Well, in the event this post comes off a bit creaky, I’ll apologize in advance.
So I know we haven’t updated this site in awhile. We hope to change that soon. As of now, though, we aren’t sure. Either way, that’s another post for another time.
For now, if y’all don’t mind, I’d like to offer some quick thoughts on the Green Bay Packers’ often stirring, often shaky 45-38 road win over the San Diego Chargers earlier today. Some of these thoughts will fall into the broader spectrum of things that have been going on throughout the season because, well, we haven’t written anything all season.
Again. Sorry. But…um…enjoy!
Yes, 8-0 is 8-0. And, throughout the season, I’ve been the first one to say that wins are wins and they’re always a good thing. This one felt different somehow. This was the first time this season that a Green Bay victory left me wanting more. It’s true San Diego (4-4 overall) was a desperate team coming off an embarassing loss, thus ensuring it’d fight until the bitter end. But, no matter what the circumstances, there’s simply no excuse for damn-near coughing up a three-score lead in the final 10:27 of a game. None.
And why did the Packers nearly cough it up? Because, simply put, this defense is not playing at a championship level. The unit can’t get after the quarterback, struggles to tackle and leaves receivers way too open way too often. Those faults were all on display in this one.
There’s been much hand-wringing – rightfully so – about the lack of pass rush. Is Clay Matthews hurt? Is B.J. Raji gassed from playing roughly 400 percent of the defensive snaps? Is it a schematic issue? All of those three things play factors, of course, but really, the issue is this: this team banked everything on Mike Neal seamlessly filling the void left by Cullen Jenkins. When Neal got hurt, it left the team with only two reliable pass rushers: Raji and Matthews. Big, big difference between having three reliable pass rushers and two reliable pass rushers. Opponents have simply decided to key in on those two and take their chances with the Frank Zombos, Erik Waldens and Jarius Wynns on this roster. Those players aren’t terrible, of course, but they just aren’t good enough to get to the quarterback consistenly. We’re eight games in – I think it’s fair to say that by now.
The defense sure is good at coming up with turnovers, though, huh? Three picks, two returned for scores – scores that, really, were the difference in the game. It’s something the unit’s been able to do throughout the season. A major positive (okay, so that’s an understatement. Again, I’m rusty).
In the end, relying almost solely on their collective ability to take the ball away is what’s worked so far for the unit. I just continue to worry about what happens when the Pack draws an offense – more specifically, a quarterback – who doesn’t give them that chance. Is this defense gonna be able to carry the team in a big game when Aaron Rodgers struggles, something that you have to think will happen at some point this season?
Wait, on second thought…WILL Rodgers struggle at some point this season?
I ask that because, simply put, I’ve never seen the quarterback position played as well as Rodgers is playing it right now. He had some flubs today on account of holding the ball too long, but other than that, the man is poetry in motion back there. Every single week, he’s hitting throws that no one – no one - else in this league could hit. That touchdown throw to Jordy Nelson at the end of the first half, for example? Sick, sick, sick. He instills a confidence in you, as a fan, that Brett Favre never did. You just feel like he’s never going to risk a game-changing mistake for a game-changing play. He takes his shots, to be sure, but they seem like SMART shots.
And, with the weaponry at his disposal, it’s almost too easy for him at times. The big three of Jermichael Finley, Greg Jennings and Jordy Nelson (16 catches, 195 yards, three scores combined today) are so good, there’s seemingly no way for opponents to take them ALL out. And, in those rarest of instances when all three are contained? Well, there’s James Jones coming up with a 21-yard touchdown snag! Pick your poison, ladies. Pick. Your. Poison.
What I’m trying to say – sorry, there’s that damn rust again – is that this offense is so freaking talented, I just don’t think there’s a defense that can hold them down for four quarters.
And that’s why today left me wanting more. This offense is powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline (damn you kids who won’t get that reference!). The defense does not have to be a shutdown unit (it’d be nice, though). It just has to allow, say, 20-24 points a week and we’ll be fine. With half a season in the books, I have yet to believe it can do that against a top-flight offense.
