Ray Nitschke Remembered

I'm going to jump in with my own Ray Nitschke remembrance. It picks up on an interview I heard on KCBS radio in San Francisco Monday morning. John Madden has a segment each morning, where he talks about whatever is on his mind. Unfortunately I missed the first minute or two, but caught the end. He was talking about Ray Nitschke, and was making the point that he (Madden) had spent enough time around Nitschke to KNOW that Nitschke considered it an honor when someone asked for his autograph, and that he was genuinely happy to give one. My personal encounter with Nitschke bears this out.

It was 1989 (the "Majik Man" year). A semi-business meeting was scheduled for a Saturday in September in Chicago. Checking the calendar and realizing that the Packers were playing the Saints in Lambeau Field the following day, and being no dummy, I decided that I really needed to go to the Chicago meeting myself rather than sending someone else. I decided to take my dad to the game, something I had never done, since our tickets come from my wife's side of the family.

I boarded a plane at O'Hare about 5:00 in the evening on Saturday, heading for Appleton. The plane was scheduled to stop in Green Bay first and then continue to Appleton (makes no sense geographically, but must have made sense to United Express, or Air Wisconsin, or whoever it was at that time).

As I was waiting for the plane to get going, I noticed that the last guy to get on the plane, right as they closed the door, was none other than Ray Nitschke. (It is hard to miss him, even in a non-football setting.) For some reason, he was always a special Packer to me. My wife and I even named one of our cats after him (the cat is now 12 or 13 years old, and is showing his age).

I decided that I would ask for his autograph, but thought I would leave him alone until just before the approach to the Green Bay airport. When the time came, I pulled my copy of Ray Nitschke's Packer Report out of my briefcase, and walked to the front to ask for his autograph. We talked for awhile. I explained that I was a subscriber of his, living in California, but was going home and was going to the game with my dad. He said that was just great (and I think he really meant it, too). He wrote a nice note for me on a piece of stationery I handed him. I then started blubbering something about what a great honor it was to meet him. He brushed the blubbering aside with something like "aw, go on." He could not have been nicer. I'm looking at his note now:

9/16/89
To Tom Freeman
"A Super Packer Fan."
Best of Luck. Always
Keep Happy & Well -
Love Ya - God Bless
Friend in Green Bay
Old "66"
Ray Nitschke

As a little postscript, for several years I have been meaning to send Ray Nitschke a picture of Nitschke the cat, explaining that we named the cat Nitschke because of his red hair and sweet disposition. Unfortunately, I never did. What they say is true - if you have something nice to say or do, do it before it is too late.

Super Bowl XXXII Post-Mortem

Well, I guessed wrong on the Super Bowl. Probably almost everyone reading this article did, too. I just felt so sure that the Packers were the better team, and I figured that the better team usually wins in the Super Bowl. Now that more than a month has gone by since the Super Bowl, I am finally coming to grips with writing this brief post-mortem.

I have seen some fellow Packer fans argue that the Packers ARE the better team, but they just had a bad day on January 25. I'm not prepared to go that far. About as far as I would go is to say that if the Super Bowl were replayed 10 times, the Packers MIGHT win the majority of those games. And I'm not even real confident about that any more.

It's not like the Packers outplayed the Broncos but lost the game due to some bad call, or due to some fluky play. The Packers were just pushed around by the Broncos for much of the game, especially in the second half. With the benefit of hindsight, the decision to put 2 D-linemen on the inactive list, combined with Gabe Wilkins' early game injury, just put too much burden on too few D-linemen in the second half.

I do wonder why more wasn't done to adjust to the way the game was unfolding - maybe stacking the line of scrimmage, daring Elway to beat them with the passing game. Maybe the Packers did adjust, and it just didn't work, but watching the game in the stadium (i.e. without benefit of TV commentators), I did not see the adjustment.

I also question what seemed to be the almost-total abandonment of the running game in the second half. The statistics in the game show that Levens was running for a pretty good average, and run defense was supposed to be a glaring weakness of the Broncos. And the game was always a TD or less away from a tie game in the second half. Oh, what a couple of sustained drives on offense might have done for the tiring Packer defensive line. But for whatever reason, they did abandon the run, and the rest is very painful history for us Packer fans.

