by ian
On Sunday, the Green Bay Packers lock horns with their hated rival, the Dallas Cowboys. Yes, that’s right: “hated rival.” While many outsiders consider only the Bears and Vikings when they think of Packer foes, loyal followers of the Green and Gold find it difficult to cast their eyes upon the blue star logo of the so-called “America’s Team” without vomiting.
The long history of these organizations includes NFL Championship games following the 1966 and 1967 campaigns, earning the rights to pay in Super Bowls I and II respectively. (Spoiler alert: All four were won by the Packers.) The 1967 game was the famed Ice Bowl, attended by my grandparents, and won by the Packers on a last-second Bart Starr quarterback sneak. (In the seat next to my grandparents was a female Dallas fan in open-toed shoes–the temperature at game time was -13. She left at halftime.) Continue reading The Dallas Cowboys: A Brief History of Evil
by erik
The Packers will not not make it to the Super Bowl. The Packers will not win the division and, as of right now, they are a long shot for the Wild Card. But they are not a bad or a bottom tier team either. The Packers have lost two high profile games to Favre and the Vikings. They also lost to a winless team, which is very embarrassing.
The Pack did beat the Bears on opening night in a national game. They mercilessly destroyed three hapless bottom-of-the-barrel teams. They are currently, the definition of a .500 team. It was only 3 years ago, that the Packers finished .500 with Mike McCarthy and we here at Lombardi Sweep were ecstatic. This season, especially with such high expectations coming in, we cannot help but feel depressed with being .500 at midseason.
Continue reading Coping with .500
by erik
The NFC East division leader continues to juggle around with the Cowboys currently owning that crown. The Falcons have moved up to the number one Wild Card slot. Here is the break down.
Falcons (5-3) – The Falcons have moved up in the wild card chase with another win over the Redskins. They play the Panthers in Carolina.
Eagles (5-3) - Eagles lost a heart breaker to Dallas. They lost their first spot in the NFC East and now have to travel to San Diego to play the Chargers.
Giants (5-4) – The Giants lost by a point to the San Diego Chargers. They have a bye week next week.
Packers (4-4) - After an embarrassing loss to a winless Buccaneers team, the Packers host the damn Cowboys. The Packers are only 1 game back from the Falcons.
Bears (4-4) – The Bears suffered another embarrassing loss this week. They have a short week and play the 49ers on Thursday.
49ers (3-5) - The 49ers lost to the Titans and now play the Bears. They really need to win to stay in the Wild Card race.
Panthers (3-5) – Carolina lost to the Saints in a close game. They play the Falcons next week.
by erik
I still hate the damn Buccaneers, as should any Packer fan over the age of 25. The Buccaneers were the doormat of the NFC Central until the mid nineties, when they were bought by Malcolm Glazer in 1996. Glazer hired Tony Dungy, changed their colors, uniforms and logo, and pumped money into the team. By 1997, they had a playoff berth and established themselves as a competitive division rival for the Packers. This was a rough, bruising rivalry while the NFC Central lasted. In 2002, the NFL restructured and the NFC Central came to an end, but the rivalry was not quite over. In November of 2002, my perspective on the Buccaneers changed from a competitive rival, to a dirty cheap team that I love to see suffer.
On November 24, 2002, the Packers and Bucs played in Tampa Bay in would become an infamous game. Favre throw an interception and during the return, Warren Sapp took a cheap shot on a defenseless Chad Clifton in the open field.
Sapp's blindside hit on clifton
Sapp leveled Clifton with a blindside block on Clifton, who was barely jogging and not paying attention because he was completely out of the play. Clifton sustained a serious hip injury, which ended his season and luckily, not his career, especially with the Packers current abysmal line. This cheap hit instantly erupted debate in the football world. It was perfectly legal under the current NFL rules but violated the unwritten rule of live and let live in the NFL.
After the Game, Mike Sherman sprinted over to the Tampa Bay sideline. Once he was there he found Warren Sapp and confronted him. Sherman yelled at Sapp, “That was a chicken shit hit and you know it!” Sapp, who was obviously upset and surprised at being called out, responded with “Fuck you!”
