• Tweet
• Share
• Email
• Print

Next game: Thursday, September 2nd at Kansas City
Packers Gameday at 5:00 p.m. on Newsradio 620 WTMJ and 6:30 p.m. on TODAY'S TMJ4 HD

4th Quarter

10:15 p.m.  Packers' 4th Drive  :54
Victory formation.

10:09 p.m.  Colts' 4th Drive  2:04
Painter preps for all that time he won't be playing in the regular season. 

Wow.  Zombo remains in the game...he was starting.  I guess he REALLY wanted reps...or the Packers' coordinator really wanted to see what he could do.

SHIELDS WITH THE PICK!  The guy can cover, even if he can't hang on to footballs on returns.

10:07 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  3:49

10:03 p.m.  Colts' 3rd Drive  4:54
Had Fischer not run into his own guy, what would ahve happened?  Go all the way?  Pinball football tonight.

3rd-14 from Indy 44: Painter is SACKED!  Flag for holding...Obiozor on the sack.

Think that record of 87 points against the Sheboygan Company C back in 1919 is in danger?

9:54 p.m.  Colts' 2nd Drive  6:12
Green Bay 59, Indianapolis 24
Chery 75 yd punt return TD
That drive by Green Bay was more Lombardi-like, less light-speed-like.  A muffed kickoff means it's out at the 20.

Larry: "Peyton Manning...it looks like he has gas."

WHOA!!!!!!!!!!!!   Chery with a 3/4 length of the field return.

9:41 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  13:30
Green Bay 52, Indianapolis 24
Lumpkin 7 yd TD run
Lumpkin gets nine yards on two carries....nice.

3rd-1: I can live with that, if Graham Harrell gets the first down, like he did there.

3rd-6: Cherry from Harrell for the first down near the GB 33.  A nice, long drive would be very slick here, drain some time down.

3rd-5 at GB 37: West makes a heck of a catch at the 50..."and the beat goes on."

Lumpkin....POWERS TO THE SEVEN!  This guy can do stuff when he gets blocking.  Running over guys for a first-and-goal.

Quin Porter....no end zone.  Lumpkin....YES!

9:37 p.m.  Colts' 1st Drive  14:55
Charlie Peprah owns the kickoff return...stopped a returner at the 16 yard line.

Painter gets a bad break on a 3rd down pass with a ball going through Giguere's hands.

9:35 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive (continued from 3rd quarter)
Green Bay 45, Indianapolis 24
Flynn-Quarliss 12 yd TD pass
Flynn to Quarliss!  "A Jermichael Finley-like play!" - Wayne

3rd Quarter

9:28 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  2:48
Onside kick....caught by Clark at the 47 yard line.   Nice.  Offsides by the Colts, too....so it's a short field.

Flynn gets another shot....and the Packers go for it on 4th down...and Flynn gets it this time, unlike Rodgers the first time.

Lumpkin, the recent Mr. August at running back, gets some action.  He has to do something big in the next couple games to get a roster spot.

Crabtree makes a solid catch for 13 yards from Flynn.  Great stuff, 2nd teamers.

9:19 p.m.  Colts' 2nd Drive  6:33
Green Bay 38, Indianapolis 24
Brown 1 yd TD run
31 unanswered points?  Larry: "Wow."

Manning has the hat on.  He can keep it on.  No more action.

Matt Painter takes over as the 2nd stringer for the Colts. He's no Jim Sorgi.  Yes, I am biased by the last name. Deal with it.

But a great throw by Painter to get the football to Smith for 27 yards.

After a throw to the 2 yard line, Brown pops it in.

9:16 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  7:00
Green Bay 38, Indianapolis 17
Flynn-Kuhn 3 yd TD pass
One play, three yard drive.  Easy.

9:10 p.m.  Colts' 1st Drive  8:21
Larry: "It's a beautiful moon."  Wayne: "That's as deep as my astrology will go."

Bomb downfield to Wayne as he came back against coverage of Bush.  Manning REMAINS in the game.

