Where to Begin…

Optional Starting Place #1:  It may not be clear which was the best team on the field last night, but it’s very clear which one was the worst: the team wearing black and white.

Optional Starting Place #2:  The real officials should get to wear the black-and-white outfits.  But the replacement refs should be donned in shades of gray.

Optional Starting Place #3:  It appears that we need to add a fourth column to the standings.  After “won,” “lost,” and “tied,” we need a column for “hosed.”  The teams with the most wins in each division get the first four playoff spots in the NFC, and then the two teams with the most “hoseds” get the wild card berths. 

Optional Starting Place #4:  At halftime, I was thinking that I had never seen such a frustrating 30 minutes of football.  That is rivaled, though, by the most frustrating 7 minutes of football that I saw at the end of the game.  While the last-play call is rightly dominating the headlines, the reality is that the referees had already robbed us on the roughing call and the pass interference call on the penultimate Seattle drive that ended up pinning our offense too deep to maneuver. 

Optional Starting Place #5:  It’s not the end of the world.  It’s not the end of the season.  It’s not even the end of September.  And when we finish the season at 14-2 and get to beat the Seahawks and 49ers in consecutive weeks of the NFC playoffs, it will all feel much better.

The Packers are 1-2.  We deserve to be 2-1, to be sure, but it’s certainly not too deep a hole from which to climb out.  I believe that Green Bay is still the class of the Division and that the cream will rise to the top in the end.  And so, while I am frustrated, I am not worried.  And I wouldn’t be surprised if an angry and refocused Packer team comes out and puts a beating on the Saints and Colts in the next two weeks, as a result.