Thursday Night Football Live-Blog: Packers-Cowboys 2nd Half

Thursday, November 29, 2007



27-17 to start the 2nd half, and if Bryant Gumbel keeps this up we'll all be asleep part of the way through the third.

Is it just me or does Adam Schefter look like Bill Simmons' doppelganger?

Miles Austin has a nice return and almost took the 2nd half kick all the way. Crosby tackled him at the 44. Favre isn't out of the locker room yet.

A pass interference penalty and a J Jones run gets the Cowboys into Packers' territory. Favre appears with a sleeve and he might be coming back into this thing. That would be really dumb considering this game doesn't really mean much in the Playoff picture.

Romo hits Witten for an 8 yard game and the Cowboys are short of a first and they're going for it on 4th down. No good.

"Stuffed in the hole."- Bryant Gumbel

Rodgers is sacked on first down, and Gumbel is driving me insane. Rodgers is looking damn good as he hits Driver on third down and follows that with a big run and a scrambling pass to Lee. Packers ball at the 25.

The Cowboys bail out Rodgers with a facemask penalty on a sack, and a Rodgers pass to Driver has it inside the five. A pass to Kuhn gets it close to the goal line, and a nice tackle saves the TD. But it's a first down.

"John Perry says that's close enough for government work."- Bryant Gumbel describing the ref measuring for the first down.

TOUCHDOWN PACK! Ryan Grant!!!

27-24 'Boys.


Cowboys ball at the 20. Romo throws a screen to Witten for negative yards, and they follow with another screen for even more negative yards. 3rd and long....Delay of Game and the Packers Fans are getting into it! 3rd and 19...

Damn....Romo somehow finds Crayton after rolling out. First down. And Jerry Jones has made his way down to the sidelines. Barber gets a nice run around outside and a facemask penalty will bump that another 15.

"And the Packers are starting to get frisky here!" - Dick Enberg, on the radio (Via S2N

What I wouldn't give for you tonight Dick.....Umm wait....what did I just say?

Owens bobbles a pass out of bounds that the refs call a catch, and GB challenges and it's overturned. Owens catches another for 9 yards and it's 3rd and 1 at the 20...

Barber runs it inside the 5. God he is a beast. A delay of game sends it back 5 though and it's 1st and goal for the Cowboys. End of the third.....

Barber for a short gain on first, and a pass to Owens....Touch......WAIT!!!!!!!! Owens drops it, flips it up in the air and Al Harris picks it off!!!!!!!!

"Maybe it was all that butter from the Popcorn from earlier."- Bryant Gumbel

Good one Gumby. First down pass to Jennings on the slant. A few plays later the Cowboys pick up a sack and the Packers punt with 12 minutes left.

Holy shit....the Celtics beat the Knicks 104-50!!!

Romo hits Witten on two passes by the second is coming back on a hold. Another pass to Witten gets it closer to a first....3rd and 8 and the Packers finally hit Romo. Witten gets it yet again and another first. He's open every play and AJ Hawk is saying he pushed off.

Deep ball to Austin....he's tripped up. No call....wait....the refs discuss the play and throw a flag after all. That was a pretty bad call. There was a bit of contact but Austin just got tripped up.

Incomplete pass on first and Barber gets nothing on 2nd. 3rd and Goal.....

TOUCHDOWN COWBOYS.....Patrick Crayton from Romo.

34-24


Wait....did the NFL Network just run a commercial for the Colts-Falcons game??? Yes, yes they did. Hilarious.

Rodgers to Driver on first, and Aaron runs for a first down. A pass to Driver gets another first into Cowboys territory. Deep pass to Jennings is incomplete, and it's 2nd and 10. Koren Robinson gets a screen and a nice run and it'll be 3rd and 1. Grant picks up the first with about 5 minutes left.

Wait no....the spot is short. He really looked like he had it and the refs are completely hosing the Packers tonight. They elect to kick a looooong field goal....