Continue reading Lombardi Sweep Still Hates The Damn Bucs
by erik
The Vikings have won the division. Even with an assumed Packers Victory against the hapless Buccaneers next week, and the Vikings bye, the Packers are effectively 3 games back because the Vikings have the tiebreaker.
Personally, I do not believe that the Vikings are catchable in the divisional race. It is also extremely unlikely that the Falcons will catch up to the Saints, leaving the Saints out of the Wild Card picture. In the NFC East, either the Eagles, Cowboys or Giants will win the division and in the the NFC West, either the 49ers or the Cardinals will win. If the season ended today, the Eagles, Vikings, Saints and Cardinals would win their respective divisions ,and the Cowboys and the Giants would win the Wild Cards. Here is a breakdown of the Wild Card contenders from first to last as of week 8.
Cowboys (5-2) - The Cowboys will lose the tie breaker so far against the Giants for head-to-head play. They are currently the leader by a 1/2 game. They face the Eagles and the Packers in two tough road games followed by the Redskins and Raiders at home, for what should be easy wins.
Giants (5-3) – The Giants are a 1/2 game leader over the next group of 4-3 teams. The Giants play the Chargers at home, followed with their bye week. They then play the Falcons at home and then travel to Denver.
Continue reading The Packers and the NFC Wild Card Picture
by erik
In Part I we took a look at the new and improved Packers, in Part II we looked at the declining Vikings, in the third and final installment, we will look at the match-up and why the Packers will be or at least should be victorious.
The Packers advantage lies with the Packers healthy defensive backs covering a Vikings receiver corps missing Berrian, the higher level play from the linebackers and line, the packers receivers playing against questionable defensive backs and the improved offensive line.
The return of Bigby and a much healthier Collins completely changes the Packers match up. In the last match-up, the Vikings exploited the Packers safety situation. An image that burned into my mind was Berrian trotting into the end zone as Harris threw his hands up in frustration at backup SS Derrick Martin’s failure to provide the expected over the top safety coverage. With Bigby back, I feel fairly confident we won’t have to witness that again. Without Berrian, the Vikings are unlikely to run any 4 wide formations. Berrian’s replacement Greg Lewis lacks the play making ability that Berrian has. He can get separation but is not physical, which will not make his day easy with the Packers physical defense. Now that all the Packers starting DBs are back, they should be back in their 2 interceptions a game form. I think we can expect at least one pick from our DBs.
Continue reading Reasons the Packers should beat the Vikings Part III
by erik
When I suggested in Part I of this article that the Vikings were on a decline, I got some strong disagreement from Vikings fans. Even if you bleed purple, losing after 6 straight victories is a step back at minimum, if not a decline. The Vikings have gone from winning 5 straight and then stumbled a little bit. They barely beat the Ravens, mostly thanks to a missed 44 yard field goal as time expired. That game may have been a Pyrrhic victory as they lost Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield (foot) for up to 6 weeks.After this nail-biting victory, the Vikings gave up their first loss to Pittsburgh Steelers in a hard fought game.
Losing Antoine Winfield is a huge loss for the Vikings. Anytime a team loses a Pro Bowl corner, it is a tough loss but it really opens things up for the Packers. Winfield was arguably the Vikings defensive player of the game in these teams’ first meeting. He had a team high 9 tackles, two passes defended and the Vikings’ sole interception, or 50% of Aaron Rodgers interceptions on the year. His replacement is Karl Paymah. Paymah, is good size for a corner, (6’0″, 195lbs,) fast, with a 4.36 second 40 yard dash at the combine but has problems playing the ball and finishing the play. The absence of Winfield also puts pressure on Minnesota’s safeties Tyrell Johnson and Madieu Williams. These two safeties are not superstars at coverage and were beaten for a lot of the Packers 342 passing yards in their last meeting. They also have given up big touchdown plays in the last two games.
