I Don’t Like Mondays » Brats & Beer
Posted on August 29, 2006
If the third preseason game really is a dress rehearsal for the season opener, then maybe we should think about postponing the show until everyone has learned their lines. Last night’s 48-17 blowout on Monday Night Football was a ridiculous, embarassing farce; it was so bad even Mother Nature tried to step in to stop the carnage. The defense at least was able to slow the Bengals down enough to keep them from scoring 50 points.
The list of things that went wrong is too long to fit even in this space, so here’s what went right:
- Jon Ryan didn’t drop a punt snap
- Cullen Jenkins
- No one got hurt
Seriously, it was that bad that I had to throw in the injury thing just to get the list to three items. I suppose I could have mentioned that Cory Rodgers didn’t muff a punt, but then again the Bengals only needed to bring out their punter twice in the game and Rodgers only fielded one of those kicks.
Cullen Jenkins, though, did look like the only Packer who got anything done. He was consistently getting into the backfield to put pressure on Palmer, but he was always just a half beat late and Palmer always had someone open. And what happened to tackling? Have they been so focused on schemes that they forgot to run tackling drills? Both Woodson and Harris flat out missed tackles in the open field that allowed touchdowns or big gains.
I’m not even going to get into all the weaknesses of the offense, you all saw it, except to say that 2.8 yards per carry is not an improvement in the running game. I did think that Green looked like a gamer who was at least trying, but he doesn’t have the burst yet (anymore?) to get around the outside and there were rarely holes in the interior for him to run through. Green Bay’s zone blocking looked more like zoned out blocking most of the time.
I did learn last night what it’s like to walk a mile in the shoes of other football fans besieged by Brett Favre mania. Yes, Carson Palmer has made an amazing recovery and I suppose it’s an inspirational tale of how much medical science can do for you if you’re a multi-millionaire quarterback, but I don’t care. Like millions of other Packer fans, I was watching the game to find out how the other team would do, so just shut up about Palmer already.
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