Imagine the Sunday/Monday/Thursday experience you have every week during football season if you are a Green Bay Packers fan.
A notion so foreign to me that I can barely fathom the concept.
These motherfuckers.
Catch a break much?
Not since the 2000s of Duke Blue Devils college basketball have I seen the ‘benefit of the doubt’ go to one team so often.
Thursday night football has just ended.
The Cardinals, who haven’t lost a game until tonight, found themselves with the ball inside Green Bay’s 20 yard line with under 20 seconds to go, down by 3…overtime seemingly being the worst case scenario for Arizona at that point.
Arizona, AFTER CALLING A TIMEOUT, comes back out onto the field and has a miscommunication between QB and WR that leads to a gift INT.
Ballgame.
Earlier in the 4th quarter Rodgers scrambled toward the sidelines trying to pick up a 1st down with his legs and was tackled from behind, short of the sticks, by a mere tug of his jersey. Before he even officially went to the ground, Rodgers was clearly seen already throwing his off hand up, begging for a personal foul to be called. Several angles of replay showed there was clearly no violation of the rules, and, surprisingly, the refs didn’t succumb to the pressure of AROD’s antics.
The only thing shocking here is the officials didn’t crumble to the pressure and throw the flag.
The play was symbolic.
Symbolic of the entitlement Packer fans, and Rodgers himself, feel on a weekly basis.
It’s more than annoying. It’s more than frustrating.
It pisses me off.
Last week the entire game between Washington and Green Bay was basically played inside Packers territory, much of that in the red zone. Only to see Washington produce the following: 1 blocked field goal, 1 lost fumble, 1 interception, and 3 failed fourth down conversion attempts.
On one such attempt Washington QB Taylor Heinicke, former perennial preseason stud specialist for the Vikings, dove for the end zone and clearly crossed the plain of the goal line before anyone comes close to touching him.
But out of the blue a ‘new NFL rule’ comes into play where apparently quarterbacks can now dive head first but also be ‘giving themselves up’ at the same time. They ruled that’s what Heinicke was doing and said he was down inside the 1.
Yeah, that’s what the quarterback was doing…giving himself up…AT THE FUCKING GOAL LINE…ON FOURTH DOWN…not trying to score.
Good call.
And this shit happens on a weekly basis for Green Bay. I’ve known this since I was a child.
I’ve said it for 25 years now, “There’s nothing for pathetic than Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers begging for a flag, and then one comes flying in from the opposite side of the field 10 seconds later.”
Most of the time I don’t see it first hand anymore because I’m busy watching the Vikings, but of course Minnesota was on a bye week when Green Bay played Washington…and I had to sit and suffer through all of that bullshit. Play by play by play.
Then of course last night they were the feature game and I had to turn it on in hopes Green Bay would lose.
Which they should have, but I digress.
Meanwhile Minnesota continues to get the opposite of any sort of break most Sundays, the clear exception always being when they face the Lions.
The only solace I can take is every year Green Bay seems to quietly choke in the playoffs.
Aaron Rodgers and Brett Favre have been their only franchise quarterbacks since the early 90s and the Packers only have two super bowl titles to show for it…one a piece for the QBs.
But constantly looking up at them in the standings and knowing every single break is gonna go their way each week makes gunning for the division a seemingly impossible task.
They fucking played the Bengals this year in an overtime game where both kickers combined to miss 6 game winning field goals in a row before Crosby finally nailed one for Green Bay.
Have you ever heard of such a thing? The answer is never.
Never.
But Green Bay fans and their organization EXPECT that type of sequence. It’s old hat to them.
Now…if only they could catch a break…
All that being said I can’t wait for the Vikings to play the Packers this season.
