Packers-Colts: Thumbs up, thumbs down
Ryan Grant
Ryan Grant
packrepted@aol.com
Posted Oct 20, 2008


Packers enjoy best all-around game of season; flags put a damper on victory

Thumbs up: The Packers played their best game of the season by whipping the Colts 34-14. The offense, defense and special teams each contributed as Green Bay improved to 4-3 and remained in a tie for first place with the Chicago Bears in the NFC North Division.

Thumbs down: Way too many flags by Ron Winter's crew. The Colts had 12 enforced against them and the Packers had nine. Green Bay entered the game leading the league in penalties with 68, including 59 that were enforced against the Packers.

Thumbs up: Aaron Rodgers spread the ball around to eight different receivers. Rodgers continues to be efficient, despite playing with a sprained shoulder. Rodgers only had seven incompletions in 28 attempts.

Thumbs down: The normally reliable Mason Crosby pushed a 36-yard field goal attempt wide left at the end of the first half. Crosby missed from between 30 and 39 yards for only the second time this season in six attempts. He has three misses on field goal attempts this season.

Thumbs up: Safeties Nick Collins and Aaron Rouse had huge games for the Packers. Collins picked off his fourth pass of the season and returned it for his second touchdown in the third quarter. Rouse intercepted his first pass this year late in the fourth quarter and sealed the game for Green Bay with a team-record-tying 99-yard return for a touchdown.

Thumbs down: Punter Derrick Frost only punted twice, but had good opportunities to place the ball inside the 20 yard line. The only problem is Frost punt the ball into the end zone on each punt. Frost has placed four of 28 punts inside the 20-yard line this year.

Thumbs up: The Packers did an excellent job of keeping the ball out of Peyton Manning's hands, especially in the first half. The Packers had the ball for 20 minutes, 25 seconds compared to Indianapolis' 9:35. The Packers finished with a healthy advantage for the game, 33:46 to 26:14.

Thumbs down: Grant's longest run of the game was 14 yards and it appeared that he missed opportunities on a few occasions for explosive gains by missing lanes set up by his blockers. Grant came close to a few big gainers, but either slipped and fell or headed in the wrong direction.

Thumbs up: Mike McCarthy did an excellent job of mixing up plays. The Packres rushed 35 times for 116 yards and passed 28 times for 186 yards.

Thumbs down: The Packers' third-down efficiency was only 5 of 12 (42 percent).

Thumbs up: The Colts' third-down efficiency was only 5 of 15 (33 percent).

Thumbs down: A report on FoxSports.com indicated that Brett Favre supplied inside information to the Detroit Lions prior to Green Bay's Week 2 game. If it is true, shame on Favre! It has been obvious that he is still bitter about the trade to the Jets, but now it's getting ridiculous. Get over it!

Thumbs up: The Packers' upcoming bye week should allow a handful of starters to return to action and others to get healthy. Cornerback Al Harris (spleen) is expected to return after the bye as well as safety Atari Bigby (hamstring). Others like Rodgers (shoulder), Charles Woodson (toe) and Ryan Pickett (knee and biceps) will have a little extra time to heal up for the second half of the season.



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