Sam Shields makes a great play to stop a beautiful delivery by Manning to Garcon.  This is another confidence building opportunity for the 2nd teamers.

3rd-12: Manning has the ball knocked away!  FRANCOIS!  Out at the five!  :)

8:56 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive  15:00
Green Bay 31, Indianapolis 17
Crosby 28 yd FG
I wonder if a team could simultaneously set a record for most points scored and allowed in one season.

The Packers might just do it.

Uh oh...ball comes loose....late call, though, as the bal was dead.

Now, it's backup time.  Flynn QB's.

Havner gets a first down catch as the Colts' first team D continues in the game.  They need confidence after the Packers ripped them apart.

Oooooops....Dillon with a drop on 2nd down.....3rd down....NICE catch by Williams into Indy territory.

To see a second team offense do something here against the Colts would be a HUGE feather in the cap of the backups.

3rd-8 at Indy 40: NELSON open inside the 30!  Flynn is starting to get it.  He was horribly useless two years ago.  Now, Flynn is beginning to figure out the NFL passing game.

Brandon Jackson is getting nothing.  I mean nothing....on running plays on this drive.

3rd-10 at Indy 26: Flynn takes a shot into the end zone for Patrick Williams...offsides on the defense.  In that situation, I think I still go for a 12-yard pass instead of a shot at the end zone to make sure I get the first down + the penalty.  This situation, it's still 3rd-5.

Williams gets to the 11 yard line!  Flynn's not Rodgers...getting it done a little more deliberately, but getting it done.

3rd-9 at Indy 10: Flynn to end zone...naaaaaaaaaathing there.  Threw it away.  Havner covered by Hayden.

2nd Quarter

8:42 pm..  Colts' 4th Drive  :02
"This Packer offense...I don't know how you stop it." - Larry

Manning: 13-23, 211 yds, 2 TD's, 1 INT.  Rodgers: 21-29, 195 yds, 3 TD's.

8:34 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  1:44
Green Bay 28, Indianapolis 17
Rodgers-Jones 3 yd TD pass
Blackmon muffed the ball at the 10.  Is the field slick or something?

Holding on the kicking team....thankfully, that will help.

First down #1: Rodgers to Driver for 11 yards.  1:19.  Larry: "Good chance to work on that two minute drill."

First down #2: Rodgers to Finley for 1st down. 

First down #3: Rodgers to Finley inside the 30!  Larry: "Talk about threading the needle!  Aaron Rodgers!"

Uh, the guy can throw.

Rodgers-to-Finley is becoming a compound word.  Another first down with less than :20 left.

:10...:09....:08...FLAG THROWN after the pass to the six yard line....Delay of game!  Ball to the three yard line. 

Take a shot at the end zone?  Sure....and it produces a TD TO JONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

8:28 p.m.  Colts' 3rd Drive  2:29
Colts have to go 93 yards for the lead.

And Manning makes it 57 yards after a bomb to Reggie Wayne.  This guy can do it all.

Underwood goes into the locker room early.  We'll try to find out why.

Woodson with a domination of Reggie Wayne on 3rd down.  Gives the Packers another shot.

8:26 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  3:15
Drive starts at the Colts' 18 yard line.

Driver breaks a tackle...after the famed circle route...to the 8 yard line.  We see that route all the time...we don't see many wideouts break tackles of linebackers.

Hmmm...no Ryan Grant.  Message sent after fumble?

Jackson fumbles!  Uh oh.  Shouldn't have jinxed him.  Indy ball.

Larry: "Golden opportunity wasted there."

8:25 p.m.  Colts' 3rd Drive  3:21
Good coverage...really, average coverage, to hold Indy to their own 25.

Manning...PICKED!  Burnett!  This is rare, though the Packers did this to him in 2008.

8:15 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  6:06
Green Bay 21, Indianapolis 17
Korey Hall muff recovery in end zone
Blackmon making a nice return from the 8 yard line to the 25.  Usually, you let the 10 yard line be the determinant as to whether you let it go or give it a chance.

