ILikeThePack's one-liners.
1. Um, was it just me, or did it seem like Rodgers was going after DRC, after he made that nice play early on? Driver, Jordy, JJ (see my next one-liner), didn't matter - Roddy burned dude with each of 'em. Cold-blooded shit, that - I like it.
2. Yeah, he learned from Favre - that zipline to Jones between DRC and the LB was totally Favre-esque - "Yeah, I can get it in there." The play where GJ got hurt was another Favre-ism - one of those passes that gets there but doesn't necessarily leave your WR in a great position if someone's looking to kick his ass (NOTE: I'm not saying the concussion's his fault - let's not go there). He's flashing a little of that vintage Favre cockiness. So far I like it, but I hope it stays like a little spice on top of his already-just-fine-thank-you stew of athleticism and headiness - like it's just that little edge he picked up from the old guy on top of what already makes him good. Just my personal take/preference.
3. I thought Sutton flashed enough in a couple plays that they might want to see what they can do about keeping him around. He looked very good and decisive in a couple of his runs, and I loved that swing pass play. No, he's not a speed burner, but he's got good football speed and he's cat-quick - he's got to be useful somehow. But:
4. A large part of why Sutton looked good (and Grant, and Wynn, and Jackson, and Lumpy) was that our OL line played, overall, very well. They were more physical and dominated those trenches on many plays. They were a little more spotty in pass protection - I'd like to see that improve. But in terms of punching people in the face and being a tough, physical OL, they looked good.
5. Damn, I love Charles Woodson. Say no more.
6. Larry Fitzgerald is a MAN - I didn't like seeing him carve us up, but I also remembered who I was watching. Yeah, you'd like to stop him, but in reality your best hope is to slow him down some. Meanwhile, I don't have a problem recognizing excellence in the enemy - that dude is just sick.
7. As with the other games, I'm troubled a bit that the D seems to let teams make hay between the 20s. There's still a disturbing lack in fundamental soundness and players being assignment-sure - it's the 3rd preseason game, though, so that's honestly to be expected. To be fair, they're farther along this curve than I would have predicted prior to the preseason - they have managed to stiffen inside the red zone for the most part, and they've sure as hell got a nose for the football and for creating mayhem. This to me means that our personnel ARE a great fit for this scheme, and as the season goes along and they continue on that soundness curve they'll just get better and better. This D will be better this year, I'm convinced of that - I'm even hopeful that it'll be good. If we can keep everything more or less together for 2010, it could be truly special. But for now, they make me a little nervous - too many seam pass completions, too many big runs.
8. As has been hashed and rehashed to death at this point, what matters in the preseason (other than injuries) is how your first team units play. Ours have been good to great in all 3 contests to this point. First Buffalo was better than Cleveland and they would be a better test. Then Buffalo and Cleveland were both crap and Arizona was going to show us what was what. Well, we demolished them too, at least for the part of the game where it at least sort of mattered. I think you see where I'm going here.
9. There's a lot to be optimistic about. There's also plenty of work still to do, but this team looks really good and ready to compete. I'm pretty stoked about that, myself.