Packers WILL Make the Playoffs

The Packers are sitting at 8-4 heading into their division final division game on Sunday against the Bears.  The Packers will be able to get into the playoffs with a 10-6 record so that means they only need to win two of their remaining four games.

Two of the remaining four games (Bears and Seahawks) don’t look like they should be much of a problem.  If the Packers go ahead and beat the Bears this Sunday, I believe they will have all but locked a spot for themselves for the final wildcard slot.

NOT SO FAST

The other two matchups are the Steelers and Cardinals.  The Steelers (6-7) are a good football team even though they have lost their fifth straight game.  They will also have 10 days to prepare for the Packers next week after playing this past Thursday.  If the Steelers lose to the Packers next weekend they will be eliminated from the playoffs just a year away from being crowned world champs.

The Cardinals have a very good football team and they are playing good football right now.  They, like the Steelers, are one year removed from playing in the Super Bowl.  Playing this team in the regular season finale helps out the Packers a lot because the Cardinals may be resting their starters during most of that game to ensure they are healthy for the playoffs.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the Packers play the Cardinals the following weekend in the first round of the playoffs.

THE LOW ROAD

The last thing to consider is if the Packers get into the playoffs they will have to do it on the road because they are guaranteed to get no higher than a 7 seed (unless the Vikings collapse down the stretch and the Packers can win the NFC North division).  The Packers are a mediocre 3-2 on the road, so having to play on the road throughout the playoffs may be a problem.

Personally, I am excited for the game at Heinz Field against the Steelers and the game against the Seahawks at Lambeau Field the most.  That’s only because I am going to those two games.  The game against the Steelers is going to be a great game for me because it is my first Packer road game… and it’s only an 8 hour drive!

Grow Your Packer Playoff Beards!

The Packers need your support in order for them to continue with their winning streak and keep their playoff hopes alive.   I’m not being superstitious, I’m just being a dedicated fan.

Here’s what you will need to do

Stop shaving your beards until the Packers are eliminated from the playoff contention, when they lose in the playoffs, or win the Super Bowl.

A look at the Packers’ Rankings

Here are the Packers’ rankings in a variety of statistics that I thought were pretty interesting…

Turnover margin (+17)…No. 1
Total offense (382.0) …No. 6
Passing yards (262.8)….No. 6
Total defense (281.5)…No. 1
Rushing defense (89.1)…No. 4
Passing defense (192.5)…No. 6
Third-down offense (45.7%)…No. 5
Third-down defense (33.3%)…No. 4
Red-zone offense (52.6%)…No. 15
Red-zone defense (63.3%)…No. 29

The one stat that sticks out the most for me is the red-zone defense is ranked 29th and the red-zone offense is ranked 15th.  I would have guessed that the red-zone defense would be much better than the red-zone offense for the Packers.  Lately it seems like the offense can’t get into the end zone when they are sitting in the red-zone.

Will the Packers Make the Playoffs Poll

The title of this post says it all.  Go ahead and vote whether you think the Packers will be in the playoffs or not.  As of today they are the last wildcard spot.  After casting your vote go to the comments section and tell us why you voted the way you did.

Positives of Pack Sacks (WHAT?!)

The title of this post doesn’t mean that I’ve completely lost it.  Believe it or not, there are some positive things to take away from the Packers league leading sacks they’ve given up.

First of all, I just want to say that I believe there are two types of sacks…

1. Quarterback’s fault sack- where the sack is caused by the quarterback.  The QB had plenty of time to get rid of the ball, but failed to do so.

2. Offensive Linemen’s fault sack- where the sack is caused by the Offensive line.  The QB has less than three seconds to get rid of the ball before he is brought down.

One positive to take from the sacks is that taking a sack is better than throwing an interception.  Yes, you will probably say that it is also better to throw the ball away than to take a sack, but it really isn’t that simple.  First, in order to throw away the ball the QB has to be outside of the pocket or he has to throw it near a receiver.

If Rodgers is outside of the pocket and doesn’t throw away the ball, I don’t see the big deal in losing 5 or less yards.  If he ends up taking a sack for a loss of 10 or more yards than I would put the sack on him for holding on to it.  If he loses 5 or less yards and he is trying to buy time for a receiver to get open and make a big play, I don’t see much of a problem with that.

If Rodgers is inside of the pocket and can’t throw the ball out-of-bounds, it might not be all to smart too smart to get rid of the ball.  One thing that can go wrong is a defender can knock the ball out of his hands while he raises the ball to throw.  Another thing that can happen when he throws it under pressure is an interception.

