Packers Leading Volt-Getter After 42-10 Rout of Chargers
Bring on the Cowboys, the 49ers and enough already with these pretenders. Seed the Green Bay Packers No. 1 based on their 3-0 start in which they have outscored their opponents, 115-26, and their 42-10 rout of the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, and let’s get on with it.
The winner plays in Super Bowl XXXI, and if the rules can be changed in time, let the best NFC loser stand in for whatever hapless entry emerges from the AFC.
If the Chargers are the best the AFC has to offer, notify the humane society that this year’s Super Bowl underdog is going to be abused. The Chargers, chirping loudly before Sunday’s visit to Lambeau Field that this was their moment to show America they were for real, went whimpering into the night after suffering the biggest margin of defeat in Coach Bobby Ross’ five-year reign.
The Packers, scoring the most points in Coach Mike Holmgren’s five years on the job, blitzed the Chargers before 60,584, including former Packer greats such as Bart Starr and Ray Nitschke. At halftime--with the Packers already ahead, 21-3--someone suggested the greats finish the game, but then why run up the score?
“I am embarrassed,” Charger linebacker Junior Seau said. “We didn’t come to play today; Green Bay took it to us.”
And the Packers were not even at their best. Quarterback Brett Favre’s streak of 163 passes without an interception was ended, as was running back Edgar Bennett’s streak of 726 consecutive plays without a fumble. Still, the 32-point defeat absorbed by the Chargers was their worst in 125 games--since losing to San Francisco, 48-10, on Nov. 27, 1988.
“We just got a good old-fashioned butt-kicking out there in every phase,” Ross said. “It started early and never stopped.”
The Chargers, a giddy 2-0 before being roasted, were two for 12 in third-down situations, were outgained on offense, 349-141, and were left befuddled as Packer after Packer took his turn leaping into the stands.
Safety LeRoy Butler, who began the dive-into-the-fans ritual in a 28-0 victory over the Raiders in 1993, contributed a 90-yard interception return for a touchdown, and then took a bunch of criticism from his teammates for hitting the wall.
“I was looking for the shortest wall to jump when I got to about the 30-yard line,” said Butler. “We grade each other on those jumps and that’s the first thing the guys on the sideline told me when I came off the field: Bad grade, man.”
Wide receiver Robert Brooks, who has recorded and distributed a rap tune, “Jump in the Stands,” contributed with eight catches for 108 yards, setting up a 10-yard touchdown run by Bennett, and three touchdown passes from Favre to Antonio Freeman (19 yards), William Henderson (eight yards) and Keith Jackson (seven yards). Wide receiver Desmond Howard padded the score with a 65-yard punt return, and how many weeks before the Packers play the 49ers here on Monday night? Four.
And when does Green Bay go to Dallas for a Monday night game? Nov. 18.
“It’s really scary what this team is capable of doing,” Packer safety Eugene Robinson said. “People are going to say this wasn’t San Francisco and this was not Dallas who we played, but let me tell you, the guys on these other teams can play. I mean I was telling the guys we beat a very good team, because I’ve seen them run the ball, and run the ball effectively.”
The Chargers rushed for 33 yards against the Packers, and quarterback Stan Humphries mostly ran for his life. The Packers sacked Humphries four times, including two by Reggie White, and intercepted two of his passes.
Favre, who has thrown 31 touchdown passes and three interceptions in his last 10 games, completed 22 of 34 passes for 231 yards against a Charger defense incapable of putting pressure on the quarterback without summoning Seau’s help.
In three games, opposing quarterbacks have gone back to pass 113 times against the Charger defense, and only twice have they been sacked.
“Going in, Brett knew they were going to send Junior Seau after him,” said Jackson, who now has four touchdown catches. “He just fed off of that.”
Seau never got close to Favre, which enabled the Packers to control the ball for more than 38 minutes while breaking down the Chargers’ defense.
“But we made some mistakes, and you can’t do that against the likes of Dallas and San Francisco,” Jackson said. “We can’t be happy with ourselves until we play flawless football.”
The Packers, who had the fourth-quarter lead over Dallas in last year’s NFC Championship game before losing, 38-27, have improved their running game and have added speed on defense in preparing for confrontations with the 49ers and Cowboys.
The addition of Tampa Bay free agent Santana Dotson at defensive tackle has made the Packers’ pass rush one of the most imposing in the league. “I’d hate to be a quarterback against this defense,” Favre said.
Bennett, the key to the Packers’ running game, has been helped by the development of Henderson, a blocking fullback, and the occasional run from Dorsey Levens. Against the Chargers’ defense, which has excelled against the run, the Packers gained 132 yards.
“When I came here this year I found out this team has some guys that can just flat-out play,” said Robinson, who played 11 years for Seattle. “They’re like the best-kept secret in the NFL. I mean you go out on the street anywhere with the exception of here, and ask a kid what’s their favorite team and they’re going to probably yell, ‘San Francisco,’ or ‘Dallas.’ No one knows about the Packers, but they will.”