A very Packer Thanksgiving

Dear sweet Jehovah, I love watching football games at Kettle of Fish, New York’s incomparable Packer bar. So when I heard Kettle was going to be open on Thanksgiving for the Green Bay-Detroit game — and serving a full turkey dinner, no less — I was sold. Better yet, I managed to persuade my friends David and Micah to join me. This is them, hanging out next to the Family Guy pinball machine:

(You may recall David from this sad affair.)

This is Kettle’s owner, Patrick Daley, setting up the buffet. You can’t tell from this shot, but Patrick’s t-shirt is a map of Wisconsin. He may own a pair of long pants, but I’ve never seen them.

Speaking of things I’ve never seen before, this man was wearing a Daryn Colledge jersey. Apparently they make them. That must be nice for Daryn Colledge’s mom.

Touchdown! Aaron Rodgers to Donald Lee. Here’s the reaction on Christopher Street:

And then it was time to eat. Friends, Patrick did not skimp. Here’s your devoted blogger loading up on turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, green beans, carrots and cranberry sauce.

A few notes on the game:

-The long ball returns! Against Dallas and San Francisco, Aaron Rodgers played ultra-disciplined football, unloading the ball in a blink and keeping nearly all his throws near the line of scrimmage to foil the pass rush. He still employed a lot of check-downs, slants and screens against the Lions, but he also showed he remembers how to air it out with a spectacular 68-yard bomb to Donald Driver.

How exciting has it been to watch Rodgers develop as a quarterback this year? Almost every week you can see him first adding a new dimension to his game, then integrating it with what he already knows. Statistically, he’s already one of the top half-dozen passers in the league, and there’s no ceiling in sight. As Tony Wilson at Railbird Central puts it, “The future looks bright for us Packer fans.”

-It was the day of the Donalds. Driver is just a marvel, combining the craftiness of the 35-year-old receiver he is with the toughness and physicality of the guy he was 10 years ago but by all the normal laws of nature should’ve stopped being by now. Meanwhile, it was nice to see Donald Lee have a biggish day with his first touchdown of the year. Where once he seemed in danger of fading away, he now looks to be carving out a niche for himself as a more traditional tight end to complement Jermichael Finley’s TE-WR hybrid.

-In his first start this year as nickel back, Jarrett Bush wasn’t as awful as I’d feared, but he did exhibit the ball skills that have made him the least beloved member of the team. Bush missed his shot at three interceptions. One was contested, one went through his hands, and the third sailed past his helmet while he looked in the other direction. Charles Woodson doesn’t lose track of the ball that long even when he’s sleeping.

-Mike McCarthy can say whatever he wants about having full confidence in Mason Crosby. The decision to go for it on 4th-and-3 rather than try to kick a 48-yarder — in a dome! — was a stunning statement about the kind of season Crosby’s having. He’s great on kickoffs but just waaaaaay too undependable on field-goal attempts.

I haven’t even mentioned the ridiculous day Woodson had, but that’s because I intend to address it in an upcoming post.