As this is being written on March 9, the year of 1998 seems like a nightmare. The Packers lost the Super Bowl, and now have lost Craig Hentrich, Edgar Bennett, Doug Evans, Gabe Wilkins, Eugene Robinson and Aaron Taylor. And yesterday came the sad news of the death of Ray Nitschke, one of my personal heroes.

But I prefer to look at the bright side. The Packers did win the NFC Championship, before my very eyes in the rain at 3Com Park. They did finish as the second best team in the league. They have the best quarterback in the league. They have locked up Robert Brooks, and taken steps to lock up Antonio Freeman and Dorsey Levens, at least for this year. And, according to published reports, the Packers are still the favorites to win Super Bowl XXXIII. They are listed as 5-2 favorites, followed by San Francisco and Denver at 5-1.

Things may look a little dark now. But longtime Packer fans know that things could be a whole lot worse.

Only four months to training camp....

San Diego, Here We Come!

Two weeks ago, I wrote that I felt pretty good about the Championship Game against the 49ers, but admitted to some trepidations about the game. After all, the 49ers had Home Field Advantage, had a good defense, etc., etc., etc.

A young man by the name of Jarrod Leder wrote a response to my article (BEFORE the game), pointing out eight analytical reasons why the Packers would win the game. Slightly condensed, here they are:

1) The 49ers are an untested team. [...] The Packers had to beat three of the five (not including themselves) best teams in the NFC TWICE!!!! Plus one for the Pack.

2) Barry Sanders. [...] The biggest reason why the Packers are only rated 7th in the league in defense is because of this man. He racked up close to 300 yards on the Packers this year and the 9ers didn't even play him. Plus two for the Pack.

3) Brett Favre. He has a 94.1 QB rating in the playoffs which is higher than Young. [...] Plus three for the Pack.

4) Gilbert Brown. Nobody in the league can run on this defense when he's in there and healthy. [...] Plus four for the Pack.

5) Packers secondary vs. untested receivers. Evans and Williams are [...] the most dominant tandem in the league and you can quote me on that. Plus five for the Packers.

6) Dorsey Levens. He's a freight train in the playoffs. [...] Plus six for the Packers.

7) Home field, Shmome field. The Packers won all three games of a late season road trip which included winning at Minnesota (the 49ers didn't do that) and Tampa Bay (the 49ers didn't do that either). [...] The Packers have no fear of playing on the road. [...] Plus seven for the Packers.

8) I've been right about every Packer game this season including the loss to the Colts (no joke). [...] I have the same feeling about this game that I had for the Cowboy game in November. I had a feeling the Packers were going to completely crush the 'Boys. Plus eight for the Packers.

WOW!! Jarrod, "you da man" as far as I am concerned. As I told him after the game, looking back on it now, it all seems so clear that the Packers were the better team, by far, and that they should have been able to win the game easily. Still, all those many years of something going wrong didn't allow me to realize, before the game, just how right Jarrod was.

Well, here we go again. My immediate, waterlogged reaction after the Championship Game was that the Packers would easily beat the Broncos. This lasted all the way home from 3Com Park. But then, I started to think of all of the talent John Elway has shown over the years, all of his comebacks, the clutch catches by Sterling's little brother, the strong running game led by Terrell Davis. Doubt started to creep in again.

No, forget it. The Packers will win this game, and they will win it solidly (no point-spread prediction here, though). Even if the Broncos are better than the 49ers, itself a dubious proposition to anyone who saw the Monday night debacle between those two teams a few weeks ago, the fact is that the Packers are just the better team, and are on a mission of their own, to make more history for themselves and for our glorious franchise. So sorry, John Elway, that "sentimental favorite" business carries no weight with me, with millions of other Packer fans, or with the World Champion Green Bay Packers themselves.

I have not heard from Jarrod yet about the Super Bowl, but await his analysis with great anticipation.

* * *

On the way out of the Superdome last January 26, we heard a rhythmic chant arise from our fellow Packer fans. "One and Two, Thirty-One and Thirty-Two." (Or for the Romans among us, "I and II, XXXI and XXXII.") It has been a long year since then, with a lot of ups and downs. The Packers have persevered, and are packing their bags for San Diego. All that remains to make this year's dreams come true is for them to win the game.

Battle By the Bay

The Green Bay Packers are headed back to the NFC Championship game for the third year in a row. The trip to San Francisco was guaranteed when the 49ers beat the Vikings on Saturday, and the Packers finished off the Buccaneers. Once again, for the umpteenth time, the Vikings AND the 49ers conspired to do exactly the opposite of what the Packers needed to have happen. This has been going on since at least as far back as the 1989 "Majik Man" year, and it does not look like it will stop any time soon.

