A Chicagoan's Brett Favre/MNF Story

[MTPackerfan]

Nice read.

Jennings called heads by the way.

that was what I thought also.

[Tony Oday]

I got to watch the game with two vikings fans Its fun nowdays!

[woodbuck27]

FritzDontBlitz:

Awesome tale.

YOU put us in that bar but what color hair and length does that barmaid have and did she smell and smile really good?

PACKER FANS ARE EVERYWHERE!!

[the_idle_threat]

Re: A Chicagoan's Brett Favre/MNF Story

Outstanding story and thanks for sharing! Some of my favorite highlights, among the many:

I swear, she just poured it on Chicago style and positively punked the guy. I mean, by the time she was done he was looking around almost as if he was begging for security to save him.

Then, it got even worse. Selvin "what was the NFL thinking by letting this guy go undrafted" Young fakes out everyone in the Green Bay organization except maybe Bob Harlan and falls foward for what looks like an obvious first down.

Its number 85 (which, for those of you scoring at home, is also referred to as "one better than 84" according to most mathematicians. Yeah, all you Javon Squawker lovers I am calling you the fugg out. Meet me outside, I'll be the big, black, bald guy with the grizzled beard putting my green and gold foot up Mr. Beer muscled Bronco fans mangy ass - we'll call me "the guy in the Denver Boot" for now).

[rpiotr01]

Re: A Chicagoan's Brett Favre/MNF Story

Unfortunately, M3 wasnt paying attention to the success of his new running weapon because he kept trying to short circuit the drives in the red zone by going to that empty backfield set in obvious running situations. In fact, it seemed like as soon as they got to the red zone they would abandon the running game altogether.

Great write up, just a nit pick here. On those two long 2nd Q drives to within the 10, MM called 5 run plays and three pass plays. One pass went to the corner of the endzone when Driver caught it out of bounds. Then he technically called two empty backfield plays on the next drive, but one didn't take place because of the Clifton false start. Next play he went empty backfield again on 3rd and 8 and Favre missed Driver wide open in the endzone. The call was good, execution was poor.

I just want to nip this false info in the bud, before it becomes "fact" that MM "always" goes empty backfield on the goal line. Out of 6 plays that were run within the 5, 4 were runs, 2 were passes, just one was empty backfield - and that was the play that had the best chance of producing points if not for Favre's errant throw.

OK, I'm done.

[MadtownPacker]

I am shamelessly bumping this to the top so that Mad can see it.

He might wanna go heads up with drunken packer girl....

Pleaseeee!! Its not my fault if WI woman cant handle the truth.

Great write up though.

[FritzDontBlitz]

Re: A Chicagoan's Brett Favre/MNF Story

Unfortunately, M3 wasnt paying attention to the success of his new running weapon because he kept trying to short circuit the drives in the red zone by going to that empty backfield set in obvious running situations. In fact, it seemed like as soon as they got to the red zone they would abandon the running game altogether.

Great write up, just a nit pick here. On those two long 2nd Q drives to within the 10, MM called 5 run plays and three pass plays. One pass went to the corner of the endzone when Driver caught it out of bounds. Then he technically called two empty backfield plays on the next drive, but one didn't take place because of the Clifton false start. Next play he went empty backfield again on 3rd and 8 and Favre missed Driver wide open in the endzone. The call was good, execution was poor.

I just want to nip this false info in the bud, before it becomes "fact" that MM "always" goes empty backfield on the goal line. Out of 6 plays that were run within the 5, 4 were runs, 2 were passes, just one was empty backfield - and that was the play that had the best chance of producing points if not for Favre's errant throw.

OK, I'm done.

Thanks for the clarification. I was not exactly able to keep my eyes glued to the screen during the entire second quarter, since it was during this time that drunken packer girl was getting so animated - and so many flags were being thrown, or at least it seemed that way - that she was creating a serious distraction. I was also recalling everything straight from memory, so yes there could be a few details out of place. Having said that, there was still a WCO staple missing from the game: the fake handoff/bootleg pass to the TE known as "sprint option left/right" (teams may have differing terminology to describe the play) when Bill (the true genius) Walsh created the system while head coach at San Francisco: QB fakes handoff, peels off in opposite direction and looks as if he is running a naked bootleg. As the defenders drop coverage expecting the Qb to run, the QB pulls up to throw to the TE who slips behind the defenders running his pattern 5-10 yards deep across the field parallel to the line of scrimmage. This is the very play that was responsible for "the catch," when Joe Montana hit Dwight Clark in the corner of the endzone to beat the Dallas Cowboys and propel the 49ers to their first Super Bowl. It is often run with a TE running 5 yards deep and a WR at 10 yards. Very difficult to defend in the red zone, unless you assign a DE to rush straight up the field and do outside contain to stop the bootleg and disrupt the QB's rhythm before the receivers have time to break free. I was expecting it, but it never happened. In fact, the formations Green Bay used in the red zone were very bland and unimaginative: every time they brought in a FB they usually ran, every time they went shotgun they usually passed. I believe M3's red zone woes are due to predictability more than anything else. The TE is rarely used as anything other than a blocker once they get to the red zone. I didnt catch the pre-game injury report but I assume Bubba was inactive because I cant remember seeing him at all, and the only passes to Donald Lee appeared to be the "stretch the field with the TE" variety. I could be wrong about these observations, but I know the TE was invisible in the redzone except for when Tony Moll (?) was called for a false start when he lined up at TE to run block.

I don't get to see all the Packer games because I live in Chicago's market. Hopefully the resident statisticians can help me with this: does M3 even run this play in the red zone? It could be under a different name in M3's playbook, but it will look similar to what I described above.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up.

BTW. For those who asked: drunken packer girl was a brunette, not drop dead gorgeous but not a fat, drunken slob either. She was do-able. Her ability to talk shit trumped all other attributes, though. She may have punked Bronco Billy, but I'd party with her - as long as she brought her own bail money....

[FritzDontBlitz]

A bit of a clarification of my own.

The play I was referring to is actually called "sprint right option."

Wiki has an article here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Catch_%28American_football%29

Can somebody send that link to M3?

[Carolina_Packer]

That was a fun read. I think I scared everyone in the bar when I screamed at that OT bomb to Jennings. They typically have lots of Packer fans for Sunday games; not so much for nationally televised games. Sunday's are fun though cause they have Go Pack Go cheers and the wave. It's been a really fun season so far.

[FritzDontBlitz]

I believe even die-hard Bear fans secretly admire Brett and love to see him play. The bartenders and waitresses were just as jubilant and fascinated at how the game ended.

The awe of watching a legend in the making tends to captivate even his worst enemies.