Tag: Green Bay Packers (Page 12 of 57)

      Rodgers still harboring bitter feelings when it comes to Favre?

      February 16, 2011 /
      Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers is surrounded instantly on the field at the end of the game after leading the Packers to a 21-16 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in their NFC Wildcard playoff game in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field January 9, 2011. UPI/John Anderson

      An anonymous player told Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com that there’s still some “bitterness” that remains between Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre.

      The speaker is a member of the Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. He wanted to do something few in Green Bay would ever attempt in the post-title glow: He wanted to defend Brett Favre. Slightly.

      The fact the player wants to remain anonymous says almost as much as the quotations themselves. Favre remains, partly, a radioactive isotope being ripped as petty for still not yet contacting (as far as we know) quarterback Aaron Rodgers to congratulate him for his Super Bowl victory.

      “This is one of those situations where Brett can’t win,” the player said. “If he calls Aaron it looks like he’s grandstanding. If he doesn’t, he seems like he’s selfish and inconsiderate.

      “I can tell you Brett wants to speak to Aaron. He really does and it’s sincere. I don’t know if they’ve spoken yet. I just know Brett wants to bury the hatchet.”

      Really?

      “No question. The big issue is will Aaron want to take the call. That I don’t know. The bitterness remains deep.”

      Is it possible such a phone call between the two men has taken place and no knows about it?

      “Possible,” he said, “but unlikely.”

      Maybe Rodgers would be more willing to receive a text message from Favre instead of a phone call?

      Wait a minute…

      External Sports, NFL

      Why are Bill Simmons and Peter King talking about the Week 15 Giants/Eagles game?

      February 8, 2011 /
      New York Giants Matt Dodge dives for Philadelphia Eagles DeSean Jackson who returns a punt 65 yards for a touchdown with no time remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter at New Meadowlands Stadium in week 15 of the NFL in East Rutherford, New Jersey on December 19, 2010. The Eagles defeated the Giants 38-31. UPI /John Angelillo

      I just listened to Bill Simmons’ post-Super Bowl podcast and he said that if the Giants had held on to beat the Eagles in Week 15, the Packers wouldn’t have made the playoffs. Peter King also said that the Packers have the Eagles to thank for their playoff berth.

      Green Bay finished 10-6, the last Wild Card team and sixth seed in the NFC, by virtue of winning tiebreakers with the 10-6 Giants and 10-6 Bucs. We all know the Giants story: Up 31-10 over Philly at home with eight minutes left in the game, the Giants gave up 28 points in the last half of the fourth quarter and lost 38-31. The killer was punter Matt Dodge blowing the game and keeping a punt to DeSean Jackson inbounds with 14 seconds left in a 31-all game. Jackson returned it 65 yards for a touchdown. Who knows what would have happened if that game went to overtime, but that’ll stay a mystery.

      Maybe I’m missing something here because, clearly, I’m not in the same league as Bill Simmons and Peter King. It appears that Simmons and King are counting the Giants’ win in Week 15, but aren’t considering the Eagles’ loss. If the Eagles lose that game in Week 15, they don’t win the East. The Giants win it at 11-5. Assuming Philly beats Dallas in Week 17 (a reasonable assumption since they didn’t play many of their starters in a 14-13 loss), the Eagles would have finished 10-6 and would have been tied with Tampa Bay and Green Bay for the 6th and final spot in the NFC. This assumes the Eagles would have still lost to the Vikings in Week 16, which is a fair assumption since they played their starters.

      The first tiebraker between three teams is a head-to-head sweep, which isn’t applicable because the Bucs didn’t play either the Packers or the Eagles. The second tiebraker is conference record. The Bucs and Packers went 8-4 while the Eagles would have gone 7-5 (with a loss against NYG but a win against DAL), so the Eagles would have been eliminated at this point.

      The next tiebraker is record in common games. Both teams were 2-3 in common games. The Packers beat the 49ers and the Lions, and lost to the Lions, Redskins and Falcons. The Bucs beat the 49ers and Redskins, and lost to the Falcons twice and the Lions.

      The next tiebraker is strength of victory. I’m not sure how this is calculated or where I can find it, but acccording to CBSSports.com, that was the tiebraker that gave the Packers the No. 6 seed over the Giants and Bucs:

      Green Bay is the No. 6 seed over the N.Y. Giants and Tampa Bay based on strength of victory (.475 to the Giants’ .400 and the Buccaneers’ .344).

      So the Packers would have gotten the No. 6 seed over the Bucs. They would have played the Giants in the first round of the playoffs. Maybe they would have won or maybe they would have lost, but either way, they would have made the postseason.

      So Bill Simmons and Peter King (and anyone else), please stop talking about the Week 15 Giants/Eagles game with regard to the Packers’ Super Bowl win. Thank you.

      External Sports, Fantasy Football, NFL

      Super Bowl XLV Morning After: What everyone is saying

      February 7, 2011 /
      Packers fans celebrate after the Green Bay Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers during Super Bowl XLV at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas on February 6, 2011. The Packers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. UPI/Juan Ocampo

      Five Things We Learned, John Clayton, ESPN
      Clayton shares five things we learned about Super Bowl XLV, including how the long layoff helped the Packers more than it helped the Steelers.

