Sunday, October 19, 2008

Halftime: Packers 17 - Colts 7

Wow. The Packers are taking it to the Colts in the first half, using a combination of precision passing (at one point near the end of the half, Aaron Rodgers had completed 13 in a row) and the best running game this season out of Ryan Grant. A field goal on their first drive put the Pack up by 3. The Colts then came back with a TD drive of their own. From there, it was 14 unanswered points by the Pack. One TD came on a 12-yard TD pass to Donald Lee having essentially been set up by the run, while the second came on an 11-yard run by Grant essentially set up by the pass. Nice.

The only real negative was a wide left, 36-yard field goal attempt at the end of the half by Mason Crosby that, if good, would have made the score 20-7. It had plenty of trajectory, just looked like he overkicked and hooked it.

The Packers had a roughly 2:1 time of possession over the Colts in the half, as well as a similar advantage in the number of plays. In short, it's exactly what they needed in order to have their best shot at beating Indy: they're keeping Peyton Manning on the sidelines. The Packers offense and defense is also playing with an energy we haven't seen much of this season.

If the Pack can keep it going this same way for another 30 minutes...well, we all know how fast games can change...and how little time the Colts need -- as demonstrated already this season -- to stage a comeback.

It was a great first half. But we need one more.