Packers Bag Bears; Go After Broncos Next

The Emperor truly has no clothes.

Not only that, he is a flabby, paunchy sallow shell of his former empirical self. Stripped of his cloth and crown and seeing him for what he is there is much less by which to be awed and his exposure only diminishes his overall reputation.

And so it goes for the reigning Kings of the NFC North, the Chicago Bears.

Da Bears looked magnificent in week 1 against the Falcons but have been blundering and faltering ever since. The Saints racked up 6 sacks and the Green Bay Packers picked right up where they left off on the Bears last season and smacked them from one end of Soldier Field to the other. Green Bay never trailed in the game and Chicago is in some very murky water early as Detroit joins GB and Buffalo as the only unbeaten left in the NFL.

Jay Cutler played what has become a typical game for him against the Packers – inconsistent, erratic, and sloppy and he also threw another set of picks that killed the Bears efforts to bring the Pack down. Cutler’s countenance oft times is that of a grumpy old man trying to pass a kidney stone. In Cutler’s case he’d probably have that picked off as well.

But don’t heap all the Bears offensive woes on Cutler. Mike Martz is doing a magnificent job of outthinking himself and calls a game plan that can best be described as ‘specious’.  Translation for the layman – Mike... what the hell is goin’ on out there???!!?!?!???? Martz inexplicably all but abandoned his most effective weapon in RB Matt Forte, who ran the ball 9 times for 2 yards, a move that played right into the Packer’s hands. Keeping Forte off the stat sheet and completely bottling him up makes for the blueprint of bagging the Bears. Martz’s stubborn refusal to address the woes of the line, along with the disproportionate ratio of passes to runs and overvaluing his own players is going to be an albatross around the necks of Chicago they will wear like a cumbersome yoke all year. Chicago’s coaching staff may see a complete overhaul in the offseason if Head Coach Lovie Smith and Martz can’t get their act together. Having now lost 3 consecutive games dating back to last season to a team that Smith declared as his top priority in beating does not bode well in the job security area for Lovie, or Martz.

The Packers are wearing the mantle of a champion well in that they continue to find ways to win. With Chicago’s inability to protect Cutler Jarius Wynn, filling in for banged up Mike Neal at DE, had 2 key sacks. Although Clay Matthews has yet to be the sack machine he has been in the past his disruptive presence alone is occupying so much of an offenses game plan that it creates opportunities elsewhere. S Morgan Burnett showed off his ball hawking skills with 2 timely picks, his most impressive being a sideline grab of a fluttering Cutler toss intended for Johnny Knox who found himself open after Tramon Williams flat out missed him. Burnett closed half the field to slide under the throw and roll out of bounds ending Chicago’s threat.

The offense continues to be an awe inspiring machine. Jermichael Finley is at the cusp of greatness by now and is no longer a mystery. With 3 TD grabs and continuing to be a matchup nightmare Finley’s presence, much like Matthews, will draw so much attention that opportunities will open up for the other receivers. Aaron Rodgers’ touch and ability to throw a perfect jump ball over the much shorter corners trying vainly to cover Finley are becoming more routine.

Greg Jennings had a staggering 9 grabs and the running game, now spilt between Ryan Grant and James Starks is a two headed attack by committee that works well. If Grant isn’t on Starks is, and vice versa. Against the Bears it was Grant’s turn as he almost eclipsed 100 yards with 92 yards rushing while Starks was mostly ineffective.

While the Packers sport a 3 – 0 record it is worth mentioning that there are some visible chinks in the armor. The pass rush, and an inexcusable error in their punt coverage that saw a return for TD that was wiped out buy a penalty only one person on the planet seems to have seen, that person being the on field official that threw the flag to bring the punt return back are still cause for concern.

Holding a late 27 – 17 lead Devin Hester and the entire Bears team suckered the Packers into one side of the field while Johnny Knox grabbed the Tim Masthay punt on the far side of the field and raced untouched down the sideline. So great is the fear that Hester instills that literally every member of the Packers kick coverage was drawn to his side of the field as the Bears pulled off their trickeration. Unfortunately for the Bears even when they pull it off they can’t quite seem to get it right. The fact that a flag was thrown should not negate the egg the Pack ST’s unit should have on its’ collective face after this gaffe.

Mike McCarthy has become for more demonstrative and vocal with his displeasure at events as they transpire, and it is a role he is settling into nicely. MM will make his voice heard from ST Coach Shawn Slocum on down the line as this flub was saved by a call none seemed to see.

The defense is keeping other teams in games. The pass rush still is suspect. As long as the Packers keep on winning it keeps this from becoming a liability. The Packers offensive ability to outscore teams has become their new mode of game planning. The best defense is a good offense, and right now there are few teams that can put an offense out that can even compare to the Packers many ways to put up points.

