Packers - Cardinals Notes: First Half

> Internet rumors have Cardinals QB and Jebus Lovah Kurt Warner may retire after the season is over. Say it isn't so, Kurt! I need you to kill me in the stretch run on my keeper fantasy football team again next year!

> I take a big miss of the pre-game blathering to help the Shooter Eldest with homework -- hey, for 20 minutes a week, I'm one hell of a father -- which also helps to avoid the Fox chuckleheads. Green Bay KR Jordy Nelso takes the kickoff to the 21 and squats. On the Pack's first play of the game, QB Aaron Rodgers has plenty of time, scrambles, then forces a bad ball into double coverage; the tip is collected and returned backwards to the Packer 40. Wow, what a bad way to start a game, and yes, this is Rodgers' first playoff game. I hate my Packer pick!

> Short run for 2, then Warner overthrows fourth WR Laron Stephens-Howling. As a Steve Breaston owner, I kind of hate that guy. On third and eight, the pressure doesn't get near Warner, and ninth WR Jeremy Urban has an easy out for the first. RB Beanie Wells crushes CS Truman Williams and gets it to the Packer 11. A false start pushes them back, then Warner to Breaston makes it a second and four. Trade Anquan Boldin and start Breaston! Stephens-Howling makes a fine effort for the first down, and Warner is showing his old playoff magic, which means he's got time. Hightower bangs it in from a power formation for the touchdown, and four minutes into the game, it's 7-0 Cardinals.

> Nelson makes five guys miss, but he needs to make six to get past the 20. RB Ryan Grant has a nice happy hole for 10 yards on first down. A quick out to WR Donald Driver is stripped perfectly by LB Karlos Dansby, and wow, Arizona is right back in business.

> A seven yard gain by Wells, and then a kitteny-soft slant to twelfth WR Early Doucet for the touchdown. I'm really not liking my Packers pick. Or the idea that we're going to have a single competitive wild card weekend game. 14-0 Cardinals after 5 minutes, and the Packer defense just looks lost right now. No pressure, no plan, no resistance.

> Nelson takes it to 18, and a late flag on the Pack starts them at their own 8. We're about five more plays from the last 50 minutes of this game being garbage time. Grant gets nothing on first down, then 9 yards on a good leak route; CB Antrell Rolle saves the first down with an ankle tackle. On third and 1, the Pack get the short gain with RB Ahman Green, and the flag for defensive offside makes the play moot and tacks on a few more yards for the visitors. At least that stops the bleeding for a minute. A quick out to reserve TE Spencer Hayner gets five yards. From the gun on second and alone, Rodgers misses Jennings on a go route; the WR had two yards of separation and growing with no safety help, but the QB misses the big play. Ouch. On third and five from the gun, Rodgers runs right and into the coverage sack; had he gone left, I think he gets the first down, but that's not the direction that a right-handed QB usually goes. The Pack can't even punt right, with a false start giving another hit to their punter. PR Breaston takes a bad hit to the head and loses the ball for a moment, but the Cardinals recover and will have the ball on their own 41 after the commerce.

> The Cards go for a killshot flea flicker on first down, and a fumble is forced on defensive pressure. For the second straight play, the Cards avoid disaster and fall on the fumble for a five yard sack, but Warner to WR Larry Fitzgerald gets it all back and a first; Fitz owned CB Charles Woodson on that play. Warner to TE Ben Patrick for 22 yards, and this is Vintage Playoff / Video Game Warner right here; I just hope he's keeping his hands sanitized during the surgery. Wells for no gain to the right as the Cards are already in field goal range. From the gun, Warner to Breaston as Packer CBs jump routes to people who aren't, well, catching the ball. Yeesh. On first and goal, Warner throws away after play-action that doesn't fool anyone. Wells is snowed under for a loss of five, and we've got a big third down here. Warner to Doucet is short of the end zone, but PK Neil Rackers hits the chip shot from 23 yards, and it's 17-0 Cardinals as Warner gives his coach an earful. Hate to see how he'd feel if he weren't up big.

