Sunday, November 05, 2006

Packer Gameday: Green Bay (3-4) at Buffalo (2-5)

For the last week I've been trying to convince myself (and others, I suppose) that the Packers will win this game. This is largely because I live in Minnesota and I'm 100% certain that they will lose to San Francisco later today. I like the idea of being 4-4 and tied with the Vikings heading into next week's showdown. Just to get all the Vikings fans sweating at the thought of losing to a team that they had written off in the preseason.

That being said - now that the game is here I'm a little nervous. No idea why though. JP Losman (or JLoss as he's beginning to be known) is terrible. Other than Willis McGahee I don't think much of anyone on their team. I know the D is solid but c'mon, there's a reason they haven't won a big game in 10 years right?

Today's announcers, like every week it seems, are Ron Pitts and Terry Donahue. I can think of worse company. That last sentence is pretty damn sad when you think about it. Is there anyone out there that actually LIKES any of the announcers? I mean ANY of 'em? Help me out here.

As previously discussed. Italics means the Bills have the ball. I think you can figure out the rest. If not, well, congrats on getting to the site. I have no idea how you managed it but I'm not one to complain.

1st Quarter

14:50 - 59 yard kick return by Terrence McGee sets the Bills up on our 29. I was kinda hoping to not be losing within 20 seconds.

13:08 - Stop me if you've seen this before. Buffalo has two McGahee runs for 9 yards. On 3rd and 1 they have a false start. Then a timeout because the clock was running out. 100% awesome. Dick Jauron you never change!

11:34 - Another 3rd and 1 for the Bills on our 10. McGahee goes left and the entire D-line breaks through to stuff him for a 2 yard loss. He's hurt. Man I hate that. I really do. I want the Packers to win but I hate seeing a guy get hurt. I'm the guy that gets annoyed playing a video game if the computer lets me win 35-0 every time. I need the challenge. What's the point of watching a game if your heart doesn't get racing every once in a while? Figgie for Buffalo. GREEN BAY 0 - BUFFALO 3.

11:00 - Before the kickoff I can hear "welcome to the jungle" by G n' R. That's ridiculous. I couldn't even listen to that band back in '87 when Appetite for Destruction came out because my parents thought I'd go all Dee Snider or something. Now the song is played during every kickoff of every game in the most popular league in the nation every Sunday. And it's been THE go to song for the past, what, 5 years? 10? Now that everyone finally agrees it's a bad idea to play Gary Glitter's music at games thanks to his, y'know, thing for kids this is the preeminent song in stadiums nationwide.

8:37 - Matt Schobel makes two pretty plays to force us to punt. Ron and Terry in the booth want us to believe he's just like Aaron Kampman. Mainly because he's a "motor" guy. Not because he's white right guys? How many white defensive ends are any good in the league? Is that the reason fellas? I'm just wondering.

4:50 - In the "battle of the white guys" Kampman comes back with a nice sack of JLoss. He's now leading the league with 9 1/2 on the season. Because he never gives up! Ever!

2:30 - The Packers get pinned at their own 6 yard line after a pretty punt from the Buffalo guy. No idea who he is. The pack react accordingly and pick up 3 yards and then punt. The field position battle is not going well.

1:43 - Anthony Thomas (in for McGahee) takes a little screen for 7 yards. He was wide open. Why is it that screens work so well against us? Brady? Brady? I was just asking you buddy. You may want to track those tailbacks a bit more closely.

1:03 - On 3rd and 3 for Buffalo Corey Williams picks up the sack going right up the gut. I wonder if the guys all yell "the middle's open" like we do when the Pitcher ducks a liner in a beer league softball game?

:40 - For the second time today we're starting from our 6 after another pretty punt from the Buffalo guy. I'd learn his name but then I would have to pay attention to punters and I'm just not that kind of guy.

2nd Quarter

14:12 - London Fletcher picks Favre off on a short slant and returns it 15 yards for the TD. Will the offense be showing up soon? Did they all stop off at Niagara Falls for some teambuilding excercises or something? GREEN BAY 0 - BUFFALO 10.

10:54 - The Packers have a nice drive going and then Wells and Favre fumble the snap. The ball of course goes right to the Bills. I can't believe we're relying on the D this much and we're not down by 20.

8:55 - The D comes up with another stop. It's entirely possible that Losman is really this terrible but man do we look good right now. The punt went out of bounds on the 12 too so this is our best field position all day.

5:33 - Greg Jennings picks up 20 yards on a slant and then makes the safety miss. He then promptly leaves the game because of his ankle. I'd ask TT to sign more wide receivers but they're just gonna fall apart anyway.

4:50 - 3rd and 9 from the Buffalo 35. We don't even need a first down, just pick up 5-6 yards and let Rayner go to work. Instead we decide to not protect the quarterback and Favre holds the ball too long for a sack. Punt.

