Why Gripe About a Win?

I’m going to talk about the Packers, but let’s get one thing out of the way: screw you Vander Blue. You can explain till you're, well, blue in the face, but in the end you've disappointed your hometown by backing out of a commitment and then going an hour east. The razzing you'll get when you come home to play the Badgers will be as intense as you'll ever see.


Anyway, let's get back to business.

Coming off a crushing loss to that one guy and the Minnesota Vikings and a day after watching Bucky cough up a ten-point lead, I think we can all thank the Green Bay Packers for ending the weekend on a high note. True, the Packers were playing the lowly Lions, but as a die-hard Wisconsin sports fan, I’ll take a chance to cheer any day of the week.

Yes, you can find negatives to focus on in a win, as Tom Oates is so great at doing (talk about a guy you don't want at a party). The penalty bug continues to plague the team after the bye-week, Clifton went down again, the 26 points could have been many more had the offense not sputtered and settled for field goals on a number of occasions. But how about we focus on the good of today?

The defense posted a shut out. Remember how much fun it was to watch the defense in preseason? We got another taste of that. Clay Matthews continues to work his way onto the field by making things happen—the man is always around the ball. Harris and Bigby got into the mix with a couple of nice picks, and if Bryant Johnson doesn’t have a cracked rib after being rocked by Nick Collins, he’s a lucky man. Oh, and I hope you enjoyed watching Culpepper struggle as much as I did. There are few things as enjoyable as watching a former Viking flounder.

And how great was it to see Aaron Kampman back getting after the quarterback? Was that a three-point stance I saw? He may have only gotten one sack, but he was in there disrupting things on a number of occasions. It sounds like Capers and Kampman had a discussion and decided if getting down on one hand makes him feel more comfortable, then its the best thing for everyone that he does it. I'm pretty sure anyone who saw the results can agree with that. Dom says he thinks we'll see more production in the next for games out of Kampman. I can't wait.

Perhaps my favorite positive from the game: the short passes that made 2007 so great have reemerged. The strength of the Packers wideouts is their ability to make people miss in the field. So watching Driver, who had a day to celebrate I might add, Jennings and Jones get the ball quick and turn upfield all day long brought a smile to my face that I've held on to until Monday morning, and I intend to keep it for the rest of the day. Other offensive pluses include Rodgers quickened release and that Finley continues to shine.

So really, why look for things to be pissy about after a much needed win? It's not like it was a 9-6 victory--26-0 is hardly something to gripe about. With all these positives, there's really no reason to wallow in the gutter. There's plenty of high ground nearby. So let's enjoy the shut-out, and hope that the team will build on these things in the week to come.