And Then The Defense Faltered | Brats & Beer
Posted by BratsNBeerGuy on Nov 2, 2008 in Uncategorized | 0 comments
The stage was all set for an upset. The 4-3 Packers had gone toe-to-toe with the undefeated Titans for sixty minutes and a victory in Nashville was there within their grasp. But in the end when it counted, the defense failed to stand tall and come up with a stop.
Now don’t get me wrong, the offense had its chances to put more points on the board and possibly seal a win earlier in the game, but it was put to the defense to save the day and they couldn’t do it. Which is a shame because I thought overall they played well for nearly sixty minutes — save for the minute or two it took LenDale White to lumber 54 yards downfield. Whether it was Bob Sanders’ play-calling (which I’m inclined to believe) or just problems with execution doesn’t really matter; the D unit was put to a test against a solid football team and they failed the final exam.
It’s a shame too because this could have been one of those wins that boosts a team’s confidence and launches them from so-so and under-the-radar to emerging power in the second half of the season. There were some real positives here, such as Ryan Grant’s finally finding the holes and showing some no-quit effort and the defense getting two sacks against a team that had given up just two others this whole season, but Green Bay just couldn’t get to the endzone and they couldn’t get off the field when they really needed to.
So we fall back to .500 with games against the Vikings and the Bears looming on the horizon. Hopefully whatever positives the Packers can take from this game they will take, and whatever lessons they can learn they will learn. Green Bay has the talent, I belive, to make a run for the post-season, but they have to raise the level their game if they want to be in that elite group at the end of the year.