On grass, it's a bit less of a bounce, so it can make a returner drop back a couple more yars.

Slick pass play to Brandon Jackson for an 11-yard first down. You don't have to get 50 yards on every pass play for that style of football to work.

Jones gets a first down on another catch-and-run....really more catch and bounce, pinball machine, etc. 

3rd-9 at GB 47: Incompletion.  Finley the target.  Another bad pass by Rodgers.

Amazing...just 13-19 for 110 yards and 2 TD's in one half.  What's wrong with him? 

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE COLTS RETURN GAME?  Korey Hall with a fumble return for a touchdown!  Brandon James with the muff.

8:08 p.m.  Colts' 2nd Drive  9:09
NICE.  A stop at the 20 yard line on a kickoff.  Bush and Crabtree helping to stop these guys at the 20.

Packers using a 2-4-5 formation...and the Colts try to run against it and get stuffed!  Ryan Pickett ate up O-linemen.

3rd-5 at Indy 25: Addai escapes a tackle and gets a first down.  

Wayne: "They have not been able to get a handle on Joseph Addai."

And tack on 15 yards with a late hit by Nick Barnett.  Larry: "That's kind of a revolting development."

218 yards of offense this half already?????   Ugh.

3rd-7 at GB 49: incomplete!  Nice.  Didn't get any points on this drive.  Collins tips the pass.  He's making Pro Bowl caliber plays.  No one else is, for the most part, on this defense.

7:58 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive  14:39
Indianapolis 17, Green Bay 14
Rodgers-Finley 15 yd TD pass
Grant gets a good block from Colledge, gain of seven yards again.  He's lathering up.

And the lathering caused his hands to get the slips and a fumble ensued.  Thankfully, he pounced on it.

The Colts are doing a good job of controlling YAC with the short passes Rodgers is throwing.  He may have to take more chances.

3rd-4: Rodgers-Driver for a first down to just short of midfield.  Phew.  Fail here and this could become a quick blowout.

Rodgers mid-range down the middle inside the 30!  They could have had more with Townshend with a high tackle.

Man...Rodgers is moving the team again with the short-to-middle passes - pass to Jackson for 11 yards.

RODGERS TO FINLEY!  We'll hear that, maybe, more than we'll hear Rodgers to Finley.  (Indy defense made mistake - Sanders blew a coverage.)

7:50 p.m.  Colts' 1st Drive (continued)
Indianapolis 17, Green Bay 7
Manning-Wayne 10 yd TD pass
WOW!  Heck of a catch by Gonzalez after a Manning underthrow...and the Packers' DBs did nothing to stop it.  Gonzalez more wide open than an unaware 9 year old boy's fly.

Manning-Wayne for the score, beating Tramon Williams.

1st Quarter

7:48 p.m.  Colts' 4th Drive  1:44
This is uh-oh territory: Manning with a lead and the ball.

First play: he find Garcon mid-deep range for 24 yards.  I knew to be scared.

3rd-11: Manning 0-2 on converting 3rd downs - and this time, he makes it 1-3....Addai gets free and escapes to the Green Bay 21.  Study of frustration and an inability to tackle.

7:37 p.m.  Packers' 3rd Drive  5:16
This first half has all the makings of a great Super Bowl.  There's a chance.

At the 31: The Packers will need to use their wideouts to get yards after the catch.  The simple square out to Jones becomes a slightly bigger gain after a missed tackle.

Jones, Jennings, etc. will need to do that a ton.

What? Grant makes a six yard gain...again...if he never, ever makes a run more than seven yards but never less than five, I'm very happy.

Wayne gets on the scoreboard at Lambeau, and Larry compliments his green shirt. 

Larry: "Wayne, you're huge, when you're on the scoreboard during the time outs."

Wayne: "The smaller they show me, the better I look."

Rodgers now past midfield and he just misses Finley at the 26...and a late hit by Bob Sanders gets called. 

