10/27/2006
Receiver rotation
While the Packers hope wide receiver Greg Jennings will practice today in spite of the sprained right ankle that has him listed as doubtful for Sunday, Packers offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski expressed confidence Thursday in would- be starter Ruvell Martin. Jagodzinski said it was an easy call to make the 6-foot-4 Martin, rather than practice- squad call-up Chris Francies, the starter opposite Donald Driver if Jennings can't go. "I think he's got more experience, and (we) really (like his) body size," Jagodzinski said. Meanwhile, Jagodzinski said receiver Shaun Bodiford, claimed off waivers from Detroit Monday, "probably" can't help the team on offense Sunday but will see action on special teams. Part of the problem is that the Lions use the number system for their passing routes. "He's just coming in. And remember, (with) terminology, it takes a little bit of time to get acclimated," Jagodzinski said. "But I know on special teams we'll be counting on him." (See More on 'Receivers' in articles below)
A.J. Hawk Named NFL Rookie Of The Week
(Edit: Obviously my vote put him over the top!)
Voters on NFL.com and via Sprint wireless service have made their choice. Linebacker A.J. HAWK of the Green Bay Packers is the NFL ROOKIE OF THE WEEK for games played on October 22-23 the NFL announced Thursday. Hawk recorded nine solo tackles, three assisted tackles and one sack in the Packers' 34-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins. He led Green Bay with 12 total tackles and currently ranks second on the team with 43 tackles this season. Hawk's 2.5 sacks are tied for second on the team. More than 39,100 fans voted this week on NFL.com and via Sprint wireless service. Hawk was selected from among five finalists.
Ryan, Rayner await ill winds
It's that time of year, when the kickers and punters can expect their jobs to get a little tougher every week. That can't be good news for punter Jon Ryan, who despite ranking fourth in the National Football League with a gross average of 46.7 yards per punt is merely 29th in net average, at 34.9 yards. Usually, hang times drop with the temperatures, but the Packers expect the former Canadian Football League punter to bulldoze through the conditions. "That's his job. The weather is going to be the weather," special teams coordinator Mike Stock said. "He's here because he's got a strong leg, and he's kicked in cold weather, kicked in wind, probably kicked in worse conditions than maybe you've seen around here." Kicker Dave Rayner has learned that kicking at Lambeau Field means the wind can change from quarter to quarter, and the flags can contradict one another. The dropping temperatures will make reading the weather and estimating distance and accuracy more challenging. "Pretty stoked about that," Rayner said sarcastically. "I've just kind of learned that you just kick it. We call it, 'Kick and hope.' " Without practicing at Lambeau, which he doesn't think is a big deal as long as he practices in the elements during the week next to the team practice facility, Rayner will have to learn as he goes. (See More on Dave Rayner in story below)
Good as Green
Offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski isn't sure whether Ahman Green has the speed he had four years ago, but after watching the running back in practice every day he thinks Green still has that extra gear in the open field. "I knew he had that burst. He's pretty good," Jagodzinski said. "Now is he at the 2002 level? I don't know. But he's fast enough." One thing Jagodzinski and Green both understand, however, is that no matter how talented or fast a running back is, it means nothing unless the blocking is there for him. On Green's 70-yard touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter against Miami, the blocking was textbook perfect. "That play was blocked as well as any play I have ever seen any time," Jagodzinski said. "Everybody on the team did exactly what they were supposed to do. This is what we've been after. It's as cleanly a blocked play as I have ever seen." (See more on Ahman Green in story below)
More rushing TDs
The Packers are aware that Arizona leads the league with 20 take-aways, but the running backs think they addressed that issue, beginning with a fumble-free game against Miami. However, the Packers have just two rushing touchdowns this season. The other nine on offense were receptions. "We've got to execute. There's no reason we should be in the middle of the pack. That's not (enough)," running back Noah Herron said. "If you're effective rushing the football, you're going to win a lot of games and so far we've kind of just been OK. "The more we get in the red zone, the more opportunities we have. Lack of plays in the red zone is probably the reason."
