I have heard alot of rumblings, posts and even articles about how Sunday's NFC title loss was Brett Favre's fault. This is beyond laughable.
There are so many directions you can go with this one, where to start. Well let's start first with the coaches. Their game plan seemed to revert back to the Dallas game plan. They assumed they could rape and pillage NY's DB's and that was mistake. They got away from what got them there. The coaches seemed to completely give up on runing the ball when there was no reason to do so. Were the Packer's being successful running the ball, some say no, I say who would no when you only ran it 13 times the whole game. For the first 2.5 quarters the Giants were not very successful running the ball either, but they stayed with it and it paid off in the 4th quarter, Green Bay did not so in the 4th quarter it paid no dividends. My philosophy has always been if you are up or tied you continue to try and run the ball, eventually it will pay off. The coaches made a mistake by getting away from the run too early and not staying with the short passing routes and also they called too many screen plays, those haven't worked all year, why did they think they would work that day????
Next let's talk about the OLine. They pass blocked respectably but their run blocking (on the runs they tried) was atrocious and they have no idea how to block on screen plays, part of why screens have not worked this year. Also they had a few costly penalties on the Oline.
How about wide receivers, basically everyone not named Donald Driver was non-existant, and when their number was called they dropped balls. People say Favre was not great that day, well how about some of the fantatsic passes he put right in the receivers hands and they dropped the ball (can you say Ruvell Martin). The QB can only do so much, the receivers have to hold up their end of the bargain and catch the ball too.
How about let's talk about the defensive line next. They were unable to get pressure on Eli all day, perhaps the coaches should have called more blitzes to help them but this DLine has made a living pressuring QB's with a four man front, suddenly they went silenced on the biggest day of the year.
What's up next??? Well I think it is natural to discuss the linebacking corp. Suddenly the supposed strength of our defense turned in the worst outing I have seen from them in two years. This was not the agressive, good positon, good tackling bunch of the previous 17 games, this unit looked like the squad the Badgers fielded this year. They were out of position, they were arm tackling, missing tackles, botching coverages. It was like watching the keystone cops in Green Bay uniforms. Very disappointing effort from them.
Then there was our defensive backs. Atari Bigby & Nick Collins were almost non-existant, did we even play our safeties Sunday??? Then there was the travesty of our cornerbacks and the inability to cover Plaxico Burres. Plaxico ate the DB's lunch all day, again perhaps the worst effort we've seen in sometime out of that unit.
How about special teams, we had poor kick coverage giving the Giants good field position countless times, and what about our punter, how many 20 yard or less punts are we going to have to put up with?? I mean weak legged Feagles was out there punting the ball respectably and our guy would have gotten beat by the 14 year old girl who won the punt pass and kick competition. It was pathetic to say the least, if both punters would have had problems I'd give him apass but they didn't, only he did on this miserable day. Crosby was the only bright spot on special teams as he converted what was asked for him (he might be the Packer MVP for this game)
So lastly there was Favre. Did he play his best game ever, no. Did he force a bad pass that got picked off, Yes, but that ball was fumbled and recovered by Green Bay for a first down so that hardly did anything to cost the game. If anything it SHOULD have given them a little more fire. Was that a bad pass that turned into an INT in OT. Yes it was, but the decision and call were fine, it was just a bad pass, that is on Favre, but guess what, they never should have been in OT in the first place. Everyone's love child, Tom Brady, completed a similar percentage of passes int eh AFC title games, he threw for fewer yards than Favre, and he had THREE interceptions, including an INT in the endzone while the Pat's were in the redzone trying to score. Did Brady "win" their game for them, NO, in fact if anything he did everything he could to not win it. Did he lose their game for them though, NO, because the rest of his team stepped up. Maroney ran the ball well, his defense did an acceptable job in keeping the Chargers out of the endzone, his special teams mates did their job in coverage and on punts, and his OLine opened wholes for the running game and his coach didn;t go against what got them there. Point is if ANY, not all, just one of ANY of the areas that played poorly had stepped up their game on Sunday we would be talking about a Green bay win instead of listening to these idiots blame Favre for the loss. He is part of the team and deserves part of the blame (about 10th on my list of many people to blame) but it does not reside "squarely" on his shoulders as some would suggest.
At the end of the day I hope Favre realizes how good this team was, how good he was with them, and how much better they can be next year if he comes back. I hope he does because next year could be the year!!