Green Bay Won the Damn Game

                                                   (The officials gave Green Bay "the business" Monday night)

I tried thinking of a catchy headline for this entry, something clever and to the point I plan on conveying, but at the end of the day (<--possibly the first of many clichés to follow) it all boils down to this (<-- see!): Green Bay did what it needed to win the game; Seattle did not do what it needed to win the game; the replacement officials gave Seattle that win and as an aside: my favorite beer right now is Saint Arnold’s “Santo”.

 

 I do not care about the Green Bay Packers enough to be angry about this past Monday Night Football’s outcome. I am also not going to participate in the whole grandiose-statement orgy going on right now and chip in on how the NFL is somehow “insulting my intelligence” by passing off the replacement officials as officials actually qualified to judge football contests at the highest level.  No, I am not offended. That’s not what this is about. This is about the  erroneous opinion that “maybe if Green Bay would have done what they needed to win, they wouldn’t have been in a position to be screwed by the officials.” And when this opinion comes from ESPN/NFL Network analysts and radio personalities, my “Over-Simplified and Lazy-Analysis” meter hits the red.  Let me guess, Talking Head (we’ll call them Talking Head): Had Green Bay “given 110%”, and “played all 60 minutes”, they wouldn’t have fallen victim to the old cliché of “Any given Sunday!” (Or Monday night. Or Wednesday night when The Barack is speaking at the DNC on Thursday, so the regularly scheduled Thursday game must be moved up in an effort to eliminate any real viewing competition. But dammit, we’re still gunna call it Thursday Night Football).

 

It’s perfectly fine for a coach to tell their team that they didn’t do enough to win in a situation like we had Monday night, and I wouldn’t expect less. You don’t want your players dwelling on something out of their control and in the past, but you’d rather them focus on what they can do to improve (like not allowing your quarterback to be sacked eight times in the first half). But Talking Head: I’m not your player!  Your audience is not a football team coming off a loss at the hands of replacement officials! And finally, you’re not our damn coach! So please, cut the bull-chit and talk to me like a fan of the game you’re paid to talk about. A fan of this game like every other fan -not in Washington state- who saw Green Bay’s M.D. Jennings intercept a pass with :00 left on the clock. A fan of the game who knows the difference between offensive and defensive pass interference.   I’m also a smart enough fan to realize that bad calls are a part of the game, and teams must overcome those bad calls. But Green Bay had no time to overcome these bad calls (Well, outside of the defensive pass interference call, which they did have time to overcome, and DID overcome by intercepting the pass on the last play of the game).

 

You can coat it how you will, and go on with your coach-speak clichés about accepting responsibility, but the Green Bay Packers DID accept responsibility. They went out in the second half and shut down the Seahawks offense. They put enough points on the board to have a lead in the final seconds of the game.  And when it came time for Seattle’s offense to put up a final drive, the Packers’ defense showed up to put the final touches on a tough road win.  We all saw the Green Bay corner blanket  his receiver down the sideline.  Only he must have done it TOO well, as the receiver had to hold him to insure he didn’t get his hands on the ball. But instead of calling offensive pass interference/holding, the officials went ahead and threw the yellow on the defense, giving Seattle a fresh set of downs and a shorter field on a crucial last minute drive. And of course, we all saw Green Bay deny Seattle a touchdown on a last second Hail-Mary pass by intercepting the prayer. But we forgot one thing: If the offensive player puts his arm around a defensive player that has completed an interception, that means the offense gets the touchdown. I know, the rule does not sound familiar, but that’s mainly because it just went into effect Monday night.

 

Now thankfully, as I type this (12:34 PM 9/26/2012, partly cloudy skies with a steady wind out of the South), there are reports circling that The NFL and the regular officials are “maybe” close to an agreement  that would bring those regular officials back.  That would be great, and would make such a sad moment for the Packers and their fans a good moment for the rest of the league and its fans: the moment that hopefully made everyone say “Okay, that’s enough!” Because we all saw it clear: Green Bay won the damn game!

 

And as if I hadn’t used enough clichés already (including the word “cliché” itself enough that I myself am annoyed), I’ll leave you with another: When these two teams play (Green Bay and Seattle), “throw the records out the window!” Seriously, as those records do not reflect what actually took place Monday night.

Derick Zimmerman