 |
| Photo - ESPN.com |
Albino and football's least-knowledgeable know-it-all Cris Collinsworth to call the late game.
FIRST QUARTER
Marcus Sherels cruises across the 30 with the opening kickoff. Adrian Peterson immediately gains 4 up the middle. Ryan Pickett (!) blows into the backfield on 2nd down but AP still gets to the right for 3. And, uh-oh, I shouldn't have changed my freaking pick. Webb, trying to run left on an option play, gets a crucial block by Kyle Rudolph on Clay Matthews that Collinsworth completely ignores, and bounces right for 17 into Packer territory. Yeah, Cris, Webb did that all himself. It's a 5-yard loss without Rudolph's block! Peterson right for 8 behind Brandon Fusco's pull block, and inside the 30 for the first down for about 5 more. With his blockers creating an inside wall, Peterson runs through a Raji arm tackle for 11, and appears to be on his way to running for 300 tonight. Webb options right inside the 15. LOL, Mike McCarthy won the coin toss and deferred? Genius. Charles Woodson makes a key play on a run blitz, though, as the Packers finally stop a run. Vikings have to burn a timeout on 3rd-7. Webb's first pass is amazingly awful; he had a receiver open in the middle and threw a kamikaze duck into the ground about ten feet from him. Not feeling so bad about changing my pick now. Blair Walsh hits from 33 to put the Vikings out front. Minnesota 3, Green Bay 0
Jeremy Ross gets to the 30 with the return for the Packers. Smoke pass from Aaron Rodgers to Randall Cobb for 7. They then brilliantly go to somebody named DuJuan Harris two straight times, and his third-down drop sends the ball right back to Minnesota. Not feeling so good about changing my pick now. Nice of the Packers to start choking immediately.
Just wanted to stop for a second to say how much I LOVE worthless Blogger constantly putting me in boldface type at random. Great work, Google.
Webb (I just had to kick out of boldface AGAIN) bootlegs for 11. They've been consistently running right so far, away from Matthews. Green Bay helps themselves a lot by holding Peterson to 2 on the next first down, and then Webb gets away with a TERRIBLE play; he rolled right into a completely-unblocked Erik Walden and made a worse-than-Garo-Yepremian pass trying to get rid of the ball. It hits the ground, though, and the Vikings at least get to punt it away. Collinsworth comments on the "tremendous" play Walden made, you know, because pressuring a QB who's running right at you when nobody blocks you at all is supposed to be hard, I guess.
So, the Packers are planning to ride DuJuan Freaking Harris to the Super Bowl? He goes up the middle for 4 to kick off this drive. And around left end for 4 more. Heh, I just found out his name is DuJuan, not JuJuan. Kevin Williams bails out a failed 3rd-down run by Ryan Grant by lining up offsides. 1st down, Rodgers can't find anyone and dances out of a sack attempt by Jared Allen. Swing pass to Harris for 16. And a draw to Harris for 1. Who needs Greg Jennings or Jordy Nelson or Randall Cobb or James Jones when you have DuJuan Harris? Rodgers goes to the forgotten Jermichael Finley over the middle for a first down. Next he triple pumps and dumps off to, you guessed it, Harris, inside the MIN25. DuJuan. Harris. Grant loses a yard on a toss. GET THE BALL TO HARRIS! But now Grant takes a screen pass inside the 10. Perfect block up front by Josh Sitton to spring it. Harris now drives inside the one, and appears to cross the goal line. His knee's never down; it's on Finley's leg. That should be a TD. Excellent downblocking by the Packers' o-line there. Marshall Newhouse had that so sealed off, the TE had nothing to do. We'll go to the second quarter, I guess with the Packers trailing.
Oh no, we won't. The Packers do challenge the play while NBC was away, and Scott Green awards Harris the TD.
DuJuan. Harris.
Packers 7-3
Green also reset the clock to 0:28. Pickett tackles Peterson for a yard to end the quarter.
SECOND QUARTER
Webb can't find anyone open but scrambles for a first down to start this quarter. Peterson up the middle for 4. Webb then has me feeling AWESOME about changing my pick, idiotically tripping over Clay Matthews trying to escape the pocket after Ryan Kalil had pancaked him. Awesome awareness there, Webb. Walden then has little trouble beating Toby Gerhart to pressure Webb, who's running right into him again, and earning a grounding penalty this time with a second goofy and dangerous attempt to avoid a sack.
