Packers Weekly: Pack Keeps on Rolling

Next Up, Minnesota

Rolling, rolling, rolling. The Pack just keeps on rolling along and now in the way are the once formidable Minnesota Vikings who are nothing but a shell of their former selves after Brett Favre blew through town and blew up the franchise.

Oh, the Vikes will want to say and do all the right things; they still have All World RB Adrian ‘All Day’ Peterson, and NFL sack leader Jared Allen, but beyond that ol’ Mother Hubbard’s cupboards are pretty close to bare. There is little left to instill fear into the game planning of an opponent.

For the Packers the challenges are no longer coming from the outside, they are now resorting to challenging themselves. The Vikings? Honestly, just an afterthought. When the schedule was drawn up the two games against the boys in purple looked like another “…key divisional matchup in the always tough NFC North…” but this Vikings teams has holes that the team bus could negotiate.

Donovan McNabb is seriously questioning his exile to the land of 10,000 lakes at this point. After the worst start to his professional career McNabb is now relegated to the bench and carrying the clipboard for first rounder Savior-in-Wait QB Christian Ponder who literally gets thrown to the wolves on Sunday in his NFL debut as a starter. Against the Packers. That would be the 6 -0 NFL leading defending Super Bowl Packers. And Ponder is not Cam Newton.

Peterson is still a big game back capable of taking over a game by himself. But with his propensity for fumbling away the ball and Minnesota’s porous offensive line it will take a Herculean effort for the Vikings to topple the Packers. And even with Jared Allen playing like a man possessed there is very little else about the Vikings defense that is even remotely effective, or even good. Gone is the famed Williams wall. Gone is Ray Edwards. Allen will still get a few sacks, but Minny’s defensive secondary couldn’t cover a bed with a sheet.

Witness last week’s undressing they took at the hands of the Bears. Chicago has almost as bad a line as Minnesota up front protecting Jay Cutler, so the Bears dropped 7 and 8 men into protection schemes to keep Cutler upright. If you’re scoring at home if the Bears are in an 8 man protection – 5 lineman, 2 TE’s and a back, that leaves maybe 2 WR’s unaccounted for.

And the Vikes corners couldn’t account for them. Devin Hester blew by double coverage and still had enough time to stop and grab a sandwich on the way to a long Cutler connection.

Suffice it to say the Bears aren’t the Packers, nor are the Packers the Bears.

With the multiple offensive looks and formations that Mike McCarthy will throw at the Vikings on paper this game looks more and more lopsided. The options available to Aaron Rodgers will be plentiful. The trick for the Packers is to continue to challenge themselves as the game gets deeper and the Vikes fall further behind. And the defensive looks Dom Capers will throw out at the Vikings rookie QB will leave him Pondered and perplexed.

Complacency can kill the Packers. But with Rodgers leading the way complacency will difficult. After mopping then floor with the Rams Rodgers said he was “…mildly disappointed…” by the Packers inability to score in the second half.

Rodgers stats are so otherworldly and his leadership so even handed that when he speaks everyone in green and gold listens. McCarthy and Rodgers are both trumpeting the fact that they both feel the Pack still has yet to hit on all cylinders. The scary part is they are both right.

Minnesota will have an impossible time trying to keep up with the Packers receivers. Rodgers was once criticized for holding the ball too long, but now the Vikings no longer have that luxury upon which they can depend. If Allen will see the double and triple teams and chip blocks his presence is certain to draw it will be left to the rest of Minnesota’s D to hold the fort.

Against the Packers. That would be the 6 -0 NFL leading defending Super Bowl Packers. And the hottest offensive team in the NFL.

Ponder is going to get his feet not wet but immersed. He will have to learn very quickly on how to read or better yet guess from which side an avalanche of hell will come after him. His game plan will probably include the line “If you don’t see anything open run like hell and throw the damn ball away.”

Ponders body of work is non-existent. B.J. Raji said it best when he said “It’s kind of hard to know what he’s going to do because there isn’t a lot of [NFL] film on him. True enough. The same could be said about Cam Newton. But Ponder isn’t Newton.

Ponder will toss a few picks and make the mistakes all rookies make. McNabb may be even forced into a humiliating mop up role, a sad commentary on the fall of this once proud warrior. Peterson will run wild between the 20’s, but his broad shoulders aren’t enough to carry the show.

Rodgers has to decide who will be the beneficiary of his TD tosses this week. The Packers receiving corps are like hungry birds at the nest all clambering to be next on the serving list. Keeping his receivers happy is Rodgers main goal. That, and focused.

The dropsies have worked their way back into the Packers’ chinks on their shiny suit of armor again. Led by Greg Jennings and Donald Driver the WR’s have now implemented a fine system of their own when one of their own drops the rock. Drop a pass? It’ll now cost you a hundred bucks in gift cards at Best Buy for the other receivers. That is a true statement. The Packers are challenging themselves from within to improve.

They have to.
The challenges are no longer coming from places like Minnesota.

Make it 7 straight and another large deposit in the “Points Scored” bank.