the wild card hunt in a fairly diluted NFC.  Having the tiebreaker over both sure wouldn't hurt.

There are eight teams in the NFC with three or fewer losses, meaning that the Packers are in essence tied for ninth in the conference.  These teams include the Giants and the Lions, two teams that look to be fading already.  In other words, the Pack screwed up big time dropping a game to the Bears, but the door is far from shut if they win the next two.

Interesting to see this week's ESPN power rankings.  The Packers are slotted in at 19, below the Browns, Chargers, Lions, and Cowboys.

I pretty much can't stand baseball, but this Yankees-Red Sox series has been something else.  The 14 inning game Monday was amazing to see.  Sox fans are insane as well, if they win tonight I can't imagine how crazy they'll be for that last game.  Memo to anyone managing the Sox, once Pedro throws a hundred pitches, sit him, no matter what else is happening.  Well, maybe if you have a seven run lead, but other than that, Pedro's only good for a century these days.

Michael Clayton, on the Bucs, is another pretty amazing young receiver.  Where are these guys all coming from?  Oh, that's right, Florida .  .  .

TCB is a contributing writer for Packer Palace.
© October 19, 2004.

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