That should probably be Minnesota's last pass attempt of the night. Maybe McLeod Bethel-Thompson (three last names, no first name!) better get warmed up.
Rodgers tries to hand off to Harris with the wrong hand, switches hands, and Harris cuts back left for 8. Dump off to... Harris, first down. Harrison Smith blows up a quick toss to Harris, as the Vikings finally find a way to stop this awesome new Packer weapon. No one open downfield on 2nd down as Jared Allen eventually gets to Rodgers for Minnesota's first sack. We get to see some downfield footage on replay, so NBC must have spent to send their extra cameras to Lambeau. Dumpoff to Greg Jennings is short on 3rd and 19. Punting time again.
The Vikings come out - passing? Incomplete. The Packers know they're getting Peterson on 2nd down, and B.J. Raji and Pickett clog up the middle there. Forced to pass on 3rd-and-8, Webb's sideline pass for Jerome Simpson looks pretty poor, and Simpson has to move up to catch it, losing the first down yardage.
Tom Crabtree gets a double award, throwing a d-lineman to the ground, then hurdling a linebacker after taking a dumpoff pass for a Packer first down. Rodgers dances in the pocket all night, long enough for James Jones to pop wide open for 20. Randall Cobb is playing tailback this drive, but it's Jennings making a HUGE play on 4th-and-5 from the MIN34, getting away from Chris Cook to catch a quick sideline hook and then breaking a tackle for a big 30 yards down the sideline. But at the goal line, Finley drops what would have been a tough TD catch, and Fred Evans STUFFS John Kuhn on an up-back handoff. Green Bay settles for a Mason Crosby FG. We'll see if that comes back to haunt them. 10-3 Packers
Vikings start at their 12 after holding on the return. Peterson right for 6. Simpson gets a step on a play-action bomb, but Webb well overthrows him. Max protect on 3rd-4, but Raji flushes Webb into Walden for a sack after whipping Fusco. Packers will get the ball back with 2:00 to work with. This is a pretty critical juncture of the game for the Viking defense.
Rodgers drills one to Nelson for 23, then Jennings for 14 more, and Green Bay's suddenly at the Viking 25. Rodgers then rolls and hits Nelson with an amazing pass inside the 5. He's already over 200 for the half.
And this game may be over. Inside handoff to John KUUUUUUUUUUHN extends the lead. Packers 17-3
Minnesota drives out to midfield before halftime, but no further. Webb, who's 3-12-22, has missed most of his downfield throws by a mile, and anything that's not a deep route, I swear he's throwing the ball nose-down. Collinsworth does a good job to show us how the Packers are actually playing contain defense against Peterson, though.
 |
| Photo - Fox Sports |
I can probably cut to the postgame show right now, Minnesota looks that hopeless behind Joe Webb. They're not going to fix his technique at halftime, so they'd better go back to what was working the opening series. Run a lot of that option read; it really had the Packers off balance. That's going to be their only chance to free up space for Peterson, who's been held to 4 yards a carry because the Packers don't have to worry about Webb passing. At all. The Vikings either need to turn into the Seahawk offense at halftime, or send Bethel-Thompson out there. Webb is terrible. The shame is that they're failing to take advantage of a terrific game by Ryan Kalil, who is dominating Clay Matthews. Don't see the Packer D needing to change a thing if the Vikings don't.
Minnesota's got to adjust at halftime on D, too, and get back to what worked for them in the first quarter. Dropping everybody back in coverage let the immortal DuJuan Harris get loose, true, but you've got a far better chance of beating him than beating Aaron Rodgers with man coverage. If you can't win up front enough to shut down the Packer running game, you don't deserve to win anyway. But if the Packers protect Rodgers and take care of the ball from here, it's hard to see Minnesota catching them.
THIRD QUARTER
After Rodgers throws for an initial first down, we get quite the sack dance from Everson Griffen for a guy who's losing by two TDs. Rodgers answers that nonsense with a 10+ scramble on 2nd down and a 19-yard completion over the middle to Jones. Continuing to get time to do whatever he wants, Rodgers dumps off to Harris a couple of times to get inside the 20. The mighty mite Harris powers inside the 15. This is NOT the drive the Vikings needed. After a Packers timeout, the Vikings finally hold tight, with Harrison Smith breaking up a pass for Finley at the goal line.
