PACKERS 34 - BILLS 7

As the odds-makers had speculated all week long, yesterday's home opener at Lambeau Field proved to be a rout. It wasn't all hugs and high fives, but the Pack did head to the locker room with a convincing 34-7 victory over the Buffalo Bills. Green Bay is now 2-0 and sits just behind Chicago, who are also 2-0 atop in the NFC North Standings. All that will change in week 3, as the Packers head to Soldier Field to face the Bears in a classic battle of black and blue brawn on Monday Night Football. There's a lot to talk about therein, but let's not get ahead of ourselves...

Sunday's scoreboard was convincing, but there is plenty of room for improvement.

In the second quarter, the Bills sliced through a seemingly unmotivated Green Bay defense for 7 first downs and their first touchdown of the game to make it 13-7. The Packers did not immediately respond. In fact, the second quarter saw -4 yards of offense for Green Bay with 2 punts and no first downs.

OT Chad Clifton was pulled from the game midway through the 2nd quarter and replaced by rookie tackle Brian Bulaga. In his post-game press conference, Head Coach Mike McCarthy said Clifton had seen limited reps in practice this past week due to a troubled knee. That translated into poor play on Sunday as McCarthy said Clifton "did not look good." Brian Bulaga did a fine job filling in. Aside from one offsides penalty on an Aaron Rodgers hard count, he looked both competent and confident, as a first round draft pick should. The offensive line performed well overall, keeping Rodgers upright for the entire game, but the run-blocking apparently left something to be desired. All told, Green Bay's "rushing by committee" approach netted 91 yards and 2 touchdowns. However, it should be noted that those numbers were inflated by Aaron Rodgers, who scampered 5 times for 20 yards with 1 score. So the real numbers look like this: 71 yards and 1 TD between Brandon Jackson, John Kuhn, and the newly acquired Dimitri Nance. Simply put, that is not going to cut it. McCarthy blames poor blocking up-front for the paltry numbers, but given the lanes the O-line created in the week 1 victory over the Eagles, I'm not sure if I believe that. I'm still not prepared to hit the big red button yet, but let's hope the running games gets cleaned up this week in practice.

Play quality in the second half of the game was much improved. According to Mike Vandermause of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, this can be credited to a *ahem* colorful speech given by McCarthy at half time. Regarding the coach's message in the locker room, Linebacker Nick Barnett said, “he came in here and you could see it on his face.” Fellow Linebacker Brady Poppinga added, "there’s a certain tone that he wants to get a message across that you need to listen to. And you listen, you tune in and make adjustments.”

And adjustments were made. When the dust settled, the Packers outscored the Bills 21-0 in the second half to secure the win.

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DDS MVP WEEK 2

Photo courtesy of NFL.com

This week's Daily Dope Sheet MVP is an obvious choice. Clay Matthews continues to provide the kind of constant pressure that keeps opposing quarterbacks awake on Saturday night. He looked hungry, played hard, and recorded 3 sacks for the second straight game, becoming the only player in Packers history to do so. He's notched 6 sacks in 2 games so far this year, and is currently on pace for 48 total. Alright, so that may be a bit of a lofty goal, but with Matthews, you just never know. He is all over the field, constantly sniffing out the football.

If I were Chicago Bears Quarterback, Jay Cutler, I'd be looking out for #52 on every snap. Sleep tight, Jay.