Mason Crosby nails the 50+ yarder and it's a one TD game....

34-27


Austin gets it out to about the 40 and he's turning into a pretty good return guy. Barber picks up a few, and follows that with a big pass to Witten for a first down into Packer territory.

Barber with a short gain, but face mask penalty adds another 15.

"You can't rip someone's helmet off at this point in the game."- Cris Collinsworth

Is it ever okay?

Barber picks up 6 or 7 on first down and the Packers call Timeout....their 2nd. 3 minutes to go. MBIII for the first down and that might rap it up unless the Packers let the 'Boys score. Barber for a short gain and we're at the two minute warning.

Barber is short of the first on third down and Nick Folk for the FG at the one minute mark.....Good.

37-27.

"And Williams gets baptized at the twenty yard line."- Bryant Gumbel

Um what?

Rodgers hits Driver and Jennings to get the ball to the 45. 4th down....incomplete. Valiant effort by Aaron Rodgers but the Refs, er Cowboys prove to be too much.

Special thanks goes to Bryant Gumbel for making me want to pass out the entire game and it was good to have you tonight. I'd like to say I'll be live-blogging next week's game, but I don't know if I can take this boredom again.

37-27 Cowboys.

25 Comments:

If Schefter looks like Simmons, I don't want the NFL Network.

Anonymous said...
Nov 29, 2007, 10:18:00 PM  

I hate to nitpick AA, but this game does mean something in the playoff picture. Whoever wins has a 2-game lead in the home-field race, as they would be one up in the standings and have the tie-breaker (head-to-head win).

Is it worth risking Favre? Probably not.

Anonymous said...
Nov 29, 2007, 10:26:00 PM  

I meant in regards to making the Playoffs, but it doesn't matter when you have Mr. Rodgers.

Nov 29, 2007, 10:29:00 PM  

someone back me up here, that ball was short of the chains when they measured right?

BackBergtt said...
Nov 29, 2007, 10:30:00 PM  

"And the Packers are starting to get frisky here!" - Dick Enberg, on the radio.

Signal to Noise said...
Nov 29, 2007, 10:33:00 PM  

youve heard the phrase get busy? well these packers get BI-ZAY!

/ lindsay naegle

BackBergtt said...
Nov 29, 2007, 10:38:00 PM  

There is nothing finer than a T.O. dropped ball, especially when you are an Eagles fan. Unless, of course, it is bobbled into a defender's arms.

Anonymous said...
Nov 29, 2007, 10:48:00 PM  

that interference call was crap, the judge right in front of the play called incidental contact and some douche from behind the play overruled him. terrible terrible call

BackBergtt said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:02:00 PM  

if it takes a minute after the play to throw the flag then it probably isn't a penalty.

Signal to Noise said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:04:00 PM  

Gumbel is surprised at the spot. He thought GB had the first down. Shocking.

Anonymous said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:13:00 PM  

Gumbul is horrible. Boring, sleepy, high pitched voice. Blah. Go cowboys!

Mark Graban said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:24:00 PM  

anyone else think cris collinsworth is simply wretched?

Zac said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:28:00 PM  

gumbel:
"williams just got babtized at the 18"

i spelled it wrong.

Anonymous said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:30:00 PM  

The game is great, but the NFL Network is a ripoff and their coverage is awful! The officials in the game are horrendous, Chris Collinsworth must have taken a "stupid" pill before the game and "Gumby Gumble" should have his mouth stapled shut. He's an idiot! WORST PLAY by PLAY ANOUNCER EVER!!!!!! PERIOD!!!! They're all missing a good game!

jfk said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:42:00 PM  

Is Gumbel sick? His hair is all patchy and he's so much thinner than usual. He looks like has aged 20 years. Although he's never been play by play, he was always a pro. Any news on his health??