At 3 -0 the Pack now has a huge 2 game lead on the Bears who have all the markings of a team on the verge of an el foldo collapse even this early. With the resurgent Detroit Lions also at 3 – 0 Chicago’s hopes of repeating are all but gone and getting out of their own division is going to be too tall an order.

Next up on the plate for the Packers are the amusing Denver Broncos. Kyle Orton is in at QB, the fans want Tim Tebow, new boss John Elway has yet to set the right pieces in motion to get the Broncos back on track. Knowshon Moreno is a formidable, if unpolished, back, and Orton has the ability to shine at times.

The letdown factor Green Bay may have is considerable, and it is a typical NFL blueprint. Take a vastly superior team on paper like Green Bay coming off a big road win against a hated division rival and pit it against a young struggling team like the Broncos that have little, if anything, to lose. For the Packers this is another annoying opponent that they should beat. They may not take them as seriously as they should. Remember Carolina and Cam Newton? For the Broncos it is their turn to sit at the grownups table and prove they belong in the conversation.

The Packers of recent memory have shown the proclivity to put in a lackluster performance in these scenarios. Bryan Bulaga’s leg injury is a concern. And when Vegas odds makers establish the Packers as a 14 point favorite, the Broncos may just come out to play their Super Bowl this week.

The Packers came loaded for bear last week and put the Bears down convincingly. The Broncos will hang around and make it a much closer game than it needs to be, but in the end the Packers will simply smother their attempts to run with the big dogs. Aaron Rodgers will have a fantasy owners type game and Finley will be a big target. On defense the Packers will try to squeeze some type of rush out and Orton will have some wobblers that get snatched.

The Broncos want to try to act as if they belong. They don’t. Green Bay has some lethargic moments and give up some points but will also have some lightning strikes that separate them from the kiddies. It is the Packers good offense being their best defense again as they open at the quarter turn a perfect 4 -0.

     GREEN BAY  34   

        Denver      24 

Test Time

Da Bears are coming… Da Bears are coming.

It is the annual umpteenth meeting between these two now bitter rivals, and the Bears are certainly well aware that the Packers march to the Super Bowl came through Chicago not once, but twice within 3 weeks last season. A season ending squeaker at the Bears expense landed the Pack in the playoffs, a feat the Bears would come to rue as Green Bay chased Jay Cutler and every other QB the Bears rolled out right off the field in the NFC Championship Game last year while Jay Cutler stood helplessly and forlornly on the sidelines.

The Packers are off to a 2-0 start while Chicago sports a record of 1 -1. Green Bay looked impressive offensively against the Saints, but the Bears did not as New Orleans chased, harassed and sacked Cutler enough times to elicit a Cutler tantrum on the Bears sideline. The Packers looked less than impressive in a win over the Panthers while the Bears spanked Atlanta in their opener. Go figure.

Call it rock, paper, scissors.

As this rivalry takes off in week #3 the clichés will roll like a veritable flood. Call this one a case of what happens when a resistible force (the Packers defense) meets a moveable object (the Bears pass blocking). Neither has looked worldly or impressive at this early stage, and the question of who will make the plays holds the answers to this game. In direct comparisons, however, Chicago’s offensive line is looking positively putrid already.

The Packers offense against the Bears defense on the other hand is an entirely different matter. While everyone has been quick to jump on the Lions bandwagon and declare the Bears as bums at second glance maybe Chicago is worthy of a closer look. Maybe. This is a defense that is tougher than a $2 steak.

The Bears were, are, and always will be a defense led team. One could almost picture MLB Brian Urlacher passing Cutler and the offense as they take the field and snarling “Try and hold ‘em this time, will ya?”. The passing of the proud Urlachers’ mother has made for a difficult time for Urlacher. He is the Bears unquestioned leader and successor at MLB from Butkus to Singletary and now to Urlacher and his teammates have rallied round him. What the Bears lack in pass coverage in their secondary they make up for in the raw ferocity of their front 7. Julius Peppers and Lance Briggs swarm, attack, and delight in wreaking havoc on an opponent. Against Atlanta they repeatedly shut down Matt Ryan and the Falcons passing game by harassing Ryan and staying on top of the Falcons WR’s.

But the Saints may have exposed the Bears Achilles Heel – their weak as tissue paper offensive line. New Orleans was able to get to Cutler and sack him 6 times, hit him, rough him up, and force hurried throws. While Matt Forte is still a considerable threat as a runner the key to stifling the Bears is to hurry Cutler into a mistake. WR Roy Williams (FA/ Dallas) is one of Cutler’s big targets but getting time to throw comfortably has been and will continue to be a problem for Cutler, who is averaging a paltry 5.1 yards/ completion. And with the loss of rookie 1^st round T Gabe Carimi to a knee injury the Bears line suddenly went from bad to awful. After being sacked 11 times in the first 2 games Cutler is currently on a pace to be downed a mind numbing 88 times, a trend that the Bears are not likely to buck when Clay and the boys come calling.

