Ty Montgomery should have left the "hero" business to Rodgers

Packer fans might remember how special teams player Brandon Bostick tried to be the “hero” and ignored his instructions to be a blocker to assist Jordy Nelson in recovering that Seattle Seahawk onside kick, that would have insured victory in the 2014 NFC Championship game and a trip to the Super Bowl. We all know how that turned out. Bostick was cut shortly thereafter; he reportedly received death threats from some irate fans. Now, I don’t think Ty Montgomery is going to be cut from the team for his special teams miscue against the Los Angeles Rams this past weekend—given the fact that the Packers special teams play as a whole had “special” responsibility in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory—but Montgomery should have known better than to fill his head with delusions of grandeur. 

The Rams had just taken a 29-27 lead with just over 2 minutes to play, more than enough time for Aaron Rodgers to perform his magic act. It almost seemed preordained. Few had given the Packers a chance to pull off a win against the unbeaten Rams on their own home turf, given the Packers’ unpredictable play this season. Yet here we were, on the cusp of another miracle win, as if “miracle” was even the proper designation to describe what many had come to expect from Rodgers (and Tom Brady) in moments like this. 

But no, Ty Montgomery thought he could pull a rabbit out of his fundament. Taking the kickoff two yards deep in the end zone, instead of kneeling, he ran the ball out, was hit around the 20 yard line, fumbled the ball away, and that was that. First of all, the chances of running the ball back to the touchback line at the 25 was maybe one-in-four. Plus running the ball out wasted valuable seconds, and given Mike McCarthy’s clock management acumen, it was a dumb move. What was Montgomery trying to accomplish? Did he actually think he could run the ball out to, say, the 30-yard line? Or maybe even a little farther? Was he hoping to run it back for a touchdown? That might have been nice, but then again you would be giving the ball back to the Rams’ potent offense with plenty of time left. 

I was reminded of the 1974 hit “Billy Don’t Be a Hero.” Just keep your head down when the bullets are flying. I’m sure that fans will “forgive” Montgomery, maybe, especially if the season goes south or north, but if the division is dependent on that lost victory, it will be something that fans and commentators will remember.

After wheezing past the 49ers, the Packers now have to worry about the toughest part of their schedule

First off, it was a good Sunday for Wisconsin sports fans, following the Brewers’ late-game meltdown in Game 2 of the NLCS on Friday, and the Badgers noncompetitive showing against Michigan on Saturday (recall that the Badgers were ranked #4 in the preseason polling). However, in Game 3 on Sunday the Brewers survived another “oh God no” performance by relief pitcher Jeremy Jeffress, who was the “goat” in the Game 2 loss to the Dodgers. In what was supposed to be a move to summon lost confidence, Jeffress was put back out in an “safe” situation, only to see him load the bases after just a few battings of the eye with one out in the ninth before somehow summoning the willpower to strike out the final two batters to preserve a 4-0 win in Los Angeles. 

Meanwhile, the Packers were supposed to handily dispatch the 1-4 49ers on MNF, who were starting a backup quarterback who did little to inspire confidence in the previous two games. Instead, the Packers’ supposed revamped defense gave up lots of yards and lots of points again, while Aaron Rodgers was under pressure all day and it showed in his 54 percent completion rate; there has been the suggestion that Rodgers is not “seeing” the field like he used to, but in an effort to “open-up” the playbook, he has for the past two games thrown a few more passes downfield than usual, and the result is two consecutive 400-yard passing games, the first time a Packer quarterback has done so; as a matter of comparison, Brett Favre in 16 years and 253 starts had only one 400-yard game for the Packers, and that barely (401 yards). This was looking like another shameful defeat for the Packers as the 49ers were driving for a late game field goal try with the game tied at 30, but an interception deep in Packer territory and horrible secondary play allowed the Packers to glide down the field in the final minute, where Mason Crosby kicked his fourth field goal in four tries to win the game

If the Packers had lost this game as it appeared they would have, it very likely have spelled the end of any playoff hopes. However, with a 3-2-1 record they are still right in the thick of things in an untidy NFC North. So what do Packer fans have to think about during the bye-week? Hope that Rodgers can heal himself at least physically? Or recall why NFL “experts” declared that the Packers had the toughest schedule of any team? Four of their next five games are on the road, against the Rams, Patriots, Seahawks and the Vikings. Even their one home game against 4-2 Miami isn’t exactly a “gimme” either. This is why it was essential for the Packers to come out of the first six games 6-0 or 5-1, which on paper was more than doable, and in hindsight the Viking and Lions games should have been victories, even if ugly ones.  If Rodgers can get it together somewhere near 100 percent, four of these next five games are in play—or all five, given the Patriots’ defensive susceptibilities when up against competent passing offenses. But with a not completely healthy Rodgers, 2-3 might be considered a fortunate outcome, 3-2 a not completely implausible but also not a very likely possibility. In any event winning the division is the only road to the playoffs, and fortunately for the Packers no team in the NFC North seems particularly eager take it at the moment.

60 Minutes Trump "interview" proves that it is some in the media--not the news--that is "fake"

Leslie Stahl’s embarrassing and shameful performance on 60 Minutes this weekend is what we should expect from shallow media types who fail to arm themselves with “facts” when confronted with an even more shallow blowhard who has no interest in the facts at all. We are told that this was a “major coup” for Stahl to get an interview with Donald Trump, but one is left wondering why the producers just didn’t dump the segment altogether. As Variety pointed out, Stahl’s interview had little less effect than a typical Trump campaign rally, and in her arrogance and conceit Stahl was completely outmatched and unprepared for Trump. Back in the “old” days, Mike Wallace or Dan Rather would have been prepared and intolerant of Trump’s obfuscation and lies. When confronted by Trump’s ignorance on climate change and challenging her’s, Stahl couldn’t even come up with something off the top of her head like “Scientists have found that climate change is occurring at a much faster rate than in the past due to man-made interventions, and failure to address the issue now will only make it more difficult if not impossible to stop its devastating effects on life as we know it.” I would have like to have heard Trump’s response to that.

