SB Nation User Blog: 2Slick

Bironas Kicks Titans Past Packers in Overtime

2Slick — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:22:58 -0000

Getting to 8-0 took the Tennessee Titans a little longer than expected Sunday, and that can all be attributed to kicker Rod Bironas. Bironas clanked his 49-yard field goal try off the upright at the end of regulation, but got redemption in overtime as he hit the game-winning 41-yard field goal to lift the Titans past the Green Bay Packers 19-16.

"I was hoping for exactly what happened," Bironas said. "We'd win the toss and get another shot at it. I don't miss many, so I definitely wanted another shot at it to put us in the lead and go home with the victory, 8-0."

Tennessee did in fact win the toss, then fed the ball to rookie running back Chris Johnson to get into range for Bironas. On a key third-and-six play from the Titans' 26 yard line in overtime, quarterback Kerry Collins hit a wide open Johnson for 16 yards and a first down. Johnson accounted for 45 yards (out of 55) on the final drive.

The Titans started the scoring by converting two Bironas field goals from within 35 yards. Green Bay (4-4) responded with a field goal of their own before Packers receiver Donald Driver scored the game's first touchdown on a five-yard pass from quarterback Aaron Rodgers to make it 10-6.

Tennessee fired right back, giving the ball to their flash-'n'-smash duo of Johnson and LenDale White. White rumbled for a 54-yard run on the next Titans possession, and Johnson finished off the drive with a six-yard touchdown two plays later.

The Titans and Packers would trade field goals after the break before Packers kicker Mason Crosby tied the game at 16 with just over five minutes left in the fourth. Green Bay had its chances after that, but couldn't advance the ball past the Titans' 41 yard line on their final drive and punted back to Tennessee with under two minutes remaining.

"That was a huge stop at that point in the game," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said of his defense's stop late in the game. "They [Packers] had a drive going there at the end, but our defense made the stop when they had to."

It first appeared as if the Titans were going to play for overtime, but after converting on their first third down, Collins began attacking the Green Bay secondary. Collins completed 4-of-5 passes for 55 yards on the final drive, and set up Bironas with a makeable field goal with only four seconds left.

Bironas said his foot caught the ground on the attempt, and the ball clanked loudly off the right upright to send the game into overtime. Packers coach Mike McCarthy liked his team's chances at that point.

"We felt good about it," Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy said. "We liked the position we were in and even kicking it off to them when we lost the coin toss we expected the defense to stop them. It didn't work out that way."

The Packers were unable to stop Johnson in overtime, and on third-and-one from the Packers' 24, Bironas kicked the game winner that was good from the second it left his All-Pro foot.

"When you win eight games, you're going to on occasion need to win some like this, and that is just what we did," Fisher said. "We hung in there."

Rodgers statisically played well, but two turnovers from the Packers' first-year starter hurt Green Bay. The first turnover, a fumble caused by Tennessee's Jacob Ford, set up a Titans field goal. The second, an interception by Chris Hope, took potential points off the board for the Packers.

Rodgers was the first to admit costly mistakes. "There are no moral victories," Rodgers said. "We wanted to get to 5-3. We felt like we had a good game plan and we were very aggressive. I just didn't throw the ball as well as I wanted to. I'm very disappointed about the way I played, but our resolve is strong and I'll come back next week and be ready to play in a big game against the Vikings."

Brett Favre Vs. Aaron Rodgers: A Statistical Comparison

2Slick — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 00:02:19 -0000

I would like to talk about Aaron Rodgers' incredible performance under difficult circumstances.

His numbers so far this season: 145-221 (.656), 1668 yards, 12 TDs, 4 interceptions; his passer rating based on these numbers is 98.8. The aspects of his play that do not fall under passer rating include being sacked 13 times for 79 yards while rushing 30 times for 113 yards with three TDs and two fumbles lost.

Thus, he has accounted for 1702 yards in 264 plays (6.4 average), with 15 TDs and six turnovers.

So far this season, in the same number of games, Favre is 161-235 (.685), 1611 yards, 15 TDs, 11 interceptions; his passer rating based on this is only 89.5. He also has been sacked 16 times for 126 yards, with 11 rushes for 16 yards and two fumbles lost.

This means he has accounted for 1501 yards on 262 plays (5.7 average), with 15 TDs and 13 turnovers.

In other words, overall Rodgers has 67 more passing yards and seven fewer interceptions on 14 fewer pass attempts; Favre does have three more touchdowns. However, including what Rodgers can do with his feet, he has 201 more yards on two more plays and is averaging 0.7 yards more per play, with the same number of touchdowns and less than half the turnovers.

Through this point last season, Favre was 181-274 (.661), 2046 yards, 11 TDs, 6 interceptions (92.5 rating), with 12 sacks for 79 yards and 14 rushes for -2 yards to go with two fumbles lost. Thus, in 300 plays, he had accounted for 1965 yards (6.6 average), with 11 TDs and eight turnovers.

