The Packer Pundit

Brett Favre can still carve up Candlestick Park
Associated Press
Favre passed for 293 yards and hit Donald Driver for a 68-yard touchdown Sunday, and the Green Bay Packers snapped a three-game losing streak with a 30-19 victory over the slumping San Francisco 49ers. Playing in the waterfront stadium that hosted some of his greatest playoff performances, Favre was steady and fearless while breathing life back into the Packers (5-8), who had been floundering on offense since early November. Ruvell Martin also caught a long TD pass, and Driver had nine catches for 160 yards as Favre went 22-for-34 and surpassed 3,000 yards passing for the 15th straight season to extend his own NFL record. Packers coach Mike McCarthy was the coordinator for San Francisco's awful offense last season, but he came up with plenty of ways to embarrass former boss Mike Nolan's defense - and Favre executed nearly all of them. Frank Gore rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown for the 49ers (5-8), but Alex Smith was just 12-of-29 for 201 yards and two interceptions while facing constant harassment. Rookie tight end Vernon Davis turned a short pass into a late 52-yard touchdown, but San Francisco lost its third straight. Both storied franchises' playoff hopes are all but extinguished, yet Favre and his receivers reclaimed their groove in a familiar spot for the 37-year-old quarterback. He led the Packers against Steve Young's 49ers in four straight postseasons in the late 1990s, with Favre winning three matchups - including two at Candlestick Park. -- More



30-19 road victory over 49ers
feels good to Packers
By Rob Demovsky
greenbaypressgazette.com
There’s a little life left in the Green Bay Packers. Downtrodden by three straight losses, they responded to myriad adjustments and subtle game-planning changes and came up with a performance that will make some of this season’s tribulations fade, if only for a week. Playing a team perhaps as flawed as themselves, the Packers continued their mastery of the road this season with a 30-19 victory on Sunday over the slumping San Francisco 49ers on a soggy field at Monster Park. The 49ers, themselves saddled with a three-game losing streak, committed many of the errors that have plagued the Packers throughout coach Mike McCarthy’s first season. “It just feels good to win,” McCarthy said. “Unfortunately, part of our business, losing is total misery, and winning almost has become a relief.” The Packers’ rookie coach made the most radical midweek adjustments of his brief tenure, and they helped the team win for the fourth time in seven road games. The Packers (5-8) staved off the possibility of a losing season for at least another game. The changes in personnel and scheme were evident the moment the Packers took the field. They won the coin toss, then lined up in a new kickoff return formation featuring only a single returner (Vernand Morency), signifying the beginning of an afternoon filled with new looks. -- More


A Much-Needed Win In San Francisco
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Posted 12/10/2006
When you've struggled all year to stay within striking distance of .500, the need for a victory never diminishes. But the Packers may have needed this win more than they've needed one all season. Coming off three straight losses, including two humbling blowouts at home, the Packers stopped the bleeding and got first-year Head Coach Mike McCarthy's program back on track with a convincing 30-19 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Monster Park on Sunday. "It's been a long month for us as far as the way Sundays have gone," said McCarthy, whose team improved to 5-8 overall and 4-3 on the road. "But they prepare, they work, they stick together, and that exemplifies the character we have on the football team. I'm just really proud of the way they've stayed the course." That the performance came against McCarthy's former team was perhaps not just a coincidence. McCarthy, San Francisco's offensive coordinator in 2005, understatedly admitted afterwards the game had special meaning to him. But perhaps he also felt some vindication in ending the losing streak and proving to his former bosses what his new team is capable of. "Nobody talked about it, but everybody felt it," defensive lineman Cullen Jenkins said. "It was something we didn't have to say. "You could hear Coach in his speech (Saturday) night. That's probably the most fired up I've ever seen him at a speech the night before a game. You could tell that this was just one that would mean a lot to him." It also meant everything to the Packer offense to free up receiver Donald Driver to be a playmaker for quarterback Brett Favre, who used his go-to guy to post a 111.5 passer rating (22 of 34, 293 yards, 2 TD, no INT). Having faced bracket coverages and double teams that limited him to just seven catches over the past three weeks, Driver made the 49ers pay for trying more single coverage than most teams dared. -- More



