Fear The Chorizo

Well, Wisconsin has a higher population than Minnesota, so... My point was pretty much simply that the Brewers aren't at an economic disadvantage compared to the Twins based on their metro area sizes. But a chunk of western WI is considered in the twins' market. The twins' tv market is actually pretty large considering they also go into the dakotas. It's not just about metro are size. And a chunk of southern wi also falls into the Chicagoland team markets... The twins are on an island with alot of geography between them and the next closes mlb team. The brewers are 90 miles away from the 3rd largest city in the country that happens to have 2 big market mlb teams.

Um, every team plays in a larger market than the brewers, so you are most definitely correct. 4 yrs $92 mil....that is actually less than I thought he would get. Still, probably too steep for the brewers in years by 1 and dollars by roughly $3 million per year.

1st couple possessions on both sides of the ball are so key for this game - GB's road struggles consistently point to very slow starts offensively and digging themselves a hole. They found ways to come back and win games against poor teams, but if they get down big early against really good defenses they just don't have the offensive firepower to mount a huge comeback. Getting a lead early coupled with a few defensive stops would be huge for GB.

True - but that Bears NFC title game started with them going up and down the field to get a 14-0 lead, watched Cutler get injured, and suddenly the offensive game plan was don't do something stupid to protect the lead and got uber conservative. I do remember Rodgers throwing a red zone pick to Urlacher and then making a great play himself just to prevent a return TD. I don't really count the ATL NFC title game as Rodgers playing poorly - their roster was a skeleton and the Packers' 1st two offensive possessions led to a missed FG and a fumble inside the ATL 10 - the Packers' defense wasn't going to stop prime Julio Jones and the rout was on. I get the feeling the Packers are going to put a ton of the gameplan on Rodgers' shoulders this Sunday with a 'spread em out' approach. If he plays well they've got a shot, if he doesn't it will feel like one of those semi-competitive games where they are always struggling to get the game down to a 1 score deficit before their defense wears down and the floodgates open with a few big plays sometime in the 2nd half.

Sherman typically stays at left corner, that's just his style of play - I'd put a combo of MVS, Lazard, and Allison opposite Sherman and run a bunch of go routes or short breaking outs to essentially take Sherman out of the game. Moving Adams to the other side probably draws double coverage from the 49ers with a corner and safety, which would then leave 1 safety, a nickle corner, and either an extra DB or LBs for GB to try and pick on. If Rodgers can get a little bit of time I think there are opportunities for combo routes with Adams crossing the field to draw defenders and open up deep seam and corner routes for a slot receiver or TE to make some big plays. Guys like Lazard, Tonyan, Graham, and even Sternberger are going to need to step up. I'd also like to see Jones used in the passing game - not so much screens or checkdowns, but wheel routes and slants coming out of the backfield to try and get him in space moving forward. San Fran's defense actually can be run on, as long as you don't try to get outside - their LBs and DE's are just too fast in pursuit. The best bet is to line up and try smashing them in the mouth with a power running game. The difficulty in that is it's tough to run both a power running game and spread passing attack with the same personnel groupings, and I think the way to beat S.F. is to either go full-on Tennessee Titan with a bellcow running back or spread them out to force them out of their base personnel. I don't think the Packers are good enough in the power run game, so I'd prefer they spread 'em out and hope Rodgers plays out of his mind.

Yep - those numbers look much better if he's kicking from midfield, not from the shadow of his own goal line like he was during that first game. The fact none of those were anything close to pooch punch attempts shows how bad a game he had in late November there. He had a pretty good game last night, and hopefully the offense doesn't bury itself inside the 10 too much Sunday where we don't need 55 yard punts angled out of bounds at will from Scott just to keep the 49ers starting drives deeper on their own side of the field.

I get that, but when the two times the Packers blitzed late in the game led to two sacks that either ended a 2 point attempt or ended a drive, you have to wonder if sprinkling in more variety in terms of where the pass rush is coming from would have made life more difficult for Wilson during most of the 2nd half. Blitzing against that line didn't leave any scramble lanes open to Wilson, so he couldn't dance around and wait for the initial coverage to break down - even if he wouldn't have gotten sacked he would have had to get the ball out fast. I love Wilson as a player and QB, but I think his one weakness is a limited ability to read coverages from the pocket (primarily due to his height) - he makes his biggest plays in the passing game either from set plays to a primary receiver going deep from the pocket, or after he breaks contain and finds a guy running wide open in the scramble drill. Blitzing speeds up his internal clock on when he needs to break the pocket, and if the rushing lanes don't leave a huge gap he's got nowhere to go and his eyes don't go to the receivers downfield. Not blitzing most of that game made the Packers' D too predictable, predictably with Wilson knowing every time he dropped back he was going to have the ability to extend the play against a tired D line and either wait for a receiver to break open or run for big yardage himself.

