The Packer Pundit

Impressive warm-up
Greg Jennings is slated to start in his first regular-season game on Sunday opposite Driver, having moved ahead of veteran Robert Ferguson with that exceptional training camp. But McCarthy emphasized that the new starting lineup, which he revealed last Friday against Tennessee, is more a matter of having three qualified receivers for two spots. "Clearly I've never seen a rookie that productive that fast," McCarthy said. "With that in mind, it was really not a reflection on Robert Ferguson at all. Robert, Donald and Greg all have excellent flexibility. Very rarely do you have three receivers who can play all three positions and are interchangeable." Jennings echoed those thoughts. Always humble and well-spoken, he wasn't about to make the promotion a big deal. "I'm starting, yes, but we're going to play to my strengths just like we're going to play to Ferguson's strengths, so it's like we have three starters," he said. "It just depends on what we've got out there and what we need done."

Another step forward
Second-year linebacker Brady Poppinga also has moved up to No. 1 on the depth chart ahead of Ben Taylor and is expected to start at strong-side linebacker on Sunday. Poppinga has recovered remarkably quickly from a torn ACL sustained last December, but he has maintained all along his comeback wasn't based on a time frame but on coming back as a quality player and contributor. Having just returned to practice four weeks ago (Aug. 7) and taking over a starting spot for the season opener certainly speaks to that. "I never really expected it to happen," Poppinga said. "I knew it was a possibility, so the bottom line is I'll just give the greatest amount of effort I can to contribute to the team. It just so happens I'm probably going to be a starter. But it doesn't really matter if you're starting, you just have to go make plays, and that's my focus, to be a playmaker." Taylor is now listed as the top backup at both the strong-side and weak-side linebacker positions.

Injury update
Backup offensive lineman Junius Coston is out at least this week with a knee injury sustained in the preseason finale last Friday. McCarthy said he didn't know the severity of the injury but didn't anticipate it would require surgery.







Packers Fill Out First 2006 Practice Squad
Posted by Packers.com
Re-signing six players and adding two newcomers, the Green Bay Packers Monday assembled their initial 2006 practice squad. Ted Thompson, Executive Vice President, General Manager and Director of Football Operations, announced the signings. The team has re-signed tight end Zac Alcorn, safety Atari Bigby, cornerback Patrick Dendy, wide receiver Chris Francies, wide receiver Calvin Russell and defensive end Dave Tollefson, all of whom were released in recent preseason roster reductions, to the practice squad.

In addition Monday, the team signed tackle Travis Leffew and fullback Brandon Miree to practice-squad contracts. Leffew, a 6-foot-4, 292-pound rookie, played with Jason Spitz, Green Bay's third-round selection in the 2006 draft, at Louisville. A four-time all-conference selection in college, he had signed as a non-drafted free agent with Chicago. Miree, a 6-foot, 236-pound player in his second year out of Pittsburgh, spent all of 2005 on the Broncos practice squad. Denver's seventh-round selection in the 2004 draft, he spent that year on the Broncos' injured reserve. Allocated to NFL Europe before the '05 season, he played for the Rhein Fire. The Packers have re-assigned Bigby jersey No. 20 and Russell No. 17. Leffew will wear No. 61, while Miree has donned No. 40. All other players will keep the numbers they wore during training camp. (STORY LINK)






Packers stick with youth
By Pete Dougherty / greenbaypressgazette.com
The Green Bay Packers still haven't added a fifth receiver to their 53-man roster but claimed three rookies on waivers on Sunday and made another change at backup cornerback. General Manager Ted Thompson's biggest moves were adding undrafted rookie Jarrett Bush, a cornerback cut by the Carolina Panthers on Saturday, and releasing third-year cornerback Jason Horton, who played poorly in Friday's preseason finale against the Tennessee Titans. (MORE)







Meaning Of Rivalry Conveyed
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
In his first regular-season news conference Monday, Head Coach Mike McCarthy didn't make any grand pronouncements about the Packers' longstanding rivalry with the Chicago Bears, who visit Lambeau Field to open the season on Sunday. But the significance of the rivalry isn't lost on him, or any of his players. "Anybody that's worked here has a clear understanding of how much this game means to everybody - the fans, the organizations, the former players and the current players," McCarthy said. McCarthy added that veteran receiver Donald Driver addressed the team Monday to talk about the rivalry and what it means, specifically to get the message across to the many young players on the Packers' roster who have never played in a Packer-Bear game. "What I took from it is just that this is serious," rookie safety Tyrone Culver said. "There's a lot of history behind this rivalry, and coming from a vet, for him to go out in front like that, that's shows a lot, what kind of respect he has for this team and this organization." (MORE)