EXCEPT THE VIKINGS PUT TWELVE ON THE FIELD ON THE FG ATTEMPT. First down, Packers. But as at the Rams game last week, the flag's thrown without the ball being snapped. Don't the Vikings get a chance to run a man off the field?
Dumpoff from Rodgers to KUUUUUUUUUUUHN for the TD probably ices this one, though it'll be entertaining for a while to see Webb try to throw downfield.
24-3 Packers
Walden somehow tackles Peterson by his helmet without drawing a penalty. I guess that's a loss, then. Webb COMPLETES a slant to Simpson for 13, though, and Peterson leaps the line for a much-needed first down. Rudolph catches a duck at the 45. The Vikings really need to give up on deep downfield throws, though. They can't get anybody open and Webb couldn't hit them if they were. Peterson tries to bounce a run outside but is bottled up beautifully by the Packer D to force 3rd-8. Jarius Wright runs a drag route and dives for the first down. Peterson drops a pass on 1st down and gets stopped short on 2nd down. Dumpoff to Wright leaves Minnesota 4th-and-3, which they correctly go for at the GB38. Webb, though, thinking he gets all night to throw, gets his pocket picked by Matthews from the blindside. Sack, fumble, recovery, game, set, match.
Did Collinsworth just say Jeff Saturday has a bad foot in his neck? That must be painful. The Vikes actually get a 3-and-out out of the Packers, stopping Harris for a big loss on 2nd down.
Peterson battles for 6 out to the 25, then bounces outside left for 8 as Kalil puts Matthews on the ground. Webb scrambles for about 20 across midfield on 3rd-6. Been too long since we've seen that for Minnesota.
They should have kept running him. Webb rolls out the next play and makes a terrible decision, throwing down the sideline for a blanketed Devon Aromashadu, and he's picked off by Sam Shields.
FOURTH QUARTER
This game's in who-cares mode, as the Packers are going to coast to victory. Any really interesting plays, I'll put them here.
Like the Vikings actually getting the Packers to punt again but dumbass Sherels bungling it away. Eh, the Packers didn't do anything with that possession, either. They're already thinking ahead to San Francisco. Like me.
The Packers better not be trying to make this interesting with 3:39 left; a blown coverage left Michael Jenkins all alone for a 50-yard TD. Seriously, the postgame show's already written!
Green Bay 24, Minnesota 10... final score
 |
| Photo - ESPN.com |
POSTGAME SHOW
Well, the LVP of this game is most certainly Webb: after 3 quarters, he trailed Rodgers in QB rating 117.5 - 23.1. I'd certainly like to thank Webb for helping me get the win and the cover by convincing me to change my pick, but he did screw me on the over. Oh well, still a fine hypothetical gambling day for me.
Much as I wanted to give POTG to Harris, I can't ignore Rodgers, mainly for his 200 yards at halftime. A typical dominating effort for Rodgers vs. the Vikings. The Packer D (finally) made an impressive effort to shut Peterson down (while it mattered), but I didn't find one player who stood out in that effort. Rodgers got excellent protection all night, but again, I didn't find one standout player. RamView asks that Rodgers pass his game ball around the locker room.
I think San Francisco beats the Packers next week, though. Green Bay had enough trouble with the too-little running that Webb did that I don't think they'll be ready for Colin Kaepernick. Unless the 49ers' OC is as dumb as Vikings OC Bill Musgrave, which is always possible, I guess. Musgrave should have run Webb a lot more than he did. I'll rethink my pick, though, if Justin Smith still isn't healthy. His absence would be a big disadvantage for the 49ers.
The Vikings need to have a productive offseason, especially on offense. This is another team Mike Wallace would really look good on, assuming Percy Harvin is back at full strength; otherwise, they need 2 WRs. Better draft one high anyway. They also need to come away from this offseason with a credible backup QB, a free agent like Jason Campbell. Better QB coaching and offensive play-calling might not hurt, either. They can't be as poorly-prepared for an injury to Ponder as they were today.
On to Colts-Ravens, noon tomorrow on CBS.
-$-
No comments:
Post a Comment