First!

Rodgers put on a clinic tonight. Great stuff.

I liked the comment about how GB is doing this (improved running game) with 3 fourth rounders and 2 free agent linemen. Yup.

Some of the passes that Rodgers squeezed into cracks in coverage tonight were just unbelievable. One of the two knocks on #12 that you always hear from #4 partisans is that #12 has always had great receivers. Not this year. #12 is making do with a less than stellar receiving group this year, and he is not missing a beat.

When this team gets healthy it could be scary.

Let's play a game....

"Do they have more catches/yards than Greg Jennings?"

Nelson YES
Boykin YES
White YES
Lacy YES
Quarless YES

So many winners, only one loser!

The bears still suck

Rodgers showed surgical accuracy throughout the evening.
Yeah.
Baby.

Rodgers and Nelson must have watched the pass from Stafford to Johnson that went for a TD...must have looked at each other and said...yeah, we can do that too, watch us.

Both of Jordy's TD's were both outstanding throws by Rodgers and even better catches by Jordy! Loved how they used Jordy all over the field, not just outside. He was the slot WR on the majority of plays it seemed.

Lacy and Starks is an excellent duo. If the Packers keep running the ball like this they should be the favorite for a berth in the SB. Once everyone is healthy the Pack will take on anyone, anywhere. SF, Sea, NO, I don't care... Bring'em on!!!

Great gut reactions this week, wish I'd written it.

Great win all-around. What an amazing draft Ted and the scouting department had. Micah sure doesn't look slow to me. Now let's run the table baby.

So proud of this team, even though it got sour with 5:30 to go in the 4th quarter. This game was only close because of a bad penalty by Datone Jones and a bad call on Williams

Ran the ball, Rodgers keeping drives alive, the 3rd down and 4th down conversions, time of possession. Dominating.
Brilliance of MM putting Starks in the 3rd quarter, for change of pace. Likely to give Lacy a rest. Little worried about Starks going in after his first carry, I thought he looked hesitant, but he was impressive after that.

Rodgers was magnificent!

For real, what about Micah Hyde???!!! Dude just finds holes. Oh, and I have a serious man crush on #87. White Lightning!!!

Very happy with this result and NO MORE INJURIES tonight.

NOT HAPPY AT ALL with Capers crap-tastic (and completely normal) 3rd and long/end of game with a big lead non-defense.

We gave up 31. Should have been no more than 17.

Did I say that Rodgers was magnificent? Ok, now that I got the obvious out of the way, he needed to slide on some of his runs(which were well timed and needed). Now, to be more obvious, we can't lose him or it's all over.

Why is anyone surprised how good Jordy is? He's been doing this for years.

Starks looked good in all his carries. What a combo he and Lacy supply. Imagine if Harris was still around.

ST's has to cover better. It's going to bite us if we don't get that fixed.

Nagler did a great job hitting on a lot of the points I was going to make. Didn't hear much from Allen tonight. Also, I too was pissed at the late TD's our D gave up. Would have loved a complete blowout. Still very happy with the win. Now lets kick ass next week and we're in great shape going into the second-half.

Definitely agree with not liking the defense giving up easy points at the end of games, but if we keeping winning and staying healthy I suppose its not such a bad thing

it will be interesting to see what happens with the O-line when bulaga comes back next year. i have a feeling that they keep bakhtiari at LT and move bulaga back to RT. also, we will still have sherrod, barclay and newhouse on the team as well. how many tackles will they keep and who is the odd man out? these are good problems to have!

Great win. My only complaint is the D going soft near the end. Should've been 44-17, but, a W is a W, this isn't college... Style points don't matter.

I'm really starting to think that epic fail we had in Cincinnati could hurt... I don't see us losing more than a game or two from here on out.

A smashing victory. This game went just like so many others at the Metrodome. Crazy, unexpected stupid things starting with the kickoff return to START the game!! Damn it Slocum!!

Rodgers incredible but with the exception of special teams this was a great team win. Just a hard physical game that we didn't think they could play starting the season. Now they really are physical more than a finesse team. We can definately compete for another super bowl this season. (healthy and apparently even unhealthy)

Longshanks

My Gut Reactions:

Eddie lacy average 3.2 yards per carry tonight, but man did those three yards seem to be good ones. Lacy is hands down our feature back and will remain so for a long time, guy can only get better.

Im not saying these injuries were a good thing, but in the long run they might actually provide great information on our other players. When cobb and jones get back we very well could have the big four again. and yes boykin is part of that, cannot believe the dude was undrafted, just goes to show that measurables arnt everything. That play where he was smart enough to catch it and then dive for the first was a play many veterans wouldnt even have the mind to make.

