Week 3 Thoughts / Rankings / News Snippets

[ReasonablySober]

• I'm not overly upset with the loss

• I think the Packers gave the Cowboys too much credit in a lot of phases last night. I don't think Dallas is a team you nickel and dime. Their strength is in their front seven and I thought we played right into it. Grinding out yardage did nothing but tax the team to the point where they had nothing left at the end but a lot of field goals. Philly drew up the perfect game plan last week. Attack that secondary like there's no tomorrow and make the safeties cover the pass. Get those linebackers into coverage. Spread them out. I thought the playcalling was very predictable. Run when you typically run, pass when you have to. Bleh.

• Barber is a hoss and that Dallas line is very, very good. I wasn't sure they could win by playing a grind it out slugfest, but they pulled it off.

• Miles Austin might have helped a bit, though.

• Woodson had a hell of a game, but the attention they gave Owens meant there were less people to cover Witten or stop the run. That might be the only way to beat Dallas, though. Despite the score, if Austin doesn't come up with those two huge grabs it's a different ballgame.

• Last year I thought the Packers were simply out-classed and I was just glad to see them hang around. I didn't feel that way last night. Green Bay's got the talent to play toe-to-toe with Dallas.

[ReasonablySober]

4. Green Bay (2-1). Did you see the jump pass from Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings, with Rodgers twisted to the right and throwing it way off-balance? As we sat in the green room near the studio at the "Football Night in America'' set, Cris Collinsworth blurted out: "That's Favrian!'' Too bad the Packers defense wasn't Reggie White-ian last night.

[ReasonablySober]

b. How awkward, and bottom-line business, is this? The Packers Pro Shop at Lambeau Field is still selling Brett Favre Packer jerseys.

e. Brett Favre to ESPN's Ed Werder, last Thursday, on the Pack's strong two-game start: "When they have 16 good ones, then call me.'' Mike McCarthy heard that. Aaron Rodgers, too.

Wow.

[notoriousTJ11]

I think the better QB right now at this moment is ARod simply because of his athleticism and he's not as stubborn as Favre. You'd be an idiot to say that Rodgers right now is better than Favre in his prime if you look at the team each had when they took over as the starters. Rodgers has been playing well, but we still need to see him in a 15 degree windy game at Lambeau where Brett struggled last year before we totally anoint him the next Packer legend. Rodgers has looked good , but I expect to see him falter soon and thats fine, nobody's perfect and we all know Favre had his games of 1td 3int's. The point is that no one should be overly high or down on first year starter yet and everyone on the team has a long way to go if we want to get to the superbowl

[Newz]

I'm not overly concerned about the loss either. The Packers certainly looked like they belong on the same field as the Cowboys. We cannot forget that our quarterback was still only starting his third game and that we had some pretty significant injuries (Al Harris in particular) that Dallas ended up benefiting from big time.

Our defense did play very well though, regardless of what you do there is no defense in the league that's going to hold Dallas under 24ish points, they are just too good.

The fumble by Grant and a couple dropped passes by James Jones are what cost us offensively. I was still impressed with Rodgers and I am glad that rather than taking risks and throwing the ball around he continued to remain smart, not make a dumb pass and give the team a chance to win. In the end sadly two big catches by a special teams player killed us.

The next time we play them we have to be more aggressive and air it out a bit more. McCarthy still seems tentative to let Rodgers really let loose. We also have to turn two of those FGs into TDs, because they both could have easily been 7 instead of 3... We also can't spot them 3 points to start the game.

I'm still very impressed with Aaron Rodgers (The jump pass was incredible, as is his accuracy with the deep ball) and the team as a whole.

[LUKE23]

The game really came down to 3 blown assignments that allowed big plays. Both the Austin catches and Jones run. Communication breakdowns on all three.

And I agree, Dallas will likely lead the NFL in PPG this year, so holding them to 27 to me is a pretty solid job. We just did not convert in the redzone and we gave them their first points on a silver platter with the fumble. You have to be efficient in these types of games, and the Packers were not.

I'm more worried about health more than anything right now. We have A TON of players banged up.

[notoriousTJ11]

How about those Dolphins? If someone would've put a thousand dollars on the Dolphins going into the game I would've been willing to put up 20 thousand on the Patriots , I don't think anyone saw that one coming

[xTitan]

I a not concerned about the loss, I am however very concerned about the injury situation. I did not realize that GB was playing a good portion of the game with 3 starters out of there defensive backfield. Rouse continues to frustrate me with his poor tackling and yet another terrible angle take on the long TD pass. The offensive line needs to be straightened out right now, I can't believe they think Moll can play, he is bad...that unit has guys back now, play your 5 best lineman and gel.

On a positive, Cullen Jenkins is having one hell of a season so far, I guess it might have been his injuries last year that limited him so much.

[xTitan]

I said it last year and mentioned it in the game thread but it bares repeating, Jason Garrett owns Bob Sanders. Last year Garrett outschemed and outgame planned Sanders and this year was more of the same. Sanders effectively schemed to take away TO but left the door wide open in other areas and paid deeply.

[MickeyDavis]

A single loss to a good team is not a big deal. We just can't slide into any kind of losing streak. We have four very winnable games before the bye week:

at Tampa - Tampa is a decent team but this is certainly a team you have to beat if you consider yourself a contender.

