Wednesday, September 15, 2010

At the end of the day...

…it’s still a win. No, I’m not talking about the Brewers, although there are still some things to keep an eye on with the Crew. I’m talking about the undefeated football squads that play in the great state of Wisconsin. I’ll get to the Pack in a bit, but let’s start off with Bucky. I can’t imagine any of you were too impressed with the way the Badgers looked against a team the caliber of the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Sorry, that’s a slap in the face to San Jose State. Still, there is no reason that going into the fourth quarter, Wisconsin has their starters in against a bottom feeder in the WAC. Here is the rest of what I had to say on the roundtable on the Badgers Blog (be sure to check it out since some of what I had to say is based off of other roundtable members).

What Went Right:
The Badgers threw down a classic ‘pound the football down your throat’ kind of drive early in the fourth to put the game away in which John Clay put Bucky on his back. It’s difficult to find much else positive to say other than the fact that Wisconsin is 2-0 and there are still a few weeks until the Badgers have to worry about putting together a solid all around performance.

What Went Wrong:
Just like last week, turnovers hurt the Badgers, but they didn’t kill them. Tolzien’s numbers on paper didn’t look too bad, but he just didn’t seem like his regular self. There were some easy throws that Tolzien left on the table and he appeared to have trouble controlling the football. If these giveaways aren’t ironed out before Wisconsin has to travel to East Lansing on October 2, all the hopes of an undefeated Buckeyes-Badgers matchup will be flushed down the toilet.

Player of the Game:
Blake Sorensen had a key pick, Lance Kendricks was solid and I liked what I saw out of Abbrederis, who may have very well worked his way up the wide receiver depth chart after Saturday’s performance (especially with the Gilreath injury ... let’s hope it’s nothing serious). Watt was also a constant force in San Jose State’s backfield. However, I’m going to turn to big John Clay for a second week in a row. Once again, Clay led the Badgers down the field for the game-clinching drive and continues to dominate despite not being 100 percent.

Looking Ahead: Arizona State (2:30, ABC)
Arizona State has yet to play an FBS opponent this season, so they should be in for a rude awakening when they travel to Camp Randall next Saturday. I would like to see the Badgers hold onto the football and I can’t stress this anymore. Wisconsin will see a familiar face at quarterback in Steven Threet, who transferred from Michigan and won the starting job for the Sun Devils. I do expect this to be a battle for a little while, but look for Bucky to pull away and handle Arizona State in the end.

One more thing to add: I’m hoping that Wisconsin can finally get Chris Borland, Mike Taylor and Blake Sorensen on the field ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Wouldn’t that be exciting?! Okay, Packer time…

I know Clay Matthews’ tackle on Kevin Kolb was pretty sweet and all but believe it or not, this was probably the last thing the Packers needed. Before you call me crazy, hear me out. Which quarterback is easier to game plan for: Kevin Kolb or Michael Vick? Yeah, that’s what I thought. And which quarterback do defensive coordinators put more time into game planning for? The back-up? I don’t think so. Low and behold, Michael Vick stepped in and did work on the Green Bay defense. Luckily, the Packers built up a 17-point lead before vintage Vick showed up and Green Bay managed to hang on for a 27-20 victory for their first win in Philadelphia since the wheel was discovered.

You’ve gotta feel pretty good if you’re a Packer fan (you better be if you’re reading this right now). First of all, Aaron Rodgers didn’t exactly play the best game of his life. In fact, it was one of his worst…ever. Rodgers was picked off twice and just didn’t have it going, but the Packers’ offense was clicking on all cylinders in the second and third quarters, which is when Green Bay put up all 27 of their points. I was also really impressed with the defense in the first half (speaking of the defense, where was A.J. Hawk most of the game?). Like I said in the paragraph above, Vick entering the game really threw off Dom Capers and the defensive unit, so I’m not really worried about the second half of the game. The defense looked solid, Rodgers got his garbage out of the way and the Packers are 1-0 entering next week’s game at home against the Bills. Life is good.

Howwweva (Stephen A. Smith), Green Bay watched two players go out with season-ending injuries (neither of them worse than this) on Sunday; Justin Harrell (big surprise) and Ryan Grant…both positions in which the Packers have pretty much zero depth. We’re used to not seeing Harrell out there, but Grant has been extremely durable the past couple years and like him or not, has put up some solid numbers for the Pack. I still don’t see this affecting what the Packers do and I think Ted Thompson will work or already has worked his magic by finding a diamond in the rough. Grant may be missed a little, but not enough.

Pigskin Pick ‘Em – After Week 1
Kyle: 9-7
Dave: 8-8

I don’t think I should bet…

My quick excerpt on the Crew: Mark Rogers has finally reached the big leagues and is scheduled to start at some point before the end of the season. Read the story on Rogers and you’ll understand why this is a big deal. Alright, that’s all I have to say about the Brewers. Sorry this post took me so long to put up…this thing called school started up again. Be back on Saturday with picks!

3 comments:

  1. Totally said the same thing about the injury to Kolb almost the moment after it happened. Sweet hit, but I think we keep the momentum through out the game with Kolb in there struggling to run away from Matthews rather than Matthews struggling to chase down Vick. Nice work on the Badger Blog.

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  2. you should add a college football upset pick every week with your nfl pick em

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  3. Thanks Kyle. That's not a bad idea, Chris...I forgot about how we would always pick an upset each week back in the day haha.

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