November 8, 2009

Quick thoughts before I have too much to drink

It may be time to give Mike McCarthy to call his realtor.  Seriously.

Ted Thompson should get the number too, just in case.

Dom Capers, not sure what to think about you.  Maybe you can do better, and I know how frustrating it may be to run a 3-4 scheme with players who are meant to play in a 4-3 and have no desire to change.  But aren’t you suppose to be some kind of delicate genius in this area?

What is that you feel on the back of your neck Aaron Rodgers?  It’s Matt Flynn.

Are you more concerned with your quarterback rating or to win games Rodgers?  You don’t need to wait for the big play to develop every freakin’ down.  When you get 12 seconds to throw the ball late in the game and we can see you on TV waving for someone to keep going deep, you need to pull your head out of your ass and worry about the first down, not your yardage stats.

And wipe that stupid smirk/smile off your face when you are losing.

We have been bashing the offensive line all year and rightfully so, but I am starting to think you aren’t helping them out at all.

A-Rodg is your nickname?  How about Choke-Rodg?

Does QB-rating factor not being able to be clutch on the road?  Especially against a winless team?

I was going to write something negative about Ryan Grant this week, but ran out of time.  I am glad I didn’t since he actually showed up today.  Thanks Ryan, it seriously wasn’t your fault they didn’t give you the ball enough.  You only had 96 yards on 21 carries to average about 4.5 yards per carry.  What part of that wasn’t good enough McCarthy?

Three of the first five 2010 NFL mock drafts I looked up in the 4th quarter have the Packers taking Iowa tackle Bryan Bulaga.  I might have to watch the last couple Hawkeye games this year.

Chris having his post-game cigarette before it was actually post game.

My roommate Ben grabbing a Packers glass from the cupboard after the game and putting it back when he realized what he actually grabbed.

Chris saying this might be a 7-win team and I quickly responded “Where do you find those three wins?”

Tampa Bay 0-7.  Rookie head coach.  Rookie quarterback making his first start.  Antonio Bryant, the Bucs’ best playmaker inactive.  Second to last in the league in sacks.  Add that all together and it still equals a loss.  Things are in worse shape than we all thought.

I’m making myself a whiskey old fashion, Chris will be on later to give some analysis of Josh Freeman out-playing Aaron Rodgers and Raheem Morris out-coaching Mike McCarthy.  And oh yeah the Packers losing to the now 1-7 Buccaneers.

-Adam Somers

Leave a Comment

Filed under Adam Somers, Game recaps

November 7, 2009

Happy birthday to the woman who tolerates me being a Packer fan

Mothers are synonymous with the game of football.

Players on the sidelines wave and say “Hi mom” to the camera.

How many times have you seen a player or coach’s mother interviewed when one of the networks is doing a feature piece? Yeah, a lot.

And whenever a player is drafted, who is almost always the first person he hugs? No, not his agent, smart guy – it’s his mom.

Throw in the fact that none of us – players, coaches or fans – would be here without our moms and you start to see the debt we owe these women.

In my life as a Packers fan, I owe a ridiculously huge debt to one woman in particular: My mother, Marilyn Lempesis, who on this day turns 70 years old (unlike my father, my mother can actually use a computer somewhat. And there is a really good chance she’s going to kill me for broadcasting her age in public like this).

Since my father turned me into a fan at the age of 11, I’ve been pretty insanely fanatical about the Green Bay Packers.

Sometimes – okay, a lot of times – I go overboard. But, win or lose, my mother has always been there for me. She always knows what to say, either to make me feel even better (after the wins) or talk me off the ledge (after the losses).

No matter what the result, I’m quickly reminded that there are more important things in life to worry about, whether it’s what’s for dinner, the updates on various relatives or how her and my father did at the casino recently (she’s a pretty sharp little gambler, even if she doesn’t always share the winnings evenly with my dad).

One of my other passions – yes, I have some other than sports – is writing. And that realization would never have happened had it not been for my mother. Even as a child, I enjoyed writing, but I would have never discovered my talent for it (don’t laugh – you’re reading this, aren’t you?) and how amazing writing really is had my mother not kept on me to stick with it. I can never thank her enough for that, either.

Actually, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully thank her for everything she’s done for me throughout my 28-plus years of life. She’s been an advisor, a motivator and a teacher (plus she may have borrowed me some money once or twice). But more than anything, she’s been my best friend.

I love you with all my heart, mom, and I really can not imagine a better mother alive. I hope you have an amazing day.

If anyone deserves it, it’s you. Happy birthday!

-Chris Lempesis

1 Comment

Filed under Chris Lempesis

November 6, 2009

Gettin’ you ready for week nine

As the ball softly landed in New York Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira’s glove Wednesday night, yet another long, ridiculously drawn out baseball season came to an end.

And all I can say to that is: AMEN BROTHER!

