Panthers at Packers Running Game Day Commentary 11/30/08

It's easy to 2nd guess but the Packers should have gone for the 6 instead of kicking the Fg. If they don't get it, the Panthers are 99 yards away and it's most likely going to ot anyway. If they go for it and get it , they win. It would have taken balls but I think it was the way to go.

 

Looked like Thomas Davis didn't have his best game today. What was with Stewart's jaunt towards the endzone, did he come up gimp?

Our defense needs to get their heads out of their asses.
Marshall blah.
Jake had a pretty good game though.

 

I thought Stewart suddenly looked stiff on that run. When he hit clear running, he seemed to suddenly start short striding. He was then on the bike pedaling and they said he had hamstring issues. He definitely looked gimpy when he hit the clear.

 

started cramping up

 

That was an exciting game, I didn't think there was any way Smitty could get loose on 3rd and 11 but that was a hell of a catch to get us in position for the win.

Did anyone else think we challenged the wrong play in the first half? The play we ended up challenging just didn't have any good angles, yet Fox threw the flag before there was even one replay on TV. Yet the play before, it seemed like the Panthers had an interception only to drop it when he hit the ground. I think (if memory serves) that the ground can cause an incompletion but not a fumble, which must have been why they didn't challenge it. But, he clearly caught the ball and maintained possession until he hit the ground, it was a lot closer to an int than the play they ended up challenging imo.

That combined with our not calling for a challenge when Williams snaked into the goalline and the other ref overruled the TD when he didn't even have a view of the ball made me wonder who is in charge of telling Fox to challenge calls. I know we scored on the next play with DW, but a lot can go wrong on the 1 yard line (see Biakabutuka vs Pitt in the snow.)

Man, Mark Jones bailed our defense out with two HUGE returns in the second half. Bigtime win.

 

That hit was bullshit. Vick used to milk the fact that you couldn't touch him on the sidelines and get an extra 2 or more yards before dancing out of bounds. QBs have to be allowed to be hit down the field on the sidelines. Was Pep about half a step too late? Probably, but damnit, if Rogers had gone out of bounds earlier he could have avoided the hit. He tried to stretch the run and jump out of bounds at the last second, and got rewarded for it.

The next running QB will absolutely kill teams downfield because the defense will have to hold up even more than they were. It's totally lame and I loved the hit as a football fan. That used to be the way it was, if you run with your QB he's going to get punished.

It's one thing to protect them in the pocket on their blindside, but when they are downfield anything should go (unless they slide obviously.)


Edit: Ask yourself this, if the play was completely inbounds and Pep hit him that way, would there have been a flag? I would not be surprised if there was, I almost expect it now as a viewer. For the record though, the play was technically late and I can understand the flag. My point was more what more-athletic qb's can and have done with that sideline rule.

 

Steve Smith makes Jake look good. That last pass was a freaking prayer, luckily Smith made a great catch, if he misses that one, we probably lose. Kudos to them for getting in the end zone though. I was expecting them to stop us at the 1 and make us kick a FG.

 

it was. Of course, he got muscled out by Woodson but Woodson also fell down because of it. The pass before that, that wasn't a prayer or luck. These guys don't do this over and over because, oops, someone just forgot to keep it from happening.

 

you're drunk

 

Easy to say in hindsight, but reality was that there was slightly less than 2 minutes left in the game. You kind of have to expect your STs to keep the return reasonable. Our O hadn't shown a lot in the second half either. That late, you have to take the lead.