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Green Bay Packers Need Change – Urgently

Nov 092009

Well, I’m sorry, but I can’t stay silent any longer. I’ve been a “card carrying” Packers fan for 15 years or more and even through the Ray Rhodes debacle (disaster) I don’t think I’ve ever been as frustrated as I am now.

You know we want to discuss the O-line, but let’s face it – it’s been degrading even since the Mike Sherman days. The O-line: What a mess! If there isn’t a personnel change soon on the offensive line – and I mean importing some new (better) talent – Aaron Rodgers is going to get a pasting which makes David Carr look like he only got slightly mangled in Houston!

Is it too early to call for the heads of erstwhile architects Ted Thompson and weasel Mike McCarthy?

Well, I say it’s never too early, though changes mid-season almost never work anyway.

If this current performance is the net result of a rebuilding effort combined with a token effort to obtain any decent talent via free agency (most notably during Favre’s last few seasons with the Pack) then I say bring in one of the many super talented former head coaches who are currently unemployed. You have to wonder what former Broncos mastermind, Mike Shanahan could do with this lot.

Aaron Kampman is ultra-wasted in a 3-4 defence, and why the Pack decided to make the switch is a mystery. Yes, perhaps they have been a bit better in run defence, but they’ve opened up the skies for the passing game. You can literally see Charles Woodson and Al Harris getting frustrated, this isn’t a good fit for their physical state of play.

What I’d give to see the 1995-1997 Green Bay defence on the field once more… They who did not require the 3-4, with big Gilbert Brown plugging the line of scrimmage – what a sight!

So where are we at? Well, today Green Bay lost to a winless team led by a rookie quarterback making his debut. Honestly, the only way this could have been worse, was giving the ‘W’ to the Lions back when they were on their amazing losing streak (kudos to the Redskins for lending them the breaking ‘W’).

It’s time for a serious change. Things aren’t working out in real life, and the team who survives, adjusts. Clearly the 3-4 hasn’t scared opponents, and the offense can’t rush, and can’t pass when the QB is on his back (or.. holds onto the ball too long). Giving up 6 sacks to Tampa Bay is atrocious and must be punished.

Credit Rodgers for (until today) being able to put up solid numbers. He is probably one of the few reasons the Pack aren’t worse (in the standings) and could use some help from his FB and the overrated Ryan Grant.

Apologies: Live Super Bowl Commentary

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Feb 022009

I’d like to apologise to those who were searching for my annual live Super Bowl blog commentary.

This year I had some pressing work engagements which meant I was unable to record my usually droll Super Bowl comments and thoughts. I had the game on in the background to keep track through osmosis. It sounded like a whopper of a fourth quarter and shows that you can never count on winning the big game until the stadium clocks read 00:00.

From what I was able to hear and observe, the Cardinals did an amazing job in actually taking the lead in the fourth and forcing the Steelers to work for their title. It set up an astonishing comeback by the Roethlisberger offense and an even greater climax for Kurt Warner and company.

This is the stuff the NFL dreams of in the big game. Gone are the snore-fest blowout games of the late eighties and early nineties (although who doesn’t miss Jerry Rice and the 49ers and their awesomeness?) and now we have games which really showcase the quality, depth and strategy of American football.

Aside from the megabucks halftime show (which often receives more press than the game) this is what we want to see – a closely fought contest where the best team won the day. They can’t script them any better folks.

In the end, the Steelers offense stepped up and I think the Cardinals were a little unlucky. Hopefully we’ll see a rematch sometime soon.

For now, congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers who did deserve to win the game.

Personally, I think both teams deserved the win and I’m glad they both made it to the big game this season. Congratulations must go to the Cardinals who stepped up in to perform in a match the franchise has never really even had a sniff at getting to.

The defence should revel in that first half performance – especially holding the Steelers to three points on a drive where a penalty gave the Steelers ‘O’ a new set of downs within the redzone. For the Cardinals, Warner continues to surprise and Larry Fitzgerald is going to be a Jerry Rice type in the future, hopefully this wasn’t Warner’s last game and I’m sure we’ll see Larry again.

Whammy goes to Channel Ten for it’s pathetic time-delayed broadcast. It’s not sporting when the rest of the world knows the outcome at the start of the fourth quarter! Channel Ten should show the game live or give it back to SBS. You can get away with it during the regular season, but during the Super Bowl – it’s unforgivable.

We knew there was an Aussie punter in the game (the Cardinals’ punter former AFL player Ben Graham) – who had a pretty darn good game by the way – but did the Channel 10 coverage have to centre around him? Not too mention the numerous plugs for the AFL. What does the AFL have to do with American Football??

Bonus Trivia: The first time in NFL history that there has been two Australian born players in the NFC championship game (Eagles punter Sav Rocca and the aforementioned Cardinal’s punter Ben Graham). People in the US might get to thinking Australia is populated only with punters?! We saw Cowboys punter Mat McBriar in the post season last season.