Well, dear listeners, football is back — and so are we. Adam, Chris and I dusted off the microphones, exchanged awkwardly bromantic virtual greetings and got back to the bid’ness of podcasting about your favorite football team.
We discussed the end of the lockout, the start of training camp and what we expect to see from the Packers early this year. Chris Lempesis, who showed up in the best podcasting shape of his life, shares this year’s winner of the Chris Lempesis My Guy Award (the player he’s expecting to be the breakout story of camp, and you remember what he did for Des Bishop last year, right?). And of course, it wouldn’t be us if we didn’t poke a little fun at the returning NFC North basement-dwellers and their silly belief that they can solve their quarterback problem with Donovan McNabb.
You can listen to it below, or you can find us on iTunes. Enjoy!
I don’t know about you, dear readers, but for me, this offseason has brought a blissful absence from football. The Packers’ 13th world championship was so surprising, and so satisfying, I’ve been happy to let the prospect of the 2011 NFL season stay far away from the front of my mind. After the emotional grind that was the runup to the Super Bowl, I’ve been almost happy, in a way, to let the NFL lockout scrub OTAs, UFAs, undrafted free agents and minicamps from public conversation. I’m living in a state of suspended fanhood bliss, where the Vikings are in disarray, the Bears are in denial and the Packers are world champions.
But as the calendar turned to June, it hit me: My dream state could have a short shelf life. We’re now closer to the Packers’ scheduled Sept. 8 opener against the New Orleans Saints than we are to their win over their Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLV. And while the lockout still has the league in limbo, that could give way to chaos at any time.
An ESPN report today said the players and owners held secret labor talks in Chicago, and on Friday, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the owner’s appeal of last month’s ruling in Minneapolis, where Judge Susan Richard Nelson gave the players an injunction, lifting the lockout for four day. However, a court panel issued a temporary stay of Nelson’s injunction on April 29, putting the lockout back in place. The same panel issued a permanent stay of injunction on May 17, and though an appeals decision isn’t expected to come down until July, most believe it will likely land in favor of the owners. If that happens, the players could have no choice but to make a deal; the NFL Network’s Jason La Canfora predicted earlier today the two sides would have an agreement in place by July or August.
So, Packers fans, that means we could be three months away from trying to do this whole thing again. We don’t know what the landscape of the league will look like, but we do know the Packers are as well-positioned as any team in the league to hoist the Lombardi Trophy in Indianapolis next year, whenever the Super Bowl happens. They’ve got a slew of players coming back from injured reserve, but the presence of Jermichael Finley alone makes me think they have a chance to be even better in 2011. And in the last 25 years in the NFL, there’s been a repeat champion about every five to seven years; the 49ers in 1988-89, the Cowboys in 1993-94, the Broncos in 1997-98 (ahem, holding) and the Patriots in 2003-04. If that ebb and flow holds up, we’re due for another repeat winner this year.
But a new season brings a whole new set of worries, though: contract squabbles, shoddy preseason performances, tough early opponents and late hits on Aaron Rodgers. Everything is perfect now, but it might not be very much longer.
We at Ol’ Bag of Donuts are going to continue to enjoy what I’m calling Victory Summer, and we’ll have another podcast in the near future solely dedicated to gushing about how great is to be world champions and comparing this title to other Packers championships. My suggestion to you, though, is to enjoy it while you can. Because we might not be too far away from starting it up all over again.
Well, we’ve been away for a while, dear readers. But we’re back.
After a hiatus through the first few months of the offseason, as Adam, Chris and I all juggled busy schedules with the euphoria of the Packers’ 13th world championship, we return with our first podcast of the offseason. In it, we discuss the Packers’ draft, spend a little time (OK, a fair amount of time) mocking the Minnesota Vikings’ new quarterback and weigh in with our thoughts on the NFL lockout.
And some more good news: We’ve figured out the iTunes thing, and we should have our podcasts available for download there in a few days. For now, you can listen to it in the player below. Enjoy!
Just when all of our doubters (mainly Bears fans) thought we were gone forever, we’re baaaaack!
