Same Old Jay

• Ahhhh, that was beautiful. Seeing Jay Cutler sacked 7 times is good for the soul. On top of that, the Packers intercepted Cutler 4 times. (Granted, the final one shouldn’t have counted but apparently the replacement refs couldn't be bothered to review the turnover. Oh well, we’ll take it.) The crazy thing is that 7 sacks doesn’t even tell the story of how much pressure Cutler was under. Even in the rare instances he was able to get the ball out in time, he was still taking hits.

•  Hmmm, which picture should I use?

Choices, choices.

• Clay Matthews was incredible. True, Chicago’s offensive line is a mess, but Clay could not be stopped! He has six sacks in two games!! That's twice as many as the next closest defender in the league.

And he can count like nobody's business.

• Since the game, the Bears have benched one of their offensive linemen … and it’s not J’Marcus Webb. If I were capable of feeling any sympathy for Bears’ fan, I would feel it now.

• WELCOME BACK, 2010 TRAMON! How I’ve missed you! The two picks were great, but I was in awe of how well Williams covered Brandon Marshall. The only time Marshall really got open (for the dropped pass in the endzone), Williams had fallen down on the play. Morgan Burnett and Charles Woodson were excellent over the top, allowing Tramon to be aggressive with Marshall.

Sweet, sexy, AND skilled!

• Hallelujah! Jarrett Bush not only did not start, he did not play any defensive snaps. No wonder the defense looked so good. See what can happen when you take him off the field?

• Anytime you’re feeling down, just Google “Jay Cutler career stats vs. Green Bay.”

"What's about to happen is everyone's fault but mine!"

• Mr. Charles Woodson says it better than I can: “Same old Jay.” (I’ve watched this video about 346 times since Thursday.)

• Cutler certainly didn’t get the help from the playcalling. No quarterback wants to be doing seven-step drops behind that offensive line. Losing Matt Forte just made matters worse.

• With all this gloating over our defense, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Aaron Rodgers got sacked 5 times. This is not okay! The offensive line looked good in preseason, but has given up eight sacks in the first two games. This needs to be taken care of ASAP. Unfortunately, the Packers cut most of their offensive line backups, so the answer has to be in the starters playing better.

• What a play call on that fake field goal! It was 4th-and-26!! Insanely gutsy. And awesome.

This picture should make it all clear.

• As cool as the fake field goal for a touchdown was, it is a bit disturbing that that’s what had to happen for the Packers to score. The offense is troubling in its inability to come up with big plays. I’m hoping they just need to get into a rhythm and will improve over the next couple of games. I need to see glimpses of last season’s offense before I can stop biting my nails.

• Jermichael Freakin’ Finley. His drops are so frustrating. What’s more frustrating to me, however, is his inability to block - he’s a tight end, for heaven’s sake! Weekly, he gets manhandled by defensive backs. Finley is 6’5”, 250 lbs; he should be able to run over these smaller safeties and cornerbacks, but he doesn’t. Because he’s soft. Did you see the play where James Jones got laid out after a catch? Yeah, JMike was supposed to be blocking that guy. Thanks, teammate.

• Finley needs to take some blocking tips from second-year Seattle receiver Golden Tate:

• Why is it not surprising that Jermichael Finley’s agent is also a total dumbbutt? The whole brouhaha over Cutler yelling at his lineman versus Aaron Rodgers yelling at James Jones (more on that later) led Finley’s agent, Blake Baratz, to take a shot at Aaron’s leadership on twitter: “ARod is a great QB he isn't a great leader. There's a major difference. Leaders take the blame & make every1 better. He doesn't.” *Eye roll.*

• The more I see of Randall Cobb, the more I like - and I’m not just talking about his mesmerizing eyes. I really like the way the Packers have been using him in the backfield, too, to add a little dimension to their running game. He's becoming the go-to playmaker!

You can't look at this and not smile back.

• I also like it when the Packers use screen passes in lieu of the run game. They did a little of that with Cedric Benson to get him started and I think it was effective.

• I was praying the whole second half of the Giants-Buccaneer that Tampa Bay would hold onto their lead because I have a whole slew of snarky things to say about Eli Manning that I can’t say now. I’ll say this for Eli: no one can overcome 3-interception first halves quite like him.

"Please stop saying mean things about my mother."

• What’s with New Orleans’ apathy? Their 0-2 record isn’t as disturbing as their seeming lack of effort. Maybe an entire offseason of whining has made them soft.

• Jacksonville Jaguars’ first half offense against Houston: -4 yards passing.

• Baltimore’s kicker Justin Tucker has been quite impressive, but he looks like he needs to have his parents’ sign a permission slip to allow him to play.

He's not allowed to play late games on school nights.

• Just because they’re the Washington Redskins and can’t have anything too good happen to them at once, the football gods have offset the excitement surrounding RGIII with striking down two of the Skins’ defensive starters for the whole season.

