Talkshoe gave me a bit of scare, indicating it had eaten my podcast.

I got to everyone's questions and answered them the best I could. Thanks everyone for participating. It took an hour, but anytime I'm talking time passes fast for me. It's pretty strong. If you can survive it, I drop an F-bomb at the end.

Up the Gut: Dallas owned Green Bay's defensive tackles, and little wonder:

Dallas: Adjusted Line Yards Offense: Mid/Guard: 2nd

Green Bary: Adjusted Line Yards Defense: Mid/Guard: 32nd

Green Bay attempted to address this by drafting Justin Harrell, but Harrell underachieved his rookie season and was placed on the PUP list before the start of 2008. What's left is a bona fide Achilles heel. With Ryan Pickett down with a knee injury, Colin Cole has seen considerable time at left defensive tackle. Cole aspires to the quickness of Howard Green and the stoutness of Craig Terrill. He's a true last available talent on a team that didn't see itself so thin at the position, but has been torn down by injury. On the right, Johnny Jolly is inconsistent but can penetrate and, given his youth, has rotation potential.

Marion Barber is a bruising and productive back, but watching the two yard bubbles he could pick a hole from, again and again and again, I think a back with more boom, more long potential, would have gouged Green Bay for even greater yardage. What he did do, though, was keep Dallas out of passing downs and neutralize Green Bay's pass rush. More on that shortly.

For Seattle, this is a matchup advantage. Despite mixed results, Seattle has one very good run blocker and two capable run blockers up the middle. Luckily, its best run blocker, Mike Wahle, also matches against the Packers best run stuffer, Jolly. Watching Cole, I believe this will look like a bit of a breakout game for Chris Spencer, as Spencer should have little trouble single blocking and freeing Floyd Womack to do what he's does best, pull block.

Red Party: Green Bay absolutely, positively, does not blitz. I recorded three blitzes all game. In 2007, the team rushed 4 on 76% of all plays. Green Bay's pass rush is off and on. In balanced downs, downs that can be pass or rush, most downs, they provided almost no pressure on Tony Romo. Only when it was clearly a passing down, like following this play

1-10-DAL 38 (1:37) F.Jones right end to DAL 33 for -5 yards (C.Jenkins).

did the Packers loose the dogs. It's a matter of technique and style. In balanced downs the Packers were hesitant off the snap and couldn't recover. In pass downs they exploded off the snap and could create pressure.

This plays into Seattle's hands two ways. First, where Seattle excels in pass coverage is at creating time. Green Bay's hustle pass rush, slow developing and dependent on cover, should allow slower, but zone carving players like John Carlson and Bobby Engram the time to get open. Watch for A.J. Hawk to match against Carlson. The Packers did not dedicate a DB to Jason Witten and won't commit one to Carlson. Hawk is a good cover LB, but after facing safeties and corners, I expect Carlson to rebound against Green Bay. Second, Charlie Frye is crap under pressure and good time can help mask his greatness weakness. Good time, and a rushing attack that can keep him out of passing downs.

Memories: Green Bay's safeties are active around the line, and it helps impact their run defense, especially along the edges, but also leaves them susceptible to deep passes. If Seattle produces deep, I would expect it come from the seem. Watch for Carlson, Engram and even Bumpus to attempt to exploit the deep middle.

Square: Defenses don't get more vanilla than Green Bay. The Packers have two formations: 4-3 and 4-2 Nickel. I witnessed one exception, a 5-3 on short yardage. One.

The Return of Ryan Grant: Despite a 28^th ranked ALY ranking run blocking, Green Bay looked much stronger run blocking than pass blocking. To be clear, Dallas is also better at pass rushing than defending the run: 9th in ASR but 22nd in ALY. Still, I saw good line play by Green Bay and a back that looked like a shadow of himself. The back that took the league by storm in 2007, looks slower, stiffer but still upright. In the first quarter Adam Jones forced a Grant fumble with little more than a shoulder tackle. Grant's style and build never looked equipped for the NFL, and it's reasonable to think it's catching up with him. On the flip side, the Packers run blocking was rewarded when Brand Jackson took the field. Jackson runs a little like Julius Jones, not flashy but steady and productive.

Excuse Me: Despite a 22nd ranked Adjusted Sack Rank, the Packers pass defense looked abysmal. Pressure came early and often, and there wasn't but a handful of plays Rodgers really had time in the pocket. It's crystal after watching tape that Green Bay is a very poor pass blocking team held up by a pocket aware quarterback with a quick release and eyes trained down field. Rodgers is excellent at avoiding the first tackle and even under pressure looks for the open man. Quarterbacks like that have given Seattle trouble, and it's necessary that Seattle's secondary doesn't drop coverage even when the play looks like a sure sack. Seattle will get pressure, consistent, punishing pressure, but if the secondary fails it won't matter.

