Holy fucknuts! What we witnessed today was nothing short of miraculous. Let me type this once, just so I can savor it… Packers 52 - Saints 3. Christ almighty. I don’t think we could have seen a better performance.
The Packers came out flat, and on the first series fumbled twice. Each time they recovered and effectively were fortunate to go three and out. Meanwhile, the Saints came to play. After converting a third and 16 screen and nearly converting a third and 11 screen, New Orleans kicked a field goal and the Packers were once again playing catch-up. (Stat of the season: prior to this game the Packers have held a lead for exactly 6 minutes).
I wondered if this was going to be a long afternoon. I remembered Karen’s prediction and kept the faith, and then as if struck by a thunderbolt, the Packers came to life. Their next four possessions they scored a touchdown, while the defense caused fits for Aaron Brooks. Suddenly it was the Packers capitalizing on turnovers, with Al Harris returning an interception for a TD. Suddenly it was the Packers running the ball, with Najeh Davenport breaking a 24 yard burst and rumbling home with two touchdowns. Suddenly it was the Packers’ Robert Ferguson pulling down receptions and stealing the ball from defenders, and suddenly it was 35 – 3 at halftime.
When the second half started, there was no doubt that Green Bay would win. The question became just how much they would score. Favre stayed in the game for the third quarter and scored another TD on a pass to recently signed Donald Lee. Ryan Longwell (who drives a gorgeous Cadillac) kicked a field goal, and on the defensive play of the game Nick Barnett returned an interception 95 yards for a TD. Final tally: 52 to 3.
Outstanding.
There was one sad moment, however. Early in the second quarter Najeh Davenport went down with a serious ankle injury. I have found out that Davenport has a broken leg and is done for the season. What’s sad is that as readers of SBS know Najeh Davenport is Karen’s favorite player. When we met, Karen didn’t know much or care about football, but she knew that learning the game would be important to me. So one of the things she did was pick a favorite player. She didn’t want to pick Favre because every body picked Favre so she did a little research and picked rookie Najeh Davenport. With Davenport unsigned for next season and a history of being injury proned that dates back to college it is quite possible that today was Najeh’s last game as a Packer. I guess I’m glad that Karen got to witness it, but I'm really sad for her too. Karen got to meet a lot of players this weekend. Maybe she'll find another favorite...
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