In the Freeman household, the 49er victory over Minnesota, while disappointing, at least has a silver lining. We figured that this would happen, and so rather than planning on going back to Green Bay for a playoff game, we saved the airfare and planned on going to the NFC Championship game here in San Francisco.

This week's game will bring back memories for all us, I'm sure. Was it really only two years ago that the Packers were the new kids on the block, sort of like this year's Buccaneers? They came out to San Francisco after beating the Falcons in the first round, and noone gave them a chance. They were facing the world champions, after all, on the road. I remember wavering as to whether I really wanted to go to the game, thinking it would be a miserable day for Packer fans. Then I said to myself, "What am I thinking about?" This was a Packer playoff game, something I had never been to in my life. So we located four tickets, packed ourselves into the minivan, and headed for San Francisco. What a game that was! I don't think I will ever forget the way the Packers took it to the 49ers that day. The fumble return, the way Wayne Simmons was beating up Brent Jones, Antonio Freeman signalling first downs, Keith Jackson open down the middle of the field, even John Jurkovich covering Jerry Rice on a zone blitz. It represented a legitimate beginning of the changing of the guard.

The interesting thing was the reaction of the 49er fans. They couldn't quite believe what was happening, of course. But they were generally very nice to us Packer fans. (The "Piss on the
Packers" T-shirts they were selling in the parking lot are another story, but they were available at sizeable discounts after the game.) The 49er fans even wished us well the following week
against, as it turned out, Dallas.

I think the atmosphere will be different this time. I think the cute novelty of the cheeseheads, and the Holmgren/Sherman Lewis/west coast offense connections have worn off with the 49er
fans. They are starting to work up a fair amount of negative feelings about the Packers. Now that the Packers have beaten the 49ers three times in a row (twice in the Playoffs), the Packers are beginning to be to 49er fans close to what the Cowboys were to the Packer fans. Judy (my wife) heard someone call in to a talk radio show the other day with terrible things to say about any 49er season ticket holder who would dare sell seats to Packer fans.

Anyway, the Freemans will be there again on Sunday, along with thousands of other Packer fans. I still feel pretty good about the game, since I really believe that the Packers are the better team. Sure, I wish the game was at Lambeau, but they are good enough to win on the road, and now all they have to do is prove it again. Judy is more nervous about the game, and our kids are still in that stage where they just believe the Packers will win every game. I hope we can fill every available seat with Packer fans, and eliminate whatever limited home field advantage there is in Candlestick Park.

Packers on December Roll!

At the beginning of the season, the late-November to mid-December part of the season looked rather daunting for the Packers.

November 23, Cowboys at home. True, the game would be at Lambeau at last. But the Cowboys had won 7 in a row against the Packers - maybe they just had the Packers' number.

And then comes a three game road trip. Not again!

December 1, at Minnesota. The dome jinx. True, the Packers have to win one sometime, but something weird always seems to happen.

December 7, at Tampa Bay. At least it is on grass, but weren't the Bucs much improved at the end of 1996? And didn't the Bucs beat the Packers here in December a couple of years ago?

December 14, at Carolina. Omigosh, the NFC Championship game rematch, in their stadium.

Back at the beginning of the season, this looked like a stretch where the Packers could easily go 2-2, even though I hoped for better.

Now fast forward to the aftermath of the Colts debacle on November 16. Deep down, didn't you feel that the Packers could lose 2 or maybe 3 of these 4 games if they continued to play like they did in that game? I did.

What a difference 3 weeks and three W's make. The Packers now seem to be on the best roll they have been on since last December-January. They have exorcised two demons, won the division for the third year in a row, and have clinched a bye week for the playoffs. They ought to win the next two games and cruise into the playoffs with another 13-3 record. As a matter of fact, an objective observer might just conclude that the Packers have put it all together at exactly the right time.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look as if 13-3 will be good enough for home-field advantage. I think the 49ers will lose Monday night to Denver, but I think they are good enough to beat a fading Seahawks team the following week. And if they do, they get the home field advantage for the NFC Championship game ASSUMING that they get past their first opponent on the weekend of January 3-4. They probably will, but I don't take that as a given with the 49ers.

