Talk about a Monday morning hangover.  This one may last until next season.  If this was a Todd Phillips film, Alan just snuck us the roofies, and it’s the next morning with a Tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet, and a horrible taste in our mouth.  Yes it was one of the most exciting playoff games of all time, but it all counts for not when your team ends up on the losing end.

Living 20 minutes away from Lambeau field and deep within the heart of Packers country, the feelings described by people 24 hours after the incident would be anger, depression, anger, confusion, sadness, and oh yea, anger.  As an avid status updater on facebook, I saw more angry emotions riveted out than a Jerry Springer show of the late 90’s.  All the morning radio shows broadcasted angry callers with no real justification to their anger, besides the fact that the Packers had lost.  One man has been arrested in the state of Wisconsin for domestic abuse to his wife, blaming it on the Packers loss (no joke!).   So I thought rather than beating the dead horse, I’d play devils advocate and try and show the other side of the coin for everyone. The following may anger your blood up more, but remember you’re not angry at me… you’re angry at Hurricane Warner.

Don’t get me wrong, I am an avid Packer fan.  I have multiple Packer jerseys including my favorite, authentic Paul Hornung jersey the autographed Packer football, an entire football card binder of just Packers collecting dust in my closet.  So why hasn’t the anger bug infected me yet?  To be honest, I’m not sure.  The officiating crew was sub-par to be nice about it, two failed calls to which particularly stick out in my mind was the Larry Fitzgerald knock down of Charles Woodson for the TD and of course the Aaron Rodgers fumble where the blatent facemask was shown for all the nation to see, minus 7 refs.

Sure, I am depressed they won’t be facing Drew Brees and the Saints next week for another offense orgasmic game.  The fact that we may never have a chance ever to see the Claymaker reek havoc on Brett Favre in the backfield urks me. But, this was the first game in 18 weeks that I didn’t have to say this… “Let em Play!” I can almost sympathize for the refs at times when I see the double edged sword.  Too much and you are babying the players… too little and they’re accused of being blind as a bat.  Before I go any further, I will state this… I DO NOT agree with the lack of calls on the A-Rod facemask or the Fitzgerald push.  Those two things were inexcusable.  Those two things don’t mean this game was entirely the referees fault.  People just need their scapegoats and the zebras are the easiest target.  But let’s not forget, this coveted Packers D, just gave up 54 points.  Let’s say they call back that Fitzgerald push. The Green Bay D looked like a Pee-Wee D vs. an NFL offense yesterday. Called back or not, the Cardinals were once again driving and would score that drive anyway.

As for the fumble in OT by Rodgers, an explanation came out on why no facemask was called.  As the ball left Rodgers hand and went live, it’s the back judges job to automatically focus on the ball rather than the player, so his vision moved onto the ball.  At the given angle it appeared that no other ref had a view then on Rodgers face/facemask thus allowing the facemask to go by without a call. Again, still inexcusable, but at least it was a failed call because the ref was sticking to his guns and doing his job. Right?

Speaking of the D… what the hell happened to them?  The Packers came into this game with the #2 defense in the league, just to get repeatedly violated by Kurt Warner and Co. The same thing happened vs. Pittsburgh two weeks ago. Something about our backfield just screams throw right up the middle and it must be the Packers Kryptonite, because when it happened (in either game) it melted the D like a hot wire through butter.  Matthews, Hawk, Barnett, Chillar are studs, but not even one year into a 3-4 change and then add in little to no playoff experience, and these guys just seemed lost all game.

Finally, hats off to Mason Crosby.  I immediately got posts and texts after the game saying “just think if Crosby would’ve hit that one FG now” but come on, it was a 54 yard field goal.  It wasn’t even a month ago when we were all nervous about Mason hitting a 28 yarder.  I feel that 54 yarder wasn’t that horrible of a situation.  If he misses, oh well, it was a damn long FG and 2 yards more than his record long.  If he makes it, hey! 3 points and one confident kicker!

Finally to the people that are blaming Aaron Rodgers. Shame on you.  You are no better than the fair weather fans of southern Wisconsin. A-Rod ended the day with a QB rating over 121.3, normally a rating that would solidify a win anyday.  He can’t help the fact that Warner threw a 154.1. This was A-Rods first playoff game as a starter ever and he aired out to almost 400 yards and four TD’s. Blaming Rodgers tells me that your opinion rivals that of a six year old on the subject of why he should drive the car down I-94.  This was a great playoff experience for Rodgers. He still is young. He will be back in the postseason.  I’m already looking forward to next season.