| Yeah, you nailed it. New coach Mike McCarthy did very good job reeling Brett in, pounding the running game, and throwing really intermediate passes. In that late Thursday night game versus the Vikings, after Favre threw two picks in two plays (one returned for a TD by Smoot, the next a deep ball), McCarthy came back on offense by calling like six consecutive running plays. Like any Packers fan should, I hold my breath anytime Brett heaves it deep, but I still think he's the best option for the team at QB and I hope he returns.
As for the season, yeah, a hugely pleasant surprise at 8-8. They were by far the youngest team in the NFL this year, basically starting three rookie O-lineman as well as a host of other rookies/2nd-year players. There are still some needs on offense, and the secondary needs fixing in a bad way, but the "dark age" everyone predicted seems a bit overblown. |