Jermichael Finley, seen here leaping over a poor Ed Reed substitute, absolutely loves the limelight.

The days when the NFL dominates the sports landscape are drawing nearer as the sun’s path around the sky becomes shorter and shorter. College football’s regular season has come to an end, leaving only a trail of unsexy corporate bowls to sustain those of us who didn’t grasp a BCS spot (yes, I’ll be one of those fans half-heartedly cheering on the Pitt Panthers in the Meineke Car Care and Oil Change for $29.99 Bowl). Until the glorious Capricorn-dominating period of mid-January, we’ll make do with our timeshare. This week, like so many in the past, offered much of the same (hello, Colts, Bolts and Saints on the good end, Brownies, Rams, Buccos, and Lions on the bad) and a sprinkling of the unexpected (Bruce freaking Gradkowski?) to keep us enthralled. Enough bantering – like many college students across this nation, I too am buckling down for finals week which draws nigh – it’s time to get a move-on for this week’s Righteous Wrap-Up.

(As always, you can reach Ian in the comment box below, via e-mail at selfserve@gmail.com, or on Twitter @greenbayblog.)

THINGS I’M STILL PONDERING…

1. The first and last thing anyone will remember from this game is the (over?)officiating. The Ravens and Packers tied for the second-most penalty yardage accrued with 310 yards coming via the yellow hankies. Not second-most this year, or this decade, or since the NFL-AFL merger. Second-most ever. You witnessed history tonight in the form of jersey grabbing, line flinching, face mask pulling, and other forms of anarchy and tomfoolery. I’m facetious, of course, since a number like that probably speaks more to an eagerness to penalize relatively clean play than of extreme sloppiness on both parts. To be fair to Walt Anderson’s crew, most of those calls were no-brainers, and it’s a simple fact of the NFL rule book that pass interference calls reward the offense with spotting the ball at the point of the penalty. Fair enough. But it is also fair to point out that the trigger fingers of the refs became a strategic position for both offenses–quarterbacks and wide receivers could throw their hands up in the air on any contested pass and the referees might oblige. The final tally on penalties, in the form of total penalties-yardage–Defensive pass interference: 8-209; Offensive holding: 4-40; False start: 4-20; Face mask: 1-15; Offensive pass interference: 1-10; Unsportsmanlike conduct: 1-5; Neutral zone infraction: 1-5; Offside: 1-5; Illegal use of hands: 1-5.
2. Who says you need to run in December? The Packers were hosting the first game at Lambeau in the twelfth month of the year and conventional wisdom held that the winning team would be the won who grinded out tough yardage between the trenches and adhered to the old adage, “Three yards and a cloud of dust.” That era is long gone, grandpop. This is a football landscape dominated by film-geek quarterbacks, run-pass options, three-step drops and West Coast offenses, screen passes and the shotgun spread.
   

   Mr. Jennings and Mr. Driver dare you to stack the box or slot blitz.

   The Packers had a misleading total of 94 yards on the ground, 23 of those coming on a sweet scramble up the middle by Aaron Rodgers. Ray Rice on the Ravens side was bottled up all night, and excluding a garbage time 21-yard scamper was held to just over 2 yards per carry (the numbers drop even more drastically if you toss out his one successful burst of 17 yards). This game was about Joe Flacco vs. Aaron Rodgers and who had the better arsenal. The Packers came out on top and showed that they can roll out Donald Driver and Greg Jennings against any defense and move the chains. The most impressive performance came from second-year tight end Jermichael Finley, who made more than a few impressive catches and used his gigantic frame to create separation against smaller cornerbacks. In the Packers two Monday night games this year, Finley has gone for over 200 yards receiving with three touchdowns. He’s a serious threat in the red zone moving forward owing to the mismatches he creates with his size and athleticism.

