Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Packers 34, Miami 24. 30 points on offense is the magic number; 2-0 when scoring more than 30 points. At least the defense consistently allows between 23 and 34 points. The offense is playing very well, especially the offensive line. Daryn Colledge had his first NFL start at left tackle for the injured LT Chad Clifton and DE Jason Taylor abused him early (Dear Mike, Please give the rookie tackle some help blocking the former defensive NFL MVP, at least early in the game! Love, Packer Fans) but Taylor wasn't a factor in the game after the third possession. Also, the Packers ran for 155 yards against a defense that was allowing under 100 yards/game and QB Brett Favre wasn't sacked after the third possession. Unfortunately the defense struggled against one of the worst offenses in the NFL. QB Joey Harrington's 414 yards passing look bad, but it could have been a lot worse because Miami's receivers (especially TE Randy McMichael and WR Derek Hagen) dropped a lot of passes.

First Quarter: Taylor exposes Colledge early, creating two fumbles and sacks, the first leading to one play, eight yard, TD pass to WR Marty Booker. Booker was covered by CB Charles Woodson on the line of scrimmage, but then FS Nick Collins covered the middle and both backs seemed confused who should cover Booker. LB Brady Poppinga with an interception! Good play by Poppinga, but Harrington threw the ball right at Poppinga with no receiver near him; a completely botched play by Miami.

Second Quarter: Unfortunately Poppinga's interception and then LB Nick Barnett's interception only lead to field goals. Both offenses are stalled in the quarter. The Packers run 6 times for 16 yards and Favre throws a number of incompletions. Harrington does have a 40 yard pass to Booker and the announcers talk again about all the big plays the Packers give up. I don't care. What I care about is that the Packers have allowed at least 2 passing TDs per game this season except they held Chicago QB Rex Grossman to only 1 TD pass in week 1. Since Grossman just had the worst performance in the last 10 years by a QB who's team won a game, no game balls should be handed out for "holding" Grossman to only 1 TD pass. DE Mike Montgomery's inadvertant facemask wiped out K Dave Rayner's field goal to end the half.

Third Quarter: Thanks Joey! Woodson made a great play to intercept the pass and keep his balance to run for the TD. Between the turnover, kickoffs, review of WR Donald Driver's TD catch, the first few minutes of this quarter crawl by. A lot of offense in this quarter.

Fourth Quarter: Although the Packers keep scoring, Miami does not go away, despite all their dropped passes. S Marquand Manuel allows another TD reception when he whiffs on the tackle allowing Hagen's TD. Miami has three long drives in the quarter and could have easily come back in the game.

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