The other changes in the Vikings between the last time the Packers played the Vikings is at wide receiver. The Vikings have lost Bernard Berrian for at least this week. Berrian is always a big-play threat and his absence will be felt by the Vikings. Also, since the Packers last meeting, it should be mentioned that Sidney Rice has become a go-to target for Brett Favre. He has had big games against both the Steelers and the Ravens.
Part III will discuss how these teams match up and why the Packers should win.
by ian
Such specific instructions on how to treat Brett Favre Sunday from Garry D. Howard (“Cheer first, jeer later”). On the way home from work, I had the displeasure of listening to a surprisingly stupid caller on the Sirius NFL channel give similar advice. Thanks for your opinions, gentlemen, but nobody asked you.
It’s always been my opinion that fans have the right to boo whenever they like, and I get very sick of shushing fans and complaining players. Now, for me personally, I wouldn’t ever boo anyone on my team who’s giving it his all–whatever he’s screwed up I’m sure he feels worse about it than I do. The other team is a different story. Regardless of how I feel, each fan pays his or her money and have the right to express themselves as they please. (Obviously within reason: I’m not talking about spouting racist epithets or throwing things on the field.)
I’d make the case that Packer fans should boo Mr. Favre–and not good naturedly.
Continue reading Boo Brett
by erik
The main argument against the Packers has been that they were playing weak teams, so their excellent performance means nothing. But the people who take this stance are being awfully short-sighted. Eight out of the 32 NFL teams are outright terrible, in no particular order:
Titans
Buccaneers
Rams
Chiefs
Browns
Lions
Redskins
Raiders
That’s 25% of the league. If you add in honorable mentions to the slumping 49ers and the Bills, it is almost one third of the league is down right terrible.
As a result, many argue that the Packers are not a good team, and that their latest triumphs don’t mean anything because they were playing bad teams. The Packers did what they were supposed to do and better than others. Nobody suggests the Colts are bad because they played the Rams and the Titans back-to-back, allowed these two winless teams to score 5 times the amount of points, 15, as the Packers did. The Packers have played superbly against bad teams. I, for one, expect the Packers to continue to play at this level against the Vikings.
Go Pack Go
by erik
There was a little surprise when the 4-2 Packers are three-point favorites over the 6-1 Vikings in the big NFC North rematch. The stakes are high. A win puts the Packers right on the Vikings’ heels, and a loss puts Packers almost out of reach of a division title. The Packers have become increasingly dominant and at the same time the Vikings seemed to have reached their apex and be on the decline. This makes it seem fitting that the Packers are favorites in their own house.
The Packers have done what good teams do: beat bad teams solidly and decisively. The Browns and the Lions were completely hapless against the Packers. The Packers dominated both sides of the ball and for the most part, have done well on special teams as well. The Packers have out scored their last two opponents by 57-3 and have out gained their opponents 895 to 288 in total yards.
The Packers have also seen the development and improvement of their team. The Packers offensive line has seemed to gell. OT TJ Lang has done a solid job filling in for Clifton and C Scott Wells manhandled the talented NT Shaun Rogers while filling in for Spitz. Lang and Wells have done so well, they are looking like they will continue to start even after the former starters heal. Another bright spot: the Packers may have rediscovered the running game that they lost years ago. The Packers ran for 202 yards against the Browns and unlike previous games, the majority of these yards did not come at mop-up time. If this continues it will open up the play-action pass and prevent defensive ends from doing a straight QB rush. The icing on the cake is in the passing game with the reemergence of Donald Driver as a big-play receiver and the near flawless recent performance of Aaron Rodgers.
The defense has come together again with improving performance by the linebackers, Clay Matthews and Nick Barnett in particular. Safeties Nick Collins and Atari Bigby have recovered from their injuries and are playing at their former levels. The Packers corners, Al Harris and Charles Woodson, continue their high caliber play. BJ Raji is playing at a higher level on the defensive line. Johnny Jolly has been immovable and able to make plays against the pass and the run. There is a lot to be excited about with this explosive turnover-generating defense.
Part II will look at the Vikings decline and how the Packers match up.