Greg Jennings versus Seattle's right-side secondary: There is no matchup, Jenning will produce. His incredible agility and strong set of open field moves is the perfect foil for two can't tackle DBs Kelly Jennings and Brian Russell. The key for Seattle is to minimize the damage or importance of Jennings receptions.

I'll post formation breakdowns tomorrow.

Cowboys 13 - Packers 6

3-7-DAL 7 (Q3: 6:36)

Green Bay breaks WR (left), Trips, Rb (Right) with Aaron Rodgers in a shotgun. Cowboys break in a 4-1 dime with Kevin Burnett playing MLB. This is a heavily unbalanced formation, with Greg Jennings alone on the left. At the snap, the play progresses like this.

(The spacing is exaggerated to improve clarity)

Jennings runs a lazy route and Rodgers never looks his way. While unbalanced formations are often designed to pull coverage away from the receiver on the lesser side, in this situation it looks like Jennings is the decoy and the trips the target. Rodgers awaits Donald Lee to get open over the middle, but Burnett picks him up and then passes him to Courtney Brown. Dallas is playing a boundary zone - sure that's not the right terminology - but the meaning is conveyed: keep Green Bay out of the end zone. Brandon Jackson is open in the right flat, but Rodgers seems determined to target one of his receivers. Anthony Henry runs into his defensive line, circles out, runs past Jackson, and closes in on Rodgers tackles, spins Rodgers around, falls, Rodgers attempts to recover but takes a knee completing the sack. This plays like the exact wrong play call for Green Bay or the exact right play for Dallas, and though Henry's blitz is anything but clean, Dallas' coverage is so strong Henry eventually finds his mark.

Seattle has re-signed Justin Forsett and added former Montana State quarterback Travis Lulay. To make room, Seattle cut running back Matt Lawrence and wide receiver Trenton Shelton. Just great news. Good to have you back little big-man. I would advise Seattle move Bumpus back to the practice squad and get Forsett back at punt returner, but the team will likely wait until Deion Branch can return to do so.

Cowboys 3 - Packers 3

2-10-GB 48 (Q1: 3:23)

The Dallas Cowboys align 2 WR, Rb (left); WR, TE (Right), Tony Romo in shotgun. The Green Bay Packers align in a 4-2 nickel. At the snap, right tackle Marc Colombo and right guard Leonard Davis double left defensive tackle Colin Cole. Cole looks a little like Howard Green: Short, stout and too easily blocked. Tight end Jason Witten engages right defensive end Aaron Kampman. Left guard Kyle Koser pulls right. Marion Barber receives the handoff and begins, methodically right. Step. Slowdown. Step. Colombo and Davis swallow Cole. Left linebacker A.J. Hawk charges downhill into the suddenly gaping right "C" gap, is met and then cut by the pulling Koser. Barber enters the beginning of the hole, ashoulder Kampman. Kampman pushes Witten high, grabs Witten and then tosses him aside, but the momentum leaves him unbalanced and behind Barber. Barber advances. Colombo disengages Cole, blindsides linebacker Nick Barnett, leaves Barnett stumbling towards the exiting Barber; Barnett attempts to tackle but buries his left shoulder into strong safety Aaron Rouse. The collision picks Rouse, Barnett can't wrap, Rouse manages only an arm, and Barber, so adept at getting low and powering through tackles, gets low and powers through Rouse. Barber explodes out of the broken tackle, cuts up field and records a tidy 25.

Cowboys 3 - Packers 0

1-10-GB 26 (Q1: 13:07)

The Green Bay Packers align in a 2 WR, 2TE, RB set with Aaron Rodgers under center. The Dallas Cowboys align in a base 3-4, OLBs wide. Greg Jennings is on the offensive left. Anthony Henry is playing 10 yards off opposite Jennings. At the snap, Rodgers takes a single step drop, opens his stance right and throws cross body left. The fake right draws both inside linebackers. Jenning slants hard in, receives, never breaks stride, continues three yards in, stops on a dime, swims Henry, breaks left, gives a slight stutter step up field that wobbles Ken Hamlin, continues towards the sideline and records 26 before Hamlin recovers for the tackle out of bounds.

This is the thread to post questions you'd like addressed during the podcast. It gives me insight into what people are thinking and time to create an informed response. Whatever the interest, I'm continuing the podcast because though it's rough now I think it has potential. I'm considering before next season finding a cohost. Some banter would be nice.

I watched the first drive of the first quarter, saw defeat in the eyes of Seattle, victory in the eyes of New York, and figured this is as close to a mercy rule the NFL will ever have. Reflecting on this loss, the words of Tim O'Brien sprung to mind, about happening-truth and story-truth. The happening-truth is Seattle entered Sunday's contest a mediocre team with a hard loss and a bad loss and a lot left to be decided about how good or bad they are. That team left Sunday's contest in the bottom tier of the NFL, suffering a secondary collapse few anticipated, and staring down the hardest part of their schedule. The story-truth is that Seattle was embarrassed, battered and tossed around by a clearly better opponent. That good teams don't lose like that. That I felt embarrassed rooting for Josh Wilson. Embarrassed I've championed Lofa Tatupu as a future Hall of Fame inductee. Embarrassed thinking this team could compete. And that I'm scared to make the same mistake.

