Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Packers 20, St. Louis 23. You can't lose a game any closer than this one. The teams had almost the identical number of first downs and yards on offense. If the Packers make any one of the three makeable plays; K Dave Rayner makes his 2nd quarter field goal attempt from 45 yards, CB Al Harris doesn't drop a ball thrown right at him while he was standing still, or RT Mark Tauscher blocks DE Leonard Little (or QB Brett Favre holds onto the ball) on the final play, it is an overtime game or win. In Tauscher's defense, Little has been one of the best defensive end in the NFL this season and Tauscher held him in check for most of the game.

First Quarter: RB Vernard Morency looks really good every time he touches the ball, except for a case of bad bad hands. He has fumbled or dropped four balls in two games. He has to stop it immediately if he wants any career in the NFL. Morency's fumble set up a short field and an easy TD drive. With all the contact rules, it seems impossible for any cornerback to keep up with any WR anymore. WR Torry Holt got off the line clean, Harris ran with him but QB Marc Bulger threw a perfect pass and Harris couldn't react quick enough. The real good news in this quarter was that the Packers ran the ball pretty well. LG Daryn Colledge opened up some big holes and RB Noah Herron was able to run the ball.

Second Quarter: Despite the success running with the ball in the first quarter, Mike McCarthy called a lot more passing plays in this quarter and the offense stalled. Herron ran for the last 30 yards on the first quarter TD drive, but the Packers had twice as many pass plays as run plays in the 2nd quarter. Herron had 7 carries in the first quarter and 13 the rest of the game. The Packers might have been able to control the game with Herron running the ball. St. Louis only had the ball 4 times in the first half, but put together two TD drives. On the TD pass to WR Kevin Curtis, S Marquand Manuel allowed his umpteenth TD reception of the season.

Third Quarter: The offense stalls...Mike McCarthy's offense comes out so flat in the second half. In the 3rd quarter: vs. St. Louis (25 yards of offense), Philadelphia (2 interceptions), Detroit (a TD drive!), New Orleans (a TD drive, but one INT), Chicago (3 punts). All of Favre's 5 INTs are in the second half. The Packers run defense struggled in the second half. RB Steven Jackson ran 10 times for 62 yards on St. Louis 3 drives that led to field goals. A couple of drives were set up by poor punts and poor punt coverage, but part of that was the fault of the wind in the 3rd quarter.

Fourth Quarter: WR Greg Jennings has another big TD reception. He is probably the team MVP. The rest of the quarter is what might have been; CBs Al Harris and Charles Woodson have near interceptions, Favre's fumble and Colledge falls on it but it slips away. Any of those plays would have made it an overtime game at least.

No comments: