Aaron Rodgers is Awesome, Leads Another Comeback Against Dallas

It turns out this Aaron Rodgers cat is pretty damn good at football. I didn't get to watch this game because I was flying home from Clemson and also had a pretty important playoff game to attend in the Bronx. (Hell of a weekend by the way, would do again for sure.) But, what a damn comeback. Rodgers doesn't have a ton of 4th quarter comeback wins in his career because his MO is getting off to hot starts and beating teams early and often. But this season he has absolutely dominated 4th quarters and led two impressive second half comebacks (he has 3 total counting defeating Seattle in week one after being down 3-0 at the half, but I wouldn't call that impressive).

(Ignore the foreign language.)

The Packers were down 21-12 at the half, thanks to two missed PATs. A one TD deficit wouldn't seem terrible but 9 points is two possessions against a quality team. On the road too. But Aaron Rodgers led his team to another great comeback and got a little help from a pick six by Demarious Randall. The Cowboys scored to go ahead 31-28 with 1:13 left on the clock. That's not only a ton of time for Rodgers to get within field goal range and tie the game, but it's plenty for him to get to the end zone. And that's exactly what he did. Incredible drive from Aaron and he capped it off with a great toss to Davante Adams for the game winner. Adams had a pair of TD catches in the game and both were pretty fantastic. Also, rookie fifth round pick Aaron Jones looked incredible running the football in his first start with Ty Montgomery out. 19 carries, 125 yards and a TD. Gotta love that production and hopefully he can team up nicely with Montgomery when he gets back.

The defense wasn't great, giving up 31 points obviously, but the made some plays when they had to - namely the pick six by Randall. The ball was dropped by the receiver with Clay Matthews closing in on him and Randall seized the opportunity, snatching the ball outta the air and scampering in for the TD. It's plays like that that the Packers defense needs to come up with in order to make a serious run at the Super Bowl this season. Yards and points aren't a big deal if Rodgers and Co. are putting up points themselves. But when opportunities present themselves for a big defensive stop or turnover, they have to come through. I saw a lot of 3rd down plays turn into big plays for the Cowboys and that is surely something that Green Bay will look to improve on Sunday in Minnesota. Get the opponent off the field and give the ball back to Rodgers. A lot easier said than done but if you create third and longs, don't let up on third down. It's like Hobbs telling Dom in Furious Seven, "and if you find that sumbitch...don't miss." If it's 3rd and 12, don't give up a god damn 40 yard completion. That's the lesson.

But luckily Rodgers is a legend and the D made a few plays, and the Packers made it out of Dallas with a win and a 4-1 record. They're in Minnesota to take on the 3-2 Vikings on Sunday. The Vikings STINK, hopefully the Packers can show up on the road against them. A rare occurrence in recent years. Go Pack.

P.S. That last lateral play by the Cowboys was fucking hilarious. Fat guys tumbling all over the place. Gotta love that shit.

Clemson Uses Fast Start to Beat Wake Forest and Move to 6-0

I was down in Clemson this past weekend for homecoming and it was great to be back in Death Valley. The noon start time was a bit of a buzzkill but it was great to see some Tiger football in person nonetheless. I'd much prefer a 3:30 start but oh well.

Clemson got off to a hot start, opening with two straight TD drives in the first quarter. KB looked great, he was spreading the ball around, the running game was doing well. And then it was like the offense hit a wall. For some reason they just couldn't sustain drives the rest of the first half. Even to start the second half they looked pretty bored with the game. But they kicked it back into gear down the stretch, getting the lead to 28-0 with two more scores. Kelly Bryant did exit with an ankle injury but I think he's expected to play Friday at Syracuse. It came right before the Tigers extended the lead to 21-0. KB was trying to muscle into the endzone and twisted his ankle a bit. He stayed in to hand the ball off to Etienne for the TD on the next play but that was it. Zerrick Cooper came in and they ran some weird plays for him, and he didn't look very good at all. Hunter Johnson came in and they ran exactly the plays I'd expect them to run for a freshman QB in semi-garbage time, and he looked great leading them to their fourth TD drive and his first career TD pass. 

