Mickles: Playing at Lambeau not an easy task
By SHELDON MICKLES
Advocate sportswriter
October 02, 2012
After what happened to them Monday night in Seattle, the Green Bay Packers are probably going to be in a surly mood Sunday afternoon.
Not even the thought of having real NFL officials back on the field will be enough to make them forget perhaps the most controversial — and certainly the most talked about — finish in the league’s 90-year history.
The Packers wouldn’t be human if they didn’t want to go out the next opportunity they get and make someone pay — and make them pay dearly — for their bizarre 14-12 final-play loss to the Seahawks.
Then again, the New Orleans Saints can only hope the Packers are suffering from a hangover of epic proportions when they walk into historic Lambeau Field.
Asked Wednesday if all the furor surrounding their last game could be a distraction for the Packers, Drew Brees smiled and said that isn’t likely to be the case for a team that won the Super Bowl two seasons ago.
“I hope so. … But no, I doubt it,” Brees said. “They’re a great organization. They’re extremely well-coached. They’re used to success, so they know how to handle tough situations.
“I’m sure that’s been talked about and addressed just like we’re doing it in our own way here underneath the circumstances that we’re in.”
Therein lies a big problem for the 0-3 Saints, who could be in the wrong place at the wrong time Sunday when they go against the 1-2 Packers.
Angry or not, it’s never easy to go to Lambeau and play the Packers.
They were 8-0 in the storied stadium a year ago, and have won 19 of their last 21 regular-season games there dating to the middle of the 2009 season.
“It’s not going to be easy. … It’s going to be hard to go there and play them after what happened to them on Monday night,” Saints tackle Zach Strief said. “I’m sure we would feel the same way. There would be a lot of motivation to come out and play well, and we’ll be ready for that.”
At the same time, Strief said it’s a great opportunity for the Saints.
It’s a chance, he said, to at least erase some of the pain that has come from three consecutive losses to open the season — and another chance to get on track and get something started before it’s much too late.
Saints interim coach Aaron Kromer didn’t want to waste any time talking about how much extra motivation the Packers might have when they get to step on the field again Sunday.
“What happens to them is of no concern to us, to be honest,” Kromer said. “What happens to us is what’s concerning us.”
That’s not a bad way to go into a game you need in the worst way.
If you’re too concerned with how the Packers are going to react to losing a game they shouldn’t have lost, especially when they really didn’t lose it, it’s not going to be productive.
And the Saints, to be sure, have enough of their own problems to deal with.