Anonymous said...
Nov 29, 2007, 11:51:00 PM  

"Tony Romo has never faltered under pressure." - Collinsworth
Oh really?
Should we go back to the playoffs last year?
This was not a fair fight, favre was out in the second and the pack somehow stayed in the game even though al harris played his worst game of the year. can you believe the pick off of T.O.s chest was his first of the year?
although my shining moment was yelling "eat your popcorn now you overpaid clown" when he dropped that ball
- unapologetic packers fan

Anonymous said...
Nov 30, 2007, 12:13:00 AM  
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...
Nov 30, 2007, 1:20:00 AM  

No one else caught Gumbel calling the Cowboy's QB "Rick Romo" after the game??

"Let's see if we can get an interview with Rick Romo."

Anonymous said...
Nov 30, 2007, 1:22:00 AM  

Bryant Gumbel, in my opinion, is a terrible PBP guy. He has improved over last year, where he seemed to be on a three-second delay on calling the action, but he is still a poor choice to have in that prime spot, in my opinion.

The popcorn line about Terrell Owens was pretty funny, though.

Lou Pickney said...
Nov 30, 2007, 1:37:00 AM  

Yes, my daughter and I turned to each other and said "Rick Romo?..are you kidding?". Does Gumball even do any pre-game prep work? Or does he show up 5 minutes befoe kickoff, strap on the headset and believe? he's watching the game at home.

The Packers kick a field goal to pull to 27-34, and Gumball, multiple times says..."the Packers are a score away from tying the game". Uh, Gumball...a field goal, and a ssfety count as a score. Not sure how they could have tied it with those.

Unknown said...
Nov 30, 2007, 2:19:00 AM  

Tons of announcers use that phrase dave. Doesn't mean that Gumball doesn't suck though. Not that it matters since I can't get the network nor do I really have a need for it.

Anonymous said...
Nov 30, 2007, 2:51:00 AM  

I know I'm in the minority...but I kinda like Bryant doing the games...

Everyone else that does them is so hoopla and hype filled that I tend not to mind having some space to just watch the game.

Matt said...
Nov 30, 2007, 8:16:00 AM  

Collinsworthless is by far the worst, least talented, loud mouthed, idiotic announcer in the history of televised sports. Gumbel is no better. That baptized comment was really offensive. And any time the Packers did anything good, both of them immediately followed up with some negative comment or stat. And the camera work and other coverage sucked, too. How can the NFL Network seriously try to strong-arm cable companies into carrying them, when their product is for shit? Thanks for letting me vent.

Anonymous said...
Nov 30, 2007, 9:53:00 AM  

I've had DirecTV for several years and enjoy being able to watch sports on the NFL Network and the Big Ten Network. However, there should be some real work done to get better announcers on the NFL Network. I thought I was going to need one of those clickers to keep track of all the erroneous comments made by Bryant Gumbel. He introduces the Cowboys at the beginning of the game as "here come the Pats". Several times he referred to the Packers when he meant the Cowboys. He even referred to the Tony Romo as Rick Romo.

Mr. Gumbel at one time was a top-notch announcer, but seeing him over the past several months has degraded the quality television the NFL Network should be striving for. I don't know if Mr. Gumbel is just getting old, all the drugs have finally caught up with him, or if he's suffering from sort of degenerative disease - but he is really a joke as an announcer and should be removed from the air waves immediately. Unless of course one is looking for a comedic spoof on the game of football - he would be great at playing the idiot!

Keep improving NFL Network - I enjoy watching the games, but don't like the announcers (I even switched over to ESPN after the game because they have better - and more prepared - announcers).

Anonymous said...
Nov 30, 2007, 10:08:00 AM  

One other thing that drives me nuts about the NFL Network is its constant need for the robotic sound effect. Every graphic, name ID, or cutaway uses that sound. It is so unnecessary. After watching a half hour of its regular shows I have to quit.

Anonymous said...
Nov 30, 2007, 11:17:00 AM  

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