The best way for Rodgers to stop taking sacks is to either audible at the line to pick up blitzers or audible a receiver into a hot route so he can get rid of the ball quicker.

The second positive I see in all of the sacks is that it shows the toughness of Rodgers.  Early in his career with the Packers, Rodgers was given the label of an injury prone QB because he seemed like he was always injured.  Well, most QBs would be hurt by now if they would be taken as much punishment as Rodgers.  So what I see from all the sacks piling up on Rodgers is that he might be a lot tougher than what most fans think.

Ok, you might not think any of this was positives to take out of the sacks, but at least they were different ways to look at the amount of sacks that the Packers have given up this year.  If it wasn’t for all the sacks this year, there may have been more turnovers and/or Rodgers might be sitting on the bench if he was the weak QB that most fans thought he was.

Packers-Vikings Pictures

The picture on the upper left is from “Favre’s Funeral” and on the upper right is just a picture of the parking lot before the game. Below are two pictures of who you could consider as the man of the hour.

Packer-Viking Game Tickets!

It’s Sunday, the Packers don’t play for a week and I am already looking forward to the next game.  Best of all is that I am going to be at Lambeau Field for the game against the Vikings.

I’ve been to quite a few Packer games and this one is going to rank right at the top.  I went to the “Mud Bowl” – which was the playoff game against the 49ers the year the Packers won the Super Bowl – and I think the game against the Vikings will be more memorable for me.

It’s not because of the fact that this game could go a very long way in deciding the division winner (Packers are 4-2 and the Vikings are 6-1).

It’s going to be so memorable because Brett Favre is going to walk into Lambeau Field in a Viking uniform.  Ok, now what I want you to do is re-read the previous sentence and think about how you would feel if you read that 5 years ago.  If you are any kind of Packer fan at all you should shudder just thinking about seeing Favre in a Viking jersey in Lambeau Field.

Another reason the game is going to be so interesting is because no one really knows how the crowd is going to react when Favre steps foot onto the field in that uniform.  Will it be mostly boos? Will it be half boos and half cheers? Will it be mostly cheering? Personally, I think (and hope) it’s to be all boos.

The fact of the matter is that no one knows how they are going to react.  Right now I plan on booing, but until I’m put in that situation I have no idea.  I’m sure there are going to be “Favre fans” that are going to go to the game planning on cheering Favre, but when they actually see Favre in a Viking uniform in Lambeau Field they will act in a total opposite manner.

Packers Sign RB Ahman Green

As injuries to their running backs are starting to stack up the Packers sign former Packer Ahman Green.  To make room for Green they put injured RB Deshawn Wynn on injured reserve.

Here is ESPN’s coverage.

I’m not sure if Green will make much of an impact now that he is 32 years old.  If he is in good playing shape he could become a valuable backup running back.

One other thing to keep in mind is that Green only needs 46 more yards to become the Green Bay Packers all-time leading rusher.  The Packers already have a new leading reciever in it’s history (Donald Driver), it would be special if they would have another name to add.

O-Line Starting to Shape Up

The Packers signed RT Mark Tauscher yesterday.  He has already said that he doesn’t expect to come in and become a savior for the struggling offensive line, in fact he isn’t even sure when he’ll be back in the lineup. It’s most like that Tauscher will be starting for the Oct. 25 game at Cleveland.  It would be important that he play in a game by then so that he would be ready before the Nov. 1 rematch against the Vikings.

Check out these photos of Tauscher back in a Packer uniform.

Chad Clifton, who has been out of the lineup since his week 2 injury, is hoping he will be ready by this week’s game against Detroit.  Whether Clifton will start or not hasn’t been made official yet, but at the very least he will be on the field as a backup.

The Packers are playing two bad teams before they get the Vikings so they don’t need to rush anyone back.  Don’t be shocked if you see the Packers’ offensive line give Aaron Rodgers more than 2.5 seconds to throw the ball when the two are back into the starting lineup within the next couple of weeks.

Tauscher close to signing with Pack

According to the Green Bay Press Gazette the Packers are close to re-signing veteran RT Mark Tauscher.  This would be a huge upgrade to an offensive line that has been less than below-average.

Tauscher has been recovering from reconstructive knee surgery since the offseason.  This is the perfect situation for Tauscher, who would most likely only get re-signed by the Packers if they had a bad stretch of injuries or someone on the line would struggle.

This would be the ideal week to bring Tauscher back to get him back into football shape because they essential have a two week period to do so with their upcoming bye week.