The defense, once again, carried the team for the most part. There weren't very many flashy plays, no turnovers created, and they needed a couple missed field goals to keep it scoreless for a bit but it was the same ole dominant Clemson defense. They held Wake Forest to fewer than 4 yards per carry which was solid because that QB had some nifty moves when he took off to run. They hardly let Wake Forest throw the ball anywhere on the field, holding them to 14-30 passing. Clemson allowed a couple garbage time TDs to Wake but no big deal. Woulda loved to keep that shutout but whatever. It wasn't a flashy win by any means on either side of the ball but I'll take it. I honestly hate when they play like that, but whadaya gonna do? Can't be perfect all the time.

Clemson's got the Friday night game up at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse this week. Hopefully KB is ready to go, but I'd be confident in either of the other two guys to beat god damn Syracuse regardless. Defense travels anywhere. Go Tigers.

The Packers Embarrassed the Bears Last Thursday

First off, realized tonight that I hadn't written about either Clemson or Green Bay this week so my b. Traveled Friday after Green Bay's win Thursday, and then got black out Saturday and watched the Clemson game, traveled Sunday, busy Monday, had to do the Yankees preview and watch the game last night (FUCK YES btw), finally got some time to do these posts tonight.

Gotta love Green Bay taking care of business on Thursday Night Football against the miserable Bears. However, the injuries kept piling up for the Packers. Ty Montgomery, Jamaal Williams, Joe Thomas, Davante Adams (more on his injury later). The Packers can't escape the injury bug ever.

Aaron Rodgers and Ty Montgomery led Green Bay down the field on the opening drive for a quick and easy touchdown. However, Montgomery left the game and didn't return after that drive with a rib injury he suffered on the first carry of the game. Clay Matthews forced a fumble on Mike Glennon on the first play of the game for the Bears and just like that Rodgers had the ball inside the 10 again. He threw his second TD pass in under a minute of play and it was 14-0. LOVE it. 

The Bears continued turning the ball over the rest of the game, including one of the funniest fumbles I've ever seen. Glennon basically punted the ball forward accidentally and the Packers recovered. Before you knew it, it was 21-0 Green Bay and you could pretty much book it that the Pack would win. The Bears did cut it to 21-7 at the half but the Packers wrapped it up in the second half by winning 35-14. I went to bed because it was way too late for such a sloppy game, but a nice win for Green Bay. 

It took another toll though with the injury to Davante Adams. Just got absolutely demolished in a helmet to helmet hit while fighting for extra yards. He was basically held up, not moving anywhere forward and Danny Trevathan came flying in and launched his helmet right into Adams' head. Entirely fucked play and Trevathan ended up getting suspended. Adams was on the ground for a while and went immediately to the hospital but ultimately was a lot better than anyone probably could have thought he was. Scary moment for sure though.

You can't read too much into the performance by the defense due to Chicago's incompetence, but obviously I liked the ability to force turnovers and seize opportunities when they presented themselves. You have to beat teams like the Bears in this manner to be taken seriously. Hopefully the Packers can build off that momentum, get rested up and a little healthier in the long week, and be ready to beat the Cowboys in Dallas again Sunday afternoon. 

Clemson Moved to 5-0 with Another Dominant Win Last Saturday

And just like that another dominant win over a top 15 team. The final score was only 31-17 but it was a lot more dominant than that. Even so, the victory almost doubled the spread on the game so that's pretty significant. 

