Letters to the Editor
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What Decided The Game
Is that Favre is finished. In big game settings.
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McCarthy's uncharacteristic decision
And it's a mystery why the coach of the third-highest scoring team in the league didn't think his offense could gain six inches, instead opting for three points when the Packers needed at least 10 and probably more.
As a Packer's fan I have been pleasantly surprised by Mike McCarthy's play calling. It has been at times bold and unpredictable and quite effective. He has several times converted 4th downs when the situation required it. This is why I find it especially perplexing that he didn't go for the first down and maintain some control of the game. He shouldn't have been feeling any pressure to play it safe, since he had a ready-made excuse for the loss (Favre was knocked out of the game, after all). In fact, a conversion followed by a TD would have put the Cowboys under pressure. A little disappointing.
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Observations:
Most of these have been brought up, but my two cents:
1. Al Harris' strip of Owens. WTF. I mean, WTF?!! Don't you have to start moving to have your forward progress stopped? And does anyone believe that if T.O. were to have slipped away from Harris after regaining control of the ball and gone on to score that the same call would have been made? Big play. Possibly the difference between 10-0 and 3-3.
2. The bad passes were on Favre, not McCarthy. Aaron Rogers ran the same plays (with the receivers running the same routes -- designed for one always to go long) and took what the Cowboys gave him. If Favre had done this, he wouldn't have gotten hurt, and the Packers may never have trailed. Boys D looks beatable.
3. Phantom PI: WTF?!! Even in the early quarters, this call shouldn't have been made, but with 5 minutes left!? Reeeediculous. And supposing what Dallas may have done had it not been called is no better than supposing what the Packers may have done had it not been called.
4. I don't want Favre playing in a possible rematch in Dallas. He wigs out there and doesn't appear to be able to change that. He's vanquished his demons in Minny (as well as his widely reported failure in domes of all kinds) so it stands to reason that if he was ever going to play well in Dallas, it was last night. But does anyone think Favre won't play that game if it happens?
5. Officiating at all levels has been horrid. Indeed, this year has produced more never-before-seen rules interpretations than any in my lifetime (Harris strip ref, I'm looking at you). It's so bad, Gene Wojo on ESPN had to point out that Dallas won this game "fair and square". This needs to be fixed (and by "fixed" I don't mean, "rigged more").
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Observations (revisited):
...And throwing a flag after a conference should be outlawed. Refs have gotten lazy because of instant replay.
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Officiating
Horrible officiating could be the angle for the story of every NFL game. I feel like at this point it's just a part of the game, like the shape of the ball.
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As Bad As The Officals Can Be At Times
I bet in the post game ref shower stalls one was saying to another----Can you believe that dumbass kicked a field goal?
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Re: Officiating
King,
You're right, to a point. But is there something wrong with expecting officials to make calls from the rule book and not make them up as they go along? Where is the "interest (or 'integrity') of the game" mantra that all Commissioners trot out when suspending a player, for example?
This goes for strike zones and traveling calls as well. If a guy broke a rule, call it -- and be consistent. And there shouldn't be nearly as much room for personal interpretation as there is.Is that too much to ask? There's also a difference between horrible officiating and what appears to be blatantly preferential treatment by the officials. It wasn't THAT long ago an NBA official was indicted for taking bribes, was it?
All that said, I don't know whether to see a silver lining or not. Should I feel good that, had the Packers played better, they might have overcome these two calls (and TWO missed face masks -- how often do NFL officials even miss ONE?)? Or should I feel like the field was tilted in the Cowboys favor?
Regardless, I feel cheated because I would like to say the Packers lost to a superior opponent and all these questions make that impossible.
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Maybe That's All A Game is
A series of fuck-ups by players, coaches, and officials.
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Smiling QB
David L:
Though a die-hard and unrelenting Redskins fan, I do finally have to admit that I like Romo. He smiles. He is not Aikman (I like him in the booth, hated him as a QB) or Roger S., ( just hated him, period) who beat us all the time. Romo is just different, and a real live human being. I actually was sympathetic to the Sowboys, because they did in fact play better football against the Pack. As a fan, once in a while I just have to relent and enjoy what the best team and best athletes accomplish. GO REDSKINS>>>>,,,JS
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must have seen a different game
all i'm reading and hearing is how well the cowboys played against the packers. the difference in the game was a pass interference call and if i were the cowboys i'd be very worried about my pass defense. aaron rogers moved the ball pretty easily and the cowboys offense was predicated on throwing up long passes against a depleted secondary and praying. the cowboys schedule mimics the missouri schedule and neither will be prepared for any big game they get to.
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why the officiating was poor
The refs wore the long pants instead of the knickers.
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Bad plan of attack on the part of the Packers
They went into this game thinking they could test Dallas' weakened secondary and got some bad calls on the way. Otherwise the play calls that didn't require the hail mary approach might have moved the ball more. It seemed like Farve was out of sync and tweaked by the crowd a bit. Not his best form but he is far from washed up after one game like this where they were smart and pulled him early. Why couldn't they close the deal? Ask Mike McCarthy, but I think he conceded it a loss before the half and let his team down.