Here in San Francisco, the fan sentiment seems to be that the 49ers have very little chance against the Packers if they have to play them in Green Bay. I agree with that. If the game is in San Francisco, the consensus is that the 49ers have a much better chance, but just beneath the surface I detect the belief that the Packers are probably a better team. I think they are right about that, too.

We'll know soon enough. The Championship games are less than a month away, and at this point it sure looks like the NFC opponents will be the Packers and the 49ers. In the AFC, my guess would be Kansas City and Pittsburgh. Could we be heading for a rematch of Super Bowl I? That would be an interesting matchup.

Packers Spank Cowboys - Head for Last Turf Game

I have to admit that I was nervous about the game against the Cowboys. I picked the Packers to win, I felt that the Packers were the better team, I believed that nobody beats the Packers at Lambeau Field.

But still - what if they didn't win? After all, they got beat by the Colts last week. They couldn't stop anybody, including people none of us ever heard of, and gave up 467 yards of offense and 41 points to an 0-10 team. If they could lose to the Colts, surely the Packers were capable of losing to the Cowboys, especially if the breaks went against them. And if the Packers were to lose, the
devastation, at least to the fans, would be total. How would the team react? Would they go into a tailspin, having left it all on the field against the Cowboys?

Fortunately, we don't have to find out. Despite a slow start, during which the Packers wasted good field position on two successive drives, and despite a Deion Sanders interception for touchdown, that allowed the Cowboys a tie at halftime, the Packers rolled like they have not rolled all this year, crushing the Cowboys in the second half. And so they moved into sole possession of first place in the NFC Central, with Minnesota and Tampa Bay looking up at them.

They did this, in my opinion, through a more aggressive approach, especially on defense. Last week, it seemed that after Gilbert Brown went out, the Packers played very conservatively on defense, and perhaps as a result, never got any pressure on Paul Justin. This week, they blitzed, they took chances, and they came through. And they did so even though it seemed as if both Gilbert Brown and Reggie White missed substantial portions of the game.

So one major monkey is off of the Packers' back. And now they get a chance to try to remove the other one. Next week, the Packers travel to Minnesota to try to win for the first time there in the Holmgren-Wolf-Favre era. I'm worried about this game. Heck, I'm worried about every game this year. There could be a letdown factor after the big Cowboy game. There could be funny bounces of the ball, like there always are at the dome. And there is no question that the Packers remain a team built for grass, not turf. But win or lose, this should be the last turf game for the Packers this year, as the last 3 regular season games are all on grass, and the post-season games will be in Green Bay, maybe in San Francisco, and, just maybe, in San Diego.

POST SEASON PROGNOSIS

I've given up on getting the number 1 seed. The 49ers don't seem interested in providing any assistance to the Packers whatsoever. The 49ers will get the number 1 seed. (There, I've said it. Maybe NOW they will go on a losing streak.) So here are my predictions for final records in the NFC:

NFC Central: Green Bay (12-4, DIV); Minnesota (11-5, WC); Tampa Bay (9-7, out).

NFC West: San Francisco (13-3, DIV).

NFC East: NY Giants (10-5-1, DIV); Dallas (10-6, WC); Washington
(9-6-1, WC).

Packers Back on Track / Mid-Season Review

Bye Week Blues

Well, it seems as if the Packers needed the bye week, even if their fans did not. What does a Packer fan living in the San Francisco area do during the bye week, when there is nothing doing locally but 49ers and Raiders? If you are like me, you find a week without Packer football to be a bit tough to take. And believe me, it is worse if you are not in Wisconsin, without all the Packer hubbub that goes on around there.

My family kept busy the weekend of the bye by going to Great America for the last time this year on Saturday, and by going to the Denver at Oakland game on Sunday. An interesting game, but ultimately who cares about a game involving a couple of AFC teams? It's just not the same.

Last weekend, the weekend before the Monday night game, we had to go out of town to a business function, which helped to keep our minds off of the long wait for the Monday night game. And today (Sunday, November 2) we went to scout out the Cowboys and 49ers at 3Com Park, allowing enough time to get home to watch the Packer game. I was doing my scouting in my Super Bowl hat and shirt, but another guy right in front of me was doing the same thing in his Brett Favre jersey. One kid (10-12 years old) saw me driving my car with PACK FAN license plates in the 3Com parking lot, and was nice enough to tell me (very loudly) that "the Packers Suck!" This passes for intelligent football discourse in the 3Com parking lot, apparently, although I have a feeling that he may not have checked the box scores in the recent Packer-49er games.

