Sunday, September 17, 2006

"Let it go."

On today's Fox NFL Sunday, the general consensus among Jimmy Johnson, Howie Long and even Terry Bradshaw was that Brett can still play, but probably shouldn't. At least, not with the Packers. Trade him someplace where he can finish out his career and at the same time give the Pack a chance to rebuild and see if Aaron Rodgers is the answer...which, again, this trio thought was not the case. The same general opinions were voiced on ESPN's Sunday Countdown. Mike Ditka opined that the problem was really the Packers' front office and that personnel problems with the team wouldn't clear up until that was taken care of...whatever that means. Ron Jaworski said he watched the game and the film and saw evidence that Brett doesn't have the same physical ability as he did even last year.

Basically, they all made the point that team management, coaches, fans and even Brett need to "let it go;" the Favre era is over and it's time to move on. Someone even pointed out that at the end of last week's game there were only about 15,000 fans left in the stadium. I recall late in the game seeing a TV shot of fans exiting the stadium en masse as if someone had just announced unlimited free beer and brats to the first 45,000 fans who showed up on Oneida Street before the end of the game. The TV boys today said that demonstrated that the fans have already let it go, now it was time for the team to make it official. Bradshaw was the only one among Fox's crew that felt that Brett would still be starting for the Pack at the end of the season. Jimmy Johnson -- or maybe it was his hair, I'm not sure -- declared, though, that the Packers would not be the one to sit Brett or trade him...he would have to ask for or accept these moves before the team would do either. Whatever.

Add to these discussions the fact that Al Harris apparently told someone that they see this as a "must win" game today. Game 2. Must win. Hmmmm...well, every game should be seen as "must win," right? But what this means in terms of team psyche if the Pack doesn't win today...and the Saints are 2-1/2 point favorites!...is critical. Either the team will start an early death spiral, apparently, or will stay on even keel and have a respectable season.

We'll know what happens starting in about 20 minutes.

Go Pack Go!!!