Well, shut my mouth and paint my PC green

By Os Davis  |   Monday, August 21, 2006  |  Comments( 1 )

Green Bay Packers
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All right, I admit it: Pretenses of journalistic objectivity aside, I'm more than secretly cynical about the Green Bay Packers' chances this year. Considering the team is coming off a 4-12 season, is led by a rookie coach with a brand-new offensive scheme and a starting quarterback who may have been living on borrowed time for a couple of seasons already, few could blame the pessimists.

Couple this outlook with the biggest post-Super Bowl non-story before Terrell Owens got on the exercise bike, i.e. Brett Favre's open hemming and hawing about his retirement. Add the short eternity it took to sign future star/No. 1 pick A.J. Hawk and an absolutely chaotic, abysmal and perhaps worst-of-the-week performance in their first preseason game, and the weaker of Packer backers were already wondering about Green Bay's odds of snagging the first pick in 2007.

Or so I thought.

But now I'm a believer.

For at least a week.

After barely showing up against San Diego last week, the Pack looked back, running up a 38-10 score against the Atlanta Falcons at Lambeau on Saturday night.

Everything was firing on all cylinders for Green Bay. Favre led the green-and-gold on two long drives while showing that, yes, perhaps he can adapt to this darn West Coast Offense thing. Though sports reporters are lining up to proclaim Favre "looked like the Favre of old," his stat line of 16-of-22 for 134 yards more closely resembled a rookie Tom Brady than young Brett Favre.

The evening's running backs du jour, Najeh Davenport and Noah Herron, were good enough, the latter even grabbing a TD pass. Much-watched rookie WR Greg Jennings continues to look as good as advertised, turning a tipped pass into an 85-yard touchdown. And Mr. Hawk was out there defensing passes and registering one tackle for a loss.

So this week, no cynicism about the Packers. Sure, some complained that two TD's came on tipped passes that deflected fortunately and that luck was clearly on Green Bay's side.

This week, we'll quote Branch Rickey's line: "Luck is the residue of design." And all right, maybe the Falcons really do have as little depth as some suggest, but, hey, we'll say, the Pack's second stringers did OK, too.

At the moment, I'm a believer, so who knows? Maybe Favre does have enough magic in his old throwing arm and ,with a few lucky bounces, the Pack can outlast the favored Chicago Bears, upstart Detroit Lions and mysterious Minnesota Vikings, and sneak into the playoffs. Suddenly anything's possible.

For at least a week.

So I'll allow Packer backers to bask in the glow of a well-played game and give them the benefit of the doubt without the gloom and doom. They deserve it; after all, this might be as good as it gets for this mostly inexperienced bunch in 2006.

Oops.

For more optimism on the Green Bay Packers, come to Realfootball365.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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