Step back from the cliff

I am a bit surprised by the talk I heard yesterday. From the opening minutes of a morning show to the talk on the late afternoon sports radio show, fans want the entire Packer organization fired. They are talking about the season being over after the loss to the Buccaneers. They are thinking of going deer hunting or shopping with their wives instead of watching the Packers on Sunday.

Let the Dallas Cowboys fan talk you back from the cliff. I watched the game on Sunday. I don’t think it was as bad as you all (Packer fans) make it out to be. Sure it was ugly. Nay, embarrassing. But it wasn’t like it can’t be fixed.

Step one is easy. Realize and admit they aren’t a great team. That should be simple because there are only a handful of great teams right now. The Saints, Colts, and Vikings are great teams right; teams playing good football and winning. There are some really good teams. The Steelers, Patriots, Bengals (did I type that?), even the Cowboys right nos. Problem is you bought into the hype of the pre-season. You failed to understand the planning and playing of personnel in the games that didn’t matter and thought the defense would stop everyone who had the nerve to get on the field with you. It didn’t matter that offensive game plans were minimal or that they were defending second and third stringers. You failed to see the Packers going all out in the pre-season with their blitz schemes doing what it should against not so good players. You didn’t see that the new defense would take time to work in a real game.

You then went back for second helpings of hype. Rodgers picking apart laid back defenses. An unknown running back- who got cut- gaining huge chunks of yards against other soon to be cut players. The offense was unstoppable! Super Bowl here we come!

And if that wasn’t bad enough you went for hype pie for desert. The media started getting all sweaty about the Packers. NBC’s Chris Collinsworth led the charge calling them for the Super Bowl during week 1. Others jumped as well and though it sounds good, it was only September and their record was still 0-0.

Now you think the wheels are off. Some are saying they will get slaughtered by the Cowboys on Sunday. While I like to hear that talk even I doubt that will happen. The Cowboys are the better team on Sunday in just about every aspect of the game. But this is the NFL and teams that are supposed to win lose these games every week. Remember the phrase Any Given Sunday.

The Packers can score points. Second play of the game and they were up on Bucs 7-0. The Cowboys did not give up any huge plays on Sunday. For the defense to pull off that feat again would be huge, if not impossible against receivers that are much better than Philadelphia’s.

Rodgers had a bad game against Tampa. You don’t think he will bounce back? He will bounce on the turf a couple of times when the Cowboys knock him around but he still makes some plays. It isn’t the end of the world up there. They have some young guys like Clay Matthews and Havner that are going to be good.

Sunday’s game should be fun. It should be a good one too. I won’t predict a Cowboys victory here. I have no doubt they are the better team but the key word there is doubt. As I said yesterday, they need to keep playing hard and can’t have a let down game. This is a spot where that could happen. I don’t think it will but anyone thinking the game is a cakewalk is mistaking. The Cowboys have something to prove.