One More Note On Saturday’s Game » Brats & Beer

August 14, 2007
posted under: Packers, Pre-season

I know we’ve sliced, diced, and dissected last Saturday’s pre-season match against Pittsburgh for all its worth but there was one thing that I haven’t seen mentioned too much that deserves highlighting: the absence of penalties on the part of the Packers. Last season Green Bay near drove me to drink with the constant flags for false starts and holding, so it was a real step forward I think that they drew only eight penalties for 48 yards in their first game situation.

The first team offense committed just one penalty, a holding call on Daryn Colledge on the final series led by Brett Favre, and the backups were flagged only twice in the later part of the game. The Packers were called for an illegal formation in the fourth quarter under the leadership of Ingle Martin, and his backup Paul Thompson was called for delay of game on the final Green Bay series.

On defense where holding and interference calls have been the bane of our existence, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila was caught offsides once and backup linebacker Tim Goodwell was flagged for holding in the fourth quarter.

If the coaches can keep pressing the importance of eliminating those dumb mistakes from the game, they can really increase the chances for success this season. Let’s hope this trend continues through the rest of the pre-season and into the regular schedule.