The Monday night game against the Patriots was great. The Packers looked the best they have looked all year. The only thing that bothers me a little bit is the thought that maybe the Patriots aren't really good enough to be considered a difficult test for the Packers. The Patriots' game today against the Vikings tends to confirm the suspicion.

Tonight's game against the Lions was not very impressive on offense, but the defense was in complete control of the game, and played its second impressive game in a row. It is good to see Fritz Shurmur showing enough confidence in his defenders to take some chances and play aggressively. The defensive players looked like they were really having fun out there.

Contenders' Schedules

I meant to take a look at remaining schedules for the rest of the NFC contenders last week, but did not get around to writing it down until now. The good news is that the Packers have the easiest schedule in the second half of all meaningful contenders, and the 49ers have the hardest schedule. (My thanks to Ross Fleege for crunching the numbers.) Unfortunately, though, the 49ers show little sign that they are about to start losing some games. So the Packers have to just keep winning games, and hope for a little help from someone else somewhere along the way.

Here is a brief review of the contenders' schedules, along with a few comments.

GREEN BAY PACKERS. Currently 7-2, the same as last year at this time. The Packers have home games left against St. Louis, Dallas, and Buffalo, and away games at Indy, Minnesota, Tampa Bay and Carolina. Going 6-1 seems quite possible to me, with a loss likely somewhere (I'm going to "arbitrarily" guess at Minnesota). So I am predicting 13-3 for the final record. This may be a bit optimistic, since they could drop another game somewhere. But they should not end up worse than 12-4.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS. Currently 7-2. Home games left against Chicago, Green Bay, Detroit and Indy. Away games at Detroit, NY Jets, and San Francisco. I am predicting that the Vikings go 4-3, losing the games at Detroit, at the Jets, and at San Francisco. This would leave the Vikings at 11-5. It would be nice to see a late-season collapse here (except when they play the 49ers), but right now they seem to be playing pretty well.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS. Currently 6-3. Home games left against New England, Green Bay, and Chicago. Away games at Atlanta, Chicago, the NY Giants and the NY Jets. I see a 3-4 record for the Bucs, with losses to New England, the Giants, Green Bay and the Jets. The Bucs would then end up at 9-7. The Bucs were an interesting story early in the year, but my predictions reflect my belief that the story is now over.

DETROIT LIONS. Currently 4-5. Not really a contender anymore, but I am just including them because they are in the NFC Central with a record better than 1-8. Home games against Minnesota, Indy, Chicago and the NY Jets. Away games at Washington, Miami and Minnesota. I see the Lions going 4-3, losing to Washington, Miami and Minnesota. The Lions would end up at 8-8.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS. Currently 8-1. Home games against Carolina, San Diego, Minnesota and Denver. Away games at Philadelphia, Kansas City and Seattle. I see them going 4-3, to finish at 12-4. I predict losses to Philadelphia, Kansas City and Denver. (But I sure wish they had lost today to the Cowboys.) The interesting thing about the 49ers schedule is that they are now all out of "byes," with the possible exception of the San Diego game. Even though I think they will win 4 more games, certainly the Panthers, Vikings and Seahawks are each capable of beating the 49ers. Be that as it may, I hope I am not being overly optimistic in predicting 3 losses.

CAROLINA PANTHERS. Currently 5-4. Trying desperately to crawl back in the race after a miserable start. Home games against New Orleans, Green Bay and St. Louis. Away games at Denver, San Francisco, St. Louis and Dallas. I see a record of 3-4, for a total of 8-8. The losses would come against Denver, San Francisco, Dallas and Green Bay.

NEW YORK GIANTS. Currently 6-3. Quietly becoming a significant contender. Home games against Arizona, Tampa Bay and Washington. Away games at Tennessee, Washington, Philadelphia and Dallas. I predict losses against Washington and Dallas, for a 5-2 record and a total of 11-5.

WASHINGTON REDSKINS. Currently 5-4. Home games against Detroit, NY Giants, St. Louis and Philadelphia. Away games at Dallas, Arizona and NY Giants. I think they will go 5-2, losing to Dallas and the Giants on the road, for a total record of 10-6.

