Sunday, November 04, 2007

Game Recap! Green Bay Packers 6-1 at Kansas City Chiefs (4-3)

All right, we continue our tour through the AFC West with a stop in KC. For the record it should be noted that I like KC. The town's got some cool restaurants, some dedicated fans and a pretty cool history.

Items of Concern for the day:
#1 - Joe Buck being allowed to speak in public.
#2 - Tony Gonzalez. Hall of fame tight ends are always a problem. Hall of fame tight ends surrounded by Atari Bigby and the Swarmin' Mormon are another issue altogether.

This game feels a lot like last week. I feel like the Packers are the better team but the setting, the schedule and the random goofiness that is the NFL leave me feeling a bit worried. Fortunately I have Chex Mix and a good dog at my side. That's really all you need for a tough road game. Let's kick this pig!

As always, comments are in italics when the opponent has the ball.

1st Quarter

14:51 - Okay. Tony G has his first catch of the day. 7 yards. Say one thing about the Chiefs, they're not shy about who their main guy is. The D forces a 3 and out after that one play however.

9:41 - Dangit. The Packers were driving thanks to a nice mix of Ryan Grant (3-4 yards at a time) and the same pass play run back to back for 1st downs, other than flipping the direction it was the same deal. Unfortunately Favre overthrew Greg Jennings and was picked off. Jennings got a hand on it but it was high and wild.

8:21 - Atari Bigby...er, I'm sorry, after last week's debacle he is now officially known as "the much maligned Atari Bigby" drills Dwayne Bowe on a pass attempt over the middle. D-Bo is out of the game at the moment. I know the first initial, first syllable nickname system has been overused but I like D-Bo. Sounds like a Star Wars character. After the game you can find D-Bo at the Mos Eisley Cantina ladies.

3:35 - Absolutely nothing of note has occurred in the past 5 minutes. This will continue into the second quarter. This is what is known as "prime laundry folding time". I don't mean to brag but I knocked out two baskets of towels.

2nd Quarter

15:00 - A fairly mundane drive by Green Bay results in our first points of the day. It could have been more but Greg Jennings dropped a slant on third down that could have gone for serious yardage. I mean that literally by the way, it would not have gone for "goofy yardage" or "pensive yardage", only "serious yardage" is applicable in that sentence. Crosby hits from 48. I wonder what happened to the guy he replaced?

GREEN BAY 3 - KANSAS CITY 0

12:33 - Nick Collins nearly came up with a spectacular diving interception along the sideline. There was no challenge on the incomplete ruling. At first I was upset at this but then I noticed he was on the Green Bay sideline and his coaches and teammates saw he didn't get it. Anyway, that was fun. Still waiting on Nick to break out.

2:52 - After yet another Aaron Kampman sack (this time with Corey Williams in on it too) the Chiefs are forced to punt. If the right tackle for the Chiefs is a pop tart (and it's not unreasonable to think he is) then Kampman is a toaster. Favre hits Don Lee over the middle for a 1st down. Don breaks a tackle and scampers (yes, scampers) to the Chief 22 yard line. 44 yards on the play.

2:00 - The offense can't move it after that. We've just been informed that KC has the best Red Zone defense in the league. Super. Crosby hits from 37. During the commercial Fox labled next week's matchup between Dallas and New York as the "game of the year". Which of course should have been immediately followed by them saying "...on our station." Alas, twas not to be.

GREEN BAY 6 - KANSAS CITY 0

1:00 - The D forces a three and out. KC just looks scattered. They can't run much and they can't pass much (other than to Tony Gonzalez, of course). We'll have the ball with all our timeouts and 45 seconds or so.

:25 - Um. What? Favre got hit as he threw and gets picked off. KC returns it to the Green Bay 30. This is not ideal. You can't blame for getting hit on the hand as he threw, but if the rush is there why even throw it? Just eat it and take your 6-0 lead into the half.

:18 - After a pass interference call on TMM Atari Bigby the Chiefs have 1st and goal from the one. And now Larry Johnson has a TD. Wow. The Chiefs have something like 50 total yards and are leading at the half.

GREEN BAY 6 - KANSAS CITY 7

3rd Quarter

13:00 - I think AJ Hawk just made a tackle on special teams. Is there an injury or are we busting him down to private? Also, anyone notice that I'm so lazy I don't even put the periods after "A" and "J"?

11:00 - How is this game close? KC has 69 yards on penalties and 67 yards of their own. They also just picked up their first 3rd down conversion of the day. They're now 1 for 6. Thanks to Troy "Jinx" Aikman bringing it up. Way to go Troy. Nick Collins had his knee violently twisted on the tackle. Aaron Rouse has replaced him. Let's see how much that changes things.

