Could that game have ended in any other fashion considering the Brett Favre love affair that was going on in the ESPN broadcast booth last night? Deanna Favre sits in for a quarter and Tony Kornholio, as PFT likes to call him was drooling all over the booth. For Favre to deliver in such an exhilarating fashion was almost storybook.  If anybody has had a career made for Hollywood, it’s Brett Favre. To be doing this at his age is simply unbelievable. Favre is once again proving that although Brady and Manning are lighting things up, Brett Favre is still the face of the NFL. And when he does what he did yesterday, the monster continues to grow. I love it.

Granted, all the Packers did was win a non-conference road game, it wasn’t the Super Bowl or didn’t clinch the division title or even a playoff berth. It did give the Packers a little more respect and keep them in first place in the NFC North over the surprising Detroit Lions. A game I thought the Packers would lose they won with great defense and a golden arm. If Favre stays healthy the Packers may well indeed be a factor in the NFC this year.

Yesterday’s win was a huge one for the Packers not only in the standings but in their heads. Head coach Mike McCarthy has this team finding a way to stay in games when things look bad and then making something happen when the opportunities arise. I am very impressed and promise to not be so negative in future game blogs. This team circles the wagons like old Buffalo Bills of the late 80s, early 90s. I hate to jinx them but I feel good about the Packers chances in Kansas City next week. The Chiefs are woeful on offense but have a fairly good defense. Arrowhead Stadium is another stadium that I’m sure Brett Favre has never won in. How sweet it would be to beat both the Broncos and Chiefs back-to-back and come home to face the hapless Vikings.

Things are looking good in Packer land, but like the players hopefully do, lets take it one game at a time. And lets all enjoy the brilliance that is Brett Favre. While it seems a given at this time that Favre will be back for another year, leave it to Favre to up and retire after a great year.

Yesterday’s win will long be remembered. Brett Favre, at 38-years old carrying a young team on his shoulders and guiding the Packers to a 6-1 record on Monday Night Football. The arrogance of Tom Brady, the whining of Peyton Manning, I’ll take Brett Favre every time.  As Favre himself would say, “put ‘er in the ole’ vice!”

Not starting out well. Defense needs to tighten up. Broncos are rolling from deep in their own territory. Nice little drive going.

No flags, and a third-down hold. Broncos did a good job of moving it out of their own endzone, Pack takes over at the twenty after a punt to the endzone.

Perfect pass to Jennings and he drops it. End of drive. Looks like I’m right.

Denver takes over at their own 40, I hate to say it, but my guess is at least three on this drive.

Yep, the Packers are not ready to play tonight. One of those games where you can tell early what the outcome will be. I hate being right. Might be a short blog tonight.

Bigby reminds me of the Bigby I ripped in the preseason. Two penalties and a touchdown pass given up. Where is Marquand Manuel when you need him. What a horrible series for Bigby. Can you say Charlie Peprah?

Holy cow! Maybe there is a little magic in the old arm yet. Brett Favre to James Jones for 79 yards and a touchdown! A one-play drive and the rookie Jones beats Broncos’ all-world corner Champ Bailey. Who needs a running game? I know, I know, look at me now. We got this one back, but there is a long way to go and the defense better do its job or Favre may have to do that all night.

That is inexcusable. A personal-foul face-mask penalty and now a holding penalty on Charles Woodson. What a joke. Might as well give them a touchdown. Talk about undisciplined and not ready to play football. This defense thinks its way better than it really is. Can you have any more time to throw? Jay Cutler could get a manicure back there.

I really predicted this game wrong. I thought the Packers’ defense would play well and the Packers’ offense would struggle. With the exception of one play, this has the makings of a blowout. The Packers’ defense decided not to show up.

Well, I tried not to jinx them and maybe in the end I did just that. Settling for three after going 98 yards is only slightly better than turning it over. I should have said something. I’m sorry.

Why am I not surprised DeShawn Wynn is not in the game? That is one thing I was right about six months ago. Wynn is a wimp. Period.

Taking my chances. The Packers could do some serious damage to the Broncos’ hopes as well as my prediction with a touchdown here. All this Deanna Favre stuff with the Packers moving the ball down field, don’t want to waste the good karma.

Karma wasted as Favre misses a wide open Donald Driver. Far from over, not even half-time yet, but 13-7 is better than nothing I guess.

What am thinking? 21-7 and the game is over. Now, I still think Denver wins. Instead of turnovers, inability to score in the red zone kills us. Always something.