A.J. hawk wow, this guy has shown new life, and is looking nothing like the linebacker we all wanted cut a few seasons ago, speaking of mlb's lattimore continues to impress me with his atheltic ability.

The packers o-line impressed expecially with the pass protection. I will say this again Baktiari is the future LT. Now everyone take a deep breath and move on.

Overall this team to me appears way more able to compete with the elite teams of the nfc (seahawks, 49'ers) with a running game.

Steven is a 20 year old feature writer of no where.

It's still on:

Boykin: 3 games 14 catches 235yds 16.8 ypc 1 td
Jennings: 7 games 25 catches 336yds 13.4 ypc 2 td

To be fair, part of the defense going soft at the end was the gift of a PI call from the refs

That was as impressive performance by the offense as I can remember. Game planning, play calling, execution were all darn near perfect. (I prefer a clock-eating style as opposed to the quick strike style.)

If they can get most of their pieces back, this can be a VERY, VERY dangerous team come January.

It was a great win for the Packers. I wish our defense at the end of the game would have played until the end of the game. Two garbage TDs by Minnesota at the end made it look like they were in the game. I cannot express how happy I am with David Bahktiari's play at left tackle. He did an amazing job at nullifying the vikings pass rush and in particular, Jared Allen. Great job David and thank you TT for drafting him. It will be very difficult to bench him when Bulaga comes back based on the way he has played for the Packers. How can anyone not like the heart this team has?

i think maybe if i, say, wrote for a well-read packer website, and my name was ... i don't know, zach, or c.d., or brian, or aaron, or jayme (just to pick a few out of the hat) i might possibly think a piece about how adversity, especially w/regard to injuries makes this team so much better. and i think it might focus on how mccarthy and capers are both challenged to resist their tendencies to lean on their qb/passing game and a guy named clay a little too much for the team's overall success.

and, in a totally unrelated related comment, can i just say i'm going to puke the next time i hear someone throw praises on rodgers making due with all the injured receivers and how that's the reason we're doing so well? ok, i get that rodgers is ridiculous, i'm his #24 fan, but in a post-game interview, rodgers himself alluded to the fact that having a LEGITIMATE RUNNING GAME means lots of single coverage and less clogged passing lanes for him and his receivers. that's when he puts on a clinic.

we all know rodgers and company are absurdly talented and disciplined. but the reason we won that game last night, and the reason we have been successful this year is so plain to see. commitment to the running game and good execution reaps so many benefits - keeps the defense honest, which opens up the field for the passing game; makes play-action effective; wears out the opposing defense; gives our defense a rest; frustrates the hell out of douchebags like jared allen; runs down the clock; keeps the ball out of the hands of the opposing offense; makes old people happy.

the opening drive of the 3rd quarter was everything i can hope for from a good team: pound the ball, open up the field for rodgers, a mistake/some adversity (15 yd penalty), overcoming the adversity, draining 8+ minutes off the clock, a touchdown. as larry mccarren said, we PUNCHED THEM IN THE MOUTH.

our defense essentially had a half-hour breather at halftime. that is frickin awesome.

Having too many toys can stifle a child’s creativity. I was also told, as a young boy, to go outside. Play. Run around. Imagine. Put down the toy cars and use your mind. Pretend. Bloom’s Taxonomy of learning demands that in order to develop critical analytical skills you need to move children away from rote memorization and engage them in tasks which require discovery and application of data. Acquisition of basal level skills such memorization have their place. At some point, though, to make the next jump to learning students need to be forced how to use the information to make decisions rather than just memorize the information. By now you’re asking “what is this egghead talking about and how does it relate to my beloved Packers?” Simply put….McCarthy/Rodgers are operating at the highest level of Bloom’s Taxonomy right now. I believe this is in large part due to the rash of injuries the offense has faced. I have been a vocal critic of McCarthy and his play designs and lack of imagination and utilization of his personnel (notice I didn’t say play call…i.e. run vs. pass). The previous two games started the trend and last night showed just how creative and effective this offense has become.

