Sunday, October 25, 2009

End of 1st quarter: Packers 0 - Browns 0

The Packers began the game kicking off to, and away from, Joshua Cribbs. The kick hit the endzone pylon -- deemed out of bounds -- and thus Cleveland began their first possession at the 40-yard line. The Packers held. They started their own drive from inside their own 20 and moved down to about the Browns 30, building on a series of successful runs and a pass to TE Jermichael Finley; Finley took a shot to the knee on the tackle and his return today is questionable. On 4th and about half-a-yard, though, the Packers ran a quarterback sneak and could not get the half-yard. Coach Mike McCarthy challenged the spot of the ball, as replays looked as if QB Aaron Rodgers had indeed picked up the first down; the call on the field, after viewing the replay, stood, however. Missed opportunity. Where we have seen this before?

The Browns built a potential scoring drive late in the quarter largely on a pass play onto which 15 yards was tacked because of a facemask penalty on Al Harris. The Browns took the ball down inside the Packers 5-yard line. On second and goal, QB Derrick Anderson fumbled the snap. Despite multiple Packers being around the ball, the Browns recovered. On the next play, LB Nick Barnett dropped what would have been an interception at about the 2-yard line, leaving the Browns to decide on a field goal or 4th-and-goal attempt as time ran out in the quarter.

There has been no pass rush on Browns' QB Anderson whatsoever. He went 5 for 6 on the Browns' scoring drive. Even a mediocre quarterback can be made to look good when he has all day to pass.

One of the unspoken fears of this game, coming off the flawed win versus Detroit and looking to the game against the ViQueens next weekend, is that the Packers would be flat for this game. Maybe. Maybe.