It was another defense-led attack last Saturday and there's just nothing left to say about these guys. Crazy athletes all over the field. A 72 yard TD drive in garbage time against the second team defense actually gave Virginia Tech more total yards than Clemson, but the Tigers were able to force 3 turnovers and one went for six. The pick six was Dorian O'Daniel's second pick six of the season and that dude is just a freak. 10 tackles, 1 sack, 1 fumble recovery, and a pick six. He's doing it all for the Tigers defense and it's amazing to watch. Speaking of freaks, how bout Austin Bryant? The guy's a D-End out there making acrobatic interceptions and on a fourth down he lined up on a wide receiver and forced a 5 yard loss. Fuckin incredible. 

Kelly Bryant wasn't sharp but he once again proved he can lead the team on the road in a tough environment and win football games. He missed some deep balls that could have put the game away real early, but he didn't turn the ball over after throwing two picks against BC and again made some really clutch throws on 3rd downs, so I'll take that performance all day. Plus, he ran for almost 100 yards again so he's consistently creating plays with his legs and arm. 

The running backs had a down night for the standards that they've set, but with KB keeping most of the carries they didn't have a ton of opportunities. Tevian Feaster made the most of one huge opportunity out of the backfield catching and running for a 63 yard TD to put the Tigers up double digits early. Hopefully some of the backs get rolling again this week against Wake Forest.

Speaking of Wake Forest, they've had a good start to the season as they are 4-1 and took FSU down to the wire. However, the Tigers defense will just be too smothering I think. And I believe Dabo will be a little less cautious with his offense this week in Death Valley. Let's get some big plays going and get it over with quick. Go Tigers.

AL Wild Card Preview

The New York Yankees are set to face off against the Minnesota Twins tonight in the American League Wild Card game. A one game playoff to get to the ALDS will make any fan sweat their ass off, but with the Yankees heavy favorites after finishing 6 games ahead of the Twins in the wild card standings, us Yanks fans expect to win tonight and will be especially devastated if they lose.

We've got Luis Severino going up against Ervin Santana. The Yankees have owned the Twins this century, but that hardly matters. It's one game to move on or your season is donezo. It sucks but that's what you get for not winning the division. The Yankees swept the Twins in the Bronx about two weeks ago, including a win over Santana to basically cement the fact that they'd be hosting this eventual Wild Card game. Credit to the Twins though, they bounced back after that and didn't really let anyone back in the second wild card race. I'm pretty impressed at the way the Twins have played in general in the second half though. You simply can't overlook them. They've scored the most runs in the league in the second half, and they traded two pitchers at the trade deadline. They were "sellers" not "buyers." Also, you gotta tip your cap to Paul Moliter and the team for becoming the first team ever to make the playoffs the year immediately following losing 100 games. They're underdogs, but do not overlook them or else you're fucked.

That being said, the Yankees have the far superior roster and are the much better team overall. They have a dominant starting pitcher going tonight, they've scored the second most runs in baseball this year, and they have the deep and dominant bullpen to wrap up games. They have the blueprint to be successful in the postseason. There's something about this team that makes me believe that won't royally fuck up tonight and they'll win the game they're supposed to. A lineup boasting Judge, Sanchez, Didi, Castro, Bird, and Gardner is scary for an opposing pitcher. This team makes pitchers WORK too. They will take pitches and foul off pitches and battle. I'm pretty confident in this year's Yankees. It may be stupid considering the recent Yankees teams, but I just do. Obviously given the way some of the losses this year have gone, I could totally see the Yankees losing this game 2-1 or 3-2 but I think they got this shit. 

Prediction: I think the Yankees take this one 4-2. Santana is good enough to not get blown out of the water by the Yankees high scoring offense, but ultimately Severino and the Yankees bullpen are just better. You never know when someone will just totally suck but Severino just has a big game attitude about him. I don't care that he's never pitched in a playoff game. A few weeks ago he went up against Chris Sale on Sunday Night Baseball and outdueled the absolute shit outta the guy. You think a September start against Boston and Chris Sale on Sunday night to try and close the gap in the division isn't a playoff type start? Fuck outta here, he's got the attitude to go out and dominate tonight. Can't wait to watch him go to work. I say 6 innings, 1 run, 8 Ks for Sevy realistically. But if he pitches a perfect game like I predicted on twitter earlier today then that is my official prediction. 

