Packers Lose To Favre And Vikings, But Have Some Bright Spots
Regrettably, the Green Bay Packers were beat by the Minnesota Vikings and Brett Favre in their week 4 Monday night match up. There was an unbelievable amount of hype surrounding the game and it turned out pretty much like I expected, but not like I had hoped. It was a loss so I can only be so happy about it. But there were some positives that I took away from the game. The Packers were able to keep Adrien Peterson under a hundred yards and without any huge plays. Jeremichael Finley showed that he is getting closer to fulfilling his massive potential. And there is also one other thing that I was impressed with that is much more important for the long term success of the Packers.
The Packers had struggled to stop the run in the first three games of the season. They let the opposing running backs run for over a hundred yards in each of the games. I had anticipated that this meant a 200 yard game for Adrien Peterson, but I was wrong. The Packers focused intensly on stopping Peterson and the stuffed most of the runs while exhibiting great gang tackling.
The only negative to this is that it seemed like the Packers had to commit too many people to stopping the run. This left a lot of favorable matchups downfield that Favre was able to exploit for huge plays. With most of the attention going to Peterson, Favre had a field day. Our next step will have to be stuffing the run and the pass at the same time, in the same game. This is something that the Packers will not be able to accomplish consistently until Bigby can comeback from his injury.
Jeremichael Finley finally made his first big play. And it could not have come at a better time either. We desperately needed to answer the first Minnesota score and Finley did just that. He used his height and atleticism to score a 62 yard TD. I have been waiting for those types of plays ever since they drafted him and I saw his college highlight videos. He is still only 22 and I look for him to become a huge weapon as he continues to progress. Keep throwing him the ball!
It was also good to see Clay Matthews to get in there and make a big play. They drafted him because Thompson saw a lot of potential for him to make big defensive plays and cause turnovers. He certainly did that on Monday night. Matthews stripped the ball right out of Adrien Petersons hands and ran it in for a touchdown. This was especially big since it tied the score at 14-14. I have yet to see Matthews make any big mistakes either. He seems to be worth the high price we paid for him in the draft.
So, what is the thing that was most impressive and has the largest implications for the long term success of the Packers? You will have to go to PackerAuthority.com to find out.
PackerAuthority.com is the #1 Packer news letter for cheeseheads who are sick of listening to the stupid Bears and Vikings fans.
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