Blown by in draft, but catching up
Francies, Martin, Bodiford fill the void
By LORI NICKEL
journalsentinel.com
Posted: Oct. 26, 2006
In 1975, Jimmy Robinson was the 367th player selected in the National Football League draft when Atlanta chose him in the 15th round. He played wide receiver for six years for the New York Giants, San Francisco and Denver. If he were coming out of Georgia Tech today, he never would have been drafted and he would have had little chance of making it on an NFL roster. Today, the NFL draft stops after seven rounds, 224 players in all. That perspective hit Robinson on the numbers Thursday after practice, because 21 years later, as the receivers coach for the Green Bay Packers, he looks at three young faces who could have been him: Chris Francies, Ruvell Martin and Shaun Bodiford. All of them young receivers, all of them undrafted free agents. Having one of them make it this far would be a story. Having all three of them on one team is something of a miracle. "I wasn't expecting to be drafted at all," Francies said. "I came from a school where we didn't get recognized for anything because we didn't have winning records and we weren't known for sending people to the NFL. This was a shock to me. I thought I was just going to finish up college and that was it." -- More
Related Story --
Packers Counting On Bodiford For WR Depth
Associated Press
New Green Bay Packers wide receiver Shaun Bodiford saw at least one familiar face when he walked into the Lambeau Field locker room this week: quarterback Aaron Rodgers, a former junior college teammate. Rodgers and Bodiford played together for a season at Butte College near Chico, Calif., as the Roadrunners went 10-1 and won a Nor Cal Conference championship in 2002. "Then he got big-time on us and he went to Cal, left us little people back at the J.C.," Bodiford said. "But it was a great experience working with him. He's a great guy, hard worker and tremendous athlete." Now, Bodiford and Rodgers -- "A-Rod" to his buddies, Bodiford included -- are reunited in Green Bay, where Rodgers is the heir apparent to Brett Favre and Bodiford, released by the Detroit Lions earlier this week, is being counted on to quickly learn the offense so he can provide much-needed depth for the Packers at wide receiver. -- More
Green turns on that old burst of speed
He hits Dolphins with 70-yard run
By RICK BRAUN / Packer Plus writer
Posted: Oct. 25, 2006
Ahman Green and the Green Bay Packers had been waiting for such a moment for nearly two years. And considering what Green has been through over the past year, that wait seemed much longer. When Green popped through the left side of the offensive line and then outran safety Renaldo Hill early in the fourth quarter Sunday, it served as the most positive of possible answers to all the lingering questions about Green. Green finished his day with 118 yards on 18 carries, including the 70-yard touchdown run. And the Packers finished with 155 yards. Obviously most of Green's 6.6 yards-per-carry average was fashioned off the one big run. But it also fits in with the philosophy that offensive coordinator Jeff Jagodzinski brought in with the zone-blocking scheme. "We kept staying with it and staying with it and eventually one will pop, and then all of a sudden they start getting those 7s and 8s and 9," Jagodzinski said. "What we've been preaching about since I got here is 4, 4, 4, then 70, Then we got another that went 9." But that one run probably was more important for Green's confidence than Jagodzinski's philosophy. "I think it's really big, because everyone was doubting that he could still do it," Jagodzinski said. -- More
Woodson gets job done right
Cornerback has big-play day
By RICK KLAUER / Packer Plus writer
Posted: Oct. 25, 2006
The rehearsal had its setbacks, but for Charles Woodson, the final act was a thing of beauty. With just one day of practice under his belt during the last two weeks, Woodson overcame an injured thigh to register one of the best performances of his career Sunday. In particular, his interception return for a touchdown against Miami was the turning point in the Packers' 34-24 victory at Dolphin Stadium. "That's what you live for as a defensive back - to get your hands on the ball and turn it into points," Woodson said. "That put us up in the game." The Packers were trailing 10-6 at halftime, but on Miami's second play of the third quarter, quarterback Joey Harrington rolled left and fired a short pass to Randy McMichael. The tight end stretched out for the ball only to have it bounce off of his fingers and into the hands of Woodson, who took the ball 23 yards to the end zone. The Packers never trailed again. -- More
Rayner gets his kicks
By Jason Wilde / madison.com
He is the quintessential regular guy, which wouldn't be so remarkable if he weren't a kicker. In a world where flaky is the baseline, Dave Rayner is refreshingly, well, normal. Spend some time around the Green Bay Packers' kicker, and you learn quickly what kind of guy he is. The kind you'd go to the Stadium View bar to have a beer with. The kind you can smack-talk college football with. The kind who always has a good-natured one-liner or movie reference at the ready. Take, for example, the hilarious way Rayner was rolling with the surreal post-practice punches on Thursday, which just happened to be his 24th birthday. First, he stayed after to work with Manitowoc resident Tina Jacquart, who has a chance to win $100,000 if she can make a 40-yard field goal in the Piggly Wiggly "Kick for Cash" contest at Sunday's game against Arizona. Rayner's job was to give her a few pointers and boost her confidence at a practice session/photo-op inside the Don Hutson Center.