15 yards, and a whole lot of attention that will go on Sanders this year because of that kind of hit.

He's a great player, and he's not known for being Jack Tatum dirty.

What?  Two straight plays that Rodgers misses a receiver?  That's insane.

3rd-5 at Indy 26: Another one of those useless throws that are not in first down territory....but they're going for it on 4th down.

Rodgers sneak...did he get up the middle?   2nd effort didn't even get it.  Colledge blocked too high when the play began and he got stoned.

7:25 p.m.  Colts' 3rd Drive  9:35
Indianapolis 10, Green Bay 7
Vinatieri 41 yd FG
Manning delivers on 2nd down for Gonzalez for 11 yards...it's that middle-distance stuff that Manning kills you with, because he can find receivers in seams to get them yards after the catch.

Uh oh, that no-huddle stuff.  Not a fan.

Wayne gets wide open on a no-huddle play, using a pump fake to get a 35-yard pass play.

Garcon on an end-around....Tramon Williams stayed home and gobbled up the Garcon goodies for no gain.

Manning with a heck of a throw to Reggie Wayne in the red zone...as Manning was about to be sent onto grass by Mike Neil.

Peyton Manning threw to the wrong spot?  Wayne had to come back and one-hand a pass to the end zone, and he let it deflect off him, because it went behind Wayne.

3rd-10...make that 3rd-15....when does that happen to Peyton Manning?

3rd-15: ALMOST picked again!  Nick Collins with a heck of a breakup...but it would have been zero points instead of three.

7:23 p.m.  Packers' 2nd Drive  11:10
Grant on 2nd down doesn't get a heck of a lot....Gary Brackett holds him to no gain.

Now, the Colts can release the hounds on Rodgers on 3rd and 10.382 yards.

Rodgers throws one of those useless 3rd down passes that don't get first down yardage.

WHY DO THEY RUN THOSE?

7:17 p.m.  Colts' 2nd Drive  12:25
Hayden was well-controlled on this attempt of a return.  Got right to the 20, not much more.

Manning goes deep....PICK...nope.  Morgan Burnett had better coverage skills that time than his hands had stick.

Raji gets to Reggie Wayne for a loss of four!  Whoa.  That's stay-at-home brains, because Raji couldn't cover Wayne.  I'd be better at it.

3rd-14 at Indy 18: incomplete.  Barnett makes the denial.

Wayne: "That's more like it."

7:09 p.m.  Packers' 1st Drive  14:38
Green Bay 7, Indianapolis 7
Rodgers-Driver 6 yd TD pass
"Wayne, boy did this place get quiet in a hurry." - Larry

At least Jordy Nelson decided to go tit for tat with the kickoff return, going 31 yards for KC's 34.

The Packers' offense has the capability to go just as fast-moving as the Colts, so this could be rather high scoring.

Grant gets a couple runs in that get to the first down line.  I wonder if this is about "establishing the run" which I think is one of the most overinflated things to establish in football.

He gets more than five yards a carry on these three runs, though.

3rd-5 at GB 41: Rodgers has five wideouts and he overthrows one of them - but he'll get two yellow flags on Indy.  One for offisdes, the other for pass interference on Hayden.

48 yards by penalty.  Nice.

Rodgers to Driver - you'll hear that a TON this year! 

7:05 p.m.  Colts' 1st Drive  15:00 (left in quarter when drive starts)
Indianapolis 7, Green Bay 0
Manning-Garcon 19 yd TD pass
The first kickoff takes Indy to the 33 yard line...they're known for their kickoff returns.  Larry: "Nothing terrible, but you'd expect better."

Poppinga "badabinga'd" air there.  Not good.

Packers start in nickel formation: 3-3-5.  And that defense lets Joseph Addai go 49 yards.  Yeeeeeeeeeeeesh.  I thought the Packers' run defense was supposed to be its strength.  The line just got blasted.

2nd play: Manning in the no-huddle strikes and Underwood/Collins couldn't do a thing on.