You can make the case – and I have, several times – that the baseball season goes on too damn long. After all, you never hear anyone say, “Man I’m sad baseball season is over,” do you?

Football is another story. I can’t tell you how many people I know say the same thing as me roughly an hour or so after the Super Bowl ends: “Man, this sucks. Football season’s over. Now what?”

Luckily, friends, we’re still about three months away from that annual God-awful moment.

For the foreseeable future, it’s nothing but touchdowns, hard-hitting defense and, of course, grossly overweight offensive and defensive lineman

HALLELUJAH!

With that semi-sermon out of the way, let’s tee this thing up as we at OBOD get you ready for week nine.

Game of the Week

Dallas Cowboys (5-2) at Philadelphia Eagles (5-2)

Just three weeks ago, it seemed that neither of these teams had a chance at anything other than a wild card spot as the New York Giants looked to be running away with the NFC East.

Three New York losses in a row later, however, and these two teams have become the favorites in the division. This battle is for first place and pits two teams who appear to be hitting their respective strides just at the right time. Donovan McNabb is clicking with his young, talented receivers (namely DeSean Jackson) and the defense is showing flashes of its old, aggressive self. Dallas has finally figured out how to replace T.O., although no one figured it would be Miles Austin doing the replacing.

This should be a fun one, broadcast on Sunday night no less.
Keep reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Chris Lempesis, NFL News and Notes, Outside the division

November 5, 2009

Thinking about what I think about Aaron Rodgers

When Chris and I talk Packers–as we did last night–there’s usually a blog post waiting around the corner. Not sure if that means you, dear readers, should be excited or cautious, but here it is anyway. Bear with the stream-of-consciousness flow of this one:

The topic of our conversation the last couple days has been Aaron Rodgers, who’s now 23 starts in to his professional career. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how hard it is to fairly evaluate Rodgers. His statistics are obviously very good; his passer rating of 110.4 leads the league, and it comes on the heels of an impressive 93.8 rating last year.

But then there’s the other side of Rodgers, what you see on Sundays: Too many snaps where he looks 20-25 yards down field, makes a read or two there and never comes back to a checkdown. The times where he seems not to have the “internal clock” to step up and feel a pass rush like the great ones so often do. The red-zone inefficiency. The games where he doesn’t really get the offense clicking until the Packers are throwing every down in the second half.

And then I had a scary thought: What if Aaron Rodgers is Philip Rivers?

Keep reading →

4 Comments

Filed under Gene Bosling, Packers News, Notes and Opinons, Uncategorized

Tags: , , , ,

November 5, 2009

Wednesday wrap-up: Tauscher’s time finally nearing (plus an injury update)

The Green Bay Packers got back to work Wednesday in preparation for Sunday’s road contest with the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

They did so, apparently, with a new starter at right tackle: Mark Tauscher.

According to the Green Bay Press Gazette, Tauscher took most of the reps with the starting unit. That likely means Tauscher will take over for Allen Barbre at the position.

If that’s the case, it’s an interesting decision to make at this juncture of the season, one that I have to admit I’m not completely on board with.

Yes, Tauscher is a much more experienced and (likely still) better player than Barbre. But Barbre seemed to be at least getting his feet beneath him a little bit since his disastrous first game against Chicago. He hasn’t been great, but we seem to be talking about his struggles less and less as the season goes on. That’s what we call progress, kids.

Plus, this is only his first season as a starter (third in the league) so he clearly has more upside than Tauscher, 32, at this point. It’s great if Tauscher steps in right away and plays well, but what are the odds he’s brought back for next season even if that happens? Not very likely, in my mind. That means the Packers will probably once again turn to either Barbre or Breno Giacomini and the position will remain unsettled.

The No. 1 goal the rest of the way has to be making sure Aaron Rodgers doesn’t get killed. I understand that. Maybe Tauscher can help that cause more than Barbre, maybe not.

But in a season where a Super Bowl run is unlikely, a big part of me thinks the Packers should be working on growing a cohesive unit for the future. Barbre would be a part of that future; Tauscher would not.
Keep reading →

1 Comment

Filed under Chris Lempesis, Packers News, Notes and Opinons

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November 3, 2009

We hate Judas and it shows: A photographic look at a traitor’s return

Even though I wasn’t able to attend Sunday’s game, I wanted to get a sense of the atmosphere at Lambeau Field. After all, it’s not often a backstabber has to return to face the people he, um, backstabbed.

Luckily, I had a willing accomplice – my older sister, Nikki Gingras. No, she’s not single, so don’t ask.

Nik went to the game with her husband Brian and agreed to take some photos for me. I have decided to run them as our weekly lighthearted – well, sort of lighthearted – Tuesday post. I’ll also throw up some comments on each of the photos.

Yeah, this should be fun.

Hope you guys enjoyed that brief look as much as I did.

-Chris Lempesis

2 Comments

Filed under Chris Lempesis

Older Entries