It will be up to Dom Capers and the rest of the Packer defense to ramp up the intensity and urgency of the pass rush. Green Bay had the luxury of a stellar defensive backfield to offset the early lack of a pass rush. The loss of DE Cullen Jenkins may be bigger than first thought, and now the inevitable and dreaded injuries are beginning to pile up. First DE Mike Neal bangs up his knee in camp and is now out for an unspecified period of time after he required surgery to repair it. The Pack had a stellar defensive backfield as CB Tramon Williams missed the Carolina game with an unknown injury to his shoulder, and now S Nick Collins is lost for the year after he sustained a frightening neck injury after colliding with Jonathan Stewart of the Panthers. Having been down this road last year there is an ambivalent sense of “Hey, we know how to do this” they may be comforting but is also unnerving at the same time. Just how many times TT and MM can go to the well and keep pulling up buckets of gold is the $64,000 question.

There is little doubt that the Bears have a need to atone for their embarrassment last year to the Packers. By all rights they should come in sky high and pissed. Witness the Ravens utter dismantling of the Steelers in their opener for a reference, and then the Ravens laid an egg at the feet of the Titans last week. This game easily qualifies as a true test for the Packers as getting past the Bears and then the vastly improved Lions in their own division is not a lock anymore.

The Packers got away with a less-than-their-best effort last week against the Panthers.

Da Bears are another story. This game will demand far more of Green Bay, a team that has displayed a remarkable penchant for playing up to – and in the case of teams like the Panthers down to – the level of their opponents. During last year’s playoff run NFL Network’s Sound FX captured Greg Jennings on the sidelines of another nail biter saying “…Man, I LOVE our defense but why do we (the offense) keep doing this to them?” Good question, Greg.

The Packers have the clear advantage in offense vs. offense while the Bears may be much closer in the D vs. D comparisons. Green Bay has given up almost 900 yards passing in two games. Yes, they are a ball hawking unit and have the turnovers to show for it. Morgan Burnett has 21 tackles already. But this is a unit that must at some point set the tone by hurrying their opponents QB into sacks and more mistakes. Drew Brees made precious few mistakes while Cam Newton made rookie mistakes the Pack exploited, Charles Woodson in particular. This is a game where the Packers can right themselves and set the bar for the season. Even at this point this will be a statement game for both teams.

Chicago needs to prove, a la the Baltimore Ravens, that they can beat the hell out of their hated enemy. Green Bay needs to prove they can get to a QB. Against the Bears Dom Capers will be able to test the Bears O line and resolve and will do that often. Clay Matthews has seen more double a triple coverage blocking and somewhere another Packer will have to take advantage of the opportunities these mismatches create. And while Collins’ loss will be felt veteran S Charlie Peprah might be the best insurance policy in the league. Peprah’s agent needs to strike a deal with Nationwide or State Farm Insurance on his behalf. He proved last year that even when a starting safety goes out he can come in immediately and provide excellent coverage.

TT and MM are loathe to offer up any details on the injuries to Collins and Williams. Neither has been officially placed on the IR list offering up some wee semblance of hope for their return. But the reality is TT has probably already started shopping, looking at Anthony Levine who was a late cut as was CB/S/ Problem Child Brandon Underwood, and even the name of former Packer Darren Sharper has surfaced as a potential invitee for a look see. Keeping rookie S UDFA M.D. Jennings looks almost prescient now, but how much time will he actually see? Will Jarrett Bush become a coverage liability? The Packers season has already become a story line straight out of a Saturday morning serial cliff hanger. Can the Pack sack Cutler and force him into another pouting sulk fest?

The answer is the same as it will be all season. The Pack is so loaded with talent on offense that they are almost robotic in how and when they turn it on and deploy it. It gives the Carolina’s of the league hope but instills fear and its cousin respect into better teams – like the Bears.

IF the Pack just mails it in and takes their own sweet time in getting down to business the Bears are primed to take advantage of it.  This has all the makings of an early upset, one the Packers can avoid. They must pound the ball and James Starks is showing signs he is ready to burst out. RB Matt Forte of the Bears has already shown that and keeping him in check while getting to Cutler is the basic formula to defeating Chicago. The Bears have masked their Olines ineffectiveness by having Cutler dump the ball off to Forte out of the backfield. This is a matchup that the Pack cannot afford to have A.J. Hawk caught in a 1 on 1 situation as Hawk is just not swift enough to keep pace. Containing Forte’s forays as an outlet option is priority 1 in establishing a rush. Cutler’s downfield passing has been stilted by his lack of time to find an open receiver.

