Cheesehead Central

Worse and worse. (Sherrod injured.)

the '72 Dolphins are getting the champagne ready...

what an ugly game this has been.

Yeah.

I don't care about the perfect season part -- that'd be nice, but ultimately doesn't interest me that much.

However -- the Packers came into this game undefeated, a lock for the playoffs, extremely likely for the Super Bowl, and fairly likely to win the whole thing.

After this game?

Well, we'll see. But (all together now) I'm worried.

In a way I'm glad they don't have to deal with the "perfect season" stuff anymore.

They still CAN secure home field advantage, this game wasn't do or die there.

The concern is about injuries, both obvious (Sherrod) and not-obvious (I'm still not completely convinced that Aaron's OK) and what that means for the rest of the season.

Agree.
Worry somewhat re Rodgers, but also the offensive line..

Yeah, two of the biggest injuries -- Bulaga and Sherrod -- are for the same position. (Sherrod was Bulaga's replacement on the O line.)

Sherrod's completely gone (horribly broken leg), Bulaga may be able to heal but I doubt it. He's been bouncing in and out of the line-up, probably not healing enough before he goes back.

Sherrod was actually doing a better job than Bulaga lately except for his tendency to get false start calls.

I think the porous, hobbling O-line has impacted Aaron's game somewhat. But I also have to remind myself that playing at the level he had been between the Super Bowl and the Giants game a few weeks ago was an unusual accomplishment. Tom Brady's record-breaking year in 2007 is the most recent benchmark for near-perfection at QB, and he had a few crappy games in the second half of the season. Having had Brett at the helm for fifteen years prior to Aaron has also made the standards of us Packer fans impossibly high.

Aaron will be fine.

The real bummer is, as Soz mentioned, the injuries. We'll have Sitton and Clifton back and move Newhouse back to the right side. But it would be nice to not have Newhouse on the field.

It would also be cool if Greg Jennings weren't an essential example to all other receivers (except Donald) of how to hold onto a motherfucking ball.

I know, Jermichael Finley was seriously pissing me off.

It's not just the O-line though, Aaron was making throws that just weren't accurate, too.

I know he's entitled to not be perfect but there's been too clear of a demarcation line for me, pre-horrible-helmet-hit and post-horrible-helmet-hit.

I really think that's part of what happened.

If only, as I said earlier, getting him off his game temporarily which then messed up his confidence/ rhythm even after he was recovered.

Here's my favorite pic from the Milwaukee Journal gallery this week:





Love that BJ Raji. (Celebrating one of their four goal-line stops -- we're being gloomy but those four field-goals-instead-of-TD's were pretty cool -- with fellow doughboy Howard Green.)

Hey this is good news:



http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/football/other_nfl/view/20111222time_for_packers_to_hit_the_ground_running/

The article makes an excellent point that I hadn't really put together, that McCarthy was trying to go easy on the two healthy running backs (Grant, Kuhn) and used them sparingly. With a pass-heavy offense, that allowed the Chiefs defense to adjust. And with Rodgers not in top form (for whatever reason), that was really the game right there. The defense did their job (sometimes at the last minute, but they were out there a lot more than usual because the offense was so stinky). It was an eminently winnable game -- a few more passes on target, a few more big runs, a few more not-dropped passes.

If Grant is healthy and raring to go (which he seems to be from the article) and they have at least Starks as well, then they can get more balance, which gives Rodgers (and the O-line) and the receivers more breathing room.

I'd focused on the O-line injuries, hadn't really thought about how big of an impact the RB injuries had too (especially in tandem -- O-line PLUS RBs).

Not happy that their next game is a night game in the cold, though (@Lambeau, 7:20 PM CST). Fingers crossed.

He's back!

THAT was some lovely passing. Whew.

I know he was warm at the beginning and things may deteriorate in the cold, but Aaron's looking like himself again.

Green Bay vs NY Giants. I like the odds. LETS GO PACK!!!

seeing the squad from wisconsin throttle the NYG would be most agreeable, yes...

I agree!

Just found this guy, I did not know we had a "Shaky Smithson" on our roster:

http://espn.go.com/nfl/player/_/id/14600/shaky-smithson

"Shaky" doesn't seem like a super-promising moniker for a wide receiver.

maybe he can shake n' bake, and make the opponent miss?

Sweetnes didn't seem like a great name either but look who had that moniker.

Yeah, and what about Jack "Candy Ass" Lambert?

dammit

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well, that does solve any problems i might have had inadvertently cheering for the niners.