Back-to-back holding penalties on guard Jason Spitz. Nice way to go into the half. Confidence is six points better than zero-zero.

Packers defense called for another penalty. This is just absurd. Denver will be leading by 9:45 Central.

Wow, a penalty on the Broncos. Somebody got paid. Two in a row. But the Broncos still get three. Should be 21-10.

Another penalty against the Packers. This is getting boring, and predictable. I do like the way the Packers have actually gained some yards on the ground tonight, as they should against the worst run defense in the NFL, but unfortunately they have not been able to turn it into more points. Even with all the good the Packers have done on offense, I almost get the feeling they blew their wad.

Favre fumbles one away. Shucks.

Holy cow! A win in Denver. Favre still have the gun. All is well again.

 If anybody thought the Green Bay Packers 5-1 start gave them the inside track to the NFC North Division title they are sorely mistaken, more than likely they are also mistaken about the team that will be challenging the Packers for that title. The Detroit Lions stuck a fork in the Chicago Bears today by beating the defending division and conference champions in Chicago and ending any hope of Chicago making the playoffs, in all likelihood. The Lions are looking better and better each week. The Packers need to look good tomorrow night and beat the Broncos to remain in first place all alone. A tough task indeed.

What the Lions lack on defense they make up for with a balanced and explosive offense. The Packers have a good defense and a very unbalanced offense. It will be a very interesting race and the Lions have the easier schedule. If the Packers can keep pace and beat them the two times they play them, the Packers should win the division, but keeping pace is going to be the hard part. I’m sorry, but I have to say it as I feel it and I think the Packers lose tomorrow night. I can see a good defensive effort wasted by a turnover-prone offense. The Packers have fumbled at an alarming pace the last few weeks and lucked out twice. They won’t get so lucking against Denver.

Every prediction comes with an if, and my if is if Brett Favre throws no interceptions and for about 300 yards, the Packers win. If not, Broncos 24, Packers 13.

The Green Bay Packers had a week off to prepare for the roughest road trip of their season. Playing at Denver and at Kansas City back-to-back would be a tough trip for anybody outside of Indianapolis and New England. Two strong home fields, one, Arrowhead Stadium, rich in tradition much like Lambeau Field. Speaking of, I hate that tradition is lost in some cities these days. Come on, how can the Broncos not be playing in Mile High Stadium. Money is root of all evil.

Anyway, if the Packers are to maintain their division lead they need to win at least one of these games. The Chicago Bears made it perfectly clear Sunday that they are not going anywhere and in my mind they are still the team to beat in this division. I can easily see the Bears putting together a major winning streak after looking at their schedule. The Packers need one out of the two for sure.

The Packers will have another weapon in wide receiver Koren Robinson this week. While it will take a few weeks probably, Robinson is probably the second-best receiver on the roster behind Donald Driver and has the potential to be number one. Robinson is only 27 and has his prime years are ahead of him. Without even a hint of a running game, the Packers need to give Brett Favre all the weapons they can, like the Patriots did with Tom Brady. Too bad Packers’ President Bob Harlan wouldn’t allow Randy Moss to come to Green Bay, maybe if he had the Packers would be doing what the Patriots are doing right now. Huge mistake, but that is another story, but it’s getting worse each week.

Robinson appears to be ready to play and I believe he will spark the offense out of it’s doldrums of late when he gets up to speed. It might not be on offense the first week, but nothing about a long kick return hurts. I would like to see him get a few plays on offense as well, too. Robinson is better than Javon Walker and he’s healthy and a lot less expensive. It would behoove head coach Mike McCarthy to get him involved early and often. We don’t need any more fumbles in the red zone.

I don’t see much chance of the Packers’ running game improving unless the offensive line makes a drastic improvement with a week off. Granted the running backs are pedestrian, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then. The Packers’ offensive line can count on one hand the number of positive running plays the unit produced in the first six games. It does not bode well for the Packers with winter coming, and not to mention the alarming number of injuries to quarterbacks around the league this year. How long can Favre keep doing it? Handing off every now and then is a good thing.

I can’t wait for Monday, what a difference from last year at this time.

More to come…

The bye week is a beautiful thing. If you are winning, that is. Last year at the bye week I used the time to prepare myself for what could have been a 3-13 season. This year, I am enjoying the bye week because the Packers have the best record in the NFC and they can’t lose this week. How sweet it is.