Here are the lineups for both squads:

NOW LET'S FUCKING GO YANKEES!

Best Music from One Tree Hill

As I wrote about in my Dan Scott appreciation blog back in May, I finished up One Tree Hill just this year because I finally had some access to Netflix and got some persuasion from enough people that I caved and gave it a shot. Terrific fucking show. Great drama (yeah I know that's more of a chick thing but I dig it), great cast of characters, and absolutely awesome music. Which is why I'm writing this now.

When I finished the show I started diving into the music of each episode to try and make a playlist. Well I finally finished that playlist Monday night. The Playlist King refused to quit despite facing adversity (laziness). Kings stay kings. Now I have to admit I did not do as thorough a job in the first couple of season in my review of songs. If they didn't have good popularity on Spotify I assumed it wasn't good. I did my due diligence once I came up with the strategy to cue up songs during work and just save them if I liked them enough. This whole process still took me a solid 4 months to go through every episode of every season. 9 seasons, over 20 episodes in most seasons, I'd say an average of 8-10 songs an episode. That's a lot of fucking songs to listen to folks. But, I managed to come up with 347 playlist worthy songs. Almost a day's worth. But like I said, HERE is the website I used to find every song from the show so if you (Nick and Gina mostly since you're the only ones that will care about this) think I missed some good ones, tell me to add them. But I think I did a pretty good job. Playlist King indeed.

Now, that ain't all I got for ya. That playlist isn't just soundtrack songs, some of them were from live guest appearances on the show by the bands and artists and some of them were by cast members themselves. I'm gonna break down some of my favorites of each.

Top Live Musical Guest Appearances

7. The Wreckers

What a duo, what a song. And it comes at a pivotal moment too. Clutch gene like you read about from the Wreckers.

6. Sheryl Crow

Although it's just one acoustic song at the cafe, Sheryl Crow crushes this song. What a tune too. Plus I appreciate the other songs featured on the soundtrack by Sheryl so gotta give her some credit for the cameo as well.

5. Angels & Airwaves

Angels & Airwaves headlining Tree Hill's USO concert was sweet. Gotta love a couple A&A songs getting dropped into the show. Tom Delonge's secondary band puts out some jams as well. Blink 182 is obviously better, but hey these songs are solid too. Tom is a weird dude but if you don't fuck with his unique voice, I don't fuck with you.

4. Gavin DeGraw

The theme song of the show, Gavin crushes the live performance in the cafe. I never realized what a bonafide superstar Gavin DeGraw was until this show. Countless hits in the soundtrack. Stud.

3. Fall Out Boy

Bonus points for two separate appearances. And two quality tracks too. They have plenty of good songs on the soundtrack overall, but gotta love these guest performances. Almost underrated as a band. Some absolute jams in their catalog. 

2. Jack's Mannequin

Got a little sneak peak at JM in that last Fall Out Boy video, but they have some terrific songs and I love them having the guest appearance at Tric. Good shit having two of their songs played at the show too. "Dark Blue" is the better song of the two but I think you only hear it good at the end of the song in that FOB video. 

1. Jimmy Eat World

I mean just electric performances outta Jimmy Eat World. Three songs all in the episode, but I could only find a video for "Hear You Me." "Work" and "Polaris" are fucking great songs though so I wish I could find videos of those in the show as well. Solid repertoire of soundtrack songs too. Underrated band. They're better than just "The Middle." 

Honorable mention: Kid Cudi, The Noisettes, Lupe Fiasco - in that order. Don't ask why I only felt like writing about 7.

Top Cast Member Singers

7. Erin (Laura Izibor)

The Irish girl who calls into the suicide hotline actually has pipes! Who knew?!

