Greetings, loyal minions. Your Maximum Leader spent yesterday relaxing. Well… Relaxing as much as it is possible for one to relax when watching football…

It was a good break. You see, Saturday was spent on Villainschloss work. To make a long story short… One of the hot water heaters in the Villainschloss ruptured. The rupture was caught early, so lots of damage was avoided. But, some water got into part of your Maximum Leader’s office and was soaked up by the rug. To be safe your Maximum Leader cut out the affected area of the rug. On Saturday, your Maximum Leader and Mrs Villain (and to a limited extent, the Villainettes) moved all of the stuff out of your Maximum Leader’s office, took up the rest of the rug, put down new padding, laid new carpet, and returned everything to the office. Your Maximum Leader now knows he has roughly 900 books in his office alone. (Last time your Maximum Leader counted his - and Mrs Villain’s - books the total was over 2,500.)

Anyhoo…

After a grueling day of labor (the damned dwarves living under the Villainschloss were pretty friggin useless… and must be punished. By the way… if you click on that link, that post was authored by the Big Hominid, not your Maximum Leader. At some point when he moved from Blogspot to MT or from MT to Wordpress the authorship must have been switched.), it was good to sit around and watch some football.

At the risk of upsetting any Badger’s reading this post (in Asia or otherwise) your Maximum Leader’s beloved Packers are on the verge of disappointing him…

Why does your Maximum Leader write this? You may be saying to yourself, “Self, the Green Bay Packers are 5 and 1. Surely that must please my Maximum Leader.” Well, you bet your sweet bippy that a 5-1 record does please your Maximum Leader. But honestly, the Redskins were close (many times) to kicking some Packer butt. Of course, we all know that “close” only has real meaning when one is referring to hand grenades and thermonuclear weapons. But in football “close” means that you should look at the game carefully before bragging.

May your Maximum Leader blog frankly here? The Packers don’t have a running game. Teams that don’t have running games don’t win championships. (Yes, your Maximum Leader is old school in his steadfast belief that the running game is a key component to a championship team. Because running the ball is controlling the clock. When you control the pace of the game, you can dictate the actions of the other team.) Sure the Pack look like they can win the NFC North. They actually look as good or better than most of the teams in the NFC. But have you looked at the AFC recently?

The Packers need to work on their running game, and they need to work on routes that will open up their receivers. As the Redskins game showed, now that other teams in the league realize they can stop the Packers on the run without undue effort they can concentrate on the receivers. Driver, Franks, et al had a hard time getting open, and were well covered. Your Maximum Leader knows that it was wet and raining at Lambeau, but the Skins were doing a good job covering the Packer’s WR and TEs.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if the Pack are playing above their ability… He thinks that with some effort they can resolve these problems, but right now they are shakier than their record shows.

And in more football news… Have you seen those New England Patriots? If they keep playing like this your Maximum Leader will declare this team bound for the Super Bowl. If this team keeps playing the way they are, and wins a Super Bowl, they might be the greatest team to ever play the game. If there any way that you can stop the Pats? Shut down the run, and they can pass on you. Think you can shut down their passing game? Think again hoss. Tom Brady has the most competent receiving corps at his disposal. And he has the brains and vision to exploit every weapon he has. It is insane. Your Maximum Leader always thinks of Paul Hornung as the “Golden Boy.” (Hey! He was Lombardi’s Golden Boy.) But Tom Brady is giving old Paul a run for his money. Between his exploits on the field and his exploits off the field your Maximum Leader has to admire Tom Brady.

Your Maximum Leader wonders if any team can stop the Pats…

Carry on.