The old adage of “Ya can’t lose if you keep the ball and score” applies here. The Packers have favorable matchups in their WR’s vs. the Bears corners, especially Jermichael Finley who is becoming a serious weapon. The Bears front 7 will be a great test for Green Bay’s line. The Packers can win a time of possession battle and doing so will not only tire the Bears D but keep Cutler off the field.

The biggest tell will be in Green Bay’s front 7 vs. the Bears very shaky line. If the Pack cannot generate or sustain a rush it could be a long day. The Packers are now a veteran team, albeit a young veteran team. They know both how and what they have to do. This a statement game, and the defense will speak by getting to Cutler. Again.

And again and again.

We’re calling it

 

   GREEN BAY   31  

  

     Chicago    17    

An Ugly Win... with a Price

Call it Newton’s first law.

With all apologies to Sir Isaac Newton and Newton’s 3^rd law that states for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, Carolina rookie QB Cam Newton’s first law states you can’t win a game even if you throw for 400 yards and throw 3 interceptions as well.

The Kid vs. the Reigning King:
Rodgers outshines Newton's Big Day

With almost  900 yards thru the air in his first 2 professional games Cam Newton is a throwing QB. By piling up 400+ on the Green Bay Packers it has added to his growing credentials while underscoring the Packers early inability to shut down the pass. But let’s not call the Packers pass D stinko quite yet. There have been 22 300+ yard games by NFL QB’s already this year – and GB QB Aaron Rodgers is one of them – and the NFL has shifted into a pass first/ run if and when you must type of league. There are going to be more 3,000 yard QB’s this year than at any time previous in the NFL. Keeping the offense ahead and in the game is far more urgent than putting up shutouts. With the ever expanding talent level complete shutdowns will come only at the expense of the very worst of the teams in the league, and at this point that distinction belongs to Seattle and the imploding Kansas City Chiefs. While the Packers have given up almost 900 yards passing after only 2 games they are still 2 -0. They will remain a bend-but-don’t-break type of defense, if they can stay intact.

The Packers came away from the game with a rather ugly w, but there is no asterisk for style points. In the all-important win column another one gets chalked up at the expense of the Panthers, but the Pack is also left with more holes and questions on defense in the aftermath. One critically important benchmark of any great team is the ability to come away with a win having not played their best. And this game certainly qualifies.

The Panthers came out and struck quickly and repeatedly, going up 13 – 0 after marching right down on their opening drive, scooping up Packers’ rookie Randall Cobb’s fumble on the ensuing kickoff and posting a field goal, and finally after holding the Pack to a 3 and out on their only possession another 3 pointer. While an impressive start the Packers are no longer young and hungry, they are now young and experienced. They’ve been here before.



The calm before the storm. Newton prior to
being intercepted by Charles Woodson



A struggling team that is inconsistent can also make a proven team look pretty bad in the process. So many of Newton’s plays looked as if he had drawn them up in the dirt and he was making it up on the fly. A disciplined team will cover their men, but when mass improvisation takes over all of a sudden the better team is rendered a gridiron version of the Keystone Kops. While Fox Sports newest talking head Jim Mora Jr. openly and repeatedly gushed over Newton (at one point Mora marveled at how well Cam was chewing his gum!!), the war of attrition was won by Charles Woodson, how came away with 2 timely picks and a key fumble recovery. Mora can soon change his last name to ‘Moron’ when, after Newton’s last pick that hit Packer S Morgan Burnett right between the numbers, he declared that the Panther rookie “ …looked like a champ…” when Newton was shown with  a towel covering his head on as he left the field at the end of the game. Jim, really?? This may be begging the question, but aren’t ‘champs’ actually supposed to win something first???



Newton meets the real Champ



Ball security issues will haunt the Panthers as they poke around finding their way. But when vet Steve Smith made the greatest of faux pas’ in holding the ball out like a loaf of bread only to have it slapped away from behind the Panthers do not have the firepower to match the Packers. By walking away with ‘only’ 13 points the Packers almost behaved as if they were done mailing it in and set about taking care of business.

A long drive was capped by John Kuhn’s 2^nd TD of the year and at 13 – 7. The Packers had been outplayed badly in the first half but realized they were but one drive from the lead. And when one of the NFL’s best receiving groups is held to but a single catch it was back to the basics. In the first half Greg Jennings had the lone catch by a WR while Donald Driver and Jordy Nelson were kept off the stat sheet. The Panthers lead of 13 -0 was the first time since the ’09 season the Packers had trailed by more than 7 points.