6. Jake (Bryan Greenberg)

Jake with a sneaky good voice just using his guitar to make Peyton fall for him. Their whole thing was cool for a bit but we all know where she belonged.

5. Grubbs (Michael Grubbs)

Grubbs, the bartender at Tric for a little while, just killin it with his band Wakey!Wakey!. Fuckin odd name for a band but who cares, Grubbs can crush hits!

4. Haley (Bethany Joy Lenz/Galeotti)

There from season 1 til the end, Haley is obviously a main character and a staple of the show. Late in season one we get a taste of what she can do with the pipes, and her music career ends up being a big part of the show. Love it.

3. Chris (Tyler Hilton)

How bout Chris fuckin Keller? Guy sucked for the first few seasons, just a total dickhead. But he eventually became a low key hero and hilarious character. And he puts out jams, gotta love it.

2. Mia (Kate Voegele)

Peyton and Haley's first find with the record label, Mia Catalano drops absolutely continuous heat on us for the rest of the show. Love her as a character and her music is pretty damn good.

1. Alex (Jana Kramer)

Alex was only on the show for like 2 seasons but Jana Kramer dropped some of her first career singles as her character. And Jana Kramer's career now is pretty much singing so it's pretty clear to me she's the best artist of any of the OTH characters. Jana's got some heaters for sure.

Top Music Moments
Just sit back and enjoy these moments. Perfect music to go along with these.

10. Everybody Hurts

9. I Shall Believe

8. Wedding Dress

7. Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

6. Here Comes A Regular

5. Feeling A Moment

4. Maybe Tomorrow

3. Lavinia

2. Heartbeats

1. Dare You to Move

Some absolutely iconic shit in these scenes. Gotta love the contributions that the soundtrack make to the show. These songs are engraved in my brain with these scenes. What a show, folks. 

Packers Come Back from Down 14 to Beat the Bengals in OT

For the 3rd straight week, the Packers played an absolute garbage first half (offensively especially), and for the 2nd time in those 3 weeks they were able to make some plays in the 2nd half and snag a win. 

One might say that a team with Aaron Rodgers at QB facing an 0-2 Andy Dalton team at home should be a bit more relaxing of a game, but it's the NFL. They're all professionals, anything can happen. Andy Dalton has made the playoffs 4 times in his career and the Bengals defense hasn't been the problem for them this year so far either. I missed most of the first half but the Packers offense was dogshit after their lone TD drive of the half. Rodgers threw a pick six and he seriously needs to stop throwing interceptions. Kinda sick of that garbage. The defense let up a couple of TD drives and it was 21-7. Hard to blame the defense when the offense only gained like 75 yards or something in the first half. 

Rodgers came out of halftime firing and closed the gap to 21-14 pretty quickly. The defense kept the Packers in the game with some key stops, and Rodgers was able to lead a field goal drive as well. The Bengals tacked on a field goal eventually, and the Packers offense was tasked with scoring a TD in the final minutes of regulation. Rodgers made some great throws, receivers made some great plays and they were able to score a TD and tie the game up with under a minute to go. Geronimo Allison and Jordy Nelson made some clutch catches down the stretch and G-Mo would make one more in OT.

With the game tied, it headed to overtime where the Bengals won the toss and elected to receive obviously. Aaron Rodgers had never won a game in overtime entering Sunday. Largely because he had only ever attempted 6 passes in the 7 overtime games combined. He rarely even gets an opportunity in OT. But the Packers defense forced an awesome 3 and out and would give Rodgers that chance. After two incompletions Rodgers induced his classic free play off an offsides on the hard count and hit G-Mo down the left side for a 72 yard catch and run. Fucking awesome play and Crosby was able to knock in the 27 yard game winning field goal. 