2:43 - After another stop by the D the Buffalo punter, who I begrudgingly acknowledge is Brian Moorman, punts it roughly 112 yards. Bodiford continues his pattern of retreating 5 yards trying to get around the corner so it's a net of 117.

2:00 - Funny little deal here. Favre is just walking towards the huddle but he's alone. The exit music before commercial is Outkast's "I Like the Way You Move". That was pretty funny right there.

:14 - The Packers are driving. Down to the 10 or so after a beautiful little sideline, twinkle toes ball tipping catch by Jennings.

:10 - As Favre is scanning the field for protection and coverage reasons the ball gets snapped. He's not ready. It hits off his helmet and immediately goes to the Bills. How does this happen? Aaaarrgggghhh!

3rd Quarter

14:50 - Ahman Green (who is officially back to being good) bursts up the middle for 19. Nice start to the half.

12:21 - The drive once again gets stymied around the 40 of the Bills again. I know we've had long fields to work with but we can't get into scoring range for some reason without acting like idiots. Jon Ryan punts and stops it at the 3. Ha! Take that Moorman!

9:50 - In what can only be described (improbably) as a defensive battle to this point, Nick Barnett sticks Anthony Thomas for a loss on third and one. Moorman, who clearly has signed the soul of his right leg over to the devil (and possibly his plant foot) booms another punt from his end zone. We start on our own 35, which is actually pretty good today.

8:30 - After a nice pass to DD and a run by Ahman we're inside the Buffalo 40 yard line again. This is, of course, where Packer competence goes to die.

4:53 - Matt Schobel, y'know, the talented white guy, comes through unblocked and Favre almost gets picked off by the awesomely named Takeo Spikes.

4:17 - 2 yard slant for the TD to DD. That ball traveled 9 feet tops. GREEN BAY 7 - BUFFALO 10.

4:09 - During the kickoff, Ron Pitts mentions that the Packers have the best kick coverage in the nfl. What? Really? Is, um, kick coverage really down this year in the league or something?

3:19 - The D comes up with another gem of a series. We just went Sack, almost interception, sack at the Buffalo 1.

2:56 - Moorman, with his leg still wet from being dipped in the river Styx, drills another monster punt from the back of his end zone. We start out on our 45.

4th Quarter

14:56 - The D holds again. I'd write if it was interesting but this whole game has been three and outs. I'm seriously considering clipping my fingernails here.

12:50 - 3rd and 9 from the Buffalo 32. Again, we don't need a first down, just a few yards to make a figgie easier will do in this situation. We go for the 25 yard play. DD gets mauled and there's no call, but why are we going for everything when we're just outside of scoring range? We could have 6 points just by throwing a 3 yard pass to a fullback.

12:41 - Rayner drills it from 49. I don't miss Longwell. By the way this changes nothing about the previous rant. 49 in Buffalo is not easy, 42 is no gimme but I think we'd all prefer it would we not? GREEN BAY 10 - BUFFALO 10.

10:16 - With the Bills driving Corey Williams comes up with a huge sack. Barnett tips the next pass and we've got the ball coming our way.

9:38 - We're on the 10 (surprise!). We will take 38 seconds and go three and out here. The field position battle has just been lost.

8:28 - With a normal punt, solid return and a 5 yard penalty thrown in just for the hell of it, just for the yell I get, just for the smell of it the Bills have the ball on the Packer 33.

8:01 - Marquand Manuel gets banged up and has to leave the field for one play. What's one play? A big one when Al Harris thinks he has deep help and he does not. Lee Evans scores from 43 yards out. GREEN BAY 10 - BUFFALO 17.

5:11 - The Packers are driving along well. Ahman's over 100 again and looking good.

4:33 - It's either 1st and goal from the 1 or maybe 2nd and 1 or something. Can't tell. Anywho, we're on the 1 of Buffalo. Just stuff this in with the run like we did all the way down the field and tie this thing up. Or throw a short slant to DD that gets tipped to Ko Simpson for an INT. Awesome. Just awesome. Why aren't we running again?

3:01 - Anthony Thomas carries 3 times for 28 yards and this one is over. GREEN BAY 10 - BUFFALO 24.

By the way, Terry Donahue, this was not a trap game for the Packers. Trap games don't exist when you're under .500 so please stop saying this was a trap game.

1:30 - The Packers fail to convert on 4th and 10 since Buffalo decided to cover Noah Herron on the check down pass. This game should have been a 21 - 10 win or something along those lines. Instead we lost to a team that passed for all of 78 yards against our swiss cheese secondary. Ugh. Plus this totally screws up my plans for making Vikings fans uncomfortable all week. I mean, a fella deserves to have some fun right?

FINAL: GREEN BAY 10 - BUFFALO 24

On the plus side I managed to include "stymied", "gem" and an inappropriate Salt N' Pepa lyric today. So that's something.

1 comment:

Majikman said...

That game sucked. At least the bears and vikings lost.