At 5-1, you certainly couldn’t have asked for anything better but you get the feeling the Packers are teetering a little the last two weeks. I chock it up to playing two good defenses. I know the Bears looked terrible against the Vikings Sunday, but the week prior they held high-flying Detroit to three points over three quarters and shut down the Cowboys until late. The Redskins’ defense is simply good. They are aggressive and fast and will probably carry the Skins all year. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Packers and Redskins meet again this year, but that is looking way too far ahead for both teams.

My main concern right now is with the next opponent, the Denver Broncos in two weeks on Monday Night Football. The Broncos are reeling and today lost wide receiver Javon Walker for an indefinite amount of time due to more surgery on the knee he hurt in Green Bay. Boy does Ted Thompson come out smelling like a rose on that deal. A second-round pick for a jalopy. I love it, but that’s another story. If the Broncos get pummeled again this week by the Steelers, I’m afraid the Packers will be overconfident.

This is a road game the Packers should win, but that’s why they play the game, and this one is no gimme. I kind of hope the Broncos win this week to get the Packers attention. Hard for me to do since I can’t stand the Broncos and head coach Mike Shanahan. I love John Elway, but when he left, so did the class of the organization. Shanahan has likely been cheating long before the Patriots got caught. That might explain their decline this year.

It will be an enjoyable weekend off for Packers and Packers’ fans. Kick back and watch the race unfold. It will be hard to determine who to root for in the Cowboys-Vikings game, however, hopefully it’s a tie. Bears will lose at Philly I think, but I wouldn’t put any money on it. Tampa should shut down the Lions, but again, that is no lock.

I have some thoughts on Koren Robinson. I’ll save that until next time.

The Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins were two one loss teams trying to stake a claim to the upper level of the National Football Conference. While the game was not an instant classic in some minds, it was, nonetheless a classic defensive slugfest. The Packers faced their toughest defense to date this year and came out on top.

You can say the Packers only won because the Redskins fumbled and Charles Woodson took it to the house. But be sure to include that the Packers lost last week only because of two fumbles in Bear territory. Fair is fair in the NFL, even though I don’t like it at times.

The Redskins are who I thought there were (sorry, I couldn’t resist considering my prediction was so close), good defense but overrated offense that hadn’t beaten anybody good. The Packers don’t have to worry about that, however, but they did lose one to a team they should have beat in the Bears. That still hurts.

The win over the Redskins was one of the biggest regular season wins in at least three years for the Packers. Now the playoffs are a distinct possibility and a NFC North Division title is possibility as well. I’ll take the playoffs any way they can get them because I’m not about to put the Packers at the same level as the Colts or Patriots or even the Cowboys, but I will say this, the NFC is wide open and the Cowboys have major problems on defense.

I am a little worried about Brett Favre’s two or three misses on wide open receivers against the Redskins that would have been sure touchdowns. I know Brett just turned 38 and like my 15-year old cat, any sign of decline and the old “he’s over the hill” talk comes out. Favre will have an excellent chance to bounce back big against a bad Broncos’ team in two weeks. I expect it.

After watching the game again I am really impressed with the Packers’ defense in the fourth quarter. The ability to hold a 17-14 lead was nerve-wracking to say the least, they got the job done in spite of the offense’s inability to run out the clock.

No matter what, I am going to enjoy the bye week after a solid Packers’ win and another Bears’ loss. Sitting at 5-1 and on top of the NFC is certainly unexpected, but well deserved.

The Green Bay Packers will find out a great deal about themselves today when the resurgent Washington Redskins visit Lambeau Field. A win and the Packers are still the surprise of the NFC, a loss and the Redskins take that mantle and the Packers may soon become an afterthought with road trips to Kansas City and Denver following the bye.

Early in the week I was more worried about this game, but now I’m beginning to question all the praise that has been bestowed on the Redskins this week. How can any team outside of New England be this good? The Redskins are talking trash, but with Fred Smoot on your team, that’s what you get. Maybe the Skins  are suffering the same big-head-itis the Packers had last week.

The Packers didn’t really play that bad last week, five turnovers were more of a reason for the loss, but the Bears use of the Cover-2 defense to shut down the Packers in the second half certainly laid the blueprint out for all to see. Expect the Redskins to do the same.

I see the Packers getting off to a slow start then grinding out a 16-13 win. I think the cold, rainy weather gives the edge to Brett Favre over Jason Campbell. I also think the Packers’ defense tightens up a little this week.

If the Green Bay Packers are to make the playoffs this year, they must win this game against the Washington Redskins Sunday. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it. In fact, this is as close to a playoff game you will ever get in game six of the regular season. Lose and take a two-game losing steak into the bye week would be devastating and I will go as far to say that a loss and the Packers might not even make the playoffs.