DALLAS COWBOYS. Currently 4-5. Not really a contender anymore, but I had to include them here for frame of reference. Home games against Arizona, Washington, Tennessee, Carolina and NY Giants. Away games at Green Bay and Cincinnati. In making my predictions, I initially came up with a 6-1 record, with a loss only to Green Bay, for a total record of 10-6. But that just can't be right. This team is not good enough to go 6-1. They will find a way to lose 1 or 2 games to teams like Arizona, Carolina, the Giants or Cincinnati. They will end up with a record something like 8-8.

If these predictions come true, the Packers will win the all-important home field advantage. But the 49ers are (to state the obvious) the team with the best shot to knock the Packers out of home field advantage. So root like crazy against the 49ers, every week. The only other serious challenger I see in the NFC is the Vikings. That game on December 1 at the Metrodome could not only have large implications for the home field advantage, it could end up deciding the division winner.

Quarterly Review - No Cause For Panic In Packerland

There has been a fair amount of grumbling among Packer fans in the first quarter of the 1997 season. "The Packers were in some danger of losing each game this year!" "They haven't looked dominating in any game, except for the second quarter of the Vikings game!" "They lost to the Eagles and didn't even score a TD!" "The rash of injuries has robbed the Packers of all of their depth!" Etc., etc. etc.

But let's stop for a second and take a closer look. One quarter of the regular season is over, and the Packers are 3-1. Last year, they dominated in the first 3 games, but then lost at Minnesota, and had the same 3-1 record. Many of us (myself included) overreacted to the situation. I know that I felt that the Packers would never be able to catch the Vikings, given tie-breakers. What an overreaction that was, as the Packers won the division by 4 games, with the home field advantage throughout the playoffs. And, in a sense, the Packers are better off this year, since their loss is outside of the division.

By contrast, take a look at the 49ers. They have started to dominate their opponents, and to all appearances, they seem to have overcome the loss of Jerry Rice, and seem to be taking better care of Steve Young. But hold on a minute! The teams they have beaten are the Rams, the Saints and the Falcons, three of the most pathetic teams in the league. They lost to Tampa Bay, but as we are beginning to appreciate, that is no great shame given the way the Buccaneers are playing. Let's wait until the 49ers have a couple of games against quality opponents before concluding that they are back in the driver's seat.

All in all, I feel pretty good about the Packers' season. I think they will only get better, as some of the injured players return to the lineup, and as some of the reserves pressed into action get more experience. Last year, the injury plague induced a two game losing streak against Kansas City and Dallas. This year, the Packers have come through an injury plagued first quarter with a 3-1 record. Not too bad. I see (conservatively) at least an 11-5 record for the Packers this year.

Edgar Bennett Out for Year

The opening pre-season game, otherwise a success for the Packers, was tarnished by the loss of Edgar Bennett for the entire 1997 season with an Achilles tendon injury.

Some have suggested that this may mark Edgar's last game with the Packers, since there is some sentiment that the Packers will not be able to (or maybe even want to) keep both Edgar and Dorsey Levens next year. I hope that doesn't prove to be true, but this seems as good a time as any to reminisce about the good times with Edgar Bennett.

Although I live in California, it so happens I was at the first pre-season game in the year Edgar was drafted, which I believe was 1992. I was mostly interested in seeing who this kid was for whom the Packers had traded a first round pick, somebody named Favre. (His first pass was a drop-back-and-heave-it-as-far-as-you-can job, which was intercepted.) So the early returns on Favre were a bit mixed.

But the kid who really impressed me was Edgar Bennett. It seemed like every time he got the ball, he was just like a bull - very difficult to bring down. He was heavier then, and I think they were listing him as a fullback. But he certainly had promise.

Fast forward to the playoff years. Four more impressions of Edgar. First, he almost NEVER fumbled the ball. We all know how important that is to Holmgren, and to us. If you remember Brent Fullwood, fumbling at the opponent's 1 yard line on what would have been a go-ahead score, you know why this is important. In fact, when Edgar fumbled in the slop in the mud-bowl against San Francisco, wasn't that his first fumble in over a year?

And speaking of the mud-bowl, impression number 2 is that there is no finer "mudder" in the league now than Edgar Bennett. Given the new "Sport Grass" and its improved drainage, this may not be as big an issue anymore, but it always seemed that the messier the field was, the better Edgar was. How he was able to keep his balance in the slop, on the way into the end zone, is just beyond me.