I thought the defense was pretty good yesterday until they let Wilson run all over them...then they got a bit gassed. Thankfully their next QB isn't that mobile. They did play really well, almost could have been dominant had King caught that 1st half INT that went through his hands and the refs actually gave the Packers the ball on that fumble during Seattle's first possession. Their style of defense gets in trouble when teams keep them on the field too long - some of that is on the defense for not making a play to get off the field, but alot is also on the offense to keep the time of possession balance in GB's favor. At one point in the second half Seattle had the ball almost 20 minutes of gameclock time to GB's 4 - most of which the Packers ran up in their 1st possession after the half. The first game in SF became a blowout at about the last 2-3 minutes of the first half, until then the defense was also playing really well. SF's first TD came right after a sack-fumble that started them at the GB 2 yard line. The defense gave up a couple field goals following SF drives with very short fields to make it 13-0, then GB promptly went 3 and out right before half and San Fran gashed them with a big run and that 40+ yard TD to Samuel right after Savage went out of the game with an injury. SF even got one more FG right before half because GB's offense gave it right back to the 49ers one more time. The key to this game, IMO, is for the offense to find ways to sustain drives - even if they don't put up huge numbers and score 30, they need to stay on the field and make a few first downs so they are keeping balance with field position when they do have to punt. Keep their defense as rested as possible. Kittle had a very quiet game against Vikings in part because they didn't need to pass much - but MN also has great coverage guys at the LB and safety levels of their defense. Have to expect him to be much more involved in this game, so hopefully Pettine can come up with a couple coverage wrinkles that could try to fool Garapollo and generate a pick or two. I also wonder if Sherman will shadow Adams wherever he goes after his huge game last night, or if he will stay at his left corner position and allow the Packers to move Adams to more favorable matchups.

That was my biggest gripe with the defense once Seattle started rolling in the second half - they've got to blitz more in spots to at least give Wilson something different to look at. GB's offense did them very few favors in the 2nd half after they put up 28 until that final drive, and the defensive line was gassed. Expecting their typical 4 man rush to both get pressure on Wilson and actually tackle him when they are that tired isn't a great strategy. Seattle's only chance was to let Wilson run around and either buy tons of time for coverage to break down, or have man coverage get 25 yards downfield so he can scramble for 10-20 yard chunks at will - blitzing every once in a while at least forces the issue a bit and gets the ball out of Wilson's hands quicker.

San fran will have a full weeks press talking about how great they are and gb will hear all week about getting pantsed in that regular season matchup. The game will be closer. As long as GB comes out with a different gameplan that forces the 49ers to either sub 1-2 of their linebackers off the field alot or stick with them to cover wideouts, I'll be happy they at least tried something that could work rather than sticking with the same gameplan that they got snuffed out with in late november.

14-3!

Props to graham on that catch, too...down below his knees

No way they can overturn it

Woulda been nice if he stayed in bounds...but a clutch throw and catch there

A nice 7 minute td drive sure looks nice for the offense about now

Refs obviously in line with vegas trying to keep this one interesting...ridiculous....

Wow is that putrid

Defense wins championships...or takes the early Sunday game completely off... Then again 14 of the Texans points were directly from special teams plays

KC special teams and dropped passes are killing them this game

Lol, turn on the tv and its 14-0 Texans before the game really even starts...

So pretty much every team doesnt match up well with a team that can snuff out the run and pressure a qb without blitzing. That isn't just a GB issue. I think I've said it previously in this thread, if the packers get another crack at san fran I'm hoping they go in with a gameplan of spreading them out to try and get some of their nickel or dime package defenses on the field - 4 wide with Jones or even 5 wide with tonyan as a wr. Then you don't sub and run sort of a hurry up offense that doesn't let them sub or call different defenses. I think their best bet is to see if Rodgers can find a game where he reminds everyone what he is capable of in terms of reading a defense and taking what it gives him. Sort of like what Favre did against that great Ravens defense that nobody could run against, so they just dinked and dunked them to death. San fran's defense is great against balanced offensive gameplans because they can play their base defensive personnel against it, and their front 7 is dominant with 3 LB's on the field. I think if you can temper the pass rush with a combo of hurry up and quick hitting routes and go after favorable coverage matchups on the outside opposite Sherman, they can be had. That is largely the approach the saints used against them and they hung 40 plus on that defense - they still ran a decent amount, but it was largely off spread formations.

I'll settle for Packers - Titans in the Super Bowl, even if present reality seems like it would be too wishful thinking. Tonight's game showed just about anything can happen in a playoff game, so the fact that the packers will be among the last 5 teams vying for a title by the time they kick off tomorrow night is a pretty nice feeling as a fan.

I'll say this, Jackson has no fear throwing into narrow coverage windows

Haven't watched much Ravens...does every pass Jackson throws normally look like 3 receivers and 3 DBs have a chance to catch it?

Silver lining of this game - look at san fransisco's offensive stats...they didnt play well either. If green bay doesnt implode offensively next week should they win tomorrow, it will be a game they have a chance to win