Monday, November 27, 2006

Halftime Report: Missed Opportunities

The Packers started strong against Seattle and got a TD following an interception. But the Pack failed to take advantage of two additional interceptions. In fact, while Seattle converted four field goals in the half, the Packers had their lone attempt blocked. Good thing with less than two minutes to go Seattle QB Matt Hasselback got hit and the ball popped up right into the arms of LB Abdul Hodge -- getting his first NFL start, replacing the injured Nick Barnett -- who took it to the endzone for a TD.

That last turnover at least temporarily reversed a pattern in the game. The pattern where the Packers are setting themselves up to lose. Not so much get beat as lose. There's still a half to go and anything can happen. But the fact is that the Packers should have gone into half leading at least 17-12, and more like 24-12. Instead, the Packers are up 14-12.

Missed opportunities is a theme of the Packers' season, along with untimely penalties, like those that helped keep a Seattle drive going late in the half. No running game has also been an unwelcome constant the last several weeks. On a cold and snowy night in Seattle, a running game would be nice to actually have for a change. Seattle's Shaun Alexander -- back off injury -- isn't having much difficulty running. Ahman Green? Not so good.

The prognosis would be that, failing to take full advantage of the four turnovers, the Packers will lose. They need to take advantage of every break they get to win. When they don't...

Let's see what the second half brings.