I must confess that as I made my way to Lambeau Field on Monday Night, I was apprehensive. Anything can happen in the Division, I thought to myself. Ponder looked awfully poised and confident the last time we saw him. Minnesota has had an extra week to prepare. This is their Super Bowl. Adrian Peterson might gash us with runs, and that will set up the pass against our porous backfield. Aaron Rodgers has to have an off-night sometime, doesn’t he?
And so on and so on.
I rode the bus from near my residence out to the stadium, and I tell you that Green Bay is a happy place these days! (Happy to the point of tipsy in some cases.) And the excited fans are coming here from all over. Next to me on the bus was a couple who drove over from Eau Claire, and across from me was a couple that had driven up from Racine.
The stadium was packed and raucous. No one else seemed to be haunted by the doubts that I was having. Rather, there was a grand confidence in the air, right down to the sassy signs people were sporting (e.g., “No real man looks good in purple,” and such).
And it turns out that that air of confidence was well-justified. The Packers absolutely dominated the visiting Vikings. From Randall Cobb’s early punt return for a touchdown, the game never felt close. Starks ran the ball with determination, the special teams play was solid, Rodgers was characteristically precise, and the defense… oh, my!
This looked more like the defense that we saw down the stretch last year. They held the Vikings to a measly seven points -- and even those only came because Cobb accidentally gave Minnesota the ball inside the Green Bay 15 yard line. I was very encouraged by the play of our defense this week. And Charles Woodson was a monster.
The fact is that the only real grief I felt during the game was how much pressure Minnesota was getting on Rodgers and how often he was getting hit. But future opponents will take small comfort in that seeming vulnerability, for even with all of that harassment, Rodgers still threw 4 TDs, no INTs, and completed over 70% of his passes. Amazing.
So now we’re 9-0. We are the defending champs. And we are the undisputed best team with the almost embarrassingly best quarter-back in the league. All the arguments are about second-best; but no one doubts who is #1.
Posts
1 comment:
I worry that you might have the ability to read minds. That first paragraph is the exact process my mind went through. Thankful it was nothing more than Undefeated Paranoia.
Another thing I noticed while watching the Broncos/Jets game last night is how nice it is to not have to worry about not making the playoffs at this point. When they brought up the graphic for the standings and wildcard positions I thought, "Oh yeah, the season is kind of getting to that point. Huh."
Oh, the problems of being a fan of a good team...
Post a Comment