The monkey ain’t no joke! Now the monkey is dead. The Green Bay Packers went to Philadelphia today and beat the Michael Vick led Eagles in a wild card game to remove another notch on the “but Favre did this checklist” by winning a playoff game on the road. The first post-Favre Packers’ playoff win was an instant classic for a wildcard round game.
The Packers now travel to Atlanta in an attempt to avenge a regular season loss that spoiled the best pass of Aaron Rodgers’ career. Like I said last Sunday I like this matchup. The Packers’ defense is playing lights out and the offense might have found a running game in James Starks. Of course the last time Starks had a good game he disappeared the following week, but give the guy a break, and a game ball, he hadn’t played a game in damn near two years when he was activated in November.
I wish McCarthy would have not tried to completely grind it out on the ground after getting that big first down by Starks late in the game. A first or second down short pass would not have been too risky and might have saved the dramatics at the end. But it worked in the end because Dom Capers’ defense is just playing amazingly. I hope the Packers can find a way to keep Capers this offseason, as head coach interview requests are now starting to come in.
More to come tomorrow. We can sleep well for one night anyway. Go Pack!