3. Finley wasn’t the only young Packer to flex his muscles Monday night. Let’s give it up once more in this space to Clay Matthews III, who must make Ted Thompson feel like a million bucks for trading up into the first round to select the linebacker out of USC. All Matthews did was sack Flacco twice, force a fumble in the red zone, accumulate five tackles, and keep his motor running all sixty minutes. The guy is a spark plug at outside linebacker. With more experience under his belt and a few training camps to develop better pass rush moves, Matthews could be an absolute star in Dom Capers’ system. This prime time performance surely garnered him a look or two at Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. I should also note that Brad Jones, the seventh rounder filling in at Aaron Kampman’s spot, also had four tackles and a nice speed-move sack, the first of his career. I won’t go as far as ESPN analyst/professional draft idiot Matt Millen and say that the Packers are “better off” with Jones at OLB than Kampman, but he’s got a bit of promise. As for the other Packer defender filling in for an injured star, Tramon Williams had a tough time filling in Al Harris’ shoes this week, getting flagged on multiple occasions for pass interference. He atoned for his sins by snagging a goofy Joe Flacco pass in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter that all but sealed the game.
4. This was ultimately a game about momentum. The best ways to create or steal momentum are as follows, in order from most momentum garnered to least: long touchdown play, turnover, long kickoff/punt return, huge hit, methodical touchdown drive, controversial call goes your team’s way, third down success, onside kick recovery, forcing other team to call a time-out, safety, missed field goal by other team, field goal, arena music. The game was sloppy at times, yes, but touchdowns and turnovers largely predicated the outcome. The Packers stopped potential Ravens scoring drives early with turnovers and then seized the second quarter with two touchdowns. The Ravens opportunistically used turnovers on back-to-back throws from Rodgers to Driver in the third quarter to make the game close again, scoring two touchdowns on the ensuing drives. The fourth quarter belonged to Green Bay, snagging interceptions on two consecutive throws from Joe Flacco, reversing the karma, and 10 points followed. Green Bay once again faltered on the special teams front (Mason Crosby missed yet another field goal, this one from 38 yards; the punt coverage was abysmal as per the norm; the kick coverage gave up a 68-yard return just after Finley’s second TD to set up a potential scoring drive) and it swayed the momentum each time back to Baltimore. The Packers deserve to be 8-4 and in the wild card hunt, but you know that those special teams plays need to get cleaned up and fast if they want to remain competitive.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH…

We’re going streaking in the quad!
Or in the case of the Steelers, they’ve quadrupled an understandable one-game losing streak into an eye-opening four-game skid. True, they dropped a close game to the division-leading Bengals and lost another in overtime to the Ravens with Dennis Dixon at the helm, but how do you explain the late-game implosions against AFC West bottom-dwellers Oakland and Kansas City? So much for Mike Tomlin’s invigorating “WE WILL UNLEASH HELL” speech after last week’s loss to Baltimore–maybe he meant Hell would be unleashed upon Steelers fans? Bruce Gradkowski, the best Polish quarterback I know, sure made JaMarcus Russell look irrelevant on Sunday. Both offenses were dormant volcanoes going into the fourth quarter and then went all Mt. St. Helens on us, combining for five touchdowns in the final frame. Three of those touchdown drives, including the decisive Raiders score with nine seconds left, took less than two minutes to complete! How on earth do the starting safeties from either team still have their jobs? Tyrone Carter for one played an awful, terrible, no-good lousy game, consistently getting beat by receivers named “Chaz” and “Johnnie Lee.” Troy Polamalu’s Samson-like power is sorely missed in Pittsburgh’s backfield. Can you say Madden Curse?

Gradkowski: bigger than kielbasa?

Another AFC powerhouse, the New England Patriots, look awfully mortal after dropping three of their last four, including a 22-21 loss to the rival Dolphins. Now both Miami and the Jets are a single game back of a division I thought would be nearing its endgame. Tom Brady had a specious box score; he threw for 350 yards and two touchdowns but a third of that yardage came on the two touchdowns, sideline bombs to Randy Moss and Sam “Don’t Call Me Clay” Aiken. The rest of the game he looked to Wes Welker (10 catches for a ridiculous 167 yards) or to the Dolphins secondary (2 INT). It’s hard to win when your running game is nonexistent. Laurence Maroney had only 41 yards on 13 carries and did not register a touchdown for the first time in seven games. As for the Fightin’ Fish, I’m impressed that they’ve managed to battle back from losing their starting quarterback (Chad Pennington) and their starting running back (Ronnie Brown) to a .500 record and with very real playoff dreams. The unknown Davone Bess (10 catches, 117 yards) ran crisper routes than superstar Randy Moss on Sunday.

There’s no love in the champagne room.
That’s because the ‘72 Dolphins are feeling a tad nervous this year. Not since the heyday of the Patriots – OK, three years ago – has an undefeated season felt so fated. Check that, I meant to say undefeated seasons, plurality emphasized. The Colts and Saints won yet again, running each of their records to 12-0. Indianapolis had a far easier day, putting away the upstart Titans in workmanlike fashion. Joseph Addai, who has yet to be supplanted by the hard-running Donald Brown, scored two touchdowns on the day to pace the Colts, who are slowly but surely creeping their way to home field advantage throughout the playoffs.

Move over, Peyton Manning: we have a new Mr. Clutch!

If the Colts are the fabled Tortoise, then the Saints must be the Hare. Their games are wild, exciting, and often leave you scratching your head in a “did I really witness that?” sort of pose. This week, they scratched out a victory over Washington when Shaun Suisham missed a 23-yard chip shot (and missed it bad, like Tom Hanks’ accent in Catch Me If You Can-level of whiffing). That’s all Drew Brees needed, finding a wide open Robert Meachem burning a clueless Redskins secondary. Give credit once again to the relatively unheralded New Orleans D, who picked off the surprisingly accurate Jason Campbell late in the fourth to stall a drive then forced a fumble in overtime to set up the game-winning figgie. Congrats to Garrett Hartley, he of the post-Adderall reinstate kickerdom, for showing Suisham what clutch looks like (as much as chip shot field goals can be considered clutch).