That means Rodgers has 36 fewer completions and 378 fewer yards but one more touchdown, with two fewer interceptions on 53 fewer attempts, but including other production, he had 263 fewer yards on 36 fewer plays (average 0.15 lower per play), but four more touchdowns and two fewer turnovers.

Finally, let’s look at how Rodgers’ numbers compare through the first 14 games of his career to Favre's. Rodgers is 180-280 (.643), 1997 yards, 13 TDs, and five interceptions (94.3 rating), with 41 rushes for 160 yards with three TDs but 22 sacks totaling 149 yards and three fumbles. Thus, in 343 plays, he has accounted for 2008 yards (5.9/play), 16 TDs, and eight turnovers.

Meanwhile, Favre was 246-387 for 2697 yards, 15 TDs, and 10 interceptions (86.2); he was sacked 26 times for 181 yards and ran 38 times for 160 yards and one TD, with three fumbles. Thus, in 451 plays, he generated 2676 yards (5.9/play—in the interest of full disclosure, this is actually almost 0.08 higher average if carried to another decimal point), with 16 TDs and 13 turnovers.

Thus, Rodgers did account for 700 fewer yards and two fewer TDs, but also five fewer interceptions in 107 fewer attempts. And when you factor in the rest of his production, he accounted for only 668 fewer yards on 108 fewer plays but managed the same number of touchdowns while committing five fewer turnovers.

Note also that Brett did not have to follow a legend. Even the popular player he did follow (Don Majkowski) was hurt, not traded away to make room for him.

No one put the kind of expectations on him that have been put on Rodgers, and he did not have to deal with fans hating on him like they are on Rodgers. Yet Rodgers has clearly outperformed Favre through this point in his career, through this point last season, and even through this point this season.

Whenever I write anything in support of Rodgers, or suggest we made the right move in letting Brett go, I get a plethora of haters who dump on me and accuse me of ignoring Favre’s accomplishments.

So let me make one thing clear: Brett Favre is clearly the greatest Packers quarterback of all-time. He may be the greatest quarterback in NFL history. This does not mean that Rodgers cannot be better eventually, nor that he is not better right now.

But some fans pine after Brett, ignoring all the evidence given that this may be the case. Some are even irrational enough to deify Brett and believe his stories over the organization’sand media reports, which are consistent with each other, at every turn.

I hope these people never sit on juries, ignoring all witnesses whose stories matchup if they judge and accomplished suspect. I can separate Brett the player from Brett the man.

Packers back at it after bye

2Slick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:40:05 -0000

Green Bay - The Packers are on the practice field for the first time since the bye week.

Here are some of the things coach Mike McCarthy had to say in a press conference before practice:

McCarthy said he is sleeping "periodically" since the birth of his daughter.
Four players won't practice today: DE Jason Hunter (hamstring), LB Danny Lansanah (hamstring), QB Aaron Rodgers (shoulder) and CB Charles Woodson (toe). Hunter and Lansanah will test Tuesday and then hopefully go on Wednesday. McCarthy wants to see how Rodgers is today and would like to get two practices out of him this week.
S Atari Bigby and DE Michael Montgomery are back.
WR James Jones (knee) and CB Al Harris (spleen) are back on a trial basis.
Today's practice is padded with a focus on fundamentals.
As far as the injury self scout, the Packers looked hard at the number of hamstring injuries and have changed a few things up. For both practices and games, the team will have longer periods of warm-ups and stretching. They will also try to keep players core temperatures up, as many of the injuries came from players that don't play a whole lot of snaps.
McCarthy said there were no "major" tendencies revealed in the self scout.
McCarthy was asked whether he would prefer not to hear anything about Brett Favre for the rest of the season: "I'll just say this, it's unfortunate, I think, for everybody involved. No disrespect to the national media, I think every time that I get involved in a conversation on a certain topic, there's always an angle that wants to go back to Brett or to what happened. It's unfortunate but that's just the way it is. I don't think it's fair to him, I don't think it's fair to the Jets and my focus is simple: I don't want it in my locker room and I don't want our players to feel like they have to answer questions that, first of all, they're not educated on because they don't know exactly what so and so said or this and that. So we just want to stay above it and don't want to deal with it because it doesn't help us beat Tennessee and that's the truth. I don't want to get into who said what or who did that because we don't want any part of it. It's something that's in the past. We have moved forward.

A slide show of the most historical and greatest team in the NFL.

2Slick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:37:16 -0000

A slide show of the most historical and greatest team in the NFL.

Pre Game introductions for the 1961 NFL Championship Game.

2Slick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:35:37 -0000

Pre Game introductions for the 1961 NFL Championship Game.

NFL Week 7 Indianapolis Colts at Green Bay Packers Highlight

2Slick — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:29:14 -0000

NFL Week 7 Indianapolis Colts at Green Bay Packers Highlight