It was really nice to see the defense step up, albeit against another iffy offense, and give the offense a chance to catch up in the second half. Gotta love the effort from those guys on D, down quite a few players once again. Absolutely LOVE Josh Jones. The second round pick is a stud who is a safety/linebacker hybrid. He had two sacks on Sunday and I'd like to see more of him going forward. I hope Rodgers will have a game without a pick this year, but he's played well in second halves this year which is always nice. Knowing you're never out of a game because you have a stud at QB capable of making any throw at any point in the game is a good feeling. 

The Packers have to turn around and play Thursday night against Chicago so it's unlikely they can get completely healthy before Thursday. But hopefully they can be closer to 100% on both sides of the ball when they travel to Dallas in a week and a half. Go Pack Go.

Also, another thing I wanted to mention is that Tony Romo is wonderful as an announcer. Dude cracks me up and actually has fantastic points and insights during the game. Love the Nantz/Romo combo on CBS' big games.

Clemson Struggles for 3 Quarters, Pulls Away from BC in the 4th

Wasn't able to watch this one, but I think I'm glad I didn't. By all accounts Clemson's offense sucked for 3 quarters before finally pulling away in the 4th quarter. I'm gonna try and give my main takeaways just from watching highlights, but this probably won't be one of my better recaps. I'm also not gonna totally freak out about the non-blowout as I've been known to do. It might be because I didn't watch, but I also think that the Tigers will be just fine.

Obviously not a great passing game for Clemson in this one. Two interceptions for KB and no passing TDs. Not ideal, but it seemed like he was under a little bit of pressure for a lot of the afternoon. Hopefully they clean up the air attack before Virginia Tech this week because Bud Foster's defenses are always pretty damn solid. I still believe in KB even after he struggled. Maybe this game was a bit of a wake up call for him - not every game is gonna be as easy as they say on paper, and you don't get to face Louisville's defense every game. 

KB didn't let his poor performance passing affect his running game as he posted over 100 rushing yards and 2 TDs on the ground. He's a smooth but strong runner and he can make people miss tackles in multiple ways. His running game will always be a key in games to keep defenses on their toes. Against a more quality opponent, you won't be able to rely on just one aspect, in my opinion. Also, before I move on from talking about KB I should mention that his 3rd down throw to Overton in the 4th quarter when it was still tied was one of the more impressive throws I've seen him make this year. And it was a huge play in the game.

The rushing attack was one of the bigger question marks facing the Tigers coming into the season. And all they've done is rack up almost 275 rushing yards a game, good for 13th in the country so far. Dabo wanted to give CJ Fuller and Adam Choice their chances as "veterans" of the group but Tevian Feaster and Travis Etienne are top tier talents at the position, and have emerged as the go-to guys. Fuller and Choice have their strengths for sure, but Feaster and Etienne are much more talented and fun to watch. Feaster didn't have his best game in his first start, but he's the right guy to give the most playing time to right now. I can't say enough about Etienne though. He leads the team in rushing yards despite only having 23 carries and not playing in the Auburn game. And he is a threat to break one to the house every time he touches the ball. I fucking love this kid. It looks like we'll be seeing more of him too going forward which is quite good news.

And I'd be remiss to not mention the defense, who kept BC scoreless for so long despite the offense giving them some pretty good field position a few times. The defense continues to dominate games and they figure to only get better. Hopefully some of the injuries in the secondary aren't too serious (Mullen and Fields both left the game Saturday) but the front 7 is so insane right now I'm still confident in the defense as a whole. 

The Tigers go on the road to another top 15 team this weekend, facing Virginia Tech. One of the tougher venues to play in in college football, I'm more nervous about this game than I was about Louisville. It helps that VT is starting a freshman QB but he seems to be pretty damn good so far. I imagine KB and the offense will have a little bit harder time getting going than they did at Louisville so I'm hoping the defense can remain dominant and stuff VT until the offense gets rolling. I think KB will bounce back but it might take a couple of series to do so. Go Tigers. 