I want you to feel what I felt. I want you to know why story-truth is truer sometimes than happening-truth. -Tim O'Brien

Fans gravitate towards story-truth, because it better explains how it felt to lose. As an analyst, I understand both, but must attempt to stay grounded in happening-truth. Right now, this team is very bad, but its talent is not. Until that changes, I'm not abandoning hope for this season.

Why Brandon Jacobs was the least important part of 41 yards per carry: The rushing totals stick with Jacobs, but few backs in the NFL squander clear shots into the third level. Jacobs bruised for some good gains and first downs and certainly had something to do with his 44 and 38 yard rushes, but I would argue he was one of the lesser components.

Fourth play of New York's first drive of the quarter, 2^nd and 10 from the Giants 32. Giants break 3WR, TE, Rb. Seattle in a base 4-3 with its rotation tackles in. At the snap, Shaun O'Hare easily single blocks Howard Green, Chris Snee pulls clean and engages Tatupu, Leroy Hill runs into the pile, and Jacobs breaks free into the third level. Brian Russell squares, circles around and then tackles Jacobs from behind. It's been true since 2005, Seattle needs a right defensive tackle that can occupy two blockers. Green is a one gap tackle. However raw, Red Bryant has proven he demands blockers. It's time, free Red Bryant.

A play later New York scored and the game was effectively over. The blown coverage, a little Russell and a little Deon Grant, was ugly and inexplicable and perfectly in accordance with Sunday's story.

Tomorrow we'll begin previewing Green Bay.

New York picked on Josh Wilson all quarter. His play was so poor, and his coverage so frustratingly loose, it's tough to tell if he was attempting to play zone or just clueless.

Josh Wilson

The Wilson train takes all passengers, but is nonstop until the end zone: One play really defines Wilson's quarter.

3^rd and 9 from the Giants 26. The play after The Good Play. New York breaks 4 WR, Rb, SG. Seattle in a 3-3 nickel. My beloved 3-3 nickel. The action is on the left. Wilson is at second corner, or left CB, opposite Domenick Hixon. Deon Grant plays opposite slot receiver Amani Toomer. At the snap, Toomer runs a wheel route. For the uninitiated, that's horizontal towards the sideline and then up field. Hixon diagonals in on what becomes a squared in. Grant and Wilson, in part because they are playing off, avoid picking each other out of the play, and each retain coverage. Kind of. Grant is nails, picking up Toomer and running step for step with him down the sideline. Wilson fails, running a looping route over Grant, over Toomer and only sorta towards Hixon. Hixon is easily open after his cut, receives and suffers a vicious hit from behind by Wilson. The quality of coverage and vague dirtiness of the tackle is Brian Russell like.

John Carlson

The best explanation I have for Carlson's MIA is that New York matched a DB against him. That's the kind of luxury a big early lead engenders. New York played lots of nickel and dime, knowing Seattle had to pass. It's not too surprising to see a rookie tight end struggle against a DB. Seattle needs to not let the game get away from them, have a real threat of rushing the ball and Carlson's production will pick up again.

Mike Wahle

Justin Tuck creates pass rush problems for most guards, but Mike Wahle's pass blocking problems extend through the season. In the waning minutes of the second quarter, Wahle missed picking up a Mathias Kiwanuka stunt on a play that luckily resulted in a face mask penalty. The more likely outcome would have been a sack or incompletion.

Running Left

New York punished Seattle's defensive right side, and it's clear from a personnel and production standpoint, that's a problem Seattle will suffer all season. Part of it is Seattle's second corner. Kelly Jennings is a zero in run support. Wilson is better, but a major drop off in coverage. Brian Russell is Brian Russell. Beyond those three, Seattle's rotation right side, Darryl Tapp and Howard Green,  get blown off the ball. Green Bay took advantage of this weakness last season and should do so again on Sunday.

Losing Football 101

Let's end with a favorite pastime of bloggers and know-it-alls (but I repeat myself): Blame the coach. This play call seemed especially ill conceived.

Fifth play of Seattle's closing drive, 1^st and 10 from the Giants 19. Seattle breaks 4 WR, RB. New York in a 4-2 nickel. Seattle aligns Billy McMullen split end left and Kerry Colbert slot left. At the snap, the dream team runs these complementary patterns.

The Giants ignore McMullen, his shallow route and inability to run after the catch, and double and then triple Colbert. The no-chance pass sails incomplete. Der. I would call the Giants smart or well coached, but what defense in the NFL would bother with McMullen? 18 seconds left, a player without YAC threat, running a five yard route towards the sideline. That's a winner.