Coming Soon: Australia vs. France

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Nov 252008

On the weekend we were at the mercy of some really terrible rugby as Australia played France to decide who could play the worst.

Stay tuned for a complete review of a game which was only slightly better than South Africa vs Australia, 2006…

Rugby: Australia vs England

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Nov 162008

Match Notes: Australia vs England, Twickenham (UK)

16-11-2008 (AEST) 15-11-2008 (local)

Halftime Report

We’re at the halftime portion of the England v Australia rugby test match live from Twickenham, in the UK.

Besides being a closely contested match, and the referee not handing out a yellow card to any number of English players for being intentionally offside when Australia is attacking within 15m of their goal line, it’s been a pretty good match to watch (although messy and frustrating).

Strangely enough, the game isn’t bothering me half as much as Channel 10′s coverage. I never thought I’d miss Channel 7, but at least they could judge when it was appropriate to run an advertisement during the game.

C’mon Channel 10 – you’ve twice had an ad play over the top of game-critical footage; the first being the touch judge report, the second an English scrum feed right in front of the goals, just prior to their try. It’s not just the critical stuff either, we’ve missed several results after restarts (after successful penalty goals) and a number of scrums. It’s like watching half a game.

I understand advertisements create income (surely there’s a better way to integrate such things into the broadcast??) which allows a station to broadcast the game in the first place – *but* please learn to treat the telecast properly or give it back to Channel 7 (or someone else) because punching in those stupid halfwitted ads (worse: actually losing live game footage) during a live running match makes it not worth watching the game at all.

Dear Channel Ten:

Broadcasting ‘live’ means live. Save the ads for halftime and let Rugby fans enjoy the game unmolested!

Post-Match Wrap Up

Well, the game is in the history books now – though you might consider the Wallabies had the game pretty much won before Ashley-Cooper’s try late in the second half (although that’s all we seem to see in highlight reels). The try gave England a bit more steam, but their inexperienced players couldn’t rise the the challenge, and by the middle of the final ten minutes it was quite obvious that Australia were walking away victorious.

Now, some serious questions need to be asked about the Australian halfback position. Clearly the quality drop from former captain George Gregan has (and always was going to be) quite steep, but we need and deserve a better effort than the one Luke Burgess produced at Twickenham. At times he looked completely lost, was slow to the breakdown and his ball distribution was horrendous.

England caught some very lucky breaks in the game – I actually think Australia played better than the 28-14 score line suggests. The Australian forward pack clearly dominated the English forwards (despite English pre-match swagger) and the line out was quite strong.

Open field running was not as good as it could have been (England had many more line breaks) although you have to give credit to a very strong defensive effort from the Wallabies – not just in preventing tries but from avoiding giving away too many penalties (something England need to master, with experience).

England.. Still a young team in terms of age and experience.. However, you can clearly see the potential. Given more test caps between the forwards and backs you can’t fail to predict a resurgence in English Rugby. My only knock on the English team from this weekend’s match were their indiscretions when defending close to their goal line – far too many offside penalties which should have resulted in at least one yellow card.

Man of the Match

Matt Giteau for his superb goal kicking performance, which put immense pressure on the home team, and made the Wallabies dangerous every time they ventured into English territory.

Next week: Australia vs France at the wee hour of 06:30 AM. Until then.

No words..

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Aug 302008

Australia vs South Africa

Sorry, but I turned off the television set. The Wallabies playing South Africa in Johannesburg have probably played the worst game I’ve seen in 5 years.

In the 68th minute the South Africans crossed to put the score out to 46-8. There are no silver linings, no positives to take away from the match. We simply played pedestrian football… Worse than pedestrian football.�

After the seventh try, I turned off the TV in disgust. I’ve sat through worse score lines (I think), but this is the first time in living memory that I haven’t watched until the final hooter. The Wallabies don’t deserve another ten minutes of my life. They are playing so badly that I won’t donate the time.

Where did the team from last week go?

Not a single player in the starting XV deserves a mention. They all played poorly. Mortlock played perhaps one of the worst games I’ve ever seen him play, capped by his “pass to no one” around the 65 minute mark.

The reserves have stepped in and temporarily stemmed the haemorrhage of tries being given away, but seriously, after Pienaar walked straight through and over for a try enough was enough. (It turns out they picked up another try in the 77th minute, but my television had been well powered down by that stage).

Do the Australian team actually practice line out throwing? I’d be in favour of getting a hooker into the side who can throw straight verses any other factor right now. At one point we threw to South Africa with no Wallaby jumpers – on our own throw in!!

Our fundamentals were poor – the basics weren’t there. Passing, tackling, kicking (oh, by the way, thanks Hynes for kicking the ball out on the full leading to South Africa’s sixth try. They really needed that extra possession and territory).

Rubbish play, horrible game. For shame. Back to the drawing board.

Final score: South Africa 53 defeats Australia 8

A dismal failure for Australia who have given up a record margin to the South Africans, including the first four-try outing in Tri Nations to Springbok winger Jongi Nokwei.

It is a time to be embarrassed to be a Wallabies fan (again).

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