Packers Get Stomped in Atlanta Again

Welp, as much fun as watching Clemson destroy Louisville was, watching the Packers get trounced by the Falcons again was as painful. The 34-23 loss was worse than the final score and eerily similar to the blow out loss in the NFC Championship last season. The team was injured, the defense looked lost, Aaron Rodgers was under duress, and he struggled to make plays even when he wasn't pressured. 

The defense got off to a HOT start allowing an easy TD drive on the first Falcons series. I'm a big defer to the second half guy, but giving Matt Ryan and Julio Jones the ball first against your suspect defense is just a weird move. Especially when you cough up a fumble and TD on your opening drive to start the second half anyway (more on that later). But anyway, predictably Ryan and Jones carved up Damarious Randall and co. on the opening drive for a 7-0 lead. To make matters worse, Mike Daniels left the game with a hamstring injury and never returned. However, Rodgers and the Pack responded nicely tying up the game on their first drive. It was all downhill from there though.

The Packers defense just could not stop Atlanta at all, and Rodgers was under fire with two starting tackles missing the game. Atlanta opened up a 17-7 lead all of a sudden and it was looking pretty grim. Aaron Rodgers is a tremendous quarterback, the best talent the league has ever seen at the position. But you can just tell when it's one of those games where he doesn't have it. The pressure caused him to fuck up a few times and he was just missing throws, rushing throws, holding it too long, just struggling to come up with anything. Also, Jordy Nelson left during the first drive with some kinda quad injury. Not ideal and I'm sure that didn't help Aaron out.

Before the half it looked like the Packers were cooking something up. Randall Cobb caught a pass over the middle and ran until he was tackled at midfield. But the fucking jabroni refs called pass interference on Martellus Bennett for an illegal pick at the line of scrimmage. From what the announcers were saying and from what the Packers said after the game, you're allowed to pick within one yard of the line of scrimmage. And it sure as fuck looked like Marty was not further than a yard down field when he came in contact with the defender. The worst part is that Rodgers and Marty and Mike McCarthy all said that he was just running his drag route and not even trying to screen the defender. Obviously that could just be an excuse, but why would they have to come up with excuses when it was a legal play anyway? Anyway, they got a half the distance to the goal penalty instead of gaining 25-30 yards and being at midfield. It went from a very good possibility of being 17-14 or 17-10 at halftime to Rodgers throwing an interception two plays later. He tried to make up for the penalty and he threw it down the sidelines to Geronimo Allison who just stopped like he was expecting a back shoulder throw or something. I don't know, I like Allison but this is the kinda shit that happens when you don't have your number one receiver on the field who you've thrown to for the last 8 years or so. 

But anyway, that interception led to another Atlanta touchdown and it was 24-7 at halftime. 17 points is a lot to overcome in one half of NFL football against a team that made the Super Bowl the year before, but given how said team lost said Super Bowl (lay up joke, crushed it) and given the quarterback on the team currently losing the game, I'd say the Packers chances of coming back were as good as anyone's. But a few plays in my hopes were completely dashed by a fumble picked up and brought into the end zone for an Atlanta touchdown. Rodgers was pressured, and he tried to move to his left but there was more pressure and when he turned back to the right there was a dude just totally in his face so he tried to get rid of the ball while being tackled. He was able to make a throwing motion so if the ball went forward it woulda been an incomplete pass. However the refs ruled it a backwards pass even after review and the Atlanta TD stood. Absolutely mind boggling how they ruled it a backwards pass when it went about a half yard forward. Yeah the Packers sucked on Sunday night, yeah it wasn't Aaron Rodgers best night, but my god a little help from the officials woulda been nice. Rodgers would eventually put up a few touchdowns to make the final score a little less terrible but I can't imagine it was anything more than Atlanta's defense just playing relaxed coverage. I don't know, I went to bed after the fumble.

