Well done sir...

While watching Charles Woodson pick off yet another pass this past weekend against Seattle -- and then doing my new favorite celebration: A simple handshake and nod with the whole defense -- I remembered how criticized his signing was a few years ago. True, I did think they overpaid him a bit at the time, but I didn't think it was a terrible signing. It turns out he wasn't even overpaid.
Since joining the Pack, Woodson has had seasons of 1 sack, 8 interceptions, 62 tackles and a touchdown (2006), a season of 4 interceptions, 63 tackles and two touchdowns (2007) and is en route to possibly his best season so far with four picks, a TD and 14 tackles in six games. Of course, stats don't show how good a lockdown corner he is either.
Durability was an issue when he signed, but the guy is having an amazing season on a broken toe (and without his cohort Al Harris) and has only missed two games in three years. Without him, the Packers certainly would have lost a few more games the past couple years, and he almost singlehandedly helped the Pack defeat the Buccaneers a couple weeks ago with a CLUTCH interception for touchdown after Rodgers got hurt.
He also is a veteran presence on a very young defense. I am positive he had at least a small hand in the improvement of Atari Bigby and Nick Collins, who both (when healthy) have turned into extremely solid safeties after being out of control and reckless early in their careers.
So to summarize, I heart Charles Woodson despite him being a Michigan grad. I would like to shake his hand, nod at him and tell him, "well done sir."

Brett Favre

Please just retire.

And now, for my less anger-fueled post of the evening...

Whatever happened to the QB sneak? This is easily the best way to get first downs in short yardage situations, yet I think I have seen it once this whole football season, high school, college and pro combined. Seriously, if it's because you don't want to injure the quarterback, toughen up. I rarely have seen a QB hurt on a sneak.
Case in point: I was covering the Michigan Tech-Northern Michigan game this weekend, and Tech had just come back from a 20-point fourth quarter deficit. It was 34-27 (due to another missed PAT, but that's another topic for another post), and the Huskies had first and goal at the 2-yard line. They had been running the ball well for the whole last stanza, so I don't blame the coach for trying to run the ball in. But if you run a QB sneak, there's no way you don't get at least a little yardage. Run it four straight times, and you're golden. Seriously, there's no way Northern stops four straight QB sneaks with two yards to go.
The Packers are awful at this as well. If it's third and one, hustle to the line, snap it and just have Favre fall forward. Boom, first down. I have rarely seen a d-lineman over the center against the Packers all season, tell me why that wouldn't get at least one yard?
So, in conclusion: QB Sneak on third or fourth and one, good. Slant pattern in same situation, bad. Halfback dive with small running backs in same situation, ugly.

Kevin McHale: Worst GM Ever

ANTOINE WALKER??????? I'LL BE SURPRISED IF WE SCORE 50 POINTS IN A GAME NEXT SEASON!

Kind of sad when you look to a football game to save your weekend...

First off, I'm not that distressed about the Bears loss. We hurt ourselves, we're still 4-1 and in first and although I really hate losing to Chicago, I'll get over it. However, my main qualm is that Mike McCarthy had a big hand in losing the game. Yes, Favre threw Urlacher a freebie, Jones fumbled away a blowout and penalties killed us. But the play-calling and the time-management in the second half was outright abysmal. I'm not calling for his head or anything close to that, he's done a great job so far, he just had a terrible game.
Calling a run on 3rd and 7 when you're one of the best passing teams in the league is AWFUL. I know he wants to establish the run, but you can't go away from what got you to 4-0. There's no way you should go from 340 yards in the first half to barely eking out a first down in the second half. The last drive was painful to watch, Favre shouldn't be making three shotgun signals in the hurry-up offense (that could be blamed on Favre). You can't continually go underneath for five yards when trying to get a lot of yardage. What happened to the slant? That was killing the Bears all first half long, yet we threw maybe two the entire second half.
The worst call may have been challenging the Bears first down on that last drive. There's no shot at getting that call overturned, and that timeout is worth gold in either stopping the Bears offense or giving your own offense time to score.
Now we just have to heal up, fix some mistakes and pass all over Washington next week. 5-1 heading into the bye week is still absolute prime position.

OK, the disrespect needs to end

We still shouldn't have been the underdogs, that was about as ridiculous as the play of our defense is.

Quit yer whinin' Pads fans

I must say that I was rooting for the Rockies to win last night, but it didn't really matter to me that much. With my beloved Twinkies out and the hated Yankees in, it's time to focus my attention to more important things, such as football and hockey. So I'm not really biased when I say that Padres fans reallllllly need to stop complaining that they got screwed out of a win last night.
Yes, the tape appears to show that Holliday did not touch the plate, but the camera angles are not exactly crystal-clear in their evidence. Plus Padres manager Bud Black said "It looked to me like he got it," after the game. Plus the Rockies could have a similar complaint about a Garrett Atkins "double" that may have been a home run in the seventh inning that may have rendered the whole extra innings useless.
Plus III: Trevor Hoffman wasn't exactly looking like he was on his game, the sac fly was his one out in the inning. Who's to say he wouldn't have collapsed further and given up another run to the Rockies?
I'm sorry you missed the playoffs, but it's time to man up, hug it out and look forward to next year.