1 down 13 to go

Purple Kool Aid's fearless prediction of 14-2 is looking pretty good right about now. For those Packer fans reading this, that means we only have to go 13-2 the rest of the way to hit 14 wins (I know counting is an issue for the Wisconsin public school educated).

Game Balls...

• Offense - Adrian Peterson is the obvious choice. 103 yards rushing and a 60 yard TD reception is a nice start to the career. Most importantly it was obvious that Purple Jesus has that rare "burst". I know that sounds vague and the kind of expert analysis that you'd get from John Madden, but there are certain guys who have that extra gear that other good players just don't have. The 60 yard TD, he looked like a rocket and several of his yards of 6+ yards also had a burst to it that you don't usually see. Purple Jesus is going to be a star.
• Defense - This is much more difficult. BRHCP gave the gameball to Udeze cause he finally got a sack, but I'm not willing to give it to Kenechi. Kevin Williams is a solid pick with the pick-6, but I expect big things from this big time player. My gameball goes to the LB crew. Greenway had 10 tackles, EJ's first game at MLB resulted in 8 tackles and 2 sacks. We need or LB's to be effective and this is the kind of production that will make our defense good enough to win games for us.
• Special Teams - nobody stood out to deserve a gameball

Other Thoughts...

• The defense did not allow the Falcons into the red zone for the entire game. That is impressive and you'll win a lot of games when you keep the endzone at least 20 yards from the line of scrimmage for 60 min.
• Tarvaris Jackson had a nice game. Nothing special and in no way did he win the game for us. BUT he didn't lose the game and he was solid. TJax had 1 INT. It was tipped but it was also a poor decision and thrown behind the receiver. If he plays like this for 15 more games I have no doubt we'll make the playoffs. It should also be noted that TJax spread the ball around to 9 different receivers. According to BRHCP we never saw the KAO last season but I have a feeling this is what is should look like.
  
• 5 Rookies contributed! - Greenway (essentially a rookie) led the team in tackles, AP led the team in rushing and receiving yards, Aundrae Allison caught a pass, Sydney Rice caught a couple passes and Marcus McCauley had 3 tackles. I've said it before but I love our young core of rookies and 2nd year guys (TJax, Cedric Griffin and Ryan Cook).
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