Atlanta - Have to win

at Seattle - Not an easy place to play but Seattle is certainly down a notch. And as much as I like Holmgren I don't think it's ever a good idea to have a lame duck coach.

Indy - Another team that is definitely on a downward slide. They have the talent to beat anyone but this is a game you can't lose at home.

Yeah we're banged up. Every team gets banged up during the season. Contenders have the depth to get through injuries.

[ReasonablySober]

I said it last year and mentioned it in the game thread but it bares repeating, Jason Garrett owns Bob Sanders. Last year Garrett outschemed and outgame planned Sanders and this year was more of the same. Sanders effectively schemed to take away TO but left the door wide open in other areas and paid deeply.

Nice post. I agree.

[MajorDad]

I didn't see the oakland/buffalo game. how did kiffin's coaching blow that game for oakland? Al Davis has said kiffin lost that game rather than the raiders. anybody want to elaborate, or has Al davis become more senile than me?

hats off to the eagles defense. it makes you wonder how they can give up so many points to the cowboys and then come back and hold pittsburg in check. Are the cowboys that good? I thought the packers secondary played a great game against dallas' passing game.

i feel bad for payton manning. he had that brett favre look yesterday as he led his team to victory in the final minute only to watch helplessly on the sideline as his defense couldn't hold the lead and they lost. i remember many times brett doing the same thing.

and to think i thought about trading for Miami's brown this week. his fantasy stock quadrupled.

not sure what the problem is in cincy other than their horrid oline. KC and St louis have that same problem.

there was a Rudi Johnson sighting. he didn't look too bad.

O'Sullivan is looking good in Sf.

I wonder what jeff garcia must be thinking. first he holds out for more money. then they have the favre trade rumors. now he's the third string qb behind griese and somebody else even i don't know. on a positive note, he's making good money and has season tickets to bucs games. I have to believe he will be gone by the trade deadline -maybe back to philly.

one last note on Green bay and rogers. he held his own and looked liked he belonged. and it was nice to hear the announcers stop using the term favre in every other sentence. if only tony kornheiser could get that message. although unfortunately, it 's the jets on MNF.

[xTitan]

As far as Pittsburgh is concerned there offensive line is absolutely brutal, Big Ben was beaten time and again. The Packers secondary did a great job on TO but allowing a no-name to basically decide the game is unforgiveable.

[MickeyDavis]

I'm not a big Sanders fan but Dallas scored more points in weeks 1 and 2 than what they did against our banged up defense. That includes the 41 points they scored against what it suppose to be a very good Philly defense. Let's face it, Dallas has a lot of weapons. You can shut down one, or maybe 2 of them, but then they have other options. I don't see too many defenses having their way with Dallas.

[ReasonablySober]

Kiffin didn't blow anything, Rex Ryan and his defense did.

I feel bad for Kiffin.

[LUKE23]

As far as Pittsburgh is concerned there offensive line is absolutely brutal, Big Ben was beaten time and again. The Packers secondary did a great job on TO but allowing a no-name to basically decide the game is unforgiveable.

I think they almost paid too much attention to TO. It's like that was their only focus, so they got burned in other areas.

Dallas has zero offensive weaknesses. They have a punishing runner and a change of pace guy. They have a massive and mobile OL. They have a stud #1 WR. They have the best TE in football. They have an accurate QB with a good arm. Just hard to know where to attack them.

Even in that division, I think Cowboys go 14-2.

The key is how this team responds. I am not feeling good about the injuries going against Tampa. Tampa is a little better than some people are saying, IMO.

[El Duderino]

The game really came down to 3 blown assignments that allowed big plays. Both the Austin catches and Jones run. Communication breakdowns on all three.

I don't know if there were communication break downs on those three plays

On the Jones TD, Montgomery got not only sealed, he got absolutely pushed into the center of the line and then Peprah took a miserable angle on the sideline. He should have pushed Jones out around the 30-35 yard line.

On the second TD to Austin, Williams had good coverage, he just played the ball poorly. Plus, Rouse took a bad angle in getting there to help and on that play, Jenkins had his man badly beat for a sack and got blatantly tackled by the guard, an obvious hold that wasn't called.

[LUKE23]

The game really came down to 3 blown assignments that allowed big plays. Both the Austin catches and Jones run. Communication breakdowns on all three.

I don't know if there were communication break downs on those three plays

On the Jones TD, Montgomery got not only sealed, he got absolutely pushed into the center of the line and then Peprah took a miserable angle on the sideline. He should have pushed Jones out around the 30-35 yard line.

On the second TD to Austin, Williams had good coverage, he just played the ball poorly. Plus, Rouse took a bad angle in getting there to help and on that play, Jenkins had his man badly beat for a sack and got blatantly tackled by the guard, an obvious hold that wasn't called.

MM already was quoted saying two people were lined up in the wrong defensive formation for the play on the Jones run. Other 2, don't know.

[Thunder Muscle]

Father Time (Favre) looking haggard again tonight.

[emunney]

Too bad about Favre and the Jets. I'm really pulling for that 2nd round pick... doesn't look good right now, although the Chargers are certainly a ton better than their 0-2 record would indicate.