What a way to kickoff the 2011 season. Two great teams battling it out to literally the final second.
It seemed as though GB had the game in hand all night but Brees and Co. found a way to crawl back in the game. With about 4 minutes left and down by 15 points, Brees engineered a scoring drive with about 2 and a half minutes left. BTW - didn't really care for that NO TE mocking Rodgers with his TD celebration. One, I don't even know who that TE is and two, they were still down at that point. Pretty unnecessary. I'm sure he was hoping to do that all week.
Anyway, the Saints had one timeout and the 2 minute warning and opted to try the onside kick. GB recovered but the NO D held and Brees got it back with under a minute having to drive the length of the field. They took it down to inside GB's 10 yard line with 3 seconds left for one last play. Brees rolled out and was looking and fired it into the end zone incomplete but a pass interference on AJ Hawk led to a first and goal at the 1 yard line for a final play. With all of NO's weapons and trickery and pass options, I expected play action or even a straight up pass but they stacked the line and went with Ingram up the gut and he was stuffed. What a game and again, what a way to start the season.
A few notes:
Rodgers looked awesome! Great talent and confidence.
GB's offense looks stacked with all the weapons (Jennings, Finley, Nelson, Driver, Grant/Starks), they look really good. These guys all seem to be working on the same page which benefits them.
GB looks like the top team in the NFC.
Saints looked really good on offense as well.
Saints defense is suspect. They picked up where they left off in the loss to Seattle last year. They will really need to step it up if they plan on contending.
Sproles was a huge pickup for NO.
Great game and again, thank God football is back!
4 comments:
Excellent game. Excellent QB play. Excellent leadership.
Excellent analysis.
Rodgers has more weapons than anyone else and he really understands his offense. The one thing that may slow them down is their relatively weak offensive line.
Defensively, the Saints seem like they are in trouble. We'll see how much of it was playing the Packers and how much of it is that their D stinks.
The Pack D gave up a lot of yards, but they made some plays when it counted and Brees had to squeeze some great passes in under pressure.
Packers employ a high risk high reward defense. Theyll give up the yards but attack furiously for turnovers and sacks. Great game. Just have to take it one game at a time... this was one i was affraid of but they pulled it out. I have to say Rodgers looks amazing... reminds me of number 4. From the his presnap motions and calls... to the way he can throw off balance after avoiding the rush... to his rocket arm strength. There seems to be one major difference at this point... no killer late game ints. Lets go Packers!
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