Stahl could have also pointed out that rich people like Trump may believe, like Prince Prospero and his aristocratic friends in Edgar Allan Poe’s “Masque of the Red Death,” that his money can “buy” him and his precious spawn “safety” from the world of hate and inequality that he and his kind wish to create (and already have to a large extent), but he cannot escape the consequences of his policies for long (see the recent doubling-down on tax cuts for the rich and what that means for the future), and there will be a price to be paid and someone will be held accountable for it. When people in the future speak the name of Trump, it will occupy the same “pantheon” of other disreputable historical figures; let’s not forget that millions of Germans were “fans” of Hitler and his racist policies and international belligerence— or the fact that Americans who are fans of Hitler also tend to be fans of Trump as well. And Trump obviously doesn’t care who his “fans” are, as long as they are his “fans.” 

It is clear that Trump thought he could bully Stahl, no doubt because she was just a “woman,” and she allowed him to do it by playing by his rules. I would have preferred to see someone like John Oliver, Rachel Maddow or Lawrence O'Donnell have a crack at this fraud, since they seem to know their “stuff”; but then again, Trump would not have permitted himself to be put at a disadvantage by being tormented by people who could expose him to his face and to the world. Stahl should have just stuck to a few topics that she was prepared to discuss, and if he didn’t want to discuss them truthfully, then just cut him off, tell him he was wasting viewers’ time and go on the next topic—or better yet, just call it a day. Jake Tapper did it with Stephen Miller when he refused to stay on topic, even cutting off Miller’s mike and having him escorted off the premises by security when he refused to leave—which must have galled Motor-Mouth Miller to no end being made to look the fool, especially since he was unable to get the last word in. So what if Trump had just walked off the set; sure his “fans” would have applauded, but most other viewers would have seen a man who had gotten his richly deserved comeuppance. Instead, Trump just proved once again that it is many in the media who are “fake,” not the news itself. Unless of course we are talking about Fox News; then both the media and the “news” is fake.

For Sen. Susan Collins, too many lies is not enough

USA Today’s cover story on Monday claimed to portray people in a Pennsylvania community from different sides of ideological equation “coming together” to find “common ground.” What a load of bull. We are talking about one side of the spectrum that willing eats its own under questionable circumstances (see former Sen. Al Franken), while the other side can never be trusted to be “moderate” on any issue (see Sen. Susan Collins).  “Liberals” in the media especially seem to cling to the absurd hope that there are “reasonable” people on the right who can be “reasoned” with to consider what is good for the citizens of the country as a whole, not just the 25 or less percent that comprise their bigoted, narrow-minded “base.” 

It’s all a lie. How many times has Collins fooled people into thinking that she is actually “human”—or worse yet, that she actually has any moral or ethical standards that she is willing to stand by? Did she not tell us that if there was evidence that Brett Kavanaugh lied during his testimony that she could not vote to confirm him for the Supreme Court? Did not Kavanaugh blatantly  lie about the sexual insinuations in his yearbook? Didn’t he blatantly lie about the level of drinking and his belligerent behavior that his former Yale roommates have testified to? If he lied about that, what else did he lie about? Apparently he did not tell enough lies to cause Collin’s conscience any heartburn. At least Sen. Jeff Flake never made a secret of his intentions, even he is still a hypocrite. 

There is one other thing causes me pause. If we had known before what we know now, would Trump have been dissuaded from nominating Kavanaugh, or would Republican senators have advised against it? We know the superficiality of Trump, so it was likely that he picked Kavanaugh out of a list of names merely because he looked “youthful” and would likely be on the court for a good long time to cement his “legacy.” But given that Trump doesn’t like to be embarrassed by his foolish decisions, even our Liar-in-Chief would have probably preferred to avoid such embarrassment by not nominating Kavanaugh. Of course in hindsight many millions of voters wish they hadn’t voted for Trump.

Could things get any worse for the Packers? Hell yes!

Remember last week when the Packers out-gained the Bills 423 to 145 and yet managed an offensively unimpressive 22-0 victory? Could it get any worse than that? Hell yes! The Packers outgained the Lions today 521 to 264 and—drum roll—lost 31-23 in a game that wasn’t even that “close.” Three fumbles lost was bad enough, but the real goat this time was Mason Crosby, who made those infamously bad kicking days of 1968-1971, when the Packers tried out about 50 would-be placekickers to no avail before drafting Chester Marcol, seem like halcyon days. Crosby missed a hair-pulling four field goal attempts, three of them well within his normal range. If he had made those three attempts (or the Packers had not blown a first-and-goal that ended in one of those misses), the Packers might have won this game. 

Aaron Rodgers claims to have hurt his knee early in the game while wearing a lighter brace, and was just 9-19 in first half and fumbled twice as the Packers fell behind 24-0 at half time. What did we expect in the second half? Another “Motown Miracle”? Rodgers completed 23 of 33 for 281 yards and three touchdowns in the second half as the Packers moved the ball literally at will, but Crosby’s missed field goals (and a missed extra-point) were simply too much to overcome. Going into the game, he was 10 for 11 on field goal attempts; only he can “explain” what happened in this game.

With Rodgers not 100 percent (or even 75 percent) the Packers cannot afford to have disastrous performances by key players. This team just seems out-of-sorts, and if it isn’t one thing one week, it’s another the next. One team that certainly isn't playing out-of-sorts through today are the Milwaukee Brewers, who swept the Colorado Rockies for their 11th straight victory and are moving on to the NLCS.