"She's probably in her 40s, nice lady, but I get nervous for a 40-yard field goal in Lambeau Field. I was like, Good luck with that," Rayner said. "She could probably make a 20-yard field goal, an extra point. But unless she has a gale at her back, it's not going to happen. Of course, she doesn't think she's even going to come close. I'm like, Well, at least you're confident about it. At least you're not going to embarrass yourself in front of 70,000 people."
Rayner was in the middle of that story when rookie defensive tackle Johnny Jolly noticed the birthday cake sitting in his locker. And he knew immediately that the 317-pound Jolly's "Happy B-day" had an ulterior motive. "Like he needs any more cake," Rayner whispered. Then, he said to Jolly, "You can have all the cake you want." Soon, two more lockers down from Jolly, 313-pound defensive tackle Corey Williams noticed the cake, too. And before Rayner knew it, his entire cake was headed with Jolly and Williams to the defensive line meeting room. "Maybe we'll be closer now," Rayner said, rolling his eyes. "Because I don't think they knew my name until just now." If they didn't, they're in the locker-room minority. -- More
Coach McCarthy's press Conference (Approx 22 minutes)
(Opens in a different window)
Meet Becca Gambel
Dallas Cowboys
Cheerleader
AGE:21
HAIR:Dark Brown
HEIGHT: 5'4"
BIRTHPLACE: Dallas
OCCUPATION: Working in Consultant Relations for a recruiting firm
DCC STATUS: Veteran
CAREER GOAL: Find a career that makes me truly happy
LIFETIME GOAL: To look back and not have a single regret
MARITAL STATUS: Single
CHILDREN:N/ANAME: N/A
PETS (WITH NAMES): Milton (a chocolate lab)
HOBBIES: Dancing, spending time with family and my dog!
FAVORITE TV SHOW: The O.C.
FAVORITE MOVIE: Almost Famous
FAVORITE ACTOR & ACTRESS: Ashley Judd and Robert Redford
FAVORITE SONG:"Tuesday's Gone"
FAVORITE MEAL: Fondue from the Melting Pot
FAVORITE COLOR: Green
FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC: Classic Rock
FAVORITE SPORT: Football: Duh!!
FAVORITE PERFUME: Burberry
FAVORITE TIME OF DAY: Sunset
FAVORITE CITY OUTSIDE OF DALLAS: Nassau, Bahamas
CHILDHOOD LUNCHBOX: Minnie Mouse
CHILDHOOD NICKNAME: Becca-Baca
FAVORITE CEREAL: Cracklin Oat Bran!!
HERO: My family
VETERANS, MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF BEING A DCC: My most memorable moment was the first game of the season my rookie year. I remember standing there peering out into the stands and listening to the fans who were going crazy! As they played the introduction to our song, I remember stepping out onto the field and not thinking about anything else but how much fun I was having!
IF YOU COULD BE ANYONE IN THE WHOLE WORLD, WHO WOULD IT BE AND WHY?Myself, because God created us as individuals.
IF YOU COULD GO ANYWHERE IN THE WHOLE WORLD, WHERE WOULD IT BE AND WHY? Australia, because I've been curious about visiting since I was 12!
BIGGEST MISTAKE: Not soaking in "the moment"
I'M HAPPIEST WHEN: I'm around the people I love!
I'VE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO: Say no to sweets!
A REALLY GREAT EVENING TO ME IS: Hanging out with my friends
IF I COULD CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT MYSELF IT WOULD BE: My tendency to get worked up over silly/un-important things in life
PEOPLE WHO KNEW ME IN HIGH SCHOOL THOUGHT I WAS: Outgoing and goofy!
THE BEST ADVICE I COULD GIVE TO A 20 YEAR-OLD IS: Live it up, because this is the time of our lives!
MY LAST MEAL WOULD BE: Cheese enchiladas and all the dessert I can eat!
MY TRADEMARK EXPRESSION: Ladies: This is the time of our lives!
MY WORST HABIT IS: Biting my nails
MY BEST ASSET IS: My easy-going personality
BEHIND MY BACK, PEOPLE SAY: I am able to laugh at myself
GUESTS AT MY FANTASY DINNER PARTY: My whole family, my closest friends, Jesus, Joel Osteen, Brad Pitt, Marilynn Monroe and Steven Tyler (that would be interesting)
I WISH I COULD SING LIKE: Faith Hill or Whitney Houston
IF I HAD A DIFFERENT JOB, I'D BE: A Veterinarian
MY IDEAL VACATION IS: Anywhere warm with a beach nearby!
MY FAVORITE BOURJOIS PRODUCT IS: 3D lip gloss number 20 is my favorite Bourjois product because of its long wear and shimmering effect
Published by PackerPundit On Friday, October 27, 2006 at 5:28 AM.
0 Responses to “10/27/2006”
Post a Comment