I’m sure you have questions on where we were, why we haven’t been posting since the post-Super Bowl bliss, or more likely is that you just don’t care. Well, we don’t have any really dramatic stories to tell to explain our absence, just a little thing called ‘life’ got in the way. Work has picked up for all three of us lately (unfortunately, we can’t make blogging our jobs), as well as our personal lives. Gene said it perfectly about blogging after the Packers won the Super Bowl, “Once we start writing about the offseason, it’s like we have to start climbing the mountain again. And I’m not ready to do that yet.”
He is absolutely right. We are still reveling about the Super Bowl win and why not? For many of us, that game was perhaps one of the most exciting days of our adult lives. Not to compare us fans to the players, but it took a lot out of us emotionally and for us who blog about the team, it took a lot of time. So I guess my final answer is that we were burnt out and this offseason so far has sucked so for to write about for obvious reasons. We just needed something to spark our passion again. And that is the NFL Draft.
Always the crowning moment in the NFL offseason, so who isn’t excited for the draft?
This guy.
Don’t get me wrong, I am as big of a draft junkie as anyone. I can’t get enough of it. If you don’t believe me, check out the extensive coverage Chris and I devoted to the draft last year. It was one helluva a preview and while it took a ton of time to pull off, it was as much fun as I had as a blogger.
This year? I just haven’t gotten the itch. I followed college football closely last year and yet feel so unprepared going into this thing. There is no doubt it will consume my weekend, but I still have that ‘ehh, whatever’ sort of feeling. And for that I blame two people: Roger and Ted.
Not trying to be ‘Captain Obvious’ here, but it is no surprise that the lockout has sucked out a ton of fun of the draft and the NFL offseason in general. I am not about to get into a post debating which side is right and which side is wrong in this whole mess because that is just exactly what it is, a mess. It is just seems very odd that a huge, trademark event like the draft is taking place amidst all that is going on with the lockout.
Equally as odd, is the promotion and time the NFL is doing for this draft, an event that usually sold itself. I was in New York last weekend and almost down every other block in Manhattan were street pole advertisements for the draft. Not sure if this happens every year, but it just seemed they were almost trying too hard to promote it. Even when I took “Lombardi” on Broadway, you couldn’t miss the draft promotions. Kind of sad almost that NFL has to generate that much interest for their marquee offseason event.
(side note: I might have to write a review for the ‘Lombardi’ play. If you haven’t been out there yet to see it, it is a must see production, even if you aren’t a Packers or football fan. Very well done.)
I also blame the draft savant Ted Thompson. Not that it is a bad thing, but the draft just isn’t as much fun when you are picking last. Especially when it is very likely Thompson will trade out of the first round to a team that wants to snag a mediocre quarterback before the end of Thursday night. Thompson has always followed the philosophy of picking the best player available and there is no better place to follow that than when you are picking at the bottom.
Besides the Packers picking #32, it is my complete faith in Thompson that has turned me off on the draft this year. Seriously, there isn’t much that Thompson could do this weekend that would have me questioning him, well besides pulling a Sherman and trading up for a punter. Like any GM, Thompson has had his fair share of misses over the years, but he has made good on more picks than not. And when he has made good, he has hit some homeruns. Just watch this commercial and remember that most of the guys were courtesy of Thompson, the same man a lot people wanted to run out town after the whole Favre saga. Also, Thompson has built a reputation as the best man in the business to sign undrafted free agents, a part of the draft that cannot be overlooked.
Would I be more excited about the draft if there wasn’t a lockout? Yes. Would I be more excited if the Packers weren’t picking last? Probably, but that would mean they wouldn’t be the defending Super Bowl champions. And with that, I hope I am never excited for the draft ever again.
(Looks around…sees dustballs rolling down the street before sheepishly looking into the camera)
So, um, hi gang…how’s things?
You might have noticed – and our numbers suggest you indeed have – that, well, the three of us haven’t really been around much over the past month.
Okay, so that’s a lie – we haven’t been around AT ALL over the last 30 days.
There are a number of reasons for that, of course, and your ol’ pal Chris is here to explain as much as he can.