Enter Aaron Rodgers. Mr. Newton, welcome to the neighborhood. Rodgers opened the 2^nd half with a 46 yard lightning strike to Jennings to finally put the Pack on top. Driver’s catch gave him the record for yardage by Packers receiver, an impressive feat considering some of the pass catchers in Green Bays’ storied history. And gently, like a falling safe, the Packers began to pile up the picks and points as Mason Crosby connected on 3 consecutive field goals and Nelson got untracked late in the 4^th quarter with a nifty 84 yard catch and run away from the corners TD bomb from Rodgers.

Newton’s ill-advised throws and forcing it into coverage were the Panthers undoing. This Packers team has learned how to make a team pay dearly for its mistakes. James Starks has begun to establish himself as the #1 back with his understated size and speed in rushing for 84 yards, and offensively the Packers look as if they can literally turn it on at any time. Perhaps the 10 day layoff was too much. Or perhaps the Packers could be excused for looking past Carolina to next week’s early showdown with Da Bears.



Streeter Lecka/Getty Images
Nick Collins exits after frightening collision



Call it what it is – GB won, as they should have, but it certainly was not an exercise in precision. It was hardly their best effort and the defense looked flat footed at times. And the defense took yet another potentially staggering blow as S Nick Collins left on a stretcher as his head collided awkwardly with Jonathan Stewart’s backside, and the results are devastating as Collins will miss the remainder of the season. While Collins agent Alan Herman is reported to have said that while the specific injury has not yet been diagnosed it is, at this point, “… 10% not a broken neck or spinal cord injury…”, Collins nonetheless spent the night in a Charlotte hospital and rejoined the Packers in Green bay on Monday sporting a neck brace. With DE Mike Neal already out for several weeks and CB Tramon Williams out with an unspecified ‘shoulder injury’ and eerie sense of déjà vu is setting in on the Packers this year.



Tramon Williams injury



GM Ted Thompson will no doubt have already begun the process of replacements. In the short haul Charlie Peprah will take over for Collins. There has also been talk of Charles Woodson moving to the S spot, and other past name possibilities include bringing back either the instinctive Anthony Levine (S) or problem child CB/S Brandon Underwood. After last season’s brilliance in finding gems TT will have to match that to keep the Packers in it.

The Packers have enough talent to win on talent alone. But they cannot afford to put up inconsistent performances. Clay Matthews has been mostly contained. The D is struggling to put together any semblance of a pass rush. Until the Packers can generate sufficient inside push Matthews may find it tougher sledding against the double and triple team looks he’ll see. Randall Cobb’s first law is what goes up must not come down. After terrorizing the Saints in week 1 Cobb’s fumble by running into his own man will earn a red face for the rookie who will no doubt get a hard lesson in holding onto the rock this week. Losing Collins cannot be an excuse, and Mike McCarthy will not indulge the troops with that, and this veteran group will no doubt regroup.

Newton’s first law will be a bitter pill to swallow and a very tough lesson. He’ll need to learn to put up the numbers, and build a bigger lead and not give it away so foolishly. Against a middling team, it may be enough. But against a Super Bowl Champ, it will never be enough. It was ugly.

But, it was a win. Bring on Chicago.

Packers - Panthers Preview

The 2011 Green Bay Packers are fast becoming the Rodney Dangerfields of the NFL. After their epic run to grab the Super Bowl title, instead of the off season talk centering around this remarkable achievement we instead got a lockout, CBA’s and it trickled down into marketing. For the EA Sports Madden addicts out there instead of seeing Aaron Rodgers grace the cover of this years entry of the wildly popular video game we instead get to see the renowned Peyton Hillis. Not Manning, Hillis. Of the Cleveland Browns.

And then, after lighting up a very good New Orleans team the talk this week should have centered around the Packers successful opening in defense of their title, Rodgers 300+ yards, 3 TD’s and 0 picks, or Randall Cobb’s explosive debut and tying the NFL record for longest kickoff at 108 rolling, dancing yards, right?

Wrong.

As quick as you can say ‘labor strife scuttles off season’ the headlines have once again shifted elsewhere. Passing yards? Hell there were and NFL record 5 – FIVE! – games this weekend past the featured both QB’s throwing for over 300 yards.  Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees were the first of the pass fest. Yardage? How about Tom Brady throwing for 500+ yards and Chad Henne almost helping him to get to a combined 1,000 yard game? And, as for the rookie debuts, uhhh, Mr. Cobb? Take a seat – here’s Von Miller, Andy Dalton, and of course, the Packers next opponent QB Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers. All Newton did was throw for an NFL rookie record 422 yards and 3 TD’s in his first game and render Cobb’s feats to – where else – the back page as an afterthought.