• One of the many things I like about Green Bay’s uniform is that their pants do not show butt sweat. I mean, how was this not addressed in design meetings? They are designed specifically for large men who are going to sweat a lot.

This is a whole 'nother problem. Maybe he should wear Spanx?

• My friend, who is a New England Patriots’ fan, sent me a text saying, “Whew! I thought we were going to lose! All Gostowski has to do is make this kick.” Her telecast was apparently about 30 seconds behind what I had already seen and I didn’t quite know how to tell her...

• Turnovers are one of the most consistent predictors of who will win a game, but Philadelphia is totally screwing up the stats! Nine turnovers in two wins. I don’t there’s a less happy 2-0 team. The coaching staff is in between a rock and a hard place with Michael Vick. Force him to stay in the pocket and have a lot of bad decisions and turnovers or let him play to his strength on the run and watch him take a beating?

Perhaps he's secretly a gambling man and is just trying to ruin the spread.

• The Giants looked to have sealed the game with a late interception and went into victory formation, but that didn’t stop Tampa Bay from having a go at Eli Manning. Tom Coughlin was a little less than happy. After the game, Tampa coach Greg Schiano was unrepentant, saying, “I don't know if that's not something that's done in the National Football League …” Well, Greg, I’ve never coached in the National Football League, but even I can tell you that no, that’s not something that’s done.

"You can't take a cheap shot like that against a quarterback that is that soft!"

• The Falcons have looked impressive in their first two starts, but I’m not falling for that again. Uh-uh. The past three seasons I’ve said how great they were only to watch them crumble at the first whiff of a do-or-die game. 

•  Michael Turner, congratulations on beating the Broncos; maybe this is not the best way to celebrate.

• Mark Sanchez does realize he has other teammates besides Santonio Holmes, right? I got sick of seeing incompletion after incompletion. Holmes was targeted 11 times and caught only 3 passes. Try somewhere else, Mark!

• The replacement refs continue to suck. As this article points out, it’s not just the blown calls - like the shady holding call that nullified New England’s touchdown or this head-scratcher of a pass interference call (seriously, watch it) - it’s the fact that they look completely lost out there. Whenever they huddle at midfield to discuss a call, their faces look like mine when someone asks me a question about cars (“What kind of car do you have?” “...Uhhh, blue?”). Add to that  the the embarrassment of having to pull one ref from a game due to his fandom and another accused of telling a player he needed him to play well for his fantasy team.

"Excuse me, sir, I think you may have spotted the ball incorrectly."

Now let’s get to Jay Cutler. As many have said before, the problem is not just his poor decision making and proneness to interceptions - it’s his attitude. He just doesn’t seem to get it. Everyone who watched the game saw Jay chewing out his left tackle, J’Marcus Webb, and give him a little bit of a bump. Aaron Rodgers also was seen yelling at James Jones after Jones ran the wrong route and gave up an interception.

As some have pointed out, one of the key differences is that the Bears’ offensive line was just getting beat by a better team, while Jones made a mental error that was not a matter of physical ability. Jones’ play was preventable. I don’t know that any amount of preparation would have helped the Bears stop Clay Matthews. James Jones, for his part, said he has no problem with Rodgers taking him to task for his mistake.

I get where Cutler is coming from - he was getting beaten up every play and was frustrated, but how does this help? Maybe he shouldn’t have done it, but I’d be willing to let it slide as heat-of-the-moment thing.

The problem is Cutler’s attitude after the game. He didn’t apologize, saying he’s passionate because he cares. Fine. That’s Jay for you.  But during his weekly radio show, Cutler said that he was “proud” of his game and that he kept his composure the whole game. He does realize we’re talking about the Week 2 game and not Week 1, right?

Asked if there was a throw he wished he could take back, Cutler named the pass that Brandon Marshall dropped in the endzone, saying he could have thrown a better ball. “The picks?” he said, “You can have those.” ALL FOUR OF THEM, JAY???? If he’s going to publicly go after his teammates for their mistakes, he should be the first to own up to his own, of which there were plenty. In fact, I can think of FOUR off the top of my head.

Cutler’s own teammate, cornerback D.J. Moore, criticized his quarterback, saying:

"I don't think you can act like that, though, to make it seem like it's just my fault or whatnot ... I think it's wrong, honestly. I would feel some kind of way if he were to do me like that and make it seem like 'well, the reason that I'm having a bad game is because what you're doing and not me taking accountability for myself because I'm throwing these types of passes or doing this type of read.'"

Moore went on to say that Cutler “is what he is” and “he's always been that way so I don't expect him to change.” This didn’t have to be a big deal. Teammates yell at each other all the time. All Cutler had to say was he was frustrated and let it get to him. Even if he doesn’t think that’s true, the fact that he doesn’t even know what to say as the quarterback - and thereby, essentially, team spokesman - is so much of the problem. In the words of Woodson, “Same old Jay.”