The main reason for our extended hiatus (think more Blink-182 than At the drive-in) is rather simple: We’ve all been incredibly, extremely, off-the-chains busy. Adam’s grad school work has ramped up (along with his 40-hour-a-week gig) and Gene’s busy with Bosling business.
As for me? Well, as I write this I’m sitting in my lovely girlfriend’s kitchen in beautiful Milwaukee, Wisconsin. That alone wouldn’t be reason enough…until you consider that I lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota until about five days ago. Translation: Moving takes up A LOT of your time.
There are other reasons, as well. The ongoing NFL/Artist formerly known as the NFLPA lover’s spat has almost totally stalled league activity. And, hey, the Packers DID win the Super Bowl, right? We wanted to take some time to enjoy the victory lap.
As Gene said to me recently: “Once we start writing about the offseason, it’s like we have to start climbing the mountain again. And I’m not ready to do that yet.”
We just want you to know that our absence had nothing to do with you guys and gals. We love each and every one of you and thank you for making year two at OBOD much bigger than year one (I suck at math, but the numbers are coming soon on just how much bigger. We’re not afraid to open our books!).
And we’re not going away for good. The rumors of our demise are greatly exaggerated. We hope to be back soon, but again, we can only do so as time allows. There’s that little event in New York later next month and we’d sure like to write about that. And we think we will. But, really, labor battles between bitchy millionaires and billionaires ain’t our bag, baby, so don’t expect a ton of posts regarding that (we’ll leave that to those who are actually, you know, knowledgeable about such matters).
So, yeah, that’s an update on where we’ve been and where we’re going. Thanks to all of you and again, we hope to be back soon.
We’ve been working our way through a few technical issues, but our latest Packers podcast is here, and we’re no less excited to share it with you than we were a few days ago when we recorded it. For all those people who think we’re too hard on the Packers, who come down on us for pointing out their flaws…this one is for you. The last 20 minutes or so of this podcast essentially amount to sloppy, unrepentant gushing. The Packers are the world champions, life is wonderful, and we’re not afraid to go nuts about it.
You can check it out below, and download it by clicking on the downward arrow on the right. And one of these days soon, we just might have our podcasts up on iTunes, finally. Hope you enjoy this one.
If you live in Wisconsin this week, these are wonderful times. The Packers are world champions for the 13th time. The three Lombardi Trophies proudly displayed in the final room of the Packers Hall of Fame are about to get a new friend. (Side note: We love the spotlights on the trophies, the music playing in the background and the montage of Packers greats on the walls in that room, but they really need a better ventilation system in there. Every time we’re in there, it always gets so dusty.)
But if you live outside of Wisconsin, the Packers’ status as Super Bowl champions can be fun for another reason: Gloating. This is particularly true for the Minneapolis chapter of Ol’ Bag of Donuts (Adam and Chris).
As most of you know, all three of us lived in Minnesota when we started this blog, which of course meant dealing with Vikings fans. We’ve made no secret on this site about how we feel about them — how laughable and obnoxious we find it they try to equate their legacy with ours one minute, only to grumble about how we care too much and we’re living in the past the next minute. They seem to love to point out Minneapolis’ vibrant arts scene as some kind of evidence of their sophistication, forgetting that outside of the Twin Cities, most of Minnesota is exactly like most of Wisconsin. And guys, if you can show us your last ticket stub from the Guthrie Theater or the Walker Arts Center, we’ll back off.
Most of those arguments were baseless in the first place, and now, they ring completely hollow. “Stop living in the past” is useless, because the Packers are the present champions of the world. Shots at Packers fans for caring too much just come off as phony, because the classier half of the Vikings fanbase will readily admit how much they long for what we have. The Metrodome collapsed, Brad Childress tossed a third-round pick to the Patriots on his way out of town, the Randy Moss trade was a joke, the StarCaps case may finally bring down the Williams Wall, Adrian Peterson is a free agent after next season and Brett Favre is gone. Oh, and the team might move to Los Angeles. Other than the Vikings’ infancy in the early 1960s, there may be no point in the history of these two franchises where the disparity has been as great as it is right now.