Taking nothing away from Newton and his accomplishments it bears mentioning that he put those numbers up against the Arizona Cardinals, not exactly a fearsome bunch in the defense department. The heart and soul of the Cards D is Paris Lenon, who was cut by Green Bay seasons ago. When the Cards dealt their #1 CB Dominque Rogers- Cromartie to Philly for QB Kevin Kolb they also took Patrick Peterson at #5 in the draft, who had his own rookie moment in returning a punt for a TD last week. Peterson will eventually be a decent if not great cover corner in the NFL. He’s not there yet.

On the other hand, no pedigree is needed for the likes of Charles Woodson, Tramon Williams or Sam Shields as the Pack wings into muggy Carolina. Dom Capers will be charged with coming up with a game plan to rattle the rookie. Newton will see a lot more exotic blitz packages the likes of which he has not seen. Before anointing Newton it is safe to say it is the first time in his life he threw for over 400 yards in a game. Not in high school, never at Auburn, and in preseason he looked like a raw rookie with his errant throws. Is he a fluke, a one game wonder? Or is Newton the real deal? Newton will uiltimately find that life in the NFL is a process, a week to week grind of high expectation and missed opportunity along with success.

We’re on board with thinking Newton is far better and will adjust to the NFL game than we thought. But he will have his rocky moments. The first of those will come this weekend against Green Bay. Steve Smith is still as dangerous a receiver as there is in the NFL. Quick now – name any of the Panthers other receivers.

Beyond Brandon LaFell you probably can’t as they are a Scrabble game in the making of pass catchers. Kealoha Pilares,  Armanti Edwards, and Seyi Ajirotutu are a mouthful but will not be a handful for the Packs industrious coverages. With Jeremy Shockey and Ben Hartsock the Panthers have some decent tight ends, but this is hardly a bunch that can be called fearsome. Jonathan Stewart and DeAngelo Williams are still shifty runners, but the Panthers will look more like a team that picks very high in the draft when facing the Pack’s stout D.

Mike Neal is out for this game, and will probably be so for a while. After sustaining what was called a ‘tweak’ in his knee in preseason that became a ‘bruised knee’ Head Coach Mike McCarthy revealed this week that Neal would be “…out a significant number of weeks…” after having surgery on his knee. It gives pause when Tramon Williams, who went out gingerly holding his arm last week against the Saints, was said to have had a shoulder bruise and will be fine. One thing about NFL injury reports is they are as reliable as the weather. If Williams misses any time it will certainly weaken but not cripple the defense. Missing Neal means C.J. Wilson will see more time, and he did okay last week. The right side of the line will be tested, but B.J. Raji will also step up his bull rushes up the middle. Raji is becoming a terror inside and will soon be mentioned as one of the top interior lineman in the game.

The Packers offense is a juggernaut this year and no mystery to anyone they face. They are going to throw. They are going to run. Like in the days of Lombardi they tell you what they are going to do before they do it and then simply go about the task of cramming the football down the throats of their opponents. At this juncture their confidence is sky high and is still north of crossing the arrogance meter.

But it will be the Packers D that will determine the collective fate of GB this year. That D gets a big game this week against Cam and Co. in Carolina.

Look for Capers to send blitzers frequently and from all angles in multiple looks and options. How well Newton adjusts is exactly what then Packers will test. Some are calling the Pack’s D weaker than last year’s based on the 34 points given up to the Saints. Hogwash. Consider the offensive weaponry possessed by the Saints. That is a ball club that will put up large quantities of points regularly. The Packers are of the ‘bend but don’t break’ mindset, and showed it in two key 4^th down stuffs last week, the last of which came as the game ended at the 1 yard line.

Look for Clay Matthews to get untracked against the Panthers. He’ll be chasing Newton all over the lot. Newton will take a step back and look like a raw rookie here as he will be forced to scramble and improvise. When he does he’ll try to force a few into areas he shouldn’t, and the picks will follow. We think Cam’s going to be all right in the long haul, but this is still the short haul, and Rodgers will have another big game as will the Packers running game. Of all the games on the schedule this looks to be the softest, so the let down and overlook factor is high for Green Bay. But, it’s early in the year, the players have had 10 day’s rest, the rust is knocked off and they are looking to get back at it.

The season starts with Green Bay going 2 – 0.

                   GREEN BAY   31 

          Carolina          10  

To Buy or Not Buy - The First Week

We join Americans everywhere in remembering the events of September 11, 2001, and pause in reflection for those who have given everything in the defense and cause of liberty. Like every American, we acknowledge the loss of life suffered 10 years ago this week. We are grateful to the men and women of our armed services and first responders who stepped up and answered the call to duty. Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the families and survivors of those who perished on that awful day and in the weeks, months,  and years that followed. We celebrate their lives by carrying on and moving forward, never forgetting those who have fallen along the way.