Just like old times in win over 49ers
By Jason Wilde / wsj.com
The images are sepia-toned in your mind, (edit: sepia-toned? Yeah... that's exactly the word I was thinking of Jason) frayed on the corners but still undeniably there, reminders of what things used to be like when the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers would get together with so much on the line at this old stadium. Remember that breakthrough day in January 1996, when Mike Holmgren's upstart Packers came in and stunned the reigning Super Bowl champs in the NFC divisional playoffs? Remember that muddy, water-logged evening in January 1998, when the Packers reaffirmed their NFC dominance and punched their ticket to their second straight Super Bowl at the 49ers' expense? And remember that gut-wrenching afternoon in January 1999, when Terrell Owens' winning touchdown grab in the closing seconds of the teams' wild-card playoff game ended the Holmgren era and the Packers' modern renaissance? This? This was not one of those moments. No, the Packers' 30-19 victory Sunday wasn't an unforgettable, watershed win. Perhaps it was a step toward someday having more of those historic games, but in the present, it was simply one rebuilding franchise beating another, in a game played at Candlestick/3Com/Monster Park for pride and progress. Still, for the Packers, it meant a lot - an end to their three-game losing streak, an improvement to 5-8 to keep hope alive for finishing .500 and a post-game locker-room celebration like there's been now 11 times in the last 12 meetings between the clubs. -- More



Defense responds when it matters
By Jason Wilde wsj.com
If they were going to crumble, this was it. The San Francisco 49ers had cut a two-touchdown lead to just four points, and they'd just gotten the ball back. There were 7 minutes, 9 seconds left in the third quarter, and the members of the Green Bay Packers defense knew they had to do something. After all, it had been their unit, during the team's three-game losing streak, that had been at the root of the team's problems. They'd given up 35 points to New England, coughed up an eight-point third-quarter lead at Seattle and hemorrhaged 340 yards and 31 points in the first half of last week's loss to the New York Jets. But Sunday, in the Packers' 30-19 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Monster Park, the defense responded. "We all gathered up on the sideline before we took the field, and we were like, 'Who's going to make the big play? We can't give up no big plays; we've got to step up and make the big play,' " defensive lineman Corey Williams said. "We all got in the huddle and we all agreed that we were going to go out there and give it our all." On their next three series, the 49ers went three-and-out, turned the ball over on an Alex Smith interception thrown right to Packers safety Nick Collins and went three-and-out again. After that, the Packers had extended their lead to 27-13 and were never seriously threatened again. "A lot of guys were saying, 'This is the way it should be,' " said defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, who played only 24 snaps as he was replaced by Cullen Jenkins and Williams on most running downs. "Everything was in our favor. We kept the momentum on our side throughout the game, and that's a good thing." There were mistakes. Gbaja-Biamila let 49ers halfback Frank Gore escape for a 72-yard run on San Francisco's first possession, but it only led to a field goal as cornerback Al Harris chased Gore down at the 2-yard line. Tight end Vernon Davis got open late for a 52-yard touchdown, but only after linebacker A.J. Hawk picked off another would-be scoring pass to Davis a series earlier. -- More



Putting up a good front
Green Bay's defense bounces back quickly
after Gore's early 72-yard run
By TOM SILVERSTEIN / journalsentinel.com
Posted: Dec. 10, 2006
It looked as if it was going to be one of those Shaun Alexander days all over again for the Green Bay Packers on Sunday. Two plays into San Francisco's first offensive series, the Packers had given up almost half the 201 yards Alexander got against them in a crushing defeat two weeks ago at Seattle. After gaining 6 yards on first down, Frank Gore broke a 72-yard run off the Packers' right side. Were it not for a remarkable hustle play on the part of cornerback Al Harris, the play would have put the Packers down, 7-0. Gore came into the game ranked third in the National Football League in rushing and the Packers had seen on film what he had done to other teams. So when he avoided the tackle of cornerback Charles Woodson and ran through the arm tackle of end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila to break into the open field, it appeared as if it was going to be one of those days. -- More