> Rackers hooks the kickoff short, and the Pack starts at their own 37 as the Fox heads mourn the loss of yet another interesting game. Rodgers is blitzed on first and throws it away. A give to Grant gets two, and while Fox Head Trauma Analyst Troy Aikman thinks it's OK to punt... um, I'm really not so sure. The first quarter ends with the Cards up 17-0. Hey, NFL, while we are busy working on fixing Week 17, can we do anything about Week 18?

> The second quarter starts with Rodgers hitting Jennings in stride from the gun, and that's 27 yards and a massive play. On a rollout, DE Chike Okeafor catches up for a three yard sack. A delay to mostly useless RB Brandon Jackson gets two yards, and this is a field goal third down. Rodgers misses third WR James Jones, and very curiously, the Packers try a 54 yard field goal from not very good PK Mason Crosby. He's got the distance, but misses right by about five feet, and the Cardinals will have great field position and continuing Mo Men Tum.

> Warner to Hightower out of the flat, and what looks like a fumble isn't ruled that way on the field. The Cards snap it quick to Breaston for a 27 yard end around, and gosh, the home team doesn't seem to be missing Anquan Boldin very much at all. Warner to Fitz into the red zone, but he's stripped by Woodson, and the fourth ball on the ground in the last ten minutes is finally picked up by the Pack. LB Clay Matthews takes it to the Pack 48 as Warner tears Doucet a new one for some unknown reason.

> Grant for 10 and a first, then lucks into a horse collar tackle for 15 on a run that was going nowhere. I kind of hate the horse collar rule. From the Red 27, Grant goes for 21 through a nice hole, and Rodgers runs 40 yards to hit someone. He's like a very young Brett Favre out there! Green is crushed for a loss, then Rodgers from the gun takes another scramble into pressure sack. This man seems to have no idea when someone's coming to kill him. Third and goal is Rodgers to Driver in the end zone; it doesn't connect, but defensive pass interference sets up the Pack at the 1 as Cardinals Fan voices their disapproval. A FB dive gets halfway there, then the defense is flagged to get it closer. A sloppy Rodgers sneak puts the visitors on the board, and after the Crosby PAT, it's Cardinals 17, Packers 7.

> Stephens-Howling shows that it's not just Nelson who can get hammered on kickoff returns. Wells runs through people for nine yards, and this one won't be going to Canton for its defensive excellence. Warner hangs in against a blitz to find Breaston for a good chunk and the first. Hightower for a couple, and DT Johnny Jolly limps off for the Pack. For some reason, this provokes commerce, because along with wildly uncompetitive games, we need extra ads. Wells can drive a truck through the hole that gets him 9 yards, and that's another first down. Wells then gets five on a hesitation move and run; nice work. A delay to Stephens-Howling gets another first as it looks like everyone wearing a Packers jersey is looking for strips, not stops; a face mask adds more to it. Wells is nailed by LB Nick Collins to lose three. From the gun, it's Warner to Doucet, who sheds two tackles, loses his helmet and scores. Boy, the Packer defense did not show up today. It's Cardinals 24, Packers 7, with 2:16 left in the second.

> It's not overstating things to say that given the way the Cards are moving the ball, plus the fact that they get the ball to start the second half, it's Must Score Time for this two minute drive... and Nelson fumbles the kickoff, but eventually recovers. Yeesh. From the gun on first, Rodgers hits Jennings for five yards where he's also ruled in bounds, oddly; that's the two minute warning. After the commerce, Jones drops a wide open ball from Rodgers, and that's a first down lost. On third under pressure, Rodgers throws a jump ball to TE Jeremichael Finley, who makes a 44 yard catch on third and five. Wow. Rodgers then hits Jones for another first, and the Pack has to worry about not scoring too quickly, given how awful their defense has been. Rodgers calls time with 57 seconds left, and a first and goal from the nine. A shovel to Jackson goes nowhere as the Pack let the clock run. From the gun on second, Jennings gets it to the four on a screen, and that's the Pack's second timeout. On third and goal, just a huge down, Rodgers from the gun has all day and nowhere to go. Dockett is whistled for a horse collar on the tackle, but the play clock is down to four seconds, so the first down at the 2 is dicey... and rather than try a play and call a time out, they send Crosby on for the chip shot. That Could Come Back To Haunt Them. Cardinals 24, Packers 10 at the half.