Let’s not worry about the Badgers this week because, honestly, it’s only going to get worse. It’s not good when a guy who was selling furniture last year in Iowa City rips your team apart for 217 yards and four scores. Did Bret Bielema rub his Iowa Hawkeye for luck, or what?
Let’s just go over some key notes from the Packers’ domination of the Colts Sunday afternoon. Aaron Rodgers played extremely efficiently by dumping the ball underneath and allowing the receivers to fight for yards; Brandon Jackson led the team with six receptions and 37 yards.
The Colts’ secondary guarded Jennings and Driver well, but it doesn’t matter with a 75 percent completion percentage from Rodgers. Rodgers took care of the ball; maybe he had a few questionable throws, but he used his feet to avoid the rush of the defense. Come to think of it, did Dwight Freeney touch Aaron at all? Kudos to Mr. Clifton.
Ryan Grant had over 30 carries for the second-straight game and finally found the end zone. He looked strong running between the tackles, but there were times when the offensive line allowed too much penetration and Grant was taken down in the backfield.
If he fixes up some of those problems, Grant should be able to keep the legs churning. It’s interesting that no other back had a carry besides John Kuhn’s one attempt. Maybe the coaches believe Grant will just wear people down and bust runs much like last year.
How impressive was the play of the cover men? Manning completed only half of his 42 attempts for 229 yards. If we throw out that late drive in the fourth, his numbers would have been even worse.
Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison combined for four grabs and 35 yards, and that’s amazing considering Tramon Williams and Will Blackmon were on the field. These two really stepped up, and were definitely helped out with solid safely play by Nick Collins and Aaron Rouse.
The two interception returns for touchdowns were obviously great to see against Peyton Manning, but what was even better was this: Besides meaningless games at the end of the year when the Colts had nothing to gain in playoff position, Manning has thrown for a touchdown in all but two games since week four in 2005. One of those games was a three-point win, and the other was a 27-point loss. The point is, when Anthony Gonzalez’s touchdown catch was overruled late in the game, I was thrilled.
Also, did everyone see how often Manning was complaining to the officials and listening in on their conversations? Players aren’t supposed to surround the officials like that, but I guess it’s acceptable to the NFL, since Peyton sells tickets and merchandise. Where’s Archie telling his son not to act like a child after every completion?
I think there’s time for some more, but first I’ll have to call the Lions and tell them everything that I plan to do today, right Brett? Search “Brett Favre football treason” to get a good read about how much Favre must hate Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy right about now.
Please tell me that you saw the block Hines Ward put on Keith Rivers! Everyone knows that Ward likes to throw a shoulder into a guy every so often, but to hit a guy like Rivers and break his jaw is quite, um, awesome.
Rivers’ season is now over, and now he has to watch the rest of the season while eating through a straw. I had to do that for six weeks, and it will probably me more enjoyable for Rivers than watching the Bengals play; they’re not good.
I think we’ll end up with a little history lesson. In yesterday’s victory over the Jets, Sebastian Janikowski of the Raiders launched a ball 57 yards and through yellow pipes to win in overtime.
The 57-yarder is now the longest field goal to win an overtime game in NFL history. Chris Jacke held the previous record after drilling a 53-yarder during a Monday-night game in 1996 against the 49ers that also held another significant event — Robert Brooks tearing his ACL, which led to the eventual signing of Andre Rison. This game was very memorable to me for these two reasons, and that it had been the latest my mom ever let me stay up on a school night.
Key Notes of the Packers-Colts game