Impression number 3 is the screen pass. This is an important weapon in the Holmgren offense, and Edgar ran it to perfection. It seemed as if, half the time the Packers found themselves at about the 15-20 yard line, they would run this play, and it seemed as if it most often went for a touchdown. He will be missed on this play, but fortunately Dorsey Levens runs this play pretty well himself.

Finally, Edgar was a very skilled receiver. I remember one pass in particular, a sideline pass to the left side, where Edgar laid himself out parallel to the ground and caught the ball.

In short, Edgar may be no Barry Sanders, no Emmitt Smith, no Thurman Thomas. But he brought stability to the running back position for the first time in a number of years, and I always liked him. 1997 was to be another "running back by committee" year for Edgar and Dorsey, but sadly that will not happen now. I hope that the Packers figure out a way to bring Edgar back in 1998, but if they don't, it has been a nice ride with Edgar these past few years.

Franchise Free Agency

There has been a fair amount of attention on the internet and in the popular press about the effects of free agency. Is it a plus or a minus for a small market team like the Packers? Now that the Packers are on top of the heap, does free agency help them (because they are relatively attractive to free agents looking for a shot at a ring) or does it hurt them, because the participants in a Super Bowl always get more attention from other teams than they deserve (see Neil O'Donnell, Larry Brown and, yes, even Desmond Howard).

These are all interesting questions, and I might even have something to say about them one of these days. But my topic today is FRANCHISE free agency, not player free agency.

As a Packer fan, I suppose it is obvious that I have my biases on the question of franchise free agency, but try as hard as I can, I can't see anything good about the present system. Yes, there are some teams with whom the fans have just fallen out of love. I suppose the Oilers are the best example. A year or so ago they had a rally in downtown Houston to try to keep the Oilers, and something like 36 people showed up. This is amazing to me, given how recent it was that the Astrodome was known as the "House of Pain" and was filled to the rafters with nut cases with their faces painted blue. But right now the team has no support in Houston, and I suppose that the owner had little choice but to try to find a new home somewhere else. The Rams are probably another more or less comparable example.

But then there are the Raiders, and the way that Al Davis screwed the City of Oakland, not once but twice. The first time was when he took the Raiders away from sellouts and a solid fan base in a dispute with the city over luxury boxes. And the second time was when he brought them back under the burden of the highest ticket and PSL prices in the league, which are not selling out and which will leave the taxpayers in the City of Oakland holding the bag under the financial guarantees they provided to the Raiders to lure them back.

And the saddest case, to me, is the Browns/Ravens. Browns fans were like Packer fans, in many ways. They had a devoted, working class fan base, they were one of the old time teams in the league, and they had a wonderful history and tradition. And, quite unlike the Raiders, the Browns had an old-time, NFL guy for an owner, not a lifelong renegade like Al Davis. But Art Modell took the Browns away just as ruthlessly as Al Davis took away the Raiders.

The people of Cleveland will be getting a new Browns team in a couple of years, but it won't be the same. Never again will the people feel as if this is really "their" team. They will always know that some rich guy can take it all away in an instant over some future dispute over stadiums, luxury boxes, or something we can't even imagine now.

Compare these situations to the Packers. The fans (or more precisely some of them) actually own the team. It is not feasible to imagine a set of circumstances, other than outright financial failure of the franchise, under which the team would no longer be in Green Bay. There is no reason for a kid, or even an adult, to hold back on giving his heart to this team.

Here is the part that I don't understand. Can't everyone see that this is a better situation for the team, for the fans, and for the league, than the situation in Cleveland, Oakland, Baltimore, Houston, Los Angeles, etc? Then why is it that the league currently prohibits Packer-style public ownership, with the Packers being the sole team that is "grandfathered?" This just seems nuts to me.

I would respectfully suggest that the Green Bay Packer ownership model is the ideal fix for the problem with the league and franchise free agency. The league ought to be encouraging community ownership, rather than prohibiting it. Nothing much can be done with the existing franchises, but as the league adds new teams in Cleveland, Los Angeles, and elsewhere, and as teams are sold, community ownership should be the preferred (if not exclusive) model. The NFL right now is the hottest thing in sports. But they are very close to having the league ruined because of problems like franchise free agency.

If you agree, why not take a minute and write a letter to the Commissioner about this. I have already done so. The address is:

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue
National Football League
410 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10022