That is the Green Bay Packers we have come to love and adore the last few years! Who was that impostor playing in green and gold the first five weeks? Aaron Rodgers was, well, Aaron Rodgers. Six touchdown passes? The old gunslinger never even did that. Matt Flynn’s Packers record only stood on its own for six games. Wow!
The Packers and their fans have plenty to be happy about, but the team has be careful and make sure to treat yesterday’s win for what it was – one game. Just as the unthinkable loss the week before in Indianapolis was just one game., you can’t get too high or too low. The Packers play their third straight road game in St. Louis and the Rams are no longer a laughing stock. The Packers need to bring the same urgency with them to St. Louis.
The Packers have plenty to be encouraged about though. Their much maligned defense turned in an excellent performance. The best way to beat the Texans is shut down Arian Foster and force Matt Schaub to beat you. The Packers did just that. Even with the loss of two linebackers to injury.
Offensively I was pleasantly surprised by Alex Green. While he did not have a good yards-per-carry, he did enough to keep the offense a little more balanced. And unlike Cedric Benson, he has the quickness to break a big one, as he showed in Indianapolis. If he continues to improve and the Packers commit to the run, he might be able to effectively replace Benson.
When Aaron Rodgers plays like that the Packers are virtually unbeatable. It was a performance that we saw many times last year. It’s not like Rodgers was playing bad by any stretch of the imagination, but yesterday he was clearly in a zone. The ball was coming out decisively and on target. The offensive line gave him time and from there Rodgers and his receivers did the rest.
James Jones is the new Cris Carter. All he does is catch touchdowns. In spectacular style, I might add. Jones has really stepped his game up with the additional playing time and will be hard to keep off the field even when Greg Jennings comes back.
And don’t forget about Jordy Nelson. He didn’t catch 15 touchdowns last year by accident. Good to see him bounce back after a quiet game in Indy.
The Packers looked more like a football team that won 20 in a row and not the inconsistent unit that only played well in spurts for five games. They have to validate it with a win next week though. With two home games following the Ram game they could maybe get on a little roll.
Confidence is medium-high.