Being Wrong Is Cool

Packers 24, Panthers 14: Yeah, yeah, I picked the Panthers by 9, and the Packers won by 10. Credit to the Packers' new defensive coordinator who made up for a suspect secondary with an interesting mix of blitz packages. It obviously caught the Panthers with their pants down, but the Bears won't be caught off-guard by it. Fortunately for Green Bay, they're the Bears. The true test for the Green Bay defense comes on 9/26 at Indianapolis. Meanwhile, it wasn't so much that the Packers looked good; it was that the Panthers looked bad. 14 of Green Bay's 24 points came off of Carolina turnovers. Without those, the entire complexion of the game is different.

Now on to the notes and nits:

• The facemask penalty against Green Bay that led to Carolina's first touchdown should have been the five yard variety, not the fifteen yard variety.
• Jake Delhomme's lone interception, which led to Green Bay's third touchdown, was not at all his fault. The receiver clearly should have caught it, or failing that, had the decency to just drop it, rather than knocking it up and into the hands of the defender.
• The "coverage" on Mushin Muhammad's TD was cover-your-eyes awful. I expect a great deal more of that from the Green Bay defense, especially when they play the likes of Indianapolis, Minnesota, and Philadelphia.
• Favre failed to connect on two long passes in the first half. The first one was a tad long, and would have required a spectacular catch, but the second was right on the money. The receiver should have hauled that one in.
• The officials actually called offensive pass interference twice. Both times against my team, the Packers, but it's a penalty that they don't call anywhere near as often as they should, and I applaud them calling it here.

Box score for the game is here.