Inauspicious Opener

Well, the best I can say about yesterday's game is that it could have been worse. The defense looked better than I expected, except at the end of the game after Mike McKenzie's injury. I read in one of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's articles the comment of an NFL Scout who said "If No. 34 doesn't get hurt, Green Bay wins the game." He is probably right about that. I hope McKenzie is able to come back next week, as it certainly is obvious that we need his help.

The special teams looked better than I expected. This kid Rossum promises to bring back some excitement to the return game.

And the offense? I guess the offense looked like I expected it, but not nearly as good as I had hoped. The rust on Favre's arm was obvious, but expected. I would not want to catch some of those Favre balls either, after not having him zip them to me for most of the pre-season. But these guys are professionals, and it is their job to catch them. The running game actually showed some signs of life, but not enough to make us forget about Dorsey Levens. The comment of the TV guy after Ahman Green's fumble, that it is fumbling that is the reason that Green is not a Seattle Seahawk right now, was exactly right.

Speaking of the Seahawks, I watched parts of that game, too, and they looked absolutely pathetic. I have Kitna as my backup fantasy football quarterback, and Seattle as my starting defense. I will be looking for replacements this week, and Holmgren's comments in the paper this morning suggest he may be doing the same thing.

The Packer game was one of those games where both teams looked bad, but one of the teams gets to go away saying "it wasn't pretty but at least we won the game." It was looking as if that might be the Packers, until the interception killed the last threat. I give the defensive back credit for going high and actually holding on to the ball, after I watched defenders dropping easy interceptions all day long in a number of the games on the tube.

My sense is that the early part of the season is going to be just like this. Favre will probably not practice much during the weeks, Levens may not be back for another couple of weeks, and as a result every game is going to be an adventure until Favre is fully healthy (if he ever gets fully healthy). I just hope they can pull a few of these games out, so that we still have something to shoot for later in the season.

This week, the dreaded Astroturf curse, Packers at Bills. I did not see much of the Bills' game Sunday night, but from what I saw they did not bowl me over. Plus I gather that their Q.B. was knocked out of the game. I'll go a little bit out on a limb and predict a Packer win, 23-17.