Pregame

7:02 p.m.
Ryan Grant, Ryan Pickett and Korey Hall go to the midfield "G" for the coin toss.

Indy calls heads, gets heads, and they'll get the ball.

6:52 p.m.
If there was a good opponent to pick for a dress rehearsal, could there be a better one than the Colts?  It's said you get better by playing the best, and the Colts are many people's favorite to win the whole thing.

The first quarter, especially, could give a good indication of what this season could be like.

6:11 p.m.
Among the inactives tonight:
OL Bryan Bulaga
DL Cullen Jenkins
WR Greg Jennings
LB Brad Jones

I wish Bulaga could get the reps for a full half or so, to help him get used to the offense.

Pregame Story

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) -- While Aaron Rodgers and the Packers' passing game have been tough to stop in the preseason, Green Bay's running game hasn't had much of a workout -- at least when the first-team offense has been on the field.

Going into Thursday night's game against Indianapolis at Lambeau Field, the Packers would like to get Ryan Grant a few more carries to make sure he and the offensive line starters get a running start going into the regular season.

"I don't think it would be bad for him to get some reps," offensive coordinator Joe Philbin said. "Obviously, we have a game plan that we've practiced for Indy and we know what it is. We've got a number of runs that would be typical of what we would carry at this point in time. But we haven't gotten to the stage where (we say), 'Hey, let's run Ryan 12 times or eight times."'

Grant left the first preseason game against Cleveland after sustaining a concussion on the Packers' third offensive play of the game. He returned for the second preseason game at Seattle but didn't get much work.

Grant says he's feeling fine, and isn't concerned that he hasn't touched the ball very much.

"I don't think it's the end of the world," said Grant, who switched to a new style of helmet after the injury. "I've taken a lot of carries in this offense. Like I said, I just need to make sure that when I do get opportunities, that I make the most of them."

The Packers have been particularly pass-happy in the preseason, at least when Rodgers has been in. He played four series -- including a one-play opening possession where Grant fumbled -- against Cleveland, throwing 13 times and handing off seven times.

The Packers ran Grant three times in a row to open the game, but then he suffered the concussion on his third carry. Rodgers then threw nine passes in a row.

The Packers' run-pass ratio with Rodgers was similarly skewed at Seattle. In two series, Rodgers threw 11 times, handed off five times and scrambled once.

To some extent, that's a function of the decision-making power Rodgers holds within Mike McCarthy's offense; the Packers call a lot of run-pass option plays, where Rodgers can check into a pass if the defense appears to be geared up to stop the run, and vice versa.

Still, Rodgers wouldn't mind getting the running game more work.

"As much as we've gotten in a rhythm throwing the football, I think there comes a time where you're going to get in a rhythm with the play calling with your running," Rodgers said. "And often that's dictated by the kind of shell they play on defense. If they're giving us a lot of eight-man box, we're going to throw the ball. A team that wants to sit back and play seven-man box, that's where we're going to run the ball a little bit more. Depending on how Indianapolis plays, you might see a maybe more balanced attack this week."

As the Packers' play caller, McCarthy hasn't shown that evenly balancing the run and the pass is an important goal -- and why should it be? The NFL is a pass-first league, and the Packers have one of the best passing offenses in the game.

Other teams are even more prone to passing plays. According to STATS LLC, the Packers passed 58 percent of the time last season. That was only the 12th-highest percentage in the league.

The team that beat the Packers in the playoffs, Arizona, threw a league-high 62.9 percent of the time last season and Thursday's opponent, Indianapolis, was second-highest at 62.7 percent.

But even with injuries at running back, the Packers' ground game could use some attention.

"I think it's helpful for the backs in the stage of their career that we have here, for them to get some reps, get some contact, get knocked down," Philbin said. "Is the ball security where it needs to be, are they handling the ball in traffic the way it needs to be handled and that type of thing? I don't think it's bad if (Grant) gets some work, but again, I don't think we've really nailed it down yet."

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)