I think the Packers can win this game because the Packers defense has been much better against the run thus far this year than the pass. If the Packers can contain the Redskins strong running game, young Redskins’ quarterback Jason Campbell will be hard pressed to beat the Packers by himself. Of course, the Skins’ defense is no slouch, itself. The Packers offense will have to be sharp.

The last time the Redskins were in Green Bay was two weeks after the 9/11 attacks and the Packers won 37-0 over a certainly emotionally drained Redskins. It was a memorable night with the all the festivities remembering the worst day in my lifetime. Sunday, while not forgetting 9/11, I will never forget 9/11, I will be in pure football mode. Confidence is moderately high.

To close the book on the Packer’s first loss of the season, I think head coach Mike McCarthy has the most to learn. His strategy of kicking away from Devon Hester in my mind was a failure. Giving the opponent only 60 yards to go for a touchdown, 30 yards for a field goal, is too much stress to put on your defense. The Packers gave up 27 points, I think even if they kicked it deep and Hester ran one back they would have given up less. That is the first example of McCarthy coaching scared.

The second example is the failure to put the ball in Brett Favre’s hands in the second half. Sure the Packers ran the ball well in the first half, so don’t you think the Bears will make an adjustment or two at halftime? The Bears are good enough on defense to shut down any team’s running game, the Packers just shocked them by even trying to run the ball in the first half. But when McCarthy ran the ball three straight times after a first and ten on their own twenty, I thought I was watching the 1972 Packers. I’d go back farther but I’m not that old. It was simply idiotic. Favre was 19-of-22 at the half with two clock killers. Very strange.

The Redskins defense is much stronger than the Bears so McCarthy better come up with a better game plan than the chicken-?!#$ one he used for Chicago. Maybe just let Brett call the game.

“We just didn’t show the maturity and poise to win.” Ten words that could not have been more accurate regarding the Green Bay Packers 27-20 loss to the Chicago Bears Sunday night. Spoken by offensive lineman Mark Tauscher. The Packers need to become like the team that taught them a lesson on how to play big games. The Bears have been in big games recently and they never panicked, they just picked up their play and kicked the Packers butt all over Lambeau Field in the second half. Facts are facts.

This is just my personal opinion, but you have seen the pictures from Packernet and you know how close I am to the players, and this week I saw a significant difference between the demeanor of the Packers and the Bears. When the Bears left the field after their pre-game warmups, they were all business. And I mean business. There was no playing to the crowd or jumping around, they were in Lambeau for a reason. When the Packers left the field they reminded me of a high school team playing in front of a big crowd for the first time. Either they were overconfident or they were nervous.

Granted, the Packers did lead 20-10 after three quarters, and that’s the problem. They thought they had it won. The Bears knew it wasn’t over and when the Packers made a mistake they jumped on it and for all intents and purposes the game was over. The veteran Bears taught the upstart Packers how to win a big game when you have to. Now the Packers need to let this lesson be a message to them. Confidence is great, but you still have to play the game.

This week against the Washington Redskins we will find out a great deal about head coach Mike McCarthy. Coming off a loss in which the offense was totally shut down in the second half the Packers face the NFL’s third-ranked defense in a game the Packers have to win to prove they are for real. A two-game losing streak heading into the bye week, both at Lambeau, mind you, would leave the Packers’ 4-0 start a fluke. What a cruel thing a 16-game schedule can be.

Personally, I am not that terribly upset about last night’s loss. The Packers weren’t going to go 16-0 and losing to the NFC Champions, albeit a struggling champion, is not the end of the world. Turning the ball over five times will get you beat by anybody in the NFL.

I am a little worried about the vaunted  Packers’ defense. They have been stout against the run but the last few weeks they have been a sieve against the pass. Little pass rush and heralded cornerbacks Al Harris and Charles Woodson have gotten off to slow starts. Linebacker Brady Poppinga couldn’t cover my grandmother. Poppinga was a huge factor in the Bears’ win yesterday. Something has to be done with that position soon.

Finally, while I think it was probably more what the Bears did than the play calling, I do think McCarthy made some major blunders. Both challenges he used where terrible calls and both cost the team valuable timeouts. Had the Packers had one of those lost TOs prior to the last play, who knows. Hopefully the coach learned a lesson as well.

I certainly am happy with 4-1, but the bar is raised. A loss at home to the Redskins will be simply unacceptable.