Additional Game Stats -- Link






Jennings points the way
Greg Jennings finally got more involved in the offense, taking advantage of having a few more balls thrown his way. And, he played through the pain of reinjuring the right ankle that's bothered him for the last six weeks. But the best thing the Green Bay Packers' rookie wide receiver did during Sunday's 30-19 victory over the San Francisco 49ers at Monster Park came on a play on which he didn't even touch the ball: Brett Favre's 36-yard touchdown pass to a stunningly open Ruvell Martin for the Packers' first touchdown. As Favre went through his progressions on the play - first Donald Driver, then Jennings - Jennings pointed to Martin, who was all alone in the end zone after 49ers cornerback Walt Harris let Martin get free behind him. "The best thing that happened on that play - besides Ruvell being wide open - was Greg Jennings pointing to him," Favre said. "The play is designed to (go) to Donald in the flat or Greg on an over route. I actually looked at Donald, then I looked at Greg, and when I looked at Greg he was pointing over to Ruvell Martin. I was thinking, 'What is he pointing at?' So I looked up and he's wide open. "Greg is one of those instinctive players. I don't know if I've ever had anyone running down the field pointing to another guy who's open." Martin was so open, Favre called the throw "one of the hardest" he's had to make all year, and Martin couldn't believe his first NFL touchdown was so easy. "I can't believe they left me open like that," Martin said. "I felt like I was playing as a kid where I was just standing in the corner jumping up and down yelling, "I'm open! I'm open!"' Said a laughing Jennings, who caught five passes for 50 yards despite aggravating the ankle with 7 minutes left in the first half: "Ruvell owes me half of that."

Doing his part
Defensive end Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila played just 24 snaps, watching from the sideline as Cullen Jenkins and Corey Williams took his spot on early downs. But Gbaja-Biamila did start the game. "Frankly, who runs out for the introductions is overrated," coach Mike McCarthy said. Perhaps, but the 49ers went right at Gbaja-Biamila with halfback Frank Gore on their second play, and Gore ran through KGB's tackle for a 72-yard gain. "That was disappointing because I had him, and I tried to make the tackle and go for the ball. And while I was doing that, he slipped from my grasp," Gbaja-Biamila said. "I was in position to make the play."

Woodson delivers
Cornerback Charles Woodson continued his resurgence, recovering a fumble, breaking up a pass in the end zone and returning a punt 40 yards late in the game - while also playing through a painful shoulder injury he aggravated shortly before halftime. "It's pretty good starting the game off, but taking that fall right before half, if I can stay away from those, I'm all right," said Woodson, who has only been practicing on Fridays because of the shoulder. "It's in pain now, but give me a few days, I'll be all right." As for his punt return, Woodson said, "That was beautiful. I definitely wanted to get in the end zone. We haven't scored on special teams at all this year, so that would've been huge for us, but to catch the ball and see an opening and be able to take off and show a little speed, it definitely felt good."

Full House
The Packers unveiled their own version of "Full House," but rather than the Olsen twins, it was fullbacks Brandon Miree and William Henderson in the starring roles, playing together in the backfield in front of Ahman Green and Vernand Morency. Favre would look at the defense and call which direction the play would go. "Same plays, different formation, different personnel grouping. But same plays," offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said. "We just went to the best-look side." Said Miree: "We're a threat to run each way, whether it's to Will or myself. It's one of those things that gives us a lot of options in the run game."

Pick parade
Safety Nick Collins and linebacker A.J. Hawk each had second-half interceptions. Collins' came with the Packers clinging to a 17-13 lead and led to Driver's 68-yard TD two plays later; Hawk's came in the end zone on a deep ball to tight end Vernon Davis and squelched a 49ers' scoring threat. "Once I got that interception, the momentum came back to us, and two plays later Brett threw that touchdown pass," Collins said. "And then, A.J. gets that pick when they're driving to score. That's what you need, turnarounds in the whole game. And that's what we got."

Homecoming stance
Backup quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who's out for the year with a broken left foot, made the trip even though the team rarely takes players who are on injured reserve to road games. Rodgers, who is from Northern California, is still on crutches but was on the sideline. "It was awesome, even though I wasn't playing," said Rodgers, whose family came to the game. "I'm just thankful they brought me. What I was doing - charting defenses - we've got three other guys doing that. So I appreciate them bringing me because it means a lot to me."

Extra points
The 49ers won both their replay challenges, ending a streak of 13 straight failed challenges by Packers opponents. ... Favre, who went over 3,000 yards for the 15th straight season, is 11-1 in his career against the 49ers, including 4-1 in San Francisco. His only loss: The NFC wild-card playoff game following the 1998 season, on Terrell Owens' touchdown with 3 seconds to play. "There should be a little asterisk beside that one," Favre said, referring to Jerry Rice's fumble-that-wasn't shortly before Owens' TD. ... The Packers sustained no serious injuries, as McCarthy said everyone who was hurt - Jenkins (nose), Jennings (ankle), Woodson (shoulder), Green (head), Martin (chest) and cornerback Patrick Dendy (hand) - was able to return to the game. ... .Favre tried unsuccessfully to throw a cut-block on Morency's 39-yard run late in the game. "He needs to get into our cut drills," Jagodzinski said. "That was awful."