Mile High Miracle: The Packers Win In Overtime » Brats & Beer

October 30, 2007
posted under: Broncos, Packers, Post-game

Freakin’ un-be-lievable.

So can we put to rest all those questions about Brett Favre’s arm strength after the whole country watched him hurl two picture perfect bombs for touchdowns at Mile High Invesco last night? The 79-yarder to James Jones in the first quarter was spot on target, and Jones deserves a lot of credit for finding his way to the end zone. But the 82-yard bomb to Greg Jennings in overtime was a thing of beauty, the perfect marriage of art and science, another Monday night miracle conjured up by Number Four.

Can we also agree that the Packers have a running game now? Alright, it came against the worst rush defense in the league, but the offensive line was actually executing the system the way it’s supposed to be executed and Ryan Grant’s 104 yards on the ground was just enough of a spark to keep Green Bay in the ball game.

Could I suggest, though, that the Packers do something about all the penalties, fer crying out loud? Thirteen flags were thrown against Green Bay for 103 yards in that game, almost as much as Grant was able to run the ball. And some of them were nearly game breakers. On that last series of the first half with the ball at the one-yard line, first Tony Moll and then Chad Clifton got called for false starts, killing a perfect chance for a touchdown that could have put the Packers ahead 17-7.

Atari Bigby did his fair share of damage as well: Two flags for pass interference and two more for unnecessary roughness and delay of game. Four penalties in one game, unacceptable. Two of them were during a single Denver drive. (Great quote from Packerama: “Why was Atari Bigby named Atari? Because he was too stupid to be named Intellivision.”)

But in the end, despite all the mistakes and missed opportunities, the team found a way to win. The defense played great all night up until the final Denver drive, and even then they stopped the Spotted Ponies short of the goal line. And so now the Packers are 6-1 and lead the division by a game over the Lions. (Nice game on Sunday, stupid Bears.) It may not always be pretty, but like Brett Favre said in his post-game press conference (paraphrasing), it’s hard to doubt this team when they keep winning.

And speaking of doubting the Packers, I might also suggest that Peter King at Sports Illustrated has no business predicting the outcome of football games. From his column yesterday: “This is going to be a very good game, and Cutler will make one more drive than Brett Favre when it counts. Denver 21, Green Bay 20.” Yeah, someone made one more drive when it counted, but it wasn’t your boy Cutler, you big tub of goo.