I just hope the Packers can get relatively healthy on both sides of the ball this week and recover against weak-ass Cincinnati at home. Bulaga and Bahktiari are huge on the offensive line and obviously Jordy is necessary to make the passing attack truly unstoppable. Cobb is also a little banged up so hopefully he's okay - he's also a crucial part of the offense. And can Dom Capers stop putting Damarious Randall on teams' best receivers? The guy can't cover anyone, let alone Julio Jones or AJ Green. I think Kevin King is ready to step up and make an impact as a rookie. The Packers didn't draft King and Josh Jones for them to sit on the sidelines and watch Damarious Randall and Quinten Rollins get carved up over and over. Make the switch Dom you fucking "I'm gonna coach from the booth" nerd.

Another thing I want to add is why the fuck are the Packers always the team who is on the receiving end of the "We've always had an absolute DOGSHIT venue to play in, here's our brand new billion dollar awesome stadium opening night!" dick caving. They had to do it week 2 in Minnesota last year and they did it again in week 2 this year. Schedule someone else next time a stadium opens Goodell you piece of shit. 

Clemson Obliterated Louisville to Move to 3-0

One of the more dominant and satisfying wins I've seen from Clemson in recent memory. Just completely outplayed Louisville in every aspect of the game, and that was possibly the most fun I've had watching any game since the shutout performance against Ohio State in the playoffs. 

Kelly Bryant has made it so clear that Dabo made the right choice naming him the starter out of camp. He has looked so calm early on and two of the three games have been against top 15 opponents, with this one being his first career road start. He's in complete control of himself and the game at all times it seems, and he's been a delight to watch. I've loved his poise on third downs especially so far this season, both running and throwing. Hunter Renfrow is his go-to third down guy making clutch catches all over the place. KB got it going early Saturday with an absolute DIME throw to Renfrow for 40 yards which set up Bryant's first rushing TD. Louisville would tie it up for a bit, but Clemson was still in total control. 

KB led a field goal drive to put Clemson up by three, and then threw a 79 yard TD to Ray Ray McCloud to extend the lead and really put Louisville away for good. Ray Ray has been a pleasure to watch as well, save for the fumble last week when he was fighting for extra yards. He's been an Artavis Scott type guy just all over the field making plays and I love it. The receiving core looks pretty great right now and Deon Cain hasn't even gotten going yet! He's only got 8 catches through the first 3 games. Imagine if they get him going. This offense will be almost as unstoppable as the defense.

Speaking of the defense, I mean there's just not much to say other than they rolled Lamar Jackson up, stuffed him in a bottle and tossed him in the sea. The (undeserving) Heisman winner looked absolutely flustered the entire night and it was awesome to watch. I started cracking up when Dorian O'Daniel picked that ball off early in the second half and ran it back for the TD. Just hilarious watching that fraud get stuffed in a locker by a real defense. Of course Bobby Petrino let him stay in down by a billion points so he could get 300 yards and 3 TDs against 2nd and 3rd teamers in the fourth quarter. That's the kinda program they are. Just all about individual stats and achievements and not about the team. I love watching this Clemson team cheer on each other and rally around each other and just come together to completely dominate the opponent. It's amazing. 

Another notable takeaway from the game Saturday is the running game. Every running back was able to find space pretty much. I believe Tavien Feaster took over the RB1 job with his production. CJ Fuller struggled to start and Feaster gave the Tigers a nice spark when he came in. Adam Choice had some good runs and then Travis Etienne just took the fuck off on an 81 yard TD run. Simply stunning speed and acceleration in that run and he's just another glimpse at how deep this team is and how scary it is. 

The best part of this game was that Clemson was +1 in the turnover differential. Last year the Tigers struggled mightily with turnovers and were I think -3 this season coming into the game. KB was fantastic not turning it over and no one coughed the ball up in the run game either. O'Daniel had the pick for the first turnover created this season. If turnovers start to come with the rest of the domination by the defense, I mean just watch out. I don't want to overhype this team but they looked REALLY good Saturday on the road and I'm confident they're only going to get better. Now let's dominate BC at home before thinking about another primetime road contest against VT. Go Tigers.

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