We all thought the Packers had turned the corner, but then they went out and shit themselves (again) v the Raiders. Yeah, the Packers won, but the performance was NOT impressive. The defense held up and scored enough points to give us the margin of victory.
The offense was woeful, as it has been for much of the season. It seemed to me that Aaron purposely gunned the ball high and through Janis’s hands at the goal line. And honestly, I’m not the only one who thought that.
But this week is the biggest test. If this team is gonna do anything at all in the playoffs, they need to start showing up, and that means TODAY. This is a Cardinals team that was dominating the league last year until they lost their starting QB, Carson Palmer. They are playing great and are heavily favored.
I’m still picking Green Bay though. This team always shows up in these situations. I predict Aaron Rodgers will stop sand bagging this offense out of personal spite, due to Mike McCarthy not letting Aaron’s personal cabana boy call plays anymore.
Mike will have something special planned here. Look for a new look on offense. And a trick ST play like an out of the blue onside kick wouldn’t surprise me either.
The Packers have a chance at a #2 seed in the playoffs, which would give them a week off. That’s a huge advantage in the playoffs. The bye teams come back rested and healed. But to have that chance, we need to win today.
Frankly, as I stated last week, I don’t CARE if we win or lose this game. Winning would be great. That #2 seed would be huge. But what I want to see is this team SHOWING UP. If they come out and shit themselves all over the field, it could be over for this staff. This offense is consistently LESS than the sum of its parts.
Criticize the defense all you want, but they’ve been the savior this season.
The Cardinals have a good secondary, but I think the Packers can get open. This will take some creativity by Mike, but I think we’ll see it. I’m sick of hearing about how these guys are “too slow,” and how we can’t get it done without Jordy Nelson. None of these guys are slower than Nelson. In fact, if anything, they’re faster.
Cardinals also have a tough run D, but I think the Packers will be able to get yards up the middle with Lacy and Starks. Assuming Lacy decides to show up today, and I think he will.
The big issues today will be playing without starting LT David Bakhtiari and top CB Sam Shields. Bakhtiari protects Aaron’s blind side (or at least tries to,) and he will be replaced by journeyman G/RT Don Barclay. I expect him to exceed expectations, probably with help from newly activated TE Andrew Quarless. Aaron should be getting the ball out fast today, which always helps this offense.
As for losing Shields, look for our star rookie CBs to give up some plays, but ultimately hold up pretty decently against the vaunted Phoenix passing attack. Wouldn’t surprise me to see a few INTs either.
On ST, look for a big return by kickoff man Jeff Janis. He’s great on punt coverage too. My prediction is that he will get stuffed between the 15-20 most times, but also break a long one of 45+ yards.
I’m predicting the Packers show up today and shock everyone by playing well and (probably) winning. Then they’ll have a shot at the #2 seed next week, everything will fall their way, but they’ll shit themselves in crunch time against the Vikings.
But hopefully, they'll be ready for playoff football.