Sports are the simplest form of diversion. While we spend endless hours debating the merits of whose team is better than whose, the real victory is the American Spirit that lives and keeps moving forward in the face of unspeakable tragedy, each of us doing what we do. In that sense, we honor that American Spirit by continuing forward and doing what we do with the week’s games in the NFL.

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After the first week of a decidedly welcome beginning of a new season in the NFL, we offer up some things we are BUYING or NOT BUYING right off the bat.

We’re BUYING the Packers offense. It has been almost than 15 years since the Rams offered up their Greatest Show on Turf, but the Pack is poised. Aaron Rodgers makes it look so easy. With a healthy Jermichael Finley, a healthy Ryan Grant, and a suddenly abundantly healthy return game with super rookie Randall Cobb the Packers will hang some huge numbers up this year. Rodgers will be kept busy by just making sure everyone gets their touches. The Packers got 2 TD’s on the ground from James Starks and John Kuhn, 3 more thru the air to Greg Jennings, Jordy Nelson and Cobb and in the return game from Cobb. Imagine any defensive coordinator trying to decide how to best stop any part of the Packers offensive juggernaut. Are 500 points out of the question? Not with this bunch.

We’re NOT BUYING Kansas City Head Coach Todd Haley. If the Chiefs continue the path they are on from the preseason to a blowout butt kicking administered by the Buffalo Bills, Haley will be the first one shown the door. Haley’s “My way or the highway” style, his churlish demeanor, his magnificently moronic approach to the preseason (conditioning  vs. preparing to play while playing his starters against the Packers in the preseason and losing his TE Tony Moeaki for the season) and very questionable deployment of his personnel may work in the short haul with a young team that is too green to buck the system. But Haley may be in jeopardy of losing his team. Already 1^st round draft pick Jonathan Baldwin is out for several weeks with a wrist injury suffered after a locker room fight with Thomas Jones when Jones reportedly intervened after Baldwin lashed back at Haley during a practice chewing out. And this is the same Haley that played his 1^st unit in the preseason against the Packers and saw them lose to fellows no longer in the NFL. And this out of a division winner only a year ago?

We’re BUYING stock in Bengals rookie QB Andy Dalton. Hey kid, rookies aren’t supposed to keep a team close in their first ever game, lead a come from behind attack, and stay cool in in their first start, even against the Browns before he went down with an injury. Randall Cobb has some competition already in the Rookie of the Year voting. Dalton looked great and cool under fire. With fellow flashy freshman A.J. Green the Bengals have some hope now. Maybe the Bengals won’t miss Ochocinco and Carson Whatshisname very much after all. Has Marvin Lewis discovered addition by subtraction?

We are BUYING another new face. Carolina QB Cam Newton shattered Payton Manning’s rookie record for yardage in a rookie’s first game by not a narrow margin. An eye-popping 422 yards passing? Okay Cam… we apologize. We had doubts about Newton, at one point labeling him as Jamarcus Russell 2.0. Forgetaboutit. Newton is the real deal and has single handedly breathed life back into the Panthers. Now he has overtaken Cobb in the early Rookie of the Year Award sweepstakes. But, like we said, it’s only one game. Hey kid – guess who’s next on the schedule. Yeah… Green Bay. Yeah, Clay and Charles and A.J. and B.J. Get a good nights’ sleep kid.

We’re NOT BUYING the following QB’s: Good/ Bad Rex Grossman (Washington), Tavaris Jackson (Seattle), Kevin Kolb (Arizona), Donovan McNabb (Minnesota), Matt Cassell (Kansas City), Tony Romo (Dallas) or Kerry Collins (Indy). Grossman always shows up to every game with at least 1 int. or sack or bad pass or bonehead decision in his pocket – and that’s on his good days. On his bad days he shows up with the whole fun pack. Jackson is a phenomenally talented athlete that throws it soft when a laser is needed and rifles it into a touch pass spot. Duh. And Minnesota was very happy to see him go bye bye. Andy Reid deserves a raise and an extension for fleecing the Cards on Kolb. No, sports fans, he isn’t the second coming of Brett Favre. He isn’t even the second coming of Dave Kreig. Kolb has never warranted comparisons to the Golden Brett, has never won a game on his own, and until he does we’re not sold at all. McNabb laid a McEgg in his first fiasco… errrr…. GAME.. with the Vikings, throwing for an incredible 39 yards, 2 of which came in the second half. That’s no typo: McNabb threw for TWO YARDS in the entire second half. The Vikes are in serious trouble already. How’s that deal for Favre look now? In KC a head coach (the aforementioned Todd Haley) with arguably the stupidest preseason ever seen in pro football has noodle armed and substandard career backup Matt Cassell at the helm. No offensive line, no defensive line, and no hope. What the Chiefs really needs is a little Luck. Maybe Andrew Luck will look good in red next year. He’ll look better once Cassell and Haley disappear like Haley’s Comet. And when a QB is arguably more famous for his off field passes than the ones on it like Dallas’s resident celebrity skirt sniffer T. Romo it speaks volumes. If Tony was as successful completing hookups as he is off the field Dallas might be as good as they think they are. But, until Romo can find the end zone better than the Society Page, they won’t be. For all the talk of how the Colts will be ‘just fine’ with Collins at the helm better guess again. The odds of Brett’s phone ringing off the hook in Hattiesburg suddenly have dropped to 7-5.