And because so many Packers fans live in Minnesota, either dating to before the Vikings arrived or owing something to the massive influx of Wisconsinites who cross the border for college, there are plenty of opportunities for trash-talk between the two fanbases. The Minneapolis Star Tribune published a story today called “Title etiquette: Packer backers need to behave.” It was written with tongue firmly in cheek, and it was good entertainment. And in the spirit of good entertainment, we’d like to respond with a few points of our own. Consider this the OBOD Super Bowl Celebration Manifesto:
–The article states that Packers fans in Minnesota are only allowed to discuss the Super Bowl if it’s brought up to them first. While we agree it’s not good to excessively rub Vikings fans’ noses in it, we can’t help but think this is all some sort of cosmic course correction for 2009, when Vikings fans, who had spent 16 years spewing bile at Brett Favre, were only too happy to remind us that they had our beloved hero. They told us at every turn how jealous we must be, even when we’d assert we were perfectly happy with our young quarterback and we’d caution them about how the playoffs would inevitably turn out. And we’re sorry, but to talk endless smack at one point and cry foul when it turns on you is just, well, so Vikings. We’ll behave (mostly), but after the Favre soap opera, know that you’ve earned yourselves a few jabs.
–We’ve been asked to refrain from mentioning the 13-championship disparity between these two franchises. Again, we at OBOD will use some discretion, but haven’t Vikings fans earned a little of that with all of their “Stop living in the past!” rhetoric? Championships, after all, are what you play for, and the Packers have more of them than any other team. And it’s easy not to remember the past when yours is so forgettable (no Super Bowls since 1976, and four losses in four tries).
–Under no circumstances will we cease to mention the massive disparity in quarterbacking between these two franchises, especially after the Vikings begged, pandered (and possibly tampered) to get Favre, and tried telling us how much we still loved him over the last two years. One team had a quarterbacking plan while the other gambled and lost. That fact is pertinent, it’s timely and even in intelligent football discussions, it’s central to the difference between these two teams. Though Favre himself does not need to be the topic of discussion, the effects of backing Favre, or not backing him, will reverberate far into the future for these two teams.
–Finally, please, please, please stop with the tired old lines like, “All cheeseheads sniff paint thinner!” and “Packers fans are just drunk all the time!” We’ve all lived in Minnesota. We’ve gone to college there. It doesn’t look much different than Wisconsin. Secondly, if Super Bowl XLV proved anything, it’s that the Packers are truly a national franchise with support too broad to confine to Wisconsin. And finally, to those who would trumpet Minnesota’s sophistication edge, we have two words for you: St. Cloud.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, here’s how we at OBOD plan to celebrate:
–We will joyfully wear our Packers championship gear throughout the offseason, even into the summer, but we will not utter the words “Vikings” unless we are asked about football first. If we are provoked, we are equipped with all manner of weapons of mass debunking to set the record straight. But we will keep our celebration on the right side of the “We’re the champs”/”We’re the champs and you suck” border.
–We will revel in the irony of Aaron Rodgers’ ascension and Ted Thompson’s vindication in the wake of Brett Favre’s departure, but we will keep most of the Favre rhetoric confined to what he said when he was forcing his way out of Green Bay, not when he played with the Vikings. There will be more attention on Favre’s relationship with the Packers going forward than his relationship with the Vikings anyway, and frankly, we don’t care enough about him to bother. He’s got his own problems these days, anyway.
–We will concentrate more energy on our newly renewed rivalry with the Chicago Bears, which frankly should have more spice than the Packers/Vikings feud anyway. We greatly enjoy the respectful, historical tenor of the Packers-Bears rivalry, and the run-up to the NFC Championship Game put that in a new light. The one problem between the Packers and Bears is that both teams are so rarely good at the same time, and there’s a chance that both will remain competitive for a few years to come (though we have our doubts about Jay Cutler). Still, we are hopeful that the playoffs put Packers-Bears back in its rightful place as the pre-eminent NFC North rivalry, ahead of the big-brother/little-brother dynamic that has always marked Packers-Vikings.
