Packers Clinch Playoff Berth!

My 2009 Update

This item is also an old post from the Packfans listserv.

******************************

Ahhh...That feels better. The Packers win going away, in a game that was truly not as close as the final score might suggest. Astroturf curse: broken. Packers clinch a playoff berth with a week to go, making life more livable this coming week. The downfield passing game reappears, and as a result the offense is in control of the game, even if they might be accused of sitting on the lead a bit in the second half. Brett Favre is really turning into a treasure. Not only is he the third fastest (I think) to have thrown 100 TD passes, he is now a starting Pro Bowl QB, a legitimate MVP contender, and, according to ESPN, only the third (or was is 4th?) QB to throw 36 or more TDs in a season (the others were Marino and Tittle). Yes, I know. There is this little matter of winning a "big" game. Well, he gets some more opportunities to do that in the coming weeks.

The defense gave up more points than I would have liked to have seen, and this is a cause for concern going up against the "new" Steelers next week, not to mention it being a concern in the playoffs. It has been some time since the Packers just crushed someone on both sides of the ball, all game long (the 1994 Bears games are good examples). I wish they would do it again, say about 5 times, over the next few weeks.

Now for the playoff situation. Dallas, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Green Bay are in. As this is written (before the Monday night Minn at SF game), five teams are fighting it out for the last two playoff spots in the NFC: Detroit (9-6), Minnesota (8-6), Chicago (8-7), Atlanta (8-7) and St. Louis (7-8).

Any possibility of a bye for the Packers in the playoffs will disappear if SF beats Minnesota tonight. (Frankly, it ain't much of a possibility even if the Vikes manage to squeak by the Whiners.) If the Packers beat the Steelers, or if the Lions lose to Tampa Bay, the Packers are the NFCC Champs for the first time since 1972, and they will host a first round playoff game at Lambeau against the lowest-seeded wild card. If the Packers lose and the red-hot Lions win, then the Packers are a wild card and cannot host a playoff game, because either the Eagles or the Cowboys will end up as the No. 1 Wild Card (due to the Eagles' superior conference record and the Cowboys' win vs. the Packers). So unless I am missing something, the Packers need to win the division to host a first round game.

I think they can beat the Steelers. The Steelers are playing very well, but the Lambeau field advantage in December should be too much to overcome, even though cold weather is not a factor per se. Without Woodson (and perhaps even with him), the Steelers defensive backs can be beaten, and I am looking forward to Robert Brooks spending some time in the stands (without having to search for a friendly face). A win over the Steelers would not only clinch the division, it would go a long way toward proving that the Packers can win a game against a very good team.

Eh or Hey

My 2009 Update

The item below was not a South End Zone Article. It was a post in the old Packfans Listserv in 1995. I still chuckle about this when I think of it, so I thought I would add it to this blog. In the Listserv, there was some discussion about whether "eh" and "hey" mean the same thing or different things in Wisconsin lingo. I am still not sure of the answer to this myself. Anyway, this prompted me to throw in the following post, about Brett Favre's first regular season appearance for the Packers.

Incidentally, someone (who will remain nameless to protect the guilty) responded to this message with his own explanation of the difference between "eh" and "hey." The priceless explanation is reprinted below my post.

**********************************
All of this talk about eh and hey reminds me of an incident in the 1992 season. It was early in the season, and I am almost sure it was the game against Cincy in which Majik was injured, Favre came in and led the team to an improbable come-from-behind victory in the closing seconds.

In any event, NBC was occasionally going out to the Lambeau parking lot during lead-ins or lead-outs from commercials. I was watching the game with my family and countless other cheese-heads at a Packer sports bar in Redwood City California (the bar has, sadly, since closed).

During one of these excursions to the parking lot, a tailgater proudly held up a large (disgusting-looking) bag of meat, and said something like "Whyn't cha come on back in half an hour." I wish there was a way to convey in writing the thickness of this guy's Wisconsin accent - it was overpowering. One of the other patrons in the sports bar (an exile himself, undoubtedly) responded loudly "YA, HEY!" The entire place cracked up, probably including some non-Wis.-natives, who didn't understand exactly why that was so funny, but laughed anyway.

Anyway, three weeks left until training camp, hey?

**********************************

RLB's response:

Yah, I remember dat well. Da wife an I had sent da kids ta Bay Beach, we was really impressed dat Sure Way had a deal on Hamm's an brats on a Packer weekend. Dis whole ting about accents can't really be put over da net till we all get hooked up wid sound eh, boy won't we have some fun den. I know fer sure dat da accent gets really reved up after a few beers. I know too dat dee only place yu'll find her is in Packer country, an in a day when everyting seems to be getten as homogenous as steroid melk, it's anoder ting ta be proud of!

SO..."WE GO GREEN BAY... EH OR HEH"

PS I do tink der's a diffrence between da two. Heh...for gettin yer kid out a da refrigerater. "Heh...get away from dat thing, shut dat door eh, an grab me a cold one while ya do."

Eh...more of an agreement article, "Sure is grat ta beat da Bears twice in a season eh?" or "Yer wife looks like two miles a bad road eh" Ya..so does yers heh.