Steve called it…

While I hate to credit Steve for predicting anything (because he usually taunts me about if before I have the chance) - I have to tip my hat to his call last night. He’d noticed that Favre and Jennings seemed to be talking about something on the sidelines several different times throughout the night. Favre, who loves studying the photos of opposing defenses after a series, must have noticed Dre Bly covering a certain way and that may have been why McCarthy (or Favre?) made the bold call to go deep on the first play of overtime. Nice call Steve…nice…

Ryan Grant

Steve did say at the beginning of the season that he thought the Grant pick-up might be a sneaky good one. Steve also got info on Grant by going to a Giants’ fan website which illustrates pretty clearly how much of a dork Steve really is. I haven’t seen someone roll right through defenders like Grant did last night since the early Ahman Green days. It was refreshing to know that even a busted blocking play would lead to 2-3 yards at least by virtue of the fact that the guy seems to get yards just from falling over.

Still, I think McCarthy got a little conservative again by shifting to the run at times when I was thinking pass. The most concerning moment for me was the Packer’s last drive in regulation with the Pack up 13-10 and having 3rd and 8 or something from the Denver 48. I would have done a quick tight end pass there to pick up the first down. Instead they ran a small gain to set up the punt. It seemed that before that series of plays, McCarthy must have decided to just be content playing the field position game. But I was not pleased with that because that put the game in Denver’s hands to some extent and they had plenty of time. I would have liked to have seen a bit more aggressiveness at that moment.

Where are they now?

Over the last couple years, I have heard more and more comments by local and national reporters and “experts” saying Favre should hang it up, that he was being selfish by not announcing he was going to come back earlier, that his talent has diminished, and most recently, that perhaps his arm was getting weaker. It is this last issue I am bothered by most. After the Redskins game, a few local reporters when interviewing Favre clearly wanted to provoke him by asking Favre if he’s lost arm strength. These reporters may have been just trying to make a story, but this clearly ticked Favre off. It was pointless, sensational journalism. Favre had one bad game where he struggled to throw the deep ball (and for anyone at that Redskins game, I was there, they’d know that it was nearly impossible to grip your beer due to cold temps and an incessant rain). Last night’s game should silence these morons. Favre threw 2 perfect, deep balls last night against arguably 2 of the best 5 corners in the game for huge 80 yard touchdowns.

Favre still has it and for all of you people who jumped off the bandwagon in the last couple years and quietly tried to get back on this year, I see you…I see you…

Overtime

Unbelieveable. I’m sure that’s what Jennings and Favre were talking about on the sidelines all game long.

Atari Bigby

What is the matter with him? Bigby was the victim of a very questionable pass interference call as he was covering Tony Scheffler. Then, just as he did minutes ago, he kicked the ball out of bounds. He’d just gotten flagged for that and scolded by McCarthy. He’s been solid all season, but this has been awful.

No Call?

Nate Webster dropped Ryan Grant for a loss on second down, then took his helmet off and ran down the field to celebrate. ESPN, too busy talking to Vince Vaughn, did not show a replay or comment on the no call. Thanks again to TIVO, I took a second look. Webster’s helmet was not knocked off during the play. He took it off afterwards. If I’m not mistaken, it’s an automatic 15-yard penalty. No call, though referee Ron Winter took Webster aside and appeared to scolding him. That is crap.

Terrible Call

The refs calledBrandon Marshall for holding Al Harris on a 48-yard run by Selvin Young. Nothing there. The refs should just let them play. If memory serves, Ron Winter officiating crews do that all the time.

Random Observation

ESPN has shown Favre talking to Greg Jennings three or four times, now. A couple of those times, they were reviewing the overhead photos of the Denver defense. I wonder if Favre sees something in the formations that Jennings can exploit.

UPDATE: Favred just audibled to a quick out to Jennings on Bailey. Perhaps Bailey, having been burned on the Jones TD, is playing off.

Penalties

Andy has a theory about NFL officiating. And once you hear it, I think it becomes hard to watch games without thinking it is true.

He says NFL refs are like Leslie Nielsen as the umpire in Naked Gun: They make calls that will generate applause from the home crowds. Someone who has more time than I do should look it up. Do home teams get more calls than away teams? I would guess that they do.

So far? The Packers have been penalized 9-66 yards. The Broncos, 5-28. Several of the calls on the Packers have been legitimate. It’s possible the refs just called the wrong number, but when I looked again at the Johnny Jolly 15-yard face mask in the first half (ESPN did not show a replay, thanks TIVO) I didn’t see anything at all. If anything, it looked to me like Jolly was tackled on the play.

Nothing yet like the two touchdowns taken away from the Packers on B.S. calls in the Redskins game.

Good News, Bad News

The Packers moved the ball very well in the first half. Their offense was efficient; the defense was adequate.

Still, you hate to have two long drives end in field goals. Twice we had the ball on the one yard line and failed to score. (Denver was worse, fumbling the ball on the Packers’ 1.)

Penalties were also a problem. Two bad penalties on Atari Bigby gave Denver a big boost on its scoring drive and two Chad Clifton false starts contributed to the Packers’ inability to score deep in Denver territory.

Those mistakes are not fatal, but if we should lose, there will be a ton of talk about those Packers’ drives on Wisconsin talk radio.