We’re BUYING the Baltimore Ravens. Sort of. They not only proved they can beat their hated enemies from the Steel City, they can beat them up as well. The Ravens look good. The Steelers looked awful, turning the ball over 7 times in a forgettable loss. Joe Flacco played well and looks more comfortable than he has at any time during his run in Charm City. But it is only the first game. Talk to us after they beat the Steelers where it matters most – in January.

We’re NOT BUYING the Steelers as done. Nope, not at all. They’ll take their butt whipping like a man, go back, lick their wounds, regroup, and look out next week. Seattle, you’re next. It ain’t gonna be pretty. And circle the calendar for the next game, and Katy-bar-the-door if these two teams that truly hate each other meet in the playoffs again.

We’re still NOT BUYING the Eagles. Yeah, they won. But it was uneven. Their defense hardly looked Dream Team like. The Rams can’t hold on to the ball. If they had, this game is much different. Call us skeptical, because we are. The Rams have some ball security issues to address. How will the Eagles fare against a team that can pass AND catch the ball? Stay tuned…

We DON’T WANT TO BUY Da Bears, if only because they are Da Bears. But we almost have to BUY after they threw a total beatdown on what was supposed to be a high flying bunch in Atlanta. Going back to last season that makes it two consecutive thrashings the Falcons have taken at the hands of a team from the NFC North. Head Coach Mike Smith has to go back to the drawing boards after this one.

Conversely, we want to BUY the Falcons, but they paid a King’s ransom to trade up to grab Julio Jones – some are calling it overpaying for a single player – while ignoring a defense that saw the Pack shred them in last year’s playoffs and the Bears do pretty much the same thing. In 2 consecutive meaningful games that’s a total of 80 points dropped on them. Atlanta has a serious “Uh oh” moment after the Bears trounced them. But to be able to buy the Falcons they have much to prove first.

We’re NOY BUYING the Colts without Payton Manning. That giant, sucking, flushing sound you hear in Indianapolis is the sound of the Colts season swirling the bowl already. Don’t believe anything the Colts are saying about how they can win without Manning. They can’t.

We are BUYING the Houston Texans. They have arrived. Matt Schaub, Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, Mario Williams and co. are the real deal as Houston makes an early statement in knocking off the Colts. They just might run the table in their division.

We’re NOT BUYING any ‘mystique’ surrounding the New York Giants. This is an all smoke and mirrors team whose reputation far exceeds its talent or football IQ level. Try this one on for size – a Tom Coughlin team is that is terribly undisciplined, takes stupid and foolish penalties, gives up sacks in bunches, can’t tackle and gets out physicalled and beaten by a Bad Rex-led team. Someone won’t be getting an ice cream sundae after practice this week.

While we are on the subject of undisciplined, we’re NOT BUYING the Minnesota Vikings at all. A game ending penalty with no timeouts? After blowing a lead and giving up 17 consecutive points? Playing musical chairs with QB’s Donovan McNabb and the legendary Joe Webb? Packer fans are politely excused at this point to laugh, snicker, chortle and guffaw loudly.

We’re BUYING the Lions. An impressive 27 – 20 win over the rising Bucs sets their stock high. They’re going to win more frequently now. Lions fans are also invited to revel in the demise of the Vikings.

We’re BUYING Tom Terrific and New England. Year after year they are in the hunt and this year they look very, very good. Bill Belihoodie gets larger CB’s, Brady throws for over 500 yards, and the Pats are out of the gates with a bang.

We are BUYING that the two best teams in football are from each conference. They are New England in the AFC and Green Bay in the NFC. Is a rematch of Super Bowl XXXVI in store?

Finally, we are NOT BUYING the Dallas Cowboys. Any talk of post season has to be tabled. If Red Jesus (the moniker bestowed upon Head Coach Jason Garrett, the newest potential savior of the franchise) can’t walk on water and fast he’ll find himself sleeping with instead of netting the fishes in Big D.