I wasn't. He has to be given some sort of pass during the regular season. But he's given no slack during a playoff run. I'm expecting him to show up every-single-game.

Don't be surprised if he plays his best game of the season against the Cards.

That dislike came from @Ben. LMAO!

Yea, you might be right about that flag, but what with the safety? As I saw there was hit by hand of Preston Smith to the face and helmet of Aaron Rodgers! How referees did not call that? This is whinning. What I agree with you, it is little bit early to claim that everything is right. But, I think some good things happened yesterday! Like that long pass to Randall Cobb on 3rd down - there was 15 yards down the field Jared Abbrederis completely open for TD if Aaron was able to throw to him. I suppose he picked more certain pass... So, I think we will grind out win over Cardinals and host Seattle at Lambeau... I hope their luck already run out with that Minnesota game...

"While I don't subscribe to the 'he's back' theories"

Maybe not, but it was sure nice to see a win on the road in the playoffs. It;s been a while.

At -6 degrees, nobody is as good as their hype - See 2007 Packers Championship game - in normal weather Seattle wins that game hands down.

"I still can think of nothing better than getting Seattle at home in NFC Championship game"

WOW. This hadn't yet occurred to me. This might be the ONLY way to erase last year's castration from my memory. Thanks for giving me a glimmer of hope! Might just have to get down to AZ next weekend...

GO PACK!

Agreed, awesome how the cameras caught him looking at the guy running off as he snapped it. Don't know if ARod has a code word or special tap for the center to snap it fast, but it works great

This is a great weapon. If the Packers go hurry-up and don't substitute, it basically means that the opposing D cannot substitute either. If they do they'll have to take a TO or get caught with their pants down. And if they don't they will get winded very fast. I think if this team can play hurry up a few times in the games, things will open up quickly. And I don't care who the opposing D is. those big guys on DL won't be able to catch their breath...

It's a copycat league...before long, other teams will be coaching it and doing it. At least #12 can claim to be the first to "perfect" it.

Personally, I can't think of anything "uglier" than having a racial slur as your team name in *2016*.

I think the wind was a bigger deal than we could tell from home. In Q1 we had a hard time stopping their offense, and we did nothing. In Q2 they couldn't stop our offense and they did nothing. To start Q3, they came out and scored a TD. I think the key to the game was our D stopping them for the rest of Q3 and us actually scoring by running the ball during that quarter. Once we entered Q4 with a lead I felt pretty confident.

As someone who has and probably will continue to malign Hayward and Adams, you're right, WKU, and I've got to tip my hat to them for this game.

Interesting snap counts: CM3 66; Neal 54 (as opposed to Perry's 26); Peppers 48, Thomas 44(!), and Ryan 28. DBs: Hayward 70 of 72 snaps, Randall 63; Hyde 56; Gunter 31; Rollins 22; Dix & Burnett both w 72 (100%).

I conclude that while Perry might do some things extremely well, like holding the edge and bull-rushing, the coaches think Neal does more things reasonably well, by virtue of Neal's 734 snaps to Perry's 351 snaps so far this season. Some of the disparity might be due to injury, but not most of it. I thought Joe Thomas should have made the 53 in the first place as a Chillar-like guy: apparently the coaches can find a use for him. I don't think Thomas has been nearly as good as Chillar was, but who knows, maybe Thomas will make a jump next year.

Hey I'm a doubter,

& Perry is a freak and still has room for improvement.

Neal was borderline special at RE before he was moved to OLB.

Burnett is good at everything and still has a little upside left.

Haywards a good 3/4 slot fit when healthy.

But there is no way the Packers needed to burn a high 2nd round draft pick on a Jarrett Boykin clone during the deepest WR draft of all time.

Probably the most impressive game of his career.

Which isn't saying much of a #1 pick with 44 professional games played.

(the 2 picks against seattle last year were gifts. 1. right place right time - tipped ball, 2. wrong place right time - beat deep on a underthrown ball)

To be in the NFL you have to have talent. But having talent doesn't mean you can be successful in the NFL.

On a NFL team you need play makers and contributors to make up most of your roster. You cannot survive with 1 or 2 play makers, a few contributors, and a whole bunch of role fillers. If you need proof of that go watch the Cleveland Browns.

You also need coaches in positions to develop players and coaches who do NOT force players into a mold of what they want. Instead they need to see the talents of their players and develop plays and schemes to highlight their talents and try and mask their flaws.

So it's definitely not as easy as saying "we have no talent" or "we have talent BUT". There are plenty of factors that go into it.

But what is more the issue, IMO, is that the Green Bay Packers are missing some game changing talent in key areas.

TE. Rodgers and Quarless are role fillers. They won't scare a defense in any way. Quarless blocks. Rodgers has good hands but can't run or shake a defender. Outside of that there isn't much there to say much that "wows" you.

