Week Nine in Review

Alright, let's all just take a deep breath. It doesn't do any good to freak out or throw in the towel or mope around for a week. Let's just assess the situation for what it is, and keep our fucking composure. Here's the situation: Aaron Rodgers has a small fracture in his collar bone on his non-throwing shoulder. According to Rodgers, as of Tuesday afternoon, he and team doctors 'haven't talked at all about a timetable.' **UPDATE: Mike McCarthy said in a press conference Tuesday evening that Rodgers has a fractured clavicle and the team is taking a week to week mindset on his return.** So you can essentially disregard any reports of three weeks or season ending or questionable for next week. Certainly Rodgers could be withholding information here, but we'll no doubt receive an honest and accurate timetable from McCarthy or Rodgers within a day or two. First the good news. It's his non-throwing shoulder. Even if he's forced to miss the rest of this season, his throwing motion or ability will not be affected at all going forward. Players can return rather quickly from collar bone fractures (possibly within a month) without risking further injury. The Packers' medical staff has all kinds of drugs and needles to make Aaron's boo boo feel good for a few hours. We're currently 5-3 and tied for first place in the division. The backup quarterback has been in the league for over a decade, has 21 starts under his belt, has a decent TD to INT ratio (31/19), and has some decent mobility. Now the bad news. That veteran quarterback with the decent stats and good experience looked like complete dog shit when forced into action last night. The Bears and Lions are also 5-3 right now, and the Lions are significantly healthier than the Pack. A broken collarbone could absolutely be a season-ender, in which case Packer football might not even be fun to watch. So here's my take, if Rodgers misses four games or less, we're still very much in this thing. All we would need is one win from Wallace over that stretch, which gives us a chance to finish 10-6, a mark that generally secures a spot in the postseason. If Rodgers is forced to miss more time than that, I'd say we're pretty well fucked. It's with a heavy Packer heart that I present what I liked and didn't like:

What I Liked:

Eddie Lacy: Wow. What a performance. With everyone in the stadium knowing that he'd be getting the ball, he was still able to rack up 150 yards and a score. A 56-yarder helped him finish with an average of 6.8 yards per carry. This fucker runs HARD. I wouldn't want to tackle him, and neither did the fucking Bears. God. Fuck the Bears. Bunch of assholes.

Special Teams: The blocked punt was awesome and timely. A play like that is a huge momentum shifter, and along with the running game helped give us a chance last night. Crosby was again perfect, adding to his already impressive year. Hyde averaged 25 yards on two punt returns, while his counterpart (that douche bag Hester whose too dumb to play receiver) never had a chance to break one. Masthay downed four punts inside their 20, including one tracked down at the one yard line by Davon House. We also converted a surprise onside kick. That's a really solid day on special teams, and these guys deserve some credit.

Uhhhhh, Sam Shields?: I seem to remember him having a decent enough game. Whatever fuck the Bears.

What I Didn't Like:

Wallace for MVP! Nice guns at least.

Seneca Wallace: Step it up jerk! Show some veteran savvy! Throw a pass more than four fucking yards! Are you even aware that defenders sometimes try to knock down passes at the line?! Did you all of the sudden forget how to run? 3.87 yards per passing play? Yea, that's getting it done alright. A total QBR of 7.7? Great job! We might even hand you the keys to the franchise. You are truly an inspiration. This just in: Seneca Wallace jersey sales top the list of all major US sports! You heard it here first.

Pass Rush: You know who the Bears had starting at quarterback? Josh McCown. You know how many times we sacked him? Once. We just made Josh McCown look like Peyton Fucking Manning by giving him roughly 90 minutes to decide where to throw every play. Oh sure, Gruden and whats-his-face wanted to slob all over the Bears' receivers' knobs, but they were pretty much just there. A nice catch here, decent YAC there, fine, but this was mostly about giving a shit QB all the time he needed to look serviceable. Fuck you Josh McCown, I hate you and I'm glad your career never panned out. Canton doesn't usually enshrine goofy looking fuckers with a career passer rating of 72.7.

Play Calling: Look, I get it. You're left with a bad quarterback. Everyone's all downtrodden. You don't want him to make you look bad by embarrassing himself. But god dammit you have to throw the ball downfield at some point! I mean seriously, how easy is it for an NFL defense to stop an offense that either runs the ball or throws a four yard pass on every play? How about running a bootleg? You have heard of a bootleg, haven't you? Is misdirection featured in any of the 10,000 plays you've got on that color coded sheet? Does Wallace have his own color on that sheet? Does it contain a total of four plays? Have you ever even met this guy before? You know he runs well right?

Extra Points:

- The Bears are a bunch of little bitches and if they think they are going to win anything meaningful in the near future, then they are sadly mistaken.

- After tallying 11 sacks for 58 yards in the first three games without Clay Matthews, the Packers' defense managed just one sack for 2 yards last night.

- Offensive tackle and former first round pick Derek Sherrod was activated from the Physically Unable to Perform list today, and Jermichael Finley was placed on injured reserve, ending his season.

- The Packers' emergency quarterback (Randall Cobb) was not playing yesterday, so an injury to Wallace could have made things hilarious. Why not put B.J. back there at that point?

**OK I WAS WRONG..... BUT THEN I WAS RIGHT**

I was annoyed by all the 'concern' over the backup quarterback situation during the off-season. I found it boring and less important than plenty of other issues. I was wrong. On the other hand, I suggested two weeks ago that we sign Matt Flynn after he was cut by the Raiders. Had we done that at the time, he would have had two weeks back in the offense that he already knew very well, and would have been ready to rock both last night and in the coming weeks. He is currently a free agent after being cut yesterday by the Bills, and I still think we should sign him, but he'll most likely be rusty. I would have felt a lot more confident with a re-acclimated Matt Flynn than both a cold Matt Flynn and Seneca Wallace.

**BONUS QUOTE OF THE WEEK**

"...we could describe (concentrated global power) as an array of mega-corporations, often linked to one another by strategic alliances, administering a global economy which is in fact a kind of corporate mercantilism tending towards oligopoly in most sectors, heavily reliant on state power to socialize risk and cost, and to subdue recalcitrant elements."

- Chomsky

**WHAT WAS I DRINKING**

New Glarus Moon Man. Super clean pale ale that hits the spot every time. I was this close to giving up on New Glarus, but they pulled me back in with this total classic.