–Lastly, we will root for the Vikings to get a new stadium and remain in Minneapolis. Though we are frequently annoyed with Vikings fans, we recognize the strength of the NFC North lies in the fact it has four teams who have all been in the league for more than 50 years, and butting heads just as long. The NFC East is the only other division in football that has such a rich tradition of rivalries, and if the Vikings were to leave, something would be lost. We’ve always said we don’t hate the Vikings as much as we love to hate them, which means in the end, it’s all in good fun.
We feel these are reasonable terms under which to celebrate the Packers’ most recent Lombardi Trophy, and we plan to adhere to them throughout the offseason.
Finally, a note going forward: All we’ve ever wanted from Vikings fans is that they know their place. They’ve had plenty of successful seasons in the last 50 years, dominating the division through the 1970s and remaining competitive throughout the 1980s and 1990s. They haven’t anywhere near the dry spell between winning seasons that the Packers had between Lombardi and Holmgren, though their playoff failures speak for themselves. We’re not suggesting the Vikings are the Detroit Lions, but we’re also not going to suffer the logic they’re the Packers, Bears, Steelers, Cowboys or even the Giants. Championships do matter, and when there’s no football being played (which could be the case for a while), they’re what keep the banter lively between fanbases. The Vikings, historically, have been a good franchise that has struggled to achieve greatness, often falling short in memorable fashion. The Packers have some goofy traditions, but they’re also the most decorated team in the history of the league. Respect the economy of scale.
We hope these terms are agreeable to all, and we’ll be rooting for the Vikings to get a new home this winter. And, we hope, we’ll be butting heads with the Vikings as we chase title No. 14 next fall.
None of it mattered to the 2010 Green Bay Packers.
Oh, it could have. At times, it probably should have. And for most teams, well, it unquestionably would have.
Injuries mounting at an (almost) comedic rate. Disappointing losses to teams they should have crushed. The weight of colossal expectations. Yeah – they were all there.
We’ll have much more on this tomorrow — the Packers’ 13th world championship hasn’t sunk in yet for me, as it probably hasn’t for most of you — but in the meantime, here are some quick thoughts on the 31-25 Super Bowl win over the Steelers:
–AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! THE PACKERS ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!!!!!!
–With that out of the way, think for a second about everything this team overcame: 15 players on IR, two must-win games against playoff hopefuls to get in the playoffs, three road playoff games against the three highest seeds in the NFC and a Super Bowl matchup with a team that had won two in the last six years. In the end, isn’t it almost fitting that they had to win it without Woodson and Driver? In the end, there’s almost nothing else that could have been thrown at this team. They dealt with it all, and they conquered. Couldn’t be prouder to be a fan of this team.
–It’s probably because of recency bias, but at the moment, this is sweeter than ‘96. This team was expected to win it all, until it was ravaged with injuries. To overcome everything they did, and to win it in Jerry World — against the Steelers, with Favre watching at home — well, it just doesn’t get much better.
–Aaron Rodgers: What can you say? To win a Super Bowl MVP, with a three-touchdown, interception-free day, and to put together two drives with the game hanging in the balance…quite simply, it’s something Brett Favre never was asked to do in 1996, and couldn’t do in the Super Bowl in 1997. He’s the same age as Favre was when he won his championship, and unlike Favre, Rodgers isn’t playing with an aging defense. Holy cow.
–I don’t think too many of us would have faulted Ted Thompson if he’d taken the Lombardi Trophy, grabbed the microphone from Terry Bradshaw and yelled, ‘Does anybody have any questions about that Favre trade now?’ But he didn’t do it, and I don’t think he ever will. Thompson will get plenty of accolades for building this team, and he deserves all of them. This team was built in his image, and after weathering every test it could have possibly faced, it proved Thompson as one of the game’s best GMs.
–Lastly: You cheer for a team that dealt with more injuries than any squad in the league, and never complained about them. You cheer for a team that spotted its archrival a Hall of Fame QB, and still won a Super Bowl before said rival. You cheer for a team that’s poised to be the dominant team in the NFC for a long time, and you cheer for a team that proved, once again, there’s value in conducting business with class and professionalism.
And you cheer for a team that has a NFL-record 13 world championships.
Enjoy it, Packers Nation. We did it, and it couldn’t be any sweeter.
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