Januaray 3, 2005

AND.... WE ARE BACK!

By: Marty Coultas
Milwaukeeworld.com
MartyCoultas@Yahoo.com

All is well that ends well they say.  I hope that is the case for the Green Bay Packer defensive unit.  Their play on Sunday at Soldier Field was respectable.  With the exception of some stupid holding on the part of the corners, there was intensity and speed on display and the linebackers maintained their position on coverage.  Admittedly, this was the Bears, the worst offensive team in the league but when you review what transpired, we were pretty good.  I was really glad to see Sherman get all over Carroll for some of his shoddy play.  Sherman is the head coach and has the right to expect his players to play like they have had some training.  Ahmad Carroll is now 19 games into his NFL career, so that rookie excuse doesn’t hold any truth anymore.  He should know how to defend without holding and Sherman told him so on the sidelines.  Now if we can get Al Harris and Mark Roman to get on the same page when they are playing zone, and get Carroll and Thomas to quit holding, we might have a shot at the Big Game come February. 
 
There is no doubt that the Packer offense is hitting on all cylinders.  Brett has so many options where he trusts to throw that any defense which allows him time to throw will get burned.  The emergence of Javon Walker, the reemergence of Donald Driver and the unexpected development of Antonio Chatman as a go to guy give Brett weapons that he hasn’t had for years.  Maybe he has never had so many choices.  When you add in Bubba and the catching ability of All Pro William Henderson and Tony Fisher the Pack has six receivers that cannot be ignored.  That will be hard for any defense to cover completely.  Including the Eagles.  Now if we can only figure out a way to stop those opposing offenses from running downfield and catching wide open passes.
 
One thing to remember also is that the Chicago Bear offensive line is not a bad bunch and yet they were pretty much held at bay by an outstanding effort by out offensive line.  I paid a lot of attention to Mike Wahle on Sunday and his ability to square up against opposing rushers is just textbook.  Rivera is the All Pro but we are really blessed to have two terrific guards.  Sherman put in Wells yesterday at center to make Greg Ruegamer play harder and it looked like he did pretty well.  I have to wonder if Sherman thinks that one of those guys might be able to play guard.  Since we will no longer have both our guards come next season (salary cap) and since we will probably get Mike Flanigan back at center, it might be that Sherman was looking to see which of those other two guys might have the intensity and desire to play that would allow them to switch over one slot.
 
In any case, the “Struggling Vikings” will be in Green Bay at 3:30 on Sunday to play on the frozen tundra.  It is unlikely that the tundra will be too frozen, not just because of the heating system that keeps the field at 42 degrees but because the weather forecast calls for a mild day.  If Randy Moss is healthy, it becomes a tossup and our best hope is to apply pressure to Duante.  He, not Urlacher, is the most over hyped player in the NFL. Whenever he gets any kind of pressure, he immediately leaves the pocket and when he does that he makes bad decisions.  I expect us to win on Sunday in spite of that three times in any season nonsense because we are a better team than the Vikings.  I also expect that Brett and Sherman will not allow any player to play at anything other than top intensity.  
 
I will be watching the game from a little different perspective next week.  I will be in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on Sunday.  There is a bar there called the Cubbie Bear (really) and it is the place I watched the 2000 NCAA quarter finals when the Badgers beat Purdue for the berth to the final four.  The place was full of Badger fans on that day and I will be interested to see what the crowd is like this Sunday.  Anyway, I will have on green and gold and expect to see a lot of those colors down south on the Pacific coast.
 
Speaking of the Badgers/Boilermakers, the Big Ten starts for us on Wednesday and our boys from Madison have been looking much more solid lately.  The last two games we have not been sloppily allowing the opposition to get early leads and we have been much better at finishing also.  The leadership of Tucker and Chambliss and the solid play of Morely and Nixon are very hopeful.  Looks like Bo Ryan has them ready to play and our first two games on the road should be as easy as you can get on the road in the Big Ten.  But there will come that ten day stretch starting in mid January when we play the two Michigans and then Illinois that will make the season.  If you have not yet seen Illinois play, take the time.  Last week they destroyed a very good Cincinnati team and only allowed the Bearcats 43 points.  Unless they completely fall apart, Illinois is, by far, the best team in the country.  I don’t care what Billy Packer thinks, there is no team in the ACC who is even competitive with the Illini.

Until next week remember to keep your ears open and your noses clean!

Marty the Sports Chick
Milwaukeeworld.com
MartyCoultas@yahoo.com

[back to top]