ILB. I mean they had to move Clay inside because of how bad it was. TT has not drafted well here at all. Our D line is doing enough to try and prevent the ILB from being totally exposed most of the time but when they are exposed it's UGLY. Close your eyes and pray kind of ugly. Thomas looks lost and confused way too much. Ryan is a step behind and doesn't seem to have the fundamental skills of tackling down.

WR. Without Nelson to draw attention it's painfully obvious how mediocre this group is overall.

OL. They lack any kind of depth. If 1 goes down God help us all. And even when all 5 starters were playing there were plenty of issues and problems. If they weren't holding or jumping early they were getting dominated or giving the defense free access to Rodgers. Injuries were key here but even still the run game never really got going this year and Rodgers was sacked close to 50 times so pass blocking was horrible as well. If you are bad in both areas there are problems that need to be addressed.

With all that said they went 10-6 this year. There are some good players on this team. They just need upgrades in several areas and I think we'd be back to elite.

Not sure why it double posted.

Very true Packer_Pete. Right now in Washington in their summary of the season they are saying they made strides and some moves in the right direction but they are not yet good enough to beat a team like the Packers.

""double tight, J-dog 36 pumpkin smash""

You get a thumbs up, if only for that...

Amen on the ILB need. I can't stand watching Joe Ryan get blown up or lost in the crowd every f'ing snap. PLEASE get a huge fast athlete in there who scares people!!!

I'm very nervous about Jake Ryan next game. He's going to need to be much better against that horse-sized RB they have (blanking on his name). People like to compare Ryan to Hawk, but I think they're total opposites: Hawk was slow but eventually made the tackle; Ryan is fast but often fails to make the tackle (with one notable exception last night).

Between the ILB need and the uncertainty at OLB due to age/contracts, we're going to need to draft a bucket-full of them this year.

How often did we see Thomas or Ryan ending up covering Garcon or Jackson yesterday? More often than I care to remember. I can understand if your ILB ends up covering Reed, but when he's lagging behind the fastest guy on the field on a regular basis, either our scheme was bad or theirs was very good.

Unfortunately Ted Thompson doesn't seem to value the ILB position that much. He waited until the 4th round for converted ILB Carl Bradford, then waited until the 4th round again for Jake Ryan.

I need to do more research on this year's ILB class, but usually the ones who can cover are taken late first round or somewhere in the 2nd round.

I think the Deep Balls are needed. Every time there were 2 redshirst runnig after ball. It sends a mssage to defence that they can not put all defenders to shorter routs, and thus probably makes a little easer to complete shorter passes

Not sayin' this guy is a star talent, but let's not forget than Sam Barrington was the starting ILB next to Matthews for all of 3 plays before being lost to the season... Relying on Joe Thomas or Jake Ryan to play starting roles was NOT the plan going into the season. Sam Barrington might be as good as Desmond Bishop. That's not to say he's great, because let's face it, Packers fans WAAAY over valued Bishop, but he wasn't a glaring liability, either.

I see these guys going out with what looks like a minor collisions? and what is with Batiari and Shields and these guys who miss four to five weeks for injuries you should be getting over in one or two at the most.

Agreed, but I also think MM hasn't opened up much of the playbook until yesterday. He's been holding back. Hope they have more new wrinkles for the Cards, we'll need it. We better block Campbell this time.

perfect

If Starks can hang onto the ball, his speed and physical running is a difference maker for the Packers.
He really does compliment Lacy really well.

Against Arizona he came out and had a great run. Showing off his speed to start the 2nd half, until he fumbled it. That firmly put him on the bench for the rest of that game and a lot of the Minnesota game.

If he can hang onto the ball he will be an x factor in the next Cardinals game.

One of the plays of the game. Wasn't that the Packers sweep play.

A couple of good runs by Starks and Lacy. Maybe I am old fashion but don't they teach these RBs to get the ball to side away from the pursuit? Both our RBs left that ball exposed to the inside stripping and tackling and have done it all year. We need a true RB coach, a true WR coach and so on. I am not impressed with Van Pelt being Rodgers cheerleader or Edgar Bennett being an offensive administrator. Aren't these the fundamentals that McCArthy talks about?!

Awesome highlite ...Abby made a hell of a block on that play.

The wind or shitty mechanics. I'm so sick of him throwing deep off his back foot. That's why his throws were sailing.

Don't know if he wants him to be fired, but he was very critical of the way he puts the roster together. Surprised TT still gives him the one-on-one interviews every year.

While the Packers were struggling in the second half of the season - McGinn went on about how talented this team was and how everything would be alright. Of course they continued to struggle. Then when he finally became critical, they come up with one of their better games of the year yesterday.

Just like when he said GB was so deep they would have no problems without ARod a few years ago. The same day he wrote that Rodgers was injured. After it happened the Pack nearly tanked the season until Rodgers came back to beat the Bears.

I'm hoping McGinn will declare an Arizona rout so I can feel better about GB's chances.