      Championship Worthy of Lombardi, Mike Lopresti, USA Today
      You’d have loved Rodgers. Loved him like Bart Starr. Persistent, productive, unflappable, no longer in Brett Favre’s shadow. He’s had all those gaudy passing numbers, but what do those mean? You need an MIT graduate student to explain how to figure a quarterback rating. But everyone can figure out if a guy has won the Super Bowl, or he hasn’t.

      Big Ben Comes Up Small in Defeat, Dan Graziano, FanHouse
      Ben Roethlisberger was supposed to be the unflappable quarterback. The born winner who always made the big play in the big spot. A win Sunday would have meant a third Super Bowl title, and only four members of his profession have ever done that. Plans were being made to carve him right into that Mount Rushmore alongside Bradshaw, Montana, Aikman and Brady, and some were even putting forth the preposterous notion that a victory in Sunday night’s football game might somehow offer Roethlisberger some form of “redemption” for the reprehensible offseason behavior that almost got him drummed out of Pittsburgh and the NFL last year.

      Ring Vaults Rodgers to Elite Status, William Rhoden, New York Times
      Rodgers recounted how in 2005 he told Packers General Manager Ted Thompson that he would not regret drafting him. After they released Favre, Rodgers told Thompson, “I was going to repay their trust and get this opportunity.”

      Steelers Get What They Deserve: Defeat, Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
      You commit three turnovers and don’t get any. Two of your most dependable offensive stars fail you in the clutch. Your No. 1-rated defense in points allowed can’t stop the other team’s quarterback from throwing three touchdown passes. You deserve to lose.

      Curse of Jerry Leads to Disaster, David Whitley, FanHouse
      Everything he touched turned to frozen cow manure before the game, but who would’ve thought it was only a warmup? Sunday’s big hoedown at Cowboys Stadium turned into the imperfect ending to a thoroughly imperfect week. Unless you were a Packers fan, in which case you just want to get out of town before the Curse of Jerry gets you.

      What Super Bowl Can Teach Other Sports, Mike Bianchi, Orlando Sentinel
      Two of the tiniest markets in professional sports played in arguably the biggest Super Bowl in history Sunday night. There were more fans in the stadium (105,000) than any Super Bowl in history. There were more media (in excess of 5,000) covering this Super Bowl than ever before. All forecasters predicted that the TV ratings Sunday for Green Bay’s 31-25 victory will make this the most-watched event in the history of American television.

      External Sports, NFL, Super Bowl

      Packers top sloppy Steelers to take home 45th Lombardi Trophy

      February 6, 2011 /
      Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson carries the Vince Lombardi championship trophy off the field after defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL’s Super Bowl XLV football game in Arlington, Texas, February 6, 2011. REUTERS/Pierre Ducharme (UNITED STATES – Tags: SPORT FOOTBALL)

      Here are five quick-hit observations from the Packers’ 31-25 victory over the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV.

      1. Aaron Rodgers, welcome to history.
      I distinctly remember a few years ago when some Green Bay fans said that it was a mistake for GM Ted Thompson to choose Rodgers over Brett Favre. Hopefully those fans will happily eat a serving of crow after Sunday night because they were dead wrong. In a game where mistakes were aplenty, Rodgers made very few. He misfired on a few throws, but that’s just being nitpicky. For the most part, he was great and he would have been even better had guys like Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Brett Swain bothered to hang onto the ball. Mike McCarthy barely ran the ball in the second half, instead relying on Rodgers to win the game. After the Steelers took all the momentum in the third quarter, Rodgers stepped up and led the Packers on two huge scoring drives. On a night when he threw for 304 yards and three touchdowns, I wonder how much better his numbers would have been had his receivers not dropped so many passes. He didn’t have the game of his career, but he was excellent nonetheless. He now joins exclusive company as a Super Bowl-winning quarterback and MVP. As many football fans know, that now makes him virtually untouchable.

      2. Once again, Green Bay battles through adversity.
      How fitting was it that in a year when the Packers lost so many starters during the season that they would have to battle through more injury issues to win the Super Bowl. They lost two of their three defensive backs on consecutive plays near the end of the second quarter, including Pro Bowler and team leader Charles Woodson. Yet once again, they pushed through and overcame the hurdles that were placed in front of them. Let’s stop for a second and think about what this team was able to accomplish this year. They lost starters Ryan Grant, Jermichael Finley and Nick Barnett. They needed to win two games in Week 16 and Week 17 just to qualify for the playoffs. They had to win three straight games on the road in the postseason and then they suffered a couple of more key injuries in the Super Bowl and still won it all. Talk about a team of destiny. After they lost Woodson in the second quarter, it looked like they were headed for disaster in the second half. Yet they never trailed, which is a testament to the team that Ted Thompson built off the field and the team Mike McCarthy ran on it.

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      External Sports, NFL, Super Bowl

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