3:22 - On 3rd and 1 from the KC 36 Ryan Grant gets stuffed. Crosby from 52. Pulled wide left. Well, at least we gave KC awesome field position. That's good.

2:03 - AJ Hawk picks off Huard and returns it to the KC 30. I think the highlight there was Hawk somehow managing to show off some nifty moves while also being in complete "coverup" position on the football. Put him in at tailback coach!

:24 - Jennings runs a little out and then slants across the middle. After 9 pumpfakes Favre hits him for the touchdown. We're back in this thing kids! Also, how much difference does Jennings make in this offense? Let the harping in the booth about not going for two begin in five, four, three...

GREEN BAY 13 - KANSAS CITY 7

4th Quarter

11:11 - I don't know if it's Collins missing or if the D is just tired but they just let KC put together their first legit drive of the day. Tony G had two big catches for 1st downs and the running game is doing just enough. They ran a pretty fake reverse that was actually a slow developing screen play for the TD. By the time LJ caught the ball he had blockers in position to go 30 yards untouched. That's not really an accomplishment by the way, I go untouched for far longer and no one says a dang thing.

GREEN BAY 13 - KANSAS CITY 14

11:03 - Well then. That was an example of not answering a challenge and also the opposite. Dave Rayner (former Kicker, pining for his days in GB) kicked off out of bounds giving us the ball on the 40. Then, Favre hits Donald Driver over the middle for 44 yards to answer KC's touchdown. He was double covered and caught it with one hand. Favre threw from his back foot and hit him in stride. We're on the KC 22 and I feel very pretty all of a sudden.

8:52 - The drive stalls when a blitz isn't picked up on 3rd and 8. Favre gets rid of it. Crosby hits from 32.

GREEN BAY 16 - KANSAS CITY 14

7:52 - AJ Hawk had a nice tackle on LJ to prevent a 1st down. He came down on Johnson's ankle and twisted it pretty bad. I'd be shocked if we see him again today.

6:24 - COVER THE FUCKING TIGHT END!

5:23 - COVER THE FUCKING TIGHT END WHEN HE IS IN THE END ZONE! Bigby late on the cover of Tony G. How can one man be this tough to stop? He's like the Master Chief of football players. The Chiefs went through quite the process to get their 2 point conversion. We had stops, and penalties, on their first two attempts. It was too frustrating and sad to recount here. By the by, Tony Gonzalez has 109 yards today. The rest of his team combined has 108. I think I spotted the weakness coach!

GREEN BAY 16 - KANSAS CITY 22

3:05 - For all the talk about us being a dink and dunk team we sure score quickly sometimes. Favre hit Driver for 11, KoRo for 10 and a first and then after an incompletion he hits Greg Jennings 50 yards downfield for the touchdown. Jennings just ran right down the middle and Favre hit him perfectly. 60 yards in all.

GREEN BAY 23 - KANSAS CITY 22

2:58 - Wow. That was way too close. Some dude* named Jeff Webb just missed putting KC at the Green Bay 40 by failing to get his second foot down on a deep ball from Huard. Some random assistant grabbed Mike III and told him to challenge and he just got it in. Thankfully Herm Edwards and his staff were caught sleeping too.

2:14 - KGB sacks Huard and a punt is coming. It's late in the game but KC has 3 timeouts and the 2 minute warning coming.

1:59 - Wow. Just fucking wow! Chuck Woodson returned the ball from the Green Bay 40 to the KC 30 on the punt. He also wasted the two minute warning. That's helpful. Great scrambling return.

1:44 - After three straight Brandon Jackson runs (Grant had that fumble against the Vikings) and three timeouts it's once again Crosby time. This time from 45. It's good.

GREEN BAY 26 - KANSAS CITY 22

1:35 - I know there's been some talk about Hawk being a little quiet lately. This game should take care of that. He just had great coverage and a pass breakup to force third down. He was running full speed and turned his head at the last second to avoid the Pass Interference call. Nice work.

1:00 - On 3rd and 2 from their own 40 or so Huard gets picked off by Chuck Woodson. Chuck being Chuck, he returns it 45 yards for the touchdown. This game is over.

GREEN BAY 33 - KANSAS CITY 22

17 points in the last 5 minutes or so thanks to big plays on special teams (Chuck) and the defense (Chuck). That guy might have a future in this league.

I didn't see any blown coverages or anything but KC's offense didn't do much until Nick Collins left the game. I wonder what effect that had on it. Not the prettiest, but it's another win. I'll take it.

* I like to use the "some dude" designation when referring to a player I have never heard of before despite far too much watching of HBO sports, NFL Network and the other big sports sites.

1 comment:

Butch said...

Very nice. You are one funny MF'er.

This has to be the weirdest season I've ever watched. Every week we find another way to pull the rabbit out of the hat. I'll take it.