One one-thousand. Two one-thousand.

I know I’m not a normal girl. Mostly, I think that’s one of my best qualities. I have a circular saw. I asked for and received a compressor for Christmas. I watch football. In fact, I generally love football. (I also bake and sew and other girlier things – lol)

So this weekend, with my beloved Green Bay Packers on the bye week and me in Chicago for work, I still made time for the game. I found myself at The Tin Lizzie, 2483 N. Clark St., Chicago, IL 60614, for the Detroit Lions’ first playoff appearance since 1999. The story I’m told is that Tin Lizzie’s owner is an alum of Michigan State University. True or not, it’s a Michigan sports bar. I arrived with my coworker/Lions fan friend just less than an hour ahead of kick off. It was packed, but the atmostphere was amazing and everyone was ready to cheer. If you’re in the area and want to cheer on Michigan sports team, I recommend it. But go early. There are more MI-ex pats in the Chicagoland area than I anticipated.

The first 3 quarters of the game were very exciting. The Lions were in the game, leading most of it. Matt Stafford was on point, connecting on passes which seemed too risky to have taken. The opening drive ran them right down the field for a touchdown (with only one ridiculous flag). Then, the 4th quarter. Don’t forget some of the most one-sided officiating I’ve seen in a long time. And I’m not really even a Lions fan! Wrong is wrong, no matter which color jersey you’re wearing.

But there is one lesson in this game that every other team, especially the Packers, need to pay attention to. I’m not going to pretend the Packers have a phenominal defense. They do not; and if they face the Saints… they need this advice.

You cannot give Drew Brees an average of 7 seconds to throw the ball on every single pass. The 3-second sack by Suh aside, Brees had all day to make a pass on just about every single play. I only started counting the seconds around the middle of the second quarter, but generally he was on the 5-9 seconds every time. Every. Single. Time. (Again, except for the one…)

Let’s hope the natural turf at Candlestick prove to be a bit of Kryponite this week.

In the past 5 games, including Saturday’s ass-handing with Detroit, Brees averaged 75% completion. Keep in mind, it’s only 75 due to a 59% completion against the Falcons the day after Christmas. (59% is also perfectly acceptable when you trounce the other team 45-16. Let’s be honest here.) Excluding this outlyer, he’s at 79%.

If you are playing a team where the quarterback makes 79% of his attempts, you will not win if you cannot collapse the pocket and put pressure on the guy. If you don’t believe me, watch Saturday’s game tape.