Packers 27, Cowboys 37

Talk about deja-vu! If anyone forgot what it was like to watch Packers-Cowboys mid 90's, last night was a convenient trip back in time.

Thanks to a brother-in-law who has NFL Network I was able to watch the game in its entirety. It really was not as depressing as you might think; the Pack appeared to have a chance up until the final 5 minutes.

In case you missed it, here are some thoughts from a person who stayed up for the whole thing.

--The crew of referees that officiated last night's game might want to brush up on certain parts of the NFL Rulebook, particularly as pertains to faceguarding, forward progress, excessive celebration, and incidental contact.

--The Packers' primary pass rush strategy was a bit mystifying. It consisted mainly of each rusher finding an unnoccupied offensive lineman and engaging him.

Consequently, Tony Romo's play looked a bit less like the stellar performance it actually was, and more like a dude sitting in his living room easy chair tossing cold ones to his friends.

--Dallas Offensive Coordinator Jason Garrett's post game notes undoubtedly contained something akin to the following: "Al Harris cannot consistently cover Terrell Owens . . . Collins and Bush cannot consistently cover anyone . . . Send thank you card and flowers to Atari Bigby."

--Heavy consumption of hot wings, pizza, Doritos and carbonated beverages after 8:30 pm will result in frequent wakefulness accompanied by some of the most regrettable intestinal distress ever experienced by man.

--Despite the fact defensive players from every team in the NFL fall into the fetal position nearly every time they see him carrying the ball, the Packers somehow managed to "limit" Marion Barber to 81 yards and no scores. To me Barber was the single biggest threat to a Green Bay victory coming into this game. Go figure.

--Let's all be honest. Does anyone really think that Favre getting hurt did anything but help the Packers? It was obvious Brett was having one of those games where trying harder only led to worse play, and had he not been sidelined, Green Bay may not have scored more than 10 points.

Aaron Rodgers acquitted himself nicely, forever ending (we can only pray) the era of Doug Pederson style backup QBs in Green Bay. He ably manned the helm of the Packer offense for three scoring drives, passed for 201 yds and a TD (with nary a interception or fumble), as well as running for positive yardage including a couple first downs.

--Under his football uniform, Jason Witten wears blue leotards, a red cape, and has a capital "S" emblazoned on his chest. He is completely justified in doing so.

After Terrell Owens decided to bat the football to a defender in the endzone rather than secure it for his (yawn) 15th TD of the season, Romo threw to Witten almost exclusively. Most of the Packer defense compares in size to Witten as Bryant Gumbel compares to Chris Collinsworth.

(These latter are the NFL Network's Thursday Game play-by-play announcer and color-man respectively. When shown onscreen together, Collinsworth is typically seated, and Gumbel is standing on a barstool. Collinsworth is still an inch or two taller. Perhaps not coincidentally, I was struck more than once that Gumbel is the no-brainer choice for any Kermit the Frog voice work that might presently be available.)

--What head coach in the NFL truly believes that a 6 foot plus quarterback cannot fall forward for two inches and pick up a must-have first down? Besides Mike McCarthy, I mean.

--A case could be made that Green Bay kicker Mason Crosby was the Packer's most valuable player last night. Not only did he nail two long field goals (47 and 52 yds) , but he was responsible for making the stop on two (!) kickoff returns that might have gone for touchdowns otherwise.

Additionaly, he laid down a perfect onside kick that Green Bay recovered. An unfortunate failure by Packers' #20 to control his own body (his arm grazed the ball before it went 10 yds) resulted in a rekick. At that point the element of suprise was lost, and Crosby had to boot it on down the field.

--Apparently A. J. Hawk and Aaron Rodgers are actively campaigning to return NFL players' physical appearences to the Jack Lambert/Lynn Dickey era. I cannot decide if this is better or worse than the current dreadlock trend.

Hey folks, thanks for reading, and stop by again-- I'll be here all week.