HarveysWBs

No reason not to cover Kittle over the middle.

Right side of the line is losing. I was afraid of that. Hate that this is still one score, since San Fran’s offense deserves to be down 20. Too thin a margin here.

C’mon guys, help my blood pressure and punch this in, please.

This has 2014 vs Seattle written all over it. Defense has the other side figured out for three quarters, but offense can’t put it away and they come back to steal it from us.

This offense blows. Unbelievably bad right now.

Most important halftime in LaFleur’s and Barry’s careers to date. Adjustments have been made by San Fran. Gotta have an answer.

What a rollercoaster last minute. Ugh

I take it back!

Can’t believe Jones went out of bounds. Good grief.

That’s my Jimmy!

Refs are letting a lot of stuff go in this game, which I don’t mind in the playoffs. At least until King gets the games only defensive holding call on the last drive of the game, that is.

To say I’m disappointed in the offense is an understatement. Lots of time to adjust, but this is a potentially legacy-defining bust. Trouble is, I think they know it. Might be playing a bit tight.

Not sure about DVOA, but the Packers did give up the 2nd most rushing yards to QBs this year, 455 yards in 76 attempts, about a 6 yard average. Running backs picked up 1,302 yards on 304 carries, a 4.3 yard average. By pure yardage that was the 6th lowest total in the NFL. It would appear the Packers overall run defense stats have been dragged down quite a bit by QBs, while they've fared much better at "stopping the run" in the traditional sense. I love the breakdown here, this is some good analysis. Now I feel even better about this game, unless the Niners do something crazy like let Lance take 25+% of the snaps…

I think the thing that worries me most about this matchup is obviously our run D. In theory, you flood the line of scrimmage, clog the middle of the field (Jimmy G doesn’t throw outside the hashes under normal health and weather conditions, so no worries out there) and figure you can disrupt what little they try to do through the air while also having more bodies around the box to play the run. On the injured player front, I think we don’t need to be too worried about Jaire playing or not since San Francisco’s wideouts aren’t super intimidating outside of hybrid Samuel. If Jaire does play, I certainly trust him to be smart enough to handle whatever position they put him in, so I’d play to Rasul and Stokes’ strengths and let Jaire go eat whatever is left, but they don’t pay me the big bucks to figure these things out. Even easier decision with whatever they can get out of Z or Mercillus; situational pass rusher is an ideal role for both of those guys at this point and not too complicated to ease back into that job. What is sneakily starting to worry me a little more than I thought at first is dinking around with the O-line. Now, yeah, the offensive coaches and players have done yeomen’s work making a patchwork line play like gangbusters all year, so I may be nitpicking a bit to find anything more to worry about. And Nijman held up fine vs San Fran last time, so if he has to spell Bakh, I can live with that, even though it’s not ideal. But the right side of the line may be where this thing is won or lost. They’ve struggled with interior stunts a lot, and I bet San Fran is creative enough to give them some unscouted looks on plays like that. Patrick is certainly better than Newman, but he’s kind of just a guy. I don’t think I want Turner in there at RG (he was bad his first year here playing a lot of RG, and has been a revelation at tackle), but they might have liked what they’re getting from Kelly so much they decide to bump Turner inside just to get their “five best” out there. The uncertainty there is starting to nag at me. Here’s hoping Bosa sits and it’s all a non-issue.

Never forget. My children will know this truth, so they carry it with them, and their children, for time immemorial.

The other packer people in my life are nervous about this, and I get it. But it’s the divisional round—are the Rams/Cardinals or Buccaneers coming in here any less scary? I can talk myself into being pessimistic about this matchup, and we’ve all been given plenty of rope to hang our sports psyches with in the last ten years (not to mention the Favre years, which should really have no bearing on this, but fear by nature is often irrational). But the reality is this: unlike in 2019 or 2020, this team did not have a single game this year against a blue-chip squad where they seemed utterly, hopelessly, out of their depth. In 2019, they got emasculated twice against San Fran and that was it. In 2020, they got a similar curb-stomping in Tampa in the regular season. I think they did enough to right the ship down the stretch, and with home field, I think they were the better team, but couldn’t quite get it done. This year is not like that at all. After seeing this team handle the NFC West fairly comfortably, including in LA and in San Fran, with a greatly weakened roster compared to what they’re about to roll out there on Saturday, I have seen nothing that makes me think they aren’t the class of the conference. Make no mistake, they can lose. But they shouldn’t, and if you make me play simulator, I’d give Green Bay 8 out of 10 in Green Bay against San Fran right now, and probably 6 or 7 out of 10 against Tampa. It’s all right there.

TJ Watt. Pretty, pretty, pretty good

TB is good, obviously, and they’re getting some key players back (though not as many as we are). But I’m not going to crown anybody after pounding a team that has about as much business being here as the Brewers did in the pandemic playoffs. Like last year, I still think the Packers are better than anyone else in the field and should win. Of course, a lot has to happen first, and if thirty years of fandom has taught me anything, it’s that being better often means precisely squat.

Did I just witness the most exquisite playoff performance by a QB of all time? Rodgers’ march through Atlanta in the 2010 Super Bowl run was my previous #1, but what Allen just did to that defense is unbelievable.

This could end up being a *very* costly win

It would be really nice if Tennessee could go into LA and take down the Rams. I don’t like the idea that this stupid loss in KC could very well cost us the bye.

Well good effort, D. Thanks for coming to play today.

There’s no replacing Clark, but Slayton has been very useful

Ah king, can always count on soft coverage from you

Keep the faith…?