Make no mistake about it. Mike McCarthy is not a West Coast Offense disciple. Sure he coached for Hackett and with Gruden…..he does has some of that influence…..but he is no where near the Bill Walsh tree of offense. You want to see WCO? Pop in some Eagles film from the last 15 or so years or watch a Chiefs game now and you’ll see true WCO. Sometimes it isn’t flashy but aesthetics don’t count…..efficiency does. The Packer offense last night was the definition of efficiency. Now it would be easy to say that Lacy has made a difference. No question it has. But the last three games has still shown the Packer offense seeing two high safeties in 3rd down passing situations. It is changing some but not to the degree that you might think. The difference is the Packers utilization of personnel. Last night I witnessed motion by the Z to a hip position by the slot, giving almost a stacked look. I saw bunch formations to go with the regular Trio formation. I saw Jordy play the slot, the X and the Z positions. I saw McCarthy vary the launch point for Rodgers. I witnessed quick slants and hitches. I saw Lacy used as a receiver declare on routes right out to the backfield instead of a simple block, sift, checkdown receiver. The Vikings defense might be bad……OK there’s no “might” about it…..they’re bad. BUT…..they are still an NFL defense with some talent in key positions. The Packer offense directly or indirectly was responsible for 37 points last night in meaningful game time. I don’t care how bad a defense might be. That is impressive on any day. What makes it more impressive is the personnel being used to accomplish it.

I don’t want to see any player get injured and believe me….I’ve seen far too much of it in my time. But as it relates to the Packers, namely McCarthy, the injuries may have been the best thing for McCarthy and his approach to the offense. His “toys” have been taken away and he is now forced to be creative (although these WCO staples have been around for years). No longer can he say “my matchbox cars are faster than yours.” Instead, he’s been handed a rock and been told by his parents to “pretend it’s a car.” He’s adjusted quite well and the Packer offense hasn’t missed a beat. Just ask yourself this question: How many throws traveled 15 yards in the air? What we saw last night was the ball control passing game. When it was 3rd & 6 we saw routes for 8. Jordy’s second TD was a simple slant. There has been more emphasis on the YAC as is customary in the WCO. Being forced to be creative with limited resources leads to a more methodical approach to thinking. In turn, it forces a person to be patient. They are inextricably linked features. This team put up clock eating drives as a result of the patience and yet each drive lead to a total of 37 points. That’s very good, but more importantly, efficient production. The big plays will be there as long as this is the offensive approach moving forward. My biggest fear surrounds the mindset of McCarthy if and when he gets more of his “toys” back in the toy chest. Will he be willing to play with the rock and pretend or pull out the shiny new matchbox car from which he was grounded?

What was up with the ultra-heavy 3rd & 1 formation? I actually like the formation and personnel use…..just not in that situation. Some of my savvy-less football acquaintances immediately smelled that out. In a word…..dumb!

I could easily carp on Capers and the defense for going soft in the 2nd half……..but I won’t. The game was in control. The only thing I didn’t care for was the use of 2 Man. Against a more statue-esque QB such as Peyton Manning I ‘d have no problem but not against a mobile QB like Ponder. The Vikings used a little 2 Man against Mr. Rodgers and each time he was flushed he ran all over their neighborhood. Not a wise move by Capers…..but I’ll let it slide considering the situation.

I’m not a Slocum fan but not because of last night. He’s working with a lot of “green material.” However, he needs to coach better situational football. Jordy on onside return? Good move. Good to see he had them place kick-offs to the deep corners instead of down the middle following the opening return (well, most of the time).

Overall a solid win.

AAAAAAAAAAAhhhhh, its so nice to see all the love for MM and TT now. When the Pack was 1&2 the doom and gloom was everywhere. Its a long season and the Pack is about to peak. Look out! Rodgers is the best player in football. Sherrod may replace Barclay soon, hope his #1 billing is a big step up. Can u imagine the o-line getting better?

Paul Ott, I am relatively new here and feeling my way around trying to get to know everyone and getting in trouble along the way. What you wrote was incredible. Are you a sports writer, a football coach or are you actually the real Paul Ott Carruth who helped the Pack thru that 82 stike year?

If you do write here you should put this in a separate column for people to comment on if that's possible. This should not go to waste. Loved the go outside and use your creative mind analogy. So true. That's exactly what MM was forced to do and it's working!!

Longshanks

No, thank yooouuu Paul. I can see you are old school. So am I. I also enjoy different viewpoints and welcome the debate. I am also a big fan of Cow42. He was the reason I decided to come here. Yes, there' a ton of great people here I can see that. You really stood out though that's why I asked your background. I read you a few times before and thought I would ask you personally. Look forward to more of your views. Yes, as for my name, I do love Longshanks the character. I try to post as he would if he were still alive. lol

Longshanks

Interesting fact we are top ten in rushing and passing. At top fifteen in defense. We are dangerous. I am so ecstatic about this team!

I don't like comparing this team to 2010, but its quite similar with the exception of the vastly improved running game. Finley went out early and Rodgers started spreading the ball around to everyone. Hope JJ will b back and we're back to 3 wide receivers. Spread em out and open bigger holes for Lacy/Starks. Great postings.