First Game Report Card.

[Eaglehawk]

A-

We left some points on the table no doubt. And Sherm's block was unfortunate. But a SOLID performance nonetheless.

[RiverDog]

A-

We left some points on the table no doubt. And Sherm's block was unfortunate. But a SOLID performance nonetheless.

Hey, Eagle! Great to see ya!

I'm downgrading us a little because of our OT play, particularly in pass protection, and the stupid plays made on punt returns. You're right, Thomas's fumble might still have been ruled that way due to Sherman's block, but even so, Earl has to be calling a FC when he's in heavy traffic like that. He tickled the dragon's tail on his first PR by not calling a fair catch.

You expect to win at home, playoff opponent or otherwise. B+

[THX-1138]

And that's the thing. We all saw lot's of areas for improvement. I certainly did ( well, except for Lynch-he's playing at near mid-season form in great health--Beast indeed).

And they still blew the Pack out of the water. Granted, at home, but this is purportedly one of the best offenses in the NFL. And for a good third of the game they looked confused and beaten. They showed a lot of heart but you could see on their faces that they knew they stood very little chance of beating that crushing defense.

I'll give it a B+ just because I can't wait to see what an A+ game is going to look like.

[NorthHawk]

Was it just me or does Lynch look a little quicker this year?

[HumanCockroach]

B+

the return game was a concern, and the offense while really good, wasn't as dominant as I know they can be. The penalty situation has improved drastically, and if they can keep that up, fire on all cylinders on offense, and convince ET to fair catch a ball or two, this team is going to throttle a LOT of teams moving forward.....

[RiverDog]

B+

the return game was a concern, and the offense while really good, wasn't as dominant as I know they can be. The penalty situation has improved drastically, and if they can keep that up, fire on all cylinders on offense, and convince ET to fair catch a ball or two, this team is going to throttle a LOT of teams moving forward.....

Speaking of penalties, did anyone else see Clay Mathews flop? I can't believe that the ref actually bought that cheap act. They ought to start calling penalties on flops or else this game is going to start looking like soccer.

I'm not sure if ET's ego will permit him to make objective decisions to fair catch punts. I think the experiment should end.

Funny thing is that I'm more worried about our defense than I am our offense, at least this point in the season where we are not going up against our divisional opponents. Am I the only one that harbors such feelings?

[EntiatHawk]

I think for the first game of the season they played pretty dang well. B+/A- is about right. But what I liked is how afterwards they (the players) were are all about we need to clean some stuff up. This team has set some lofty goals for itself and it shows. My gut feel is that the pass protection will get better as the season goes on. But I tell there was a few running plays that the O-line just destroyed the Packers, Okung was up on the second tier and blowing up people. Sweezy and Carp look to be just mean. The drive to seal the deal at the end of the game is just killer. If we can do that with consistency this will be a very special year.

[NorthHawk]

"Funny thing is that I'm more worried about our defense than I am our offense, at least this point in the season where we are not going up against our divisional opponents. Am I the only one that harbors such feelings?"

I was worried about the Defense at first as well, but in my case I think it's because the Offense looked so much better early that it overshadowed the Defense. It seems our history is the Offense takes a few games or more to get untracked, but this year they seem to be starting out ahead of schedule. I hope it continues.

[savvyman]

Defense gets an A for the game.

The D successfully shut down arguably the best offense in the NFL - Lacy ran like a monster (... ask Kam Chancellor who got steamrolled by Lacy on two plays in a row - No one does that to Kam....) and all Lacy had to show (besides a concussion) for his beast like runs were 40 yards.

I think Rodgers had just 3 completions of greater than 10 yards and was held under 200 yards passing for the first time in years.

Defense also created turnovers and two Game Changing sacks - the first sack on 4th and 5 at midfield and the second by Bennett who stripped the ball from Rodgers which resulted in a safety.

Take away Earl's muffed punt which lead to Green Bay's only quality Touchdown and the D damm near pitched a shutout.

There are plenty of things for people to worry about but our D is not one of them.

[burrrton]

Was it just me or does Lynch look a little quicker this year?

He did, and PC has said he's in the best shape of his career (although they're not saying what weight he's playing at).

[NorthHawk]

I saw the replay on NFL Network last night and Lynch hit the hole a lot faster and seemed shiftier, too.
It might be partly because it's the first game of the year and he's real fresh, but he had noticeable burst I don't remember from last year.