Week 1 challenge: Blocking the Bears
By Pete Dougherty / greenbaypressgazette.com
The Chicago Bears return all 11 starters from a defense that last year ranked first in the NFL in fewest points allowed and second in fewest yards allowed. That's hardly the ideal season-opening opponent for a Green Bay Packers team that's not only learning first-year coach Mike McCarthy's version of the West Coast offense, but that's implementing a zone-block running scheme and starting rookies at both guards. It's an unenviable situation, but the Packers have no choice but throw rookie guards Tony Moll and Jason Spitz onto Lambeau Field on Sunday, and hope that after a week of intensive, opponent-specific work, they're not overwhelmed by a premier defense. "It doesn't matter," offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski said when asked if this might be too big for his rookie linemen. "They're kicking this thing off on Sunday, and (Spitz and Moll) are going to be playing. That's the way we're going." (MORE)




Statistics... Statistics... and Damn Statistics
Everything you ever wanted to know about this weeks
Packers/Bears Game... and then some!
Packers.com Game Dope Sheet






Henderson, Blackmon Return To Practice
By Mike Spofford / Packers.com
Packer starting fullback William Henderson and rookie cornerback Will Blackmon returned to practice on Monday for the Packers, and Henderson expects to be ready for Sunday's season opener. Henderson, a 12-year veteran who has missed only two of 192 games in his career and just one since his rookie season, had arthroscopic surgery to clean up cartilage in his knee two weeks ago and was projected to be out anywhere from three to six weeks.

Should he take the field on Sunday against the Bears, Henderson will have returned to game shape one day shy of three weeks from the surgery. Head Coach Mike McCarthy said Henderson was a bit sore after practice on Monday, but Henderson doesn't expect that to keep him from playing. "I had no problems, just fitting in what the coaches have me fit in," Henderson said. "It's a go." Meanwhile Blackmon, a fourth-round draft choice out of Boston College, was on the field for the first time since breaking his foot in May during the second post-draft mini-camp. He missed all of June's organized team activities (OTAs) and all of training camp and isn't back to full speed, but McCarthy said he made significant strides last week in his rehab. (MORE)






Poppinga may tackle starting assignment
Fiery linebacker practices with first unit
By Lori Nickel / jsonline.com
On the first day of practice with the slimmed down roster, the Green Bay Packers wasted no time placing Brady Poppinga at strong side linebacker with the No. 1 defense.
It was one of two starting positions that had some question marks heading into the season opener Sunday against Chicago in Lambeau. The other, left defensive tackle, appears to be undetermined. If Poppinga wins the job for certain, it will cap a remarkable comeback. He missed all of the off-season and half of training camp with an injury, only to come back in what feels like record time to unseat fifth-year veteran Ben Taylor, a free agent. "It looks like Brady will possibly start this week," said Packers coach Mike McCarthy Monday in his press conference. "He started this last pre-season game (against Tennessee) at home. We feel that we're going to give him an opportunity to compete this week and see how he handles it." (MORE)







Packers visit with Robinson
By Tom Silverstein / Milwaukee Journal Sentinal
Even though he is facing a possible one-year suspension for violating the NFL's substance abuse program, the Green Bay Packers brought in wide receiver Koren Robinson for a visit late Sunday. According to an NFL source, the Packers registered his visit with the NFL, which they are required to do so that all the other teams in the league are aware of it. The degree of interest the Packers have in Robinson is unknown, but because the former Seattle and Minnesota receiver has not been suspended yet he is free to talk to teams. General manager Ted Thompson and personnel analyst John Schneider were both in Seattle when Robinson was scouted and eventually selected with the No. 9 pick in the 2001 draft. After Robinson was cut from the Seahawks and then the Vikings last year, the Packers made a push to get him signed. He ended up re-signing with the Vikings and made the Pro Bowl last year as a kick returner. The Packers have a need at both wide receiver and kick returner and might be interested in signing him now or in the future. However, they will have to consider his battles with alcohol, which landed him in the substance abuse program. (MORE)







McCarthy OK with green team
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
Ted Thompson has what he wants: A young - and theoretically improved, at least in the long run - Green Bay Packers roster. Now it's up to Mike McCarthy and his staff to figure out how to best coach the general manager's youth movement, which includes 27 players who have one or zero years of NFL experience - even though McCarthy doesn't really look at it as an inexperienced group.

"My outlook and vision is different. We have a football team. It's made up of individuals. We ask them to do things to put us in position to win football games. That is our focus, whether young or old," McCarthy said Monday, as the team returned to practice in preparation for Sunday's regular-season opener against the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field. "I say it over and over to the players, as long as you're doing what you're supposed to do, doing the way you've been taught and with the energy and balance involved to play on this level good things are going to happen. That will continue to be our focus. I don't concern myself with experience. I'm aware of it." (MORE)