“I love being the wild card.”
So says Morgan Freeman in the smash-hit thriller High Crimes. What’s its relevance? Nothing, apart from the football-endearing words “wild card” and because it’s dynamite comedy to hear one of the greatest voices of any generation waste his time on such preposterous dialogue. I demand you rent this movie immediately and cue it up alongside a second television that has Sean Connery’s infamous lines in Finding Forrester on standby.

Anyway, the NFC East got tighter than your jeans after throwing down a fourth warmed-over Thanksgiving platter. The Giants took down the Cowboys Sunday evening on the strength of two explosive plays: a wheel route by Brandon Jacobs which turned into an absurdly long touchdown when the Cowboys forgot it takes more than a shoulder nudge to bring down a bulldozer; and a scintillating punt return by Domenik Hixon, whom I forgot was on the team, probably because his last name is somewhat similar to rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks. The Eagles beat the Falcons down in Atlanta…wait, I meant to say, the Eagles laid a beatdown on the Atlanta Falcons. This game was abysmal to watch (and watch most of it I did, being in the Eagles’ primary market) and must have been particularly gut-wrenching for long-time Falcons fans who witnessed Michael Vick personally outscore the Dirty Birds. Vick ran for one score and tossed another for his first points of the year, which was the most inevitable thing that could have happened in the year of Favre-as-Viking. Whatever. The NFC East is officially up for grabs, with the Giants taking on the Eagles next week and a huge Philadelphia-Dallas showdown in the House that Jerry Built looming on January 3rd. No word as to what new distractions Tony Romo can bring to the Cowboys this year.

THE NO-HUDDLE…
It was nice to see the Panthers do with Matt Moore what they should have been doing with Jake Delhomme all year–taking the ball out of his hands and giving it to the running backs. Jonathan Stewart gashed the Buccaneers‘ 30th-ranked run defense to the tune of 120 yards and a touchdown, the second straight game he’s gone over the century mark against Tampa…Bears fans have to be concerned that they’re cheering Jay Cutler’s 143-yard “performance” against the awful Rams solely because he didn’t throw an INT for once…The 49ers pretty much sealed their offseason plans by losing to the Seahawks on a last-second Olindo Mare field goal…And San Fran’s loss was Arizona’s gain, especially coupled with an astonishingly one-sided win over Minnesota. Pay attention, Packers fans, because the Cardinals provided the blueprint to beating the Vikings–keep your QB upright (0 sacks) and he can pick apart the secondary (3 TDs), hit Favre (3 sacks) and he’ll make poor decisions (2 INT)…Psst: the Jaguars have a wild card spot in their sole possession after beating the Texans. Just thought you should know, since their games are never on television…Wild, wild west: The Broncos hung 44 on the pathetic Chiefs and the Chargers dropped 30 large on an overmatched Browns team. Both wins came on the road…The Bengals win over the Lions means that Cincinnati can celebrate a winning season–only the second time they have done so in nearly two decades. Somewhere, Ickey Woods is shuffling happily…

30 SECONDS OF FAME
My original intent this week was to post that disgusting Subway commercial where Jared (you fraud!), Michael Strahan, and Justin Tuck perform their Three Tenors rendition, which defies physical science by simultaneously blowing AND sucking. However, plans changed when I went to Youtube to find a link and stumbled on this little gem from 2007:

“Sundays I’m a little busy,” says Brady Quinn. With what, chasing down cornerbacks who have just picked you once again?

WHAT I’M WATCHING NEXT WEEK:
Dolphins at Jaguars promises one thing: one team from the state of Florida will be a genuine wild card contender at the end of the game. The Bengals get their first real test in a month when they travel to face the Vikings who are unbelievably playing their fourth home game in five weeks. And the Chargers look to run their win streak to eight games when they play the Cowboys.

Team/Player Photos: Green Bay Packers Team / Player Photos on Jul 25, 2010

Maybe he’d be better if he’d focus on football instead of his side job as sub delivery boy.

SPECIAL THUNDER’S DAY PICK!
The Steelers travel to Cleveland in what should be a slam dunk (get it, Clevelanders? LeBron owns your souls!) for Pittsburgh. You might be inclined to say that the Browns will play hard on a national stage; to you, good sir or madam, I present overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Hines Ward has been ruled “very questionable” by head coach Mike Tomlin. If a “questionable” injury status is defined by the league as the player having a 50-50 chance of playing the game, how can such a player be “very questionable”? Makes me question Tomlin. OK, enough questions; here’s an answer: the Steelers will officially send Browns fans into their annual winterlong depression which will only end in late April, when legions of people will line up to trade in their Brady Quinn and/or Derek Anderson jerseys for a brown LOCKER jersey. Ta da! The seasons are so lovely in Ohio.
Steelers by fourteen.