Opening Week

My family and I just returned from our annual trip to Wisconsin, before the kids started school this week. We were able to go to the last pre-season game last Thursday night against the Dolphins. After watching the first string defense struggle in the first three games, we were treated to a pathetic showing by the first string offense on Thursday. But the good news is, the backups bailed us out again! In all seriousness, I don't know if there is a team in the NFL this year that has the depth of the Packers. And if the first stringers can play to a reasonable facsimile of their level of talent, this team could be hard to stop.

An unexpected bonus of the trip was to meet the esteemed owner of the South End Zone web site. We were sitting in our car, getting ready to go into the stadium, when I saw a guy wearing California license plate LAMBEAU around his neck walking toward the stadium. Being the owner of the California license plate PACK FAN, I dashed across the street to compare notes with the guy. On my way it dawned on me that the owner of the license plate must be none other than Scott Crevier, since I have seen his LAMBEAU license plate on this web site many times. Indeed it was, and we met Scott and his wife, as well as the famous Packalope whose web site is linked to the South End Zone.

Lots of Packer news out here in the San Francisco Bay Area this week. The Packers traded Craig Newsome to the 49ers, and the 49ers cut pigeon-dancing Merton Hanks to make salary cap room for Newsome. There is some speculation that maybe the Packers will pick Hanks up (I sure hope not). The Raiders are heading to Green Bay to open the season on Sunday.

I was saddened by the trade of Craig Newsome. I'll never forget his return of the fumble for a TD in the playoff game here in SF back in January of 1996. He was a tough cornerback, and seemingly a good guy. I wanted nothing but success for him.

But the truth is that he has never been the same after the devastating injury on opening day of the 1997 season. He was one of the victims of Randy Moss and others last year, but everyone kept saying that it takes two years to come back from that sort of injury. Well, it has now been two years, and yet he continues to struggle. I saw all but two quarters of the pre-season games this year, and Newsome does not have it back yet. Fortunately, the rookie DBs drafted by Ron Wolf look like they are up to the challenge of replacing Newsome and containing Randy Moss. So while I don't think Newsome's loss will be significant to the Packers, I am sorry to see him go.

The fact that the 49ers would be prepared to give up a pick, maybe as high as the 5th round, for Newsome, says something about the quality of the 49er defensive backs. Merton Hanks was a pro-bowler only a couple of years ago, but he has declined rapidly since then. Remember him chasing Antonio Freeman in the game at Lambeau last year if you have any doubt about it.
But Newsome, in his current state, is not a significant upgrade for the 49ers, as they will find out as soon as they start to play him. Look for more long TDs against the 49ers this year.

On the Raider side, a two game road trip to Green Bay and Minnesota does not seem like a real great way to get off to a fast start. I, of course, would not mind a split for the Raiders so long as they lose the first game. But the consensus on sports talk radio around here seems to be that the Raiders have a better chance of "stealing" a win at Green Bay than at Minnesota. I think it is the other way around. True, the Packers' first stringers had their problems in the pre-season, but the problems the Vikings had seemed much worse to me. The Vikings are the consensus pick to go the Super Bowl this year from the NFC, and maybe they will, but I think there is a 50-50 chance that they will drop off badly. What are the chances that Randall Cunningham has two career years in a row? And what are the chances that Randy Moss is going to sneak up on anyone? We saw the return (temporarily, at least), of the old Randall in the NFC Championship game last year. Here's hoping he is back to stay.