A Place for Ribs

Tomorrow night, we Packer fans will find some things out. The main thing being-- are the Packers a legitimate team? With barbecue rib kingpin and Wisconsin native Tony Romo manning the helm, TO dominating defensive backs, Marion Barber the XLVIIth steamrolling safeties, and DeMarcus Ware terrorizing opposing quarterbacks, this year's Dallas Cowboys look like the class of the NFC, if not the entire Tom Brady-less league.

Last season, the 'Boys made the Packers, sans Woodson and KGB of course, look like pretenders-- a winner of a bad division, whose double digit wins were merely the product of a weak schedule. Favre reverted to Sherman era stupidity, and Al Harris flopped like some diva with the world's worst case of stage fright. Of course, the Packers still might have been able to do something in that game had they been able to do something to slow down the Cowboys' passing, like get some heat on Romo. But they couldn't. The pride of Watertown had plenty of time to take a five or seven step drop, daydream of playing motorboat in Jessica Simpson's bosoms, snap back to reality, and hit TO or Patrick Crayton or Witten for a big gain.

What I think will determine the outcome of this game is whether that happens again-- will the Packers be able to get heat on Romo? Under pressure, he's a pretty mediocre QB, prone to iffy decisions. With lots of time, he's very accurate and throws a nice catchable ball. Though the Pack lacked KGB last time around, I really think that they'll have to blitz to get around the 'Boys' mammoth O-line. So it boils down to-- can the Packers blitzers get home enough? And I just don't know.

After watching the Philly game, I think the Pack will be able to do some things offensively, though I'm a bit worried about the team protecting Rodgers, and I wish Grant would heal up already. And I'm pretty confident that Barber the CMLVIIth will not be able to go off on us, even with the mere three-man DT rotation. So I really think it will come down to the Packers' pass D versus the Cowboys' pass offense. And within that, I think it comes down to applying pressure. This is a big challenge for Bob Sanders, and the entire defense. Let's hope they step up.